Millersville University, Faculty Senate

Minutes

Meeting of the Faculty Senate

October 5, 1999


Chairperson Joel Piperberg called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. in SMC 49. All departments were represented except Educational Foundations, Thomas Baker, President of the Student Senate, Jeri Potson, Vice President of the Student Senate and student journalist, Brooke Goldman were also present.

The minutes of the meeting on September 21 were approved following of the correction in the spelling of the name Yelagotes (p.4663) to Yelagotes.

Report of the Faculty Senate Chairperson

  1. Chairperson Piperberg reminded senators that the next meeting of the Faculty Senate will be held in SMC 161. The work on the roof of Chryst is scheduled for completion October 20. Chairperson Piperberg will advise senators at the October 19 meeting if a change of venue for the November 2 meeting (from Chryst 2 10) is necessary.
  2. Senator Yelagotes' proposal regarding Emeritus Status for regular, part time faculty will be placed on the agenda for the meeting for October 19.
  3. Chairperson Piperberg said that he would place on the November 2 meeting agenda the matter of the implementation of Phase II of the General Education Revision Plan passed by Senate in April of 1997. Phase II was originally supposed to be implemented in Fall 1999. Last Spring, Senate postponed the implementation until Fall of 2000. Since current discussions centering on General Education will be likely to have some bearing on the 1997 plan, especially aspects of Phase II, it seems advisable to postpone implementations of Phase II indefinitely until these discussions have concluded. Phase II could then be reactivated or amended at a later date, if the discussions suggest such an action. Postponing indefinitely would remove the necessity of postponing Phase II every year until its implementation is indicated. Included in Phase II is the elimination of the W labels from Writing-Across-the-Curriculum courses.

Report of the Student Senate President

  1. President Baker announced that the Student Senate would meet with Millersville APSCUF President, Dr. Steven Centola, on Wednesday October at 9:00 p.m. Drs. Smith, Warmkessel and Glenn will also be in attendance. He said that representatives from the State System of Higher Education would not be present. President Baker asked that senators announce the meeting in their classes. The Student Senate will also be meeting with Dr. Thomas.
  2. MU Pride Day is scheduled for October 27 regardless of what else is happening. The initiative on race is scheduled for October 19.
  3. President Baker said that the Freshman Year Committee is working on a freshman seminar.
  4. He announced that he will attend a meeting of the Board of Governors with Dr. Caputo this week.

Student Vice President Jen Potson said that five new freshmen had been elected to the Student Senate. The Student Senate is also seeking an additional advisor.

Report of the Graduate Student Association No report

Reports of Administrative Officers

Provost Francine McNairy No report.

Associate Provost Stager. Dr. Stager reported that the administration is considering what can be done to provide identifiers other than faculty social security numbers for advisor identification. In the meantime, faculty can continue to request that Human Resources provide an alternative identifier.

Acting Associate Provost Phillips. Dr. Phillips said that the Distance Learning Approval Process had been finalized and was being forwarded to the Dean's Council. She said that Dr. Rita Smith Wade-El had requested that a chairperson be elected for the African American Studies Curriculum Committee. The person elected should have experience in African-American Studies as indicated by having taught in this discipline.

Chairperson Piperberg said the election would be placed on the agenda for the next meeting and Senator D. Eidam requested that a list of qualified faculty be provided.

Reports of Faculty Senate Standing Committees

UCPRC The following courses/changes were presented:

Senator B. Dorman asked why it had taken six months to add a prerequisite to Communications 403. Committee Chairperson R. Wismer explained that the proposal had not been received until after the last meeting of the committee in the Spring Semester.

Chairperson Wismer said there had also been confusion about what constituted a major/minor change. Dr. Stager said that Deans were using different criteria and plans were underway to make up a list of criteria that would help clarify the situation.

COOPERATIVE EDUCATION Chairperson B. Dorman said that the committee was holding a Lunch and Learn event on October 19. The lunch is free to students who will have the opportunity to meet with 70 employers. He encouraged faculty to attend.

Reports of Faculty Senate Special Committees None

Faculty Emeritus None

Commencement Speaker D. Zubatsky announced that Howard Jones, Class of '62, a professor at the University of Houston and a nationwide expert in the field of education will be Commencement Speaker.

Elections Nominations were opened for unoccupied seats on Senate committees. No nominations were offered leading Chairperson Piperberg to declare all remaining unfilled seats vacant. He pointed out that if nominees for vacant seats should appear in the future, nominations could be reopened at any time. Since there were non-senator nominees for three committee chairmanships, a B. Dorman/J. Lynch motion to suspend Senate rules requiring senator chairs for these committees was approved. Following the nominations of R. France (Math), D. Schultz (Math) and R. Frerichs (Ed. Found) to the chairmanships of the Academic Policies Committee, the University Theme Committee and the Faculty Student Athletic Committee, respectively, the nominations were closed. A motion to instruct the Secretary to cast a ballot for each of the nominees was passed and they were elected.

R. Wismer asked if there was any way that the faculty could be encouraged to serve on committees and asked senators to urge colleagues to participate.

Provost McNairy said that all the deans had been asked to talk to faculty about such service.

Chairperson Piperberg declared the remaining unfilled committee seats vacant. Nominations can be reopened at any time.

Academic Policies Committee

Proposal #1. The wording on Grade Book Retention Policy developed at the meeting on September 21 was passed by the Senate: This wording of the policy as passed reads:

For all undergraduate courses, faculty shall maintain a detailed record of how the final grade for each student was determined. This record must be kept for one year beyond the completion of a course. Upon termination of employment or when leaving the University for sabbatical or any other type of leave, faculty must submit those grade records to the appropriate department chair.

Proposal #2. Withdrawn, returned to committee

Proposal #3.

After much discussion, the senate passed a D. Eidam/B. Dorman amendment to change the wording in the Governance Manual, Section 3, Academic Standards, Probation and Dismissal, paragraph 2. Originally, the policy that was amended read as follows:

"Academic Probation

While on probation, students are not allowed to pre-register (register) for winter and/or pre-summer sessions, unless they have permission of Academic Support Services."

After the policy was amended, it was passed. The amended policy now reads:

Academic Policies

While on probation, students are not allowed to pre-register (register) for winter and/or pre-summer sessions, unless they have the permission of the academic advisor or his/her designee "

An addition to the above policy had been proposed; it read:

"Additionally, such students are not allowed to pre-register (register) for more than 4 courses or 13 credits, whichever is less, in any term, session or semester."

After significant discussion, the Senate agreed to send the proposed addition back to the Academic Policies Committee to iron out some of the difficulties pointed out during the discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 5:37 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

J. Alden, Secretary.


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