Faculty Conference Minutes
Recital
Hall
A motion was made, seconded,
and approved to conduct business in the absence of a quorum. The minutes of the February 11, 2000 Faculty
Conference were approved with a change to the last line of the third paragraph
of President DiGiorgio’s report. The
minutes indicated that the House’s proposed budget included a 3% salary
increase for individuals with salaries over $3,000. The 3% increase was for individuals with
salaries under $30,000. There was an insufficient number of faculty present to conduct
business in the absence of a quorum at the March 17, 2000 Faculty
Conference. Although approval of the
March 17th report is not required, the report is on file as part of
the Faculty Conference’s unofficial records.
At the April 12th Board of
Trustees meeting, the Board approved two naming
resolutions.
The first is to name the College of Education after Richard W.
Riley. The second is to rename the
renovated Peabody after Lois Rhame West.
The Board also approved the Master of Science in software engineering to
be delivered by the Department of Computer Science. The capital campaign is presently reported at $19.8 million. Additional major gifts are expected.
President DiGiorgio thanked the faculty for another
good year. During the year, three
accrediting bodies visited Winthrop.
Overall, feedback from the visiting teams and other third parties has
been very positive. Two newly appointed
deans were recognized and congratulated.
Dr. Patricia Graham, the Center for Pedagogy director, will be the first
dean of the Richard W. Riley College of Education. Dr. Andrew Svedlow, President of the New Hampshire Institute of
Art, will be the new dean of Winthrop’s College of Visual and Performing
Arts. The respective search committees
and their co-chairs (Dr. Roger Weikle, Dr. Mickey Taylor, Dr. Betsy Brown, and
Dr. Jeannie Woods) were thanked for their efforts.
Dr. Irene Boland, Assistant Professor of Geology,
and Dr. Anne Fletcher, Associate Professor of Theater, received this year’s Phi
Kappa Phi Excellence in Teaching Awards.
Dr. Alice Burmeister was named Winthrop’s Outstanding Junior Professor,
and Dr. Donald Freidman was recognized as Winthrop’s Distinguished
Professor. A photograph by Melanie
Masson, an English major with a photography minor, was awarded one of four
grand prizes in a national photograph competition sponsored by Chrysler
Financial Corporation. The photograph
will be published in Chrysler’s corporate calendar. Melanie is Dr. Phil Moody’s student. A copy of the print will be displayed in either the President’s
office or residence. Congratulations to
all recognized individuals.
The legislative update includes the flag and budget
related items. The flag continues to be
an issue and is unresolved at this time.
The House’s higher education budget for next year presently includes $2
million of “new money.” Funding
proposals by the Senate exceed the House’s appropriation. No objections were raised to the North and
South Carolina graduate tuition proviso which should be approved for next
year. Efforts will be made to make the
proviso permanent.
The House and Senate have favorably responded to the
$1 million request for a new Rutledge roof and requested funds to replace
windows in the remaining seven buildings built before 1942. The replacement windows will be energy
efficient and maintenance free. The
House has not designated any funds for the Peabody project. The Senate may still allocate some
funds. In spite of the funding issues,
the architect for the $16.4 million Peabody project will be selected next
month. Except for perhaps the front
facade, Peabody will be a new facility.
By this time next spring, the Peabody plans and funding are expected to
be in place. The Governor’s proposed
budget does not include any funds for salary increases. The House’s version includes 2 or 3 % pay
increase. The Senate, which usually
does better than the House, has not yet determined any compensation
increases.
Winthrop’s performance funding score exceeds last
year’s score. Winthrop was the only
free-standing (not a USC branch) four-year institution to receive an “exceeds
goals” rating. Although the
four-year-old performance funding program has utilized different criteria each
year, Winthrop is consistently at the top.
As a top institution under performance funding, we receive a larger share
of state budgeted funds.
The Sims renovation begins in May. The Sims related construction bids are
expected to be in line with the available project funds. Because Sims will be off-line next year, changes
and accommodations will have to be made.
In addition to issues relating to laboratories, 30 to 50 faculty-staff
parking places will be removed during the renovation period. To relieve some of the parking pressure, the
University is trying to lease additional land from the American Legion. Parking
regulations will be enforced. Although
there is a perception that there is a parking shortage, the number of parking
spaces exceeds the number of issued parking stickers.
The Faculty-Staff Awards Ceremony will be in McBryde
at 9:30 next Wednesday, April 26th. On
May 5th, the College of Education will be dedicated as the Richard
W. Riley College of Education. A VIP
luncheon will precede the 1 PM dedication.
A reception follows the dedication.
The dedication and reception are open to the campus community. The College of Education’s convocation will
be at 2:30 at McBryde on May 5th.
Richard W. Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education, will give the convocation
address, and the Rock Hill Elementary Honors Choir will provide the
entertainment.
Approximately 600 graduates are eligible to
participate in the May 6th commencement exercises. Dr. Terry Peterson, Chief Education Aide to Richard W. Riley,
will give the commencement address and receive an honorary doctorate. The new Holly Self Drummond Award will be
given at commencement to the female student who best combines service and
academics. Holly Self Drummond was a
Winthrop honors graduate who passed away last year. Her husband, John Drummond, who is the President-Pro-Tem of the
SC Senate and is a strong Winthrop supporter, established the award.
IV.
Report from the Vice-President for Academic Affairs - Dr. Melford
Wilson
Dr. Wilson made several
announcements. The preliminary
performance funding scores will be available on the Web. Dr. Wilhelmenia Rembert was thanked for her
service as the College of Education’s acting dean. Dr. Jim Johnston was thanked for his leadership in Graduate
Studies and Continuing Studies. Dr.
Danny Turner and the Research Council members were also recognized for their
extra effort required as a result of the additional $50,000 in research
funds. Dr. Rembert and Dr. David
Franklin who is retiring after 34 years of service, will be honored at 3:30 on
Monday in Johnson Hall.
V. Committee Reports
A. Academic Council - Dr. Janice Chism
The proposal to revise
academic eligibility was approved. The
proposal was included in the materials distributed before the conference. After reviewing the procedure for terminating
and suspending an academic program, the Rules Committee determined that two
separate procedures are required. The
Rules Committee will review the language in the procedures before they are
presented to the faculty next year. The
General Education Committee requested Academic Council to decrease the natural
science requirement from nine to seven hours.
The request was not approved.
Academic Council asked Dr. Wilson to appoint a task force to evaluate
the impact of the proposed requirement change on the science competencies and
the new general education competencies currently being developed.
Dr. Tom Moore indicated that
Academic Council’s annual activities report is available with the other Faculty
Conference records in the Vice-President of Academic Affairs office.
B. General
Education Task Force Update – Professor Marilyn Sarow
The proposed general
education program presented earlier this year consists of an essential learning
core, the inner core and the outer core.
Four teams of faculty are responsible for developing the competencies of
the essential learning core. The
technology competency has been completed and will be added to the web
page. The written communication
competency is almost finished and progress continues on the quantitative
reasoning and oral communication competencies.
Two teams have been assembled to develop two inner core courses,
Critical Thinking and Human Experience I.
The teams include Dr. Debra Boyd, Dr. Alice Burmeister, Dr. Wanda DeLeo,
Mr. Alan Huston, Mr. Bud Katter, Dr. Tom Moore, Dr. Marielon Ratliff, Dr.
Seymour Simmons, Dr. Jeff Sinn, and Dr. Jo Tarvers. Additional assistance will be provided by Dr. Anne Fletcher, Dr.
Mel Goldstein, Ms. Gale Teaster, and Dr. Marge Tebo-Messina. Other faculty may be added later. The Task Force appreciates the large number
of faculty interested in helping with the general education project. In the fall, work will begin on the outer
core.
C. Committees
No other committees reported.
D. Written
Annual Committee Reports
Dr. Tom Moore has asked the
Committee chairs to submit their annual committee reports to him. He will be then deliver the reports to the
Vice-President of Academic Affairs office.
VI. Old Business
There was not any old business.
There was not any new business.
Dr. Tom Moore thanked Dr. Jo
Tarvers for serving as Parliamentarian and Dr. Michele Henderson for serving as
the Secretary to the Faculty Conference during the past academic year. The graduate faculty will meet after the
Faculty Conference adjourns. As
suggested by Dr. John Bird, the committees will meet to elect their chairs
after the graduate faculty meeting.
Committee meeting times and locations were announced by Dr. Moore. Danny Turner, chair of Research Council,
announced that the research grant award letters would be sent out early next
week.
IX. Adjournment
The Faculty Conference
adjourned at 3:43 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Michele C. Henderson
Secretary