Approved Faculty Senate Minutes
I. Call to Order: President Pam Lockwood called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m. Members present were Lal Almas (substitute for Lance Kieth) Syed Anwar, Joel Babitzke, Rob Brammer, Sharon Burnett, Charles Chase, Mo Cuevas, Jill Hayes, Harry Hueston, Mary Jarvis, Cloyce Kuhnert, Frank Landrum, Pam Lockwood, Jessica Mallard, Amy Newman, Ian Peddie, and Neil Terry.
II. Committee Assignments and Tasks :
A. Faculty Development and Student Learning The following are the committee members for this year: Jessica Mallard (Co-Chair), Cloyce Kuhnert (Co-Chair), Syed Tariq Anwar, Lance Kieth, Mo Cuevas, and Pam Lockwood (ex officio). The committee's primary tasks for the year are arranging a new Faculty Annual Professional Summary Seminar and a Tenure Faculty Seminar (guidance on preparing Tenure and Promotion package).
B. Faculty Governance and Budget The following are the committee members for this year: Neil Terry (Chair), Mary Jarvis, Amy Newman, and Sharon Burnett (ex officio). The committee's primary tasks for the year are updating the bylaws and producing a faculty salary summary report.
C. Committee for Assessment, Advising, Conduct (Ethics), Curriculum, and Issues The following are the committee members for this year: Harry Hueston (Chair), Ian Peddie, Charles Chase, Sandy Babitzke, Jill Hayes, and Rob Brammer (ex officio). The committee's primary tasks for the year are the CORE curriculum and the Academic Dishonesty policy particularly in the area of plagiarism. More information on the CORE curriculum task is given in Appendix A.
III. New Business :
A. Student Pledge for Convocation the President's and Provost's offices asked the Faculty Senate to approve a student pledge that freshman will be asked to recite at the Convocation September 9 th . The Senate unanimously agreed to approve the pledge. Details are in Appendix B.
B. College Realignment Dr. Chapman (VPAA/Provost) has asked the college deans to actively solicit comments from faculty through their department chairs on a proposed realignment. The Faculty Senate voted unanimously to form a temporary ad hoc committee to bring insight to the faculty and assist the administration in this endeavor. For details on this committee including chair and members see Appendix C.
IV. Information Items from Faculty Senate President:
A. Scholarship in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Long President Lockwood encouraged all senate members to make the faculty in their area aware of a recent e-mail concerning raising funds for two scholarships in the names of Dr. and Mrs. Long. The e-mail contents are included in Appendix D. Notice that matching funds are available for the two scholarships.
B. System Search Committee for a new president President Lockwood received a request this morning by Dr. Leo Sayavedra to serve on the A&M System search committee. She eagerly agreed to serve.
Faculty Senate adjourned at 1:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon Burnett
President Lockwood had the following comments, ideas, and information for the Committee for Assessment, Advising, Conduct (Ethics), Curriculum, and Issues to consider:
1. The following is a list of questions Dr. Chapman gave the Dean's Council as a starting point for reforming the CORE curriculum.
· Should we reduce the core to the minimum of 42 hours?
· Should we increase the number of courses students may choose in some of the categories?
· Are we certain that each core course meets the defining characteristics of the appropriate category?
2. The Student Senate has requested that we join together to make a recommendation on the CORE Curriculum.
3. Dr. Chapman is looking at a one-year time frame to have the changes ready for the 2007 2008 catalog.
4. Because of recent legislation the core must be reduced by three hours. The primary question is where the three hours will be reduced.
5. The committee should work on finding a consensus of opinion among faculty members that can be forwarded to the appropriate offices and committees.
As mentioned above the President's and Provost's offices asked the Faculty Senate to approve a student pledge that freshman will be asked to recite at the Convocation September 9 th . The text of the pledge is -
On my honor, as a member of the West Texas A&M University family, I pledge to act with integrity, good citizenship, personal accountability, and compassion in all my academic and professional endeavors.
A question was asked concerning the purpose of the pledge. President Lockwood replied that the hope was to get the students attention by them actually reciting a pledge. Also the speakers plan on addressing many of the issues in the pledge during their comments that day.
The Senators felt this was a start but some felt having the freshman actually sign the pledge might make an even bigger point.
At the end of these discussions the Faculty Senate voted unanimously to approve the student pledge at convocation. (Motion made by Rob Brammer, seconded by Jessica Mallard)
A two-page Proposal for Realignment of Academic and Academic Support Programs has been circulated among the deans. Faculty members have been asked to make comments and forward them to their department chairs who will forward them to their deans.
As mentioned above the Faculty Senate felt realignment was an important enough issue to form a temporary (Fall 2005 semester) ad-hoc committee to bring insight to faculty and assist administrators in this process. The motion to form the committee was made by Frank Landrum and seconded by Cloyce Kuhnert. The motion passed unanimously. Frank Landrum volunteered to serve as committee chair (Jessica Mallard made a motion to make Dr. Landrum chair, Cloyce Kuhnert seconded, unanimous approval was given). President Lockwood then asked for volunteers from each college/library to serve. The committee members are:
Frank Landrum (COB) Chair
Joel Babitzke (ANSE)
Mo Cuevas (ESS)
Mary Jarvis (Library)
Ian Peddie (FAH)
The committee's first task is to determine and then communicate the purpose and goal(s) behind the realignment proposal. Time is of the essence since comments are due by September 23 rd to the VPAA/Provost and must be submitted to the A&M System Board of Regents no later than October 12, 2005. Faculty members should still plan on sending their comments to department chairs as requested.
The text of the proposal is given on the next two pages:
PROPOSAL FOR REALIGNMENT
of
ACADEMIC AND ACADEMIC SUPPORT PROGRAMS
WEST TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
Approx. F+S
Academic Programs Faculty SCH _
College of Agriculture, Science and Engineering 59 34,330
Department of Agricultural Sciences 19 4,785
[Agriculture; Agribusiness; Integrated
Pest Manage; Equine Industry; Pre-Vet]
Department of Engineering and Computer Science 9 2,046
[Engineering Tech; Mech Engineering;
Computer Science]
Department of Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences 16 13,451
[Biology; Wildlife; Biotechnology;
Env. Science; Earth Science; Geology;
Med. Tech; Pre-Prof Health]
Department of Mathematics and Physical Sciences 15 14,048
[Mathematics; Chemistry; Physics]
Department of Art, Theatre and Dance 11 5,477
[Art; Graphic Design; Musical Theatre;
Theatre; Dance]
Department of English and Modern Languages 14 13,083
[English; Spanish]
Department of Communication 10 7,272
[Speech Comm; Mass, Comm]
Department of History and Philosophy 10 10,080
[History; Geography; Philosophy]
Department of Music 20 5,516
[Music, Composition; Music Therapy;
Performance; Music Education]
Department of General and Applied Studies -- --
[General Studies; B.A.A.S.]
Dep. of Management, Marketing and Gen. Business 9 10,800
[Gen. Business; Management; Marketing]
Dep. of Accounting, Economics and Finance 9 9,504
[Accounting, Economics, Finance]
Department of Computer Information Systems 6 4,974
[Comp. Info. Systems]
Department of Education 26 18,853
[Education-all except Music Ed, etc.]
Department of Social and Political Sciences 18 12,780
[Sociology; Social Work; Pol. Science;
Criminal Justice]
Department of Nursing 25 6,712
[Nursing-all]
Department of Psychology and Communication Disorders 10 6,547
[Psychology; Communication Disorders]
Department of Health and Kinesiology 7 7,553
[Sports & Exer. Sci; Athletic Training]
[Graduate Programs; Research; Honors]
[Admissions; Registrar; STARR; etc]
[QEP; Teaching Excellence; Faculty Development;
Study Abroad;]
Appendix D Text of August 31 e-mail (Dr. and Mrs. Long Scholarship Request)
In the wake of President Long's announcement that he is stepping down at the end of the year, many WTAMU faculty and staff have indicated a desire to express their appreciation for the service both he and Natrelle have provided to the University for the past 11 years. A committee was formed and has agreed to raise funds to establish a President's Honor Scholarship in each of their names. The scholarships will be available for award to students from all majors.
You have an opportunity to show your appreciation by donating to these scholarship funds. Your gift will be matched by gifts [emphasis added] from several of WTAMU's most loyal community supporters--Ray and Barbara Bain, Bob & Nancy Josserand, Stanley & Geneva Schaeffer, David & Sherry Schaeffer, and Mr. Shirley Garrison. Your gift will be split between the Russell Long President's Honor Scholarship and the Natrelle Long President's Honor Scholarship, unless you specify otherwise.
The Development Office will send a card to the Longs, notifying them of your contribution in their honor. Gifts should be made by check or credit card to the "Russell and Natrelle Long PHS's." You can mail your check or drop it by the Development Office on the second floor of Old Main, or you can
e-mail your credit card number and expiration date to the attention of the Development Secretary, Debbie Crown, at dcrown@mail.wtamu.edu .
Thank you for your interest in honoring President Long and our wonderful University.
Caroline Chamblin
Executive Director of Development
WTAMU
651-2070