44th Faculty Senate
May 6, 2010 – 3:30p.m.
Robert C. Voight Faculty Senate Chambers – 325 Graff Main Hall
Vol. 44, No. 15
I. Roll Call.
Present: J. Anderson, C. Angell, J. Baggett, S. Brokaw, B. Butterfield, V. Crank, G. Cravins, T. Gendreau,
J. Heim, K. Hoar, J. Holman, K. Hunt, R. LeDocq, A. Loh, R. Mikat, J. Miskowski, R. Smith, M. Tollefson, B.
Van Voorhis and M. Wycoff-Horn
Excused: D. Buffton, D. Lake, C. Lee and S. Shillinger
II. Minutes of April 29 approved.
III. Reports.
a. Faculty Senate Chair.
i. This is the last meeting of a busy year for the 44th Faculty Senate. Some of the issues
that may come to FS next year: promotion expectations for part-time tenure-track
faculty, possible standing committees for online education curriculum, assessment or
Gen Ed Assessment Committee, textbook rental, email transition, GQA, enrollment,
budget, etc. SEC will meet over the summer.
ii. Collective Bargaining Update: UW-Eau Claire faculty will be voting on May 18 and 19.
iii. Thank you to all of the members of the 44th FS and a special thank you to those who
are stepping down this year: Joe Anderson, Steve Brokaw, Virginia Crank, Joe Heim,
Adrienne Loh, Rick Mikat and Jennifer Miskowski.
iv. Introductions: Karli Wallace - Student Association President for 2010-11 and Cate Urbas
– Shared Governance Director for 2010-11.
b. Faculty Rep.
i. Handouts regarding a UWS initiative to reduce textbook costs – an issue that will be
discussed at the Faculty Reps meeting tomorrow.
IV. Approval of May List of Graduates.
Move to approve the May list of graduates. Motion approved.
V. APR Report – Environmental Studies Minor (Linda Dickmeyer and Kurt Beyer).
a. Background Information: There were issues with the self-study. It was submitted in 2007, but
was difficult to decipher as it did not follow the APR self-study report guidelines. This is an
interdisciplinary minor that is supported primarily by CLS. This is a growing minor that is not well
advertised. Students discover it through peers, the ENV201 course or the website. ENV201 is
now up to 10 sections with 28 to 35 students per section. CLS has funded additional sections
for the course.
b. The report contains two sets of recommendations – one for the program and another to guide
the director in the writing of the next self-study. A short review is due in three years.
Summary of Recommendations
Programmatic Changes
o Faculty Senate should assign an Ad-Hoc Committee to further review and suggest direction for
the development of the Environmental Studies minor. This committee will work closely with the
current director to address the following:
o All concerns found in the APR report, communicating both internally (with affected
Environmental Studies faculty and staff) and externally (campus at-large and to Senate) about
these concerns.
o Ensure that ENV 201 becomes compliant with the campus-wide general education assessment
requirements, beginning with the 2010-2011 academic year. This requires meeting all GEAC
deadlines and submissions.
o A plan to move forward with programmatic assessment, as required for all programs on campus.
This is particularly important for determining success and outcomes of the Environmental Studies
o
o
o
o
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minor based on the current APR report. This should not be confused with the campus-wide
General Education assessment requirement also recommended.
Consider similar or related campus-wide initiatives to develop Environmental programs to
determine if these programs should be combined and/or are mutually exclusive of one another.
This will include consultation of other programs/colleges/departments who are considering
related Environmental programs.
Consider the current office or “home base” situation for the director and the faculty who teach
in the Environmental Studies program. Is it sufficient, should it remain exclusively in CLS, etc.
Consider representation from each UWL college on the Ad-Hoc committee and invite student
input and representation.
Appropriate release time should be provided for the director of this minor, with a minimum of ¼
reduction of teaching load. Additional release time may be suggested by the ad-hoc
committee.
Contact information specific to this minor should be more available/accessible to students and
might even include a point-person from each college on campus. A stronger presence is critical
to the success and development of the minor.
c. Discussion:
i. What is the purpose of the Ad Hoc committee? The committee would work with the
director to see what can be done to develop, grow and advertise the program. What
else is needed – e.g. with regards to assessment, etc.
ii. How is the program structured? It is a stand-alone program and is not housed in any
department. Other minors with this configuration? International Business major in CBA
is similar. Ethnic & Racial Studies is housed in an institute with release time for the
director. International Education’s director receives a stipend, but no release time.
iii. If the report is accepted, SEC would begin looking at the recommendations over the
summer.
Motion to accept the APR report for the Environmental Studies Minor. Motion approved.
VI. APR Report – Physical Therapy (Brian Kopp & Sherwin Toribio and Peggy Denton & Michelle Thorman).
a. Background: This is the first review of Physical Therapy as a PhD program. One of only five
such programs in the country that is totally accredited. The program recently went through
an external review and was granted a ten-year accreditation – the longest possible. The
program is very competitive with six times as many students applying as are accepted. The
faculty have an impressive number of publications in peer-reviewed journals. All of their
graduates have passed their board exam on the first try.
b. Issues raised during the accreditation review: Faculty workload is higher than recommended
by faculty handbook guidelines. Note that the program has added a position to address this
issue. An issue was also raised about the definition of diversity and how the program can
better define this to better fit programmatic goals.
APR Recommendations:
o Continue to make progress toward achieving the specific goals of the DPT program.
o Maintain high level of contributions to evidence-based practice through faculty and student
scholarly activity.
o Continue to advocate for differential tuition increases as necessary to maintain appropriate levels of
funding.
o Follow the recommended format for self study reports when submitting materials for the next APR
review.
c. Can the APR review be adjusted to follow the accreditation review timeline? We do have at
least one other program the is set up for a 10 year APR review cycle to match their
accreditation cycle. Sandy Grunwald (APR chair) will follow up on this for PT.
Motion to accept the APR report for Physical Therapy. Motion approved.
VII. Calendar Committee Recommendations (Betsy Morgan).
The SEC fully supports recommendations #1 through #5, but feels that it is not the purview of FS to create
the task force mentioned in recommendation #6.
Recommendation #1: The committee moved to put forward Option C as the recommended 7-year
calendar based on the results from the survey.
Motion to approve Option C as the recommended 7-year calendar.
Discussion: The option has classes starting before Labor Day when possible (3 of the 7 years), no
fall break, the Wednesday of Thanksgiving week is a Monday, and classes end earlier. This option
did not have a negative effect on labs.
Motion approved
Recommendation #2: The committee recommends a change to Option C in years where classes start
prior to Labor Day – in order for there to be a “lab launch” day earlier in the semester – the Friday of the
first week of classes will be a special day (Friday = Monday) changing the Wednesday of Thanksgiving
week to a “Friday Classes” rather than the “Monday Classes” as shown.
Motion to approve the recommendation to change Option C in years where classes start prior to Labor
Day – the Friday of the first week of classes will be a special day (Friday = Monday) changing the
Wednesday of Thanksgiving week to a “Friday Classes” rather than the “Monday Classes” as shown.
Discussion: This allows labs to utilize the first week of classes; however, Monday classes are
impacted. Note that Monday classes are impacted regardless, as Option C has the day before
Thanksgiving break as a Monday.
Motion approved.
Recommendation #3: The charge to the committee requested a recommendation regarding
commencement day for Spring semesters. The committee moved to request that commencement be on
a Saturday if at all possible but for it to be permissible for commencement to be held on a Sunday if
needed.
Motion to approve the recommendation to request that commencement be on a Saturday if at all
possible, but for it to be permissible for commencement to be held on a Sunday if needed.
Discussion: A committee is currently discussing a change in commencement venue or an
overflow strategy that would affect which day commencement could be held on. This is not a
requirement, it simply leave the option open. Sunday should be held as a day of rest for
Christians.
Motion approved.
Recommendation #4: Given the campus enthusiasm for the idea of a fall break but also understanding
the need for full weeks from many of the lab science courses, the committee recommends that Faculty
Senate review the possibility of a 2-day fall break in the seventh week IF the state legislature were to allow
classes to start prior to September 1st.
Motion to approve the recommendation that FS review the possibility of a 2-day fall break in the seventh
week IF the state legislature were to allow classes to start prior to September 1st.
Discussion: Fall break is simply not a good idea; dorm students would need to leave the dorms. Again,
this only leaves the option open for discussion without any requirements.
Motion approved.
Recommendation #5: The committee recommends that Faculty Senate review the possibility of a 2-day
fall break in the seventh week IF sufficient lab space were to become available in the future.
Motion to approve the recommendation that FS review the possibility of a 2-day fall break in the seventh
week IF sufficient lab space were to become available in the future. Motion approved.
Recommendation #6: The committee recommends that a task force be created across the governance
groups in the near future to investigate ways to reduce mid-semester stress for students, faculty and staff.
Motion to approve the recommendation that a task force be created across the governance groups in
the near future to investigate ways to reduce mid-semester stress for students, faculty and staff.
Discussion: This is not the purview of FS. This is another committee and that would add stress.
There are ways outside a committee to come up with ideas to address this issue (i.e., Morale
Retreat, etc.).
Motion failed.
VIII. Approval of 2012-2013 calendar. FS received permission to approve this calendar later than scheduled
to allow the calendar committee to investigate options. This new calendar (option C) will go into effect
for Fall 2012. Fall 2012 will have the following changes: Thanksgiving week will be a Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday classes week and the last week of classes is will be Monday, Thursday, Friday, Study Day
and Finals Day 1 (special days move to last week of classes).
Motion to approve the 2012-2013 calendar.
Motion approved
IX. New Business.
X. Old Business.
XI. Adjournment at 4:37 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kerrie Hoar