The JSSB.
The JSSB.

The Metropolitan State University of Denver Faculty Senate opened its biweekly meeting with President Katia Campbell, Ph.D., reading a statement on the recent death of Ron Miles, MSU Denver musician-in-residence and lecturer, followed by a moment of silence. Roadrunners can learn more about Miles and his many contributions to jazz and MSU Denver on RED. 

 

Faculty-advising survey 

Guest Brandy Swanson, advising coordinator for Training and Development, discussed the faculty-advising survey results along with Sen. Gabrielle Katz, Ph.D., chair of the Faculty Welfare Committee. Surveys were administered to faculty advisors in 2021. 

 Respondents included:  

  • 50 from College of Letters, Arts and Sciences 
  • 26 from College of Health and Applied Science 
  • 13 from School of Education 
  • 5 from College of Business 

Quantitative survey responses:

  • 61% were submitted by associate and full professors. 
  • 83% have been advising for six or more years (not just at MSU Denver). 
  • A majority reported advising 10-49 students per semester. 
  • 96% indicated that their belief in individualized student advising is important to student success. 
  • 62% reported being able to allot the appropriate amount of time to advising; 38% reported not having enough time. 
  • 65% reported having little to no training in preparation for the role of faculty advisor. 
  • 81% reported they are supported by a staff advisor and clearly understand how that advisor’s role works in partnership with their own. 

Banner 9 update 

Registrar Connie Sanders offered an update on the upgrade of the Banner self-service website. In October, student registration was upgraded to Banner 9, and now the faculty self-service is being upgraded as well. New features include a new interface, preferred student names on rosters and a separate faculty/advisor hub for clearer navigation. Banner 9 will go live April 23, and demonstrations will be offered: 

  • April 4 from 1-2 p.m. 
  • April 5 and 6 from 10-11 a.m. 
  • April 7 from 2-3 p.m. 
  • April 8 from 10-11 a.m.  

 To be included in user testing, contact Sanders. 

 

Announcements 

  • The Faculty Senate adopted MSU Denver’s optional-mask policy because of the option to attend meetings virtually.  
  • There is no update regarding faculty compensation. Once more specific information is known, it will be presented to the Faculty Senate for feedback. Campbell says she “always” advocates for raises. 
  • Sen. Bob Schatz, Ph.D., professor of Psychological Sciences, announced that the Faculty Federation is sponsoring a “Think and Drink” hangout at the Tivoli after Faculty Senate meetings. 

 The minutes from the March 2 meeting were approved with 78 yes votes, one no vote and zero abstentions.  

 

Banking Policy second read 

The purpose of the Banking Policy is to provide systems for faculty compensation for teaching mentorship courses such as internships, independent study and directed teaching beyond a typical teaching load. The policy passed with 71 yes votes, five no votes and two abstentions.  

 

Workload Proposal update 

Katz offered an update on the Workload Proposal update. The proposal, intended to ease workload on Category I and Category II faculty members, has been completed. There will be a first read April 6 followed by a special session April 13.  

 

Handbook revisions 

Faculty Trustee Bethany Fleck, Ph.D., presented edits to the departmental guidelines so handbook language can be changed. The goal of the edits is to improve and protect the process of shared governance in the way department guidelines are written and edited. The changes are intended to give more say to Category I faculty members in every department. The full revisions can be found here. 

 

University badging policy 

Jessica Weiss, Ph.D., assistant professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism, offered a first read of the updated Badging Policy. Most changes are in procedures with a list of required information for proposing a badge credential. The updated version identifies which selected person will be in charge and a person who will oversee the process of vetting, housing and coordinating the credentialing-proposal process. Additionally, the credentials will be on one of three tracks run through the Badging Committee: those tied to classes with academic credits, those that will run through Innovative and Lifelong Learning and those that are not with ILL and are noncredit. 

 

Change to graduation honors 

The current process for designating honors requires a student to have completed a specific number of credit hours at MSU Denver and have a minimum grade-point average of 3.65. The top 5% of graduates within each school may receive summa cum laude designation, the next 5% are magna cum laude, and the next 5% are cum laude. The percentages are labor-intensive by requiring manual calculation, and the method means students with identical GPAs in different colleges could be rewarded differently depending on surrounding students.  

The proposed change is to have a flat GPA requirement within each school/college decided by the respective dean. This would allow students to learn sooner whether they will receive honors and would not require a faculty member to manually calculate percentages for each college. The GPA requirements would be reviewed at least every five years. There is also a proposed change that would not require a certain number of hours at MSU Denver to accommodate transfer students who would otherwise graduate with Latin honors if not for a minimum number of hours. 

 

Change to General Studies partial-credit deviation  

Students who transfer in from schools that are on a different schedule (trimester or quarter) have different credit breakdowns and can often fall short of the full credit-hour requirement for a specific class. This policy has been reworded to note that deviations of less than one credit hour can be accommodated to meet General Studies requirements. It is also applicable for Multicultural Studies.