Minutes from the CAS All-Senate Meeting on 11/01/13
1. The CAS Senate Executive Members, the 3 members of the APC and the 4 members of the
CRC committee were introduced. The Chair of the Senate, Jean Ippolito, pointed out that the
website for the CAS Senate is located under the website for the UHH Congress. In the right
hand column, members may click on CAS Senate.
2. Steven Colbert, Chair of the CRC, gave a brief report on the CRC’s recent activities. Of the
85 courses examined, additional information is requested of 11 courses and the rest were
approved. Out of the 16 programs examined, 11 were approved and 5 programs were asked to
supply additional information.
3. Yoshiko Fukushima confirmed that the APC was to meet the following week. She stated that
the CAS Charter doesn’t require 4 members on the APC, so the committee will consist of 3
members this year.
Jean Ippolito mentioned that the new CAS Charter was just reworded last spring for clarity
but no policy changes were implemented, thus, the By-Laws did not need All-Senate approval.
Both the old and new versions are available on the CAS Senate website.
4. A lively discussion ensued on the issue of the CAS TPRC Documents, particularly in view of
the problems that arose from last year’s TPR procedures. Randy Hirokawa, Thom Curtis, Jan
Ray, Jim Beets and Doug Mickkelson brought up issues such as the confusion of two different
procedures, the current confusing language in the document that states “the [candidate] is
expected to meet, or exceed…the aforementioned accomplishments” and the inconsistencies that
have occurred evaluating candidates’ previous service from other institutions. Randy Hirokawa
stated that regardless of when the candidate applied, the criteria for promotion would remain the
same. It was suggested that the words “to exceed” be stricken from the document, and that a
reoccurring sentence concerning “the criteria for promotion would remain the same” for all
candidates going up for promotion be added. The Dean will make the changes and send the new
TPRC document to Jean Ippolito. The TPRC Document will also be sent to the APC for
consideration, and afterwards will be again be presented to a future CAS All-Senate Meeting.
5. The request from the School of Nursing to include nursing students on the Dean’s List as well
as for Honors was presented. Randy Hirokawa stated that this was a reasonable request given
that many of the credit-noncredit nursing courses cannot be restructured to a letter-grade status.
However, the problem of equivalencies to judge excellence will be sent to the APC to determine
how to apply the nursing program to the Dean’s List and Honors.
6. The question was raised about recent rumors to sunset the Philosophy Department. The Dean
remarked that those were just rumors. Disbanding the Philosophy Department would not make
financial sense, either. Additionally, there is no proper procedure for retrenchment; furthermore,
this is the responsibility of the Board of Regents, not Administrators. Doug Mikkelson asked to
be put on record, speaking strongly for the legitimacy of the study of Philosophy. It is not an
expendable area of study, but a fundamental program for a Liberal Arts College.
7. The possible re-organization of CAS was brought up. Doug Mickkelson pointed out that this
issue has been brought up numerous times without success, and that there are previous
documents that should be revisited. The Dean suggested that the detailed cost analysis done by
Steve Worchell should be presented. Jim Beets brought up the strong support of the Natural
Sciences faculty for their own school. Thom Curtis appeared opposed to reorganization without
a detailed examination of the CAS systemic problem that would need to be addressed. Unless it
was a burning issue, the reorganization of CAS would appear to be a costly and involved
venture.
7. Jean Ippolito suggested that the CAS All-Senate meet once a month to encourage discussion, a
forum for the CAS faculty to express their concerns. Dr. Hirokawa suggested that the Vice
Chancellor attend the December 6th All-Senate meeting to discuss the budget. He stated that he
would contact the Vice Chancellor for that purpose.