(1) Call to Order - President Vinodgopal called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m.

(2) Memorial Resolution for Bill May - The following resolution was read into the minutes and copies will be sent to the family.

Silas William "Bill" May, associate professor emeritus of biology, died on July 18, 2002 at the age of 64.  Bill was born on Christmas day in 1937.  He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of New Mexico in 1960.  Bill worked as a high school chemistry and biology teacher in Los Angeles, California from 1962 to 1965.  In 1965, Bill started working for the U.S. Department of Defense teaching high school biology at Clark Air Force Base in the Phillippines.  Five years later, Bill left the Phillippines to pursue a Master's degree in Microbiology at the University of Oklahoma.  Earning his Masters in 1971, Bill was already working diligently toward his Doctorate in Microbiology at the University of Oklahoma.  In 1974, Bill joined the Indiana University Northwest community as an Assistant Professor in Biology.  In 1980, Bill was promoted to Associate Professor.

Bill's association with IUN was twenty-eight years long and marked with dedication and commitment to the university.  Bill's IUN administrative roots began when he served as the Chairman of the Biology Department from 1985 to 1988.  Bill left the Biology Department to serve IUN as Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs in 1988.  In 1992, he was asked to serve as Acting Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs and held that position for three years.  In 1995, Bill continued his work in Academic Affairs now serving as Associate Vice-Chancellor.  In 1997, Bill helped the IUN community by acting as Interim Dean for the School of Education.  In 2000, he returned to Academic Affairs as Interim Executive Vice-Chancellor and then Special Assistant to the Chancellor. Bill officially retired from IUN in December 2001, but he did not leave the IUN community.  Bill was often seen on campus or at an IUN fund raiser.

Silas May's life was brutally cut short on July 18, 2002.  Bill will always be remembered fondly by those whose lives he touched during his tenure at IUN.  He was a dedicated teacher, a no nonsense administrator and a friend to many within the IUN community.  Bill's jovial nature and his infectious smile will be missed.  Bill is survived by two sisters, Rita Yarbrough and Marsha Byrd, and by the alumni and his colleagues at Indiana University Northwest.  We will all continue to miss him very much.

(3) Minutes of the September 20, 2002 meeting  - A motion to approve the minutes of the September 20, 2002 Faculty Organization meeting was made, seconded and approved unanimously.

(4) President's Report  - United Way campaign will begin shortly.  IUN's goal for this year is $15,000.  Packets will be mailed to your office and remember payroll deductions are the easiest way to make donations.

(5) Chancellor's Report -

• Very positive about IUN's current situation.  Significant increase in enrollment for the past four terms.  The last time Fall enrollment exceeded the previous year was 1997.  Retention is also up (57.3% for last year and 61.4% for this year).  We are the only regional campus where the number of first time enrollees is up.  Reasons for this increase are unclear but telecounselors will be doing a quick survey of new first time students to help determine causes.  Financially IUN is in good shape with reserves from last year.  However, state budget does not look good and this could affect budgets for higher education.
• Groundwork for the new building is underway.  We should be seeing signs of construction in the next couple of days.
• President Brand has resigned from the university and plans to name an interim are moving forward quickly.  An interim President will be named at the Fort Wayne Trustee's Meeting on November 1, 2002.  A permanent President should be named by the end of the summer.
• Response to Faculty Organization's resolution regarding replacement of the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs - Chancellor believes that we need to continue to delay the search until the end of this academic year.  By then AQUIP will be further underway and the Program Prioritization will be complete.  He is also considering the "Provost" model.
• Questions for the Chancellor - (1) Budgetary Implications of Business Accreditation?  Chancellor surprised that this is even an issue.  The loss of the accreditation has had a significant negative effect on IUN and we need to get it back.  When we have it back, then we can discuss whether strategically we need to continue it.  (2) How many of our peer institutions have this accreditation?  Unsure, however three of the other regional campuses have the ASCSB accreditation.

(6) Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affair's Report -

• Introduction of Nursing Faculty - Susan Rouse and Ellen Hood
• Promotion and Tenure, Grant-in-Aid and Summer Faculty Fellowship dossiers are due to the VCAA office on the third Monday in October.
• Academic Priorities Committee (APC) met their deadline and submitted a list of prioritized positions to me by September 27.  I have produced a final list after combining the Dean's recommendations with the APC's list.  This final list along with the list of non-academic positions will be submitted to the Campus Budget Committee who will determine which positions will be funded.  Conservatively, eight of the academic positions and possibly all twelve if the bottom does not drop out.
• Questions for VCAA (answered by the Chancellor as VCAA had to leave) - (1) When will the new student friendly 2003-04 bulletins be available?  Probably within a month as they are in the final stages of layout but not yet to the printer.  (2) When you spoke to the A&S Humanities faculty, you stated new hires would be required to be actively engaged in the NW region.  You stated that this is a national trend.  Are our peer institutions requiring this?  No plunging, no edicts at this time, however the VCAA and the Deans will commence dialogue on what constitutes community engagement.

(7) Vice-Chancellor for Technology Report - IUN has launched a new home page, please check it out.  Please put all intellectual properties on your personal home pages without the copyright footer.  Links can be established from departmental pages to personal faculty home pages.

(8) ONCOURSE Presentation - Jay Fern from UTIS-Teaching and Learning highlighted the advantages of using Web based teaching and learning.  ONCOURSE will automatically track changes (add and drops) from your student list.  Currently, 69% of faculty and students are using ONCOURSE.  On October 30, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning will host a brown bag on using ONCOURSE in the LC Room 330 from 11a.m. to 1p.m.

(9) Committee Reports

• UFC report - Professor Don Coffin reported that the state budget looks bad.  People Soft will not be able to do lots of what we would want it to do. Regional campuses do many things in different ways for Bloomington and Indianapolis.  People Soft will be geared to their needs and not the needs of the regional campuses.   Michael McRobbie has been selected to be new VP for Research and Information Technology.
• Academics Priorities Committee - Professor Vinodgopal reported that APC submitted its list to the VCAA by the end of September deadline.  Question - Since final list is significantly different from the APC list, do you feel the APC did anything worthwhile?  Yes, to a limited extent.  This year has been an advancement over past years but not to the level of the committee's expectations.  The final list was nearly identical to the Dean's list, however the Dean's list might be different from the past since the APC existed.
•  Faculty Affairs Committee - There should only be one Promotion and Tenure goldenrod document.  The Executive Committee has charged us with producing such a document and to incorporating the Lecturer to Senior Lecturer guidelines into this document. 

(10) New Business - Professor Don Coffin's proposed Shared Vision resolution was tabled by a motion to adjourn.

 (11)  Adjournment  - The Faculty Organization meeting adjourned at 3:02 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Angel V. Gochee

Secretary