The meeting was called to order by Chair Reneta Barneva at 4:05 PM in Fenton 105.
Chair Barneva asked for a motion to approve the agenda. Sen. Richard Reddy moved and Sen. Chuck Stoddart seconded approval of the agenda. The motion had no discussion, and was approved by unanimous voice vote.
Chair Barneva then asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of Feb. 8, 2008. Sens. Reddy/Stoddart moved and seconded the motion. There was no discussion, and the minutes were approved by unanimous voice vote.
President Hefner reported:
Questions:
Sen. Reddy asked Pres. Hefner to talk a bit about the training question surrounding CLEARAC. Pres. Hefner indicated that this is going to be a “train the trainer” situation, and more information would be coming once we have trained personnel on campus. He has not heard anything yet about how extensive the training is going to have to be.
Sen. Steven Kershnar commented that the policy is we won’t look at an email unless there is a court order. Is that an official policy? Pres. Hefner responded that it has been the standing policy, but he was not sure if it is an official policy.
Report of the Vice President for Academic Affairs: Dr. Virginia Horvath
Dr. Horvath:
Questions:
Sen. Julia Wilson asked if the program stage of the planning for the new Science and Technology building had been completed. Pres. Hefner responded that yes, and we are now moving to hire an architect.
Sen. Wilson also asked for a colleague in her department why that faculty member was told by someone at the Library that the Library couldn’t buy a book for Reserve, and could only put it on reserve if the faculty member bought a personal copy. Both Mr. Randy Gadikian and Mr. Vincent Courtney indicated that information was in error, and the Library has been purchasing books for Reserve use all along. All any faculty member has to do is fill out the form for Materials Request, indicating the need is for Reserve use (on FredQuest) and Ms. Susan Wilkes at the Library will see to the processing of the request.
The Chair:
There were no questions.
Action Items
Journalism temporarily in Interdisciplinary Studies
Dr. H. Joseph Straight, Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, presented the idea of having the Journalism degree be one of the Interdisciplinary Studies programs as of fall 2008 IF the program is not fully approved by that time by the various agencies of the State of New York. The B.S. degree was approved by the Senate in Nov. or Dec. of 2007. The program has made it through its first stage of SUNY approval. Taking this action will allow the campus to begin recruiting students, and temporarily placing them in the Interdisciplinary Studies degree program (B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies).
Sen. Kate Levy asked if the B.S. in Journalism is not approved, will students in the program be able to get a degree in another area of Communication? Dr. Straight responded yes, following the curriculum that was laid out before.
Sen. Neil Feit asked if there will be a coordinator with a stipend or course release for Journalism as one of the Interdisciplinary Studies. Sen. Ted Schwalbe indicated that he’d think not; that he could undertake that role as part of his chair’s position.
Without any further discussion, the motion of the Academic Affairs Committee was passed by unanimous voice vote.
Bilingual Extension Program
Sen. Kevin Kearns brought the Bilingual Extension Program, which had its first reading in the Feb. 8 meeting, to the floor. Additional materials have been provided as background materials for this meeting.
There were no questions.
The Bilingual Extension was approved by unanimous voice vote.
Curriculum and Instruction graduate program revision
Sen. Kearns presented this in three pieces. The first was the change to the existing program, as presented at the Feb. 8 meeting.
There were no questions.
This first piece was approved by unanimous voice vote.
The second piece is the new Certificate of Advanced Studies for the program in inclusive education, working with students with disabilities. Dr. Straight asked if a candidate already has a Master’s degree in Education, would they be pursuing another Master’s? Sen. Kearns answered no, this is an added certification.
With no further questions, the vote was taken. The second piece of the proposal passed by voice vote with one abstention.
The third piece is the portion concerning 69-70 credit hours plus 36 for the Master’s Degree.
Sen. Bowser asked do you know that they will be paying graduate tuition for undergraduate courses? Sen. Kearns responded yes. Sen. Bowser then followed up saying it will be important to share this information with students as they are admitted. Sen. Kearns nodded.
Dr. Roger Byrne asked would the second baccalaureate option be discontinued? Sen. Kearns responded there has been no discussion of discontinuing it. That could still be an option. Not many will go in that direction, but there may be some who would want the full second baccalaureate. It might be dictated by how many credits they will have to make up. We will not close that door to them.
The third part of the C&I graduate program changes passed by unanimous voice vote.
Sen. Kearns indicated that Sen. Joni Milgram-Luterman would answer questions regarding this proposal.
Chair Barneva indicated at the previous meeting there had been concern expressed whether we could depend on offerings from other institutions to be used by our grad students. Sen. Milgram-Luterman said that Psychology has stepped up and agreed to do the psychopathology course, and Social Work has said they could do the lifespan course (but they cannot do this as a Social Work course due to the rules of their accrediting body.) Also UB has an online psychopathology course.
Dr. Anna Thibodeau asked if this lifespan development course would be at the Master’s level? Sen. Milgram-Luterman answered yes. Dr. Thibodeau then asked whether it would be possible to include this statement in future documents, to make sure to include the term ‘lifespan’. That is major in terms of psychology and developmental psychology. It will be very helpful to you down the road.
At that point, Sen. Dani McKinney moved and Sen. Rhea Simmons seconded a friendly amendment to amend the documents where necessary as Dr. Thibodeau had pointed out.
There was no discussion on the amendment, and the amendment passed by unanimous voice vote.
With no further discussion ensuing, the vote was taken on the entire proposal. The Master of Music in Music Therapy was approved by unanimous voice vote.
Calendar Subcommittee of the Academic Affairs Committee
Dr. Straight and Dr. Matt Bromquist (Chair or the Subcommittee) presented the proposed calendars for {dates}.
Chair Barneva said there had been a request to have a formal day with no classes to hold a one-day workshop, similar to what we just had recently. Dr. Straight suggested that we vote to approve the calendars, and then amend them later (with the Subcommittee’s input) to include such a day from 2009 through 2012.
Dr. Straight indicated the Subcommittee had not done anything very different with these calendars. They have a template they follow pretty closely. Dr. Bromquist then showed the proposed calendars using the screen.
VP Herman asked a question about 2010-2011. Has the committee given any consideration to having the first Monday free of classes so students can do those things that require running around campus to various offices? On weekends, offices are very limited because staffs usually do not work. If we could have a Monday without classes, that would ease the beginning of the semester. Dr. Straight responded from the point of view of having enough days for teaching, the Fall semester is okay (it had 71 days), but the Spring semester has only 69 days. We’d be deficient in Mondays in the spring, and there are grad courses that meet only on Mondays.
Sen. Feit asked is it possible to resolve this by opening the dorms on the Thursday or Friday before the first Monday of classes? Having that Monday with no classes could be a good idea, but grad classes would miss two meetings (considering Labor Day is usually a holiday.)
Dr. Mira Berkley commented that there was a time on campus when we used to designate a non-Monday as a Monday. She realized that caused some confusion, but it might help with this problem. Dr. Straight responded yes, we used to do that, but he didn’t think anyone wanted to begin that practice again.
Sen. Chausovsky asked has there been consideration given to having a couple of “dark days” between the end of the semester and the beginning of final exams? Dr. Straight said that when that was looked at in the past, what has come out is “We’d rather have a full week at Thanksgiving.”
[Secretary didn’t note who] asked has there been any consideration been given to looking at the BOCES calendar, and trying to match their calendar? Dr. Straight informed the body that none of the public school districts agree on their calendars. If they could ever get their acts together, we could revisit that issue. Sen. Reddy commented that the public schools tend to focus their calendar in spring around Easter, and Easter in some years comes very late.
VP Herman said that in the future it might be nice to show JTERM and Summer Session on the calendar.
Chair Barneva asked why once again did you choose to have midsemester break in the middle? Dr. Straight said this year Easter is kind of early. It would be eleven weeks until you get a break. Chair Barneva said that is true, but in the fall we have a long haul normally until Thanksgiving break.
Sen. Dhimitri indicated that students prefer a mid-March break. If Easter is very late in any given year, that makes for too long a period without a break.
Dr. Straight suggested if anyone has any wonderful ideas, you can always be part of the Subcommittee.
Sen. Adrienne McCormick asked if we couldn’t put advising week on the calendar? Dr. Straight said the calendar here is what gets printed in the catalog. There are different varieties of calendars. It would be nice to have one calendar with everything on it.
Sen. McKinney commented that many students have no clue as to when advising week is, even with doors plastered with appointment lists.
Chair Barneva asked the body although this is the first reading, are we ready to vote? There was general assent that the vote could be taken. The proposed calendars were approved by unanimous voice vote.
Online Education Policy Update
Dr. Straight introduced this proposed policy saying that the Committee felt it a good time to revisit this and update it. We were able to incorporate a number of the Middle States standards. Much of it is the same, but there are some new things added.
Chair Barneva commented that this was passed in 2004, but an amendment was passed about graduate courses later, allowing such courses to be offered. Dr. Straight then said that he was aware of a proposal on course frequencies being adopted, but he was not familiar with any amendment regarding graduate courses. He didn’t print the old policy out and it is not incorporated into this.
Sen. Chris Taverna asked what the impact of all this would be on technical support staff. Would they be expected to do even more? The response was essentially it would depend on what was included in the syllabi. Someone might have to come up with guidelines.
Dr. Straight said this policy is a statement of principles, not a detailed outline of every possible situation.
Sen. McKinney asked do we have a listing somewhere about what the current requirements would be about a student taking an online course? They sign up all the time. Dr. Straight responded one of the things that has not been done as well as we could is to have some kind of guideline, possibly an orientation to taking a course online.
He then said this is a first reading. Comments will be welcomed via email (Joseph.Straight@fredonia.edu) or in person.
Museum Studies Minor
Dr. Ellen Litwicki (History) and Ms. Liz Lee (Visual Arts and New Media) were present to answer questions.
Dr. Byrne commented that the title “Museum Studies” is a bit broad, in biology there are courses that deal with the Stanley Museum (the natural history museum on campus). Dr. Litwicki responded that we realized that, and we talked about it, but we didn’t have anyone from Biology involved, at least at the moment. Other tracks might be added in the future.
Sen. Kershnar asked if we need to have people who have specialties in this area on staff before we can offer it? Dr. Litwicki said there are people on campus who are qualified in this area, who have degrees in the field, in both departments.
Sen. Ann Deakins asked if any other technology might be needed, such as hardware or software. Dr. Litwicki indicated there might be some, there are museum softwares out there, but we haven’t thought about those needs at this time.
Sen. Chausovsky asked can you provide the relative weight of the program between administration and the curatorial aspects? These are very different roles. Dr. Litwicki said right now it is very sketchy, and will depend on who is teaching. There will be one introductory course and the other(s) will be specialized. The focus is preservation, administration, and education. Sen. Chausovsky wondered if there was an overlap with music business. [A Senator the Secretary could not identify] added that there is also a minor in Arts Administration that might have some overlap or provide some options, as well.
Comments will be welcome! Please email them to Ellen.Litwicki@fredonia.edu or Elizabeth.Lee@fredonia.edu .
CCC Closing the Loop
Sen. Reddy said that what accompanies the agenda is a further elaboration of what we’ve seen before at the Feb. 8 meeting. Our experience has not as positive as it could have been, so closing the loop has not been as easy as it might have been. We have a significant task ahead of us to be able to assess our gen. ed. program as well as we would like to. This was made available to Dr. Kearns and Dr. Horvath, and we don’t know what they passed on to SUNY.
Graduate Council: School District Leader Certificate of Advanced Study
Sens. Kearns and Stoddart presented this as a first reading. In Dec. 2005, the SUNY Fredonia master plan was approved. We have redrawn our program, and there is now a new State exam. St. Bonaventure is also offering such a program. This allows our students to begin a School Building leadership position, and have a possibility of School District leadership.
Task Force on Personnel Policies
Sen. Reddy informed the body that what you have is a review of the results of the survey of teaching faculty, and an overview of the professional staff survey. Sen. Kerrie Wilkes brought with her as a handout the Library Faculty information. These are raw data at the moment. The VPAA has asked us to meet with her. We will be able to review where we are and where we are going. We wanted to provide at least this overview to the Senate, so you would know where we are at the moment.
We are very interested in your ideas and concerns. Please feel free to contact us (email: Richard.Reddy@fredonia.edu ).
Sen. Chausovsky asked if it is the intention to have a standard policy for the University? Dr. Reddy answered that he didn’t think it would be fair to say that is the intention of the Task Force. For some perspective, we were expected to respond to the Provost’s Office with a memorandum of understanding, and we had some questions that the campus agreed to address. The focus of those issues was on the teaching faculty overwhelmingly, including the issue of possible external review. The MOU did not give sufficient attention to the others on campus. The fundamental recommendation(s) will be generic. We want them to be clear. They may not be uniform, however. Minimum standards even become a challenge. We may have to make a recommendation that some things remain to be addressed, or that some departments might address certain areas. We don’t know if it will be wise to have some standard or some minimum. For example, some feel that for promotion or continuing appointment evaluations teaching is the primary aspect, others feel that scholarship and creativity should hold the most important evaluative position.
Sen. Amy Cuhel-Schuckers expressed a concern that when the Task Force is talking about academic departments, they ought to express it that way in the documents. It can be confusing unless these things are clearly stated.
Sen. Reddy responded that yes that was strictly for academic departments. Sen. Cuhel-Schuckers continued that it might be valuable to include the term academic; from the perspective of the professional staff it can be confusing.
Sen. Bruce Simon asked if there was any objection to sending along copies of this to UUP’s Fredonia Chapter? Sen. Reddy responded that two are just rough, but they are not secret. Sen. Wilkes added that the documents have been posted to the web site, so they are freely available.
Sen. Reddy added that the issues that concern the professional staff are very major, more so than for the teaching faculty and the librarians.
PeopleAdmin Software
Mr. Michael Daley and Ms. Jodi Rzepka presented an overview of PeopleAdmin, a web-based software application that can be used by search committees. PeopleAdmin is an automated way to assist in applicant screening. We went with PeopleAdmin after two years of research on campus, with a variety of vendors coming to campus. We will use this for all positions, except for adjunct faculty. It is intuitive and user-friendly. During the applicant review process, what tended to slow the campus down was “where is it in the process”? This system will be able to capture very succinctly the various data elements and where it is in the process behind a secure firewall, allowing those with a password to look at the data. Postings for new positions will go up and down automatically. The approvals will move electronically from desktop to desktop.
The time having reached 5:30PM, Sen. Reddy moved and Sen. Stoddart seconded that the meeting be extended for 10 minutes. There being no further discussion, the vote was taken. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
Mr. Daley continued we wanted to leverage our technology, build the bridge to our preliminary screening, and ship that information electronically. At the same time we will be increasing the security of our applicant’s data.
Ms. Rzepka conducted a brief demonstration. The software has an external site (for applicants) and an internal site (for search committee members and appropriate others). Affirmative Action data is now reported automatically, thanks to this new software. Quotes for ads will be worked out by the Purchasing Dept. based on what you input.
We will train individuals on search committees. The Chair will be the contact for the password.
Dr. Byrne asked is Affirmative Action information going to be available for search committee members to view? The answer: no.
Sen. Schwalbe commented that this could take a lot of file space; there is a limitation on size of data. In Visual Arts and New Media, applicants are asked to present entire portfolios. Is there a link to another site, perhaps? Ms. Rzepka answered saying that there are instructions for such cases in the “Special Instructions” area of the site. Then Sen. Schwalbe asked who submits the recommendation letter? Ms. Rzepka said that can be handled both ways, you can put it up if you’d like.
Middle States Accreditation 2010
Sen. Kerrie Wilkes provided a quick update. The Steering Committee is working very hard. We’ll be forming the working groups shortly. Please let Kerrie or Dr. Byrne know if you’d be interested in serving on one of the working groups (Email: Kerrie.Wilkes@fredonia.edu or Roger.Byrne@fredonia.edu ).
There was no new business.
Sens. Reddy and Stoddart moved and seconded respectively that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:40PM
Respectfully submitted,
Vincent Courtney
Faculty Secretary
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