Academic Council Minutes
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Final – Oct. 12, 2003
College of Arts and Sciences
Academic Council
Minutes
DATE:
PLACE:
TIME:
September 17, 2003
Damen Hall 147, LSC
6:00 PM
Members Present: D. Birge, J. Kerkering , P. Chiarelli, I. Crawford, G. Dobrov, B. Fiorentino,
A. Giaquinto, C. Gilbert, T. Gross-Diaz (Chair), M. Hermansen, E. Lozano, L. Miller, C.
Peterson, B. Pickett, R. Sedam, L. Stalans, M. Udo, A. Vander Nat, J.A. Williams, and J. Wilson.
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm.
Approval of the Agenda –Vote: 19-0-0. Motion carried.
Approval of the Minutes – Minutes of the 4/23/02 Meeting with corrections. Vote: 19-0-0.
Motion carried.
Introductions: Dr. Gross-Diaz asked that all members introduce themselves.
2500 Committees Reports – Dr. Gross-Diaz asked that the members of the various committees
meet and elect a chairperson.
I. Curriculum Committee – No report at this time.
II. By-Laws Committee – No report at this time.
III. Core Curriculum Committee – No report at this time.
IV. Elections Committee– No report at this time.
V.
Writing Intensive Ad Hoc Committee – Dr. Birge – Dr. Birge reported that the committee
has met and are considering the 28-page report on Writing Intensive courses prepared by
the graduate students working on this project. The report analyzes the content of WI
courses across departments. The committee will make recommendations and bring their
conclusions to Academic Council at either the October or November meeting.
VI. Ad Hoc CAS Dean’s Search Committee – Dr. Gross-Diaz called for volunteers who would
be willing to be considered for appointment to the CAS Dean’s Search Committee. The
following individuals indicated interest or were nominated:
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Loretta Stalans, Criminal Justice, WTC
Jonathon Wilson, Theater, LSC
John A. Williams, Political Science, LSC
Academic Council Minutes
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Maria Udo, Physics, LSC
VII. USG – Student Government – Sabrina Talorovich
1. Library Hours - The USG has passed a referendum requesting that Library hours be
extended to after midnight from Monday-Thursday. The USG representatives will be
meeting with the Dean of Libraries on Thursday.
2. Elections – Many students participated in the elections for USG. There was a good
turnout of voters.
3. Core Revision – 12-15 student representatives are working with the Core Revision
Committee.
4. Safety Issues on Campus – The new system with the shuttle vans does not appear to be
working well for students and USG would like the new system reconsidered. As an
example, students will sometimes have to get off of one van at the south end of campus,
walk through campus and then board a second van at the north end of campus.
Additionally the hours have been cut, ending at 1:00 am.
2501 Dean’s Report – Dr. Crawford
1. Enrollment for Fall 03 – Dr. Crawford reported that the enrollment for this semester,
Fall 03, was 1,15 new freshmen (1,540 – CAS), and 397 transfer students. This is a
record number. The data on the credentials of the students is not available yet. The
ACT/SAT/Class Rank over the past three years has been quite good. Enrollment
Management’s emphasis was on our traditional Midwestern base and our feeder
schools. We did however, recruit students from all of the 50 states. In future years,
expectations are that 1,900 entering students would be a standard number for LSC and
primarily in CAS. An additional 2,000 are projected for WTC, with 400-500 in CAS.
The Dean’s Office will be working with Admissions on this issue.
2. Diversity – This year, student enrollment is the most diverse. The Dean expressed
concern that the faculty was not equally diverse noting that of the 326 faculty in CAS,
only 5% were of ethnic or racial minority groups. He further noted that 37-38% of the
faculty is female. Ethnic or racial minority groups include African American,
Hispanic/Latino, multi-racial, Asian, and “other” but does not include women. Dr.
Crawford indicated that new faculty hires should be recruited with a good-faith effort to
focus on the possibility of hiring minority candidates.
3. Faculty – Dean Crawford indicated that he would be meeting with the Provost on
Thursday to discuss new faculty hires for the College. The Administration feels that
the College is currently right-sized, with expectation that 4-5% of faculty will be on
leave each year. CAS faculty teaches 80-85% of the undergraduate courses offered.
2502 Chair’s Report – Dr. Gross-Diaz
1. +/- Grades – The Academic Affairs University Policy Committee (UPC) passed the
recommendation that the +/- grading system be adopted for the entire university. The
Provost has final approval on this matter and has informally indicated his support for
this change. The new cutoff for passing/failing would be a “C” grade instead of the
Academic Council Minutes
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current policy in which “D” still passing. The grade scale and policy will be
forthcoming after formal approval by the Provost.
2. Core Curriculum Revision Subcommittee –A new announcement and report were
released earlier today regarding the progress of the Core Curriculum Committee. All
indications are that the University Core will be smaller and more flexible. The
Language Requirement motion requiring students to demonstrate proficiency, which
was passed by AC last year has been postponed by the Dean, noting that it was
physically impossible to implement until the new Core is in place. The timetable for
completion is on the Core Revision website. The Committee has agreed upon 12
learning outcomes. It will be brought before the steering committee in October and
then brought before the University community for response and comment. Pam will
add a link to this information to the AC website.
3. Interdisciplinary Programs/Tracks within Majors – Dr. Birge has been collecting
information on new programs on campus. She is finding that this issue is proving to be
more complicated than originally anticipated. Perhaps it would be appropriate to set up
a new Ad Hoc Committee to look at this in the near future. Dr. Gross Diaz noted there
seems to be a new desire to hire interdisciplinary faculty.
2503 New Business
Library De-Shelving Proposal – Dr. Birge mentioned that the Library is considering deshelving from the Dewey system, old books that have not been accessed for a number of
years. They would like to reclassify into the Library of Congress System for the books that
are being circulated. After a short discussion, Dr. Sedam noted that library space is a big
issue and recommended that everyone consult the Library website for the announcement
from the Dean of Libraries on this issue. Pam will add a link to this information to the AC
website.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 pm.