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English Department Meeting: Nov. 16, 2022

English Department Meeting Information

  • Meeting Date: 11/16/22
    • Minutes Taker: Chris Kuipers
    • John Marsden will monitor the chat for any issues we need to discuss
  • Zoom Meeting Link: https://iupvideo.zoom.us/j/7243571701?from=addon
  • Next Meeting: Nov. 16 Wednesday from 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
    • Topics for the Meeting:
      • English Writing Assessment
      • English Service Workload
      • ENGL 101 Seat Shortage
      • A staffing plan for the MATESOL Program will be reviewed by the CAL Program and will be brought to the department for information once CAL has finished reviewing it

Upcoming Events

English Winter Party

  • TBA from 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Secret Angel Event

  • TBA
  • Thanks to Gloria Park for coordinating this wonderful chance to celebrate the end of the semester with your colleagues

Important Dates & Information

DETC Deadlines

  • Fall Observations Due: Nov. 14 (Mon.)
  • Spring Observations Due: Feb. 27 (Mon.)
  • DETC Digital Documents Due: Mar. 6 (Mon.)–Send via email attachment to Lingyan Yang, Mike Williamson, and Gian
  • DETC Printed Documents Due to Lingyan Yang: Mar. 6–Place in a manilla folder with your name on it
  • DETC Evaluation DRAFTS Due: Mar. 20

Chair Election

  • Nominations will be accepted by December 1
  • The department needs to vote to approve/not approve each candidate
  • Approved nominations go the president and APSCUF by December 16
  • The president’s office will send approval of nominations by January 17
  • The candidates will provide a statement two weeks prior to the “Meet the Candidates” event, no later than February 15
  • Candidates debate “should occur no earlier than the first week of February and no later than the last week of February.” [There are guidelines for this event in the document.]
  • The Qualtrics vote will occur no later than March 15. [This is conducted by an APSCUF rep with specific procedures and info on run-off if needed.]

Title IX Compliance Training

  • IUP is using a new vendor for Title IX training
  • You likely will have received an email from this address: IUP Compliance Training <compliance-training@getinclusive.iup.edu>
  • You have 60 days from the time you receive the email to complete the required training

Agenda Items

1. English Writing Assessment Update

  • Bryna Siegel Finer (Director of Undergraduate Writing)
  • Update on where we are with our assessment of IUP undergraduate student writing

2. Proposed DETC TA/TF Policy

  • Gian proposes the following motion:
  • English Faculty TA mentors will handle all Teaching Associate (TA) and Temporary Faculty (TF) observations, evaluations, and student evaluations and are automatically designees/members of the DETC for the semester(s) they are mentoring. They do not perform any other duties for the DETC nor do they take part in other DETC meetings nor votes.
    • Rationale: This is our long standing past practice and Gian would like us to vote to make it official policy

3. Proposed Chair Appointments Policy

  • Gian proposes the following motion:
  • The English Chair shall be empowered to appoint faculty members to any open department committee, department task, or other needed position whenever needed before the department’s annual spring elections. The Chair may make appointments even for positions which normally would be voted upon by the faculty in the regular spring election. All such appointments will be for the current academic year or until the originally elected/appointed faculty member is able to return to the position.
    • Rationale: This will limit the number of elections that the Department Elections Committee must manage and provide the Chair flexibility to make sure that key departmental needs are covered on a short term basis whenever a vacancy occurs.

4. Departmental Service Work

  • Thanks to Tanya Heflin and Brian Carpenter for running our Spring department elections to get most of our committee spots filled
  • Thanks also to everyone who agreed to run for the open committee slots
  • We are down to 28 tenured faculty
    • We have no dedicated secretaries left
    • At the end of the next academic year, Jean Nienkamp will retire
    • We are able to cover most program service but we are having trouble covering vital department service
    • The ELC has reviewed this issue but feels the department needs to further discuss it
  • The 2019 English Department Service Policy states:
    • “Each tenured and tenure-track faculty member is expected to serve annually on one program committee, one program subcommittee, and one to two departmental committees, tasks, or special projects. If a faculty member does not serve on a program committee, that faculty member is expected to serve on three departmental committees, tasks, or special projects.”
    • 2019 English Department Service Policy.docx
  • Gian has created a document outlining our current departmental service needs working from the 2019 policy’s list of committees
    • Gian is recommending reducing the number of members on several department committees and department tasks
    • Even with a reduction in the number of members on each committee, we have more needed slots to fill than the 28 faculty we have to fill them
    • A number of faculty are serving on multiple committees which is creating uneven service workload distribution
    • 2022 Departmental Service Needs.docx

1. ENGL 101 Seats Gone

  • All the ENGL 101 seats are gone
  • We are getting dozens of requests from students to be given overrides
  • Please respond to requests with the following:
    • “Unfortunately, all ENGL 101 Spring 2023 courses are full at this time. We want to acknowledge that this is challenging for students, but we have reached capacity for spring. To help address the problem, we are adding extras ENGL 101 classes for the Winter 2022 and Summer 2023 semesters. Financial aid can be used for the winter and summer terms, so if you have questions about that, you should check with IUP’s Office of Financial Aid. We will also offer additional ENGL 101 seats in Fall 2023 to ensure that everyone can get this needed writing course.”
  • Please copy John Marsden on your emails to students so he can keep a list of the requests
  • We will discuss this problem at our November department meeting

Announcements

  • If anyone has an important announcement, we’ll use the last few minutes of the meeting to cover this