Chairperson Piperberg called the meeting to order at 4:05 PM in Chryst 210. All departments were represented with the exception of the following: Wellness and Sport Sciences.
Report of the Faculty Senate Chairperson
Announcements
Report of the Graduate Student Organization President. None.
Report of Administrative Officers
Dr. Stager reported that the schedule for Finals was still being worked on. They are trying to avoid scheduling final exams on Tuesday for those students who have classes that meet on the last Monday of the Fall semester. [See attachment.]Reports of Faculty Senate Standing Committees
Dr. Wismer from UCPRC reported that the new form/cover sheets for course/program proposals and guidelines along with the revised General Education objectives are now available on the Web. Reports of the Faculty Senate Special Committee None.Proposed Courses and Programs None.
Faculty Emeritus Dr. Hutchens presented a motion to grant Paul Ross, from the Department of Computer Science, the rank of Professor Emeritus. Dr. Fenwick seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. [See attachment.] Dr. Stager pointed out that Dr. Ross had been a member of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science before it split into the two separate departments, not the Department of Mathematics as stated on the resolution. An amended copy of the resolution will be supplied. Freshman Year Experience--Dr. Mary Glazier Dr. Glazier discussed the Freshman Year Experience and the need to recruit someone for the position of Coordinator. [See attachment.] She encouraged faculty to speak to their colleagues to see whether anyone was interested. Posthumous Awarding of Graduate Certificates and Diplomas Dr. Kerper presented a proposal that spelled out the criteria for granting graduate certificates and diplomas posthumously to those students who had adequately met the criteria. [See previous attachment.] However, rather than voting on the proposal at this time, Dr. Stager sugested that the Senate delay action until the similar undergraduate proposal had been completed. This would give us the best opportunity to make the two policies as consistent as possible. A Dorman/Blazer motion to postpone consideration until the presentation of the undergraduate proposal passed unanimously. Provision of Web-Authoring Workshops for Students Dr. Warmkessel reported that a faculty member has raised a question about faculty who expect their students to create web pages as part of course assignments being responsible for teaching web authoring to their studnets. She requested information about how different faculty members handle this activity in their classes. Chairperson Piperberg encouraged faculty to get feedback on this issue from their departments back to Senate or directly to Dr. Warmkessel. Composition of Academic Standards Committee Dr. Kerper discussed the make up of the Academic Standards Committee. He noted that there had been some concerns expressed by faculty and students that the committee lacks balanced representation from departments, offices and schools. There had been no students serving on the committee lately, for example. There were also committee members who were unable to attend the entire two-day meeting during the winter break because of other commitments (teaching, other meetings, etc.); this occasionally left the committee understaffed. There was a suggestion to increase the committee size by one member and/or perhaps to elect 3 alternates. Chairperson Piperberg asked that faculty talk with their departments to see if departments had similar concerns about the composition of the committee and/or suggestions of strategies to correct any deficiencies. Dr. Kerper will bring a formal proposal to the Senate in the near future once an approach has been chosen. New/Other Business Dr. Hutchens inquired about the policy that prevents a student on probation from taking more than 13 course credits or 4 courses in a semester. He pointed out that many computer science courses are 4 credit courses and that a computer science student on probation would be unable to take two such courses without an advisor's permission and noted that he had signed a couple of waivers to allow the students to take two 4 credit courses. There was a suggestion to raise the credit hours allowed for probationary students from 13 to 14 credit hours. Chairperson Piperberg said that he would follow the issue up and call Rich France to find out more information. Dr. Stager proposed that if we are only talking about a very small number of students then it might not be worth changing the policy and that perhaps such students could be taken on a case to case basis. It was also noted that sutdents might benefit by coming to their advisor to discuss if two 4-credit courses on their schedule was a good idea. Elections Dr. Dorman nominated Darla Williams for a full term as Chairperson of the Women's Studies Curriculum Committee. Nominations were closed and a motion to direct the secretary to cast a ballot in favor of Dr. Williams was passed unanimously. Dr. Borger-Greco nominated Rebecca Mowery for the Chair of the International Studies Curriculum Committee. Nominations were closed and a motion to direct the secretary to cast a ballot in favor of Dr. Mowery was passed unanimously.The meeting adjourned at 5:00
p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jen Miller
Recorder