Department of History
Department Meeting 4-16-14
Present: Olsen, Foster, Ryan, Gustafson, Giffin, Nichols, Phillips, Stofferahn, Hawkins, Schneirov
Meeting was called to order at 3:20 pm.
Minutes from 3-26-14 were approved 10-0-0.
Announcements (from Olsen unless otherwise noted)
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As OIT is doing some of our Spring 2014 evaluations electronically, we have noticed that
if you have combined sections of the same class on Blackboard then your evaluations for
those sections of your classes will also be combined.
Dr. Barbara Skinner’s panel on the crisis in Ukraine will be held in the Cunningham
Library on Monday, April 21st at 6:00 pm.
The closing session for the Community Semester will be Wednesday, April 23, 2014 in
the Community Conference Center in the Federal Bldg. at 7:00 pm. The guest speaker
will be federal magistrate, Craig McKee.
Committee Updates
African and African American Studies (Ryan)
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AAAS Program Committee has met to complete assessment files and discuss
recruitment.
There is a group of AAAS alumni who would like to come to some AFRI classes maybe
once a month in the Fall to talk to students.
We will be co-sponsoring the play, The Color Purple, with the Theater Department in
Fall, 2014.
We expect that Dick Gregory will be here in November.
The assessment report will be presented at the next meeting.
Assessment (Phillips)
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Dr. Phillips announced that they assessed 25 portfolios using the usual scale. Overall the
scores were good – definitely have shown improvement, particularly in our often
problematic category of social responsibility (recently revised). Report is below.
She reminded faculty to please develop rigorous assignments for majors that allow us to
map curriculum to our objectives and outcomes.
We will be sending a list of all majors enrolled in history classes this semester – so
please save final papers.
Exit interviews will be conducted shortly.
Assessment Committee Report
The Assessment Committee met and evaluated material in 25 portfolios, all students who
graduated in summer or fall of 2013 or who are scheduled to graduate this semester. Overall,
our majors are doing well. Most graduate with strong analytical skills, they all get hands-on
experience working with primary and secondary sources, they develop a strong intercultural
knowledge base by taking courses in our program, they integrate the skills they learn in all of
our classes. Over the last two years, at least, we have all tried to create assignments that help
our students think about “individual, civic, and social choices,” especially in historical contexts.
As a result of our efforts, the Assessment Committee continues to find a marked improvement
in this area. The Committee asks that the Department continue to develop rigorous
assignments that ask our students to hone their skills in all of these areas. Always important:
ask students to submit two copies of assignments/papers and give one to Lisa and/or Ellen so
that we can add them to their portfolios. We have been doing a good job filling the folders, just
a reminder to continue.
Budget (Hawkins)
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Nothing to report.
Curriculum (Olsen, for D. Clark)
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Academic Affairs has rejected our argument about not accepting transfer credits for
courses that are required for the major (HIST 101, 102, 201, 202). Academic Affairs
(Susan Powers) feels it is too confrontational and goes against the state’s goal of
universal transferability.
We will need to do a revision of the major.
Have survey classes that would only be used for History & SS Ed. majors. Think about
re-designing & renaming the curriculum. Also consider revising or adding
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concentrations – especially African and African American Studies. There was widespread
support for this. Olsen offered to begin process over the summer for action early in the
fall.
Hist 695 revision. It was created as a 2 or 3 credit hr. course (this seems to have been a
typo). It should be 1, 2, or 3 credit hrs. Vote was taken and approved 10-0-0 to approve
this change.
Graduate (Phillips)
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The Graduate Committee recommended Graduate Assistantships for the following
students:
Returning (second-year) students: Mike Mattsey, Thea Simpson, and Alex Rodie
Incoming students: Bryan Matthison and ½ time position to Zachary Arms. Dr. Hawkins
made a motion to accept their recommendation and Dr. Giffin seconded the motion. It
was approved 11-0-0.
The committee has come up with a list of criteria for on-line students and international
students, which was distributed to everyone. The committee will work on these
admission guidelines for the new on-line program and make a recommendation at the
April 30 meeting.
Dr. Schneirov asked if there was enough money to cover all the few waivers, and Dr.
Olsen said they had always funded it in the past, but we will be way over this year.
There is normally additional fee waiver money available.
Retention/Tenure (Giffin)
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The committee had no report at this time.
Dr. Hawkins stated that the university salaries meet the average of peer universities.
This was presented to the Senate.
New Business
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Dr. Olsen brought up the 3-year contracts that have been approved to be offered to Don
Maxwell and Ruth Fairbanks. Fairbanks’s appointment will be primarily in Women’s
Studies (5/8 time). He asked for an approval from the History faculty. There was much
discussion about service, evaluations, and qualifications. No research obligations are
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required for this position. It was suggested that Ruth Fairbanks should have her Ph.D.
by the end of the contract, but that could be discussed during the first three-year
contract and during reviews. Dr. Nichols felt they should be able to teach any class, so if
they teach graduate classes then as a “regular” faculty member she (and anyone in that
position) would need to have the terminal degree. Dr. Schneirov made a motion to
approve Don Maxwell for the 3-year contract and Dr. Hawkins seconded the motion.
The motion passed 11-0-0.
We just found out that there will need to be a search process for the 3-year contract
position. We must post the position on the ATS for 5 days.
The report for the Dashboard Metrics must be turned in Monday, April 21th. We can
choose to eliminate or add items to the existing report. Josh Powers feels we should
add transfer students. Our current retention and graduate rates are higher than the
university averages. There was a long discussion re. how to measure experiential
learning – example, Music swipes ID cards at their events for student and faculty hours.
Dr. Foster asked if we were locked in to our report of if we could make changes. Dr.
Olsen stated since the Department Success Task Force hasn’t come out yet, they will
probably be asking for some revisions or at least we should have the opportunity to
make revisions in the future.
There was general agreement that we proceed with a measure for scholarly production
(a self-reported point system) and other aspects of teaching (tracking the success of
African American students who take classes in AAAS, for instance).
Meeting adjourned at 4:50 pm.