Meeting,
DRAFT
Members Present:
E. Ametsbichler, D.
Beck, C. Bruneau, F. Cardozo-Pelaez J. Carter, G.
Cobbs, J. Crepeau, D. Dalenberg, A. Delaney, S. Derry, P.
Dietrich, D. Doyle, W. Freimund L. Frey, J. Gannon L.
Gillison, K. Hill, W. Holben, C. Johnston, S.
Justman, K. Kane C. Knight, L. Knott, B.
Knowles, M. Kupilik, B. Larson, J. Luckowski, J.
McNulty, V. Micheletto, M. Monsos, C. Nichols,
D. Potts, E. Putnam, B. Reider, Y. Reimer, F.
Rosenzweig, D. Schuldberg, P. Silverman, G. Smith, J. Sommers-Flanagan, F. Snyder, H. Thompson, K. Unger, N. Vonessen, A. Ware, S.
Yoshimura
Members Excused:
B. Allen, M. DeGrandpre, F. Glass,
S. Gaskill, S. Gordon, S. Greymorning, C.
Lawrence, C. Loisel, D. McCrea, S. Stiff, M. Tonon,
Members Absent:
J.
Campana, K. Canty, B.
Chaney, C. Hand, S. Li, D. Six, R. Skelton, A. Sondag, T. Whiddon
Ex-Officio Present:
Provost
Muir, Registrar Bain, Associate Provost
Staub and Walker-Andrews
Call to Order:
Chair
Crepeau called the meeting to order at
Registrar
Bain called roll.
Senator Frey gave the
following resolution:
”Let it Be Resolved that the Faculty Senate of The University of
Montana formally acknowledges Phil Bain's many years of service and thanks
him for his significant contributions to the
Registrar Bain was presented with a certificate and token of appreciation from
the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate.
The minutes
from
Communications:
UFA President Mike Kupilik
UFA
President Kupilik attended the Board of Regents meeting in Dillon last
week. He addressed the Regents concerning
TIAA-Cref.
Earlier at the meeting the Regents had discussed University retirement
mainly with regard to the unfunded portion of
TRS. He explained the burden on young
faculty members, and problems of recruitment and retention related to the
lowest retirement contribution rate in the nation. The issue got the Regents attention. Regent Semmons was particularly interested. He informed the Regents that the
UFA President Kupilik also spoke about inversion, and the problems it is
causing with moral and retention. He
provided examples of entire departments that have been inverted with new
hires. It made the point that past
policy affects programs.
In terms of
salaries, the Regents had been informed that MUS faculty salaries are at 98% of
peer institutions. UFA President Kupilik
explained that according to a recent survey, MUS is in the lowest 10% salary range,
but recruit from the national market. Other
Universities at this level were
The
Chairs Report
Chair
Crepeau summarized the items on the chair’s report.
·
Faculty
Senate Elections
The electronic voting system sent incomplete ballots
to some of the voting groups. This was
corrected and complete ballots were sent in order to have a valid election.
On a positive note,
·
Code
of Ethics
Senator
Knowles asked whether the President intended to bring to Code to the Senate for
a vote. Professor Ausland’s
publicized objection to the use of the term ‘requires’ because it infers an
edict from the President. Senator
Knowles requests that
Chair Crepeau responded that he is not sure how the President plans to proceed
or how the unions will respond.
·
March
2006 Board of Regents Meeting
Transfer Goals:
At the Academic and Student Affairs meeting Roger Barber, Deputy Commissioner
of Higher Education introduced Transfer Goals created by the Chief Academic
Officers. The faculty representatives were
confused by the 3rd goal.
Reduce the number of credits that transfer students need to
complete so that number is as close to the total number of credits required to
earn a degree as possible. I.E., 60-72
credits for an associate degree and 120-128 for a baccalaureate degree,
depending on the degree program.
There was no forum for discussion so the intent was not
clarified. There is a proposed budget
initiative of 3 million on transferability. (See complete listing or
http://www.montana.edu/wwwbor/ITEM130-101-R0306ATT.htm)
(http://www.montana.edu/wwwbor/ITEM130-102-R0306.htm)
The University is currently in phase three, where by at risk students are
advised to attend the College of Technology Associate of Arts degree. There are 235 students who voluntarily
enrolled in the AA program. The majority
of these students will matriculate into baccalaureate degree programs fall 2006
with much of their coursework satisfying UM’s general
education perspective requirements. Phase four would implement standards above
enrollment requirements set by the Regents and require students not meeting
these requirements to enroll in the AA program.
The Academic and Student Affairs Committee was not in favor of a standard above
that set in Regents policy 301.1 and 301.2.
It also was against a mandatory enrollment in a two-year program. Provost Muir and Chair Crepeau attempted to
persuade the committee that the program would be beneficial to “at risk”
students. The students would matriculate to the main campus rather than
transfer. The student regent felt the policy was disparaging and
discriminatory.
Senator
Dietrich asked whether the Regents were aware of differential entrance
requirements at other public institutions.
Chair Crepeau did not think the Regents had this information. The Regents are still struggling with the
notion of the two-year colleges as a resource toward a four-year program. They still view the two-year colleges as
separate from the 4 year schools with non related missions.
Associate
Provost Arlene Walker Andrews stated that these students are admitted
provisionally at this time. After up to three
semesters on the main campus approcimately 37% of the
provisional students have maintained an acceptable grade point average to
continue. So we are loosing 63% of the
“at risk” students that do not receive special attention.
The provisional students at the
According
to Senator Hill the students are difficult to track because the COT lacks the
funding for follow-up. The College
believes it is having good success from anecdotal information. The increasing
number of students indicates something.
MUS is excited about there new evaluation of administrators. Included in their process is reporting of how
the administrators are uti
MUSFAR asked the Regents about the funding for the Academic Administrator
salary increases and were told that is included in the overall budget.
MUSFAR afternoon meeting with the
The students would appreciate a more efficient way of understanding course
equivalencies within the Montana University System to facilitate transfers. They
agree that resources would be required to develop a web site to do this.
·
The Faculty Senate is co-hosting with President Denison. There will be lots of appetizers.
Committee Reports:
·
After a brief discussion regarding the use of the term ‘authentic’ in the
course title Authentic Assessment the
new course in Curriculum and Instruction was approved unanimously.
Associate Provost Walker Andrews explained that she has been to several
conferences where the term is used and it actually means measuring students
work compared to indirect methods of assessment.
Curriculum
Consent Agenda
R-TV 489, Preparing for an Internship
Senator
Knowles explained that Radio-TV tried instruction sheets circulated to
students, but found it necessary to bring the students together to prepare them
for the competitive nature of the industry and assure that they represent the
In looking
at the syllabus, Senator Justman was reminded that a few years ago the Senate
approved a policy that disallows career skills courses to count toward a
baccalaureate degree. It should not
receive academic credit according to Senator Frey.
The students meet once a week and report on market research, calls to alumni
and other assignments. They research media markets, where they want to work and
live.
Senator
Holben commented that he didn’t see how the course was fundamentally different
from courses in grant writing or preparing for presentations that exist in
other programs.
Senator
Frey commented that the only difference may be the focus on resumes, mock
interviews and so forth.
Senator
Gillison stated that it seems that the students are doing the type of research
that they are going to have to do as professionals in the field. That these are skills they are honing and
they are being directed by a faculty member.
The
internship is either1 to 2 credits informed Senator Knowles. According to
accreditation standards students may only take 40 credits within the major so
the number of internship credits is limited.
The other concern is that students are paying for a non-paying position
and living at their own expense often in a high cost city.
Senator
Ware called the question to close the debate. There was a division. The debate was closed with a vote of 35 in
favor, 4 opposed, and one abstention.
The consent
agenda was approved 39 in favor and 3 opposed.
The
Internship
policy change
”Students may count
toward university graduation requirements up to 6 total credits of internship
credit in 198, 298, 398, and 498 courses.”
Senator Kupilik
was contacted by the Department of Environmental Studies regarding
concerns. He introduced Professor Neva
Hassanein explained the departments opposition. Their faculty members concerns
have been expressed at
The
relatively small number of students taking more than 6 internships credits begs
the question what problem is the policy intended to solve. More importantly is the University’s
increases focus on the value of civic engagement and service learning. Arbitrarily limiting the number of x98
internships sends a negative message. EVST
takes the oversight of internship courses seriously. Students meet with faculty to identify a site
and work out specific learning objectives. A midterm and final report are
required from the student. These are
reviewed along with the employers report to award the student credit or no
credit for the experience. Thus, grade inflation is not an issue. Other
universities require more experiential experiences for graduation. Six credits is limiting. EVST encourages
students to learn while doing, to make contacts, and get experience in this way. Internships are an important way the University
contributes to the community. EVST feels
strongly that the proposal is problematic and crosses the line of micromanaging
departments. If the problem is grade inflation then restrict the credits to
credit no credit.
During the
three year period there were 26 EVST students that took over 6 credits. The department considers this a lot of
students. It has been suggested to use
Independent Study or another course number, but this adds more work for the
faculty considering Internship Services cannot be uti
Senator
Gannon asked whether students are provided any type of feedback from the
midterm and final report that indicates whether students are
learning/progressing and getting something meaningful out of the experience.
Professor
Hassanein responded that if problems are identified by the student the faculty
member would intervene, but students were not normally provided with feedback
after the reports.
Senator Holben
suggested that part of the anxiety is related to the amount of time students are
in an unsupervised/unstructured environment that counts toward their degree.
According
to Professor Hassanein, this has not been a concern in EVST and should be
something decided by the departments.
There are 36 credits required in the program and the internships would
be part of the students’ elective credits that count toward the 120 credit
requirement.
Senator Johnston,
a member of
Senator
Luckowski shared additional data from Internship Services. In the same three year period 327 EVST
students took an average of 2.81 internship credits. The range was from 1 to 8
credits. Twenty-six students took 2 or
more internships that totaled between 7 -8 credits.
Senator Holben
expressed concern that departments can determine the grading option for
internship credits and this may allow non-faculty to influence grades. He suggests that the courses be limited to
credit/no credit.
Senator Johnston
responded that
Senator Potts,
a member of
Senator Frey
moved the question that was unanimously approved. The motion was also approved unanimously.
Declaration
of the major policy change
“Students
must declare a major prior to completion of 45 credits or after three
semesters, whichever occurs first.
Senator
McNulty spoke against the motion. The
reason the Senate is asked to consider the change is to increase retention. However there is no evidence that declaring a
major earlier will lead to graduation.
As an advisor for students who are undecided, she believes students need
time to explore, weigh the options, and then decide on a major.
If forced
to declare a major and change majors several times, they will not have
consistent advising. An earlier
declaration of a major might not increase retention.
Associate
Provost Walker-Andrews explained that the deans asked for this to be considered
because of a report provided to the deans that identified student engagement
with faculty is an important factor in retention. Data was reviewed for
students who declared compared to students who had not. There are other factors that impact retention
such as motivation. The deans felt that
faculty advising could help to motivate students.
At a recent
teleconference, The Sophomore Year, The Forgotten Year, students were interviewed and felt
that they needed ‘deep advising’. Where
they would receive career measure oriented advising that explained multiple
path ways to graduation. Students need a lot of guidance when doing exploration. Students leave when they are not getting good
advising and there is a problem on this campus with retention. Students need to make a connection with
faculty and this is one way to do this.
There will not be any punishment if students do not declare a major at 45
credits. However they will be flagged
for special advising attention.
Senator
Dalenberg was confused as to whether the correlation applies to
causation. He would argue that there is
another factor. Performance is driving
both choice of major and retention. He is concerned about unintended
consequences. Resources are divided out by major. And the earlier a major must be declared the
more students a department has to advise, so there could be a potential
reshuffling of resources. On the flip
side faculty may not be very good at general education advising.
Senator
Dietrich spoke to another unintended consequence. If we pressure students to declare a major
there is potential for students to change their major which could lengthen the
time it takes to graduate. He doesn’t
support putting pressure on students this early.
The current
policy requires students to declare a major at 60 credits.
Senator Ware
asked about the number of students is there that haven’t declared by 45 credits
but do declare by 60 credits.
Senator McNulty
had data from the
Senator
Beck asked how this would impact the professional schools.
Senator
Luckowski responded that the pre majors can be considered a declaration. The current language refers to a degree
granting program and that was removed.
Senator Silverman
suggests that the purpose of retention be considered. It is primarily financial and not
particularly important academically. One
of the key purposes for students at the traditional age is to explore. He would argue that 60 credits is the
appropriate guideline.
Associate
Provost Walker-Andrews commented that for every extra year a student is in
school he or she is accumulating a larger debt.
The issue is not just a financial concern for the University. It some since the University would lose
money if students actually graduate in four years.
Senator Frey
remarked that the declaration of a major is an academic benefit. Students benefit by being connected in a program
earlier. It might concentrate students
mind to require a declaration.
Senator Luckowski
is in favor of the motion. She was persuaded
that encouraging students to make choice sooner is beneficial because they
would borrow less money. Students’ debt
load is almost an ethical issue. However
there is an argument on the other side that it could take longer to graduate if
students change their major.
The
question was called by Senator Dietrich and passed unanimously
The motion
was approved with 23 in favor and 15 apposed.
Good and Welfare:
Senator Justman is
concerned about student debt loads. A considerable
number of students are paying tuition on credit cards.
Registrar Bain
indicated that a lot of students’ parents pay on credit cards because of the
convenience.
Senator
Ametsbichler announced that the Graduate Student and Faculty Research Conference
is coming up on April 8th in the
The meeting was adjourned at