Millersville University, Faculty Senate
Minutes
Meeting of the Faculty Senate
October 16, 2001
Chairperson Joel Piperberg called the meeting to order at 4:10 PM in Chryst
210. All departments were represented.
There was a correction in the October 2, 2001
Minutes. Under the Faculty Senate Chairman's report, item 5. The open
Science/Math seats on the General Education Review Committee were left off of
the original list and were added. No other changes were needed and the Minutes
were approved as amended.
Report of the Faculty Senate Chairperson
Announcements
(1) Chairperson Piperberg reminded faculty, especially new senate members,
that the next meeting would be held on November 6th, three weeks from today.
Senate does not meet on the fifth Tuesday of the month.
(2) Chairperson Piperberg moved Elections to Item X. on the agenda as
there are new nominees to fill committee seats for which voting will be
necessary. This will prevent the elections from being rushed at the end of
the meeting.
(3) Senate will meet November 20th before Thanksgiving Break, but
Chairperson Piperberg assured that the agenda would be brief.
(4) The following model for distribution of Senate Minutes has been
developed:
People in group 1 (Senate members and affiliates) would receive copies of the
Minutes in Microsoft Word format as an e-mail attachment and print them out.
Marie Zufelt will put together a distribution list including these people.
Hard copies would be produced for those who wish to have them if those who
want hard copies notify either Marie or Joel. Group 1 could also print out
the minutes from the website.
People in Group 2 would generally be able to print the minutes from the Senate
website, but they could request to be added to the e-mail distribution list by
notifying Marie or Joel.
A related issue would be the distribution of attachments. We could do this by
having those who supply attachments also supply a desk copy (or some other
electronic copy of the document) to Marie or Joel for inclusion with the
Minutes. At the recommendation of Rob Ravenscroft, we will look into placing
the Minutes in Adobe Acrobat format to avoid problems that have arisen
printing them off of the Website.
Report of the Student Senate President
Student Senate President Danz reported that last Saturday was Community Day
and that it went well. Over $7000.000 was raised. He also noted that there is
a new Student President Recognition Award this year for the person considered
to have exhibited "Pride for the University." Candidates may include faculty,
students, and/or administrators. Student Senate President Danz further
reported that President Caputo had visited a recent Student Senate meeting,
and that senators had attended the Economics Summit in the SMC during the
Chancellor's visit.
Report of the Graduate Student Organization President None.
Report of the Administrative Officers
Dr. Phillips expressed her appreciation on behalf of the administration to
those who attended the Gardener meetings (Advisement and Assessment). She
asked that the assessments be returned in a timely fashion.
Reports of the Faculty Senate Standing Committees
Bill Dorman from the CO-OP Committee, reported that there was a lunch on
Wednesday at which students were provided the opportunity to meet with
prospective employers.
Reports of the Faculty Senate Special Committees
Dr, Kathy Schreiber reported that the Honor Code Ad Hoc Committee had been
meeting and that they should have a policy proposal by April..
Proposed Courses and Programs
(1) NEW UNDERGRADUATE COURSE
ESCI 445 - Numerical Modeling of the Atmosphere and Oceans, 3 credits,
elective in the Earth Science Meteorology Option. Effective Spring 2002. The
course was approved without dissent.
(2) CHANGES IN COURSES/CURRIULA
OSEH 120 - Fundamentals of Safety, Health and Environmental Issues, 3 credits,
addition of G3 label.
Dr. Wismer circulated a memo (see attachment) written by Barbara Stengel who
had raised some questions concerning this proposal and urged discussion. The
proposal contains a request for a G3 label for a course that has been
redesigned to obtain the label.
Discussion on OSEH 120 centered around the fact that it is offered by a
department that is not in the Social Sciences division and whether that is
allowed. UCPRC determined that nothing in the Governance Manual precludes
this and found that the course does fulfill the criteria for a G3 course.
Therefore, GCPRC recommended approval. Furthermore, there is precedent for
this, e. g., Psychology courses approved for the G3 label. However, as was
pointed out, the Psychology department had to petition to be included as a
department eligible to offer G3 courses. It was also noted that at most
universities, Psychology is included among the Social Sciences, while
Industrial Technology/Occupational Safety is not. Still, under existing
rules, UCPRC judged that the ITEC department did all that was required for
this course to be designated as a G3 course. Senate thus voted to approve the
proposal. The issue of whether courses outside the traditional social
sciences should in the future be allowed to have a G3 label has been referred
to the Academic Policies Committee as the result of a motion that passed
without dissent. This issue will, of course, be generalized to any course
requesting a General Education label from other than its department's
division.
Faculty Emeritus
Dr. Wismer presented an Emeritus resolution for Dr. Sandra Yeager. {See
attachment} A Wismer/Stein motion was made to grant Dr. Yeager the title of
Associate Professor of Chemistry Emeritus. The motion passed without dissent.
Dr. Wismer noted a typographical error and promised to send a corrected
version to Chairperson Piperberg.
Discussion of Cancellation of Classes Due to Weather
There was a discussion about the cancellation of classes and delays. It was
suggested that there be some amendments made to the proposal presented by Dr
Dorman. Senate spent time correcting the language in the proposal. There was
a Joe Lynch motion to pass the proposal as amended. The proposal passed
without dissent.
The original proposal was amended as shown below. Additions to the proposal
are in italics; deletions are shown with
strikethrough.
Proposed Motion on the Cancellation or Postponement of
Classes by the University for Inclement Weather
The cancellation or postponement of classes by the
University for inclement weather does not alter the
mutual responsibility of faculty and students to fulfill the
requirements of the curriculum. When class meetings are missed, alternate
delivery and schedule systems may be used. Faculty may (but are not
limited to):
- schedule alternate meetings
- deliver material electronically during the regular class schedule time
- deliver material electronically at an alternate time to be completed for
the next regularly scheduled class
- provide alternative assignments.
This policy must be explained in the regular class
syllabus.
A framework for implementing the policy will be explained in the regular
class syllabus.
Elections
2 elections for "At-Large" seats. There was a Dorman/Börger-Greco motion to
close nominations and have the secretary cast a ballot in favor of candidates
running unopposed. Ballots were distributed for those committee seats
requiring an actual vote.
Other/New Business
Dr. Yalda distributed a proposal for the "Institution of an Award Recognizing
Teaching Excellence at Millersville University." {See attachment}. The
proposal will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting.
The meeting adjounred at 5:45 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jen Miller
Recorder
Action Summary
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