The meeting was called to order at 4:09 p.m. All departments were in attendance except Academic & Student Development, Athletics, Government & Political Affairs, Interdisciplinary Studies. Library, and Physics.
I. Minutes of previous meeting
II. Proposed Courses and Programs
III. Report of the Faculty Senate Chairperson
IV. Report of the Student Senate President
V. Report of the Graduate Student Association
VI. Report of the Administrative Officers
Dr. Prabhu described involvement of Millersville students and faculty in the panels as part of the State Senate Appropriations Committee hearings. He also noted a positive experience at the Transformation Fair, speaking with students and faculty about curriculum. It was noted that these types of events are scheduled to allow participation but always conflict for some people. The idea of having a dedicated day or afternoon in the semester for addressing campus issues was raised.
VII. Reports of the Faculty Senate Standing Committees
First Reading
(1) CHANGE TO GRADUATE COURSE
NURS698: Scholarly Project. Proposal to revert grading from Pass/Fail to letter grade to foster quality work on projects.
UCPRC
First Reading
(2) CHANGE TO UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM
BA Geography, Environmental Studies option. Proposal to modify required and required related courses to enhance the quality of student preparation in the field.
Senator Marquez commented that selection of an Environmental course from the 200/300-level courses would be more appropriate than 100-level for rigor in the degree. She also noted that ENVI330 will be in moratorium.
EOYSC
Dr. Laurie Hanich presented several suggestions for modifying the nomination format and guidelines to improve clarity and efficiency. One concern was that nominators being responsible to secure all supporting letters might discourage some people to suggest nominees. There was also discussion on ways to provide direction and limitations on what types of supporting materials should be submitted by candidates to allow the selection committee to better evaluate nominees. Discussion focused on the necessity for assessing teaching excellence, including at least some input from students. Following discussion, it was determined that candidates would be responsible for securing letters of testimony as part of their supporting documents. Other supporting documents to be submitted from candidates include a personal narrative (with word limit), a recent CV, and no more than three letters of support, one of which is from a present or former student.
The EOYSC proposal to again use the extended nomination deadline of December 10 and supporting material submission by March 1 was approved without dissent. A Börger-Greco/Mahaffy motion to specify word limits of 1000 for nominations and 2000 for nominee narratives for the Educator of the Year Award was approved without dissent. A Saunders/Cardwell motion that Educator of the Year Award nominees provide a narrative, current CV, and up to three supporting letters, including at least one from a present or former student was approved without dissent.
VIII. Reports of the Faculty Senate Special Committees
IX. Faculty Emeriti
X. Other/New Business
The specific issue facing Foreign Language includes significant pressure coming from PASSHE and the threat of cuts. Variations in the interpretation of program enrollments by PASSHE (for example foreign languages collectively versus individual languages) made it difficult to anticipate the current situation. It was noted that we would benefit from better internal evaluation of programs that might be eliminated. GCPRC seeks direction from Senate on its approach to reviewing the FORL proposal, including a possible simultaneous review rather than sequential to speed the process.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:55 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Aimee L. Miller
Faculty Senate Secretary