Faculty Advisory Council

1. Faculty Advisory Council Progress Report to the AVP Council And President Samuelson April 12, 2007

2. FAC Web Site Val Brinkerhoff Ed Austin

3. FAC Web Site • Building on discussion from last year • fac.byu.edu

4. Phased Retirement Cardell Jacobson Marsha Broadway

5. Timeline Summary Proposed Faculty Phased Retirement Plan • 2004-2005 Faculty Compensation Committee (FCC) researched and discussed need for flexible retirement plan. • April 2005 Recommendation to administration to establish a committee to study phased retirement plan. • 2005-2006 FCC continued gathering information and devising proposed models for phased retirement. • April 2006 Three models for phased retirement were presented to administration. Administrators were open to discuss concept. • September 2006-present, the FCC has met  several times with Vice President Richard Williams and Ryan Beuhring (Faculty relations) to discuss details of proposed plans. • March 31, 2007 BYU counsel David Thomas provided legal insights that redirect the discussion of phased retirement plans.

6. Proposed Faculty Phased Retirement Plan • Benefits to the University include the following: • The University will be able to retain the most productive faculty who contribute significantly to teaching, graduate education, and scholarly activities, thus enhancing the university's reputation, while simultaneously providing a bridge to retirement for those who wish to phase into retirement. • Chairs and deans will have greater planning flexibility and more orderly retirement planning. • The number of sudden vacancies should be reduced allowing smoother transition to new hires. • New faculty slots can be created (for example, one slot can be filled for every two faculty members that go to half-time during the bridge years), allowing younger and more enthusiastic faculty members to be hired sooner. • Benefits to Faculty who "phase" include the following: • Faculty member can transition to retirement earlier than otherwise possible: • a) to help ailing parents, spouse, or children; • b) to teach or complete projects without other conflicts; • c) to go on missions earlier than they otherwise could. • Faculty can retain the university as a base, as an identity, and maintain health benefits while "phasing" into retirement.

7. Most Recent Proposed Model(as recommended by David Thomas—Legal Counsel) • Faculty members gives up Continuing Faculty Status and enters a 3-year phasing period that consists of three one-year contracts with reducing responsibilities and reducing compensation. • Faculty member negotiates responsibilities with department chair who has discretionary flexibility. • Proposed salary/workload reductions: 75%, 50% and 25% • Benefits remain during phasing period.

8. Most Recent Proposed Model • This works within the existing policy that allows a faculty member to work for three years after retirement • The phased-retirement program can be self-funding from two sources: • Leaving the slot open for one year while the faculty works the first year • The salary differential between the retiring professor and a new hire

9. Suggestions for Further Development of a Phased Retirement Plan (PRP) • The committee has suggested the following possible strategies: • Have a focus group with senior faculty to assess interest and feasibility • The committee and VP Richard Williams and Ryan Beuhring meet with Dean’s Council to assess their interest and obtain feedback • Use FAC members to assess interest and feasibility in their departments • Beta-test a plan for two years • VP Richard Williams and Ryan Beuhring have taken primary responsibility for further designing and obtaining approval by the administration and the board.

10. FCC in 2007-2008 • The Faculty Compensation Committee hopes that a working phased retirement plan can be implemented by the fall of 2007. • FCC would like to continue work on salary equity—particularly at the full professor rank.

11. Grant Money for Overheadand Faculty Development Nancy Wentworth David Kooyman

12. Indirect Costs from Grants • Description of the issue • Comments from faculty • Possible Resolution - ORCA Activities Faculty Professional Development • Obstacles to year-long leaves • Possible Alternatives

13. Description of the Issue • Overhead/indirect fees do not appear to provide support for the indirect costs associated with the work at the department level • Whole departments/colleges must absorb the impact of the research. • Since the amount of externally funded research varies widely among faculty, those who are most active are burdening the remainder of the faculty.

14. Comments from faculty • BYU critics with an agenda could portray the current overhead policy as the Church directly receiving the overhead funds from government contracts. • Resources to departments from BYU are very generous – far higher than might be returned from indirect costs. • BYU funds Mentoring Grants, etc., to support research but faculty must apply for these when they have already applied for external funds.

15. Possible Resolution:ORCA Activities • What support is directly offered to faculty with grants. • What additional support might be available to faculty from ORCA? • Do all colleges have an individual who is a liaison between the college and ORCA? • Could indirect costs help with this?

16. Faculty Professional Development • Obstacles to year-long leaves • Church assignments • Family commitments • Possible alternatives • Visiting scholars who come for a few weeks • Semester with no teaching assignments for visiting other institutions, collecting data, writing, etc

17. Use of “Emeritus” Richard Selfridge David Wright

18. Emeritus Participation at BYU • All faculty who retire in good standing are granted emeritus status • Appoint two emeritus faculty (one man one woman) to the FAC • Ensure that all emeritus faculty are made aware of additional benefits that may be negotiated with their chairs and deans upon retirement

19. Teacher Evaluation Penny Bird Phil Snyder

20. Proposal #1 Encourage greater student response by providing a uniform, university-wide incentive for students to complete their evaluations.

21. Proposal #2 Encourage greater student and teacher responsibility for student evaluations by framing them ethically. This framing would appear on the first screen of the evaluation site and outline the student-instructor teaching contract and also include a very brief explanation of how these evaluations are used both formatively and summatively at BYU. We suggest that President Samuelson communicate this information.

22. Student Ratings

24. Suggestion Post on the FAC website “Facts and Fictions about On-line Student Evaluations.” This feature would address faculty concerns and questions about the on-line student evaluations. We could up-date it as needed.

25. For Future Study In connection with the student-teacher contract regarding student evaluations, develop a teacher-administration contract which would address issues relating to the ethical use of evaluations for yearly and continuing status / promotion reviews.

26. For Future Study In the spirit of campus-wide assessment, explore the possibility of faculty doing yearly evaluations of chairs and deans

27. For Future Study Explore the possibility and value of providing students with contextual data regarding the interpretation of student evaluation scores as part of the framing of the on-line evaluations.

28. Thank You