Minutes of the meeting of the Faculty Senate Monday, April 25, 2011

MEMBERS PRESENT: Adler, Ashmed, Anderson, Barut, Bennett, Bolin, Bryant, Close, Decker, deSilva, D'Souza,Dilollo, Hemans, Henry, Hershfield, Horn, Jeffres, Klunder, Matveyeva, Miller, Moore-Jansen, Mosack, Rillema, Rokosz, Ross, D. Russell, L.Russell, Skinner, Smith-Campbell, Soles, Strattman, Thompson, Yeager

MEMBERS ABSENT: Baker, Brooks, Celestin, Kreinath, Lewis, Smith, Taher, Yildirim

MEMBERS EXCUSED: Carruthers, Gibson

Ex-officio: Miller

SUMMARY OF ACTION:

  1. Accepted the proposed timeline from the ad hoc General Education Committee
  2. Accepted the annual reports from the following Faculty Senate Standing Committees:
    Court of Academic Appeals
    Faculty Support
    General Education
    Honors
    Library
    Scholarship and Student Aid
    University Admissions and Exceptions Advisory

I. . Call of the Meeting to Order: President Hemans called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm.

II. Informal Statements and Proposals: Senator Rillema raised a query about reports of salary adjustments allegedly made in 2010 after the publication of the year's budget. President Hemans confirmed that certain adjustments had been made and described the efforts of the Executive Committee in following up on the matter with President Beggs.

III. Approval of the Minutes: the minutes of the meeting of Monday, April 11, 2011 were accepted as presented.

IV. Report from the Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards: Richard Muma, Associate Provost for Quality Assurance and Accountability, introduced Debbie Chalmers, Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards, and explained that the directorship is a newly created position with similar responsibilities to the former position of Dean of Students. Chalmers explained the role of her office and the services provided, and distributed an informational handout regarding the handling of disruptive classroom behavior. She noted that academic dishonesty is not within the purview of her office, which concerns only issues of student behavior. She then answered questions from the floor.

V. President's Report: President Hemans indicated that his remarks would arise piecemeal in connection with the various items of business on the agenda.

VI. Committee Reports: President Hemans presented the Standing Committee Annual Reports 2010-2011, adding the correction that there was no action item in the annual report from the Library Committee. The reports were accepted as corrected (Senator Klunder moved, Smith-Campell, 2nd). (see summary of action)

VII. New Business: President Hemans presented a proposal from the Executive Committee to create a Transfer Appeals Process for institutions and students. He noted that some such process was required by the Kansas Board of Regents, and explained how the proposed process would handle appeals from students and institutions regarding the transfer of coursework for credit and for satisfaction of General Education requirements. There was general discussion of the proposal.

VIII. Old Business:
President Hemans reviewed the process and timeline for revising the General Education structure as proposed by the Ad Hoc General Education Committee. He explained that the only items to be voted upon were the proposed process and timeline for an outcomes-based general education model, and that the mission statement and statement of goals drafted by the committee were to be provided to faculty as a point of departure. There was general discussion of the proposal. Three amendments to the proposal were proposed: the provision of an extra month for departments to return feedback within the revision process, delaying by a month the deadline for next year's Ad Hoc General Education Committee to review the feedback and draft a proposal for general education, and adding a statement to the proposal indicating that the provided mission statement and statement of goals had not been endorsed by the Faculty Senate. Senator Ross moved, D Russell 2nd, to accept the proposal with the amendments. A vote was taken and the amendments to the proposal were accepted. A vote was then taken and the proposed process and timeline were approved as amended. Senator Smith-Campbell suggested that the Senate thank the ad hoc committee for all their work to date.

IX. As May Arise: President Hemans scheduled a special meeting of the Faculty Senate for Monday, May 2, 2010 at 3:30 pm in order to address items yet unfinished by the current Senate.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:52 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dan Russell, Secretary