A. PRESIDENT'S REPORT - This report was presented by Academic Council President Ralph Wilkerson.

1. Topics discussed at the April IFC meeting were presented to the Academic Council.

a. Curator Paul Steele reported on the selection process for the new UM System President. The Search Committee will consist of two Curators Professors or Distinguished Teaching Professors from each campus, with a chair chosen from the current IFC representatives.

b. A draft of the Copyright Policy will be distributed to the faculty electronically through the General Faculty list serve. All comments should be directed to Steve Lehmkuhle with a copy to Ralph Wilkerson, Don Myers or Lenn Koederitz.

c. The state budget is a topic of concern. UM President Manuel Pacheco spoke at length about a presentation from Jim Moody, budget director for past Governor John Ashcroft, explaining the structural problems within the Missouri's budget. The state is in a bad situation and it will probably take two to three years to recover.

B. CHANCELLOR'S REPORT - This report was presented by Chancellor Gary Thomas.

1. Missouri legislators have made their recommendations for the higher education budget. Since the House and Senate do not agree, the budget will go to a conference committee. The House approved a 10% cut in appropriations and voted to penalize UMC, UMSL and UMKC, costing UMR $700,000. The Senate approved a 10% reduction in Bright Flight scholarships, eliminating Advantage Missouri dollars and a 10% reduction in Missouri College Guarantee. It will cost UMR $500,000 to make up the loss of scholarship dollars.

2. UMR has a bright future if we take care of ourselves by attracting and retaining students and making the most of corporate and alumni fund-raising campaigns. With continued growth in enrollment, UMR will function independently by the end of next year, using state resources for extras. Missouri cannot fund higher education for 2-3 years. The K-12 foundation formula, prison population and the increasing number of Medicaid citizens devour state revenues.

C. PROVOST'S REPORT - This report was presented by Provost Y.T. Shah.

1. The Search Committee for the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences has submitted their recommendation to the Provost. The announcement of the new dean will be made soon.

2. The Search Committee for the Director of the Library, chaired by Larry Grayson, will begin interviewing candidates in late April and early May. The new Director will be in place by Fall 2002.

3. The Search for the Director of Admissions is underway. Jeff Cawlfield is chair of the search committee.

4. At a recent meeting of staff who gather data used for planning, assessment and benchmarking, it was clear that a coordinated effort by a common group would be more productive. Presently, several staff members work independently to collect information resulting in duplicated efforts and data. The Provost is in the process of forming a search committee, chaired by Robert Montgomery, to select a Director of Institutional Research.

5. Marketing analysis indicates that there is a lot of interest in communications programs. A "Communications Task Force" has been created, with Arlan DeKock serving as chair.

6. The Provost reported good news in the each of the four goal areas of Recruitment, Retention, Research and Distance Education.

a. Distance Education has 300 students enrolled with a target of 500. UMR has four new approved certificate programs that are moving forward. There are four masters programs available on the Internet. Ninety students will graduate this year from the Fort Leonard Wood Master's program. We are creating video-production facilities in the Library, Engineering Management, Electrical Engineering and Civil Engineering. The Provost would like to involve everyone in Distance Education.

b. The number of enrolling freshmen has increased by 100 students over last year. The number of transfer students is increasing and we are doing very well with the number of graduate student admissions. Dean Jay Goff is putting all of the processes in place including aggressive marketing with new brochures to optimize diversity, quality and number of students. The Provost appreciates all the efforts of the faculty and advisors across the campus.

c. Provost Shah and Harvest Collier have met with all departments to discuss specific strategies to improve retention. Both the Division of Foundational Studies (DFS) and the departments agree that building a strong network of good advisors during the freshman and sophomore years is very important. A freshman study program, such as a common first-year class or a bonding course, is essential in making students feel they belong at UMR. Input is needed to build a better mentoring effort to help students succeed.

d. Research dollars have increased by 23%--from $17.3 million last year to $22 million this fiscal year. Cost sharing is down by 11%. Projections of net recovery equal $5.4 million, with 25% going back to the faculty.

A. RULES, PROCEDURES AND AGENDA (RP&A) - This report was presented by Mike Hilgers, Academic Council Parliamentarian.

1. The RP&A committee presented a two-part proposal regarding the reorganization of the standing and special committees of Academic Council. The first step would require changing the U.M.R. Faculty Bylaws to allow the possibility of reorganization. The second step would be the development and implementation of a leaner infrastructure.

2. Academic Council is now made up of 23 standing sub-committees requiring 200 faculty representatives. The current structure is unwieldy and response to critical situations is slow with an end result of little faculty input to major campus decisions.

3. RP&A would like to reorganize Academic Council into fewer standing committees that are more broadly defined. It would be more productive to revamp RP&A into an "Executive Committee" including the standing committee chairs. It would also be beneficial to maintain continuity when choosing committee chairs so there is no loss of functionality from year to year.

4. A change in the "Faculty Bylaws of the University of Missouri - Rolla" (/acadcoun/pdf/revised-bylaws.pdf) must precede any work on the structure of Academic Council. RP&A recommends changing Section 5 to reflect the fact that Academic Council has the right to establish and/or disband standing subcommittees (of Academic Council) and has a role and responsibility in defining the membership and duties of the subcommittees. RP&A further recommends removing Section 6 of the bylaws with the 23 sub-committee definitions and changing any reference to RP&A in the bylaws to "Executive Committee."

5. If the proposed change in the "Faculty Bylaws of the University of Missouri - Rolla" is approved by the General Faculty and the Board of Curators, a discussion of the reorganization of standing committees will take place. RP&A envisions an Academic Council structure along the lines of the campus administration. This would improve flexibility with no loss of functionality.

6. There was a motion and a second to approve proposed bylaw changes. The Academic Council body voted unanimously to approve the motion to change the "Faculty Bylaws of the University of Missouri - Rolla."

B. PUBLIC OCCASIONS - This report was presented by Jeff Cawlfield for Lenn Koederitz, Committee Member.

1. A resolution concerning class meeting times was presented. The results of an electronic mail poll concerning changing class times were given: 32 preferred the new schedule, five were against changing the current schedule and one person did not care.

2. There was a motion and a second to approve the Resolution Concerning Class Meeting Times.

3. Jay Goff explained that the new schedule is designed to add a class period each day, as few students were taking classes offered at 7:30 A.M. The new schedule eliminates the Academic Free Hour on Tuesday and Thursday. Classes will stop before 5:00 P.M. leaving an hour open for meetings before evening classes begin. The new schedule should not adversely impact Rolla High School students who are "dually enrolled" because administrators at the high school are willing to work with the new schedule.

4. There was a motion and a second to amend the original motion to approve the Resolution Concerning Class Meeting times to eliminate the Academic Free Hour. Concern was expressed regarding the number of meeting and event conflicts that have occurred since the Academic Free Hour was introduced. Also, complaints from students regarding long lines at the cafeteria were cited.

5. Student Council Representative Ryan Wilson stated that maintaining an Academic Free Hour on Monday, Wednesday and Friday creates an opportunity to build unity.

6. It was noted that the Student Affairs Committee recommended to the Academic Council at the February meeting that the Academic Free Hour be retained.

7. The Academic Council body did not pass the motion as amended. The motion failed in a hand count.

8. The Academic Council body voted to approve the motion to approve the Resolution Concerning Class Meeting Times. The motion passed.

C. BUDGETARY AFFAIRS - A report was not presented as Greg Gelles, Committee Member, was absent.

D. ADMISSIONS AND ACADEMIC STANDARDS - This report was presented by Mike Hilgers, Committee Member.

1. At the February Academic Council meeting, the committee recommended moving the drop date to one week after midterm grades are posted, as this would give students a chance to see their grades before making the decision to drop a class. This is not feasible as it adversely affects athletic eligibility and financial aid recipients.

2. The committee also recommended that student withdrawals be eliminated from the DWF reports. It was indicated at the February meeting that this would require a computer program rewrite at the UM System level. It was found that the reports could easily be modified.

3. There was a motion and a second to recommend to the Chancellor that the DWF report be modified to eliminate student withdrawals. The Academic Council body voted to approve the motion.

E. TENURE - This report was presented by Jerry Cohen, Committee Chair.

1. A preliminary report on matters recently referred to the Tenure committee was given. A final report will be turned in later.

a. The committee decided that in the case of a Joint Appointment, the salary should come from both departments, with the salary split in proportion to the percentage numbers of the appointment.

b. The School of Management and Information Systems (MIS) does not yet have sufficient faculty to participate in the Campus Tenure/Promotion committee. The Tenure committee has approved a two-part rule for MIS, allowing them to have representation.

c. It was reported to the committee that present regulations pertaining to the appeal procedure in tenure/promotion cases leave some rejected candidates unclear about how to proceed with an appeal. The committee is considering a revision of the appeal procedure in tenure/promotion cases.

d. The issue of a regulation requiring the inclusion of women/minorities in the campus tenure promotion committee has recently been addressed. The committee is looking into the matter requesting input from the other UM campuses for guidance.

e. The Provost has decided that midterm tenure review is mandatory and has asked the committee to address several questions.

F. CURRICULA - This report was presented by Thomas Schuman, Committee Member.

1. There was a motion and second to approve course changes generated from the March 2002 meeting. The Academic Council body voted unanimously to accept the March report.

2. There was a motion and second to approve course changes generated from the April 2002 meeting.

3. It was noted that it is bad policy to present a lengthy report at the Academic Council meeting for immediate approval. A question was raised as to whether it was mandatory that reports be submitted to Academic Council some time before the meeting. The Parliamentarian stated that the April report was on the agenda and the report did not have to be presented before the meeting.

4. There was a challenge to the Parliamentarian. The ruling of the Parliamentarian was upheld by a vote of the membership.

5. There was a call for quorum. Roll was called, absentees noted were: Craig Adams, S.N. Balakrishnan, Richard Brow, Kelvin Erickson, Greg Gelles, Patrick Guinta, Lenn Koederitz, Michael Meagher, Mark Mullin, Hal Nystrom, Marshall Porterfield, James Stone, Kristine Swenson, H.L. Tsai, Philip Whitefield and Paul Worsey. A quorum was not present and the meeting was dismissed at 3:15 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,
Todd Hubing, Secretary