Indianapolis Faculty Council Meeting

December 3^rd, 2021

3:00-4:00pm

Zoom Meeting

Debrief on VCAA candidates

                Shared general reactions to candidates

                                General consensus was that we could work with either candidate

Differences in personality we addressed, more energy from candidate one, but depth and longevity in higher ed was a strength in candidate 2.

Statewide faculty council update

Statewide council leadership- Current president is stepping down at end of term, administration seeking new leadership but having hard time finding volunteers. Vice Chair is willing to step in as chair, and Sue and Kara are considering appointing another leader for the group. There is a fear that no one wants to be a leader in this space because of the tasks required and the reception they receive once they complete their term.

Loading task force- started with 80 people, attendance is down now to 20-30 attendees, dominated by Vice Chancellors in the past 4 months. Faculty called out for the lack of progress on the task force to date. Questions are surfacing about what will come from the task force at this point with no actionable items.  This group meets every 2 weeks, for 2 years. Kara and Sue have only attended a hand full of meetings for part of the meeting time. Kare and Sue did not want to have influence over this task force, so justified their lack of attendance in this way. The purpose for this group was to create a proposal for Sue and Kara. There is no budget associated with this work, so task force is not sure if they have to be net zero or money could be allocated for it. Allan Lewis has created an Excel form that calculated some scenarios, to showcase cost. Emily Bobo and Mathew Probst have been leading the task force. Faculty do not know other faculty loading practices whereas VCAA’s do, so VCAA’s have taken a stronger role. The original intent was equitable loading. Erica will create a Google Doc for the council that will capture the council’s thoughts on faculty loading. Erica will send invites to contribute.

Faculty Advising Role:

Faculty that have not had traditional advising loads are concerned about the added work as well as overall expectations with accurate advising and general load dispersion. Faculty need training on what is expected on advising. Ivy Advising does not appear to reflect accurately student advisors. Comments and concerns about advising can be added to previous task force document mentioned above that will come from Erica.

Personalized Signatures:

                Cracking down on individualized signatures and go back to basics.

Diversity Equity Belonging Focus Group

                No information has been or planned to be provided to council on this initiative.