Minutes
Meeting of the Faculty Council
March 7, 2014, 10:00 a.m., Political Science & Planning Seminar Room, 1st Floor Pafford
In attendance: Chris Aanstoos, Greg Dixon, Pam Hunt-Kirk, Tom Hunter, Mike Johnson, Soo Moon, Alan Pope, Ashley
Smallwood, Brad Yates
APPROVAL OF MINUTES (10:06 a.m.)
1. Minutes of the meeting of February 7, 2014 (see FC web site: http://www.westga.edu/coss/index_172.php)
(Motion to approve; seconded; approved unanimously)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Updates from Dean’s Office
2. Other items taken from the floor
a. Anthropology: Waring Lab Open House-April 12th from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
b. Psychology: Humanistic Psychology at Work Conference-Transformational Leadership-April 5th from 10
a.m.-4:30 p.m.
c. Political Science & Planning: Thomas Murphy Center’s research and grant seeking component is looking
for businesses who would like to partner
d. Cultural Resource Management Certificate is fully approved
OLD & NEW BUSINESS
1. ACADEMIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (Hunt, Pope, Smallwood)
a. Proposal: to approve course and program modifications (see Course Catalog System) (Associate Dean
Smallwood)
i. Course modifications/additions/deletions
1) COMM 3305-Short-Form Screenwriting & Analysis (add)
2) COMM 4405-Sound Design (add)
3) COMM 4406-Digital Cinematography & Image Design (add)
4) COMM 4407-Film & Video Post-Production (add)
a. Motion to approve COMM additions as a block; seconded; approved
unanimously
b. Motion to approve COMM additions; seconded; discussion ensued regarding
course title overlap with existing course in another college; approved
unanimously
5) PSYC 4700-Ecopsychology (add)
6) PSYC 5700-Ecopsychology (add) (note about course enrollment-meet the undergraduate
numbers for it to make)
a. Motion to approve PSYC additions as a block; seconded; approved unanimously
b. Motion to approve PSYC additions; seconded; approved unanimously
ii. Program modifications/additions/deletions
1) Bachelor of Science with a Major in Mass Communications (modify concentrations and
catalog language)
a. Motion to approve program modifications; seconded; approved unanimously
2) Bachelor of Science with a Major in Mass Communications (add minor in Film & Video
Production)
a. Motion to approve program modifications; seconded; approved unanimously
3) Master of Arts with a Major in Psychology - Certificate in Integrative Health Studies
a. Motion to approve program modifications; seconded; approved unanimously
2. PLANNING COMMITTEE (Aanstoos, Johnson, Yates)
a. Elections
i. Send out call for nominations
1) Psychology and Sociology will elect new representatives to Faculty Council
2) At-large nomination for Chair of FC (two-year term) (tenured faculty only)
3) At-large nomination for Chair-Elect of FC (three-year term) (tenured faculty only)
ii. Need Senate Committee openings before asking for nominations (Jeff Johnson has been
queried)
iii. Faculty Council charged with encouraging colleagues to self-nominate or agree to being
nominated for open positions
b. Summer library privileges update
i. GPC considered the resolution, and “[i]t quickly became apparent that programs in different
colleges have very diverse requirements/expectations and differing needs. The conversations
also revealed some startling inequities.” (E-mail from Myrna Ganter to Neill Korbov)
ii. GPC will form a sub-committee to explore the issue further, reported G. Dixon
1) Library and College of Education opposed to free library access (ED-year round course
sign ups for credits)
2) Licensing is the opposition for the Library, but there is some question about the whether
the licensing language is prohibitive and would allow summer access
3) No assistantship in summer for our graduate students
3. FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (Hunter, Moon, Dixon)
a. A. Barnhart, G. Dixon, and B. Yates had a brainstorming meeting focused on Faculty Literacy Information
Institute initiative
i. Potential iterative initiative
1) Basic training to assist faculty with developing sound learning objectives and
assignments to meet those objectives
2) Second-level training to focus on assessment
3) Third iteration would allow faculty to be trainers and mentors
ii. B. Yates informally shared idea with the Dean, who was receptive to a formal pitch
iii. Faculty Council in favor of moving forward with a formal pitch to the Dean’s Office
4. OTHER BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
5. Adjourned at 11:38 a.m.