Faculty Senate Meeting
January 16, 2013, 2:30 pm, Noble 130
Senators attending: Rebecca Austin, Michelle Bonanno, Beverly Chew, Rebecca Clausen, Betty Dorr, Leslie Goldstein, Rick Gore, Kris Greer, Andy Gulliford, Ryan Haaland, Melissa Knight-Maloney, Jonathan Latta, Justin McBrayer, Carrie Meyer, Kenny Miller, Chuck Riggs, Heidi Steltzer, Deborah Walker, Amy Wendland
Senators absent: Pam Smith, Simon Walls, Jay Dougan, Astrid Oliver, Amy Sellin, Janice Templeton
Guests: Marta Bergen, Barbara Morris, Carol Smith, Jenn Wagnon, Bob Stremba, Kim Hannula, Richard Fulton, Haeryon Kim, Kelly Stanley, Steve Stovall, Steve Short
Reports / Announcements:
President’s remarks – Chuck Riggs –
· Minutes, any corrections? None, approved by general consent as posted.
· January 30th Senate meeting will be scheduled to review/approve curriculum by Feb 6th.
BOT Faculty Representative update – Amy Wendland
· Board meeting is Feb 1st.
Academic Standards Committee Items (to follow Teacher ed curriculum)
Unfinished Business:
None
New Business:
Approval of curricular items – teacher ed (below)
New Teacher Ed Majors – Consent Items
Course/Program / Title / Change /ED 780a / Culminating Research Project / Title Cat dscrp
Motion to approve Teacher Ed consent item; seconded; approved by all.
New Teacher Ed Majors – Action Items
Course/Program / Title / Change /TED Prgm Prop / Teacher ed. – Early Childhood / New Major
TED Prgm Prop / Teacher ed. – Elementary Education / New Major
ED 334 / Meth. Of Teach Engl as Sec Lng. / Deletion
ED 3XXa / Social Studies for Educators / New Course
ED 3XXb / Science for Educators / New Course
ED 3XXc / Literacy for the Arts / New Course
ED 428 / Language and Literacy Field Study / Title Credits
ED 437 / Teaching Art/Music/Move P6 / Deletion
ED 438 / Content Based Field Study / Title Credits
ED 496 / Senior Seminar in Education II / Title Credits
ED 498 / Elem Student Teaching K-6 / Title Credits
ED 4XXa / Assess Design and Analysis P-6 / New Course
ED 4XXb / Emerging Tech in P-6 Schools / New Course
ED 4XXc / Teaching English as Sec Lang / New Course
ED 4XXd / Senior Seminar in Education I / New Course
ED 4XXe / Early Child Student Teach P-3 / New Course
Motion to approve Teacher Ed action items, Jon Latta; seconded Rick Gore;
Call to question. Approved by all.
Approval of curricular items – anth/geosciences (to follow Academic Standards Committee report)
Curriculum Committee Consent Items:
Course/Program / Title / ChangeGEOL 323 / Geomorphology / Prereq
GEOL 364 / Igneous/Metamorphic Petrology / Prereq
GEOL 435 / Groundwater Geology / Prereq
Motion to approve Geosciences consent items; seconded; approved by all.
Curriculum Committee Action Items:
Course/Program / Title / Change /ANTH 406 / Ethnobotany of the Southwest / Deletion
GEOS Prgm Prop / Geology Minor / Change to minor
GEOS Prgm Prop / Geology Option / Change option in maj
GEOS Prgm Prop / Environmental Geology Option / Change option in maj
GEOL 208 / Optical Mineralogy / Deletion
GEOL 308 / Optical Mineralogy / New Course
GEOG 310 / Intro. Computer Mapping and GIS / New Course
GEOG 250 / Intro. Computer Mapping and GIS / Deletion
Motion to approve Anthropology course deletion, Leslie Goldstein; seconded; approved by all.
Motion to approve Geosciences action items, Andy Gulliford; seconded, Beverly Chew.
Call to question, Justin McBrayer; approved by all.
Academic Standards Committee Items – Justin McBrayer
What are the policy changes that are being recommended (draft document was provided to senators a couple weeks prior to the meeting):
1. Credit limit for enrollment
a. No credit limit for students per term, current policy
b. Needs to be a cap; recommendation 18 credit limit is maximum without advisor approval
c. This maximum limit would be difficult for Physics/Engineering
2. Optional disenrollment policy
a. Recommendation: Streamline and publicize this policy.
b. Make sure that we don’t have empty seats in our classes because of students dropping late.
c. Issue of students arriving late in week; strong penalty for choosing to do this if it leads to disenrollment.
3. Withdrawal policy
a. Inconsistent and faculty determined; no schools with this loose a policy
b. Disincentive to do well; work hard.
c. Waste of time and faculty resources.
d. Recommendation: Student has right to W if not over W limit; college-wide deadline; instructor permission is not necessary
e. Students have more autonomy. They don’t need to be passing course.
4. Life-time limit on student-initiated course withdrawals
a. Many problems that follow from there not being a limit; Rigs GPAs; waste of faculty time and resources; blocking seats for other students.
b. Recommendation: students have a right to 3 withdrawals they initiate. Tracked by registrar’s office. Tracks W’s even if grades are replaced.
c. This would save 6 faculty lines – i.e. the 1500 withdrawals per term.
5. Life-time limit on entire semester withdrawals;
a. Recommendation: One semester limit; any additional requests would need to apply for special permission.
6. Course Repeats
a. We do not restrict students from re-taking a course. 12 credits can be replaced in cumulative GPA.
b. Policy is confusing
c. Recommendation: each attempt will be averaged into cumulative GPA. Easier for students to understand; also solves issues with students who do worse in most recent attempt. Creates incentive to still do as well as possible in current semester. No credit limit. All grades would show on transcript; grade averaging only affects GPA.
d. Course basis for this with limit to total number of courses this could be done for?
e. Policy recommendation is similar to many of the schools we aspire to be like, but not all.
7. Change quality point definitions for GPA calculation
a. No other school uses .25; all use .33.
b. Not sure on when schools began using the .33.
c. Recommendation: switch to 0.33 for +/- grades.
d. Many faculty like having +/- options; however some don’t
8. New grade types for non-punitive grades
a. Current system fails to distinguish reasons for these grades; difference is important.
b. Recommendation: new system with more distinction would help track student progress. See draft document for details.
9. Thresholds for latin honors
a. Current policy lacks consistency.
b. Recommendation set consistency and increase standard.
c. How would this affect departmental honors?
Discussion
· Voting on something like this is exactly what faculty senate is for.
· Straw vote?
· These policies are standard at other schools.
Motion to approve registration issues 1 and 2, Betty Dorr; Andy Gulliford seconded;
Notes: mechanism to limit faculty burden during transition; ensure applies for courses starting mid-term
Call to question Jon Latta; approved, one abstention.
Motion to approve registration issues 3-7, Jon Latta; seconded Betty Dorr.
Friendly motion Leslie Goldstein to consider recommendations 3, 4, 5, and 7, i.e. exclude 6. Accepted
Recommendations 3, 4, 5 and 7 approved unanimously. Item 6 will be discussed at next senate meeting.
Motion to approve 8 and 9, Jon Latta; seconded by Andy Gulliford.
Approved unanimously.
Featured Scholar Award
· Moving this award as a responsibility to the awards committee rather than for NBS Dean’s office.
· Awards committee is willing to do this.
· Is representation equal on this committee? Yes.
· What is the history for why this wasn’t in the awards committee?
o Call for nominations; past recipients of the award vote for who should receive it.
Motion to move this award to the Awards committee Justin McBrayer; seconded Beverly Chew; approved, one abstention.
Motion to adjourn Andy Gulliford; approved. Meeting adjourned at 3:30pm.
1 | Page