OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY
To:
Members of University Council
From:
Sherry Young, Chair
Re:
Agenda for Meeting of October 4, 2011
The regular meeting of University Council will be held on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. in Dicke Hall 230.
AGENDA
I.
Minutes of September 20, 2011 meeting
II.
Reports from Constitutional Committees
a.
b.
c.
d.
III.
Athletics
Information Technology
Cultural & Special Events
International Affairs
Religious Affairs
General Education
Vice-Presidents
Deans
Student Senate
Health Services Advisory Committee
VII.
Announcements
VIII.
Questions for the President
IX.
Unfinished Business
a.
Crago
Hurtig
Allison
Pickett
Stauber
Hurtig
Simmons
Gulbis
Riess
Crago
Stauber
Hurtig
McMunn
Young
McMunn
Young
Academic Affairs Committee (see Attachment A)
New Business
a.
XI.
Chair
Beaschler
Lomax
Walton
Zekany
Other Reports
a.
b.
c.
d.
X.
Liaison
Young
Lomax
Walton
Zekany
Reports from Operational Committees
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
VI.
Budget & Appropriations
Academic Affairs
Student Activities
Personnel
Academic Affairs Committee (see Attachment B)
Adjournment
CONSTITUTIONAL AND OPERATIONAL COMMITTEES
Budget and Appropriations – Ron Beaschler
The committee will meet on Monday, October 3 at 2:00 pm. An adjusted 2011-12 budget is to be presented to the
committee that has been calculated with the 15 day headcount numbers.
Academic Affairs – John Lomax/Julie Hurtig
ONU does not have a policy in place regarding the age of transfer credits and their applicability to a degree program. For
example, if a student takes a religion course at Bluffton University in 1980, and then 29 years later wants to transfer that
course and have it apply towards an ONU degree program, at what point can the university say that while the credits will
transfer, the course will not meet the graduation requirements for a degree? The committee will continue to discuss this
with the college curricula committees.
Under new business, the Committee proposes to modify language pertaining to final examinations (Attachment B)
The Office of Academic Affairs notes a typographical error in the 2011-12 Faculty Handbook. The text of 3.8.6 states:
6. Not more than a total of forty-five semester hours earned by special examination at the University or externally
administered examination, including but not limited to AP, CLEP, and IB, may be applied toward a baccalaureate degree.
The word "forty-five" should be "thirty" to reflect the semester conversion. The 2011-12 University Catalog accurately
states this value. The Office of Academic Affairs will be correcting this typographical error in the pdf version of the
Handbook on the Academic Affairs webpage.
Student Activities – Jenny Walton
No report submitted.
Personnel – Kay Zekany
No report.
Committee on Athletics – Tom Simmons
No report submitted.
Information Technology – George Gulbis
The Committee met on September 22 and reviewed relevant items.
Cultural and Special Events – Nils Riess
No report submitted.
International Affairs – Clyde Picket, David Crago
No report submitted.
Religious Affairs – Rory Stauber
No report submitted.
General Education – Julie Hurtig
The committee has been asked to review the assessment procedure for the electronic portfolios. The committee
continues to process faculty course submission forms for tags. If a spring semester course offering should have
a tag but has yet to be tagged, please submit the form by Oct. 11, 2011 in order to have it processed before
advanced spring registration.
OTHER COMMITTEES
Student Senate – Marsha McMunn
No report submitted.
Health Services Advisory Committee – Roger Young
No report submitted.
Attachment A
Motion: To amend the Faculty Handbook, Section 3.28.5 and to add a new paragraph numbered 3.28.6. These
two paragraphs will state the minimum requirements to earn a degree, major, minor, or option that must be
earned at Ohio Northern University.
Rationale: In the past, the university has had a rule that at least 30 hours of a degree had to be earned at ONU.
Some colleges currently have rules regarding majors, minors, options, and concentrations, but no overall policy
exists. Due to the varying sizes of a degree, major, minor or option, the Academic Affairs Committee has
selected the phrase that “at least 25% of the requirements” instead of a fixed number.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3.28
Awarding of Degrees (9/1/84) (8/2011)
1. A student receives the appropriate degree after applying for graduation and completing the
required curriculum as outlined by the five colleges of the University.
A. Graduation requirements, including but not limited to: general education, major(s), minor(s),
concentration(s), and option(s), are specified in the university catalog issued in the academic year
of the student’s most recent admission or re-admission as a degree seeking student. When a
student changes colleges at ONU the new college will determine the catalog to be in effect for the
student.
B. A student can complete major(s) and/or minor(s) and /or concentrations and/or option(s)
added to the university’s curriculum in catalogs subsequent to his/her admission as a degree
seeking student.
C. A student can make an irrevocable request in writing to change the catalog used to determine
his/her graduation requirements to a more current catalog. Such a change requires the approval of
the student’s academic department and college dean.
2. In order to qualify for graduation, an undergraduate student is required to submit a formal
application for graduation to the Registrar's Office. Application for graduation should be submitted
one semester in advance of the anticipated term of graduation but must be submitted before the
completion of the advance registration period for the semester of planned graduation.
3. A student is required to have a minimum of a 2.00 accumulative average in addition to meeting all
other requirements before the student qualifies for the appropriate degree.
4. Commencement is held once a year at the conclusion of spring semester. Spring semester
graduates must participate in cap and gown. The University confers degrees at the end of the semester
that a student completes the graduation requirements.
5. In order tTo be eligible for a degree from Ohio Northern University, a the student must register for
and successfully complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of course work atat least 25% of the
course requirements for that degree at Ohio Northern University. The last 30 semester hours for the
degree must also be completed at Ohio Northern University.
6. To complete a major, minor, or option for a degree from Ohio Northern University, the a student
must complete at least 25% of the course requirements for the major, minor, or option at Ohio
Northern University.
67. To receive a degree a student must meet all other qualifications which the faculty of a college may
determine. Substitution in requirements for graduation must be approved by the college faculty.
78. The University recognizes, confers at graduation, and records on the diploma three classes of
distinction: Cum laude, awarded to students with an accumulative grade point average of at least 3.5;
Magna cum laude, awarded to students with an accumulative grade point average of at least 3.7; and
Summa cum laude, awarded to students with an accumulative grade point average of at least 3.9. A
student must complete at least 30 hours of graded courses at Ohio Northern to qualify for graduation
with distinction.
89. The standard practice for the posthumous granting of any distinction, award, or honor requires that
the accomplishments meriting the recognition must have been essentially or totally completed before
the death of the recipient. Therefore, in accord with this standard practice, and with the strict standards
for graduation applied by institutions of good repute, earned degrees from Ohio Northern University
may be awarded posthumously only when degree requirements have been fully completed or, in rare
cases, upon the recommendation by the appropriate college faculty and college administration, and the
agreement by the University faculty that extraordinary circumstances justify setting aside standard
practice.
Attachment B
Motion: Modify the final examinations schedule to include additional times as follows:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
7:3010:00
Time 1
Time 6
Time 11
Time 16
Time 21
10:301:00
Time 2
Time 7
Time 12
Time 17
Time 22
1:304:00
Time 3
Time 8
Time 13
Time 18
Time 23
4:307:00
Time 4
Time 9
Time 14
Time 19
Time 24
7:3010:00
Time 5
Time 10
Time 15
Time 20
In this schedule, the 1:304:00 and the 7:3010:00 times of every day are allocated to common
examinations.
Additionally, amend item 2 in Appendix 15 of the Faculty Handbook to read the following:
“In assigning the limited number of common examination times, preference will be given to requests
which involve courses that:
a. Administer a common final examination
b. Are offered in multiple sections
c. Have higher student enrollments
Finally, amend section 3.19.9 of the Faculty Handbook as follows: “The deans of the colleges of Arts
and Sciences, Engineering, Pharmacy, Business Administration or a person whom a dean shall designate
together with the University Registrar and Vice President for Academic Affairs shall constitute the Final
Examination Committee.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rationale: The current final examination schedule in semesters allows for four common final examination
periods. The demand for common examination periods far exceeds the availability of slots. By reducing the
lunch and dinner times to 30 minutes and starting at 7:30 a.m. instead of 8:00 a.m., we can introduce five
additional slots which will bring us to a total of 9 common examination periods. This is comparable to what we
had under the quarter system and should thus accommodate the requests. Recall that students may seek relief
from the registrar if they are scheduled for more than two examinations in one day.
The other two amendments provide additional guidance to the Final Examination Committee. The first
establishes a criteria for the committee, and the second allows deans to designate another person (likely an
assistant dean) to represent a specific college.
APPENDIX 15
OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES FOR FINAL EXAMINATION COMMITTEE
(8/89) (9/96)
The Faculty Handbook Section 3.19, paragraph 9, establishes a Final Examination Committee. Paragraph 2 of Section 3.19
charges the Final Examination Committee with approval of requests for multiple section examinations “within the limits of
the examination schedule” and states that “requests for multiple section exams will be evaluated on sound educational
values within the limits of the examination schedule.”
Scheduling a common final examination time for the students in the sections of a multi-section course is an effort to enable
greater equity in evaluation of course performance for students and reduce any potential effect of section registration on
evaluation.
The following is an operational procedure which the Final Examination Committee feels is desirable and practicable in
carrying out its charge.
The common final examination times are provided as an addition to the schedule resulting from setting examination time
according to the normal meeting time of the course during the term. Each addition to this regular schedule increases the
chances of a student having multiple examinations scheduled in a single day. There are eight available times for scheduling
such examinations. In order for the Final Examinations Committee to make the choices of which courses will be assigned
to the limited number of time slots, the following principles will be applied.
1. To qualify for consideration for assignment of a common examination time for a course, it is assumed that all
sections of a course will be given the same final examination. If different examinations are given to different sections
of the course, the majority of the weight in evaluation of the examinations must be based on a set of questions common
to the examinations for all sections.
2. In assigning the limited number of common examination times, preference will be given to requests which involve
all sections of a given course, although all requests regardless of the number of sections involved will be considered.
courses that:
a. Administer a common final examination
b. Are offered in multiple sections
c. Have higher student enrollments
3.
Approvals for common examination time for multiple-section courses will be reapproved for three-year periods.
4. Approvals for common examination times are course specific and do not incorporate any other course or courses
in the department or college.
Any department or college wishing an assignment of a common examination time, whether one is held now or not, was
requested to submit a request by March 1 including the following information:
(1) Name of course and course number
(2) Number of sections offered in each of the semesters for which a common examination time is
requested.
(3) Estimated total enrollment in the course.
(4) Statement that there will be a single examination for all sections, or if more than one examination is
to be used, that a majority of the weight in evaluation of the examinations will be placed on questions
common to all the examinations.
(Adopted by Academic Affairs Committee 4/19/89)