Academic Senate: Minutes 1/19/2010

I.   Call to order and announcements 4:03 pm

II. Roll call
Present: Brian Adams, Robin Anderson, Susan Baillet, , Rev. E. William Beauchamp, CSC, Barbara Breen, Alyssa Schmidt-Carr, Tim Doughty, Todd Easton, Cara Hersh (representing Genevieve Brassard), Jill Hoddick, Larry Larsen, Laura McLary, Kathleen McManus, OP, Nick McRee, Hilary Merk, Stephanie Michel, Hans Nordstrom, Samantha Riofta, Fr. Stephen Rowan, Br. Donald Stabrowski, CSC, Jacquie Van Hoomissen, Diane Vines, Jackie Waggoner, Karen Ward. Absent: Genevieve Brassard, Susan Decker, Elise Moentmann, Joanne Warner

III.        Invocation: Br. Donald Stabrowski
IV.        Approval of minutes from meeting from 17 November 2009  
V.         Standing Committee Reports:

      i.        Executive Committee, Dr. Larry Larsen
               EC met the first week of December and discussed new business, which will be addressed at today’s meeting.
                Next EC meeting is Tuesday, 2 February. New business  should be sent to Larry Larsen by 26th January.

   ii.          Committee on Committees, Dr. Elise Moentmann
               Jacquie Van Hoomissen reported that the committee has not yet met, as there have been no requests for committee assignments.

   iii.          Committee on Rank & Tenure, Dr. Jill Hoddick
                The committee will resume meeting 1 Feb.

   iv.          Committee on Teaching & Scholarship, Dr. Nick McRee
               The calendar for Spring 2010 is posted on the teaching and scholarship website. 
               Call for spring Butines went out and will appear in UPBeat. Solicitation for the teaching and scholarship awards has also gone out.
                A faculty colloquium for spring 2010 will be announced soon.

    v.        Committee on Faculty Welfare, Dr. Susan Baillet
               FW met with Eric Barger to find out about the flexible spending plan. Eric reported that new vendors to administer the program have been interviewed. Changes must be made to follow laws (e.g. no longer able to set aside as much money as wanted on a monthly basis). As of 1 January 2010, the FSA is administered by an outside vendor.

   vi.         Committee on Curriculum & Academic Regulations, Dr. Brian Adams
               CAR has brought forth our items to vote on this afternoon (see below).

               a.    President’s Task Force on Retention (Fr. Rowan)

               b.    Proposals from the PSOB
                     (see new business for additional items)

VI. Presidential Advisory Committees:

   i.        Committee on Student Media, Dr. Jackie Waggoner
            Committee has not met yet.

   ii.      Committee on Athletics, Dr. Jacquie van Hoomissen
            A meeting will take place on 24 January to discuss work for the semester (i.e. academic regulation, gender balance).

   iii.      Committee on Health and Safety, Dr. Hans Nordstrom
         The committee has met twice since December. The committee discussed the sewage leak under the Commons, which was cleaned up. 
         Some asbestos abatement was completed in Buckley Center. 
         The committee has looked into the chemical odor on campus, has been told it is due to a weather inversion, 
         which brings pollution from I-5 onto campus.
         Bikes locked to rails will be cut and confiscated by Campus Safety.   
         The current smoking policy mandates that no smoking is allowed within 50 of main entrances, 
         20 feet of ventilation ducts but it is likely this will be changed in an effort to move toward an all-out smoking ban for the entire campus.

   iv.    Committee on Information Technology, Dr. Karen Ward
          The committee has met 1 December and 5 January and continues to work on its report.

    v.    Committee on Sustainability, Stephanie Michel
         The climate subcommittee is working on a climate action plan to increase awareness.
         The water subcommittee is working on creating awareness for upcoming conference and is researching issues related to bottled water and creating awareness about water usage on campus.

VII.       Other Reports:

   i.        Fr. William Beauchamp
            A plan has been submitted to the Committee on Sustainability to commit to more sustainable practices on campus, e.g. by 2030, 
            no longer allowing fossil-fuel operated vehicles on campus.
            The Officers are taking the proposed smoking ban under consideration. 
            Students did not pass a no-smoking resolution in the fall, thus there is no decision at the moment, but more stringent requirements will eventually go into effect.
            It has been a successful year for fundraising. About $1,000,000 has been raised compared to $750,000 in the previous year, making it the second highest year in fundraising.

Applications for fall 2010 continue to go up, currently up 25% of last year’s rate (10,000 applications so far, expecting 13,000 total). Over 400 acceptance letters have gone out over last year. We can expect a large waitlist because of the numbers, though it is hard to predict actual yield. We can expect over 800 students again in the fall. The focus has turned to high school sophomores for the purpose of recruitment.
Our current enrollment is up 60 students from last year.
Next week is the winter board meeting, where the budget for 2010-11 will be presented. We can anticipate a smaller tuition increase than in recent years, but there will be additional board/room charges. Staff and faculty salary will be increased. There will be some opportunities for add-ons to the budget but not much room for this. The University is in good shape for the budget next year.

The board is beginning the process for creating a new strategic plan. It will start by examining the assumptions driving the current strategic plan (e.g. mission, enrollment) and will establish five broad goals. A committee will be assembled to present the new strategic plan to the board for their approval at the May 2011 board meeting
The president has received files for tenure and promotion with the recommendations of the committee and others; decisions will be announced by the end of the month.
NCAA board of directors met. It is paying a lot of attention to academic reform, i.e. initial eligibility (SAT course, prerequisites) and is looking at establishing graduation rates of students as well as limiting the junior college transfer rate as eligibility for maintaining an approved sports program.

   ii.      Dean’s Meeting (Br. Donald Stabrowski)
The deans dealt with the retention suggestions.
Norah Martin is reviewing core transfer requirements.
The Registrar reported that faculty must validate class rosters by the end of the week.

Brenda Greiner reported that only 21 freshmen (as opposed to 30 last year) did not return this spring.

The deans reviewed the use of online evaluations in the fall. (81% participated.)

The Cathlic counselors meeting is taking place this weekend.

Will be meeting with Jim Ravelli to discuss a policy for intellectual property rights.

   iii.    ASUP

Students did not pass smoke-free campus resolution.

Funds for capital improvements were used as follows: Villa drum squad uniforms, Haggerty lounge furniture, basketball court behind Villa, Espresso UP, new DVD kiosk in the Pilot House, of which ASUP will receive 10% of revenue.

Executive board membership applications are available.

The day of service on Monday, 18 January (MLK Day), will be extended to week of service next year in honor of Molly Hightower.

A blood drive is taking place next week on campus.

ASUP is participating in a retreat this weekend.

ASUP is working with Kirk Mustain to support “take back the tap” to become disposable-water-bottle free on campus. The quality of tap water and stations for filling up reusable water bottles will need to be addressed.

VIII. New Business:

The President’s Task Force on Retention proposes the following:

1.      require incoming freshmen to take math placement test

2.      change prerequisite grade from D- to C- in 102 before moving on to 202

3.      create a course in quantitative literacy

4.      require mid-semester grades for all 100 and 200 level courses, which will information accessible to advisors and some parents

5.      expand pass/no-pass option (though it may not be used to fulfill required courses and may be used only twice for a require course)

Discussion

Proposal #1
A suggestion was made to make earlier placement so EGR can effectively complete schedules for incoming students since this will affect future course work. Math department will talk with EGR about dates before implementing.

Proposals #4 and #5
A question was raised if requiring mid-semester grades for 100- and 200-level grades will replace academic warnings. Others wondered if advisors will be alerted if poor grades are submitted at mid-term. Br. Donald says this is possible right now. Currently, many students, who fail have not received academic warnings prior to the end of the semester anyway. A discussion on advisement issues for a student’s movement through his/her program also took place.
There was concern that this discussion should take place first within departments to see how these proposals will affect individual programs.

Voting

 Proposal #4

all in favor
Br. Donald will rewrite proposal so that advisors will have access to mid-semester grades

Proposal #5
A vote was tabled in favor of continued discussion.

The Pamplin School of Business proposes the following:

To link MBA and MSF to make a dual degree hours (reducing from 69 to 60 hours in total) but no other changes will be made in a effort to reduce duplicate programs. The PSOB is anticipating few students, but this will provide an option for some; two degrees will be awarded at the same time.

Voting
all in favor

The School of Education proposes the following:
remove GEO 301, which will replaced by a free elective; this affects another department.
This course was created for School of Education, but is no longer a state requirement and is now replaced by a requirement in cultural diversity, which is covered by a different course.

Voting
all in favor

The Music Program proposes the following:

Based on recommendations from its accrediting agency, the Department of Fine Arts would like to discontinue the MA in music and discontinue the undergraduate degree in music education.

Voting
all in favor

IX. Announcements:

The Office of the Provost has announced a new information site for faculty: http://www.up.edu/academics/default.aspx?cid=9973

The next meeting of the Academic Senate will take place on 16 February 2010 in BC 163.

X. Adjournment:

5:08 pm

Note: All members of the University community are welcome to attend any meeting of the Academic Senate. The meetings begin promptly at 4:00 pm.