Present:

Present: C. Burns, J. Murphy, S. Brown, K. Carico, L. Cass, A. Chavira-Prado, F. Chua, D. Crowder, D. Dietz, R. Dodson, J.Floyd, M. Gaballa, S. Holderby, C.Hoy, V. Jenkins, P. Junius, P. Keller, R. Keller, A. Johnson, M. Materese, M. Moore, T. Murphy, J. Phillips, C. Pérez, M. Renner, P. Savoye, D. Seigart, Ryan Stanley, R. Stender, S. Thornsley, D. Werner, N. Werner-Burke

I.

Celeste opened the meeting at 3:35. Minutes of September 8 were approved as corrected: (T. Murphy/P.Savoye) Correction under Section VI.C. New Business: Add constitution: “Will have to review the section in the faculty assembly constitution regarding minimum number of votes needed.”

APPROVED

II.

Treasurer's Report (D. Dietz)

$ 222.56 and there are donations that have not yet been deposited.

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APPROVED

III.

Announcements

1. Vince Jenkins will serve as faculty representative to CCSI Board.
2. Volunteer for Hearing Board needed.
3. Need two people to serve on the Sabbatical Committee.
   
   

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IV.

Committee Reports

Academic Affairs (J. Floyd)

One motion: Course Change: SOC 2203(Sociology/Anthropology Department). Description: Add prerequisite SOC 1101, PSY 1101, or ANH 1101.
Note: Motions will not be read in their entirety at Senate meetings.
Discussion: Since the course is dual-listed w/psychology as a psychology course, will the pre-requisite be needed for the psychology course? Though it was co-taught for years, at this point, Psychology is not teaching the course; therefore, not necessary to list as a pre-requisite for the psychology course. Motion carried.

B.

Academic Planning (P. Savoye)

Approved program changes to the BSE in Math. Tomorrow will propose a change to add Physics 180 Quantitative Methods to the list of electives for chemistry majors.

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C.

Administrative Affairs & Elections (S. Holderby)

Election ended yesterday at 4. 80 people voted. The five who received the most votes are Adam Brennan, Scott Davis, Brian Loher, Linda Rashidi, and Dick Soderberg. According to the Faculty Assembly constitution, since no one got 40% or better, a run-off election must be conducted. Ballot will be online beginning tomorrow until next Wed at 4:00 so the representatives will be in place before the end of next week when the trustees meet.
Shawndra will be calling for nominations tomorrow for Student Affairs and two for the Sabbatical Committee.
Discussion on search committee: Is there truth to the rumor that local clergy are being sought as committee members? Celeste: She has no knowledge of this. Dia Carleton spoke to her only regarding faculty representation. On the matter of who decides: it is a council of trustees committee. It is specified in Board of Governor policy, but there are open slots. Ralph Meyer is chairing the committee.

D.

Student Affairs & Admissions (S. Holderby)

No report. After today, Lou Labuski-Brown will be taking over.

E.

Information Technology (J. Phillips for A. Gaskievicz)

John Phillips reported for Andy, who is out of town:

• Microsoft Outlook/Office 2003 Exchange project nearing conclusion, including Exchange calendars for offices the alias name project.
• IT is preparing for the new Student Technology Fee funding for 2005-06. Expect approval in late Sept; ordering to begin in October.
• Additional funding found over the summer to replace equipment in Retan Education Lab. Old equipment replaced that in the training lab on 6th floor of North Hall.
• M 2003 suite upgraded across campus
• Student server replaced w/one w/larger capacity.
• IT is holding a wireless clinic outside of Memorial on 9/26 and 9/27 to help students set up their computers. Instructions are on website: wireless.mansfield.edu.
• SAP project, the enterprise-wide administration system developed by PASSHE, is moving forward. Student system, “Campus Management,” is also being worked on.

Questions about the exchange calendars. In response, John noted that the first meeting is this Monday. He will get the information and report back to Senate.

F.

Library Advisory (T. Murphy for A. Gaskievicz)

No report.

Provost (M. Renner)

Freeze was Monday the 19th at close of business. The FTE for in-state students is 2346, which is a decrease of about 1%. The gross head count of all students is 3390, which is down 4 %. The Board of Governors has now extended the Good Neighbor policy to all New York counties, not just the 16 neighboring counties. As a result, both good neighbor and "other out of state" numbers are not informative this year, but our combined out-of-state FTE from both groups is at 627.5, an 8.5 % decrease from last year.

Notified that undergrad chemistry curriculum is approved by the American Chemical Society. Review of curriculum and not of the entire program.

Joe Murphy asked about factors affecting the calculation of the FTE, including counting of transfer students and out of state students. Dr. Renner responded that to calculate FTE we just “add up all undergraduate credits and divide by 15.” Joe suggested that we may be more accurate by counting out of state more realistically.

A word from President Werner on the importance of enrollment: Everything is driven by the number of students/credit hours. The most significant problem facing the University is retention between the freshman and sophomore years. 1 out of 3 students do not return. The principle issue is this: Determine why students do not return and determine what strategies we need to employ to address the problem. Our long-term health depends on that, not just for our funding formula but considering performance indicators.

V.

Old Business

1. Celeste had further information related to the scholarship discussion from the last meeting. It is the faculty assembly scholarship, not the senate scholarship (Thanks to Steve Brown for raising the question.) As such, the account is a faculty assembly account. T. Murphy: All dues for Senate, then, go to FA? Celeste: Yes. We do have a $200.00 allocation, but we’ve carried it forward. We have about $700.00 in University budget. Celeste told Mary Lou Stroud to charge convocation bill to senate.
   
   Celeste is going to ask Student Affairs committee to look at the procedures for the scholarship. We have little involvement and need more discussion about how the process is working. Need is not a factor currently, and based on the suggestion last week.

VI.

New Business

1. Celeste read the following motion: The Senate Executive Committee recommends that Rod Kelchner be awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters at the December 17, 2005 Commencement exercises.
   
   Discussion: The impetus came from council of trustees who asked if the Senate would be interested in considering this to honor Mr. Kelchner’s contributions to the university. In addition to his work as President, Rod also served as an assistant dean of men, football coach, and history instructor. Mr. Kelchner would not be the first recipient of an honorary doctorate from Mansfield University. There were two others: Alexander Kubyshkin from Volgograd and Helen Lutes, former MU faculty member.
   Russ Dodson: “If anybody deserves this, it’s Rod Kelchner. He’s the Gerald Ford of the university in that he brought back to it a sense of respectability and a sense of purpose. He did a wonderful job in difficult times. I argue very strongly that we should vote in favor the motion.”
   
   Celeste called the question. Motion carried in a unanimous vote.
   
   

VII.

Adjournment at 4:05 (T. Murphy/J. Floyd)

Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen Carico
Interim Senate Secretary