Faculty Senate
Meeting of March 13, 2014
Robert C. Voight Faculty Senate Chambers – 325 Graff Main Hall
Vol. 48, No.10
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Roll Call – Present: M. Allen, J. Anderson, C. Angell, E. Barnes, K. Beyer, L. Caya, G.
Cravins, M. Current, N. Eschenbaum, A. Galbraith, P. Haried, D. Hart, K. Hoar, J.
Hollenback, J. Kirsch, F. Klein, R. McKelley, D. Riley, K. Rosacker, B. Seebach, J.
Shanks, B. Shrestha, K. Terpstra.
Excused: L. Dickmeyer.
A. Approval of Minutes – the minutes of the February 27, 2014 meeting were
approved as distributed.
Reports:
A. Provost.
1. Regent Margaret Farrow will be on campus March 26.
2. A soft launch of a portion of ICE will occur this month.
B. Faculty Representative.
1. Regent meeting occurred on March 6, 2014.
a) Faculty compensation is an ongoing conversation.
b) A goal of the Regents is to have closer partnerships with
stakeholders (legislators, K-12, etc).
c) Remedial education report is forthcoming.
Wittich Hall CBA Renovation Project (Bob Hetzel, Heidi Macpherson, and Bruce May):
A. Plan for the College of Business to move into Wittich Hall.
1. Growth in the number of faculty through GQA generates space challenges
across campus.
a) The building will bring a great deal of energy and ideas into the
CBA, UW-L and the community.
b) Goal to be in the building fall of 2017.
2. Taper UW-L’s GQA reserve (a 10 to 15 percent reserve level is
recommended by the Regents).
3. Motion to endorse the revision to Wittich Hall as described – M/S/P.
Revised Mission Statement (Heidi Macpherson):
A. UW-L’s current Mission statement is not in compliance with state statute.
B. The following proposed statement will both reflect the Mission of UW-L as well
as bring the statement into compliance with state statute:
1. http://www.uwlax.edu/facultysenate/48th/3-1314/SelectMissionRevision.pdf.
Current Mission
The University of Wisconsin‐ La Crosse provides a challenging, dynamic, and
diverse learning environment in which the entire university community is fully
engaged in supporting student success. Grounded in the liberal arts, UW‐ L fosters
curiosity and life‐ long learning through collaboration, innovation, and the discovery
and dissemination of new knowledge. Acknowledging and respecting the
contributions of all, UW‐ L is a regional academic and cultural center that prepares
students to take their place in a constantly changing world community.
Additional paragraph to consider for compliance
The University shall offer undergraduate programs and degrees in the arts and
humanities; health and sciences; education; and business administration. The
University shall offer graduate programs and advanced degrees related to areas of
emphasis and strength within the institution, including business administration,
education, health, the sciences, and the social sciences.
C. Motion to accept revised Mission statement as proposed and amended – M/S/P.
V.
Graduate Council Recommendations:
A. Proposed changes to the "Graduate Probation and Retention Standards" section of
the Graduate Catalog are outlined below:
1. http://www.uwlax.edu/facultysenate/48th/3-1314/GradCouncil%20SENATE%20CHARGE%202013-2014%20final.pdf.
SENATE CHARGE #1:
Changes to the Graduate Catalog in the section on "Graduate Probation and Retention Standards". The
primary purpose of this change is to make clear to students that graduate programs have additional
standards beyond grades that students must meet, and that failure to meet these standards can also result
in probation or dismissal. Secondly, we describe the process for how students can request readmission
after being dismissed. This latter part mainly just reflects the current situation for how graduate programs
deal with such cases, we have just put that in writing for the benefit of students.
SENATE CHARGE #2:
A clarified Appeals Process for Graduate Students that have been dismissed from their program
for academic reasons. After long deliberations, and a few revisions, we have settled on the "least changes"
plan for an appeals process. The process passed is basically a codified version of what has traditionally
occurred, and is consistent with the "oversight responsibilities" document passed last year. Under the
passed process, Grad Council will ONLY hear a "due process" appeal in cases where students feel that the
actions of their graduate program in dismissing them did not follow the written procedures of that
graduate program. This preserves the status quo of graduate programs having complete control over their
student body, and simply requires them to have written policy to support any dismissal-related academic
standards (which most programs already do).
B. Motion to accept recommendations – M/S/P.
VI.
Academic Planning Committee Recommendations:
A. Elimination of Library Media Minor.
1. Motion to eliminate Library Media Minor – M/S/P.
B. Amend APC Procedures & Guidelines re “Proposals for Certificate Programs”.
1. Motion to amend APC Procedures & Guidelines – M/S/P.
C. Pre-authorization Proposal for Student Affairs Administration Ed.D. Program.
1. Motion to pre-authorize proposal for Student Affairs Administration Ed.D.
Program – M/S/P.
VII.
Academic Technology Committee:
Electronic SEI Recommendations. The committee is seeking approval from the Faculty Senate
to implement the following recommendations to be implemented by ITS before the
administration of the Spring 2014 SEIs.
Simple changes to SEI administration:
1. Shorten the email messages asking students to participate. The current version has the entire
“SEI” message and is probably immediately deleted. The original message can be found on
page 14 of the ITS document. Note that the full SEI message is still found on the main
WINGS SEI page for each student (pg 16 of ITS document). The version of the email
message recommended by ATC is shown below. Student name, the window to take SEIs,
and individualized links will be filled in.
>>> Email Text >>>
Dear ________,
Course Evaluations are an important means for faculty to gain insight into your
classroom experience. Between ___ and ____ you have the opportunity to provide
feedback for each of your instructors. Please follow the link below to complete
your evaluations.
LINK TO WINGS
You can also access the course evaluations during this time period from the “Student
Center” of your WINGS account.
Thank you for taking the time to help improve the instruction at UW-L.
Sincerely,
Heidi McPherson, Provost and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs
<<< END OF TEXT <<<
2. Eliminate white-space between questions in the survey. This will make it easier for students
to see the entire survey in one page and not give up (see page 9 or 16 in the ITS document for
a current example).
3. Move the window of available times to not correspond with the last week of classes.
Suggestion: "The window for on-line SEI administration will be weeks 5 and 6 for firsthalf of the semester classes and weeks 12 and 13 for full and second-half
semester courses (April 21 through May 2 for this year)." Not covered by this policy is
this semester’s first-half of the semester courses, on-line courses, and short duration
courses.
4. Gather data to help answer the question: did students ignore the email solicitations or actively
decide not to fill out the on-line SEIs. This was formally requested by Faculty senate last
year but was not implemented.
Proposal: After the end of the SEI window ITS will send an email to all students who
failed to complete all of their SEIs. They will be asked to take a brief survey with
one required question (yes/no). The one question will be: "Did you consciously decide
not to fill out the on-line SEIs?" This will be followed by an optional free response
"Why did you not complete the SEIs?".
Motion to accept recommendations one (as amended to include more forceful language), two and
four – M/S/P.
Long-term suggestion: Mobile app of SEIs.
VIII. Old Business
IX. New Business
X. Adjournment
Meeting Adjourned at 5.10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Kirsten (Kris) Rosacker