Senate
College of Liberal Arts
March 9, 2015
CC 3540
2:30-4:00
AGENDA
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1.
Approval of Agenda: Approved
2.
Approval of the minutes from Dec. 15, 2014: Approved
3.
Moderator’s Report:
First meeting after the Winter break. The February meeting of the CLA Senate was
canceled when the university closed due to excessive snowfall.
CLAS has instituted a secret ballot on votes related to Majors, Honors and Special
Programs. Senators will mark their votes with a Y (yes) or N (no) on the agenda they
receive upon arrival. Senate Executive Comm. members will collect those agendas at
the end of the day’s meeting. Senators may request a secret ballot on other issues by
emailing or contacting the Moderator; they will remain anonymous to the Senate.
New Courses and Course Changes and similar business should be assumed to have
passed unless the Moderator otherwise notifies those individuals or departments
who submitted the requested.
The provost has asked the Senate to review the transfer credit policy. To prepare for
the review, the SEC has asked the Standards and Credits Committee to review the
current policy and related issues. With that review and the Committee’s
recommendations at hand, the Senate will review the matter, hopefully by the end of
the semester. The Dean notes that careful attention must be given to what
constitutes a university credit; currently one credit derives from or requires one
hour in class with a corresponding two hours of work outside class per week.
The Senate has established an exploratory task force on course governance. The
Moderator and Jacqueline Carlon have meet with the task force and explained how
the current system functions as well as what seems to work well and not so well. The
task force has been enjoined to research the policies of other universities, including
at least two others in the UMass system. The task force is expected to submit its
report by the end of the semester.
Mora Mast reports that an electronic 1Form is not a priority for the Provost and,
consequently, no electronic version is to be expected in the near future. The
Moderator hopes that the report from the exploratory task force will highlight the
need for and benefits of moving to an electronic format.
Meetings for next year’s CLAS are already on the UMass site.
Departments should start recruiting new senators ASAP.
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Dean’s Report:
Credit hour issue is serious business under the oversight of the federal government.
No special consideration has been or will be given to well established institutions,
i.e. there will be no easy street for any school.
Keep working for an electronic 1Form. Continued efforts are likely to move this issue
forward. Efforts should be made to highlight how much faculty time is being
consumed filing out this form.
A welcome day was held a week ago by the Dean for 60 to 70 early admission
candidates. The Dean changed the format somewhat, coordinating a series of
presentations by individual faculty.
A second welcome day will be held on April 11th and will probably feature
departmental tables rather than individual presentations.
The budget has come through—to some extent. New Initiatives budget is in, though
not much was given to the Deans. The CLA Dean did get some funds for
extraordinary funding. Departments should be alert to news from the Dean on this.
Hiring is going well; no failed searches so far. Three hires were made at end of last
semester: Sociology, Economics, and a joint appointment between Econ. and
Honors. These were replacement hires. Offers have been made on a joint
appointment between English and Modern Languages, while Political Science and a
few departments have offers out.
Regarding the 2-2, the union agreement allows the union and the faculty to review
the agreement and its consequences. The faculty has not expressed an interest in
such a review. The Dean agrees the the faculty.
The Union’s non-tenure track people have requested data. The Dean is confident
that the data will resolve issues under questions. NTT worries about which courses
are going to NTT and TT. A few departments are still concerned about stresses from
this change. The Dean is looking forward to hearing the views of the FSU on this
issue.
Convocation will be from 4 to 7pm on Wednesday the 27th. All commencement
activities will be in the Fleet Center. There will be no separate walks; the University
is following the lead of Northeastern, which managed effectively to conduct their
commencements in this manner. Honors convocation will be separate.
Proposals for new Centers should follow the current guidelines for approving
Centers.
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Motions from the Academic Affairs Committee to approve the following New
courses:
• Anth 264 Shamanisms
Approved with suggestion that it seek Diversity.
• Anth 343L/Afrsty 343 African Diaspora Archaeology
To be taught by either of two new appointments. Demand seems
substantial. Approved.
• Anth 364 Anthropology of Adolescence
Offered by new appointment in bio-cult-anthro. Approved.
• Engl 203 Writing Craft/Context/Design
Developed as a new entry into professional writing. Option for majors as
well. Approved.
• Engl 216 Reading and Writing Journalism
Also part of professional writing track. Treats multi-media in particular.
Approved.
• Engl 309 Multimedia Authoring
Another part of this program; Anderson, a new appointment, will teach this
course. A creative approach to multimedia and journalism. Approved.
• RelSty 271L Religion and the Arts
Cross-listed between Religious Studies and the Arts. Approved.
• Sociol 220 Sociology of Native Americans
Up for Diversity. Approved.
• WGS 401 Advanced Topics in Human Rights
This will examine the efficacy of HR initiatives, giving those interested a
deeper and detailed look at this subject. Approved.
6.
Motions from the Academic Affairs Committee to approve the following
Changes to courses:
• Art 356L Japanese Architecture (cross-list and requisites)
• Engl 101 Composition I (name & desc change)
• Engl 102 Composition II (name & desc change)
• Engl 200 Intro to Literary Studies (name, desc, reqs change)
• Engl 210 Intro to Creative Writing (desc & reqs change)
• Engl 211 Creative Writing: Poetry (desc. & reqs change)
• Engl 212 Creative Writing: Fiction (desc & reqs change)
• Engl 307 Journalism and Media Writing (name, desc, reqs change)
Reviewed as a block via Senate vote. Art 356 involves multiple
prerequisites, though students only have to have one of those prereqs.
Approved as a block.
7.
Motions from the Majors, Honors and Special Program Committee to approve
the following:
• Approval of CJ Minor. Not a new minor, rather one change.
Approval of Sociology Capstone. 461L will be listed as Capstone
course. Approved for review as block and approved as block.
• Approval of Theatre Arts Curriculum Change.
The proposal brings the program into line with other BA programs in TA,
rather than following a conversatory-style program. Course in costume
design has been added, while theater design has been dropped. In its place,
each student now must take four practica (practicums), which provide
increasingly sophisticated tasks in this hands-on craft. This will also enable
a better coordination of interests between students and their individual
mentors.
Question posed: How will this change faculty workload? Not clear how or if there
will be compensation in some form for the extra work involved. These tasks
have been and will continue to be lead by faculty; now, however, the
students will be distributed more evenly among the faculty involved. TA
faculty seems positive toward these changes. Some 60 students are being
supervised in each semester’s shows. These practica only apply to UMass
productions; external productions can lead to independent-study credits.
All TT faculty have specific areas and each area will have its practica
students. Questions posed regarding workloads and compensation, and
also regarding the amount of work involved in the academic side. Vote by
secret ballot.
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8.
Revisiting the 2:2 Discussion – What should be our next steps?
While an accountability mechanism is currently under discussion, the 2-2 is being
codified and thus merits a more detailed discussion. One issue is that many TT are
not union members, while union has larger number of NTT.
Suggestion made that the collection of comments made by the Moderated should be
organized and reviewed
Suggestion made for more transparency related to target numbers.
Many departments provided positive feedback, particularly for more research time.
Concerns for pedagogical welfare of students and a request for more information on
this issue.
Question about the relationship between the number of enrolled students in the
college and how many “high-enrollment targets” can be achieved/hit with current
enrollment numbers.
Question asked: Can departments coordinate their offerings, since there seems to be
growing competition in overlapping subjects.
Ten professional advisers are being hired; how is this related to the 2-2 and is this
attempt to lessen the advising burden of faculty?
Econ has for the first time run three new large lecture courses.
Observation made that many classroom environments are not suited to these large
section courses.
K. Issue raised that the academic support (tutoring) needs to be addressed and
improved. There seems to be a serious need for improved writing support, according
to a series of complaints.
L. Ross center will be contacted and asked to comment on issues of paid note-taking
and discussion about the right to make decisions effecting faculty courses. Concerns
also raised that these notes are being sold on the Internet.
9.
New Business