Signal Mountain Room, University Center

Faculty Senate Minutes

April 3, 2014, 3:10 pm

Signal Mountain Room, University Center

Attendance

Others in Attendance: Linda Frost, Greg O’Dea, Linda Orth, David Rausch.

Meeting highlights

·  The Provost’s draft academic calendar for Spring 2015 for approved.

·  Dean Frost provided an update on the Honor’s College

Meeting Minutes

1.  Call to Order – The meeting was called to order by Vice-President Dr. Gavin Townsend at 3:17.

2.  Approval of Minutes from March 20th meeting

The minutes were approved by voice vote.

3.  Discussion of Provost’s Proposed Spring 2015 Academic Calendar

The Provost’s draft Spring 2015 Academic Calendar was discussed. A motion was moved and seconded to approve the draft calendar. The motion was passed by voice vote, with two abstentions. During the period of discussion the following points were made:

·  The proposed calendar has one less Monday than other days of the week. A suggestion was made to start classes on Mon Jan 5th, although this would required converting a Tuesday to a Friday. A question was asked about how many hours should we have in a class. The answer was 2250 minutes of engagement, although that does not have to be in person.

·  Not requiring grades to be turned in before graduation makes things more flexible. Could allow for makeup days after graduation if we have inclement weather.

·  Spread out exam schedule allows for more substantive exams.

4.  Honors College – Linda Frost
Dean Frost first provided a review of activities related to the Honor’s College, noting that town hall meetings were hosted in the fall and a planning committee was created and meets regularly. Frost then laid out a tentative plan for the Honor’s College, noting nothing was official yet:

·  The Honor’s College will work on three fronts: Brock Scholars, Office for Undergraduate Research & Creative Work, and new tracks in honors.

·  The Brock Scholars will continue to be the only 4-year program offered by the Honor’s College. The program will be slowly expanded over the next 5 to 8 years to a maximum of 400 students. A curriculum review is under way with plans to introduce more flexibility in the second year and beyond and allowing for more faculty participation. A call for course proposals will follow in the fall.

·  The Office for Undergraduate Research & Creative work would create new programs and coordinate with the new research centers. A request has been made to create a director position. The director would work both inside and the Honor’s College and outside.

·  New course tracks in honors would be introduced by both Brock Scholars and other students at the University. The tracks would consist of two courses in problem solving, work experience, and a capstone experience (12 credit hours total). The courses might connect with community organizations to solve local problems. Entities around the city have expressed interest in working with this type of a program.

Other things the Honor’s College is working on include:

·  DHON would continue to be part of the college.

·  A TEDx on the morning of homecoming around the issue of “Now What?”

·  Piloting a “High Achieving Mocs” (HAM) living and learning community (not limited to Brock Scholars). The learning community involves students taking 2 gen ed courses together in a co-host, taking a special UTSU class, and living together in Stagmeire. 28 students have already signed up.

Questions:

·  If we try to grow Brock Scholars do we have the budget and the faculty resources? Answer: Grow would probably required a new hire in English in the future. But growth will be slow, so the budget can adjust or growth can be limited.

·  Do you have a time frame for the new course tracks? Answer: Benwood would like to see one introduced in Spring 2015.

5.  Administrative Reports – none

6.  Other Business - none

7.  Faculty Concerns

·  Students who do not attend class are able to fill out student evaluations, but our current form does not ask about attendance. Could we add a question about attendance and why some students may not be attending? Answer: Let’s send this matter to the Student Rating of Faculty Instruction committee.

·  Faculty of the College of Business are concerned about the new policies regarding external review letters. Were is the directive for external review letters coming from? The UT System or elsewhere? Answer: Joe DiPietro has made it explicit that UTC needs external review letters. UTC decided to create its own process (based at the departmental level) before the UT System imposes one.

8.  Announcements - none

9.  Adjournment – The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 pm.