Faculty Senate Minutes, 16 April 1996

MINUTES

FACULTY SENATE MEETING

16 April 1996

Chairperson D. Eidam called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. in Chryst Hall, room 210. All departmental senators attended except those from the Developmental Studies and Political Science Departments. Student Senate President E. Kobeski and T. Miskelly attended for student senate. C. Clayton attended for the Snapper.

Minutes

Senate approved the 2 April 1996 meeting minutes with one correction: on page 3968, Chairperson's Report, second paragraph, six lines down, change "...60,000 citations to faculty senate minutes." to "...60,000 citations."

Reports

Chairperson's Report

Chairperson D. Eidam reported the commencement committee on which he represents senate met last week. Commencement this May is at 10 AM not at 11 AM. The inclement weather phone number is 872-3244. If it does rain, Kevin McCarthy will only speak at the first commencement. The Class of 1946 will be special guests at the commencement. As of last week there were 819 undergraduates and 52 graduates. That includes those who are projecting that they will graduate later this summer walking through the ceremony. There will be no August commencement. The commencement committee will discuss the problems that may arise if projected graduates walk through a commencement. thirty percent of the graduates will graduate with University honors.

Eidam said that senators who have a class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 2 PM will give an exam or reschedule a class the next time senate meets, May 7. It is not a good idea to reschedule senate's meeting for later in the day because of evening classes. If a senator cannot attend the next senate meeting, please let an alternate know.

Eidam said that at Thursday's APSCUF Representative Council meeting, APSCUF's president, S. Centola, announced a change in the task force reporting schedule. The task forces will report their recommendations to senate 11/1/96. After receiving the recommendations, senate will send any recommendations back to the task force by 2/1/97. The task force will consider senate's suggestions. The task force will submit their recommendations to senate for an up or down vote by early March 1997. A faculty referendum will occur in April 1997.

At senate's next meeting, the agenda will include reports by the curricular cost task forces chaired by Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs J. Stager. The agenda also includes a report by the master schedule audit task force chaired by Dean A. Hoffman. the Medal Fund on which the chairperson represents senate, met last Friday. The ending balance as of April 8 is approximately $336,000. There are presently 187 donors with an average contribution of $8,143.

By mail Eidam sent senators a new proposed form for graduate courses and one for everything else. He received suggestions from senators on how to improve the forms. Eidam asked that senate approve the two forms. By unanimous consent, senate approved the forms.

Eidam introduced senator M. Wamrkessel who spoke about senate's new Webpage. Warmkessel said the homepage was in its infancy. Yesterday when the new version of the University homepage became available, Warmkessel noted there did not seem to be a spot to place senate's homepage. She sent a note to the Webmaster making a suggestion for the appropriate location for senate's homepage. The Webmaster has not replied. Warmkessel said she would appreciate receiving any comments; the homepage includes a button to send her messages. While there is not a link from the MU homepage, senators can reach senate's homepage at the address, http://muweb.millersville.edu/~fsenate.

Student Senate

Student Senate President E. Kobeski said that on Sunday, 21 April 1996, MU students will host a SOS (Support Our Schools) rally from noon to 6 PM. Representatives M. Sturla and J. Barley will speak. Kobeski encouraged the faculty to attend. Two weeks ago student senate voted on the plus/minus grade proposal. while the majority of voters abstained, student senate did vote down the proposal. Students elected Pat Leahy as student senate president and Melissa DiNofia as student vice-president. The final allocation meeting of student senate will be April 25, 1996.

Administrative Officers

Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs

Associate Vice-President for Academic Affiars J. Stager said that MU has a new look to its homepage on the WWW as of April 15, 1996. it is still a work in progress. MU welcomes any suggestions to improve the homepage and for items senators would like to see on it. there is a uniform header and button-bar footer. MU is encouraging all units to adopt the uniform headers and footers. Previously Stager mentioned that MU received requests for applications through the WEB. As of yesterday, the actual application form is on the WEB. Applicants can complete the form and submit it electronically.

Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Services

Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Services J. Roller said that it is time for student registration for the Summer terms and Fall semester. Registration officials are requesting advising assistance from faculty members to help students when the students register. Faculty who would like to volunteer to help should contact their deans or chairpersons.

Committee Reports

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee

Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee chairperson, T. Woo, noted a correction to a listing on today's agenda. HPED350:Sport in America, will be first offered in the Fall (originally listed as the Spring) of 1996 if approved. She introduced one new course under the two meeting rule:

HUMN302:

Woo noted that the proposer used the old course proposal form. Woo asked that the secretary put the following item on the senate agenda for the next meeting:

Communication and Theatre Department Curricular Changes:

Attachment D

General Education Review Committee

General Education Review Committee Chairperson R. Wismer said the committee completed its final report on the general education curriculum. He decided not to distribute it to senate because it is too large to make 30 or more copies. He can make a copy on floppy disk available to senators.

Academic Policies Committee

Academic Policies Committee Chairperson B. Nakhai introduced a Proposal for Change in the Class Attendance/Grading Policy as an agenda item for the next senate meeting (see Attachment A). It will be the first item of business for the next meeting.

University Theme Committee

University Theme Committee Chairperson J. Piperberg said the committee met last week and narrowed the selection for the 1999-2000 academic year theme down to two candidates. the committee will make its final decision for senate's May 7 meeting.

Joint Senate Conference Committee

Joint Senate Conference Committee Chairperson J. Piperberg said the committee met in April. At the next senate meeting Piperberg will bring the list of recommendations for student membership on various committees for senate's approval. the committee continued to discuss the four years to graduate contract with students. It received information about student graduation rates from the Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs. The committee will meet again around 1 May 1996.

Faculty Emeritus

A R. Kerper/B. Nakhai motion to recommend Professor Joseph L. Rousseau of the Elementary and Early Childhood Education Department for faculty emeritus status passed unanimously (see Attachment B). Since Rousseau will not retire until July 15, 1996, Chairperson D. Eidam said he would check the appropriate procedures.

Proposed Courses

Senate approved two undergraduate and two graduate courses:

BUAD201:

BUAD344:

EDTE591:

MATH536:

Senators have one more meeting to challenge the following courses before senate approves them:

ESCI320:

HPED350:

Senate passed the following agenda item:

Retention-in-the-Major Policy for Earth Science Majors

Business

Faculty 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.

The Millersville University Grading System

At its previous meeting, senate postponed a vote on a Y. Soong/C. Stameshking motion to change MU's grading system to introduce plus/minus grades for B and C grades and an A- grade until todays meeting (see pages 3973-3974 of the 2 April 1996 senate minutes). Senate amended the motion twice, once to add plus and minus D grades and secondly to determine numerical values for the various plus and minus grades.

Chairperson D. Eidam distributed by mail to senators a proposed revision to the Governance Manual to indicate the numerical values of the plus and minus grades (see Attachment C). A T. Woo/R. Benson motion to round up the quality point equivalent values on Attachment C from two to one digit to the right of the decimal point passed 14 votes to 13. A J. Piperberg/F. Erickson motion to have an A+ with a value of 4.3 was defeated.

Senate returned to the main motion as amended. After a long discussion, F. Erickson/O. Iglesias moved to amend the motion to state that the main motion does not require faculty to issue +/- grade. R. Benson/D. Hutchens made a point of appeal that the previous motion was a substitute motion and not an amendment. By voice vote senate did not sustain the point of appeal and the chairperson interpreted the Erickson/Iglesias motion as an amendment to the main motion. After some discussion, the Erickson/Iglesias motion to amend failed. Senate returned to the main motion as amended. The main motion as amended passed 18 votes to 7.

Proposal for a Change in MU's Withdrawal Policy

An Academic Policies Committee motion to change MU's withdrawal policy (see Attachment A of the 5 March 1996 senate minutes) passed.

Senate adjourned at 5:30 PM. The next meeting will be Tuesday, 7 May 1996, from 4:05-5:45 p.m. in Chryst 210.

Respectfully submitted,

Marvin Margolis, Secretary
Faculty Senate