Millersville University, Faculty Senate

MINUTES

FACULTY SENATE MEETING

17 October 1995


Prior Minutes
Reports
...| Chairperson | Student Senate | Committee Reports
...| General Education Review | Joint Senate Conference | Proposed Courses |
Business
...| Graduate Residency | Senate Elections |

Chairperson D. Eidam called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. in Chryst Hall, Room 210. All department senators attended except Political Science. Student President E. Kobeski and J. Ishler attended for the Student Senate. C. Blaettler attended for the Snapper.

Minutes

Senate approved the 3 October 1995 meeting minutes with the following corrections. On page 3838, Vice-President for Student Affairs, change the spelling of Dr. Charlene Yeager to Dr. Charlene Jeager.

Reports

Chairperson's Report

Chairperson D. Eidam announced that he would have to leave at 5 PM to go to the hospital to relieve individuals taking care of his spouse. The chairperson pro tempore, J. Piperberg took over Eidam's duties.

Student Senate

Student Senate President E. Kobeski distributed a handout describing the Iowa State University Four-Year Graduation Plan (see Attachment A). Student senate is researching the contract at this time.

APSCUF President

APSCUF President S. Centola distributed a handout describing the Task Force on the General Education Curriculum and it Resources (see Attachment B). He reported on the progress APSCUF has made since his last report to senate, 19 September 1995. APSCUF has a specific proposal that it would like to take to the November meeting of Meet and Discuss. The proposal specifies who constitutes the task force and defines its charge.

The task force will be entitled the Task Force on the General Education Curriculum and its Resources. It is important to make clear that everyone will be involved in the work that must be done. Given the situation that the University and the System faces now, and will be facing in the immediate future, it is imperative that we consider resource implications for decisions that are made concerning the general education curriculum.

APSCUF has outlined the composition of the task force in section I of the handout: four members that the APSCUF president will appoint, four members that the Faculty Senate will select, and two nonvoting members serving in an ex-officio capacity appointed by the President. The APSCUF president will appoint the chairperson of the task force from this group.

The charge to the task force is described in section II of the handout. The task force will meet and have hearings with individual faculty members, administrators, the general education committee, and the task forces that have been appointed by the Provost. It will submit a report to the faculty senate and let it deliberate and send any recommendations or revisions back to the task force. The task force will submit a final report to senate for a senate's yes or no vote. Following the senate's decision the report will be takn to the full faculty. The report will include the decision by this body.

The handout calls for a specific timeline. APSCUF did that deliberately because it does not want to prolong the process. APSCUF does not want interim curricular measures to be in place indefinitely. Faculty working on new courses and curricula want to be able to get them off the ground as soon as possible.

Centola asked for senate's feedback on the handout. He asked that senators and faculty contact him at the APSCUF office and give him their reactions and recommendations. APSCUF would like to take its proposal to the Administration by the first Friday in November Meet and Discuss meeting.

Senator C. Stameshkin said she had several problems with the proposed handout. She asked how APSCUF had ended up with the main charge for the curriculum changes. While she understands that the curriculum affects work conditions, it was her understanding that faculty senate had always been the source of curriculum committees. Why are things being done differently now?

Centola replied that after discussions with the administration, APSCUF, and senate leaders, his understanding was that we had created a hybrid. MU has never done this before. We have an administration, APSCUF, and faculty senate task force considering more than just the curriculum. This time we are not being told to dream and develop the ideal curriculum; we must honestly face our limitations. We must attack the curriculum from the standpoint of what is economically feasible. The hybrid approach considers resource implications in the development of the general education curriculum. Centola understands that this is a first for MU.

Stameshkin commented that the new measures fundamentally change the way MU does business. She felt that MU had developed extremely positive ways of doing business in the past. She did not understand why APSCUF needed to appoint the committee chair.

Centola replied that there are not just faculty senate committees at MU. There are also APSCUF committees. There are task forces created by the administration. There are numerous precedents for the selection of chairpeople for these various committees and task forces. The faculty senate did not launch this task force. APSCUF took the initiative to try to prevent the administration from unilaterally changing the curriculum in pedagogically unsound ways that are not in the students' best interest. APSCUF was as surprised as the faculty senate when the administration announced changed last June.

A discussion of these issues continued for over thirty minutes with many senators and APSCUF officers participating.

Committee Reports

General Education Review Committee

Chairperson R. Wismer said that the committee is in the midst of a five year general education review somewhat similar to what each department does every five years. The committee sent a questionnaire to each department and to each faculty member. The committee would like the departments to collate the responses and return the package to the committee. The sooner departments respond, the sooner the committee can incorporate the responses in the five-year review report. Please return them before Thanksgiving break.

The committee is polling a randomly selected and statistically valid group of students. Committee members are questionnairing the students in class. Committee membvers will contact individual faculty members about the questionnairings. The committee would appreciate the cooperation of the departments and faculty members.

Joint Senate Conference Committee

Chairperson J. Piperberg said he was in the process of compiling all the items he has received from committee chairs concerning how many students they would like on their committees. He will try to have the compilation by the next senate meeting. If senators have not made that report yet, or if they are not familiar with it, please get in touch with Piperberg.

Proposed Courses

Senate agreed to defer action on three graduate courses until the next meeting.
Chairperson D. Eidam said the clock will start ticking for approval as of this meeting.

Business

Removal of the 9-Hour Graduate Residency Requirement

Senate debated the removal of the 9-hour graduate residency requirement (see Attachment C of the 3 October 1995 minutes). Chairperson D. Eidam ruled that senate needed to approve the Governance Manual changes. Today Eidam received a note from D. Downey that Eidam read aloud to senate. Downey wrote that it was physically impossible for many graduate students to meet the requirement because of their other obligations. Downey also wrote that MU has not enforced the rule recently. Finally he wrote that now is the time to bring the policy into line with reasonable practice.

Ediam said that since the motion came from the committee, a second is not required. The motion passed.

Senate Elections

At this point Chairperson D. Eidam stepped down as chairperson and Chairperson pro tempore J. Piperberg assumed the chairpersonship. Senate continued its annual elections. Piperbergcalled for nominations for a School of Education representative to the University Course and Program Review Committee to fill an unexpired term. Senators nominated W. Schotta, R. Kerper, and S. Luek. By a majority of votes on the first ballot, senate elected S. Luek. O. Iglesias was nominated for the same committee from the School of HJumanities. With no other nominees, senate elected her by acclamation for a term that expires in 1997. There were no other nominees for positions that are currently vacant.

The following senate committee positions are currently vacant:
Senate adjourned at 5:10 PM. The next meeting will be Tuesday, 7 November 1995, from 4:05-5:45 p.m. in Chryst 210.

Respectfully submitted,

Marvin Margolis, Secretary
Faculty Senate


Prior Minutes
Reports
...| Chairperson | Student Senate | APSCUF President
Committee Reports
...| General Education Review | Joint Senate Conference | Proposed Courses
Business
...| Graduate Residency | Senate Elections
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