Approved Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting
February 21, 2007
http://www.scsu.ctstateu.edu/organizations/facultysenate
________________________________________________________________________
The tenth meeting of the 2006-2007 year was called to order at 12:10 PM.
Members Present: Arthur Guagliumi (Art), Slomba (Art), Maloney (Athletics), Lerud (Biology), Pang (Chemistry), Petroski (Communication), Paul (Com Disorders/MFT), DaPonte (Computer Science), Fullmer (Earth Science), Mills (Econ/Finance), Diamantis (Education), Madonia (Ed Leadership), Larocco (English), Piemontese (Foreign Language), Sakalowsky (Geography), Madison (History), Dunklee (Journalism), Clerc (Library Services), Prince (Marketing), Bennett (Mathematics), O’Brien (Media Studies), Wagner (Nursing), Aronson (Nursing), Gilliland (Philosophy), Buterbaugh (Political Science), Sherman (Psychology), Mackey (Psychology), Faraclas (Public Health), Panza (Recreation/Leisure), Cusato (Science Ed/Env Stud), Cameron (Social Work), Keenan (Social Work), Bloch (Sociology), Nye (Theatre), Nicaise (FASP).
Members Absent:
Emenyonu (Accounting), Manzella (Anthropology), Maloney (Athletics), Smith (Couns/Sch Psych), Lawler (Counseling), Blackmer (English), Johnson (English), Swartz (Exercise Science), Rinehardt (Exercise Science), Pelayo (Foreign Language), Amerman (History), McGinn (Library Services), Reynaga (Library Services), Stepanovich (Management), Dennis (Mathematics), Kuss (Music), Anderson (Part-time faculty), Roman (Part-Time Faculty), Young (Part-Time Faculty), Capone (Part-time faculty), Enjalran (Physics), Brucker (Special Ed/Reading), Major (Special Ed/Reading), Fields (UCF).
The minutes of January 31st, 2007 were approved.
President DaPonte motioned that since Provost Williams will be coming to the Senate today on a later time, we continue with the next Agenda item. Since there were no objections, the motion carried.
Announcements:
o Dr. Jocelyn Mackey will be replacing senator Brancazio (Psychology) for this semester.
o Senator Fullmer announced that there will be a total lunar eclipse at 5:38 pm on Saturday, March 3. Telescopes will be set up near Morrill Hall for public viewing.
o Senator Diamantis reminded all senators that there will be a Town-Hall type of meeting for discussions on the University Strategic Plan. The meeting is scheduled for Friday, March 2, 1-3 pm in EN A 120. Please urge all colleagues in your departments to attend.
President’s Report:
The President’s Report was distributed. President DaPonte highlighted the following:
¨ Dates for the remaining Senate meetings are: 2/28, 3/14, 4/4, 4/18, 5/2, and 5/9.
¨ The Enrollment Management committee met this morning and discussed a new approach for admission of the incoming students. The shift will be between the number of new freshmen (1200 vs 1300 students admitted in the past) and the number of transfer students (800 vs 700 students admitted in the past). This will assist in the lower level courses that all freshmen are required and need to take the first semesters.
· Concerns were raised on what will this mean for the upper level classes needed for the additional transfer students. Will the number of sections be increased or will the number of students be increased in the existing sections?
· Shifting the number of admitted students from new freshmen to transfers might be more problematic with negative impact in the upper level courses serving our students.
· It would be interested to see if there is collected data on retention rates for transfer students vs freshmen as well as graduation rates for the two populations.
· A recommendation was made that maybe summer courses should be treated as “third” semester, thus, the charges/tuition for taking summer courses be compatible to the fall/spring semesters. President DaPonte mentioned that there are such discussions in progress to have students who take 12 credits during the summer pay the tuition of $3300, thus, receiving a small savings.
· The issue of the transfer students and articulation agreements with the 2-year colleges was also discussed.
¨ President DaPonte brought to the Senate’s attention the recent “sense of the senate” on the Strategic Plan and the referendum. In particular, what is the required level of participation of faculty for the referendum to carry. He also quoted the following from the Senate Constitution:
A. Any faculty member may petition the Faculty Senate to conduct a faculty-wide referendum with respect to any action taken by the Senate. Signatures of a minimum of 40 faculty (full and/or part time) are required for this petition.
B. The Elections Committee shall conduct the referendum, with a minimum of the 240 faculty votes or 50% plus one of those voting, whichever is greater, required for rescinding any Senate action.
The only reference for referendum on the Senate’s constitution is about reversing Senate actions. Lengthy discussion followed on the need of a referendum and the number of faculty votes needed for the referendum to carry, that is, how will the results be evaluated? Should the referendum carry if there are 50% plus one of the whole faculty or of the voting members only? The discussions confirmed that the University Strategic Plan should be endorsed by the faculty prior to its introduction to the Board of Trustees.
Senator LaRocco made a motion to accept the following resolution for information only:
The administration submits the University Strategic Plan to the Board of Trustees only after it has been reviewed by the Faculty Senate and voted upon by a faculty referendum. A result of 50% plus one of those voting will carry the referendum.
After the motion was seconded there was lengthy discussion. The question was called with no objections.
The motion passed by majority, with one objection, no abstentions.
Provost Williams clarified that the Mission statement of the Strategic Plan requires BOT approval. The Plan itself needs not be approved but presented to the Board for information. The Provost highlighted that the plan is to create a committee that will oversee the implementation and evaluation of the progress of the Strategic Plan. The committee will also make recommendations to President Norton on the Strategic Plan. The committee will be composed with 2/3 members from faculty and 1/3 with Vice Presidents/Administration. The faculty members will be voting members and the rest will be ex-officio (non-voting) members.
For the upcoming Town Hall meeting on March 2, the Provost mentioned that the Mission Statement and the pre-draft of the Strategic Plan will be posted on the web for all faculty to review and comment at the meeting. There will members of the Steering committee that will visit University committees to discuss the Strategic Plan at this stage. University committees will include FASP, Graduate Council, Faculty Senate, Administrative Senate, and UCF.
The Mission statement is being revised as we speak to include the university’s distinctiveness which is included as a priority from President Norton.
The University Strategic Plan will be uncovered as a final draft which will include some more information on the strategic initiatives.
There was a question from the senate floor on the new admissions shift of transfers vs new freshmen students. The Provost explained that the reason for trying this plan is to assist in the stress at the lower level courses and to assist our students that need to take specific courses during their first year at Southern. The increased number of transfer students will be from across the majors and should have no direct impact in upper level courses.
Another question was raised if it possible to increase the low level courses? Provost Williams responded that we have exhausted the faculty resources (full timers and part timers) in the past years and it is time we try something different. We will keep a close eye on this plan and will evaluate the plan again. Another senator asked if there is data collected from the years past on retention rates and graduation rates comparing the transfer students vs the new freshmen. This is something that the Senate will be provided for review.
Discussions included the concern that the 2 year college courses transferred to Southern carry the same quality of education as our courses here. Recommendation that those courses are evaluated carefully and closely watched. Communication with the two year colleges should be improved. There is a development with the Gateway where students receiving an Associate’s degree with them and have a 2.0 or higher GPA will be “jointly” admitted to Southern and have SCSU faculty advisors while they are finishing their Gateway program so that they get early advice before they come to Southern.
Due to time limitation, there were no further reports from Standing Committees for today.
Senate will meet next Wednesday, 2/28.
Senate adjourned at 2:00 pm.
Dr. Maria Diamantis
Secretary of the Senate