Faculty Senate Minutes, 5 March 1996

MINUTES

FACULTY SENATE MEETING

5 March 1996

Chairperson D. Eidam called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. in Chryst Hall, Room 210. All departmental senators attended except for the Art and Social Work Departments. Student Senate President E. Kobeski, J. Bernstein, and T. Miskelly attended for student senate. K. Smith attended for the Snapper

Minutes

Senate approved the 20 February 1996 meeting minutes without corrections.

Reports

Chairperson's Report

Chairperson D. Eidam introduced Senator M. Warmkessel who has agreed to be the Webmaster for the development of senate's homepage on the Internet. Warmkassel said she contacted K. Chaudhary about the homepage to see what she needed to do. Students will help do the html programming. Items that will likely appear on the homepage include current senate minutes and agenda, committee rosters, the senate handbook, and other items. Warmkessel is looking for an appropriate graphic for the senate homepage. One senator suggested a toga.

Because the summer graduate schedule has been changed, Eidam is changing the time and date for senate's first Summer meeting. Currently that meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 11, 1996, from 4:05-5:45 PM. Eidam is changing the date of the meeting to Wednesday, June 12, 1996, in McComsey's Myers Auditorium at 1:00-2:45 PM. Senate will also meet Thursday, July 11, 1996, from 4:05-5:45 PM, in Roddy 137.

Eidam read a statement. The January mailing of the senate agenda for the February 6 meeting inexplicably included a private memo on the third printed page. The printshop request asked for three pages although the agenda contained only two pages. Eidam asked that the University conduct a prompt investigation to ascertain what happened. The University Administration is conducting an investigation.

Eidam displayed the preliminary design for the new Undergraduate Course Proposal form. T. Woo gave good suggestions for the form. Eidam still has not decided what to do about informing all individuals in the pipeline about changes made in a proposal. If changes are made higher up before a course is approved, how does the information get back to individuals at lower levers of the pipeline? Woo also raised another question: Should not the next potentially proposing body be informed that there was a change? Eidam asked for senate's oral and written input. Eidam will bring a proposal at the next meeting.

Student Senate

Student Senate President E. Kobeski said student senate met last Thursday and had discussed the plus/minus grade proposals. There were mixed feelings among the students. Student senate will have a referendum on the plus/minus proposals later this semester at the time of the general elections. Kobeski testified yesterday in Harrisburg on PHEA. Harrisburg wants to extend PHEA from four to five years. Kobeski was asked about students going to college for five years, tuition assistance, and the Veterans programs.

Administrative Officers

President

President J. Caputo said that admissions are running close to the average for past years. He discussed the projections for next year's budget. MU is projecting a deficit of $200,000 for next year. He said that was relatively good news. Caputo again expressed disappointment with Governor T. Ridge's proposed budget. He is disappointed that the Commonwealth is choosing not to invest in higher education. Two days ago a Lancaster New Era headline contained a report that higher education is crucial to the success of the economy. Caputo feels good about the relatively small deficit. MU has had some success in reductions in overhead and increases in revenue. He said that next year will feel very much like this year. The situation is not worsening significantly.

Vice-President for Student Affairs

Vice-President for Student Affairs G. Reighard said that S. Little is leaving MU at the end of the semester to take a position at Lehigh University as director of programs and student development. MU will immediately begin a national search for her replacement with the goal of having someone on board near the end of the summer. Little was responsible for running the orientation. C. Jaeger and others will have to do that duty this summer.

Reighard gave a progress report on the Inn at Millersville. He solicited business for people to stay at the Inn. The Inn is on schedule to open on 2 May 1996. It will be fully occupied for graduation weekend. In the second weekend of June, there will be a grand opening after everything (landscaping) is completed.

Vice-President for Finance

Vice President for Finance B. Rydell discussed the Myers and Roddy projects. The projects have four design stages with the Department of General Services in Harrisburg. Roddy has completed the fourth stage and MU is waiting for the release of funds from Harrisburg. MU may have to wait anywhere from 2 to 6 months for the release of the funds. The release of the $11.8 project funds will depend on the cash flow in Harrisburg. MU can not go out to bid until the funds are released.

For the Myers project, MU has submitted the prefinal and final design stages. Today MU received word that the prefinal design has been approved. Once the final stage has been completed, MU will request the dollars from the Department of General Services. The state's contribution will be $1.8 million. The total project is between $2.5-2.8 million.

Vice-President for Academic Affairs

Provost F. McNairy announced that B. Montgomery will assume the Deanship of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences beginning July 1, 1996. She shared information about the open house scheduled for March 9, 1996. MU has a new initiative to attract students of color. These students will come to campus on Friday and some will attend MU classes. They will stay in the resident halls. MU is counting on senate's and the departments' cooperation.

Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs J. Stager said that MU had now received 31 applications through its Web site.

Committee Reports

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee chairperson, T. Woo, introduced two new courses under the two meeting rule:

BUAD 201:

Introduction to International Business, a new three credit hour course to be first offered in the Fall of 1996.

BUAD 344:

International Finance, a new three credit hour course to be first offered in the Fall of 1996.

Woo asked that the secretary put the following items on the senate agenda for the next meeting.

Minor in Statistics,

a new minor program to be first offered in the Fall of 1996.

Curriculum Changes in Biology,

Biology changes to take effect Fall 1996 if approved.

Admission to Biology Major Requirements,

changes to take effect Fall 1996 if approved.

Changes in Prerequisites to BIOL 254 and 255,

changes to take effect Summer 1996 if approved.

The Academic Policies Committee

Academic Policies Committee chairperson B. Nakhai distributed a proposal for changing MU's withdrawal policies (see Attachment A). The registrar submitted the proposal to the committee for consideration. It was the first of several proposals to the committee. The goal is to get rid of the WP/WF grade and replace it with a simple W. He asked that the proposal be placed on the next meeting agenda.

On the issue of minor versus major changes that was sent to the committee a month ago, the committee has discussed and researched the issues. After careful consideration, the committee believes that the current language in the governance manual is satisfactory. Nakhai said he did not want to participate in defining what major and minor changes are. MU should have a contingency approach. The committee believes there has not been a problem.

University Theme Committee

Chairperson J. Piperberg said the committee received four proposals for the 1999-2000 academic year theme. He expects to select a theme by the end of the semester.

Joint Senate Conference Committee

Chairperson J. Piperberg has set up a meeting of the committee for next week. He will have a report at the April 2 meeting.

Co-Operative Education Committee

Chairperson W. Dorman met last week with Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Services J. Roller. The committee has reached decisions that will come to the senate by the end of the semester. The decisions involved increased requirements and expectations of students in the co-op program.

Proposed Courses

Senate approved one undergraduate course:

BIOL 345:

Applied Ecology, a new three credit hour Writing course to be first offered in the Fall of 1996 if approved.

The following courses have one more meeting to be challenged before senate approves them:

PSCI 327:

Canadian Government and Politics, a new three credit hour Perspectives course seeking credit retroactive to Spring, 1995.

AFAM 201:

Introduction to African American Studies, a new three credit hour liberal arts core course to be first offered in the Fall of 1996 if approved.

AFAM 401:

Senior Seminar in African American Studies, a new three credit hour nongeneral education course to be first offered in the Fall of 1996 if approved.

AFAM 496:

Topics in African American Studies, a new three credit hour nongeneral education course to be first offered in the Fall of 1996 if approved.

Business

Senate Elections

The following senate committee positions are currently vacant:

Humanities and Fine Arts representative to the Academic Policies Committee;

Social Sciences representatives to the Academic Outcomes Assessment, Academic Policies, and the UCPRC, and

an Alternate to the International Selection Committee.

Proposal for Minor Changes in a Curriculum

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee chairperson T. Woo asked that senate consider proposals for prerequisite changes in certain courses in the Mathematics Department (see Attachment A, page 3899, Minor Changes in Curriculum, of the 21 November 1995 minutes). The changes ask for minimum grades of C or better in three calculus courses. The proposed policy has been in effect in the Mathematics Department for several years. The earlier courses are prerequisites for the later courses.

Chairperson D. Eidam relinquished the chair to chairperson pro tempore J. Piperberg so that Eidam could support the proposal. Acting chairperson Piperberg recognized J. Fenwick from the Mathematics Department who supported the proposal. Fenwick said that the Mathematics Department was requesting the changes in the interest of the students.

Senator C. McLeod said that should the proposal pass, he would recommend removing the word "minor" from the title and the first sentence of the first paragraph. He said if the proposal were minor, senate would not be dealing with it. Chairperson J. Piperberg asked for senate's unanimous consent to make the change. Senate consented.

McLeod said the proposal bears the implementation date of Spring 1996. Students will register in April for the Fall of 1996. He was concerned that the proposed effective date does not give students time to understand it before they register for courses that are covered by the proposal. A C. McLeod/D. Eidam motion to amend the proposal to change the effective date to Spring 1997 passed.

McLeod said he found the proposal at variance with the governance manual. The governance manual says a "D" is a passing grade. The proposal redefines the University's definition of a passing grade. While the proposal affects a few courses in one department, it does set a precedent that other departments will emulate using the same rationale. After much discussion, the motion to approve the proposal as amended passed. McLeod asked that the secretary record his negative vote on the proposal.

The Millersville University Grading System - Returned to the Agenda for 2 April 1996

A vote on a Y. Soong/C. Stameshkin motion to change MU's grading system to introduce plus/minus grades for B and C grades and an A- grade was postponed until the 2 April 1996 senate meeting.

Senate adjourned at 5:30 PM. The next meeting will be Tuesday, 2 April 1996, from 4:05 - 5:45 p.m. in Chryst 210.

Respectfully submitted,

Marvin Margolis, Secretary
Faculty Senate