Academic Senate: MINUTES 1/15/2008

II.  Roll call-- Present: Br. Donald, Sr. Maria Ciriello, Jovelyn Bonilla, Karen Ward, Dann Pierce, Peter Thacker, Jeff Gauthier, Chris Hallstrom, Angela Hoffman, Carol Dempsey, Elise Moentmann, Anna Costa, John Schouten, Sue Decker, Aziz Inan, Diane Vines, Fr. Stephen Rowan, Jackie Waggoner, Anissa Rogers, Fr. Mark Ghyselinck, Todd Easton, John Orr, Bret Tobalske, Caroline Mann, Zia Yamayee; Not present: Fr. William Beauchamp, Mark Utlaut

III.  Invocation offered by Angela Hoffman, OSB

IV.  Approval of minutes from Nov. 20, 2007 meeting
         ·  Minutes were approved.

V.  Standing Committee Reports :

     i.  Executive Committee , Dr. Jeff Gauthier
        · Executive Committee met in December 2007. Much of the discussion was about the regulations proposals which will be coming up in “new business.”
         · Reminded everyone that the Executive Committee is seeking nominations for officers who will come up for election in April. If anyone who is interested could let us know, we could come up with a list of interested people. There are also some new representatives who will be coming in next year. There are 4 openings in CAS, and the Fr. Rowan has been notified.
       · Stated that he met with the President concerning the sexual misconduct policy in the student handbook. Fr. Beauchamp reassured Jeff that this policy only applied to students and not to faculty. A brief discussion continued, with Jeff making a final statement that he sent a letter to the President outlining various concerns pertaining to the policy since the policy was a topic of conversation at the December Executive Board meeting.

     ii.  Committee on Committees , Dr. Todd Easton
          · Committee met to make an appointment to Teaching and Scholarship to replace Laura Mclary who is on sabbatical this semester.The committee appointed Wayne Lu from Engineering.

     iii.  Committee on Rank and Tenure , Dr. Mark Utlaut. No report.

     iv.  Committee on Teaching and Scholarship , Dr. Susan Decker
           · Spring Calendar of Events and Deadlines: posted in UpBeat
           ·  Butine: Proposals are due Feb. 4 by noon. Monies for spring cycle distribution include $9,440.00 (which becomes available immediately) plus $36,926.00 from the fall cycle (which becomes available June 1).
            ·  Committee will be meeting soon to schedule their spring meetings

       v.  Committee on Faculty Welfare, Dr. Elise Moentmann
            · Committee has not met since the last Senate meeting.

      vi.  Committee on Curriculum and Academic Regulations , Ms. Caroline Mann
            · Committee has met to consider and discuss two proposals that will be presented in “new business.”

VI.  Presidential Advisory Committees

       i. Committee on Student Media, Dr. Jeff Gauthier
            · Committee has met to subdivide into various sub-committees to start the interview process for leadership positions in the Log, Beacon, and KDUP. Work is moving along.

      ii. Committee on Athletics, Dr. John Scouten. Nothing to report.

     iii. Committee on Health and Safety , Fr. Mark Ghyselinck
          ·  The issue of speeding carts on campus is being addressed. Large numbers will be placed on the carts, and people are encouraged to report speeders.
           ·  Pot holes are being fixed.
           ·  Emergency Notification System is being worked on and slowly being put into place by the Department of Public Safety.

     iv. Committee on Information Technology, Dr. Chris Hallstrom
           · Committee has met twice since the last senate meeting.
           ·  The committee is looking at the following: developing an intranet that facilitates paper reduction and improved work flow; providing off campus banner access; increasing the number of wireless access points on campus; the feasibility of installing printing Kiosks in the computer lab for students; reviewing backup and disaster recovery solutions--backing up data and email.
          ·  The committee is also developing a campus-wide use survey to assess the technology needs of the community. The survey should appear around March.
           ·  The committee is also looking for various ways of how to inform the campus about what technology is available.
           ·  The committee previewed the new web design that I scheduled to appear on the UP website in March.
           ·  Next meeting is January 23.

   v.   Committee on Sustainability, Angela Hoffman, OSB
          ·  Committee met in December to establish laws for the committee and decided that their existence was to meet the environmental, social, and economic needs of the present generation, without compromising the future. The committee sees itself as sustainability consultants, and the campus community is encouraged to make use of the committee’s services.
         · Members have been working on Focus the Nation to take place Jan. 31.

VII.  Other Reports

      i.  Fr. William Beauchamp (delivered by Brother Donald)
            · Congratulations to the School of Business. They received 5 of their official notifications from ASCSB. They have been reaccredited with 5 commendations.
          · Father is also working on the Rank & Tenure Letters right now; he has everything in his office at this point and it will be ready at the end of this month. He is at the Executive Board for the Board of Regents right now, so that is where he is today.

      ii. Br. Donald
          · The Deans have not met since our last meeting. We met once informally.
          · Delivered an announcement from Karen Nelson pertaining to the faculty use survey that is sent out by UCLA every three years or four years. We are participating in that again; we did that the last time in 2004 and, through an email invitation to all teaching faculty, faculty will once again be invited to fill out that survey. It will provide us with a longitudinal study. We did it four years ago and we did it ten years ago. We have a lot of new faculty since 2004, so we would ask you/we would encourage faculty to do that, and also, there will be two reminders. The last time 80 percent of our faculty did this, and it was very, very good. There are additional questions, particular to the University of Portland--one is on advising that will supplement the study. The survey will take place around January 25^th, with a follow up in about 3 weeks. Two reminders will be given.
          · Deans meet tomorrow.

  iii. ASUP, Ms. Anna Costa
          · ASUP successfully found a sustainable lighting for the Christmas tree in the quad.
          ·  They also bought a biodiesel storage tank.
          · There is new carpet now in St. Mary’s and the purchase of new couches is still being worked on in order to make for a more desirable study space, especially since the library was packed during finals week.
          · Quite a few class conflicts with ASUP’s Monday meetings caused some senators to have to resign. ASUP is looking at the required classes on Monday afternoon and trying to draft a resolution that would assist their conflict dilemma.
          · The budgeting process went well. In the past, they had an $8,000.00 carryover fund. This semester the carryover is only $4,000.00. The treasurer did an amazing job at estimating; many clubs are a lot more financially accountable to their credit.

VIII.  New Business
      ·  Caroline Mann presented the two proposals that CAR received, reviewed, and discussed.

     1.   School of Engineering: Civil Engineering Program
            ·  The proposal is a program change in the civil track of the civil engineering program that would remove general chemistry, Chemistry 208 as a requirement in the civil track. In its place would be a requirement of a science elective to be chosen from a list of two biology courses, three environmental studies courses and three science courses. It comes as a result to a change in the Board of Technology’s published requirements. The old standards call for a proficiency in mathematics through differentia equations, statistics, and calculus based physics and general chemistry. The new standards have a broader focus and call for graduates to be able to apply knowledge through differential equations, calculus-based physics, chemistry, and one additional area of science. The number of students involved in the change is estimated to be about 20 to 25 students per year.
         · After brief discussion and clarifications, the proposal passed unopposed.

   2.  School of Business: Operations and Technology Management Major
         ·  This is a proposal for a new major in Operations and Technology Management. It is designed to address an increasing demand within the Business Community for graduates with a more quantitative orientation as well as expertise in operations and technology management. The new major, like other business majors, will require students to complete 39 hours of University core requirements, 57 hours of common discipline requirements and 24 hour major requirements, including 12 hours credit hours of the required OTM program. The curriculum will be taught by School of Business faculty and should not involve faculty from other schools. Some OTM students may elect to pursue a standard Math curriculum rather than a Business but it is not at the rate that this situation would arise with enough frequency to pose a burden to the Math department. Financial considerations primarily involve teaching resources. Estimates are that this will require the hiring of one additional faculty member who is competent in OTM. They plan to address this need through reemployment of existing faculty lines and, upon the retirement of Bruce Drake, to hire an OTM, academically qualified professor. That result is a cost of $7000.00 annually.
      · After brief discussion and clarifications, the proposal passed unopposed.

IX.  Announcements:None

X.  Adjournment : 4:50 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.
Next Meeting: February 19, 2008 in BC 163 at 4:00 PM