Meeting, May 6, 2004
Gallagher Business Building, Room 123

Members Present:	M. Bachmann, D. Beck, T. Bedunah, F. Brown, N. Browning-Bradley, K. Canty, J. Carter, R. Chacon, G. Cobbs, J. Crepeau, D. Dalenberg, L. Dent, P. Dietrich, S. Derry, D. Doyle, E. Edlund, D. Fillmore, S. Ganesh, L. Gillison, L. Hayes, T. Herron, N. Hinman, R. Judd, S. Kalm, K. Kane, C. Knight, B. Knowles, C. Krussel, J. Laskin, R. Ledbetter, M. Mayer, V. Micheletto, J. McNulty, S. Mueller, D. Pletscher, N. Priestley, B. Reider, A. Sondag, T. Tonev, D. Schuldberg, J. Sears, P. Silverman, L. Tangedahl H. Thompson, C. Winkler
Members Excused:	E. Ametsbichler, G. Burns, C. Gajdosik, R. Field, J. Gritzner, M. Monsos, N. Nickerson, N. Priestley, S. Stiff, E. Uchimoto
Members Absent:	C. Brewer, C. Bruneau, P. Fandozzi, W. Holben, C. Johnston, S. Greymorning, D. Schantz, D. Six, G. Smith
Ex-Officio Present:	President Dennison, Provost Muir, Vice President Branch, Associate Vice President Ford, Associate Provost Staub, Dean Fetz and Strobel, ASUM President Aaron Flint, President-elect Gale Price, and Vice President-Elect Vincent Pavlish.

Chair Knowles called the meeting to order at 3:12p.m.

The minutes of April 8^th were approved (motion by Senator Crepeau, seconded by Senator Judd.)

Communications:

President Dennison

The University has done relatively well with tuition because of strengths in enrollment, helped in part by the funds made available for loans, and other efforts. People have been frugal in managing funds this year, which means about half of the amount that was planned to be rolled back from 2005 to meet budget requirements for the year is not required. Therefore next year’s budget will be in better shape than anticipated because only half the projected amount will be borrowed.

Enrollment projections, which you never believe until you actually see them, look extremely healthy. They are up about 600 from last year at his time. It is estimated that the largest portion are non-resident students. This is the result of the very aggressive recruitment efforts implemented by Admissions and faculty members who have responded to requests to communicate with potential students. We will see whether all the potential students show up in September. There are other indications that the numbers are fairly firm. The housing numbers, which require a deposit, indicate the same kinds of things. In appears the new apartment buildings next to Dornblaser Field will be full by September. It all looks very positive, but still we have learned over the years that it is better not to count them until you see them. The Strategic Budget and Planning Committee will meet to go over the figures within the next three to four weeks.

There were no questions. The President indicated that he received many well wishes in regards to his wife’s surgery. She is out of ICU and doing well. He thanked the faculty for their concern.

Provost Muir

The Provost informed the Senate of a couple of items on the Board of Regents agenda so faculty will not be surprised. The Regents want an explanation of the legitimate responsible reasons the proposal for a minor in Military Sciences was not approved by ASCRC. We are also trying to change the Board of Regents admission policy for the Montana University System so we won’t have to revisit the issues around our revised admission policy.

In regards to admissions projections, the Provost thanked the faculty for their involvement in correspondence with perspective students. This one-on-one contact is invaluable.

The Provost mentioned the recent article in the Kaimin regarding grade inflation. She was impressed by the reporter’s research and data collection and would like to have the information reviewed by an individual more sophisticate in analysis. She is quite surprised by the articles claim that the most common grade given at the undergraduate level is an A.

Graduation Lists

The Provost presented the corrected graduate lists from fall 2003 and spring 2004. These were unanimously approved (motion made by Senator Mayer, seconded by Senator Hinman).

ASUM President Flint and President-elect Price

ASUM outgoing President Flint indicated it has been a great experience working with the Senate. ASUM will be in great hands next year with Gale Price. She was a hardworking vice president and is more of an academic than he.

President-elect Price spoke about what could be expected from ASUM next year. There are several issues ASUM would like to team up with ASCRC to work on; such as looking into COT curriculum requested by several students, continuing to work on the Military Science minor, and monitoring and assessing the plus/minus grading system. She would like to see ASUM team with the Faculty Senate on legislative issues to present a unified university voice (students, faculty and the administration) to the legislature. ASUM will continue to work on issues that benefit the campus community as a whole; such as child care, transportation, technology, and sustainable campus issues. Price would like to see ASUM work closer with the Faculty Senate, so if anyone has any ideas please share them. She will be around all summer and would like to discuss ideas and issues with faculty.

Chairs Report
Chair Knowles read from a prepared Year in Review Report:

In the view of your outgoing chair, the Faculty Senate has made major strides this year which figure to benefit the university in the long run.

Although a significant number of you disagree, I’m pleased that on my watch you passed plus/minus grading, which I remind you goes into effect autumn semester 2004. This will allow us to provide more accurate grading of our students, particularly helping those of who teach big freshman-level survey courses.

You also established, not without controversy, a new and stronger Faculty Library Committee, with a strong charge that figures down the road to assist all of us in our dealings with the Mansfield Library. The new committee has met and elected a chair, from whom you’ll hear in a few minutes.

Your approval of the ASCRC-recommended terminology change from pass/fail to credit/no credit is one which should help clear up confusion and some occasional abuse of the original intent of pass/fail. The discussion and approval of curriculum changes that your respective departments brought through ASCRC and Grad Council obviously contributes to the university’s growth and future.

The university has moved forward with your approval of new centers, one more scheduled today. And you took a big step forward by the Senate’s unanimous approval and the entire faculty’s near unanimous approval—only one vote against of more than a hundred cast—of the new chair-elect position. That will provide continuity to your leadership.

In terms of the Senate’s executive committee—with its infamous acronym ECOS—I’d like to thank the committee for buying into my idea that we needed workgroups headed by individual ECOS members to sort thorough the huge amount work that falls on the committee’s shoulders. Vice Chair Celia Winkler and members Dick Field, Ralph Judd, Mike Monsos, Joe Crepeau and Liz Ametsbichler have performed well and moved us forward. So has our interim member, Dave Beck.

However, one person really makes all our Senate organizations run. I want to give special thanks to our administrative associate, Camie Foos. Dealing with me all year has been difficult enough, but she handles minutes for the Senate, ASCRC, Grad Council, and the new Library Committee. And she does a masterful job fielding all kinds of calls, emails and other requests that come to the Senate. Let’s hear it for Camie. (APPLAUSE)

For me, the most enjoyable part of this job was representing you at meetings of the Board of Regents. That board provides one of the most fascinating dynamics I’ve ever witnessed in either the academic or corporate world. Faculty dialog with regents both collectively and individually has provided much-needed information to them about what we do. At my insistence, the elected faculty representatives from all units of the system formally meet the night before each regents meeting. That has helped us understand each other’s problems, and has resulted in increased respect regents have for faculty. I think that was made clear when Chairman Mercer visited ECOS a couple of months ago. And I’m not through with the regents just yet. Under the new chair-elect language my term doesn’t expire until June 1, so I’ll be representing you at the May 20-21 meeting in Havre where we expect, among other things, to hear a lot about Grizzly athletics.

And speaking of that, I’d like to thank Senator Michael Mayer for serving on the commissioner’s investigating committee. Tough job, high profile, lots of pressure. Also my sincere thanks to Lou Hayes for his year as chair of ASCRC and Nigel Priestley for his chairmanship of Grad Council this year. Those are each weekly meetings with hugely important work as you all know, and both chairs performed extremely well under much pressure.

And finally, my thanks to each of you for serving. One of my happiest moments as your chair this year was when I presented former Senator Audrey Peterson with the Faculty Service award at Charter Day ceremonies. I said then and say now: without faculty service there can be no faculty governance.

Tied closely to service and governance is the principle of faculty collegiality. We all need to respect one another, and hear one another’s views. As your chair this year I’ve tried to do that, sometimes within the confines of our bylaws and Robert’s Rules, and sometimes without.

I’m pleased that I have another year to serve on my term as the Faculty Senate representative of the School of Journalism. Thank you all for choosing me to serve you this year as your chair.

Chair Knowles then introduced Vice-Chair Celia Winkler for a report on the progress of appointing faculty to the ASCRC subcommittee that will examine the report of the Task Force on General Education.

Vice-chair Winkler Report
At the last Senate meeting there was a motion to establish a permanent subcommittee of ASCRC to deal with all issues pertaining to general education. This subcommittee will review the revisions proposed by the Provost’s General Education Task Force. Members will be appointed by ECOS. ECOS was also given the responsibility to draft the charge of the subcommittee. Vice-chair Winkler met with Michael Monsos (ECOS and General Education Task Force member) and ASCRC Vice-chair Don Potts. At this meeting it was decided that a committee with adequate representation should create the charge to assure all views are heard and incorporated Volunteers for this committee include, Steve Kalm-Music, Paul Dietrich- Liberal Studies, David Moore- English, Don Potts – Forestry, and Mike Monsos- Drama. We need a few more faculty members to serve on the committee. The first meeting will be in June. In particular members are needed from the natural sciences and the College of Technology. Please contact Celia.Winkler@umontana.edu or 243-5843.

Chair Knowles presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Vice-Chair Winkler. Likewise Vice-chair Winkler gave a certificate and gift of appreciation to Chair Knowles.

Committee Reports:

ASCRC Chair Hayes

• Curriculum Motion

The curriculum motion was unanimously approved (motion made by Senator Mueller, seconded by Senator Judd). It mostly contained College of Technology items (program modifications, name changes, minor course changes and an addition of a writing designation to an existing course). COT has more curriculum changes for approval in the spring because of the nature of their programs, their advisory boards and efforts to accommodate changes in the industry to best serve their students and community needs.

Senator Hinman asked about the Level II proposal for the Radiology Program. This was previously approved as a temporary program by the Board of Regents.

• Symbolic Systems Motion

The additional language clarifying the symbolic systems general education designation was postponed at the March Senate meeting in order to determine the need considering the General Education Task Force’s proposed revisions. The language was edited by ASCRC to address the concerns discussed in March.

It was asked whether the committee anticipated that this specific language might invalidate the symbolic systems designation for current courses.

ASCRC Chair Hayes responded that the committee does not anticipate this, however it is conceivable that during the normal review of general education courses there will be an evaluation of whether courses still meets the criteria.

The language in the motion was amended and approved to read: The system must have a rigor and complexity comparable to a spoken, language, signed language, math sequence e.g. MATH 117 and 121, or music sequence 161 and 162.

• Year-end report

ASCRC’s annual report is available on the web site for your review. It lists the committee members and the various items the committee addressed. This year student members have been very involved and made significant contributions to the work of the committee.

• Curriculum Deadline

The deadline for curriculum review next academic year is October 1^st. A message went out to all faculty members and a paper copy was sent to academic deans, department chairs, and department secretaries. Late proposals will only be accepted for extenuating circumstances.

In reference to the Military Science issue being discussed at the Board of Regents, There is a revised proposal for a minor in military science in the works, but ASCRC has not yet received it. The Colonel has been out of town on a temporary assignment.

Chair Knowles presented ASCRC Chair Hayes with a certificate of appreciation.

Graduate Council Member and Senator, Kevin Canty

• Curriculum motion

The curriculum motion contained a course change in Educational Leadership and a Level II proposal to create a new graduate program in Natural Resource Conflict Resolution. The new program will be administered by the Public Policy Research Institute. The questions raised by the Council when reviewing the proposal were adequately resolved. The motion was unanimously approved.

• Year-end report

The Council’s year-end report is also available on the web site for senators to review at their convenience. The Council had a busy and interesting year; of specific interest are the guidelines for graduate increments and the Council’s ongoing role in program review. Senator Canty, on behalf of Graduate Council thanked the Graduate School Dean David Strobel for all his help as well as the Faculty Senate Administrative Associate Camie Foos who is indispensable.

(A certificate of appreciation was prepared for presentation to Graduate Council Chair Nigel Priestley. However, Prof. Priestley could not be present for the meeting. The certificate will be presented to him at a later time.)

Library Faculty Committee Chair Stanton

The Library Faculty Committee had their first meeting on April 27 at which Vice-chair Winkler presented the new charge to the committee. Prof. Tom Stanton was then elected as Chair and Professor Sally Brewer was elected as Chair-elect. The committee is looking to fulfill its charge starting in the fall. One of the roles of the committee is to keep faculty in touch with the Library, so please contact him (the chair) if you have any concerns or questions.

New Business

• Montana Center for the Investigation and Treatment of Childhood Trauma, Principal Investigator Richard vanden Pol
  
  

Chair Knowles explained that the urgency for the establishment of this Center was explained to ECOS, and thus Senators received an email containing the proposal for consideration as a first reading so that the item could be voted on today.

Prof. vanden Pol explained that in the United States approximately 8% of small children are victims of violent crimes. Of that group most recover after a period of time. About 8% of the victims do not recover and display symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. One of the ways symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder can be helped is through mental health services. Unfortunately 22% of children residing in Montana Native American reservations display symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. This is nearly 3x the national average. Last August the Division of Education Research and Service (DERS) submitted an application to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to establish the Center. There is an office now on the Rocky Boy reservation that will be used as the demonstration site for Cognitive Behavior Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS). The CBITS protocol was developed by several universities and has promising efficacy rates. After notification of grant funding the DERS immediately started the process for approval of a designated center.

The question was called by Chair Knowles and the proposal was unanimously approved.

• Resolution to Establish a Bachelor of Applied Science Oversight Committee, ECOS Workgroup Chair Josef Crepeau:
• In 1996 the Board of Regents approved a Bachelor of Applied Science program at The University of Montana. Included in the proposal was the creation of an oversight committee. The committee was never established. This constituency of the committee was not mandated in the proposal; however ASCRC made the suggestion of five faculty members with at least one member from the College of Technology and the remaining faculty members to be from academic units actively involved in the Bachelor of Applied Science program. The dean of COT requested some connection to the committee, thus he and the associate dean are ex-officio members. The College of Arts and Science Dean and Associate Dean are also ex-officio members because the CAS is the academic unit that awards the degree.

The Provost inquired about the committee’s charge.

Senator Crepeau responded that the committee will oversee curriculum issues associated with the Bachelor of Applied Science, monitor student performance, and sign-off on student’s individualized degree.

The Provost indicated that it was premature to act on the resolution without a charge for the committee. She is in favor of an oversight committee but has concern regarding the implications that the committee would authorize degrees. She indicated that further research needed to be done by the College of Arts and Science.

Senator Crepeau asked whether the resolution should be redrafted to include the charge.

Senator Gillison moved that the resolution include the language of the charge and be presented at the July Faculty Senate Meeting. The motion was approved unanimously.

Senator Crepeau informed the Senate that the proposal was originally introduced at the Board of Regents as the Bachelor of Technology, but that it was approved with a name change to the Bachelor of Applied Science.

• First-year experience committee update, Member and Senator Linda Gillison:

The committee has discussed matters around first year experiences for students. One of the items the committee has talked about is the possibility of asking incoming students to do something in common in the summer before they arrive on campus. In February the committee began to look into a first year reading experience, which is common at other universities. Incoming freshmen are asked to read the same book in the summer and then there are various activities around the book in the fall. The committee agreed it would be feasible to try the experience on an experimental basis. There are many motivations for this type of experience. First is to give students the understanding that there will be requirements and they might not be the same kinds of things required in high school. Secondly, the experience would give them something in common to bind them, which they could discuss with their peers and faculty members once they arrive on campus.

Several faculty members on the committee had been to a conference and were very impressed by the keynote speaker at a conference. The speaker was author Azar Nafisa. Her book Reading Lolita in Tehran, a Memoir in Books is the book that was finally selected for the first year experience. Members of the committee looked over the text and had long discussions over whether the book would be too difficult or too controversial for our students. The book is very intriguing. The committee wanted something that would challenge the students and broaden their vision of the world and culture bigger then their own. There could be some controversy.

Librarian Merinda McClure is setting up a website for the assignment. Resources will be prepared for faculty members who are interested in being involved in the experience. This will not be a requirement this year. Information will be sent out to all students who have been accepted as incoming freshmen. They will be informed of the summer read and encouraged to participate. They will be given resources, websites, and examples of some of the activities that will take place in the fall.

Senator Mayer asked about the logistics of acquiring the books.

Senator Gillison responded that copies can be ordered through the University Bookstore. It hasn’t yet been decided whether the committee will ask each incoming freshmen to purchase a books.

It was asked whether one of the activities would be to have the author on campus. Senator Gillison answered that the author has been contacted and is interested in visiting the university.

Dean Fetz indicated that a September date is being discussed with the author.

Anyone who is interested in participating in the activities or would like to be involved in the planning for next year please contact Associate Provost Arlene Walker-Andrews.

• Evaluation of the Administration/Data Analysis, Chair Knowles

The preliminary data has been summarized and provided to administrators. Senators were sent a URL to view the data and the summary report is available on the web site. Written comments may be viewed in the Faculty Senate Office.

The new electronic process inadvertently excluded retired and retiring faculty from participating, as well as faculty with dual appointments as a result of the database’s link to the Faculty Senate elections. There were several faculty members who wished to participate, but were not given the opportunity. Therefore ECOS decided to extend the deadline to provide them the opportunity, as well as any faculty member who did not submit their response by the April 15^th deadline in order to maintain anonymity. The extended deadline is May 14^th.

Executive Session – Posthumous degree candidates

The Posthumous Degree Candidates Erik Joseph Munch and James McDonald presented by Professor Rafael Chacon, School of Fine Arts and Kate Shanley, Native American Studies were unanimously approved.

Return to Open Session:

Newly elected senators were seated and outgoing senators were thanked for their service.

Registrar Bain called roll of newly elected senators.

New Business Continued:

· Senate Meeting Time, Chair Knowles

Chair Knowles announced that the current Faculty Senate monthly meeting time is causing scheduling problems because it cuts across two official course times and thus interrupts scheduling for the Tuesday/Thursday 2:10-3:30 slot. Several senators currently arrive late to meetings because they teach at that same time. Therefore ECOS requests that the Senate consider changing the meetings to 3:40-5 p.m. It will then be the chore of his successor to determine how to complete business in the time allowed and whether a second monthly meeting becomes necessary. The motion was unanimously approved. The meeting this summer and next academic year will start at 3:40 p.m.

Faculty Senate Elections:

Vice chair Winkler was nominated for Faculty Senate Chair by Senator Kalm. There were no other nominations.

Senator Judd nominated Senator Crepeau for Chair-elect.

Senator Gillison moved to cease nominations, seconded by Senator Micheletto.

The Caucus from the schools and the College of Arts and Science each nominated a senator to serve on the Executive Committee of the Senate. Dave Beck from Native American Studies and Jean Carter from Pharmacy were unanimously approved to serve a two year term on ECOS.

Good and Welfare-

Senator Mayer proposed a resolution of recognition for retiring Professor Bill McBroom who served many years on the Senate. The following resolution was approved (motion made by Senator Schuldberg, seconded by Professor Hinman).

The Faculty Senate recognizes Professor William McBroom for more than 30 years at The University of Montana as a scholar and a teacher, and his extraordinary service to the Faculty Senate and the faculty as a whole in a variety of capacities.

The meeting was adjourned at 5 p.m.