Minutes for January 11, 2010

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, January 11, 2010, in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Ware called the fifth meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The following members of the Senate were absent:

^*Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary

^ ALT Mary Whitaker attended for L. Wray

Visitors to the Senate: Jim Conneely, Student Affairs; Tina Davis, Registrar; Sherry Robinson, Provost Office; Afsi Siahkoohi, SGA

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The November 30, 2009 were approved as written.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Motion on Faculty Development Funds. Senator Johnson presented an updated motion (listed below) based on comments from the November 30th meeting. Motion carried.

The annual Faculty Development Funds, which have been distributed to departments from Academic Affairs, should be distributed to individual full time teaching and/or research faculty* and lecturers**. Faculty Development Funds shall roll over from year to year for individual faculty members for a total of not more than three years. If none of the money has been spent by the individual faculty member by the end of the third year; or if the faculty member spends only a portion of the faculty development funds, the maximum amount left in the individual faculty member's account should not exceed a total of three consecutive years of rollover. The money which would have been distributed to the individual faculty member for faculty development would remain in the department's Faculty Development account.

*As defined by the Faculty Handbook in Part VII section II Membership, B.
**As defined by the Faculty Handbook in Part III, Faculty Appointments section, #5 Lecture and Senior Lectureship Appointments.

NEW BUSINESS:

Policies. Dr. Sherry Robinson was in attendance to introduce the revised drafts for the Policy on Policies and the Policy on Authorization for Regulations. She indicated that the policies are "sister" policies and should be considered together. Please share the documents and solicit feedback from colleagues. The policies will be placed on the February agenda for action.

Resolution on Pending Legislation. Senator Schmelzer moved approval of the resolution, seconded by Senator Shordike

Senator Vice moved to amend the motion (listed below), seconded by Senator Taylor. Motion carried.

Move the 6th "whereas" statement to just after the 3rd "whereas" statement, which results in renumbering the rest of the statements.

Senator Frazer moved to amend the motion (listed below), seconded by Senator Matthews.

To change the new number 5 & 6 from:

Whereas
Mandating that all degrees be 120 hours or less, as specified in the proposed transfer policy, will come as a sacrifice of liberal arts courses, as most departments will not sacrifice their major courses in the move to 120 hours. Mandating that general education requirements be reduced and be the same and consistent throughout the community colleges and regional Universities affects academic freedom and is problematic due to inconsistencies within the institutions themselves

Whereas
The move from 128 hours to mandated 120 hours will have minimal impact on either graduation rates or retention rates, as other factors such as changing majors, poor advisement, and financial problems are more important correlates of both.

To:

Whereas
Mandating the number of hours required for degrees, as specified in the proposed transfer policy, will come as a sacrifice of liberal arts courses, as most departments will not sacrifice their major courses. Mandating that general education requirements be reduced and be the same and consistent throughout the community colleges and regional Universities affects academic freedom and is problematic due to inconsistencies within the institutions themselves

Whereas
Reducing the number of hours will have minimal impact on either graduation rates or retention rates, as other factors such as changing majors, poor advisement, and financial problems are more important correlates of both.

Senator Frisbie moved to amend the amendment to strike the last sentence entirely from the new number 5 (listed below), seconded by Senator Taylor. The majority were in agreement and the motion carried.

Whereas
Mandating the number of hours required for degrees, as specified in the proposed transfer policy, will come as a sacrifice of liberal arts courses, as most departments will not sacrifice their major courses. Mandating that general education requirements be reduced and be the same and consistent throughout the community colleges and regional Universities affects academic freedom and is problematic due to inconsistencies within the institutions themselves

Senator Lowry moved to amend the amendment a second time (listed below), seconded by Senator Walz, to replace the wording "come as a sacrifice" in the new number five, with "come at the expense of". Motion carried.

Whereas
Mandating the number of hours required for degrees, as specified in the proposed transfer policy, will come at the expense of liberal arts courses, as most departments will not sacrifice their major courses.

Senator Wilson, seconded by Senator C. Palmer, moved to amend the amendment a third time to remove the words "poor advisement" and to add a notation at the end of the statement to reference a work of research. Motion carried.

Reducing the number of hours will have minimal impact on either graduation rates or retention rates, as other factors such as changing majors, poor advisement, and financial problems are more important correlates of both*.

*Notation to be provided by Senator Wilson

The main amendment, as amended, to change the verbiage to the new items 5 & 6 was approved.

Senator Farrar, seconded by Senator Hunter, moved to change the"Be it resolved" statement (listed below). Motion carried.

FROM:
Be it resolved that the EKU Faculty Senate strongly opposed any mandate that all degrees and general education curricula be the same number of hours.

TO:
Be it resolved that the EKU Faculty Senate strongly opposes any mandate that degrees and curricula of all institutions require the same number of hours.

Senator Day moved, seconded by Senator Godbey, to add an additional "Be it resolved" statement after the first "Be it resolved" statement (listed below). Motion carried.

Be it further resolved that EKU Faculty Senate strongly opposes any legislative action that would waive program-specific course prerequisites and automatically grant admission to related upper division degree programs.

Senator Shordike moved to delete item 2, seconded by Senator Petronio. Motion carried.

Senator Day moved to create a new item 2 (listed below), seconded by Senator Foote. Motion carried.

Whereas
EKU has a strong record of supporting transfer students from KCTCS and other Kentucky institutions.

Senator Biggins moved to change number 3 (listed below), seconded by Senator Noblitt. Motion carried.

Whereas
Accrediting bodies and faculty have the greatest degree of expertise in their respective fields of study related to determining the core knowledge needed by students in their majors.

The motion, as amended, carried.

Senator Biggins moved, seconded by Senator Taylor, to allow the Academic Quality Committee the right to change the language grammatically, if needed. Motion carried.

Academic Quality Committee Election. Senator Ware announced that as Senator May is no longer on Senate, a replacement is needed on the Academic Quality Committee. Senator Butler nominated Senator Bosley. Senator Taylor moved to accept by acclamation, seconded by Senator Randles. Motion carried.

Report from Council on Academic Affairs - Senator Vice

Program Revisions ­ Reducing Hours Required to Graduate

1. Public Relations B.A. ­ change the number of hours required to graduate from 128 to 120 by reducing the number of free electives.
2. Office Systems and Technologies A.A.S. ­ add the following: a grade of "C" or better is required for the Office Systems and Technologies A.A.S. supporting courses and major requirements. Delete the following: ACC 250(1) from the supporting course requirements and 3 hours from the free electives lowering the total degree hours to 60 hours.
3. Business and Marketing Education/Teaching B.S. ­ delete ACC 250(1) from the major requirements lowering the total degree hours to 127.
4. Graphic Communications Management B.S. ­ decrease total required hours from 128 to 120 by reducing hours from free electives and 3 hours from GCM 349. Drop CSC 160 and the option of ACC 202 or ECO 300 or MGT 301 or MKT 301, and require both MGT 301 and MKT 301. Add MGT 330.
5. Interpreter Training Program ­ revise program title, revise course requirements within program, lower total curriculum requirements from 128 to 127 hours.
6. French B.A. - Add requirement of GPA 2.75 in courses for French major, reduce required hours from 128 to 120, and delete recommendation for supporting courses. Delete reference to FRE 400 and replace with FRE 312.
7. Minor in French ­ change total required hours for French minor from 24 to 21 and reword recommended sequence of FRE courses.
8. Spanish B.A. ­ add requirement of GPA 2.75 in courses for Spanish major, reduce required Hours from 128 to 120, and delete recommendation for specific supporting courses.
9. History B.A. ­ reduce the total degree hours from 128 to 120 by reducing the required number of electives from 46 to 38.

Program Revisions

10. Minor in Computer Electronics Technology ­ change prefixes for networking and security related courses from EET to NET. Drop EET 254 as a requirement. Add EET 251 as a requirement. Offer a selection between EET 351 and NET 354 (formerly EET 354).
11. American Sign Language (ASL) Studies ­ revise the program description based on course revisions.
12. Physical Education B.S. ­ correct Catalog, PHE 415 is a requirement for the teaching option only and PHE 562 is in the core requirement for all options so it needs to be removed from the option area for fitness and wellness. Correct free electives for fitness and wellness.
13. Art/Studio Options B.F.A. ­ add a description of program objectives and degree requirements. Remove dropped courses and add approved courses. Add courses that are required but not listed.
14. Art B.A. ­ correct typo errors, revise list of approved degree requirements and include a description of objectives for degree programs.
15. English B.A. ­ change ENG 499 from a required course to an elective.

Senator Vice moved approval of items 10-15, seconded by Senator Day. Motion carried.

Senator Vice gave a brief update on some curricula issues.

• The Animal Studies major approved last month by Faculty Senate has also been approved by the Provost Council and will go to the Board of Regents at their January meeting.
• If the Doctorate of Nursing Practice isn't approved, the Masters of Nurse Practitioner at Eastern will not be adequate for students to be certified as nurse practitioners. Dr. King at CPE is planning to put forward a bill that would give the comprehensives the authority to offer the Doctorate of Nursing Practice. In addition, he's checking with the Attorney General to see if, providing the universities are in agreement, the standing statute would be adequate for the DNP.
• As of December, EKU was approved for Level V status by SACS and can now offer up to three doctorates.

GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

Budget Committee. Senator Johnson reported that the committee met on December 4th. At the next meeting, Interim Provost Vice is expected to share a report listing the number of administrators, support personnel, and faculty that have been hired over the last five years.

Elections Committee. Senator Randles announced that he will serve as chair for the committee. The committee is scheduled to meet next week to begin the preliminary work on the Faculty Regent election.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Senator Wilson announced that the University Technology Committee will hold two focus groups on February 2nd and 3rd at 3pm in the South Ballroom in Keen Johnson specifically for the Faculty Senate. The purpose of the focus groups is to identify the general technology issues that affect faculty at EKU. Karen Russell has been hired to facilitate the forums.

Senator Taylor announced that the Provost Search Committee has met twice. On February 8th, the committee will begin reviewing the applicants. Additional information can be found at provostsearch.eku.edu.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Vice moved to adjourn at approximately 5:20 p.m.

click here for printable version of minutes

You will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in installed on your computer in order to view and print a hard copy of the minutes.