OSU Emeriti Council Meeting Minutes
Monday, February 24, 2020
1:30 p.m., Emeriti Council Room, Alumni Center
Executive Committee Members Present: Mike Lorenz, Faye Ann Presnal, Kay Keys, Ron Elliott
Council Members Present: Bob Wettemann, Tana Rutan, Gladeen Allred, Barbara Miller, Jim Halligan, Rick Beier, Francis Epplin, Gary Sherrer
Committee Chairs Present: Zane Quible, Glade Presnal]
Agenda:
The agenda was approved with the addition of two items, the March board meeting and the 2020 budget.
Council Minutes:
Minutes of the January meeting were approved as distributed.
Treasurer’s Report:
The treasurer’s report was received as presented. Following discussion, it was moved (Barbara) and seconded (Gladeen) that the 2020 budget be accepted. The motion passed.
Reports and Updates:
Membership Update:
Mike reported that 44 letters had gone out to new retirees and that he was in the process of contacting ten members who haven’t paid dues for two years. They will be dropped if they choose not to pay in 2020. He also reported that he would be meeting with Becky Schlais to discuss the possibility of her becoming the membership chair. There was some discussion regarding whether or not Tim Schlais would be interested in serving as vice-president.
Vice-president Activities Update:
Faye Ann made the following announcements:
- The March program will be presented by Clint Williams, director of development for the McKnight Center, and Darrin Williams, education and community engagement manager for the Center. The presentation will include vocal and instrumental performances by students and a slide show of this year’s activities at the Center.
- Judy White and the Stillwater Community Singers will perform at the April dinner. The program will serve as an introduction of the music for their upcoming April 23 concert.
- The May meeting with OLLI is set for Meditations. Faye Ann will meet soon with Robbin Davis to confirm the program.
- The June meeting is not yet confirmed. She hopes to schedule the Botanic Gardens, but rain can create a problem as there is no guarantee of a back-up space.
- She hopes to arrange a tour of the new baseball stadium at some point.
- The trips are on hold for now while Kaleo Tours works through some issues. Other tour companies are being considered just in case things don’t work out with Kaleo.
Mike suggested that Faye Ann look into the possibility of having the June meeting at Karsten Creek. She will follow up on that idea.
Faculty Council:
Barbara’s complete written report appears at the end of these minutes.
Emeriti Archives:
Barbara stated that she was collecting material for the archives. She will be sending in agendas, minutes, reports, directories, and paper copies of the newsletter.
Emeriti Panel on Retirement: Bob reported the following:
- The title of the new panel presentation will be Retirement 101: Preparation and Planning.
- The panel will be comprised of four or five faculty and staff members plus a representative from HR.
- The Faculty Council will identify a room and advertise for the presentation.
- The session will be recorded for those who are unable to attend.
- The committee is considering March 31, April 1 and 2, and April 8 and 9 as possible dates for the presentation.
Bob asked that topics and questions be sent to him for use by the committee.
Directory:
Zane reported that Misty was compiling a roster, which should be ready at the end of March.
Athletic Council:
Glade reported the following:
- The new baseball stadium is gorgeous.
- Capacity is 3800, but can be expanded to 8000.
- Ninety of 195 club seats have been sold.
- Seven of the 11 suites have already been sold for $25K per year for 5 years (total investment of $125K).
- The Big 12, Regional, and National Tennis Tournaments will be held here in May.
- The National Cross Country Championship will be held at OSU in November.
- The Athletic Department is operating with a balanced budget ($95M in, $95M out).
- Marilyn Middlebrook is studying the attendance policies for athletes and other student groups (musicians, judging teams, equestrian team, etc.).
Other:
Following discussion, it was decided that there would be no meeting of the Council in March, when Mike will be traveling.
Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Kay W. Keys, Secretary
(See Barbara’s full report below.)
Report from Faculty Council Meeting, February 11, 2020
This meeting was very short. There was no report from the President as he was absent and out of town. Enrollment is holding at similar numbers from last year. The University has received approximately 15,000 applications for fall 2020, and has admitted about 10,000 new students. Of these about 4000 will ultimately choose to be admitted.
SLATE, the online graduate application system which also deals with recruitment, communication flow, and hopefully tuition waver processing in the future, is now up and running.
The Graduate Faculty Training /Development Working Group plans to send out a survey after spring break 2020 to graduate faculty. This is part of a needs assessment to develop an appropriate professional development program for incoming and existing graduate faculty. They are also studying the roll of non-OSU faculty who serve on graduate committees.
Beginning this spring, new students on all three campuses and online received an invite to enroll in a graduate student orientation course , through CANVAS. The eight three-minute modules take about 45 minutes to complete.
Spring General Graduate Faculty Meeting will be March 25, 1:30 to 3 pm in 450 Engineering North.
A major revision to the University Conflict of Interest Policy was proposed by the Research Committee. Because of the length and complexity of the document the vote was tabled until the next meeting to give council members time to read and assess. The overall outcome of the document is to reduce the conflicts of interest.
Darlene Hightower reported on a new cyber security platform OSU is implementing. She noted that 75 per cent of emails were quarantined, and another 20,000 were blocked. There were still 2000 plus accounts compromised and this new system should reduce this number. The implementation is by campus departments and is proceeding gradually and people will be gradually notified for DUO multifactor authentication.
The meeting adjourned early to allow council members to put forth candidates for next year’s faculty council.
Barbara Miller