January 17, 2002 Minutes

Mesa State College Faculty Senate

Minutes for January 17, 2002 Meeting

MEMBERS PRESENT: Tom Acker, Sherri Arosteguy, Jim Buckley, Mike Gizzi, Phil Kavanagh, Doug O'Roark, Eric Schruers, Gayla Jo Slauson, John Sluder, Cindy Thomas, Brian Udermann, Russ Walker, Carrie McVean Waring, Mary Zimmerer

GUESTS: Sam Gingerich, Bryan Howard, Gary Looft, Steve Murray, Janine Rider, and Hasson Tavossi

The meeting was convened at 3:30 pm by Senate President Doug O'Roark. 

I. Announcements

Sherri Arosteguy joined the Senate representing the Department of Teacher Education and Licensure.

In order to comply with recent changes in state requirements, four new courses have been proposed for the Early Childhood Education program. The courses were approved at the last Curriculum Committee meeting of the fall semester. Janine Rider (Dean, Humanities and Social Sciences) explained that if the Senate would approve these courses at this meeting instead of waiting to receive and approve the November Curriculum Committee minutes, the college would meet the state-imposed deadline. Gary Looft (Chair, Curriculum Committee) confirmed that his committee had no problem with these courses, which enable students to choose from either an administration track, Bachelor of Arts track, or Associate of Arts track. A motion was made to approve the four new courses (Udermann/Sluder). The motion passed.

The next Trustees meeting will take place on February 7-8, which conflicts with the next Senate meeting. The Senate agreed with Doug's proposal to have the Senate meet on January 31, instead.

The Curriculum Committee would like to finalize the details of the proposed procedural changes discussed by the Senate at earlier meetings. The Senate had no objections.

Bryan Howard (President, ASG) updated the Senate on discussions about student access to student evaluations of faculty. No clubs expressed an interest in compiling and selling a book of evaluation summaries, and there is little interest in non-evaluation information such as details on course format. However, some ASG members and other students are still interested in creating access. Discussion was tabled pending the outcome of anticipated discussions on changes to the evaluation form.

II. FACT Report

The main topic of discussion at the December FACT and Trustee meetings was the possible replacement of the defined-contribution pension plan with PERA. FACT asked the Trustees and Office of State Colleges (OSC) staff to study the issue further and provide more details. Mike Gizzi (FACT representative) will push for a staff member to visit MSC to explain the change to faculty. According to OSC, the change would save money for the system and provide additional benefits for the faculty.

John Sluder (Senate Vice President) reported that the Trustees were impressed by MSC's Academic Master Plan. Doug noted that a bill (HB02-1165) has been drafted to take Metro out of the state college system, effective July 1, 2002.

III. Meeting Minutes

A motion was made to approve the August 23 Curriculum Committee minutes (Sluder/Walker). The motion passed.

A motion was made to approve the October 25 Curriculum Committee minutes (Udermann/ Thomas). The motion passed. Doug expanded on an item in these minutes regarding HIST 304 History of Colorado. Students transferring to MSC with a lower division History of Colorado class were being told by Records that their course counted for our 300-level course. The History faculty took issue with this practice. Those involved agreed that better communication may have prevented the conflict. Doug suggested that other programs may want to watch out for analogous situations 

A motion was made to receive the November 8 Curriculum Committee minutes (Zimmerer/ Gizzi). The motion passed.

A motion was made to approve the October 9 Graduate Council minutes (Walker/Slauson). The motion passed.

A motion was made to approve the November 13 Graduate Council minutes (Slauson/Thomas). The motion passed 

A motion was made to receive the November 27 Graduate Council minutes (Buckley/Walker). The motion passed.

A motion was made to approve the November 29 minutes of the Senate (Zimmerer/Udermann). The motion passed.

IV. Academic Planning Committee

Doug and Sam Gingerich recommended that the oversight committee for the academic planning effort be composed of: two representatives from each school except for Applied Technology, which would have one representative (because of a shortage of faculty with time to participate); one student representative appointed by the ASG; and the vice president of academic affairs and the director of planning as ex-officio, non-voting members. They also recommended that the committee be chaired by a Senate member, and that the committee will determine the details of its charge. A motion was made to approve the recommendation (Zimmerer/Sluder). The motion passed. A motion was made to accept Russ Walker's offer to chair the committee (Thomas/Buckley). The motion passed.

V. Program Prioritization Committee

The Program Prioritization Committee would have the responsibility to recommend criteria for assigning high, medium, and low priorities, which could be used annually by the administration to establish budget priorities. Faculty expressed concern about the complexity of this task and the potential for conflict and politicization of the process. Mary Zimmerer emphasized that the committee's charge should be approved by the faculty at large. Sam Gingerich agreed that the process needs to involve many people. He cautioned that the alternative to this committee is that priorities may be determined by non-academics based on cost alone. The Senate was undecided about whether this responsibility should be assigned to an existing committee or a new committee. The discussion will be continued at the next Senate meeting.

VI. Commencement Speaker

MSC's ability to attract commencement speakers is limited by the ceremony taking place on Mother's Day and the low funding for speakers. It has been suggested that we omit the speaker. Sam Gingerich reported that the change is fine with the students. Senators were in general agreement that omitting the speaker is acceptable. Jim Buckley suggested that we begin thinking about having separate ceremonies for each of the four schools. Doug directed the Senate to let faculty know about this intended change.

A motion was made at 5:00 to adjourn the meeting (Sluder/Walker).