Faculty Senate Minutes

MINUTES FACULTY SENATE MEETING 1 April 1997

Chairperson D. Eidam called the meeting to order at 4:06 p.m. in Chryst Hall, Room 210. All departmental senators attended except those from Communication and Theatre and Health and Physical Education. Student senate president P. Leahy and K. McGinnis attended for student senate.

Minutes

Senate approved the 18 March 1997 meeting minutes with the following correction on p. 4180: regarding HIST 209 under proposed courses, the phrase "non-liberal arts core" should be deleted.

Reports

Chairperson's Report

Chairperson D. Eidam announced that the summer meeting of senate will be held on Thursday, June 19 at 3:00 p.m. in McComsey's Myers Auditorium.

Eidam distributed a draft of a list of senate committees, with vacancies noted, and asked all senators to review the format and report any corrections to him. The call for nominations will go out to all faculty this semester. He also asked that any committee chairs who are planning not to run for re-election let him know this as soon as possible.

L. Suskie, Assistant to the President for Special Projects, will present the results of the CIRP report at the 15 April meeting of senate. M. Warmkessel and J. Stager of the Technology Vision task force will make a report at the 6 May meeting of senate.

The election of the chair of the Women's Studies Steering Committee is scheduled for the 15 April meeting. All faculty who are now teaching or who have taught Women's Studies courses are eligible for nomination. A Kerper/Mainzer motion was approved to postpone the election until the senate chairperson can confer with the provost to verify the accuracy of the list which had been distributed to all senators.

Eidam mentioned that university administrators were involved in several special activities taking place on campus today, including the Women in Science and Mathematics Conference and the Outcomes Assessment workshop.

Student Senate President

Student Senate President P. Leahy reported that the next meeting of student senate will be held on Thursday, 3 April. Nominations closed today for the elections which will be held on 17 April. The allocations committee is hard at work trying to balance the budget.

Committee Reports

Academic Outcomes Assessment Committee

Academic Outcomes Assessment Committee chairperson R. Mainzer reported that more than 60 people participated in the outcomes assessment workshop held on campus today. So far, feedback has been quite positive.

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee chairperson R. Wismer introduced one new program proposal under the one meeting rule.

Option in Environmental Chemistry

Academic Policies Committee

Academic Policies Committee chairperson K. Bookmiller reported that she will have a motion for the next senate meeting regarding majors and minors and course counting for interdisciplinary minors.

University Theme Committee

University Theme Committee chairperson J. Piperberg noted that by the summer meeting of senate the committee will have selected a proposal for the 2000-2001 University Theme.

Joint Senate Conference Committee

Joint Senate Conference Committee chairperson J. Piperberg summarized the Proposal for a Four Year Contract with Students (see Attachment A) which was distributed to senate for informational purposes. The committee was asked to address six questions and explored such issues as how Millersville compares with other institutions; why students do not finish in four years; which majors routinely allow students to complete programs in four years; and which majors do not typically allow students to complete pro grams in four years. The proposal enumerates those things that students and the university can do to facilitate graduation in four years. The committee believes that the goals can be accomplished without having a formal contract.

A report will be made for informational purposes at a meeting of the student senate. The proposal will go directly to the provost.

Discussion focused on the availability of courses as this relates to changes in the student-faculty ratio. Other points of discussion included the need to raise the 16 credit registration limit not just for dual majors but for other majors as well. Both computer science and mathematics majors have problems with this limit.

Faculty Emeritus

A J. Lynch/J. Piperberg motion to recommend Gene Wise Director of Financial Aid Emeritus passed unanimously (see Attachment B).

Proposed Courses

Senate approved three undergraduate courses:

HNRS/BIOL 212:

GEOG 333:

SOWK 405:

Senate approved one undergraduate program:

A Music Department Proposal

Business

Faculty Senate Elections

Due to senate's approval to expand faculty representation on the Academic Standards Committee, the election for the four additional committee members was held. Seven faculty members were nominated: M. Chaudhary (Department of Computer Science), B. Ikenaga (Department of Mathematics); J. Mone (Biology Department); I. Sigler (Department of Mathematics); M. White (Library Department); A. Kelly (English Department); J. Rudden (Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education). All senators voted by preferential balloting. The ballots will be tallied after the meeting.

Report of the General Education Review Committee

C. Stameshkin continued discussion of the motions submitted by the General Education Review Committee at the 18 March 1997 senate meeting (see Attachment D of the 18 March 1997 minutes).

A Wismer/Lynch motion was passed to limit discussion of this topic to 20 minutes.

A Stameshkin/Borger-Reese motion was made to recommend that the task force strike the original wording of item #5, phase 1, leaving intact the words added by the McLeod/Dorman addition. Item #5 in phase 1 reduces the required number of 200-level courses in general education from four to three.

Discussion focused on whether this reduction would actually be a cost saving measure. The suggestion was made that if it is necessary to increase the size of certain classes that this should not be done in freshman level classes. A question was raised about the relationship between "W" courses and 200-level courses and whether there are any departments that typically have students complete the "W" requirement entirely within the major. Further discussion covered specifics of how individual departments might deal with changes in class size. The motion carried.

Senate adjourned at 5:01 p.m. the next meeting will be Tuesday, 15 April 1997, from 4:05-5:45 p.m. in Chryst 210.

Respectfully submitted,

Marjorie M. Warmkessel
Acting Secretary
Faculty Senate

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