Senate
College of Liberal Arts
April 13, 2015
CC 3540
2:30-4:00
MINUTES
1.
Approval of Agenda
Approved unanimously
2.
Approval of the March Minutes
Correction: There are separate appointments in the departments of English and Modern
Languages. They are not joint appointments. Minutes approved unanimously.
3.
Moderator’s Report
a.
The Senate is recruiting new members for the AAC, MHSP, and S & C
committees for Ay 15-16. Nominees do not need to be members of the Faculty
Senate.
b.
The SEC needs another member for the fall. Please see Bonnie Miller for more
information.
c.
If anybody is interested in being Senate Moderator please talk to Bonnie Miller.
d.
New members of the Faculty Senate will attend the May meeting. No toga is
required.
e.
If a department is replacing Faculty Senate representatives next year, please email
Kelly Ahearn.
f.
The Moderator has talked to Ross Center. They stated that they do not sanction or
support notes being posted in an online fashion on a website like flashnotes. They
stated that they don’t currently pay note takers.
g.
Thanks to efforts from our Dean, there is renewed activity in creating an
electronic One Form again. More to follow.
h.
Some CLA faculty have expressed frustrations and concerns with Blackboard.
Their concerns are related to the technology, but there are also concerns over the
ownership of their materials and content. Senators are asked to poll the faculty in
their departments about any concerns with Blackboard. Should the Senate take
this up?
1.
4.
5.
Discussion: Blackboard keeps student papers that are uploaded. (problem)
Dean’s Report
a.
The Open House was a success. It garnered 30-40% more people than expected.
b.
NEASC is in town. The faculty are encouraged to go to open meetings.
c.
The Dean’s office has authorized additional staffing for several departments.
d.
The computer replacement program is happening this year for faculty.
e.
The fiscal year 2016 budget meetings with Provost will happen later in the month.
The Dean is looking at department budgets now and asks for special requests to
be submitted, if needed.
f.
Dean’s office has not yet begun exploring additional faculty positions yet for
2015-16.
g.
Faculty searches have been very successful, with 16 ongoing. There has been only
one failed search in CLA so far this year.
h.
Our raises have been caught in a dispute between university system and state
government. Merit has been delayed.
i.
NTT contract changes are moving forward.
j.
There are lots of NTT continuing appointments to be part of the program. Dean’s
office is working with department chairs on this.
2/2 Discussion with Dean
a.
How are the seating targets created? Are they even amongst departments?
1.
b.
They are calculated based on how many students in a department were
being served under 3/3 load; that number is used for seat targets for the
2/2. In some cases we have lowered targets, and when more tenure-track
faculty get hired, this may increase targets. No major penalty to
departments if targets aren’t reached.
What happens if a department can’t meet its seat target goals?
1.
Targets may be lowered depending on the situation.
c.
For scheduling the Dean’s office uses a classroom grid schedule to fill all the
classroom slots at all times of the day due to classroom shortage. CLA is trying
to use space efficiently and is making the case for other colleges to do so.
d.
Question: What are the pedagogical repercussions of the 2/2 and large classroom
sections?
1.
CLA is trying to provide support for these types of classes.
2.
CLA wants to provide more support.
3.
Dean’s office in collaboration with the Senate could consider putting
together a taskforce to look into this.
e.
Question followup: CLA needs to look at support such as what TAs are allowed
to grade, also how much support can be added for writing?
g.
Question:
h.
Question: Some people feel the 2/2 helped with research time others felt it was
made worse.
1.
The Dean disturbed by this disparity.
2.
What can we do for writing support?
He wants more details to help fix it. Can this be fixed at the department or
college level?
a. Followup: Can we address this initially with an ad-hoc or senate
committee?
3.
i.
6.
Dean’s office thinks productivity in the departments is great.
a.
Followup: We have no formal teaching training, let alone training
to teach a large enrollment course.
b.
Followup: A large enrollment committee created a report a few
years ago, a new committee should look at this information.
c.
Associate faculty are concerned that getting to full professor is
being stalled by course redesign work needed for the large lecture
courses. These faculty members feel their research is being
hampered by the time being spent on large lecture course redesign.
Due to the 2/2, upper level courses are now bigger also. This is not ideal for
specialty courses.
Motions from the Academic Affairs Committee to approve the following New courses:
Motion to vote on courses as a block. Approved
7.
8.
a.
Asian/RelSty 239L Hindu Myth & Narrative
1.
Discussion: The description never states it is a religion course.
2.
Friendly amendment proposed to add this language.
3.
Approved with friendly amendment.
b.
ANTH 238 Empire and Imperialism: From Rome to the War in Iraq
1.
Senate has concerns over the course description.
2.
Course tabled and sent back to department.
c.
Block unraveled; courses will be voted on separately
d.
CLSICS 125G The Myth of the Hero
1.
Course approved unanimously
e.
HIST 317 Women in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
1.
Course approved unanimously
f.
LATIN 220 Readings in Latin Literature:
1.
Motion to approve with SEC final approval to check on pre-reqs.
2.
Course provisonially approved unanimously
Motions from the Academic Affairs Committee to approve the following changes to
courses:
a.
CRMJUS/SOCIOL 461L Internship in Law and Criminal Justice (reqs change)
CRMJUS/SOCIOL 462L Internship in Law and Juvenile Justice (reqs change)
CRMJUS/SOCIOL 474 Senior Seminar in Criminology and Criminal Justice
(reqs change)
HIST 252 African History to 1800 (title and desc change)
HIST 253 African History since 1800 (title and desc. Change)
HIST 255L Gods and Slaves: Latin America before 1800 (title & desc. change)
HIST 256L Skyscrapers and Shantytowns: Latin America since 1800 (title &
desc. change)
HIST 481 Research & Methods (title & desc. change)
PHIL 264 Nineteenth Century Philosophy (number/level change)
RelSty/Asian 233L Introduction to Islam (reactivation & crosslist)
b.
Motion to vote as a block.
c.
Voting block approved unanimously.
d.
All courses approved as a block.
Motions from the Majors, Honors and Special Program Committee to approve the
following:
9.
a.
Approval of Eng changes:
1.
Approved unanimously
b.
Approval of Center for Ethics
1.
Center is interdisciplinary and makes departments involved more diverse.
2.
MIT is supporting.
3.
Organizing research and service learning around the center.
4.
There is concern over the need for a fundraising consultant for grants and
whether the Dean’s office should be expending money for a consultant
who can help all CLA faculty working on grants.
5.
Senate would like Dean’s office to provide more support for grants.
6.
Center approved, 11 yes, 2 no
c.
Approval of Center for History
1.
No money required.
2.
New staff position added recently.
3.
Program needs a computer.
4.
The idea behind a center: collaboration with State Archives, public history
programs, projects in the community. Use to promote public history and
humanities. Consolidate and image and entity under one roof.
5.
Center approved unanimously
d.
Request for an update to the CLA website to feature new centers, once approved.
Meeting adjourned 4:14p
Minutes submitted by Anthony R. Phelps