Present:

J. Murphy, R. Timko, P. Junius, L. Labuski-Brown, M. Moore, K. Verno, T. Murphy, S. Hensley, P. Keller, D. Erickson, M. Ewing, R. Stanley, V. Jenkins, S. Stein, A. Ghods, G. Carson, J. Sim, D. Mason, N. Werner-Burke, L. Rashidi, W. Keeth, K. Thorne, M. Materese, J. Bosworth, S. Kasperek, H. Iseri, S. Brown, L. Schankman, P. Richmond, T. Madigan, C. Moulton

J. Murphy called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.

I.

Approval of University Senate minutes of October 4, 2007: Correction: Replace “Agenda” with “Minutes”; Moore was recorded twice (and there's only one of her). Approved as corrected (Jenkins/Moore)

APPROVED

II.

Treasurer's Report (L. Iseri)

No report.

To Contents

APPROVED

III.

Announcements (J. Murphy)

• Our last meeting of the semester (12/6/07) is deadline for any catalogue changes; pass this info on to your depts.
• Assembly will be 11/29, 4 pm Location TBA. Get any agenda items to R. Timko.

To Contents

IV.

Committee and Other Reports

Academic Planning (M. Moore)

Approved the changes in the graduate program in the Music Dept. as well as Honors program. Will meet next week re: Business and Library programs.

B.

Administrative Affairs & Elections (K. Verno)

• Elections are over. Everyone is finalized for committee (no run off).
• Parking and building issues will be addressed.
• Question about procedure of declaring a winner of a runoff with less than 40% of votes cast for individual (before other one withdrew). Number of votes cast for each candidate before run-off and withdrawal: 18,16,15
  Suggestion made to have another election.
  1st year experience committee expressed concern - they need someone sooner rather than later.
  • A move was made to appoint the person left after the nomination withdrawal. (Hensley/Mason) Approved
    
• Question about term length. J Murphy is trying to clear that up on the website. Term as an alternate ends with the seat you've been elected to as an alternate.

To Contents

C.

Student Affairs & Admissions (L. Labuski-Brown)

Commuter Student Updates:

• A commuter lounge and overnight accommodations are now available for commuting students with extenuating circumstances in Maple Hall Residence Hall. Commuting students requesting access/accommodation are to contact Residence Life during normal hours; after hours Rich Fann, residence hall director-Maple.
• Commuters also have access to a computer Lab w/printer in Maple
• A reception was held in September for commuting students, there were a record number of attendees.
• An article regarding MU's innovative approach for commuting students is featured in the October 17th Chronicle of Higher Education
• A new program is being created for non-resident student to adopt a residence hall floor. This program will allow the non-residential student the same access to floor programs provided to residents of the adoptive floor.

SGA Items

• Discussions are underway in SGA to make Alumni Hall an open-access building 24 hours (The current hours of operation are 6:30am - 11pm). Part of motivation may be radio station coming end of October.
• Five computers and a printer are now set up in Jazzman's
• SGA president has a website/software for student life programs - where each group will have their own website with calendar, activities, advertising, etc. MU is one of the 1st universities to use this software.
• SGA is discussing ways to rejuvenate downstairs of alumni hall with vending machines with food and non-food items.
• Greek week was successful.
• SGA is looking into the possibility of creating $300 scholarships to off-set some of the costs incurred by students seeking graduate school admittance and/or specific certification fees. Funding for the scholarship program could possibly come from Community Finance or MU Foundation. Discussions are underway.

First-Year Freshmen Pilot Program

An early warning pilot program for potentially at-risk/disengaged first semester students will take place this fall-and possibly spring--under the auspices of Adrianne McEvoy and Judy Braer, Student Success Coordinator. Approximately 20 volunteer faculty members will be involved in the pilot that is designed as an early identification system for freshmen student(s) who maybe at-risk academically and/or appear to be disengaged from the campus community and academia. These faculty will contact other faculty members, letting them know there is a concern that student is not attending class, displaying at risk behavior, etc.
A faculty member will send her/his concerns to either Adrianne or Judy regarding the student(s). Either Judy or Adrianne will then contact only those faculty members that have a direct relationship with the student (course instructor, UNV instructor, department chairperson, academic advisor, learning center faculty, student support services faculty) as means for an early intervention. This pilot is not intended to be overly invasive or create additional faculty work. Faculty participation is voluntary; it is up to the faculty member's discretion as to whether or not to become involved. This does not violate any FERPA laws. This is only for freshmen. Contact person: Judy Brayer.

Discussion:

Question: what are 5 signs that an intervention may be needed?
McEvoy:

• Not attending class
• Assignments not completed
• Not participating when appropriate
• Not a grade C or better
• Not demonstrating appropriate classroom behavior

Info is sent to individual students, advisor, chair of dept. UNV teacher, dir of res life, J Coolidge (if TRIO), same with ACT 101 (only if student is part of ACT 101)
Concern: there is lots of data being collected on students that many people may have access to.

Other Items:

• B Barden is developing a proposal to address the decrease in students work study hours.
• Tutor trac is now up and running. Students use their ID # for the password.
  Question: can students just drop in? Yes, but an appointment will take precedent. Tutorials are mostly in Hemlock, but it is confusing for students right now. This should improve once everything is centralized in South Hall

D.

Information Technology (S. Hensley)

No report.

E.

Library Advisory (T. Murphy)

No report.

F.

Provost (D. Erickson)

• Strategic Planning Committee almost complete.
• 1st focus group is Oct 29. Senate rep is needed. (see below)
• Blackboard will have a discussion board where everyone can contribute.
• Committee info will be out tomorrow.

Academic Affairs (P. Junius)

No report.

V.

Old Business

None.

VI.

New Business

• Elect representative to Strategic Planning Committee:

  Discussion:
  Should the nomination be an individual or a chair/office/ex officio and be part of the duties associated with that office?
  How long long will this term last? A little less than a year (some of work may be over summer).

  Nominations: Bill Keeth, Larry Schankman, Michelle Moore, Tim Madigan.
  Vote taken by written ballot.

Winner: Michelle Moore

• McEvoy: there are 3 different attendance policies currently on record. How to address this, through what dept? Who is in charge of this?
  There is one that was debated in Senate but don’t think it was approved; see Peter Keller.

VII.

V. Adjournment (Werner-Burke/Rashidi): 5:08

Minutes respectfully submitted,

Christine Moulton, Senate Secretary