Millersville University, Faculty Senate
Minutes
Meeting of the Faculty Senate
October 2, 2001
Chairperson Joel Piperberg called the meeting to order at 4:10 PM in Chryst
210. All departments were represented.
The Minutes of September 4, 2001, & September 18, 2001 were approved as distributed.
Report of the Faculty Senate Chairperson
Announcements
1. On next Wednesday, October 10th, Chancellor Judy Hample will be
visiting the campus. Chairperson Piperberg urged that faculty attend her
meeting at 4:00 - 5:30 PM in the Lehr Dining Room in Gordinier.
2. In the future, if paper copies of minutes do not arrive in time for
the meeting, they may already be posted at the website. The secretary sends a
copy of the minutes to Marjorie about the same time minutes are turned in for
duplication. Marjorie generally puts the minutes online almost immediately.
Chairperson Piperberg also asked if the Senate would object to distributing
the Minutes via e-mail. It was recommended that Senators and other regular
Senate attendees should get paper copies of the Minutes, while the Minutes
would be distributed electronically via e-mail to other faculty members. Dr.
Piperberg said he would look into these suggestions and said that other
faculty members wishing to continue receiving paper copies would be
accommodated.
3. At the request of a couple of Senators, there will now be bottled
water available with our snacks at our meetings.
4. Chairperson Piperberg apologized for not having distributed the
results of the election. The results are as follows: Rich Freichs got the
three year term on Faculty-Student Athletic Committee, Melinda Rosenthal was
elected to the one year term on that committee as well. Brant Schuller got the
seat on the Cultural Affairs Committee, Karen Black was elected to a
Humanities seat on Academic standards, a two year term, Norma Rivera-Hernandez
was elected to a Humanities seat on the General Education Review Committee.
Jen Miller was elected to the chair of the Faculty-Student athletic Committee.
5. The following seats are still open on Senate committees:
Non-School seat on Academics Outcomes Assessment, chair of Academic Policies
Committee, Science/Math, Social Sciences & Humanities seats on Academic
Policies, Social Sciences seats on the Gen Ed Review Committee, chair of
GCPRC, 2 Alternates on the International Selection Committee, Social Sciences
seat on UCPRC, Humanities seat on University Theme Committee, Social Sciences
seat on Commencement Speaker Committee, an Alternate for Judicial Board,
Social Sciences seat on the Noonan Fund Committee and Humanities Seat on the
Honor Code Committee.
6. It has been requested that Rich Frerichs and Jen Miller exchange seats on
the Faculty-Student Athletic Committee. Rich Frerichs has been chairing that
Committee for several years to date, and has agreed to continue on as Chair.
Jen Miller would, in turn, serve as a member on that committee for at least a
year. She made this request after having spoken with Rich and discovering the
depth and complexity of his role as Chair. It is Jen Miller's intention to
serve on the committee and acquire greater knowledge of its business before
making a long term commitment to functioning as Chair.
There was a Dorman/Börger-Greco motion to allow Rich Frerichs to continue as
Chair of the Faculty-Student Athletic Committee while Jen Miller fills the
seat to which he had been elected so that she can learn about the Committee's
operation. The motion passed without dissent.
Report of the Student Senate President
Student Senate President Brandon Danz reported that October 13th is "Community
Day." All proceeds will go the victims of the September 11th tragedy.
President Danz also expressed concern about the Senate's earlier discussion
regarding a delay schedule in the event of bad weather. President Danz also
announced that he has been elected Vice Chair by the Board of Student
Presidents of the 14 sister universities. The Senate congratulated President
Danz on his election.
Report of the Graduate Student Organization President None.
Report of the Administrative Officers
Provost McNairy reported that more and more mail will be sent for
administrative offices via e-mail, in particular, mass mailings. Senators
were also reminded that the Chancellor is coming to MU next Wednesday at 4:00
PM and that faculty should attend the open forum at the Lehr Dining Room.
Provost McNairy also notified the Senate that some students may need special
attention and consideration if called into military duty in the future. She
Such students should speak to the Registrar to iron out any refund or academic
credit problems that might arise.
Dr. Phillips reminded faculty of John Gardener's visit to MU on Oct. 4th at
3:00 and 4:30 PM. He was the Founder of the First Year Experience movement.
Reports of the Faculty Senate Standing Committees
UCPRC reported that there were two proposals on the table along with a memo
from Dr. Wismer on the "Timeliness of Proposals," {see attachment}:
- (1) ESCI 445 - Numerical Modeling of the Atmosphere and Oceans, 3 credit
hrs
- (2) OSEH 120-Fundamentals of Safety, Health & Environmental Issues, 3
credit hrs.
Dr. Fenwick proposed that William Archibald from the English Department be
nominated to serve on the General Education Review Committee given the large
number of vacancies on that committee. This would require a suspension of the
rules since both Humanities seats on that committee are already filled. There
was a Sciarretta/Luek motion to suspend the rules for this purpose. The motion
passed without dissent. Chairperson Piperberg stated that he would designate
William Archibald's seat as a one-year, at-large seat on the Committee roster.
This will allow us to keep track of the remaining lengths of term on the
vacant seats.
The above motion precipitated a discussion about the vacancies on Senate
committees initiated by Barb Stengel. The discussion centered around
questions regarding the perception of the value of committee service with
respect to tenure and promotion issues. Provost McNairy discussed the
relevance and importance of assessment and how this should be viewed as a
partnership between faculty and administration. She also encouraged senators
to encourage their colleagues to express to the tenure/promotion task force
their views concerning rewards for service in terms of tenure and promotion.
There followed a brief dialogue on whether Senate committees need to be
reassessed with respect to membership and function. The discussion on Senate
committees will be added to the agenda at the next meeting.
Bill Dorman from the Coop Committee reported that they had met and that
students would get a chance to eat lunch and meet with employers on Oct. 18th
at 11:30 AM -1:00 PM.
Reports of the Faculty Senate Special Committees None.
Proposed Courses and Programs None.
Faculty Emeritus None.
Discussion of Cancellation of Classes Due to Weather
President Danz reported that members of Student Senate by and large
disapproved of both the Delay Plan and Cancellation Plan discussed at the last
meeting. He felt that it would be too difficult for faculty to orchestrate in
terms of finding available rooms, etc, and that students themselves would be
placed in an unfair position since many students have jobs or other
obligations to attend to outside scheduled class times. While there was mixed
sentiment expressed about exactly what to do in the event that weather affects
the normal schedule, all seemed to agree that there needed to be options or
alternative delivery systems (on-line reflectors for conversations between
faculty and their students, e-mail could be used to post assignments/lecture,
rescheduling of classes, etc.). There appeared to be some consensus that
making up missed classes was a joint responsibility between faculty and
students and should be taken seriously. This issue will be revisited at the
next meeting. Motions will be considered and distributed over the next two
weeks.
Other/New Business
Joe Sciarretta thanked faculty for returning P.A.C.E. forms and asked them to
continue doing so. It is very helpful feedback.
Elections
Chairperson Piperberg opened up the floor to nominations for Senate Committee
seats.
There was a Heintzelman/Börger-Greco motion that William Archibald be placed
on the ballot for the General Education committee for the At-Large seat
(one-year term) approved earlier in the meeting. The motion passed without
dissent.
Lisa Best was nominated to serve on the Judicial Board Committee as Alternate.
Mark Iannone was nominated to a Science/Math seat on the Academic Policies
Committee. Martha Widmayer was nominated to the Humanities seat on the
University Theme Committee.
There was a Dorman/Wismer motion made to grant to those nominees running
without opposition the seats for which they had been nominated seats. The
motion passed and the aforementioned people were elected.
The meeting adjounred at 5:30 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jen Miller
Recorder
Action Summary
Return to Faculty Senate Home
Page
Return to MU Home Page