Faculty Senate News

President's Report 10/25/24

October 25, 2024  / Lyndsay Rhodes 

BOG updates  

The full BOG agenda and materials for the October 18th meeting can be found at the BOG website and the video recording of the meeting is available on The Florida Channel. 

• Regulation Changes 

There were quite a few regulation changes on the consent agenda for this meeting (no discussion). I encourage you to review. 

Regulation 8.003 Textbook and Instructional Materials Affordability and Transparency 
New approved language requiring each university board of trustees to outline a process for textbook and instructional materials approval and adoption in a university regulation. The amendment also includes the requirement for faculty and instructors to attest that all required course materials will be reviewed for each course they teach each semester.  

Development of the FGCU regulation will be initiated in Senate (likely Faculty Affairs Team) and approved by full Senate prior to going to General Council and the BOT for final approval (June meeting). Please engage unit faculty for feedback in this process. 

 Next BOG meeting is at FIU October 30, 2024. Full agenda and materials are available on the FLBOG website. The pre-BOG meeting with ACFS is this afternoon, but if you have any questions or input regarding action items, please send that to me. We will have lunch with the Governors on October 30th.  

 Governor Timothy M. Cerio visited FGCU campus October 23rd for a couple of hours. He visited with leadership and students. I believe VP Chumbley will provide us with more information on the visit.  

ACFS Updates 

Advisory Council of Faculty Senates will meet at FIU on October 29, 2024. ACFS continues to discus and consult on the syllabi search request, Regulation 8.003, and the general education review. ACFS will be reviewing and drafting best practices for textbook/course materials review to provide to university BOTs as it relates to Regulation 8.003.  

Syllabus search has been concluded and the Chancellor staff sent a list of a selected courses for further faculty review. FGCU did not have any courses on this selected sample for review, so no further action is being taken at this time.

Board of Trustees Updates 

BOT met for limited agenda meeting October 24th, 2024.  

• Approved additional FGCU Linking Industry to Nursing Education (LINE) Fund Proposals  

• FGCU Naples Comprehensive Health System $150,000 

These match funds will go to support nursing education through additional student scholarships, clinical experiences, and expansion of simulation equipment and other lab support. 

Will go for BOG approval at the next BOG meeting. If approved this will bring our total LINE funding for the year to $1.4M. 

Other University Updates

• Reminder to all faculty that missed contact hours due to campus closures are required to be made up over the course of the semester. This can be through virtual and/or asynchronous assignments to be determined by each faculty member as appropriate to your course content and student learning outcomes. Updated syllabi were due to units this past Monday October 21, 2024.
  
  

• Provost and VP SSEM Searches officially launch November 1, 2024 
  Listening Sessions: Vice President Searches 
  You are invited to attend listening sessions with Greenwood Asher & Associates, where consultants will lead the discussion and prompt the audience with questions about both positions, as they will work closely together. 

• Session 1: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday, October 31, Academic Building 9, Room 106 

• Session 2: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday, November 1, Academic Building 9, Room 138 

Faculty are encouraged to nominate individuals they think would be a good fit for these positions to Greenwood Asher. Now is the time! 

• Reminder that Professional Development Fund Grant application is now open and we have moved to 3 review cycles. The new review cycles are meant to increase the efficiency of our reviews and more timely decision making. There is a lot of new information, so please review the guidelines and frequently asked questions carefully. The information can be found on the PDFG website. 
  
  
• Great Colleges to Work for Survey Results 
  Listening sessions and townhalls occurred this week. I know it was short notice, and many were not able to make it. We will continue to engage the consultant with ModernThink, Richard Boyd. Would you all like a Faculty Senate follow up session to review results in more detail? If so, would you like this as part of Senate or separate session? And would you prefer this sooner (Fall) or wait until we have more time with the information at the unit levels (Spring)?
   

Announcements

Commencement Volunteers 

Ceremony #1: Saturday, December 14 | 10 a.m. 

• College of Arts & Sciences (minus students in the Integrated Studies program) 

Ceremony #2: Saturday, December 14 | 3 p.m. 

• Lutgert College of Business 

• College of Arts & Sciences (only students in the Integrated Studies program) 

Ceremony #3: Sunday, December 15 | 10 a.m. 

• The Water School 

• U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering 

• College of Education 

• Marieb College of Health & Human Services 

• Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship
  
  

John Herman Award for Excellence in General Education 

The John Herman Award is now open for application, which are due November 15, 2024 by 5pm. More information can be found in an email from the Provost from September 23 or contact Dr. Joe Ross (jvross@fgcu.edu).

Faculty Fall Festival 

Reminder that the First Annual Fall Faculty Festival is November 4th from 4-6 in the AB9 room 138. In addition to fall snacks, drinks, games and fellowship, we will be having a Book Exchange.  

How It Works: 

1. Bring Your Books: Gather any gently used books you’d like to exchange. Fiction, non-fiction, and professional development titles are all welcome! 

1. Swap and Share: Browse through the selection of books brought by fellow faculty members and take home new reads that inspire you. 

1. Connect and Enjoy: Join us for refreshments and engage in conversation with colleagues. 

Whether you’re looking to declutter your shelves or find something new to dive into, we encourage everyone to participate. If you have any questions, please reach out to Lee Ann Frederick, lafrederick@fgcu.edu.