Present:

J. Murphy, R. Timko, T. Doerksen, L Labuski-Brown, P. Savoye, K. Thorne, H. Pieper, J. Phillips, M. Renner, P. Keller, D. Seigart, M. Ewing, R. Stanley (AFSCME), V. Jenkins, S. Stein, A. Ghods, G. Carson, D. McKee, D. Mason, N. Werner-Burke, B. Barton, K. Thorne, M. Materese, L. Iseri, I. Newman, S. Brown, R. Keller, A. Molla, M. Moore

I.

Approval of  University Senate minutes of  February 22, 2007 (4:03)

APPROVED

II.

Treasurer's Report (D. Dietz)

Please bring donations/dues for this scholarship!  It's an honor for students to receive this money even though it's not much.  The Foundation usually kicks in quite a bit for us because we are so lax in collecting, and that should be somewhat embarrassing to us.  Let's try to gently nudge our colleagues to donate to this cause.

To Contents

APPROVED

III.

Announcements (J. Murphy)

President’s approval of curriculum actions

To Contents

IV.

Committee and Other Reports

Academic Planning (P. Savoye)

No report.

B.

Administrative Affairs & Elections (K. Thorne)

No report.

To Contents

C.

Student Affairs & Admissions (L. Labuski-Brown)

No report.

D.

Information Technology (J. Phillips)

No report.

E.

Library Advisory (H. Pieper)

No report.

F.

Provost (M. Renner)

No report.

Academic Affairs (T. Doerksen)

All motions (below) passed.

Discussion highlights precede motions:

+Renner said that in the Northern Tier of PA, only 28% of HS students believe themselves to be college-bound.  As a state institution, we need to be aware of the economic consequences of this attitude on the future of PA.  We are in a good position to attract would-be college-bound seniors by offering an intermediate step of the AA degree. To some extent, we already serve this community.

+Barden said 'regular admits' have admission guidelines (not requirements) such that their HS grades are around C+/B- or better, top 50% of HS class, SAT of 1000 or more.  Currently regular admits have 1040 SAT on average.  We have other admittance categories as well.

+Timko spoke in favor of this motion despite his history on the matter.  He felt the need to state on the record that we as an institution have a moral obligation to the AA students to provide them with appropriate resources so this AA is a tool to help them succeed and that it is not simply used as a way to erase them from our bad statistics.  We need to place a high priority on advising these students.

+Thorne spoke in favor of this motion due to her experience with AA programs in her department.  She has only seen good outcomes from their AA program.

+Brown was concerned about the cost of special sections (mentioned by Timko in his discussion).  Timko replied that 'special sections' was just an example, perhaps the ideal, but not what would probably really occur.  Timko reiterated the underlying moral obligation but didn't seem tied to any one mechanism of serving this population. Awareness on the part of the professors was one mechanism stressed by Timko.

+Jenkins wondered how many students we were anticipating being in the AA program. Barden indicated that we are talking primarily about redirecting our current influx of new students rather than changing the composition of them.

1. Program Change Proposal -- AA in Liberal Studies

Rationale for change:  The proposed AA in Liberal Studies program is designed for students who may not yet be fully committed to completion of a four-year degree and/or who have demonstrated some elements of the potential for academic success, but lack others, such as consistent academic performance or discipline, both of which are necessary to be successful in a Baccalaureate degree program. The purpose of the proposed AA in Liberal Studies program is to offer students the opportunity to complete an associate degree that will also meet the majority of general education requirements, while assisting at-risk students by providing them with a supportive and skill-based preparation for eventual matriculation in one of Mansfield University’s baccalaureate programs. At-risk students, as defined by the university to be academically under prepared (e.g., rigor of high school program, SAT/ACT scores, high school grade point average and class rank, etc.) will be encouraged, and in some cases required, to begin their studies at MU through the AA program. This will provide them with the opportunity to receive intrusive advising and appropriate course placement/scheduling to maximize the likelihood that they will develop the attributes to academically succeed, persist, and complete a degree.

List all changes: This is a comprehensive revision of the previous program, to coincide with removing the program from moratorium. The curriculum of the program is designed to overlap tightly with the current MU General Education requirements.

Program Description for Catalog (if changed):

The Associate of Arts in Liberal Studies (AA) offers students an opportunity to obtain a two-year degree that provides the core elements of a liberal education in preparation for a broad variety of career paths and additional educational experiences. The degree is designed to facilitate ease of transfer to a bachelor’s level program on campus.

Program Objectives (if changed):

• To encourage college attendance among the population of the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania;
• To provide a supportive start to college for students who have shown some, but not all, of the requisite elements of potential for academic success;
• To provide a core liberal education foundation for students who may desire only an associate degree or who may not yet be certain as to their future educational and career directions.

Impact on other programs (if any):

It is not expected that this program will directly impact other degree programs, but it may reduce the number of students admitted as AEP students.

+This policy chance is being recommended by Loeschke to parallel more closely our requirements in the school-year.

2. The policy regarding the number of credits for which a student may register during the summer sessions at Mansfield University is as follows:

Students may not take more than six credits during either session (SU or SF), or more than 12 credits across the summer without the approval of the Dean of Faculty.

+Materese said that nursing licensure can be accomplished by multiple routes, and this change is to allow the department to admit students who have taken non-typical routes.  For example, a registered nurse could have a 2 year degree in nursing and have then gone on to receive a BS in Psychology.  This applicant should not have to acquire an entirely new BS in Nursing in order to be accepted into the MSN program, provided they have taken all coursework and passed all other requirements they would have had if they'd actually taken their BS in Nursing.   These requirements delineate those differences and are consistent with accreditation guidelines.

+Renner asked in the applicants are permitted to take courses in order to achieve these requirements.  Materese replied that there is a possibility of that in some instances, however Seigart replied that this is an online program, so students are likely to pick up courses from a variety of institutions.

3. New prerequisites for Nursing MSN

Admission prerequisites for ALL students admitted to MSN program

• RN licensure
• Bachelors of Science in Nursing degree or other bachelors degree.
• Completion of the following courses at the baccalaureate or higher level
  • Research
  • Community Health Nursing
  • Pathophysiology/Pharmacology (minimum of 3 credits)
  • Health (or Physical) Assessment
• 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA on 4.0 scale
• Official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work completed at any institution.
• Official transcripts from basic nursing program.
• One professional letter of recommendation indicating student’s ability to do graduate level work.
• Application fee of $25

+The reason for this is due to the flow of student cohorts through the program.  This is consistent with the current needs of the department and does not violate any academic prerequisites.

4. MSN – Course changes and rationale (3/1/07)

NUR 5515 -- Delete NUR 5510 as co-requisite.  Originally, we planned on offering the graduate nursing courses to a cohort of students every two years, however, the response to our program was so positive we start a new cohort each fall.  Because of this change, several students want to take one course at a time.  Removing co-requisites and prerequisites will allow them to do this.

NUR 5520 -- Delete NUR 5510 and NUR 5515 as prerequisites.  The content of NUR 5520 (Nursing Theories) is such that it does not need a prerequisite.  The content in both NUR 5510 and NUR 5515 has no direct relation to that of NUR 5520.  All three are foundation courses for the rest of the curriculum

NUR 5525 -- Delete NUR 5550 as a prerequisite; add NUR 5520 as a prerequisite.

NUR 5550 is now an elective so some students may not want to take it.  Students need to have the content from NUR 5520 (Nursing Theories) before doing NUR 5525 where they are expected to apply nursing theories as part of developing class for nursing students.

NUR 5530 -- Delete NUR 5550 as a prerequisite; add NUR 5525 as a prerequisite or co-requisite.  NUR 5550 is now an elective so some students may not want to take it.  If students choose to take one course per semester, they should have NUR 5525 before NUR 5530. 

NUR 5545 – Add NUR 5520 as a prerequisite.  Students need to have NUR 5520 (Nursing Theories) before they can develop a curriculum in NUR 5545 that is based on a nursing theorist.

+This is to be in line with NCATE accreditation requirements.

5. Curricular Action Notice – BSE Spanish, BSE French, BSE German

BSE Spanish

Rationale for change:  In order to comply with NCATE requirements, Spanish teaching education candidates must take the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview and reach a minimum of Advanced Low before doing their student teaching.

List all changes:

Require Spanish teaching education candidates to take the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview and reach a minimum of Advanced Low before doing their student teaching.

BSE French

Rationale for change:  In order to comply with NCATE requirements, French teaching education candidates must take the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview and reach a minimum of Advanced Low before doing their student teaching.

List all changes:

Require French teaching education candidates to take the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview and reach a minimum of Advanced Low before doing their student teaching.

BSE German

Rationale for change:  In order to comply with NCATE requirements, German teaching education candidates must take the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview and reach a minimum of Advanced Low before doing their student teaching.

List all changes:

Require German teaching education candidates to take the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview and reach a minimum of Advanced Low before doing their student teaching.

+ No discussion occurred with this item.

6. Course deletion request: ED 5501 Criminal Justice and Social Restoration

Rationale for deletion: Course has not been taught for several years without anticipation of it returning to course rotation.

Course deletion request: ED 5503 Communication Workshop

Rationale for deletion: Course has the wrong prefix number assigned so it can be deleted.

Course deletion request: ED 5524 Learning and Rec with Handicapped

Rationale for deletion: Course has not been taught for several years without anticipation of it returning to course rotation.

Course deletion request: ED 5544 Curriculum: Principles and Contemporary Thought

Rationale for deletion: Course number is no longer 5544 but was changed to 5554 so this course can be deleted.

Course deletion request: ED 5551 Instructional Procedures that Facilitate Learning

Rationale for deletion: Course has not been taught for several years without anticipation of it returning to course rotation.

Course deletion request: ED 5552 Human Awareness and Interaction in the classroom

Rationale for deletion: Course has not been taught for several years without anticipation of it returning to course rotation.

Course deletion request: ED 5594 Seminar/Social Restoration

Rationale for deletion: Course has not been taught for several years without anticipation of it returning to course rotation.

Course deletion request: ED 5539 Elementary Education

Rationale for deletion: Course has not been taught for several years without anticipation of it returning to course rotation.

V.

Old Business

None.

VI.

New Business

None.

VII.

Meeting adjourned: 4:58.

Minutes respectfully submitted,
Donna Dietz, Senate Treasurer, for

Christine Moulton, Senate Secretary