Minutes
Faculty Senate Meeting
September 21, 2011
Professor Girard called the meeting to order at 2:20 P.M.
Present: Professor Jim Girard, Leigh Riddick, Barlow Burke, Phil Brenner, Joe Dent, Christine
DeGregorio, Alberto Espinosa, Bryan Fantie, Phil Jacoby, Bob Jernigan, Jonathan Loesberg,
Stacey Marien, Sarah Menke-Fish, Candice Nelson, Gemma Puglisi, Shalini Venturelli, Patricia
West, William Ryan, Lacey Wootton. Provost Scott Bass and Dean Phyllis Peres
Welcome and Introduction, Jim Girard
Professor Girard called the meeting to order, distributed the roll and welcomed all new and
returning Senators to the first meeting of the year. He then informed the senators that the first 15
minutes of the meeting would be spent reviewing procedures of the Senate and to answer any
questions.
Provost’s Report
Provost Bass began by providing an overall review of the enrollment status at the University. He
stated that AU received a total of 18,000 applications of which 1550 where freshman. At the
beginning of the term the number of new freshman was 1549. He asked the Senators to recognize
Sharon Alston, Enrollment Services Executive Director, and her team for this accomplishment.
The largest decline in enrollment was with the number of transfer students. The target number,
which included part time students, was 335 of which 317 where full time. The number of
transfers enrolling was 280, which fell below the target substantially. The next group is the study
abroad students. All though they are not in the aggregate number of enrollments because they
will not be here this term, the projected number of students studying abroad was 310, but as of
last week, we have 448 students studying abroad, which is the highest ever. The Washington
Semesters target number was 200 and they came in at 186. These numbers show that we didn’t
reach our goals. Reporting for the Graduate level, which is the biggest issue, the target number
(which is expressed in credit hours) was 23,501 and the enrollment came in at 22,192. This is
more the 5% off from projections. This is more serious than undergraduate enrollment in regards
to the university’s future. Customarily during a recession the Masters and Certificate programs
thrive as people go back to school during this time. Nationwide MBA education was down, but
our MBA numbers were lower than other institutions. This issue will lead us to take a look at
our portfolio of programs as well as the presence of online and hybrid education to accommodate
the marketplace. Higher education is not immune to the changes we are facing with technology
Provost Bass stated the full faculty retreat will be a year from this October and this year a
Leadership retreat will be held which will include the President, Vice Presidents, Deans,
Associate Deans, chairs and the Senate Executive Committee, approximately around one
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hundred people. This group will begin discussing the future of the Masters and Certificate
programs at AU.
Provost Bass stated that the profile of the freshman class is different than ever before at this
University. The number of Pell Grant eligible students is about 23% of this year’s freshman
class. This is 100% more than last year and the year before. Also in terms of minority
representation, this class is 30% minority which took hard work to accomplish. This year’s
honors program is 26% minority. This is an outstanding accomplishment and has made it clear
that the University is strong in diversity and academic excellence.
Dean of Academic Affairs Report
Dean Peres said the University welcomed 33 new tenure line faculty in the fall across campus.
This year we will be running approximately 30 searches for new faculty. Some of these are
newlines, and some are continuing because those lines were not filled last year. She said searches
this year are not business as usual. A traditional search means that the position is announced,
you place the ad and then the position closes when you make the hire. We are working on an
active recruitment style which means that we might start actively recruiting before the ad
appears. This will allow the ability to create the pool early. Dean Peres will be looking for this
criterion in future search plans.
Dean Peres stated that approximately 60% of the faculty is tenure line faculty. The last item that
Dean Peres addressed was the issue of discrimination and sexual harassment. A task force was
put together to create a universal policy. The policy was approved in August. Part of the mandate
from the Department of Education is for training, which needs to be provided for other groups on
campus as well as faculty. She will be doing research on the best practices at other institutions to
find what will be best for the university. It appears that some institutions use online training and
this seems to be working well.
Elections for Executive Committee, Jim Girard
Professor Girard informed the Senators that the Executive Committee still had two vacant seats
that needed to be filled, one seat to be filled by an at-large senator and one seat to be filled by a
general senator. A call for nominations went out the previous week and there was one
nomination for each, Professor Shalini Venturelli for the general seat and Professor Bob Jernigan
for the at-large seat. Professor Girard opened the floor for any new nominations. No new
nominations came forward so Professor Venturelli and Professor Jernigan were elected by
acclimation.
Course Clean Up, Lyn Stallings
Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies, Lyn Stallings presented to the Senate the new
course clean up procedures that she and the registrar’s office would like to implement. She
explained that the academic units have been provided from the Registrar a spread sheet and
electronic copies of their programs and course descriptions. Currently Datatel houses 12,000
courses, many that haven’t been offered for years. With the provided material the units have
been asked to clean up minor changes to the courses such as the number, title, course
descriptions and if the course has not been offered in over three years to terminate the course or
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shift to a topics course. For this activity she stated that she has requested that a master course
form for every change that is made not be required. Major changes must still go through the
current process. Examples of clean up may include renumbering because we will no longer be
offering 300 level courses with 600 level courses. It is important that notification to appropriate
units be given if a course is terminated just in case it is a requirement or elective in another
program. There will be a summary list circulated of all terminated and changed courses to all
units just in case the notification process is missed. This will allow all units to see if any of these
changes will affect their programs. Interim Vice Provost Stallings said this should be completed
by mid November.
Interim Vice Provost Stallings continued and stated that in conjunction with the course cleanup
project, last year the Senate approved the general education recommendations that were made by
the General Education task force. It is now time to do a review of general education. In the
future, the university will still offer the five areas but not levels within these areas. This change
will require the departments that offer general education courses to do a self study. The new
forms have been streamlined to reduce duplicate information. This new process has been
announced to the Deans, Associate Deans and Chairs &Directors. Interim Vice Provost Stallings
asked that this be completed by the end of the Fall semester.
Professor Girard said that Vice Provost Stallings’s report was more informational for the Senate.
He stated that from where he sits as Chair of the Chemistry department, this process looks very
effective and he looks forward to the new changes.
Resolution for Jack Child, Jim Girard
Professor Girard announced the death of Jack Child and presented to the Senate a resolution to
be entered into the minutes. The resolution was voted on and passed unanimously.
The resolution reads as follows;
Whereas,
the Faculty Senate wishes to honor the memory of University Professor Jack Child whose death
on June 18, 2011 was a great loss to American University and to the scholarly community at
large; and
Whereas,
he earned advanced degrees at American University while on active duty as a Regular Army
officer and completed a 20-year career with assignments with the 101st Airborne Division; two
tours in Vietnam; a brief assignment in Cambodia for which he earned the Bronze Star;
Bogota(Columbia); West Point; The Chief of Staff; and, the Inter-American Defense College ;
and
Whereas,
he launched a second career as an Assistant Dean in the School of International Service at
American University and proceeded to earn tenure in the College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Language and Foreign Studies; and
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Whereas,
Professor Child’s research focused on cultural studies and conflict resolution in Latin America,
with a focus on Antarctica and the Falklands-Malvinas. He authored or co-authorized 13 books
in his field, as well over a hundred articles and book chapters. His books also reflect his eclectic
interests. Among his publications: Miniature Messages: The Semiotics of Latin, American
Postage Stamps, Latin American History through its Arts and Literature, Antarctica and South
American Geopolitics: Frozen Lebensraum.; and
Whereas,
Professor Child also distinguished himself as an academic administrator through his service as;
Director of American University’s English Language Institute and Founding Director of the
Center for Teaching Excellence; and
Whereas,
he was a mentor to many undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty to whom he provided
warm and understanding guidance; and
Whereas,
he was a valued , respected, and beloved colleague who exemplified the American University
ideals of teaching, scholarship, and service;
Now, therefore, the Faculty Senate resolves
to extend to the family of Professor Jack Child, including his wife Leslie Morginson-Eltzen and
his sons, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, heartfelt sympathy, deep gratitude, and great
appreciation for his many accomplishments and his dedicated service, and to have this resolution
placed in the Minutes of the Faculty Senate and conveyed to his family
September 21, 2011
Undergraduate Regulations Review, Leigh Riddick
Professor Riddick presented to the Senators some editorial changes and clarification on the
following topics;

Recommendation was made to change the language from “Freshman” to “First
year.” Female students have voiced dislike of the term “freshman.”

Incomplete grade language was edited to state that incompletes must be approved
72 hours prior to the final exam. Discussion was had to clarify when a student
must request with professor the intent to receive an incomplete as well as when a
professor must post the incomplete. There was general agreement that the
decision to grant an incomplete is something that occurs between the student and
faculty member.
The Senate VOTED13 in favor, 2 opposed and 2 abstentions
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
Final exam policy has been revised to accommodate students who have one or
more exams scheduled at the same time on the same day. Language was rewritten to clearly define process.
The Senate VOTED, 14 in favor, 3 opposed and 0 abstentions

Repetition of courses and freshman forgiveness was reviewed to decide if there
should be adjustments to how many classes should be included in both policies. It
was agreed that 5 classes including the two classes from freshman forgiveness for
a total in both policies of 5 classes.
The Senate VOTED and was passed unanimously.
Changes to the Senate Membership, Jim Girard
Professor Girard introduced the proposal from the Learning Assessment Committee, (LAC)
which was presented to the Senate to consider adding LAC as a standing committee of the senate
and to add a seat for the chair of LAC to the Senate membership. Because the LAC is very
involved with the assessment of students and middle states accreditation, it was felt they would
contribute greatly by having representation on the Senate. The Executive Committee has
reviewed this proposal and supports the change.
Dean Peres asked why the decision was made to remove the member from the General Education
Program from LAC. She felt very strongly that with the review process coming forward of the
General Education program, it would be important to have a general education member on the
Learning Assessment Committee. The senate agreed to add back a general education member as
an ex-officio member.
The Senate VOTED unanimously in favor.
Professor Girard said to resolve this addition and not to increase the current Senate Committee
membership numbers, Professor Girard suggested to appoint one of the two seats currently
represented by the Committee on Faculty Actions, (CFA) to LAC.
The Senate VOTED unanimously in favor.
Professor Girard asked if there were any issues for the good of the order?
Meeting was adjourned at 4:45 PM
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