Meeting, May 4, 2006
Gallagher Business Building, Room 123

approved 9/14/06

Members Present:
E. Ametsbichler, D. Beck, K. Canty, J. Carter, J. Crepeau, D. Dalenberg, M. DeGrandpre, P. Dietrich, A. Delaney, D. Doyle, L. Frey, J. Gannon, L. Gillison, F. Glass, C. Hand, K. Hill, S. Justman, C. Knight, B. Knowles, B. Larson, C. Lawrence, S. Li, C. Loisel, J. Luckowski, D. McCrea, J. McNulty, V. Micheletto, N. Moisey, C. Nichols, D. Potts, E. Putnam, B. Reider, Y. Reimer, D. Schuldberg, R. Skelton, G. Smith, J. Sommers-Flanagan, S. Stiff, M. Tonon, N. Vonessen, A. Ware, S. Yoshimura
New Members Present:
T. Atkins, L. Barnes, R. Bendick-Kier,N. Bradley-Browning, B. Douma, L. Hayes, G. Larson, J. Lopach, S. McCann, M. Pershouse, T. Seekins, D. Shively, R. Stubblefield, D. Swibold, N. Tuleja, E. Uchimoto, N. Uhlenbruck

Members Excused:
F. Cardozo-Pelaez, G. Cobbs, S. Derry S. Gordon S. Greymorning C. Johnston L. Knott M. Kupilik, M. Monsos, F. Rosenzweig, K. Unger

Members Absent:

B. Allen, C. Bruneau, J. Campana, B. Chaney, W. Freimund S. Gaskill, W. Holben, K. Kane, P. Silverman, D. Six, F. Snyder A. Sondag H. Thompson T. Whiddon

Ex-Officio Present:
Vice President Dwyer, Associate Provost Staub and Walker-Andrews, Dean Fetz

Guests: Professor Walt Hill and Sandy Ross- Center for Bomolecular Structure and Dynamics, Professor Murphy-Media Arts

Call to Order:

Chair Crepeau called the meeting to order at 3:12 PM.
The Faculty Senate Administrative Associate called role.

The minutes from 4/13/06 were amended and accepted as a matter of record.

Communications:

Associate Vice President Ray Ford
Associate Vice President Ray Ford clarified that Blackboard is purchased and operated by Academic Affairs. The Information Technology Office operates the computers and does system administration but does not make any of the application specific decisions. These are made by Academic Affairs. Over the past few years there have been issues of inconsistent guidelines and decision making. Ralph Johnson-Continuing Education UMOnline Program Manager has been responsible for making application specific decisions, but has had problems with the software not working as advertised and confusion about who was actually making decisions.

There is reason to believe that this will change. Over the past month, Associate Provost Staub has initiated action to utilize the Academic Information Technology Advisory Committee. This Committee will provide an effective means for faculty to voice their concerns, questions, and/or priorities. Last year the committee was restructured to be more effective. It still reports to the Provost but is chaired by a faculty member, Belva Jones-Chair of Information Systems.
The Academic Information Technology Advisory Committee has initiated discussion on Blackboard issues and is considering the best process to address them.

AVP Ford summarized that there have been problems and it hasn’t been clear that the faculty voice has been heard, but there is every reason to believe that things will change.

Senator Lawrence thanked AVP Ford for clarifying some of the confusion. He appreciates that there is a mechanism in place to assure faculty concerns are heard and is pleased that steps are being taken to remedy the problems with Blackboard.

Chairs Report (see document)
Chair Crepeau briefly summarized the items on the report.
Student debt load figures were reported in response to an inquiry at a previous meeting.

ECOS made an amendment to the evaluation of the administration report. Concerns surfaced from the Dean of Journalism, whose name was initially missing from the drop down menu. He asked that the Senate be informed of the flaw.

The Multi-cultural Alliance asked that ECOS share information regarding next falls “Day of Dialogue” on October 18th. The theme is diversity and faculty are encouraged to incorporate the Day into their courses. The hope is that the event will be campus wide and faculty will be involved by integrating diversity issues into course curriculum. Senator Schuldberg, a member of the Diversity Advisory Council had handouts for interested faculty or they can contact Lindsay Ross-Hunt, International Co-Coordinator (x5776) ucintl@mso.umt.edu.

Chair Crepeau briefly reviewed the progress on the goals for the year. General Education is ongoing. Information Technology items will continue, but it sounds like the Academic Information Technology Advisory Committee will be working on issues. The Evaluation of the Administration and Center Reviews were completed. Campus Committees have been active and ECOS is requesting annual communications from faculty members. The Unit Standards Committee reviewed five unit standards, three of which have been approved by the acting Provost. ASCRC completed the items under resources and quality, and will continue to be vigilant about reviewing curriculum proposals.

Just today, Chair Crepeau received a memo from President Dennison indicating that Wintersession 2006-2007 will go forward as planned.

The search for a new provost has been suspended until the fall. President Dennison will continue as acting Provost with the assistance of the two Associate Provosts.

Committee Reports:
ASCRC
ASCRC Chair Jean Luckowski was presented with a framed Certificate of Appreciation. She then presented the curriculum consent agenda. The new major and minor in Restoration Ecology, option in Forest Operations and Applied Restoration, and the associated new course were approved unanimously.

The year-end report is a work in progress and will be posted on the web site when completed. ASCRC worked through many issues this semester. There were 256 curriculum proposals. The unresolved issues for next year are general education, review of online courses, and the proposed revision to the Board of Regents’ Transfer Policy, 301.5 which will mandate that all course work from a MUS institution will be accepted as elective credit. Next year’s chair will be Professor Allan Szalda-Petree.

Graduate Council
Graduate Council Chair Neil Moisey was presented with a framed Certificate of Appreciation. He then explained that members of Graduate Council involved with doctoral programs are also on the Individualized Interdisciplinary Program (IIP) Oversight Committee. ECOS had concerns about the IIP program that were shared by the Oversight Committee and requested that Graduate Council look into the situation. Dean Strobel gave a report to the Council and there was follow-up discussion. Then an ad-hoc committee was formed to draft recommendations that have gone through several revisions. Generally, the recommendations suggest changes to the application, admission process, the students program, and reporting, as well as strengthening the role of the Oversight Committee.

Chair Crepeau stated that the Council incorporated ECOS’ suggestions into the document and it now comes as a seconded motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

Faculty Library Committee (see document)
The Faculty Library Committee Chair highlighted the committee’s annual report. There will now be an annual Info Fair/Library Representatives Meeting in October. This year the meeting focused on the allocations process and the various methods departments’ choose to process their allocations. The committee considered the possibility of a membership in the Association of Research Libraries and found that the Mansfield Library would not qualify based on staffing levels and volume of collections, but this could be a long range goal.

At the last meeting the FLC was informed of the proposed cut to the inflationary increase of the Acquisitions Budget for FY07 from 9% to 3.95%. The FLC sent letters to Vice President Duringer and the chair of the Strategic Budget and Planning Committee, Professor Pletscher. Unfortunately the one-time-only cuts are necessary because of budget constraints

The preliminary data on the extended hour’s pilot project show that the late hours are more popular with the students. The FLC has initiated discussion on the committee’s charge and might consider revisions that would then come to the Senate. Committee members were involved with the selection of the new Library Dean, Bonnie Allan and look forward to working with her.

Senator Frey asked whether faculty would still have access to the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) Database that is particularly useful for research faculty.

Senator Ware responded that the Library is able to participate in some ARL initiatives such as the LibQual survey, but he would have to find out about the database.

Senator McCrea from the Library indicated that faculty have access to the RLIN Database through their Library Liaison.

Athletic Committee
Chair Crepeau indicated that the Athletic Committee’s annual report was available for the Senate to review. If there are any questions Professor Lopach, the NCAA Faculty Athletics Repetitive is available to answer questions.

Senator Knowles asked whether the committee took a position on the issue of multi-year contracts for athletic coaches.

Senator Lopach responded that the committee as a whole did not take a position, but he encouraged President Dennison to support the policy. From an academic perspective multi-year contracts would be beneficial because the job security would allow coaches to take a long-rang approach and recruit students with better academic records rather than good athletes with marginal academic records in order to win and boost their career.

Unfinished Business:
Center Review- Montana World Trade Center
University Legal Council, David Aronofsky was consulted regarding the Montana World Trade Center and the potential conflict of interest with the Director and Global Development Services, the company contracted to manage the Center. The issue was fully assessed when the company was created to manage the Center. ECOS is satisfied and brings a seconded motion forward to continue the Center. The motion was unanimously approved.

New Business:
Name Change – Media Arts Department
The name change from “Program of Media Arts” to “Department of Media Arts” was presented as a seconded motion from ECOS by Chair Crepeau. Professor Murphy was available to address any questions. There was no debate and the motion was unanimously approved.

New Center – Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics
Chair Crepeau explained that ECOS conducted a thorough review of the proposed Center for Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics. There were modifications requested by ECOS: needs assessment, budget clarification, and explanation of recruiting for the Director’s position prior to approval of the Center by the Senate or the Regents. These issues have been addressed with the revised proposal and subsequent letters to ECOS (available on the website). ECOS met yesterday and is satisfied with the documentation and therefore brings the proposal as a seconded motion. Professor Ross is available if the Senate has questions.

Senator Knowles asked why the Director’s position was posted prior to the Center’s approval.

Chair Crepeau provided his opinion that this occurred because of past practices of a former administrator. The proposal was approved unanimously.

The outgoing ECOS members (Dave Beck and Jean Carter) were recognized with a framed certificate of appreciation.

New Senators were seated by role call.

The floor was opened for chair-elect nominations. Senator Justman nominated Senator Frey, seconded by Senator Dietrich. Senator Gannon nominated Senator Ware, seconded by Senator Carter. Senator Carter nominated incoming Graduate Council Chair Hayes, seconded by Senator Ware.

Senator Ware declined the nomination. It was then clarified that Professor Hayes was only eligible for the chair-elect position if he continued to serve as Graduate Council Chair which insures his seat on the Senate. Professor Hayes agreed to continue to serve as Graduate Council Chair if elected as chair-elect. Senator Frey declined the nomination. Professor Hayes accepted the nomination and was unanimously elected as chair-elect.

Senators from the Professional Schools caucused to nominate two candidates to ECOS.

Senator Luckowski and Monsos were nominated and elected as members of ECOS.

The new ECOS consists of: Professor Ametsbichler (Chair) Hayes (Chair-elect) Gannon, and Frey from the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor Potts, Monsos and Luckowski from the Professional Schools.

Good and Welfare:

Chair Crepeau was thanked for his efforts for the year and given a framed certificate of appreciation. The administrative Associate was also thanked for her efforts.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:15PM.