Faculty Senate Minutes, 17 February 1998

Millersville University, Faculty Senate

Minutes

Faculty Senate Meeting

17 February 1998

Chairperson D. Eidam called the meeting to order at 4:07 p.m. in Chryst 210. All departments except Art, Computer Science, and Counseling and Human Development were represented.

MINUTES

The minutes of the 3 February meeting were approved as distributed.

REPORTS

Chairperson

D. Eidam reported that due to illness B. Schneller was unable to attend today's meeting. S. Suziedelis is on sabbatical this semester; F. Bremer is acting senator for the History Department.

The newly approved Academic Proposal form will be attached to today's minutes. (Attachment 1)

At the next Senate meeting we must elect a chair of the International Studies Curriculum Committee and of the University Honors Program Committee. Both incumbents are eligible for reelection.

Student Senate

M. Dinofia mentioned that the Student Leadership banquet was held at Millersville with 100 attendees. President Caputo was the keynote speaker. Student senate members will attend a conference at Kutztown in March and Millersville will host a conference later in the spring semester. Next week she and President Caputo will represent Millersville at a meeting in Harrisburg.

Student Senate has begun the budget allocation process.

Graduate Student Organization

Lori Ramp spoke about plans to rejuvenate the Graduate Student Organization. She is a graduate assistant in the Psychology Department, has an office in Byerly and can be reached at x2359.

Administrative Officers

Provost

Provost McNairy reported on the recent meeting of SPARC. Millersville must reduce its base budget by $2 million because of adoption of the new formula. SPARC has discussed possible principles that are prudent and not capricious. 78% of the budget is allocated for personnel costs. Vice President Rydell will meet with all administrators and all school councils to make sure that everyone understands the situation.

Middle States will visit in the spring of 2000. SPARC will serve as the steering committee for the Middle States self study.

An official open house for Lyle Hall will be held on Thursday March 5 from 3-6 p.m. On Friday, March 6 from 9-11 a.m. Richard Kelling, MD will be here to talk with members of the academic community about issues of students and alcohol abuse. Invitations to both of the above events will be sent to all faculty.

Committees

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee

R. Wismer presented the following proposal under the one-meeting rule:

Change in policy for completion of the Social Work major

Graduate Course and Program Review Committee

R. Kerper presented one course under the one-meeting rule:

EDUC 533: Nonfiction Literature and Literacy

Academic Theme Committee

J. Piperberg reported that the committee had received three proposals for the 2000-2001 academic theme.

Faculty Emeritus

In the interest of time and with a long agenda, the resolutions for emeritus status for two faculty members were not read aloud.

A Piperberg/McCade motion to recommend Professor of Biology Syd Radinovsky for emeritus status passed. (Attachment 2)

A Piperberg/Yelagotes motion to recommend Professor of Biology Samuel J. Ha for emeritus status passed. (Attachment 3)

Proposed Courses

Senate approved one graduate course:

BIOL 663: Virology

Business

Elections

Secretary of Faculty Senate: No nominations were made from the floor. Chairperson Eidam read a letter from J. Alden, alternate senator from the English Department volunteering to serve as secretary. A Mowery/Luek motion was made to elect J. Alden as secretary of Faculty Senate effective with the next meeting. The term will extend through August 31, 1999. The motion carried.

Chair of the Academic Policies Committee: With no nominees from the Senate, R. France, a senior member of the committee will continue as acting chair.

Humanities Representative to General Education Review Committee: J. Byrne and E. Masciale were nominated to fill B. Duncan's vacated position. J. Byrne was elected by written ballot. A second vacancy for a Humanities representative to the General Education Review Committee was announced. This position will be advertised and an election held at the 3 March meeting of Senate.

Report on Student Satisfaction Survey

J. Revelt presented selected results of the survey that was conducted by Millersville's Center for Public Opinion under contract to the State System of Higher Education. Four hundred students were called from each of the fourteen institutions. In general, Millersville students are very happy with the instruction they receive and pleased with university staff. Weak areas are academic advisement and, especially, registering for classes.

Curricular Recommendations

Deans' Council has recommended that the options policy be revised. A Piperberg/Kruse motion was made to approve the recommendation that departments can request that at least half of work in an option must be completed at Millersville. the previous motion from Senate had required this for all departments, but this would pose a problem for some departments because of articulation agreements with other institutions. The motion carried.

Definition of QPA

After brief discussion Senate passed the motion from Academic Policies Committee regarding determination of Q.P.A. in the major. (See Attachment 2 of 2 December 1997 minutes.)

Music Department Proposal

A Houlahan/Dorman motion introduced a proposal from the Music Department (see Attachment 3 of 2 December 1997 minutes) to change the wording of the Governance Manual regarding maximum number of courses counting for general education. Music Department would prefer to have statement refer to number of credits rather than number of courses. Discussion focused on possible problems and misinterpretations this change would create. A Wismer/McCade motion was made to ask the Academic Policies Committee to deal with the entire issues of how to count general education courses which are not 3 credits and determine how they fit into the maximum of 2 courses in one department rule. The motion carried.

Information Technology Competencies for Students

This issue which came from the Technology Vision Task Force's report was referred to Senate by Deans' Council. Discussion centered on which committee should address the topic. C. Stameshkin informed Senate that the General Education Review Committee, through its focus groups, is already working on information technology objectives related to general education. There may be other information technology competencies that do not relate to general education. So far the General Education Review Committee has integrated information technology competencies into other competencies.

A Stameshkin/Piperberg motion was made to refer this issue to the General Education Review Committee. Discussion followed on how information technology competencies are parallel to writing courses, being diffused in both general education and non-general education courses. A suggestion was made that the General Education Review Committee consider establishing a new focus group specifically to explore issues of information technology competencies. The motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.

Marjorie M. Warmkessel
Acting Secretary

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