ASCRC Minutes 4/11/06

 

Members Present: J. Campana, S. Derry, J. Eglin, V. Hedquist, C. Henderson, J. Luckowski, D. McCormick, D. Potts M. Roscoe, A. Szalda-Petree, H. Thompson

Members Absent/Excused: C. Johnston J. Prongua

 

Ex-Officio Present: L. Carlyon, A.Walker-Andrews

 

Chair Luckowski called the meeting to order at 2:11p.m.

 

The minutes from 4/4/06 were approved.

 

Communication:

  • The joint meeting with members of Graduate Council, ASCRC and Dean Rowland to discuss the proposed degrees in Communication Science/Speech-Language Pathology is April 18th at 1:00 PM in the Faculty Senate Office, UH 221.  Professors Thompson and Luckowski will attend; others are all welcome.
     
  • Chair Luckowski met with ECOS last week to provide an update of the consent items for the next Faculty Senate meeting.  ECOS moved the following items from consent agenda to information items at the April 13th meeting:

1. Irish Studies minor

2. FOR 335 Environmental Entomology

3. Major/minor in Restoration Ecology

4. Option in Forest Operations and Applied Restoration

Several members of ECOS are of the opinion that the Senate should have more time to consider Level II curriculum proposals.  Concerns relating to the Irish Studies minor include adjunct instructors teaching the core courses; experimental course numbers in core courses; the use of the MCLL rubric for a course and instructor housed in English; and confusion over the use of three credit language courses to meet the general education foreign language competency requirement.  Chair Luckowski reported that she has informed Katie Kane and Terry O’Riordon that their proposal will appear as an information item.  Professor Kane will be prepared to address the concerns at the Faculty Senate meeting.

The new course proposal in Forestry was moved to information because DBS should have been included for signature as another affected programs.  Camie has sent the items for approval signatures.  The major/minor in Restoration Ecology and option in Forest Operations and Applied Restoration in Forestry were moved to information because ECOS and the Senate will not have had one-week prior notice of the action.  It was noted that the committee has not yet finished work on these two proposals.

·          ECOS also asked ASCRC to consider adopting the following resolution:

 

ECOS asks that ASCRC bring a resolution to Faculty Senate regarding the process by which curriculum proposals are submitted to the MUS’s chief academic officers and Board of Regents.  It is the case that proposals for major curriculum changes have been disseminated to the chief academic officers of the MUS before the changes have passed UM’s Faculty Senate.

 

Be it resolved, therefore, that no curriculum proposals will be submitted to the Montana University System’s chief academic officers or members of the Board of Regents until approved by the Faculty Senate.  Further, instructions for preparing major curriculum proposals will make it clear that Section IV “Process Leading to Submission of Proposal” will include the date approved by UM’s Faculty Senate. 

A communication from Deputy Commissioner for Academic & Student Affairs and the Board of Regents approval schedule was disseminated by Associate Provost Arlene Walker-Andrews (see 3/26/06 email).  She noted that during the past 2 ½ years, only two items have been submitted to the Chief Academic Officer’s in preparation for consideration by the Board of Regents prior to formal approval by the Faculty Senate.  Level II items are submitted to the OCHE in January, March and July to be voted on in March, May and September only.   Missing the March submission, for example, would extend the BOR approval timeline until September, which is too late for fall enrollment.  She expressed the view that submitting proposals for review by the CAO is similar to submitting information items to ECOS and the Faculty Senate.  

Members were divided regarding adopting the resolution.  As a way to achieve the goal of satisfying the BOR schedule for considering proposals without appearing to ignore the faculty governance process, it was suggested that the Faculty Senate Chair’s signature be added to Level II proposals.  As well, the Associate Provost will draft instructions for completing section IV Process Leading to Submission of Proposal of a level II proposal to include approval dates for the curriculum committees and the Faculty Senate.   

 

Unfinished Business:

 

·          Subcommittee Chair Roscoe presented GEOG 102 for inclusion as a General Education Natural Science course.  The committee approved the course and it will appear on the April 13 Faculty Senate agenda.  It was noted that the course will appear in next year’s catalog but was too late to appear in the fall 06 schedule.

·          Follow-up on the Major and Minor in Restoration Ecology was postponed due to the absence of the Forestry and Biomedical Sciences subcommittee chair.

·          Discussion on the proposed General Education models was postponed.
 

New Business:

 

·          Discussion on the Option in Forest Operations and Applied Restoration was postponed.

 

·          The committee was asked by ECOS to discuss the proposed revision to BOR policy 301.1 Admission Requirements; In-State Undergraduates.  Interim Registrar Carlyon explained that the only change from current policy is that technical courses, courses with the T suffix, would be accepted as free electives.


I.A.  All coursework from any regionally accredited institution of higher education, except for the courses excluded in section 1, below, will be received and applied by all units of the Montana University System as free, elective credits in Associate and Baccalaureate degrees.  The coursework described in this section may also be used to satisfy other degree requirements, as outlined in Section II.A., below.

 

1.       The only exception to this requirement is remedial or developmental coursework. 

Those courses are typically intended to prepare students for college-level work, and focus on composition, mathematics and reading skills.

 

II. A.  In general, all institutions in the Montana University System have the right to determine the applicability of transfer credits in a major, minor, option or general education program, as long as those credits are from a regionally accredited institution.  Board of Regents’ Policy 301.5.3, which establishes minimum grade expectations for these kinds of classes, will also impact the determinations.

 

1.       The only exception to this rule is Montana Board of Regents’ policies that mandate a

different expectation.  Board of Regents’ Policy 301.10, dealing with General Education transfer, is one example of this exception.


Members expressed the view that the policy may be misleading for students, many of whom are currently confused about the transferability of courses from two-year programs, i.e., they may believe all of their courses taken elsewhere will be used on our campus as satisfying degree requirements, not just electives.  The Associate Provost said that the reason for this policy is as a result of the push from the federal government to equate two-year programs with the first two years on a four-year campus.  It was questioned whether Montana’s two-year programs function as community colleges do in other states.  The financial disparity experienced by the colleges allows for differential instruction and the students are disadvantaged.  These colleges would require an infusion of funding to raise the academic standards and expectations of students.

 

Committee Report

 

·          Writing Committee Chair Hedquist provided an update from the last meeting.  Political Science successfully appealed the committee’s earlier decision regarding PSC 300, the 1 credit co-requisite writing course.  It will be allowed to retain its writing status.

 

The Writing Committee is in favor of adding the Directors of the Composition Program and the Writing Center as voting members. ASCRC does not support allowing these ex-officio members to vote. There could be a potential conflict of interest when proposals from these administrators are brought to the committee.  It would also unbalance the committee in terms of representation from the various disciplines.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:40.