I. Minutes of the February 17, 2004 Meeting

The minutes of the February 17 meeting were approved as distributed. After the meeting two errors with the February 17 meeting were pointed out. First, under the Student Senate President's report, there should not be a second candy sale mentioned. Thus the last sentence of the first paragraph of Ms. Albright's report should be deleted. In the third paragraph of the same report, the first sentence should be eliminated and replaced with the following sentence: The Student Senate passed a motion to support an Academic Advisor of the Year Award. Also, in the last sentence of the approval of the February 3 Minutes, the date February 17 should read February 3.

II. Report of the Faculty Senate Chairperson

Chairperson Piperberg apologized for the lack of printed copies of the Minutes this semester. It seems that events such as the Provost Search and backlogs from the Common Calendar have conflicted with the distribution of the copies. All efforts are being made to remedy this situation for the next meeting.

Chairperson Piperberg announced that the following Senate seats are up for election this year. A list of the departments is as follows: Business Administration, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Economics, Wellness & Sport Sciences, Nursing, Physics, Psychology, Special Education and Administrative Faculty. These elections should be held between April 1 and May 31. The Senate roster for the fall of 2004 will be updated accordingly once Chairperson Piperberg is notified of the results. Any other changes in representation from the departments for either Senators or alternates should be reported to Chairperson Piperberg.

III. Report of the Student Senate President

Student Senate President Kristin Albright reported that COSGA was held last week in Houston, Texas. The eight delegates from the Student Senate who attended brought back great ideas for Student Senate to use.

The Senate just finished surveying students on the Freshman Year Experience (BSGP's issue of the year). Although only 150 surveys needed to be collected, the Senate collected a total of 459.

Ms. Albright attended the 23rd Annual Freshman Year Experience Conference in Dallas, Texas from which she learned great ways to help improve the freshman/first year experience at MU.

The Student Senate is currently holding a Voter Registration Drive and has a goal of registering 200 new voters. They are also organizing a Town/Gown relations meeting for Dr. McNairy's inauguration celebration and program.

The elections of the new student Senate officers will be held on April 1. Ms. Albright will be in Harrisburg this Friday for an interview for a position on the SSHE Board of Governors.

IV. Report of the Graduate Student Organization--None.

V. Report of Administrative Officers

President McNairy

President McNairy announced the appointment of the new provost. Dr. Vilas A. Prabhu whose appointment is effective on August 1, 2004.

President McNairy reminded the Faculty Senate of her intention to create three new task forces: Planning, Budget and Organization. The Planning Task Force is presently being developed, and the other two will be starting in fall 2004.

President McNairy asked for the opinion of the Faculty Senate with regard to changing the time of the May graduation for the second time to respond to the borough's concern about traffic.

Acting Provost Shane

Acting Provost Shane encouraged the Faculty Senate to participate in the inauguration activities planned for April 2 and 3. He also announced that summer Academic Advisement is starting and that due to the increase in the number of students, faculty contracts have also been increased.

Executive Assistant to the President Phillips

Executive Assistant to the President Phillips announced two upcoming activities that will be worthwhile for the faculty to attend. These activities are the Community-Based Research Workshops and the Learning Communities Workshops. Both are scheduled for March. Announcements are being sent through e-mail.

Assistant Provost for Academic Services Bello-Ogunu

Assistant Provost for Academic Services Bello-Ogunu reported on the submission of a Title III grant by his office last Friday.

VI. Report of the Faculty Senate Standing Committees

UCPRC

Senator McCotter, Chair of UCPRC, presented the following proposals

History 276: History of American Foreign Relations 1890 to Present (G3, W)
This course proposal represents an addition to the offering in General Education (G3, W) and an elective for History minors and majors
Proposed Effective Date: Spring 2004

Economics Proposals

Updates to "Blue Sheet" in Required-Related
The Economics Department proposes to revise required-related requirements to reflect current offerings in Computer Science. Currently the "blue sheets" do not reflect course offerings or courses open to Economic majors. By consulting with the Computer Science and Mathematics departments the "blue sheets" will be revised to provide more flexibility for the students.

Introduction of Prerequisites for Econ 101 and 102
The Economics Department proposes to add MATH 101 (College Algebra) or the equivalent with a C- or better if students do not test out of MATH 101 on the placement examination as a prerequisite for enrolling in Economics 101 and 102.

Academic Policies

Senator Kerper, Chair of the Academic Policies Committee, reported on the conversations taking place regarding interdisciplinary majors and minor policies. More information will be available in the near future.

GCPRC

Senator Mowrey, Chair of GCPRC, reported on the work being done by this committee. The committee has been working on developing DARS for graduate students, rolling admissions and putting together an online application process.

Senator Mowrey informed the Faculty Senate that the TEC council is only dealing with curriculum issues brought from schools outside of the School of Education and the approvals of EDWs.

VII. Report of the Faculty Senate Special Committees

General Education Task Force

Senator Foster-Clark, Chair of the General Education Task Force, reminded the Faculty Senate to schedule times to attend the focus meetings during this semester.

VIII. Proposed Courses and Programs--None.

IX. Faculty Emeritus--None.

X. Elections -- General Education Task Force and any other nominations

There is an opening on the General Education Task Force. A Luek/Yalda motion to elect Shauna Frischkorn to an At-Large seat on the General Education Review Committee for the remainder of the academic year passed without dissent.

XI. Ad Hoc Honor Code Committee: Honor Code Proposal and Implementation Plan

A lengthy discussion of the topic took place. Senator Mowrey asked for a straw vote on the issue of the present optional nature of the currently recommended version of the Honor Code. A large majority of Senators indicated that the optional nature of the Honor Code was not desirable. Some issues associated with the Honor Code have been referred to APSCUF for further comment. The Honor Code will be returned to the agenda of the next meeting.

XII. Snow Delay Policy Discussion

Senator Fenwick brought the discussion of a proposal to have altered schedules on days with one and two hour snow delays (see Attachment #5 from last meeting minutes). He did have some corrections to the attachment distributed with the February 3 minutes. The corrected version of the proposal accompanies these minutes. {see Attachment #1} A brief discussion ensued. This item will be returned to the agenda of the next meeting as well.

Senator Wismer distributed a document {see Attachment #2} for discussion about the procedure and timetable for administrative review of curriculum and course proposals. This item will appear as part of the agenda for the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted by,

Elba I. Rohena
Faculty Senate Secretary