A.    President Loeschke has approved all curricular actions recommended by the Senate  at the December 4, 2008 meeting.
B.    Reminder to work on curricular actions for next year. The deadline for Fall 2009 has passed.

Approved (Evans/Carson)

A.    Dues Report – Current balance is $30. Dues collected that have not yet been deposited total $50. We need $420 to pay for the scholarship being awarded this semester.

A.    Academic Affairs (Bosworth)

i.    COURSE CHANGE: RTH 1101 FUNDAMENTALS OF RESPIRATORY CARE I
ii.    COURSE CHANGE: RTH 1102: FUNDAMENTALS OF RESPIRATORY CARE II
Prerequisites have been changed so that students successfully pass Anatomy and Physiology before going to Sayre for Practicum.

iii.    NEW COURSE: RTH 2221: CLINICAL PRACTICUM I
iv.    NEW COURSE: RTH 2222: CLINICAL PRACTICUM II
v.    NEW COURSE: RTH 2223: CLINICAL PRACTICUM III
vi.    NEW COURSE: RTH 2224: CLINICAL PRACTICUM IV
vii.    COURSE DELETION: RTH 1199: CLINICAL PRACTICUM I
viii.    COURSE DELETION: RTH 2200: CLINICAL PRACTICUM II
ix.    COURSE DELETION: RTH 2209: CLINICAL PRACTICUM III
x.    COURSE DELETION: RTH 2210: CLINICAL PRACTICUM IV

Basically changing course numbers by deleting old course and adding same course under new number.
PASSED (iii - x)

xi.    PROGRAM CHANGE: RESPIRATORY THERAPY

No discussion.

PASSED

xii.    Other announcements - AAC also spent some time discussing the withdrawal policy and the academic dismissal policy.

1) Withdrawal-- the committee was strongly united AGAINST a change. We did not find any argument in favor of last-day withdrawal to be compelling.

2) Academic Dismissal-- the committee thinks this needs review. The idea of a probationary semester appears to have support.

S. Brown commented that he had heard that the withdrawal policy was systemwide.

B.    Academic Planning (Moore)

Coming up: new minor in Musical Theater. APC discussed the withdrawal policy. Immediate feeling was that it shouldn’t be changed, but will look at it more deeply.

S. Davis mentioned that both AAC and APC need to consider the withdrawal policy due to their different purposes.

C.    Administrative Affairs/Elections (Verno)

Call for nominations will go out next week.

D.    Student Affairs/Admissions (Purk) – No report. First meeting will be next week.

E.    Information Technology (Dodson-Webster) – No report. First meeting will be next week.

F.    Library Advisory  (Holderby)

LA will administer a context and award prizes for student papers written using library resources. Plan is to collect papers between January and December. Prizes will be awarded next Spring. Matt Syrett is organizing it.
LA has a small budget and is looking for a low cost candidate to present as part of the North Hall Scholar program. Discussions are underway with a potential candidate.

G.    First Year Experience (Verno)

Applications are being collected for UNV 1100 peer leaders. Faculty are encouraged to nominate students for the position. Applications are due 2/6/09.
KV confirmed that faculty are not limited to 1 section of UNV 1100, inferring that faculty could teach more than 1 section.

H.    Provost (Laydon)

The president has requested the development of a master plan for the university. Departments need to consider their needs and chairs need to respond to a survey which should be out next week. In it, faculty needs to consider projections/goals for majors in 2013, plans for proposals of programs, minors, concentrations, any national trends that may affect the program, space constraints. Most important is what space is needed.

Faculty Professional Development Funds distribution is currently being reviewed.

A.    B. Keeth made a motion directing the Senate Executive council to write a resolution to the president which expresses the importance the faculty places on funding for Faculty Development. He thinks this is needed especially now, as more budget cuts loom. He listed three effects of not supporting faculty development:

1.    Accreditation requires it.

2.    It helps in recruiting new faculty.

3.    It benefits students by invigorating the faculty member’s teaching and possibly involving students in research.

BK equated the cost of the Chinese delegation’s recent visit of $20,000 with awards of $200 each to 100 faculty members. He emphasized that tenured faculty should not be disallowed FPDC grants and that the development of new programs is as important as supporting the faculty’s professional growth.

The motion was seconded by N. Werner-Burke.

Discussion

R. Dodson-Webster – FPDC awarded grants to non-tenured faculty because of increased pressure for earning tenure. These requests took precedence over applications from tenured faculty.
WE – There is only so much money available. The administration is aware of the importance.
LS– against the motion and troubled by it. Our jobs are secure and we make good money.
PS – sympathetic to the motion. President Loeschke just received a 13% pay increase. Perhaps she can put some of that money toward faculty professional development.
WE – against the motion.
NWB– perhaps we should say, “don’t keep whittling away from money for faculty development. It disempowers the faculty committee.”
LR – supports the motion, just to make the statement that it is important. It’s not just for tenure, but we must all keep up in our fields. Most of us are singletons in our particular areas.
Provost Laydon – The emphasis on awarding alternate work assignments was on junior faculty. The economy will improve in 2-3 years. All sabbaticals were approved. There are limited dollars.
Motion PASSED

B.    A Ghods: Currently, Practicum is treated as either II or IS, because there is no campus wide policy. Therefore, faculty cannot have more than six practicum (three II and three IS). There are times that you may have more than 6 practicum. So, 6 defeats the purpose of having a Practicum because it limits the number of students from having on-the- job learning experience when opportunities are available. Should each dept develop its own Practicum Form or should it be one form for the campus wide like II and IS (Individualized Instruction and Independent Study) Form?  Mark Robarge indicated that if this is the current practice, it is against the CBA contract.

It has been referred to AAC for review.

C.    On behalf of the Math and C.I.S. Department, P. Savoye welcomed Fulbright Scholar, Venkatesh.

Linda Iseri - secretary of the day