Agenda
Meeting of the Faculty Council
February 7, 2014, 10:00 a.m., Criminology Department Conference Room, 2rd Floor Pafford
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Minutes of the meeting of January 10, 2014 (see FC web site: http://www.westga.edu/coss/index_172.php)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Updates from February 5, 2014, Chairs Meeting
a. Engage West Survey-President wants 100% completion
b. BOR response to submitted FY15 budget expected February 18th
c. Lack of course coverage in Criminology and Sociology has become critical; faculty lines are desperately
needed
d. Administrative Council met to discuss a policy for Chairs’ teaching load, pros and cons of 10-month vs.
12-month contracts, and ideal course enrollment caps and submitted a proposal to the Dean for review
e. Assessment workshop will be scheduled to help inform documentation needed for SACS (i.e., how does
the annual report relate to SACS documentation; differences between program effectiveness and
measuring program outcomes; etc.)
f. Smoke-free campus is inevitable; all USG campuses
g. B. Yates representing COSS while Dean and Chairs are at administrators conference
2. Other items taken from the floor
a. QEP focus is undergraduate writing in core areas; assessment methodology may affect POLS 1101
b. Raises are still in play
c. Student Travel Award Deadline is Feb. 10th
d. Associate Dean Smallwood requested if any departments have events they would like to be part of
Alumni Weekend in April to let her know
e. March 31st is Honors Day
i. Associate Dean Smallwood reminded everyone of the Community Talks the morning of Honors
Day and encouraged all to attend and share with students
ii. Reminder of COSS Faculty & Staff Honors Ceremony from 3-4 p.m. followed by a reception from
4-5 p.m.
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 3352-Fundamentals of Television Production (modify)
2) COMM 4421P-Practicum: Bluestone Public Relations Firm (modify)
3) COMM 4452-Advanced Film & Video Production (modify)
4) CRIM 2275-Introduction to Corrections (add)
a. Motion to approve; seconded; approved unanimously with friendly reminder to
add syllabus
5) SOCI 3001-Preparing for Success in Sociology (modify)
6) SOCI 4003-Applied Statistics for Sociology (modify)
7) SOCI 4015-Analyzing and Visualizing Data (add)
8) SOCI 4204-Women in American Society (delete)
9) SOCI 4503-Individual and Society (delete)
10) SOCI 4513-Comparative and Social Psychology (delete)
11) SOCI 4801-Poverty (delete)
12) SOCI 4913-Sociology of Everyday Life (delete)
13) SOCI 5003-Applied Statistics for Sociology (modify)
14) SOCI 6003-Advanced Statistics for Sociology (add)
15) SOCI 6305-Advanced Sociological Theory (modify)
ii. Motion to approve the COMM courses as a block; seconded; approved unanimously
iii. Motion to approve the SOCI course additions and modifications as a block; seconded; approved
unanimously
iv. Motion to approve the SOCI course deletions as a block; seconded; approved unanimously
v. Program modifications/additions/deletions
1) Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Psychology (terminate pre-major)
2) Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Psychology (modify undergraduate criteria)
3) Bachelor of Science with a Major in Criminology (add CRIM 2275 as choice in Area F)
4) Bachelor of Science with a Major in Mass Communications (modify sequences)
5) Certificate in Global and Comparative Studies (add)
6) Certificate in Social Diversity (add)
7) Certificate in Social Science Research Skills (add)
8) Certificate in Social Services (add)
9) Master of Arts with a Major in Sociology (applied track)
10) Master of Arts with a Major in Sociology (limiting hours of independent studies)
11) Master of Arts with a Major in Sociology (modifying statistics requirement)
12) Motion to approve program additions, 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 timeline for nominations and elections
1) Call for nominations will be sent out after open Senate positions are forwarded
2) Prefer to release ballot last week of February
b. Strategic Plan
i. Dean charged FC to review the plan and link current practices
ii. Need to identify sections of plan that may need revision
iii. CCG can be a guide during the review
c. Summer library privileges update
i. Several questions have been raised regarding the resolution (see Appendix A)
1) Responses noted within Appendix A
ii. Current resolution will not pass through GPC
iii. Additional evidence needed to demonstrate the cost-benefit analysis
3. FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (Hunter, Moon, Dixon)
a. Ad-hoc committee (G. Dixon, P. Hunt, B. Yates) meets on Friday, February 7th, with A. Barnhart and S.
Peralta to brainstorm ideas for a Faculty Information Literacy Institute
4. OTHER BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Appendix A
Submitted by Elizabeth Cramer, Chair of Senate Graduate Programs Committee
February 6, 2014
Resolution: The College of Social Sciences Faculty Council formally recommends the Faculty Senate consider a university
policy change to allow graduate students use of the library during the summer free of charge even if they are not
registered in summer classes.
Questions:
(1) Anyone with a driver's license can walk into Ingram library and acquire basic library privileges (limited book check
out, use of the Internet and UWG- and USG-held databases in the library, access to the reference librarians). Which
specific privileges beyond this are of benefit to graduate students?
a. Inter-library loan is not available to everyone with a driver's license. ILL is a key part of a graduate students research
arsenal.
b. Graduate students in Social Sciences and Humanities (as well as other disciplines) need the library and its resources to
continue their research in the summer just as a Nursing graduate student would need access to a medical mannequin or
a Biology student would need access to a specialized microscope or a Computer Science student would need access to a
computer lab with a particular software program to progress through his/her graduate program. When electronic access
to the library and its resources is suspended in the summer for graduate students in Humanities and Social Sciences it is
like locking Nursing students out of their new building or suspending card access for Biology students to gain entry into
their lab.
(2) Why should graduate students not taking classes have privileges that other students only have when they are paying
tuition? How is the privilege of using the library different from other student services, such as health services or use of
the campus center (both of which students have access to when they pay fees associated with credit hours)? Will
students doing research "free of charge" with library resources over the summer also assume that they should have
access to other university personnel (faculty advisors, etc.)? "free of charge"?
a. Based on this argument, it appears the goal is to punish graduate students for continuing their professional
development by not giving them access to the library during the summer. If this University is touting itself as a
comprehensive research university, then it should offer comprehensive resources. Research One universities provide
access for their graduate students over the summer. Typically, if a graduate student has registered for fall classes,
he/she has library privileges for the summer prior to the fall semester.
b. To the point of having access to other university personnel (i.e., faculty advisors), one would think that when a
graduate student chooses a thesis or dissertation advisor that faculty member would be available (within reasonable
limits) during the entire graduate program.
(3) Cost-benefit analysis: How should the university offset any costs associated with this new policy? Costs of the
library's implementation of a policy change? Tuition dollars lost because students don't enroll in "Continuing Research"
or "Research for Dissertation" courses?
a. If the University is going to operate all year with fall, spring, and summer courses, then the facilities and resources
should be available all year around.
b. If the issue is that some graduate students would be getting something free over others, then institute a small charge
($20) (like the health services fee, Campus Center fee, etc.) that is part of registration fees to cover the costs of the
library databases and other associated resources.
(4) How will this policy help the recruitment, retention, progression, and graduation of graduate students?
a. If graduate students are able to get a bulk of their research completed in the summer because the library resources are at
their disposal, then they will progress through their program more quickly and efficiently and graduate within a reasonable time
frame rather than languishing for two or three extra years because they didn't have access to the tools they needed to complete
their degree program. The bottom line is that for graduate students in certain disciplines, there is no alternative to do their
research except through the library and its resources (databases, etc.).
b. The University needs to invest in its graduate programs and continue its commitment to provide the resources needed for
students to achieve success. The top imperative in the University's strategic plan is achieving student success; summer library
privileges are a key component to helping graduate students be successful. Its second imperative is academic success and the
objectives to achieve this success align with the proposed resolution.
From the University Strategic Plan:
Strategic Imperative #2: Academic Success - Academic Programming and Faculty Support
Goal C. Enhance the support for and recognition of scholarship, research, and creative
activities conducted by faculty and students
Objective 1: Identify and implement initiatives to promote scholarship and research that
improve teaching and learning; and
Objective 2: Implement a support system that encourages and recognizes research that
engages students, solves problems, and advances creativity and knowledge; and
Objective 3: Identify clear scholarly, creative, and research priorities, and allocate
resources to drive and support those priorities.