Meeting, April 13, 2006
Gallagher Business Building, Room 123

Approved 5/4/06

Members Present:
E. Ametsbichler, D. Beck, J. Campana, K. Canty, F. Cardozo-Pelaez J. Carter, J. Crepeau, D. Dalenberg, M. DeGrandpre, A. Delaney, S. Derry, D. Doyle, W. Freimund L. Frey, J. Gannon, S. Gaskill L. Gillison F. Glass, S. Greymorning, K. Hill, S. Justman, K. Kane C. Knight, L. Knott, B. Knowles, B. Larson,C. Lawrence, S. Li, C. Loisel, J. Luckowski, D. McCrea, J. McNulty, V. Micheletto, M. Monsos, C. Nichols, D. Potts, E. Putnam, B. Reider, D. Schuldberg, D. Six, R. Skelton, G. Smith, J. Sommers-Flanagan, S. Stiff,Y. Reimer, F. Snyder, H. Thompson, M. Tonon, N. Vonessen, A. Ware, T. Whiddon, S. Yoshimura

Members Excused:
B. Chaney, G. Cobbs, M. Kupilik, N. Moisey, P. Silverman, F. Rosenzweig, K. Unger

Members Absent:

B. Allen, C. Bruneau, P. Dietrich, S. Gordon, C. Hand, W. Holben, C. Johnston, A. Sondag

Ex-Officio Present:
Interim Registrar Carlyon, Associate Provost Staub and Walker-Andrews, Dean Fetz

Guests: ASUM President Cedarburg, Arnie Sherman-Director Montana World Trade Center, Richard van den Pol-Director Division of Educational Research and Service, and Harry Fritz- Chair, Departoment of History

Call to Order:

Chair Crepeau called the meeting to order at 3:12 PM.
Intirim Registrar Carlyon called the role.

The minutes from 3/9/05 were accepted as a matter of record.

Communications:

· ASUM President Brad Cedarburg
All faculty are invited to participate in Aber Day activities on April 22. Students, Faculty, Staff and community members can meet in the oval at
9:00 a.m. to get their gear and choose an event. The celebration afterwards will be held in Caras Park with food and live music, similar to the downtown tonight events. The ASUM transportation bus will be making trips from campus to Caras Park from 2:30 to 6:30p.m. Events include:

· 9 a.m.-noon: Clark Fork River Cleanup in Missoula. To work on the Kim Williams trail part of the river, meet at the Van Buren footbridge. Call Vicki Watson at 243-5153 for information. To work on other parts of the river, meet at Caras Park at 10 a.m. Call the Clark Fork Coalition at 542-0539 for more information.

· 10 a.m.-2 p.m.: Mount Sentinel Prairie Restoration. Meet at the M trailhead at to pull weeds and spread native seeds.

· 1-2:30 p.m.: Recycle "dumpster dive": Help sort recyclables. Meet at the UM recycle shed at the back of Facility Services, located on the northeast corner of campus.

· Noon-4 p.m.: Build a bike at Festival of Cycles, Bonner Park.

· 2-5 p.m.: PEAS farm chores (make compost, plant trees) on Duncan Drive in the Rattlesnake Valley.

President Dennison

President Dennison in his interim role as Provost presented the graduation lists for spring 2006 and the corrected list for autumn 2005. These were unanimously approved by the Senate.

The President informed the Senate that in his new role, he will keep things on schedule with the help of the two associate provosts and the academic deans. The tenure and promotion lists will be prepared as usual, and the merits will be announced on the appointed date.

Governor Schweitzer will be on campus April 20th as part of his listening tour. The meeting will be held in the University Center Theatre at 2:00 p.m. At a similar venue in Havre last week the crowd was around 200-300 people with the Governor responding to questions.

The President asked ECOS for nominations to the Taskforce that will look into a Code of Conduct for purchasing contracts on campus that will be modeled after the one that is in place at the University of Michigan. Included in the recommendation will be a designated group to consider protests against specific contracts. The protest will need to be endorsed by a recognized group on campus. The code has worked well at the University of Michigan. The hope is for the Taskforce to make a recommendation by the end of the semester for implementation next academic year. The information will be well vetted across campus

The University of Michigan has accepted the actions taken by the Coca-Cola company and has resumed purchasing Coca-Cola products. The Company has persuaded the United Nations to send representatives from the international labor organization to review practices in Colombia. Secondly, it has contracted with a union organization in India to review the practices in India. This is not to say that The University of Montana should follow suit but rather it should proceed to have something in place to consider the protests in an orderly fashion.

Chairs Report (see document)
Chair Crepeau briefly summarized the items on the report.

Blackboard/ Email Concerns:
Senator Lawrence and Skelton have concerns regarding application administration of the Blackboard course management system and the student email system. Chair Crepeau investigated the issues and recommends that they be addressed to the Academic Information Technology Advisory Committee. He met with Associate Vice President Ray Ford and Associate Provost Jim Staub regarding Blackboard and discovered that the Blackboard upgrade has been delayed, but negotiations are taking place that will ultimately lead to an upgrade in the System.

Version 6 of Blackboard has the functionality that is desired by Senator Lawrence and Skelton. According to Senator Lawrence, the problem is that application administrators are not allowing the faculty to use certain functions.

Chair Crepeau indicated that AVP Ford will be happy to attend a Senate meeting to address the concerns and is tentatively scheduled for the May 4^th meeting.

The changes to student email are behind the scenes but will result in a new address format ***@grizmail.umt.edu and the web-based email interface will be more user friendly.

UC Bookstore
Chair Crepeau informed the Senate about the UC Bookstore’s plans for a second location. The Bookstore invites faculty to participate in the focus groups. Please contact Eamon Fahey at efahey@umtbookstore.com for information.

Evaluation of the Administration
The evaluation data and summary are available on Blackboard for senators to review. Written comments are available for review in the Faculty Senate Office. Each administrator was invited to meet with ECOS to discuss the results prior to the information going to the Senate. President Dennison and Dean McKusick accepted the invitation. Chair Crepeau will provide the Commissioner of Higher Education with the results on Friday, April 14^th.

Dean McKusick asked that the Senate be informed of his efforts to apply for a Phi Beta Capa chapter at UM. Phi Beta Capa members should contact Dean McKusick because a component of the application is the percentage of faculty membership on campus. He is also working to re-establish the Western Montana chapter of Phi Beta Capa which is separate from the University chapter.

University Committees
A request will be coming soon for faculty to provide ECOS with their preference for committee service. Also, current committee members will be asked to provide a written update of committee’s efforts over the year.

Committee Reports:
ASCRC
ASCRC Chair Jean Luckowski presented the curriculum approval agenda consisting of the GIS Certificate. It was approved unanimously.

The next curricular items are presented as information at the request of ECOS. The Level II minor/major in Restoration Ecology and new course in Environmental Entomology require approval signatures from DBS and the option in Forest Management and Applied Restoration is still in subcommittee but is expected to be approved soon. ECOS asserts that because of the significant nature of the level II proposals that the Senate be given the additional consideration time.

Irish Studies

Senator Luckowski provided a time-line for the proposed Irish Studies Minor. It was submitted to ASCRC in February. The Humanities and Cultural Studies Subcommittee reviewed the proposal and several guests attended ASCRC to answer questions. The steering committee made revisions at the request of ASCRC. These were discussed and approved at the April 4^th meeting. The proposal then went to ECOS on April 6^th.

Senator Kane moved that the minor in Irish Studies be approved as stated. It was seconded.

Senator Frey indicated that there are a number of problems with the proposal. One of the key elements is a history course, and the History department has not approved the proposal. She spoke to members of the department’s Personnel Committee today and over half of the members are apposed to the minor.

Second, Gaelic could not be taken to meet the foreign language competency in the general education program because it is a three credit course. Third, there are several experimental course numbers included in the minor. Core courses in a program should have permanent numbers. Finally the program is dependent on adjunct faculty and a retiree (in History). She proposes that the item be postponed to allow the department’s consideration and for the other issues to be addressed.

Senator Kane directed the Senate to page 7 of the proposal that records a meeting with members of the History Department.

Members of the Irish Studies Minor Committee met with Chairman of the History Department Harry Fritz, History Professors Paul Lauren and Ken Lockridge (both members of the History Department’s Personnel Committee), and with History Professor John Eglin on March 24, 2006. Chairman Fritz re-articulated his full support for the program—“I am 100% behind this program”—and asked that this statement be put in writing in this supplementary document.

The Personnel Committee will support the ISMC in its working to find a long term solution to the need for a tenure-track historian to teach courses in Irish and Irish American History.

They made several suggestions and were quite enthusiastic about the minor.

According to Senator Frey this is an issue of miscommunication because History right now does not support the minor.

Senator Loisel read a statement from the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literature. “While the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literature (MCLL) welcomes ideas for innovative academic programs. It holds it important that these be identified in accordance with regular procedures while identifying academic need at the appropriate unit level before seeking administrative approval, allocation, or reallocation of resources to meet any such needs. The proposal for a Minor in Irish Studies currently before the Faculty Senate has not made its way here by such a route. MCLL is unable to offer resources in support of an Irish Studies Program and we hope that there will be a proper discussion of the academic need and feasibility.”

Senator Gillison commented that MCLL shares the concern related to the Gaelic courses and general education requirements. She spoke with Professor O’Reirden and Reimer and they propose that this particular language sequence be identified as fulfilling only minor requirements and not general education requirements. They do not want to offer five credit courses because of the possible overload for students. It would have to be made very clear to students that these courses would not fulfill general education requirements.

Senator Kane stated that a feasibility study was conducted based on the number of the classes of Irish Studies and History offered over the years. On the basis of the popularity of these courses a program would be viable at UM. The language courses have been taught over the past 6 years. The first year the courses were offered by the Montana Gaelic Society, then several years by the Experimental College, and now through UM.

Senator Ametsbichler indicated that ECOS was provided with a document that disputed the reliance of the minor on adjunct faculty.

1) The Personnel Issue: The Irish Studies Minor will be sustained by a committed, talented, and interdisciplinary group of primarily tenure-track faculty. The faculty associated with the Irish Studies Minor also includes three equally talented and committed adjunct faculty members (Traolách O’Riordáin, Eric Reimer, and Sean O’Brien); these faculty members have the strong support of both the administration and their departments regarding their continuing presence on campus. Nevertheless, if one or more of these colleagues were to leave the University of Montana, the remaining faculty would, with the single exception of Dr. O’Riordáin, be more than able to offer the course offerings summarized in the proposal. In the case of Dr. O’Riordáin, it is the stated goal of the Irish Studies Minor Proposal Committee to solidify his position, a prospect that is strongly supported by the administration and that has the strong possibility of garnering outside funding (Dr O’Riordáin was recently awarded a grant for $37,000 from The Irish Government’s “Arts and Culture in the Gaeltacht Funding Program” (N.B. The Irish Studies Program Committee recognizes that, at such time as the position is made financially solid, a national search will be necessary). The program has a six-year commitment from the only Emeritus member of the associated faculty, Professor David Emmons; see the proposal document’s appendices for a statement of partnership and support from the History department regarding longer-range options for the history components of this minor.

According to Senator Kane the courses listed under Dr Reimer could be taught by tenure-track faculty in the department of English.

Senator Gillison commented that the experimental course numbers were also a concern in MCLL. When students come to her requesting to be allowed to take a minor in a language that is not establish, she informs them that a minor is not available unless the university is committed to its continuation and has committed resources.

There are conversations currently taking place to propose permanent course numbers for the courses in English and Gaelic. It’s just a matter of preparing the forms and submitting them to ASCRC in the fall.

Professor O’Reirdon spoke to the importance of Gaelic to the study of Irish Studies. The culture is not accessible without the language. Although Gaelic is not recognized as an international language, it is an important language to Butte, whose residents contributed to the battle for an independent Irish republic the Irish revival movement. The language is important to Montana regionally. Thousands of manuscripts came to Montana during the famine that are important to the preservation of Irish culture, here and in Ireland.

The intent is NOT to have students taking Gaelic to satisfy a general education requirement. The preference is to have students taking the courses that are genuinely interested in Irish Studies not the fulfillment of a requirement. It will be made quite clear that the courses will not satisfy the foreign language proficiency requirement.

Senator Gannon asked whether the College of Arts and Sciences has confirmed that there will be resources available to continue to offer the courses included in the minor.

Dean Fetz responded that in the past new languages have begun by utilizing adjunct instructors. This was done for the Arabic and Farcee program in which case resources were found from a variety of external and internal sources. It becomes feasible then to move the items to the priority list, which has happened in the case for the languages in the Central and Southwest Program. In the case of Irish Studies, the recent success with the grant indicates the type of support that can be expected. There is a great deal of interest in the program as the only one in this part of the country. Thus with relatively modest internal resources combined with external resources the program will be maintained.

Senator Thompson spoke in favor of the proposal. It contains the necessary academic foundation. Plus, there is a huge Irish-American population in Montana so there is a hearts and mind issue as well. It is a way to reach out to many of the tax payers in the state whose grandparents came from Ireland.

Senator Luckowski stated that the concern about History is one that was shared by ASCRC. But the committee was convinced by the statement amended to the proposal from the meeting of the steering committee with faculty in History that the issue had been addressed.

The Personnel Committee made the following suggestions: that the ISMC work with the History Department to secure scholars from University College Cork to teach courses one semester every other year (these scholars should be able to teach courses other than Irish History: i.e. European History or History of the British Empire); that the ISMC consult with the History Department in attempting to locate either internal or external funding for a faculty line given that the History Department has current curricular needs that preclude the commitment of a line from within the History Department to an Irish/Irish American Historian; that ISMC work along with the History Department to make sure that commitment to the Irish Studies Minor outlasts any one administration.

Other concerns were that it didn’t appear to have a home department. It was then clarified that the minor would be located in the English Department. Questions were raised about x95 courses and oversight of the language course and these were addressed. The proposal has gone through its paces and ASCRC supports the minor.

There was clarification regarding the results of voting on the motion. If the motion was to fail, the item would still move to the consent agenda in May.

Senator Kane explained that there is a visit in the planning from the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, who is an important feminist scholar and author and a human rights activist. She heard about the proposal and requested that she be allowed to come to inaugurate the minor. The trip is planned for mid-May to fulfill the promise made by Eamon de Valera, the first President of a free Ireland, that came to Butte Montana in 1919 specifically to recognize the importance of Montana in its intellectual, cultural, and monetary contributions to the freedom of Ireland. He predicted that one day a President of a free Ireland would come back to Montana and would speak to the history of Montana and its importance to Irish freedom. It would be beneficial for the University to take advantage of this opportunity.

Professor O’Riordáin added that it seems the visit is full of symbolism. The administrator who awarded the grant for teaching Irish, Daniel MacQueen, is the grandson of to Eamon de Valera and will be accompanying the President to Montana.

Butte, Montana is well known in Ireland as a contributor to the war of independence and the Irish revival movement. The Irish language is being moved back into a central position in Irish identity and is important in preserving ethnic identity. Professor O’Riordáin was invited by the community to come to Montana to teach the language. The Irish language is now a working language of the European Union. The individuals and organizations involved in this movement have the resources to make the minor a very viable program.

Senator Ware called the question (42 in favor, 3 apposed). The motion to approve the minor was approved 39 in favor, 8 opposed.

The amended General Education list for the natural sciences was presented as an information item.

Faculty Library Committee (see document)
The Faculty Library Chair Andrew Ware gave an update of the Faculty Library Committee’s activities. He stepped in as chair officially in January due to health issues of the previous chair. The committee met with all 5 of the Library Dean Candidates and provided feedback to the search committee. Two of the members on the FLC are also on the search committee.

Dean Fetz, Chair of the Library Dean search committee indicated that the second round of interviews have been completed and the search committee has sent a recommendation to the President for consideration.

The FLC was given an update on the acquisitions budget. A few of the highlights are contained in the report.

New Business:

Senator Putnam presented the proposed School of Public and Community Health Science to house the new Public Health Program and Certificate within the College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences.

Senator Knowles commented that ‘public’ and ‘community’ are redundant.

Senator Putnam responded that this is deliberate. There is a section of public health that is focused on community health issues and they wanted to make it very clear that this is the emphasis. The name could not be the school of community health because of the master in public health offered. They could not be the School of Public Health because they lack the resources and faculty.

Review of Centers
Montana World Trade Center
ECOS recommends continuation of the Montana World Trade Center with the caveat that UM Administration assures there exists no conflict of interest within the relationship between Global Development Services, the Director of the Montana World Trade Center, and the Montana World Trade Center.

Senator Putnam asked about the increase in the contract fee from $48,000 to $105,000 with Global Development Services. If the University signs a contract and there is no other revenue, is the University responsible for the increase in the contract?

The Director of the Center, Arnie Sherman responded that funding of Centers on campus is a complicated and convoluted process. The Center is currently under a two-year management contract for $48,000 a year. Additional money is budgeted from grants and contracts to manage the Center. The $105,000 increase was an estimate of what will be coming in. It cost approximately $400,000 – $500,000 a year to do the work of the Center. Most of this money is generated from outside funding sources.

When the director was originally hired by the Center nine years ago he was a university/state employee. As the Center continued to engage in commercial contract and grant work, being a state employee was causing difficulty in its activities (acting on the behalf of companies) due to state law. The Montana World Trade Center is the only Trade Center that is affiliated with a state university. In consultation with University Legal Council, the Center determined that private management would be the best way to be accountable to the University but not an employee of the university.

The motion to postpone action on the Center was unanimously approved to allow for clarification by University administration regarding the potential conflict of interest issue.

Montana Biotechnology Center

ECOS member Dave Beck presented the review. ECOS found this Center to be controversial. Some faculty responding to the request for comments were supportive of the center while others believe it to serve the purposes of an individual or a very small group of individuals rather than the university as a whole. Those working in the field of HIV studies have commented positively on the contribution of the center to their work. However, others believe this unit does not function like a center, that it lacks synergy, and that other faculty members who are not part of a center bring in more research funding and accomplish more research despite having significant teaching and service loads. There is also a belief that such a center should provide an intersection with business and biotechnology. The center’s own report lists this as a purpose, which it seems to meet at best minimally through a clearinghouse website. However the website is not current and has erroneous links. Several university scientists responded that the center serves primarily to support its director.

ECOS recommends that the Center be reviewed again in one year. The Center must show better outreach both to science faculty/departments and the business community. It must also develop and implement an outreach and funding plan.

ECOS’ recommendation was approved unanimously.

Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center
ECOS recommends that the Center be continued. The recommendation was approved.

New Center:

Professor Richard van den Pol presented the proposal for the new Montana Safe Schools Center. The Center would require no university resources. It would serve as a clearing house for pre-school through 12^th grade local education agencies in the state of Montana to promote safe school practices and to share information on how to meet various federal requirements including national incident management system and incident command policies that are being recommended by the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.

The Center was approved unanimously.

Executive Session
Professor Fritz presented the case for awarding an honorary degree in humane letters. The Senate voted in favor of the nomination. There was one abstention.

Good and Welfare:

Senator Lawrence expressed his concern that as technology is intertwined with teaching faculty governance needs to assure that faculty have input in the decision making.

Senator Putnam reminded the Senate of the upcoming Undergraduate Research Conference on Friday April 21^st on the third floor of the University Center, 8:30 a.m. -6:00 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:06 PM.