Minutes of the University Committee
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 2:05 PM by Prof Peggy James, Chair. Present in addition were Profs John Buenker, James Kinchen, Don Kummings, Greg Mayer and Gary Wood (at about 2:30 PM), members; Prof Chris Evans, member-elect; and Prof Walter Feldt, Secretary of the Faculty.
Business - Report on All-Faculty Election
Prof Feldt reported that the call for nominations-at-large
had gone out both in paper and e-mail form. He said that some additional
nominations had come in. UC members offered additional names for committees
lacking in nominations.
Workgroup - Resolution of the Committee on the Transformation of Educators (CTEE)
Prof Feldt reported the membership of the workgroup called for in the Resolution of the CTEE, approved by the Faculty Senate, was now complete.
The Committee asked Prof Feldt to write appointment letters to the members and to include copies of the CTEE Resolution. Prof Wood was chosen to convene the group.
Special Senate Meeting ?
The Committee had a discussion concerning the unfinished business
from the April 22 Senate meeting. The proposed changes to the Academic Forgiveness
Policy, proposed by the Academic Policies Committee (APC), was not considered
due to the loss of a quorum.
It was decided that the earliest time that this meeting could occur would be finals week and that faculty members might have difficultly attending. Furthermore, items for the new catalog were being closed out in a matter of days, a Senate discussion could be lengthy and inconclusive, and the chance of a student being adversely affected by a delay were minimal. The Committee, thus, decided to hold the item over to the fall.
Change in Meeting Dates - Fall 2003 Faculty Senate
After considering the Chancellor's fall schedule, the Committee agreed to change the Faculty Senate meeting dates as follows:
Scheduled for Moved to Early Fall Sept 30 Oct 7 Mid Fall Oct 28 Nov 4 Late Fall Nov 25 Dec 2
Department Workload Policies
The Committee agreed to divide the submitted departmental workload policies among the six UC members, split into three subcommittees, with the subcommittees asked to check to see if the three questions posed in Prof James' original request were addressed.UC members should send their comments to the Chair who will contact the departments, if necessary.
The documents will be forwarded to the Committee on Academic Planning and the deans.
Approval of Graduates
It has become customary for the UC to approve the graduates on behalf of the Faculty. Prof Feldt was asked to brighten up the usual bureaucratic resolution. The result was
RESOLVED, that the University Committee, acting on behalf of the Faculty, recommends to the Board of Regents that the students certified by the Registrar to have completed the requirements of their respective degrees, in accordance with their degree summary (or the equivalent for graduate students), be congratulated for their achievements and be granted their degrees in December 2002, May 2003 or August 2003, as appropriate.
The resolutions was approved by acclamation.
General Education - Roles
It was noted that, with the retirement of Prof Duetsch in December, there is now no General Education Director. For this semester, Jerry Greenfield, Senior Special Assistant to the Provost, is "coordinating" general education. In addition, the General Education Committee (GEC) (see http://uwp.edu/staff/gov/faccom/gec/charge.htm) is charged with "oversee(ing) all facets of the general education program..."
The Faculty Senate has removed GNED 101 - University Seminar, as a graduation requirement, but it also approved a resolution from the GEC calling for the GEC to investigate alternatives and report back to the Senate.
The Provost does not intend to have a General Education Director appointed. The Associate Vice Chancellor currently being recruited will have the responsibility of coordinating general education, as Prof Greenfield has been doing this semester.
Furthermore, Kim Brudny, Program Assistant in University Governance, spent considerable time this past fall, working for Prof
Duetsch, in general education-related matters and managing the budgets for about forty sections of GNED 101. This spring, she managed a lesser number of section budgets.The Committee agreed that some understanding needs to be reached among the General Education Committee, The Gen Ed Chair, the new Associate Provost, the Provost and the University Governance office that clarifies the roles and responsibilities concerning general education.
Next MeetingIt was agreed to meet next on Tuesday, May 13 at 10 AM. This will be the last regularly scheduled meeting, but developments over the summer may create a need for additional meetings. Members were urged to notify the Secretary of the Faculty if they will be unavailable for extended periods over the summer months.
Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at 3:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Walter T. Feldt
Secretary of the Faculty
