October Faculty Senate Meeting

The Faculty Senate met on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 4:00 p.m. in the Atkinson Room at the Lane University Center. The agenda included an announcement regarding the launch of the annual faculty morale survey, a discussion of the future goals of the Excellence in Academic Advising Task Force, and a budget update from Provost Dr. Elizabeth Throop.

President Nowaczyk started the meeting by discussing the visibility of certain majors and programs on the FSU website. He advised that changes to the platform are imminent. Moving to the topic of budgets, Nowaczyk hearkened back to his State of the University address by saying that, “affordability gets students in the door, but it doesn’t get them registered.” In an update about the status of on-campus construction projects, the President reported that as of Oct. 2, 70% of the roof to the new residence hall was completed and though construction “is a little behind schedule,” the President feels assured that unseasonably warm conditions this month should allow the crews to catch up. Moreover, the design phase of the new health science building is on track.

The President also announced continuing discussions with the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, a non-profit organization founded by the families of the astronauts who died in the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. The organization has identified Frostburg State University as a potential site for programming which would target K-12 students in the region, according to Nowaczyk.

The next address was from Provost Elizabeth Throop who reported that her office was able to approve only 15 of the 31 requested faculty positions. Therefore, 16 positions will not be filled, campus-wide. Throop suggested that these decisions “follow national norms” and many factors were taken into consideration, including the ratio of tenure track to non-tenure track faculty, the number of credit hours to be covered by incoming employees, and the number of majors in each department. Throop hopes to attract “as big, as diverse, and as qualified a pool as possible” for each open position.

The meeting included a presentation by the Frostburg Foundation which reported that in 2019, 32% of all giving was from faculty and staff of the university. While this figure is down from the all-time high of 37% in 2018, faculty and staff have already contributed 21% of all Foundation funding for the fiscal year 2020. This generous support provides financial assistance for students in the form of scholarships and can be allocated to specific departments at the individual faculty member’s discretion.

The remainder of the meeting was dominated by the Faculty Concerns Committee who sought input and approval of changes to the faculty evaluation schedule, to the multi-year non-tenure track contract guidelines, and to update the subcommittee’s charter which would change the title of the “Umbudspersons Committee” to the “Faculty Mediation Committee.”

The Faculty Senate meets the first Monday of each month in the Atkinson Room at 4:00 p.m. All members of the campus community are welcome to attend.