Minutes
Faculty
Advisory Council
HAL
Hall of Honor
Time:
Members
Present:
Dr. Judy Dye, Education
Dr. Catherine Strickland,
Education
Ms. Harriett Pullen, Arts
& Sciences
Dr. Steven Taylor, Arts &
Sciences
Dr. James Elithorp, Arts &
Sciences
Dr. James Day, Arts &
Sciences
Dr. Victor Ortloff, Arts &
Sciences
Mr. John Patton, Communication
& Fine Arts
Dr. Suzanne Stokes, Health
& Human Services
Ms. Cassaundra Henderson for
Ms. Jean Pate, Health & Human Services
Dr. Jerome Bibbins, Business
Dr. Ed Pappanastos, Business
Dr. Iris Saltiel,
Absent
with
Notice: Ms. Betty Chancellor, Library
Dr. Jeanne Wright, Education
Dr. Catherine Allard,
Communication & Fine Arts
Dr. David Dye, Communication
& Fine Arts
Dr. Edith Smith, Health &
Human Services
Dr. Ben Mason,
Dr. Jim Hoyt, Business
Other
Attendees: Mr. Fred Davis, Provost
Dr. Ed Roach, Vice Chancellor,
Academic and Student Affairs
Mr. Lee Vardaman, Director,
Human Resources
Ms. Shellye Vardaman, MSN
Program
The
meeting was called to order by the Chair, Dr. Suzanne Stokes.
1. Roll was called by the secretary, Jo
Williamson.
2. Approval of Minutes from
There being no amendments to the
3. Unfinished
Business
a. Charge of the Faculty Advisory Council – Dr.
Stokes
Dr. Stokes reviewed the charge given
by the University to the Faculty Advisory Council. The FAC is a formal body for the collective
input of the faculty on matters that promote the general welfare of the
university. This includes short and
long-range planning, faculty evaluation, and other areas as given in the Faculty
Handbook and TSU Standing Committees publication.
Faculty who have contacted the
Council chair with questions and concerns have been asked to talk with their
Council representatives as well as to check the Faculty Handbook, the TSU
Standing Committees booklet, or the System Staff Handbook for Classified
and Professional Personnel. Meeting
materials providing Internet links to the System Staff Handbook for
Classified and Professional Personnel and the Faculty Handbook were
distributed; copies of the committees booklet were
available to members who needed the booklet.
Dr. Saltiel
indicated that all of the PC campus faculty do not
receive the Standing Committee book. Mr.
Davis said that all faculty should be receiving this
publication, and if they are not, his office may have to ask for a signature
from faculty upon their receiving the Standing Committees book.
Dr. Stokes introduced a guest,
Shellye Vardaman, who is in her last semester in the MSN program.
b. Status of the Faculty Council Constitution –
Dr. Stokes
The revised Faculty Council
Constitution was distributed; Council members who worked in their capacity as
members of the Faculty Personnel Advisory Council (FPAC) in refining this
document were thanked for the time put into the document review and for the
manner with which they approached their task.
Council members on the FPAC are Dr. Jerome Bibbins, Dr. David Dye, and
Dr. Ed Pappanastos.
A timeline for completing the next
steps in the process was attached to the revised Constitution. The timeline provides sufficient time for a
thorough examination of the document, yet should ensure completion of the task
within the current academic year.
On October 30, a copy of this
revised constitution will be on the FAC web site. FAC members should solicit suggestions for
improvement prior to the January 2004 Council meeting and bring suggestions in
writing to the January meeting.
If no suggestions arise at the
If there are any suggestions, an ad
hoc committee will be appointed to incorporate suggestions into the
document. The report of this committee
will be given at the March 11 meeting, but copies of this document should be
distributed to Council members by February 20 for review prior to the March
meeting.
At the March 11 meeting, if needed,
the ad hoc committee’s document will be discussed with a possible motion to
adopt a revision. If the motion passes,
the revised document will be forwarded to the Chancellor for review and
action. If the motion fails and additional
work is requested by the FAC, additional Council meetings, as needed, will be
called with the goal of completing the task by mid-April.
c. University Health Insurance Concerns – Mr.
Lee Vardaman
Mr. Vardaman addressed questions
that were sent to him by Dr. Taylor, chair of the Council’s Faculty Welfare
Committee.
Mr. Vardaman began by saying that
insurance is pooling your risks. You put
your money in with everyone else in the group with the assumption that most of
us will have little or no claims while those who have substantial claims will
have theirs covered by the pool of money.
TSU is self-insured meaning that your money along with the money
1. Did the administration do a study to
determine whether the faculty/staff population of the TSU System is large
enough to cover the risk with reasonable premiums?
Dr. Carol Jordan, Eminent
Scholar in Risk Management and Insurance, conducted research on behalf of
2. Do published standards or benchmarks on
health insurance pools exist upon which to assist the extent of our risk and the
quality of our risk management.
According to Dr. Jordan and
Blue Cross Blue Shield there are no standards.
3. Are there pools of state and local government
employees willing to join us to increase the size of the pool to spread the
risk and thus lower our premiums?
According to
BCBS, yes. But unfortunately,
they have higher premiums than we have.
4. If
State of
With our current plan we are
running $300,000 more in claims than is coming in.
5. Has a survey been accomplished to find out
the extent of coverage and structure of coverage desired by TSU faculty and
staff?
Not recently. However, we do have the Personnel Advisory
Committee. We will have a meeting on
Monday to discuss this situation. The
committee is presented with the data and decisions are made as to what premiums
are to be charged to cover claims. If
you or your constituents have questions, Dr. Bibbins and Dr. Findley are on
that committee.
Ways that we can try to reduce our
claims are: try to avoid using the emergency room if at all possible; ask if
generic prescriptions are available; be a smart consumer by asking questions
about your treatment and be sure that the treatment is necessary. We can all work towards a healthier lifestyle
with diet, exercise and stopping smoking.
4. New Business
No
new business was discussed.
5. Reports
a. Academic Affairs Committee
The committee was charged with
surveying all the Standing Committees in an effort to get feedback to see if
the committees are working effectively and if they have any suggestions for
improvement. The committee is gathering data at this time.
b. Faculty Welfare Committee
Committee
activity was covered during Mr. Vardaman’s
presentation.
c. Faculty Advisory Council – Dr. Stokes
Following the last meeting, the
proposal for a resolution was submitted to the Tropolitan and to the
Public Relations Office.
As a result of the Council’s
request for representation at University ceremonial events, Dr. Stokes
represented the faculty at the dedication of the Movie Gallery Veterans
Stadium.
As council chair, Dr. Stokes
attended the Board of Trustees meeting on September 27. At that meeting, the Board announced a new
academic building. The new building will be built adjacent to McCartha on the
Library side. The building will house
four auditoriums on the bottom floor; the second floor will have six classrooms
and seven offices. The third floor will
not be finished at this point.
Construction is scheduled to begin Spring 2004
and completed Fall 2005. The building will
be used by all academic departments according to classroom space needs.
Dr. Hawkins hosted a luncheon for
faculty on October 22. Faculty attending
were:
·
·
College of Arts & Sciences: Dr. Jim Reinhart, Dr. Bryant Shaw, Dr.
Bernard Avant
·
The next luncheon will be in
Dr. Pappanastos complemented the FAC website.
Meeting was adjourned at