Meeting, July 15, 2004
Gallagher Business Building, Room 123

Approved 9/9/04

 

Members Present:

E. Ametsbichler, D. Dalenberg, S. Derry, S. Ganesh, L. Gillison, R. Judd, S. Kalm, B. Knowles, V. Micheletto, T. Tonev,  C. Winkler

 

Ex-Officio Present:

Registrar Bain, Provost Muir, Associate Provost Staub 

 

Chair Winkler called the meeting to order at 3:35pm when she was informed by Registrar Bain that a quorum was present.

Communications:

Provost Muir

 

Academic Affairs is crafting an Academic Convocation in the classic sense to welcome new freshmen to campus.  The Academic Deans will be coordinating faculty attendance through department chairs.  Cards and letters will also go out from the Provost’s Office.  The event will be August 30th at 3:30pm in the University Theater.

 

This year the selected book is Reading Lolita in Tehran.  So far there have been over 500 copies sold locally.  This is a positive sign.

 

The Provost encourages faculty members to appropriately incorporate something about the book into their course work.  There will be an essay contest and a number of other events.  Senator Gillison is a member of the First Year Experience Committee and has more specifics about the events.  The linked coursework will provide a purpose to the summer reading.  The Convocation is the kick off event and we are hoping it will be a success.  The event will also feature the University of Montana’s five Regents Professors. This will allow students to be welcomed by the University’s academic colors. 

 

The Board of Regents meeting was successful.  All of the academic items were approved, including one that’s taken years to work through—the restructuring of the nursing program in the COT.  In her four years at UM, Academic Affairs has 100% successful approval of academic items at the Board of Regents.

 

It has been a record year for diversity and she acknowledges the efforts.  Out of 37 hires, 57% are women and 22% are minorities.

 

Chair’s Report

There was no controversy at the July Board of Regents meeting.  The previous meeting, however, was somewhat of a shock. Regent Chair Mercer’s comments regarding the Military Science proposal were reported in the Missoulian.  Chair Winkler isn’t sure whether there will be any fall out from this.

 

Provost Muir indicated that there most likely will not be.     

 

The creation of the general education subcommittee is in process. There will be a meeting next week of an ad hoc committee chaired by Jean Carter to develop the charge of the subcommittee. 

 

Chair Winkler acknowledged the recent passing of Professor Emeritus Wes Shellen, a former chair of the Faculty Senate. In the tradition of the Senate he will be honored at the fall meeting. He served as chair of the Faculty Senate in the late 1970’s during the difficult retrenchment years.  

 

Senator Tonev inquired about the Missoulian article about President Dennison speaking to the Regents about the possibility of a UM campus in China.

 

Chair Winkler indicated that she believes this initiative is a result of the increased difficulty in immigration laws surrounding attainable visas for foreign students.  The idea is to bring the education to them and perhaps increase University revenue in the process.  The President is excited about the possibility and spoke to the issue at the Board of Regents.  

 

The Provost responded that the President has had discussions with investors to possibly establish a private college in China.  This is a creative approach to the problem.  However, there are a lot of issues that would need to be worked through, such as accreditation and appropriate control. There will be many people involved in the initial process and it could take up to two years for such a thing to move forward.  

 

Committee Reports:

Chair Winkler indicated that the reports from the Faculty Development Committee, The

University Research and Creativity Committee and the Fort Missoula Master Planning Committee are available for review on the website.  The Senate is requesting year-end reports from various committees of interest to the faculty and will post them on the website for your review.   It is ECOS’ hope that these reports will be a source of  information for those interested and will assist them in nominating faculty to committees. 

 

 

New Business:

 

Provost Muir presented the corrected spring 2003 graduation list and the summer graduation list for the Senates approval.  The lists were approved unanimously.

 

 

Good and Welfare:

 

Chair Winkler mentioned that the Faculty Senate meeting was moved to 3:40pm at the request of the Business School.  However, it seems that there is not a class scheduled in the room in the time slot prior to the meeting so it might be possible to return to the traditional time of 3:10pm.  If the meeting time is to stay at 3:40pm the Senate will have to evaluate the necessity to stay late or plan to have two meetings during heaving business months.  It was decided that the senators should be polled to determine the preference and the administrative associate will check on the availability of the room after 5:00pm.

 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:45pm.