ACADEMIC SENATE 2012-2013
Larry G. Pagel, Chair
Tim Hilton, Vice Chair
Mark Shevy, Secretary
Meeting of the Academic Senate
Tuesday, December 4, 2012, 3:05 p.m.
Ontario Room, University Center
DRAFT MINUTES
Present: Larry Pagel (Chair), Tim Hilton(Vice Chair), Mark Shevy (Secretary), Paul Lang (Provost),
Ron Sundell (AAUP Liaison), Randy Appleton (Member at Large), Linda Lawton (Member at
Large), David Boe (Past Chair), Jonathan Allen, Derek Anderson, Brian Cherry, Zac Cogley, Dave
Donovan, Richard Eathorn, Peter Goodrich, Jill Leanord, Russell Magnaghi, Donald Marquardt,
Marguerite Moore, Mitsutoshi Oba, Glenna Pendleton, Cale Polkinghorne, Dave Prychitko,
Robert Quinn, Jamal Rashed, Marty Reinhardt, Bruce Sarjeant, Marge Sklar, Carol Strauss, Mary
Jane Tremethick, Darlene Walch, Bitsy Wedin
Absent: Rachel Nye (Member at Large), Mike Broadway, Robbie Goodrich, John MacDevitt,
JoAnna Perucco, Nancy Redfern, Harvey Wallace, Kevin Waters
Guests: Brent Graves, David Wood, Rob Winn, Kim Rotundo, Sandra Poindexter, Dale Kapla
I.
Call to Order at 3:05 p.m.
II.
Additions to/Adoption of Agenda
Agenda was approved
III.
Approval of Draft Minutes of Tuesday, November 20, 2012
No corrections. Minutes were approved
IV.
Reports:
A. Chair
Senate actions of September 25, October 9, October 23, November 6, and
November 20 were approved by Provost Lang.
L. Pagel has received faculty grants awards ranking from GPC. The Senate will
read the report in January. They are due to Dr. Cherry by February 1.
B. Vice Chair
No Report
C. Secretary
No Report
D. Provost
No Report
E. ASNMU
Not in attendance. L. Pagel hopes they will join us next semester. New ASNMU
members were sworn in that expressed interest in attending these meetings.
V.
Unfinished Business
A. Graduation List for Fall 2012 (Second Reading)
No question or debate. Motion adopted.
B. EXSEN Report: Liberal Studies Reform Task Force Recommendations to Provost
(Second Reading)
A revised document for discussion was emailed to Senate members earlier
today. Discussion open to two co-chairs: D. Wood and R. Winn. D. Wood
received a comment regarding size of GEC. He expressed that we all want this to
work as well as possible. The General Education Council will include members
from each college and two at-large representatives.
D. Donovan moved that the revisions in the document emailed today become
amendments to the original proposal. P. Goodrich seconded. Discussion about
the amendments followed.
C. Strauss moved to amend the amendment to remove 7 faculty and insert 9
faculty; seconded by M. Sklar. Discussion ensued. C. Strauss raised concerns
about the number of courses from each college. Discussion ensued. Most of the
council members would be evaluating courses that are not in their own specialty.
B. Graves stated that the goal is that students should understand how a course
meets the objectives of a division; faculty from any department should be able
to do the same. R. Winn discussed structure of learning objectives. M. Reinhardt
asked for more information about what the council will do in phases 2 & 3. D.
Donovan asked R. Sundell whether there would be an option to make changes
once the number of faculty are voted upon. R. Sundell responded yes, there
would be that option. It was suggested that the council have enough members
to cover members who have sabbaticals and other leave. It was asked whether
the GEC would still be a Senate committee and whether the Senate have the
opportunity to make changes to it. L. Pagel explained that the Senate needs to
make that recommendation. Z. Cogley raised contractual concerns. B. Graves
responded that an MOU would need to be signed. B. Graves said this would be a
university wide committee. The point of the proposal is to have fair faculty input
and put an end to gridlock. Z. Cogley was concerned that the gridlock would still
be an issue. R. Winn addressed this issue. GEC would bring changes to the
Senate. The Senate would still establish outcome goals by which the council
evaluates courses. That keeps control of curriculum in hands of the Senate. D.
Donovan mentioned that not all Senate committees are chosen by CEC, thus we
aren’t doing anything that hasn’t been done before within the Senate. B. Graves
explained that the committee would do assessment, and there would be
feedback to improve the program. The committee has the ability to tell
instructors what needs to be changed in a General Ed course. B. Graves agreed
that it is a grey issue, whether the GEC is a Senate committee. R. Appleton
commented that 9 members make less work for members than 7. R. Sundell
responded that the more committee members the more difficult to fill the
committee. P. Lang made a commitment that work load would be monitored. D.
Wood said we don’t want the work load to be burdensome. Wood’s preference
for size is 7 members with 2 votes for the Registrar and Dean position; large
committees become too unwieldy. The work load would consist of 5
subcommittees of 2 and registrar office. R. Sundell was concerned about size of
committee and would vote for 7.
R. Appleton moved to close debate; seconded by D. Walch. Adopted.
Vote for the amendment to the amended document - 9 committee members on
GEC: motion defeated.
M. Reinhardt asked whether the new program should include the term “world
cultures.” B. Graves responded that it wasn’t discussed in taskforce, but world
cultures is listed under liberal studies on NMU’s website. D. Donovan mentioned
that world cultures is mentioned in the GEC document.
Vote to amendment proposal. Amendment approved. Discussion ensued:
C. Strauss ask whether the GEC dean will make decisions and have ultimate say.
B. Graves responded that the Deans don’t make decisions that the Provost won’t
approve. This is generally how it will take place. The committee will make
recommendations to Provost, who will make these decisions. Provost has the
authority to make final decisions per the master agreement. The dean will be
responsible for making sure that work gets done, the one who is accountable.
Discussion ensued.
Motion made by C. Strauss to delete wording “decisions based upon” and insert
“implement council recommendations” on p. 3 of the original proposal, fourth
bullet of the deans duties. Seconded by T. Hilton. Debate: P. Goodrich says the
new wording speaks to the intention and is concise.
Amendment is adopted.
Z. Cogley asked for the rationale behind changing the name from liberal studies
to “general education”? R. Winn answered that the Assoc. of American Colleges
& Universities and Higher Learning Commission define General education as
education that all students share. That’s what this program is.
Clarification was asked whether GEC is/is not a Senate committee. It will be
operated similar to FRC. The entire faculty will elect members of the GEC. R.
Appleton asked whether it should be a Senate committee. Discussion ensued. D.
Donovan asked whether it would be a problem to make GEC a Senate
committee. R. Winn responded that he did not think it would be a problem.
Instead of AAUP, the CEC would run the election. D. Wood concurred. P. Lang
does not see why it cannot be a Senate committee.
Motion made by D. Donovan to change “form a new committee” on page 3,
recommendation two, to “form a new Senate standing committee.” Seconded by
D. Marquardt. J. Leonard mentioned that if the council is a Senate committee,
NMUFA faculty would not be eligible to participate. Discussion ensued. NMUFA
wouldn’t be able to participate regardless of whether it is a Senate committee.
D. Donovan asked whether student representation was considered. R. Winn
replied that it was not discussed. L. Pagel stated that the Senate could develop a
mechanism for conducting a university-wide election. R. Sundell said that the
Senate has run elections in the past.
Vote on the amendment to change “form a new committee” to “form a new
Senate standing committee.” The motion was adopted.
Provost told the task force that they did a great job.
VI.
New Business
A. L. Pagel chairs the calendar committee. Students and faculty have asked that we
have Martin Luther King Day as a day off from classes. Thirteen of the 15 state
universities have the day off from classes. The NMU President would like this to
start next semester. Martin Luther King is the third Monday of January. D.
Donovan moved to accept the motion. M. Sklar seconded. Motion to suspend
the rules and move to the second reading by D. Donovan. Seconded by R.
Appleton. Vote: Motion is adopted.
VII.
Informal Consideration
VIII.
Good of the Order.
A. M. Moore reminded people who go to tonight’s hockey game to wear purple in
honor of the soccer team.
B. Chair Pagel wished everyone a good end of the semester.
IX.
Adjournment at 4:33 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by,
Andrea K. Jordan, Secretary to the Academic Senate/AAUP
Edited by Mark Shevy, Secretary to the Academic Senate Executive Committee