Faculty Senate Minutes
March 4, 2010 Call to Order: Call to order: 4:16 pm, 302 Breckinridge Hall
Senators Absent: Donna Everett, Sarah Hawkins, John Hennen, Stephanie Johnson, Barbara Lyons, Nathan Nabb, Denise Watkins, Yuqiu You Minutes: Fiscal Affairs asked that a change for clarification be made to Committee Review – Fiscal Affairs. Senator Chatham moved to approve the minutes of February 18, 2010 as revised. Motion seconded. Motion passed. Committee Review: Academic Policies: Working on defining effective teaching; Will present a Resolution on the “U” Grade for second reading
Communications: Senate Web page has been revised, encouraged Senators to review the Web page and provide any suggestions to the Communication Committee
Evaluation: Will meet with Mike Walters on March 11 regarding the Baldridge Survey
Fiscal Affairs: No Report
Governance: Will continue to present revised Senate Constitution
Professional Policies: No Report Reports: Provost’s Report: Deferred report for time to review Senate Constitution · Senators discussed various issues with the Provost such as:
- Faculty Work Load for First Year Seminar
- Search for Registrar
- MSU 499 – Dr. Dayna Seelig will be asked to respond
- Numbering for Core General Education courses and distribution courses
Regent’s Report: Not present – attending a Board of Regents retreatChair’s Report: There will be a special meeting of the Senate on Thursday, March 11, 2010 in the Riggle Room of ADUC for discussion of the Senate ConstitutionGeneral Education Update:· Developing an advising document for next year· Finalizing timeline for courses, capstone and an assessment timeline· Met with Loretta Lykins regarding exchange courses· Suggested changes to the original Gen Ed document to eliminate Assessment and Course Coordinators to be replaced by a full-time assessment person· Instructor copies of Unspun for First Year Seminar – Provost agreed to purchase the books if necessary
· A Senator asked if there will be a generalized format or model for a syllabus for the First Year Seminar· A Senator asked if there will be a transitional period for courses of current General Education students; Will the current Gen Ed courses be removed from the fall catalog?Senator Baker provided an update on the work of the Book Store Committee. She suggested that the manager of the Book Store provide a presentation to the Senate in the future. The committee will continue to work on the issues and present a final report to the Senate. Senator Baker asked the members to provide her with any suggestions/issues/concerns they have regarding the MSU Book Store. Senate Actions: Academic Policies: Presented a resolution that the grade of U be eliminated from the grading scale at MSU for a second reading. After discussion, Senator Chatham moved to recommit the resolution to Academic Policies with instructions to consider an alternative to the current U grade that will differentiate between academic failure and failure for not attending. Senator Stanley seconded the motion. Motion passed. Governance: The Senate continued review of revisions to the Constitution with ARTICLE TWO: Section 3. Senator Chatham moved to insert “administrative” before “evaluation” in Article Two, Section 3, fifth sentence (line 46 in the Governance Committee report). Motion seconded. Motion passed.Senator McCormick moved to approve ARTICLE TWO: Section 3, as amended. Senator Stanley seconded the motion. Motion passed. ARTICLE TWO: Section 4. After discussion, Senator Macintosh moved to approve this section as submitted by Governance. Senator LaFleur seconded the motion. Motion passed. ARTICLE TWO: Section 5. No changes were made by either committee. Section 5 remained as in the original Constitution. ARTICLE TWO: Section 6. After discussion, Senator McCormick moved to approve this section as submitted by Governance. Senator Chatham seconded the motion. Motion passed. ARTICLE TWO: Section 7. After discussion, Senator Craig moved to reinstate Section 7 as previously written. Senator Irons seconded the motion. Motion passed. ARTICLE THREE: Section 1. Senator Klecker moved to approve Section 1 as amended by the Governance Committee. Senator Royar seconded the motion. Motion passed. Senator Royar moved to accept the remaining sections of ARTICLE THREE as submitted by the Governance Committee. Senator Wright seconded the motion. Motion passed. Senator McCormick moved to approve ARTICLE FOUR: Section 1, as presented by the Governance Committee. Senator Macintosh seconded the motion. Senator Irons moved to postpone the vote on ARTICLE FOUR: Section 1 until after discussion of the recommendations for the Communication Committee later in the document. Senator LaFleur seconded the motion. Motion passed. ARTICLE FOUR: Section 2. Senator Macintosh moved to approve as submitted by Governance. Senator McCormick seconded the motion. Motion passed. ARTICLE FOUR: Section 3. Discussion began on this section. Senator Klecker moved to adjourn. Adjournment: 6:00 p.m.
