THE ACADEMIC SENATE

OF

NORTHERN MICHIGANUNIVERSITY

Minutes of October 19, 2004

Present: Tawni Ferrarini (Chair), Larry Pagel (Vice Chair), Robert Allbritten (Past Chair), Andrew Poe (Secretary), Fred Joyal (Provost), Carol A. Johnson, (Senate/AAUP Liaison), Julie Rochester, Michael Andary, Randy Appleton, John Andrews, David Boe, Dwight Brady, Gary Brunswick, Michael Burgmeier, Carolyn Lowe, Chet DeFonso, Donald Dreisbach, Tom Froiland, Tom Getman, Sam Graci, George Gross, Cameron Howes, Ira Hutchison, Nell Kupper, Charles Leith, Jane Milkie, Lori Nelson, Paul Phillips, Charles Rayhorn, Nancy Redfern, Don Rybacki, Terry Seethoff, Jeong-Chang Seong, Darlene Walch, Robert Whalen, Sean Allen, Amy Pascoe

Absent:Cheryl Turton, Ruth Watry, Michelle Johnson, Daryl Kobie, David Lucas, Marsha Lucas, Deborah Peterson, Easton Dreher, Stacia Pfeiffer

Guests:President Les Wong, Lesley Putman (CUP), Alan Willis (LSC)

Chair Tawni Ferrarini called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. in the Ontario Room of the UniversityCenter. She welcomed President Wong who had requested time to chat with the Senate.

I.Chat with Dr. Wong

President Wong thanked the faculty for their participation in the events last week. He said that the hospitality of the community and the faculty at the investiture was incredibly special to his family, who were ecstatic and understood why he chose to come to NMU. He said, “You only get to be a president one time for the first time…it was a magical moment.”

He said that groups within ASNMU are very excited about participating in discussions about the Curriculum for the 21st Century. They especially want to be involved in the international education groups; they will be invited to participate.

President Wong commented that there is some positioning going on regarding appropriations for higher education state-wide. The shortfall was predicted to be $500 million, now only $72 million. He said that no one in Lansing seems to know; all 15 university presidents are expecting some changes next year, but no one really knows what to expect or predict.

He said he has been meeting with students. One of Les’s questions is, “How are things going with the faculty?” He has been struck by how positively students talk about the faculty. He has asked questions about whether students are being pushed hard enough, and if faculty members are making them think about difficult things. He also wanted to share that students don’t want to be left out of the conversation. He wanted to alert the Senate to that and

(Approved November 2, 2004)

Page 2

Meeting of the Academic Senate

Minutes of October 19, 2004

suggests they include students in future discussions. Chair Ferrarini commented that ASNMU has a standing invitation to work with the committees of the Senate.

Chair Ferrarini asked how the meetings with the various departments are going. Dr. Wong replied that the meetings have been illuminating and positive; “workload is an issue.” Discussions about credit hour production have occurred and questions raised about how we can best function at high quality with fewer student credit hours. In particular, he noted that he would be very happy if the University dropped from first to eighth place in the state in terms of student credit hour production. He hopes we can develop a common way to talk to the public about this.He added that he has had good discussions about academic service learning and internationalization.

Carol Johnson asked if NMU has a representation on the K-16 Coalition. He said he is not aware of those details and asked that he be kept up to speed.

He ended his remarks by inviting e-mail messages about items of concern and ideas. Chair Ferrarini thanked him for sharing his thoughts with us.

President Wong added as a postscript that he would hate to see his words distorted or embellished in the minutes, remarking that it would be a shame if something were to happen to the Secretary so close to tenure.

  1. Additions to/Adoption of Agenda

Senator Allbritten,seconded by Senator Rybacki, moved for adoption of the agenda as presented. The vote to adopt was unanimous.

  1. Approval of Draft Minutes of October 5, 2004

Approval of the draft minutes of October 5, 2004, was by consensus, albeit slightly out of order, in that, although the adoption of the agenda preceded this event organizationally, the approval of the minutes occurred first temporally.

  1. Reports:
  1. Chair

Chair Ferrarini reported her happiness in being able to announce that Alan Willis, chair of the Liberal Studies Committee, has been working with Dr. Wong to assess liberal studies and outcomes assessment and reporting for information purposes their findings. Questions should be directed to the Liberal Studies Committee. She reported that Alan Willis would be given released time to reallocate his time towards the extra work surfacing in liberal studies.

  1. Secretary – no report

(Approved November 2, 2004)

Page 3

Meeting of the Academic Senate

Minutes of October 19, 2004

  1. Provost

Dr. Joyal reported that he met for two hours with State auditors who are interested in how we introduce new curricula to the university. He said justification occurs with new curricula; the projected new enrollment raises interesting questions: what happens when a course doesn’t have an enrollment of “x”? The auditors are impressed with counts and things they are getting into; they are not finding much to follow up on. They are going to do a preliminary, then a detailed visit, and report at a later date.

  1. Committee on Elections and Committees Report of October 19, 2004

This report recommended faculty to fill vacancies on the Academic Information Services Advisory Committee, the Honors Board, and the Admissions and Academic Policies Committee. Senator Pagel moved for acceptance of the report, seconded by Senator Rybacki. Senator Poe moved for suspension of the rules to allow for immediate consideration of the report; Senator Whalen seconded the motion. The vote to suspend the rules passed with one vote opposed (Senator Dreisbach); the vote to adopt the recommendations of the report passed unanimously.

  1. Committee on Undergraduate Programs Report of October 19, 2004

This report recommended (1) making modifications to the Outdoor Recreation Leadership Management Major in HPER; (2) adding courses to the lists of marketing electives for the Marketing Major and Minor in the College of Business; (3) changing credits in a course, dropping a prerequisite, and adding a course to the list of options for the Applied Ethics Minor in the Department of Philosophy; and (4) adding a new course in Modern Languages and Literatures.

Senator Rybacki, seconded by Senator Hutchison, moved for acceptance of the report. Senator Rybacki questioned the thinking and wisdom in identifying specific individuals in the Bulletin copy for the Philosophy course. Senator Dreisbach acknowledge Senator Rybacki’s point, but thought it was important that Professors Cooper and Greene be listed since he, Dreisbach, is the non- ethical Philosophy professor; those listed are ethical.

Questions were raised by Dean Seethoff and Provost Joyal about the number of unspecific prerequisites required in RE 381, as well as the “instructor permission” option.

Following questions, the report moved to Old Business at the next Senate meeting.

(Approved November 2, 2004)

Page 4

Meeting of the Academic Senate

Minutes of October 19, 2004

  1. Liberal Studies Committee Report of October 19, 2004

This report requested continuing status in the Liberal Studies program for PL 270: World Religions. Senator Pagel moved for acceptance of the report; Senator Dreisbach seconded the motion.Senator Poe inquired about the need for changing the status of this course. Alan Willis (LSC) answered that their charge requires that courses currently listed be reviewed and recommendation made as to whether a course be continued or deleted, thus the request. The report moved to Old Business at the next Senate meeting.

  1. Old Business
  1. Liberal Studies Committee Report of October 5, 2004

This report recommended eliminating the speaking/oral presentation goal from Division I of the Liberal Studies program and provided new Bulletin copy.

Senators spoke for and against the recommendation during a lively, lengthy, and scholarly debate in which both oral and written communication were elaborately defined. Although the Secretary has an eidetic memory, it only works for matters pertaining to Star Trek, and, despite the Recording Secretary’s facility with all sorts of funky cryptic high-speed writing systems, no reasonable person could have captured the entire conversational blitz. Concerns centered on (1) the need for the requirement in this division (Joyal, Kupper); (2) finding a new place for the requirement in the current Liberal Studies program (Andrews, Getman, Hutchison); (3) whether this requirement meets the goal of the current Liberal Studies program (Dreisbach); (4) whether the goal has ever been implemented satisfactorily by the Liberal Studies program (Allbritten, Rybacki); and (5) whether the problem is sufficiently urgent to demand immediate resolution (Pagel).

Senator Hutchison called the question, supported by Senator Appleton. The vote to call the question was unanimous. The vote to adopt the recommendation of the report passed 17-16, with two abstentions. For obvious reasons, the two abstainers requested their names be omitted from the record.

  1. Calendar for Curriculum Changes

This calendar, authored by the Provost, provided deadlines for curriculum changes for Bulletin copy for the 2005-2006 edition. There was no debate; the vote to adopt the calendar was unanimous.

  1. New Business – none

(Approved November 2, 2004)

Page 5

Meeting of the Academic Senate

Minutes of October 19, 2004

  1. Informal Consideration
  1. Documents for Paul Duby: Data on 2003 Graduates, Major Count by Class

Chair Ferrarini asked that senators take the information back to their departments and discuss the data. It was noted that faculty are overworked and have reached a point of diminishing returns. She asked that departments look at major counts and graduate numbers and assess how major and minor programs are serving students.

  1. CIS 250 Survey

Chair Ferrarini noted that responses to the survey were due October 16. Survey results will be used to develop websites for various senate committees. She thanked those who participated and asked that questions be addressed to Professor Sandi Poindexter, College of Business.

The meeting adjourned at 4:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Pat Frenn

Secretary

Mildly edited by,

Andrew A. Poe, Secretary

The Academic Senate

Northern MichiganUniversity

(Approved November 2, 2004)