Meeting, November 18, 2004
Gallagher Business Building, Room 123

Approved 12/9/04

Members Present: Members Excused Members Absent

E. Ametsbichler, T. Aitkins, D. Bedunah, D. Beck, N. Bradley-Browning, C. Bruneau, J. Carter, J. Crepeau, M. DeGrandpre, D. Dalenberg, L. Dent, S. Derry, P. Dietrich, D. Doyle, E. Edlund, H. Eggleston, J. Eglin, M. Fromm, S. Ganesh, L. Gillison, F. Glass, J. Glendening, K. Hill, W. Holben, R. Hughes J. Hunt, C. Johnston, S. Kalm, A. Kinch, B. Knowles, B. Larson, C. Lawrence, R. Ledbetter, M. Mayer, J. McNulty, V. Micheletto, M. Monson, D. Potts, E. Putnam, Y. Reimer, J. Sears, D. Schuldberg, A. Sondag, H. Thompson, T.Tonev, C. Winkler, S. Woods S. Brewer, W. Freimund, S. Gaskill, S. Gordon, J. Gritzner , T. Herron, R. Judd, J. Laskin, N. Nickerson, A. Peterson, B. Reider, P. Silverman, G. Smith S. Stiff, M. Tonon, A. Ware J. Belz, F. Rosenzweig, F. Snyder, M. Valentin

Ex-Officio Present:

Provost Muir, Registrar Bain, Associate Provost Walker-Andrews and Staub, Dean Fetz, Dean Forbes, and UFA President Kupilik,

Registrar Bain called roll.

The minutes from 10/14/04 were approved. Chair Winkler noted that it is presumed senators have reviewed the minutes prior to the meeting.

Communications:

Provost Muir

The Provost’s Office is busy with the Board of Regents. The meeting is being hosted by UM this week. She relayed some points that came out of the academic committee. Transfer issues continue to be a big topic for the state. The results of the legislative audit are still pending. The framework has been distributed but not the text. Of concern are internal transfer issues between our College of Technology and the four year schools that are not in compliance with the Board of Regent’s credit transfer policy. Undoubtedly this will need to be fixed. The problem goes back to 1975 when the College of Technology was a separate institution.

The Provost’s Office has to inform the Commissioner’s Office about all accreditation reports required for the year according to a new Board of Regents policy. The reports cannot go out without approval from the Provost, but there have been things that fall through the cracks. So if anyone is involved with accreditation please contact Associate Provost Arlene Walker-Andrews to assure accurate reporting.

There is an emerging plan to require each institution in the Montana University System to submit a five-year academic plan that identifies academic programs prospects. Thus if your department is interested in a new minor, option, program, etc. please inform the Provost’s Office.

This summer there was a significant difficulty with about a 200 FTE shortfall, which is approximately a $7,000 dollar loss to the university. Because of this the Provost appointed a committee to look into improving summer enrollment. Sharon Alexander chaired the committee. Other members were from Student Affairs-recruitment, and Dean Fetz, Dean Gianchetta and Dean Howell. The committee surveyed students and submitted a report. There were a number of recommendations in the report, one of which was to have a four-day teaching week. The survey indicated that students find this more desirable. Many institutions have adopted a four-day summer teaching week. Unfortunately, the planning and communication needed for implementing such a change did not take place and some faculty were caught off guard. The change is not going to be mandatory this summer. It may be optional for departments interested, but this will be a matter of working out the logistics. Solving the summer enrollment decline is serious. If the numbers are not restored this next year then academic budgets will get cut. Thus, it is critical that there be a successful summer next year.

It was asked whether students were informed that the four-day teaching week would increase the length of classes. The Provost responded that there wasn’t that much detail in the survey. The survey response rate was very good (65%). The committee has been working diligently to come up with innovative ideas and ways of doing things differently so that enrollment increases. Summer enrollment had been on a slight increase until last year.

There are probably several factors that caused the decline. Looking at the data it appears that more upper-division offerings were needed. Departments need to evaluate the needs of their students. The deans have been working on a “Fast Start” package so that students who come to campus early can start on courses in the summer. The Creative Pulse Program graduated several students the previous summer so their enrollment wasn’t as high as it has been in the past. At least one unit did not schedule summer courses in the second summer session, because last year the forest fire smoke made it impossible to teach in their building. To solve this problem, Facility Services has been asked to install window units. So there was a myriad of issues last year. Such a surprise drop in enrollment cannot happen again.

Registrar Bain indicated that there is always room for some flexibility In the schedule. The Mathematics department has had four-day summer courses for quite some time. There could be some scheduling difficulties for students with overlapping courses.

The Provost has asked the Registrar and the deans for the logistical possibilities. The university should be as flexible as possible in serving students responsibly.

Senator Johnston asked whether the goal is to eventually have all summer courses four-days. The Provost responded that this is something that came out of the survey. She has been at a university that had a four-day summer schedule and it worked fine. Some disciplines always have issues regarding the weeks/days in a term. These are conversations that need to take place. If a unit doesn’t feel they can deliver a course any other way than this should be respected. She expects most units could adopt a four-day schedule.

Senator Gillison stated that the schedule change seems like a pedagogical issue that does need to be discussed by faculty. Summer schedules are already in for this year and there isn’t time for the necessary dialogue to take place.

Registrar Bain indicated that this is why the change will not be mandatory for this summer. The issues should be worked through prior to implementation.

There were no further questions. Senator Knowles said that it was good to have the Provost back from being ill. She thanked him.

Graduation lists:

The provost presented fall 2004 candidates for graduation and corrections to the summer 2004 list. The Faculty Senate approved the lists unanimously.

University Faculty Associated President Mike Kupilik

This is a legislative year. Local and state organizations have already started their lobbying efforts. The UFA has started pre budget negotiations with the governor’s office. These have been suspended to wait for the new governor. It is hoped that the new governor will be kinder to the University. This is also a bargaining year. There has been one meeting. He urged all senators to make sure their departments have a bargaining council representative. This is how the bargaining team communicates with the faculty. If you have any sections of the contract that you want changed, or have ideas please contact him, Kay Unger- Chief Negotiator, or a member of the Executive Board. December 15^th is the deadline to have sections of the contract opened. Several departments still do not have a bargaining council representative. This is important for the UFA to get feedback from the faculty and let the faculty know what is taking place.

The Bargaining Council meeting will be scheduled shortly after Thanksgiving.

You don’t have to draft language for the section of the contract you would like changed. Just let them know your issue and language will be drafted over the bargaining process.

Chair’s report

§ Chair Winkler noted that according to non-tenurable academic policy there is a percentage limit to the number of non-tenurable faculty a unit can have. Specifically the policy states: All non-tenurable instructional faculty appointees as defined in Section A, when aggregated, shall not exceed 25 percent of total faculty FTE within a Department, School, or College. The policy stipulates that an annual report be presented to the Faculty Senate. A portion of the report is available on the website. The report lists the percentage of tenured and tenurable FTE to nontenurable FTE by College, School, and Department. Senators interested in viewing the detailed report may do so in the Faculty Senate Office by appointment.

The University as a whole has 22.8% non-tenurable faculty. The College of Arts and Sciences has 23.2%, the College of Technology 27.6%, and the School of Business Administration has 29.2%. The lowest academic unit percentage is in the College of Forestry and Conservation at 5.1%.

Provost Muir indicated that Associate Provost Staub has found portions of the report that are mislabeled and need to be corrected. He will supply the corrections to the Faculty Senate Office. These will be made available for review by senators in the Faculty Senate Office.

§ This morning the Faculty Representatives met with the Board of Regents at 7 AM. They discussed transferability issues and the administration of the evaluation of the administration. The other campuses are impressed with the format that UM has devised and are being used as a model. The Faculty Senate was also used as a model by Ray Ford as a way of efficiently using technology in its business.

Three issues relating to transferability are grade point average, General Education, and transfers into majors. The Regents will be concerned about these issues for some time. It looks like the issues revolve around administration and organization, and computer capability, but also cooperation between and among campuses. The General Education Committee is up and running and will be considering transferability consequences on general education.

§ The Faculty Library Committee will be communicating to the Senate in December.

§ Chair Winkler thanked Bill Knowles, Mike Mayer, Colleen Major, Samantha Hines, Vicki Micheletto, and Frank Rosenzweig for providing input with regard to the Athletics Oversight Committee. The report of the ad hoc athletics committee will be ready for public viewing in January.

§ Chair Winkler announced that if the Grizzlies win the game on Saturday, the President would like to invite senators to the first playoff game.

§ The Regents are also meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM in the University Center ball room. The meetings are open and can be very informative.

Nicole Bradley-Browning- Campus Beverage Marketing Committee

Every year Coke awards the university $10,000 dollars to benefit students while marketing their product. The Campus Beverage Marketing Committee was established last year to allocate the $10,000 dollars. The committee includes a representative from Dining Services, University Center, ASUM, Residence Life, Coke and Faculty. A lot the money goes toward venue promotion and social events, some goes to the Annual Welcome Feast, the Midnight Mix and Mingle, the Staff Appreciation Event, and a small amount goes to benefit the students academically. Last year $1600 went toward book scholarships.

The committee is interested in having more of the money used for benefiting students academically rather than socially. This year $2000 has been set aside for the outstanding student leadership award, which allows for two awards rather than one. While this allocation assures that more money is directly benefiting students academically, it is also serving needs that have already been met. So the committee is interested in hearing about other projects, grants, research opportunities, or conferences that are either in place or highly desirable but not possible because of financial restraints. Sponsorship of this type of program wouldn’t be in place until 2005-2006 year. The committee imagines there will be one $1,500 to $2,000 dollar award per year and they will be working to develop criteria and a process for selection.

Please send a detailed description of any projects or ideas to: nicole.bradleybrowning@umontana.edu. She is also interested in hearing from anyone who has insight about creating this type of opportunity/criteria/procedure.

Senator Ganesh asked about the vending machine promotion. Bradley Browning clarified that vending machines have prizes such as tee-shirts, or tickets to events. Last year a student won a scooter.

It was asked whether the contract stipulates a certain percentage of the money must be spent on promotions. Faculty would like to know how much of the two million advertised as benefiting the university must be spent in this way. The Campus Beverage Marketing Committee only deals with the 10,000 that is allocated for marketing.

Committee Reports:

ASCRC Chair Don Potts

ASCRC Chair Don Potts provided a summary of the curriculum motion. There were a total of 267 proposals, 29 program modifications, 3 level I, and 4 level II proposals. Anthropology had several changes to accommodate a new professor and new PhD program. The Division of Biological Sciences had several deletions and course number changes to create better sequencing. There were several new courses, deletions, prerequisite changes, and program modification that reflect changes in the field of Computer Science. Modern and Classical Languages and Literature is eliminating the second foreign language requirement from French and German, removing W designations for German courses and strengthening the German culture requirement in the German minors. There were credit changes in the College of Technology’s Radiologic Technology to reflect the number of program credits allowed by the Regents. There were several course changes in College of Technology’s Respiratory Care to accommodate a Health Care Core Curriculum.
Health and Human Performance had several new courses, and proposed changes to meet accreditation standards. Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences changed the PHAR prefix to BMED to reflect the changed name of the department.

Level II proposals include an International Development Studies Minor. This is a free-standing minor with a catalog home in the College of Arts and Sciences focusing on the interconnected processes of social, political, economic, cultural and environmental change taking place in poor countries or poorer regions of wealthy countries. The minor will be helpful for students with an interest in the Peace Corps and nongovernmental development and conservation organizations.

ASCRC had discussion regarding the proposed Geography Option in Central and Southwest Asian Studies because the committee was expecting a proposal for a minor. The Option is designed to complement students’ disciplinary focus with region-based knowledge and training.

Level II proposals that are still pending are Military Studies and a certificate in Forensic Anthropology. These both arrived late and are still in the review process, but ASCRC hopes to present them in December.

The curriculum motion was approved.

General Education Chair John Eglin

The committee has met twice in November. The meetings are open and are held Monday afternoons from 3:10 to 4:00 PM in LA 344. The committee wants the process to be transparent. They want input from faculty and want to keep faculty informed of discussions. The committee has reviewed the general education programs of the Montana University System and is working on a statement of purpose. UM is alone in not having a statement of purpose. The commitment across MUS to general education is encouraging. Other campuses were much more explicit about the number of credits to fulfill general education requirements. The committee will consider transfer issues. They hope to review data from a survey ongoing since 2002 to understand the extent of the problem.

The committee is charged to present to the Faculty Senate several models of general education at the April meeting; to prepare a full report examining the cross-system issues; Board of Regents policies; conduct a self review; develop a statement of purpose for general education; conduct a self review; and develop a plan for regular review of general education.

Senator Dietrich asked whether the committee anticipates inviting representatives from specific departments or programs that may be affected by the particular topic that is to be discussed. Eglin responded that the committee would invite others to meetings for their expertise and to share concerns. The agendas and minutes will be posted to the website and anyone who would like to be on the distribution list to receive communications just need to inform the Faculty Senate Administrative Associate Camie.

ASCRC Don Potts informed the Senate that ASCRC is continuing their on-going review of perspectives. This year perspective three and four and Foreign Languages and Symbolic Systems are scheduled for review. Syllabi and justifications are due to the faculty senate office this Friday.

Graduate Council Chair Rick Hughes
The review was relatively uneventful. There were 232 total proposals, 171 course changes, 51 new courses, 20 of which were UG, 3 program modifications, 2 level II and a level 1 proposal. Two proposals, a certificate in alternative dispute resolution and School Psychology PhD, were received late and are still in review by the subcommittees. We expect to have those available for approval in December.

There was considerable time spent on the Masters of Public Health. The Schools subcommittee had several questions. These were provided to Larry White, who chaired the committee that developed the proposal, and the committee was invited to meet with the Council for discussion. The MPA committee prepared written responses to the questions and supplied these to the Council prior to the scheduled meeting. The meeting was very productive and positive. He thanked the MPA committee members for their preparation and work on the proposal.

The curricular review raised some issues for further discussion in Graduate Council, such as the graduate increment and online courses.

The curricular items were approved.

Old Business:

§ Bylaw amendment to eliminate the elections committee

Bill Knowles a former member of the Elections Committee commented that with the new electronic process there is absolutely nothing for this committee to do. Even with the paper ballot the committee met once a year to count ballots.

The amendment was approved.

New Business:

§ Chair-elect Extended Term Bylaw Amendment
This was an oversight that should have been considered last year when the chair-elect position was created to allow for continuity and a smooth transition to Senate Chair. What happens when the year that an individual is chair-elect is their last year of a three-year term on the Senate, and they don’t get re-elected to the Senate?

Senator Knowles commented that this amendment is like representative government working backwards. The Senate is designed to function from the bottom up. It seems that if a chair-elect cannot get re-elected by his constituency then you have to have a special election to fill the position because he is no longer eligible to serve. He opposes this because it’s government going the wrong way, it’s convenience of administration as opposed to a representative body. If the chair-elect cannot get re-elected by his own unit he should not serve as the chair of the Faculty Senate.

Senator Hill stated that the chair-elect may not wish to serve another three-year term on the Senate. Therefore this provision allows them to serve a one-year term.

Senator Knowles responded that perhaps the person who knows their term is going to expire and is not interested in another term should not accept the nomination. You shouldn’t get an automatic term because one Senate elects you, because the Senate you will chair will be different.

Senator Johnston asked for clarification regarding how logistically this provision would affect the following term.

Senator Carter responded that the provision is for a one-year extension only. When it is over there would be elections and someone would come in with a new three-year term. Potentially the provision could provide leadership with more experience.

Senator Glass commented that it seems like we are making a big deal out of an elections process that does not involve campaigning. Often faculty are not aware of any issues when they vote for a faculty member to serve on the Senate

Chair Winkler indicated that the amendment will not be voted on today. Senators should consider the issue, have dialogue amongst themselves, and contact ECOS with any questions.

Good & Welfare:

Former ASUM President Aaron Flint informed the Senate of an issue that was brought to his attention by the ASUM Faculty Advisor Hayden Ausland. There seems to be concern by faculty about how faculty governance is regarded by the administration. An area where faculty governance could be under attack is first amendment rights. As you may know, he has a first amendment case against the University, and the University is arguing that because ASUM is first and foremost an academic exercise, it is subject to control by administrators, even if that control excludes first amendment activities or rights. This could have an impact on Faculty Governance as well. He urges faculty to contact Hayden Ausland if they have concern.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 PM.