UH Hilo Faculty Congress
Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127
Members Present:
Norman Arancon, Brian Bays, Harald Barkhoff , Kathleen Commendador, Sevki
Erdogan, Emmeline dePillis, Ramon Figueroa-Centeno, Jean Ippolito, Barbara Leonard,
Seri Luangphinith, Yumiko Ohara, Hiapo K. Perreira, Yu Cheng Qin, Elizabeth Stacy,
Norman Stahl, Ghee Tan, La`akea Yoshida.
Members Not Present:
Kerri Inglis, Michele Ebersole, Sabry Shehata (Bruce Matthews was present and taking
notes for Dr. Shehata).
Ex-Officio Members Present:
Rose Tseng, Chancellor, Philip Castille, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Luoluo
Hong, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Debra Fitzsimons, Vice Chancellor for
Administrative Affairs, Randy Hirokawa, Dean, CAS, April Komenaka, Interim Dean,
CCECS, Linda Golian-Lui, Director, Library, Marcia Sakai, Dean, COBE.
Other Guests Present:
Bruce Matthews, Dexter Irvin, Henry Yada.
I
Meeting was called to order at 3:05 pm. Motion to approve minutes from
11/13/09 meeting was approved by acclamation.
II
Introduction of new Athletic Director, Dexter Irvin. Welcome Mr. Irvin!
II
Report from Chair: Sevki reported that the membership of the search committee
has been finalized, and that he and Barbara Leonard from Faculty Congress are on
it. The search committee has met once and is working on the MQs and DQs for
the new Chancellor, which will be posted to the UHH website soon. UH President
Greenwood met with the Faculty Congress Thursday, 12/3 to discuss the financial
situation of the State of Hawaii and the University of Hawaii. Sevki reported that
he has been attending a lot of meetings.
III
Committee Reports:

Executive Committee:
Motion: To approve the following Achievement Award to be engraved on a
plaque and granted to Dr. Regina Titunik, posthumously.
Achievement Award
The University of Hawaii at Hilo
2009-2010 Faculty Congress
Recognizes Dr. Regina Titunik
UH Hilo Faculty Congress
Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127
For Her Service to the University
For Her Teaching Excellence
For Her Research Contributions
And For Being a Role Model
To Us All
The motion was approved by acclamation

Motion: To amend Charter to enable Congress to use electronic voting to change
the Charter (Second reading, changes will be sent to the faculty via written ballot
to approve these changes. Proposed changes are highlighted)
Article VII, Amendments to the Charter
Whenever after two readings, a majority of the Congress votes to amend the
Charter, the proposed amendment shall be referred to the faculty for ratification,
and written or electronic ballots shall be distributed to all UH Hilo tenure-track
faculty. The Charter shall be amended when proposals are approved by a majority
of those voting.
Motion approved by acclamation

Motion: To amend the Bylaws to charge Faculty Congress with administering
annual Dean evaluations and to allow for electronic ballots: (Second reading)
6. Administrative Review
Congress will conduct an annual administrative review. Tenured and tenure-track
faculty will be sent a confidential form via electronic or written means. If the
form is mailed, it is to be returned in a blank inner envelope with the faculty
member’s name on the outer envelope. At least three Congress members will
oversee the opening of the envelopes such that confidentiality is maintained. The
forms will be analyzed and summarized with a report sent to the appropriate
supervisor. In the case of an electronic form, every reasonable means should be
taken to ensure confidentiality, anonymity, and one vote per person. At least three
Congress members will oversee the electronic assessment and compilation of
results. In the case of a Presidential evaluation, a report will be sent to the Board
of Regents. In the case of a Chancellor evaluation, a report will be sent to the
President. In the case of Vice Chancellor evaluations, a report will be sent to the
Chancellor. In the case of Deans, a report will be sent to the Chancellor via the
Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. Academic units may choose to administer
their own Dean evaluations, but if they have not done so by April 15 of each year,
UH Hilo Faculty Congress
Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127
Congress will be charged with administering the Dean evaluation. The report
summary will be reviewed by Congress in executive session and shall not be
reported in the minutes.
Discussion: It was suggested that Faculty Congress use Survey monkey or some
other email device to ask the faculty in each unit each year if they want Faculty
Congress to administer or assist them in evaluating their Dean. If the faculty in a
unit wish to do their own Dean evaluation, Congress will not perform a Dean
evaluation for that unit unless the unit itself has not administered the Dean
evaluation by April 15 of each year.
Motion approved, 12 for, 0 against, 2 abstain.

Motion: That the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs take measures to
efficiently utilize all available classrooms so that the maximum amount of courses
can be offered to our students.
Rationale: Currently classroom allocation is partitioned among different units,
which results in an underutilization of classroom space and tuition revenues.
Discussion: It is necessary that one person be in charge of classroom assignments
in order to efficiently allocate classroom space and offer more courses. Since
classroom assignment is an academic affair, the consensus is that the VC of
Academic Affairs be in charge of classroom allocation.
Motion approved unanimously.
Admissions Committee: Report from Emmeline de Pillis, Chair
UHH changed its admissions standards around 2000, and no longer requires an
SAT or ACT score. The sole requirement to UHH for first-time freshmen is a
3.0 HSGPA. Most first-year still submit SAT scores, however.
According to our strategic plan, UH Hilo does not do remediation; that is
supposed to be done in the CCs. Although we have placement tests that are
taken at the student's discretion, we have no single measure of what
constitutes a remedial student. Many institutions use SAT or ACT scores to
place students into remedial courses. The SAT cutoff ranges from 400 to
480. We used the midpoint, a cutoff score of 440, to estimate which of our
first time freshmen are likely to require remediation. Since 2002, all of
our first-time-freshman enrollment growth has come from students likely to
require remediation.
UH Hilo Faculty Congress
Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127
One possible contributing factor is grade inflation in high schools,
resulting in a 3.0 GPA no longer signaling adequate preparation. Another
possible contributor is that most universities do require a minimum SAT or
ACT score, so we are signaling to potential students that we are the place
to go for those with weak test scores.
This ongoing trend has implications for retention, graduation, and classroom
interaction. The Admissions Committee is formulating recommendations for
the incoming Chancellor.
Assessment Committee: Report from Seri Luangphinith, Chair
Report on the work of the Assessment Support Committee for Fall 2009. The VCAA
funded the attendance of the GE Committee Chair, the Assessment Support Committee
Chair, and the WASC coordinator at the WASC Assessment Retreat in San Jose in
October. At that time, several recommendations were offered in informal review of the
documents associated with the GE Program and Program Review:
1. That a comprehensive assessment plan need to be developed, which could start
working at aligning courses in GE at the 100-level and the 200-level vis-à-vis the
learning outcomes identified by the GE Committee;
2. Work on actual assessment tools and corresponding assessment rubrics had to begin
immediately;
3. Direct student input, which had been lacking in the past, needed to be better integrated
into the process;
4. Many of the goals for GE could easily be worked into Program Review to give
departments and programs a basic foundation.
The Committee has, in the last month, tackled the first three. During our alignment
session, teachers were surprised how their definitions of student success (exhibited
skills) were very similar to each other and to student perceptions, which we garnered
through informal surveys of students provided by the student representative. We then
identified a signature assignment (research paper) and have developed a draft of the first
assessment rubric, which we will test read in January (based on papers from this term)
and work toward a larger sampling of student papers at the end of Spring 2010. Our
rubric was designed in consultation with WASC benchmarks, the assessment program
developed by the librarians in LILO, and a few sample rubrics from other universities.
Our rubric measures the following: Documentation Conventions, Appropriateness of
Sources, Evaluating Sources, and Integrating Sources.
UH Hilo Faculty Congress
Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127
It became clear that this one rubric and this one assignment would not give teachers
enough information on how well students are (or are not) gaining skills on finding and
analyzing appropriate information. Specifically, a research paper is a good indicator of
whether a student knows documentation conventions, if the writer knows what kind of
information is required for the paper, and how well that information is addressed
(critically analyzed); a paper will not necessarily show if a student knows how to
approach research databases since PDF versions of articles will not reflect source (i.e.
LexisNexis, JSTOR, etc.). This suggests that other assessment tools can be identified
(annotated bibliographies) or developed (questionnaires) to help teachers assess the
quality of the process as opposed to simply the end product.
Academic Policy Committee: Report from Ramon Figueroa-Centeno, Chair
Motion #1: Change the existing Grade Policy to the following:
 Once a student has graduated, grade changes may not be made in the student’s
record except in cases of documented instructor error. Requests for changes
resulting from documented instructor error must be made through the College
Dean within the following regular (fall or spring) semester. The Dean will
communicate the change of grade to the Registrar’s office, which will implement
the change.
 Rationale: There is no policy on this matter, and recently, two offices disagreed
as to what the policy should be when a faculty member attempted to change a
grade given in error after a student had graduated. One office thought that no
changes should be made after a student graduates. It was generally agreed that
students should not have the opportunity to do more work to raise a grade in this
situation. This policy is intended to delineate both the circumstances under which
grade changes could be made and the person authorized to make the
determination.
Motion approved unanimously
Motion #2: Approve revised policy on Residency Requirement:
 The current policy appears in the 2009-2010 catalog, page 46-47. The relevant
parts of the policy are provided, with proposed changes in bold. New language is
underlined.
Baccalaureate Degrees: General Requirements
Baccalaureate degrees are granted only to those students who 1) earn at least 120
semester hour, 2) complete satisfactorily the program of courses prescribed for
their majors, 3) earn at least a 2.0 UH Hilo cumulative GPA in courses required
for the major (a higher GPA may be required for some degrees) and minor (if
any), 4) earn a minimum of 30 semester hours from UHH, 5) are registered as a
classified student with a declared major and in attendance at the University
of Hawaii at Hilo during the semester or summer session in which the degree
is granted, 5) have been registered as classified students with a declared
major in attendance at UH Hilo within the preceding year and 6) meet all
requirements of their respective colleges and departments.
UH Hilo Faculty Congress
Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127

Rationale: In CAS, exceptions are granted in every case appealed by students who
have completed their requirements but who have failed to apply on time for
graduation during their final semester. Students who do not appeal must register
for an additional credit and spend another semester in residence. This presents a
financial burden for students, who gain minimal value for the money.
The requirement as it stands is neither equitably applied, not does it further any of
the university’s goals for its students.
Motion approved unanimously
General Education Committee:
Report from Jean Ippolito, Chair

Motion for the final endorsement of all documents (posted on the Faculty
Congress website for this meeting) to be submitted to the Vice Chancellor of
Academic Affairs for the Fall 2011 implementation of the General Education
Program, including the Fall 2010 catalog preview.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Fall 2010 Catalog Preview
Fall 2011 Catalog Entry
Matrix for 2010 Preview and 2011 Catalog Entry
Articulation of General Education Transfer Policy
Policies on Retroactive Credit and Special Topics courses
Finalized Learning Outcomes for Catalog Entry and Assessment Purposes
GE Certification Tally Sheet
GE Certified Course List by Category
Motion approved unanimously
New Business

Presentation from the Long Range Development Plan Committee, Harry Yada
and VCAA Debra Fitzsimons distributed a handout prepared by PBR HAWAII &
Associates, Inc. and Design Partners, Inc., which identifies different master plans
for the future development of the campus facilities. Because of the lateness of the
hour, it was decided to devote the entire January 22, 2010 Faculty Congress
meeting on this topic alone, and to invite all the faculty to attend the meeting
(UCB 127??).