Faculty Development

Faculty Development Recorded Workshops

 

Faculty Senate 5 Minute Summaries

  • February 19, 2024
    • ITS gave an update on Windows 11 migration. It was noted that new computer stations began being implemented in Summer 2023. Main campus classrooms and labs should all be upgraded prior to the Fall 2024 semester start. If you need Windows 11 prior to your scheduled update you can upgrade early. You can find upgrade instructions along with other helpful Windows 11 tutorials on ITS Self-Service Portal.     
    • Campus Facilities provided plans and concepts for campus-wide renovations. These plans include making the campus a "park-like" atmosphere and making it more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Currently, University Commons is set to be complete in Fall 2024. To see master plans and concept designs you can go to the Facilities Management site.
    • Committee updates include:
      • The Oral Communication arm of the General Education Redesign was approved.
      • The Tenure and Promotion Committee is currently reviewing peer institution methods and wants to begin listening sessions with faculty who recently obtained tenure to aid in the revision of protocols.
      • ITS Governance reported that the Q drive is going away and items will be migrated to onedrive accounts, Voyager training videos are in the works, and wanted to remind faculty to be vigilant in looking out for and reporting phishing/malware attempts.  
      • The Board of Trustees is discussing a 3% raise for next year.
    • Karin Keith from the Provost's Office sent the following reminders:
      • Please encourage eligible students to apply to the 1911 Society. Deadline is March 1st.
      • Please attend Patti Clayton's workshop in High Impact Teaching on March 5-6. Information can be found here.
      • Please attend book club on kindness to take place in the East Tennessee Room on March 1st 11:30-1:00.
    • Please remember that all faculty are welcome to attend faculty senate meetings. You can attend in person or via zoom. Schedule can be found here.                           

     

    Approved Faculty Senate meeting minutes can be found here.

    As always, please feel free to reach out to other college representatives to raise a question, voice a concern, or develop a resolution.

  • February 5, 2024
    • Guest speaker: Dr. Nick Hagemeier, Vice Provost for Research & Chief Research Officer.
      Dr. Hagemeier provided an update on numbers and rankings coming out of the research office. For more information, see: https://www.etsu.edu/research/. FY22 data was just released a couple months ago and should be visible here. This includes funding and herd ranking numbers.
    • To stay current with updates and funding and networking opportunities out of this office, sign up for the Research Digest Listserv by emailing VPRESEARCH-request@LISTSERV.ETSU.EDU or contacting Dr. Hagemeier directly at Hagemeier@etsu.edu. 

    • Guest speaker: Dr. David Harker & Dr. Matt Palmatier, General Education Redesign Implementation.

    • The Final Recommendation Report of the General Education Restructure Task Force has been revealed. See the taskforce website for the full document and implementation timeline: https://www.etsu.edu/provost/general-education/ .

    • These new recommendations are to be competency-based and transparent, clearly explaining why students are taking courses and the importance of required courses, with increased flexibility and option for student choice in courses.

    • Courses must use high impact teaching practices and promote critical thinking skills - https://www.aacu.org/trending-topics/high-impact.

    • Senate passed the proposed resolution on employee tuition reimbursement benefit.

    • ETSU ITS will transfer all files currently stored on ETSU Q: drives (used for individual faculty and staff) to your ETSU OneDrive for Business folder the week of Monday, March 11.
    • All files stored in Modern Campus CMS for campus web pages that have not been updated in 5 years or more will automatically be removed from Omni campus on July 1, 2024 (this does not apply to photos) 

    • The Charles C. Sherrod Library and Archives of Appalachia recommends using Digital Commons@ETSU when you need to preserve and publicly share University documents that do not need to be updated regularly.  More information at: https://libraries.etsu.edu/research/digilib/university-archives. 
  • January 22, 2024

    Guest Speaker, Bridget Baird, Associate Vice President for Community and Government Relations, attended via zoom and updated FS on committees in Nashville, which have been delayed due to weather. Current updates include:


    • Western Governers University bill may come up again. This bill takes funding away from state located institutions as WGU is based in Utah. It has been gotten rid of in subcommittees before.
    • Important budget requests include phase 2 of Brown Hall renovation and a budget request for the College of Pharmacy. January 31st will be the confirmation hearing for new trustee Tony Treadway
    • The tentative date for the governor presenting the budget is on the evening of February 5th. Budget hearings in the house occur on February 14th with one president from the Local Governing Institutions (LGIs) speaking for all the LGIs to the House Ways and Means Committees. President Noland will speak for ETSU on February 21st to Senate Education.
    • Bridget Baird’s email for further questions or to request to be added to her newsletter: baird@etsu.edu

    The following proposed resolutions were voted on and passed:


    Approved Faculty Senate meeting minutes can be found here.

  • October 9, 2023
    • Dr. Karen King (CIO), Ms. Lori Erickson (Asst VP for Human Resources) and Ms. Christy Graham (CFO) provided a comprehensive overview of the university’s upcoming implementation of the Oracle-based Voyager ERP (Enterprise Resource Management) system. 
    • Dr. King began with a general overview. Implementation of the system will begin January 1st, 2024, with the financial and human resources (HR) systems. Voyager has many benefits over our old, existing system.  Voyager is expected to reduce the university’s operational cost, improve resource management, increase process efficiencies, expand technology integration, workflow automation, role-based access to data, and enhanced security.  Oracle will be providing quarterly system updates; ETSU will be coordinating implementation enhancements with other state universities (UT system and LGIs).  The ten-year costs will be covered by $20M in funding by the state.
    • Ms. Lori Erickson explained that in the HR component, the university will see immediate benefits and efficiencies from Voyager’s integrated hiring and onboarding processes.  The system will have user and mobile device--friendly interfaces that allow for reengineering compensation (for future flexibility) and can produce annual compensation reports for employees.  The move to a bi-weekly payroll model (from the current monthly model) was also covered.  While retirement aspects of faculty compensation will be automatically changed, some optional employee benefits/deductions may need to be updated in Voyager’s employee self-service module.
    • Ms. Christy Graham covered how Voyager brings numerous business process improvements including, but not limited to, easier expense reporting (including image-based receipt uploads), benefits for unit business managers, and some upcoming procedural changes to grants (moving them internally to the project module) which will allow grants to cross financial years.
    • It should be noted that the ‘student side’ of our existing Banner ERP system (i.e., student data, courses, scheduling, etc.) will remain in place for some time.  That change, when it begins, will be a nominal five-year process.
    • For more information, please visit the Voyager system web site at https://www.etsu.edu/voyager/ where you will find links to the recorded HR town hall meetings & comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions page (URL: https://www.etsu.edu/voyager/humanresources.php) as well as a total systems-level FAQ at https://www.etsu.edu/voyager/faq.php.  Questions can be submitted directly via Email at either voyager@etsu.edu &/or hr@etsu.edu
    • ETSU Chief Financial Officer for Business and Finance, Christy Graham, then gave a presentation on the institution’s budget model review initiative—the Strategic Resource Alignment Advisory Committee—that launched in late September.  The committee, chaired by the CFO with Co-Chair Prof. Jim Harlan, has just begun reviewing of the current (college-based) budget model and current operations to identify areas for improvement.  It should be noted that as we are currently in a stable financial position, ETSU is engaging in this activity proactively instead of reactively (like many universities nation-wide have been forced to do).   For more information, please contact Ms. Graham at GRAHAMCA1@etsu.edu.
    • Dr. Ginnette Blackhart gave an update on the Academic Structure Task Force.  After gathering data and information, task force members were tasked with proposing an organizational model for consideration.  Members are now in the process of using a rubric to evaluate seven (7) models consolidated from member inputs.  Town Hall meeting are currently scheduled to be held later this month (October) and then in November. The evaluation process is ongoing; no decisions or recommendations have been made to the ETSU leadership. 
    • Earlier in the morning (Monday, Oct 9th), the Parental Leave Policy was approved by the University Council and is now on its way to the President’s office.  This policy is applicable to full time faculty and staff.
    • Dr. Noland will deliver the annual President’s State of the University address on Friday, Oct 13th at 10 a.m. in the Martin Center for the Arts Powell Recital Hall.  A livestream will be available at https://etsu.edu/president/speeches.  For faculty and staff who attend in person, light refreshments will be served.  
    • Three active requests for public comment may be of particular interest to faculty:

    Attendance Policy (posted Oct, 9, 2023)
    Undergraduate Course Load Policy (posted Oct, 9, 2023); and
    Undergraduate Degree & Graduation Requirements (posted Oct, 9, 2023).

    Please visit the ‘Request For Comment’ website at https://webapps.etsu.edu/RFC.

     

     

  • September 11, 2023
    • Mr. Joe Smith gave an overview of the ETSU Faculty/Staff LGBTQ+ Association which provides informal meetings and other social events for community members and allies to help provide safe spaces, foster connections, and increase acceptance and belonging. The presence of this Association on our campus significantly helps improve faculty/staff recruitment, retention, and well-being; for more information, visit https://www.etsu.edu/lgbtq-plus-association/ or Email your questions or comments to lgbtq@etsu.edu.
    • Dr. Amber Kinser (kinsera@etsu.edu) along with Dr. Alan Forsman (forsman@etsu.edu) discussed their ‘no barrier’ roles as the (new) Ombuds for faculty seeking solutions to various problems and helping them ‘think things through’ using the Four Pillars—Informal, Impartial, Independent, and Confidential—as well as reminding faculty to NOT put details in any Email correspondence; for more information, visit https://www.etsu.edu/provost/ombudsperson.php or Email their office at ombuds@etsu.edu.
    • Dr. Allison Davis, Director of the ETSU Counseling Center discussed a number of their many mental health and wellness/wellbeing initiatives for the 2023-24 academic year.  The following programs were introduced: 1) THRIVE, a suicide and violence prevention program; 2) BE THERE!, a peer support and leadership training offering; and 3) SUPPORITNG STUDENTS, opportunities for faculty and staff wishing to help students in need.  For more information or assistance, please contact the Center via https://www.etsu.edu/students/counseling/, (423) 439-3333 or their offices in suite 326 DP Culp Center.
    • Recently, ETSU began an initiative headed by Dr. Karen Keith, Associate Provost for Faculty (keithkj@etsu.edu, 423-439-8661) to review and update all faculty-related University policies.  Faculty are encouraged to participate in the process by reading the ‘Provost's Pen’ Emails and providing feedback for new/revised policy proposals on the Request for Comment web page at https://webapps.etsu.edu/RFC.
    • The ETSU Equity and Inclusion Conference "Beyond 'Checking a Box:' Building and Sustaining Campus-Wide Engagement for Belonging"—featuring keynote presenter, Dr. Imani Perry, and focusing on topics such as Appalachian identity, culture, race, and accessibility—will be held Sept. 28-30, 2023, with discounted early bird registration available until Friday, Sept 22nd. For more information, please visit https://www.etsu.edu/equity/conference/.
  • April 17, 2023
    • Dr. Karin Keith reported that the Office of the Provost is reviewing  Academic Policies related to faculty, students, or curriculum. Thirty of 89 policies that need minor updates (e.g., title changes) should be revised and posted to the ETSU Policy website by the end of the semester.
    • Cesar Gracia, ETSU Director of Public Safety, described efforts to keep the campus safe:
      • available training
      • after-hours security measures
      • This fall, an anticipated 8-week "academy" for faculty and staff who wish to learn more about ETSU public safety.
    • Drs. Jessica Thomas (of Academic Support Services in Athletics) and Susan Epps discussed student-athlete travel and efforts to improve travel-related absence communication to faculty (reminder- a class absence form covers absences for competition only, and practices are not excused per NCAA rules).
    • Dr. Susan Epps then urged us to nominate people from our ETSU community for the ETSU HEROES HONOR, a prestigious recognition of extraordinary service, with a ceremony scheduled for October 11, 2023. 
  • April 3, 2023
    • The new Board of Trustees Faculty Trustee for 2023-2025 is Dr. Steph Frye-Clark, Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium, and faculty member since 2013.
    • Dr. David Harker and Dr. Sharon McGee shared the work completed so far by the fourteen-member ETSU General Education Task Force working to redesign the courses to incorporate the six core educational competencies, highlight the exciting opportunities these courses offer, and inspire each student to fulfill their potential as socially responsible, informed, self-aware members of society. They encouraged everyone to comment on their proposed framework and competencies by April 10. 
    • Dr. Sarah Miller, on behalf of the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy, discussed the ETSU Operation Substance Use Disorders initiative by presenting live Naloxone administration training for all Senators present,  inviting all ETSU faculty to contact her for training or retraining, and informing us that a dose of Naloxone is in each AED across campus for easy access. 
    • Dr. Matthew Desjardins inquired about any possibility for social media researchers at ETSU to be granted access to Tik Tok to continue their research activities. 

        ETSU Faculty Senate Minutes

 


College of Public Health Faculty Council

Walid Alali
Walid Alali
Faculty Senate Representative

Kate Beatty
Kate Beatty
Faculty Senate Representative

Roger Blackwell

Roger Blackwell
Faculty Senate Representative

Hadii Mamudu
Hadii Mamudu
Faculty Senate Representative

Matt Zahner



Matthew Zahner
Faculty Senate Representative

 

Tricia MettsTricia Metts
Faculty Member

Amy WahlquistAmy Wahlquist
Research Faculty Member