Faculty Senate Minutes, 5 November 1996

MINUTES

FACULTY SENATE MEETING

5 November 1996

Chairperson D. Eidam called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. in Chryst Hall, Room 210. All departmental senators attended except Developmental Studies, Psychology, and History. Student Senate President P. Leahy and J. Ishler attended for Student Senate. M. Wayde attended for the Snapper.

Minutes

Senate approved the 15 October 1996 meeting minutes without correction.

Reports

Chairperson's Report

Chairperson D. Eidam announced the addition of Item X, An Analysis of Enrollment Data, to today's agenda. J. Mone has been appointed to the Outcomes Assessment Committee as one of the Provost's representatives. Eidam received an email some while ago from C. Deen as a supplement to the approval of the BA Music degree: "The BA Music degree with no option has been in place on the database, with students assigned to this program, for several years. In order to accommodate these students by 'grandfathering' them in the newly approved curriculum, the effective date for the BA Music degree will be made retroactive to Fall 1992."

Eidam received two sets of administrative course approvals. He emailed the first to senators and sent copies of the second to them (see Attachment A). Eidam has communicated with S. Centola regarding the General Education Task Force. Although the timeteable for the (Sheridan) task force has been changed, senate's involvement in the process remains the same.

Now that plus/minus grades have been approved effective next year, senate must at some point investigate the implications regarding various minima that are in the governance manual such as a 3.0 minimum, a C minimum, etc. Last Spring Eidam gave senators a copy of all the references in the governance manual that he could find for MU grades. Senate will need to refer this issue to the Academic Policies Committee. It is advisable to wait until the first meeting in February in the Spring semester when the APC will have a permanent chairperson.

Student Senate

Student Senate President P. Leahy reported on student senate's November 14 meeting. It was a full student senate meeting. Student senate listened to speakers from the faculty and administrative side on the current labor negotiations.

Administrative Officers

Vice-President for Academic Affairs

Vice President for Academic Affairs F. McNairy discussed the recommendation that came from the Commencement Committee with regard to the August Commencement. There are two recommendations. The first is that we cease having August Commencements. There are various reasons for the recommendation. One is climate, another is low attendance on the part of all participants, students, faculty, etc. Last year because of the renovations in Pucillo, MU did not have an August Commencement. MU had an opportunity to see the pros and cons of the August Commencement. There was no negative feedback.

The second recommendation is to allow students who would officially graduate in the summer to march in the May Commencement exercises. There are various perspectives about allowing students to participate in the commencement exercise. The perspectives range from at one end students who have not completed the requirements should not be permitted to participate. At the other end some argue that the ceremony is only a ceremony and not the official graduation, therefore any student may be permitted to participate.

If we move to two commencements, one each in December and May, please understand that our facilities only permit a fixed number of individuals to attend the December Commencement. MU may have to reduce the number of tickets that each student receives for family members. A second issue is the cost of the August Commencement given the small turnout. The Provost would like to hear from the faculty with regard to continuing the August Commencement and to whom may participate in the ceremonies. Please send email or phone her.

Associate Provost for Academic Programs

Associate Provost for Academic Programs J. Roller mentioned the need for faculty advisors for student registration beginning November 18. There is a letter that has gone out to the department chairs asking for faculty to volunteer. Freshmen do no have one year schedules this year. They only have fall semester schedules. They will go through registration in two weeks for the first time. The freshmen will come to the faculty for advice. They will register immediately after the seniors and before the juniors and sophomores. Freshmen will register on Monday and complete their registration by Tuesday of the registration week. They need proper advisement in their first attempt to register. There should be plenty of seats available.

Committee Reports

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee chairperson, R. Wismer, said the committee met twice since the last senate meeting. It introduced nine new courses under the two meeting rule:

MATH 102: Survey of Mathematical Ideas in Non-European Cultures, a new three credit hour, general education, CQ, QARC undergraduate course to be first offered in Fall 1996 if approved.

Wismer said the Computer Science Department is rewriting all their courses. None are general education courses:

CSCI 362: Data Structures, a new four credit undergraduate course to be first offered in Spring 1997 if approved.

CSCI395: Computer Networks, a new four credit undergraduate course to be first offered in Spring 1997 if approved.

CSCI420: Software Engineering, a new four credit undergraduate course to be first offered in Spring 1997 if approved.

CSCI425: Human Computer Interaction, a new four credit undergraduate course to be first offered in Spring 1997 if approved.

CSCI440: Theory of Computation, a new four credit undergraduate course to be first offered in Spring 1997 if approved.

CSCI466: Database Management Systems, a new four credit undergraduate course to be first offered in Spring 1997 if approved.

CSCI467: Design and Analysis of Algorithms, a new four credit undergraduate course to be offered Spring 1997 if approved.

CSCI476: Parallel Programming, a new four credit undergraduate course to be first offered Spring 1997 if approved.

Graduate Course and Program Review Committee

Graduate Course and Program Review Committee chairperson, F. Erickson, requested that the following program be placed on the agenda of the next senate meeting for approval:

Master of Education in Early Childhood Education

Erickson distributed copies of the proposal to senators.

Academic Policies Committee

On behalf of the acting chairperson of the Academic Policies Committee, V. Hauck, senate chairperson D. Eidam asked that Departmental Handbook Policy proposals be placed on the agenda of the next senate meeting (see Attachment B). Hauck will attend the next meeting.

University Honors Committee

University Honors Committee chairperson, M. Warmkessel, said the committee is looking at codifying procedures and policies regarding University honors theses. A letter went out last week to all departmental chairpersons asking for responses to a few questions. The committee wants to insure that University honors thesis procedures do not conflict with departmental procedures.

Warmkessel also discussed the status of senate's Web Page. Significant senate information is now on the Web Page. She would appreciate some feedback from senators who have seen the page. The sente minutes and agendas are posted from September 1995. Annual reports from the last two years, the current senate directory, as well as individual and departmental homepages. Warmkessel is working on the attachments to link them directly to the minutes. She is working backwards from the most recent minutes back to May at this time. Please let her know if something is missing.

Academic Outcomes Assessment Committee

Speaking for Academic Outcomes Assessment Committee chairperson, R. Mainzer, Associate Vice President for academic Affairs, J. Stager, discussed a meeting held yesterday in Shippensburg. MU took 14 people to Shippensburg to attend an all day workshop. James Nichols, a director of institutional research at the University of Mississippi, led the workshop. He has been involved in assessment for over ten years. The attendees received precise information about what should and what should not be attempted. Nichols gave many good ideas that MU can follow up on. The local Assessment Committee will put together a Unviersity special project within the SSHE in February or March. MU will endeavor to bring someone like Nichols onto our campus to speak to us.

Cooperative Education Committee

Cooperative Education Committee chairperson, W. Dorman, said the committee met October 31. The committee will revise the student handbook. The director of cooperative education, D. Fleishman, attended a conference recently. The committee is co-sponsoring a meeting with the Office of International Affairs on opportunities in Europe and africa tonight at six. Finally the committee has begun work on its self-study.

Joint Senate Conference Committee

Joint Senate Conference Committee chairperson, J. Piperberg, said the committee met last Tuesday. It will meet again next Tuesday to discuss the four year contract commitment. The committee is gathering more data at this time. the proposal will be complex. Piperberg has already been to a council meeting in the School of Education and discussed the four year contract with the chairpersons. In the coming week he will meet with the chairpersons in the science and mathematics departments. In the future he will meet with the social studies and fine arts chairpeople. the committee has only a preliminary draft of a report at this time.

Academic Standards Committee

Academic Standards Committee chairperson, J. Piperberg, said the committee set the dates for the January meetings, January 21 and 22. Committee members will be notified shortly.

University Theme Committee

University Theme Committee chairperson, J. Piperberg, said that within the next few weeks, faculty should receive a solicitation for a theme topic for the years 2000 and 2001. Proposals will be due approximately the middle of February.

Business

Counting Two Courses As One Course

Y. Soong/J. McCade moved that two courses, ESCI 104, World Ocean, three credits, and ESCI 105, World Ocean Laboratory, one credit, count as a single course in the G2 block. They also moved that ESCI 107, The Atmosphere, three credits, and ESCI 108, The Atmosphere Laboratory, one credit, count as a single course in the G2 block. Speaking for the motion Soong said it was never the intention of the Earth Sciences Department that 105 and 108 be stand alone courses.

Parliamentarian C. Scharnberger said the problem is if students take 104 and 105 together, DARS and the academic advisement office count that as two courses in Earth Sciences for purposes of fulfilling the General Education requirement of two courses in one department. Earth Sciences has had difficulty getting the procedure changed. The change needs a senate motion.

R. Wismer/W. Price moved a substitute motion as follows: List four options explicity: Earth Science 104 can count as a three credit nonlaboratory G2 course. Earth Science 107 can count as a three credit nonlaboratory G2 course. The combination of 104 and 105 can count as one four credit laboratory G2 course. Similarly, the combination of 107 and 108 can count as one four credit laboratory G2 course. Students as a general rule could not take ESCI 105 and 108 by themselves. Senate voted to substitute this motion for the original main motion. The substitute motion became the main motion. Senate voted in favor of the main motion.

An Analysis of Enrollment Data

Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, J. Stager, introduced J. Revelt of Institutional Research, to make a presentation on enrollment data at Millersville.

Senate adjourned at 5:45 PM. The next meeting will be Tuesday, 19 November 1996, from 4:05-5:45 p.m. in Chryst 210.

Respectfully submitted,

Marvin Margolis, Secretary
Faculty Senate

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