Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
August 27, 2012
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on August 27, 2012, was called to order at 3:03 p.m. by Robert Fujinami, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 215 C. Roland Christensen Center.
Roll:
Present: Stephen Alder, Lisa Aspinwall, Keith Bartholomew, Clayton Beckett, Barton Blackburn, Tully Cathey, Kathy Chapman, Reaz Chaudhuri, Thomas Cheatham, Kuan Chen, Ronald Coleman, Charlotte Conerly, Kevin DeLuca, Marianna Di Paolo, Lee Dibble, Justin Diggle, Richard Dorsky, Ingrid E. Nygaard, Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, L. Eric Huang, Kristina Evans, Aria Flatau, Leslie Francis, Sabine Fuhrmann, Bruce Gale, Michael Gardner, Timothy Garrett, William Gershan, Franz Goller, Joan Gregory, Gary Grikscheit, Charles Grissom, Leanne Hawken, Howard Horwitz, Eric Hutton, Thunder Jalili, Christian Johnson, William Johnson, Anthea Letsou, John Longino, Kim Martinez, Heather Melton, McKenna Menees, Harvey Miller, Tatiana Mixco, Alfred Mowdood, Patricia Murphy, Chris Myers, Patrick Panos, Lester Partlow, M. Pollie Price, Matthew Potolsky, Hannah Pratt, Martin Rechsteiner, Alison Regan, Stephanie Richardson, Gerald Root, Gary Rose, Sonia Salari, Paul Shami, Janet Shaw, Clough Shelton, Orine Shine, Kristin Smith – Crowe, Gregory Smoak, Steven Sternfeld, Geneva Thompson, Taylor Thompson, Norm Waitzman, Molly Wheeler, Wynchester Whetten, Bryce Williams, Joanne Yaffe, Aaron Young, Jingyi Zhu
Excused: David Ailion, Thad Hall, Tom Henderson, Bradley Katz, Sharee Lane, Vivian Lee
Ex-officio: Robert Flores, Robert Fujinami, Pat Hanna, Paul Mogren, Allyson Mower, David Pershing, Amy Wildermuth, Shawnee Worsley
Others: Annie Christensen
Excused without Proxy: John Conboy, Alicia De Leon, Michael Hawkins, Evert Lawton, Karl Lins, Melissa Meeks, Duncan Metcalf, Dragan Milicic, Anne Mooney, Trevor Myrick, Marlene Plumlee, David Rudd, Jeff Stratman, Orest Symko, Li Wang, Dennis Wei, Angela Yetman
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting on May 2, 2012 were approved following a motion from Sonia Salari which was seconded by Patrick Panos.
Special Order of Business
This being the first Senate meeting of the year, Robert Fujinami, Academic Senate President, held a vote to ratify the decision of the President to make two annual Senate officer appointments: (i) Paul Mogren to continue serving as senate parliamentarian and (ii) Bob Flores to continue serving as Senate Institutional Policy Committee liaison, for the year. The motion was made to approve by Steve Alder and seconded by Joanne Yaffe. This passed unanimously.
Request for New Business
No new business to address
Consent Calendar
The resignations retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary and limited term appointments, appearing in the Appendices dated August 27, 2012, received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees with clarification regarding auxiliary #76 appointment, on motion made by Joanne Yaffe and seconded by Steve Alder.
Executive Committee Report
Allyson Mower, Executive Committee Secretary, provided a summary of the Executive Committee meetings held and actions taken, during the Senate’s summer recess.
Report from Administration
President David Pershing spoke to the senate regarding the Great Red Road Trip and other summer events. President Pershing has visited St. George, Cedar City, Milford, Beaver, Richfield, Ephraim, Salina, Eastern Utah and Northern Utah. He will also visit Tooele County, Utah County and Southeastern Utah. The blog is on the website at www.greatredroadtrip.org. The goal of the road trip was to reach out to all communities in Utah and show that the U is important across the state.
The Presidential Inauguration will be held October 25th at 11 am. To minimize cost we will be tying the inauguration into other events including the California football game, National Advisory Council meeting and President’s Club Dinner.
Enrollment is up again this year to over 32,000. This is a compliment to all of you who continue to provide what students want. You will be hearing about a new admissions process that will be proposed this afternoon.
Amy Wildermuth, Assoc. VP for Academic Affairs, spoke regarding the two Thursday night football games this semester. We are not cancelling classes and we are acting upon the recommendations from the Adhoc Closure Committee that was put in place last fall to minimize negative consequences of the scheduling. There was a map sent out earlier today showing where additional parking will be and encourage people to park north of the football stadium. Communication was sent to Professors who are teaching on Thursday nights regarding the issues that may arise. The University does not control when football games are scheduled.
Report from ASUU
Geneva Thompson, ASUU President, reported that Homecoming will be celebrated September 8 – 15. All the activities will be listed on the website and Game on the Green will start at 6:30 p.m. at Union Patio and the U vs. BYU football game will start at 8 p.m. at Rice Eccles Stadium. Something to watch for while at the game is Recycle Rice-Eccles. This program is under the ASUU Sustainability Board and their goal is to divert recyclable waste from the landfill, with collection points at the tailgate lot and at the stadium.
The Academic Affairs board will be holding their Student Advisory Council training will be held Sept 17 at 5:30 in the Union.
ASUU will also be revamping their bylaws and reexamining how they can best represent the students.
Notice of Intent
The proposal for new Policy 6-407 University General Student Fee Board was presented by Cathy Anderson, Associate VP for Budget & Planning. This policy puts in place the formal procedures that have accrued at the University for a number of years. This was generated by an audit that was performed last fall by the state legislative auditors and it was recommended that state higher ed institutions have written policies about setting student fees. The Board of Regents in turn adopted a new statewide policy requiring the University and other institutions to develop institutional policies, and this proposal responds to that new Regents policy. The purpose of this policy is to establish the University General Student Fee Board as a permanent board to act in an advisory capacity to the University President. The policy applies to general student fees, not special fees. ASUU is supportive of this policy. A motion was made by Geneva Thompson to move this proposal to the debate calendar immediately. Motion was seconded by Joanne Yaffe and passed with required 2/3 majority. On motion made by Joanne Yaffe to end debate. There was no objection and proposal was approved to forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval.
Debate Calendar
The proposal for a new minor in Korean & Korean Studies was presented by Janet Theiss and Katharina Gerstenberger. The Languages and Literature Department has requested approval to offer the minor effective fall 2012. With the 2011 hiring of a full-time assistant professor/Lecturer in Korean Language, Literature and Culture the department is now in a position to create a formal minor in Korean and Korean Studies to begin to meet labor market and student demand. There are currently 67 students enrolled. The new minor would build on and integrate courses in Korean currently offered at the University to provide students with a cohesive program of study that demonstrates language and cultural competencies. A senate member knowledgeable about the Languages and Literature Department raised a concern, that the department faculty may not yet have been adequately consulted about the proposal. It was noted that the proposal documentation did not include any indication of consultation with the department faculty. Bob Flores explained that the Senate could choose to approve the proposal “conditionally” and forward it to the Board of Trustees for final approval, on condition that the department faculty first is consulted and documentation of that consultation be added to the proposal materials. A motion for such conditional approval was made by Joanne Yaffe and seconded by Eric Hutton. Motion passed unanimously.
The proposal for a new degree of Master of Science for Secondary School Teachers in Earth Science Teaching was presented by Holly Godsey and Barb Nash. The Masters of Science for Secondary Teachers (MSSST) program was established by the College of Science in 1972 and offers degrees for secondary school teachers in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Math. The MSSST degree program is available to certified middle and high school teachers who have been teaching for a minimum of three years as a way to provide advanced training and fulfill Utah State Office of Education (USOE) endorsement requirements for science and mathematics. The proposed MSSST Earth Science degree will be offered in the Department of Geology and Geophysics which is part of the College of Mines and Earth Science. The program consists of 34 hours of study. The program meets the USOE requirements in Earth Science and Physical Science for teachers who have the prerequisites of 1 year each of Chemistry and Physics. Courses will be given in the evenings during the academic year, and during mid-summer months to accommodate K-12 teaching schedules. The motion to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees was made by Joanne Yaffe and seconded by Steve Alder. Motion passed unanimously.
Keith Bartholomew and Jim Agutter presented the proposal for a new Undergraduate Major, B.S. in Multi-Disciplinary Design, offered by the College of Architecture and Planning. The course of study will use product design as a vehicle to investigate design research, human centered design principles, interface development, articulation product forms, materials and digital manufacturing principles. Students will focus on one of two tracks; one that is more related to Industrial Design and the other that is more digitally related. There is a significant labor market demand for professionals trained in multi-disciplinary design and there has been a recent increase in student demand for design related programs due to the growth of design related services and businesses. Space has been an issue and the department has been in contact with Business and Marriott Library to use computer labs. The motion was made by Joanne Yaffe to accept and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion was seconded by Sonia Salari and passed unanimously.
The proposal regarding a Minor in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Name Change was presented by Betsy Cook. This request is for a name change only of an existing minor. Currently, the name is Minor in Recreation. It is proposed that the name be changed to Minor in Parks, Recreation and Tourism. The proposed name change may affect enrollments, since the degree will be more clearly communicated, but it will not affect course offerings, other instructional programs, or the existing administration. The motion was made by Sonia Salari to accept. Motion was seconded by Joanne Yaffe and passed unanimously.
Information Calendar
Andrea Brown of Human Resources provided information and invited questions and recommendations regarding the planned revision of University Rule 5-130B Criminal Background Checks for Staff. No recommendations were made.
Kevin Perry, Chair of the Credits and Admissions Committee, and Mary Parker, Associate VP of Enrollment Management, led a discussion seeking input about a plan to revise Policy 6-404 Undergraduate Admission, to implement a holistic admission process in place of the existing limited criteria admission process. The Committee seeks Senate support and input for the project with the objective of developing and returning to the Senate a specific proposal for revising Policy 6-404 later this year, in time to have a new set of admission criteria in place for next fall’s admissions. A lengthy discussion was had, and numerous questions, concerns and recommendations were raised. Ron Coleman moved that the Senate “endorse” the project. Joanne Yaffe seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
Donna White, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, invited questions and recommendations regarding final reports from the Graduate Council Reviews of (i) Department of Marketing, (i) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, (iii) School of Architecture, and (iv) Department of Mechanical Engineering. Lengthy discussion was had about the Materials Science department review report, and particularly the report’s recommendation to explore merging that department and the Department of Metallurgical Engineering. Concerns were raised about the effect such a department merger would have on the College of Mines and Earth Sciences, and about the effects that differing percentages of returned overhead funding among different colleges will likely have on consideration of a merger. All reports were accepted and will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees information calendar.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 4:46 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Shawnee Worsley