May 1, 2002 Minutes
APPROVED FACULTY SENATE MINUTES 43RD FACULTY SENATE MAY 1, 2002
Senators Present: Renick, Hindson, Stimmel, Blevens, Blanda, Hays, Stone, Brennan, Sawey, McKinney, Gillis (in approximate order of appearance)
Senators Absent: Moore, Peeler, Stutzman
Guests: Roy Martin, Cynthia Opheim, Micky Henry, Francis Rose, Stan Israel, Vince Luizzi, Lawrence Estaville, Walter Rast, John Beck, Ken Margerison, Bob McLean (The room fairly vibrated with energy!)
Chair Renick called the meeting to order promptly at 4:00 pm citing a heavy agenda.
Curriculum Committee Report
Roy Martin presented the Curriculum Committee report. The following discussion and actions ensued:
1. The Department of Political Science asked to delete the graduate Humanities minor due lack of enrolment. Dr. Opheim reported that originally the courses in this program had been team taught on a cross discipline basis that is no longer possible; the faculty is no longer available. Hays moved and Blevens seconded a motion to accept the committee recommendation to delete the minor. The motion passed 6 to 2 with one abstention. Senator Hindson was saddened to see the program go.
2. The next request was to change the names of the BS and MA in Cartography, Geography Information to Geography, Geographic Information Science. This request was made to bring the title into line with the current usage. Sawey moved and Stone seconded a motion to accept the recommendation. The vote was unanimously for the motion. But donít get the idea that we were pushovers.
3. The committee recommended acceptance of the request to delete the BA in Cartography, Geographic Information Systems. This request was made due to declining enrollments and a concern that the degree was no longer competitive in the market place. The University as a trade school? Blevens moved and Stimmel seconded a motion to accept the recommendation. The vote was 7 for and 2 against.
4. The next request was to add a BS in Geography, Water Studies. This degree would help to interconnect with the current aquatic programs and the unique resources available at SWT. There would be two new courses required and the revising of a third course. There would be no new faculty required and class size would not be overly affected. No conflict is foreseen between the Biology and the Geography programs according to Drs. Estaville and Israel. In fact the areas of overlap are seen as positive and collaborative. Stimmel moved and Hindson seconded for acceptance. The vote was 7 for, 2 against, and 1 abstention. (Please note that we picked up a Senator at this point, hence the difference in the vote count.)
5. The request for a Graduate Certificate in Professional Ethics, 6 hours and based on student interest, was discussed. Dr. Luizzi saw this as a slow growth program that requires no new faculty. This would be an ìadded valueî certificate. Stone moved and Sawey seconded the motion for acceptance, which was passed unanimously.
6. The next recommendation concerned the proposal to change Dance from the HPERD Department to the Department of Theatre. The primary discussion centered on the spelling of Theatre. Gillis moved and Brennan seconded a motion to accept the recommendation. The vote was unanimously for the move.
7. The final proposal to come before the Senate was the request for a new Ph.D. in Aquatic Resources. Dr. Martin commented that the proposal was thorough and that the department had called in external consultants to help develop the proposal. Aquatic Resources is a high interest area, one might say a "buzz word." These degrees would help to build the sound science upon which good agency and municipality decisions about water use might be made. Like Global Warming, perhaps? This would be a unique degree because of the special facilities and ecosystems available to SWT. There would be 4 new faculty required in the next 3 years. Space will be an issue but remodeling of some of the buildings soon to be vacated could answer that problem. (Like there is no one else dreaming of getting those spaces! Get ready to rumble!) The cost is high but the potential for significant grant support (selling ones soul to a government agency) is probable. Having been burned by the first Ph.D. program the Senate was very concerned about cost. This led several Senators to raise the issue of apparent parallels and overlaps with degrees offered just up the road. If these degrees are too alike will SWT be able to get the number of students that the proposal depends on for part of the budget? Dr. Israel was at his most eloquent as was Dr. Rose. Hays moved (perhaps somewhat hastily) and Gillis seconded a motion to accept the proposal, which was defeated 4 to 5 with one abstention. Blevens, with a second from Sawey then recommended that the proposal for a Ph.D. in Aquatics Resources be sent back to the Curriculum Committee so that actual student need could be determined and the effect that parallel programs within a reasonable radius might be explored. This motion passed 6-4. The secretary had to ask how to spell "nyah". There was a certain amount of grumbling by the Senate that the Coordinating Board deadlines seem to do more to drive the curriculum rather than truly careful consideration of the wisdom of adding these forever-expensive programs.
Recommendations from the Senate Special Committee on Post Tenure Review
Dr. Margerison, reporting for the ad hoc committee (Margerison, Hindson and Stone), presented two documents. The first outlines the Principles of Post-Tenure Review while the second is a detailed PPS for the Performance Evaluation of Faculty. Both documents were considered well conceived and clearly written. Hays moved and Brennan seconded a motion to accept the documents with a few cosmetic changes. The motion passed unanimously. This item was RTA'd to the next meeting
Presidential Search
In an off-agenda item Dr. Renick commented that the candidate pool was strong and that we would probably be entering the interview process soon.
New Business
The minutes for April 24, 2002, were approved with minor fixations.
Minutes jubilantly but fixedly submitted by Joan Hays