Minutes of the Faculty Senate
for November 26, 1996
PSF 7-96/97

The Faculty Senate of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside met on Tuesday, November 26, 1996, in Molinaro D137, at 3:30 p.m. Members present included Brunner, Buenker, Canary, Feldt, James, Kolb, Lindner, Longeway, Lorenz, Manogaran, Mayer, McArthur, Meyer, Murphy, Nice (Academic Staff Committee), Norton, Ostheimer, Pawlowski (PSGA), Pernacciaro, R. Rosenberg, Rovelstad, Schleiter, Schmidt, Shailor, Stathatos, and Warren. Also present were Dudycha, L. Duetsch, Grace, Graffin, Sue Johnson, Kirk, Klaver, Luke, and Singer.

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 3:35 by Professor Fossum (Computer Science & Engineering) as chair.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as distributed.

New Business

Core Principles

The University Committee had introduced the following resolution:

RESOLVED, that since the UW-Parkside faculty has primary responsibility for academic and educational activities, the UW-Parkside Faculty Senate affirms its fundamental commitment to the core principles of academic integrity, the liberal tradition of education, and the teacher/scholar model and urges the UW-Parkside administration to follow these ideals in the university planning process and in the development of programs.

Professor Mayer (Biological Science) said that he would prefer a comma after "model." Professor Rosenberg (Economics) said that he thought the phrase "liberal tradition of education" vague. Professor Meyer (History) said that he intended the phrase to refer to the value of the basic arts and sciences. Professor Lindner (English) asked what kind of response was being looked for by the administration. Professor Meyer said that he felt we had to keep voicing this kind of concern, and that recent changes in the planning documents showed that our voices were being heard.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote.

Program Development

New Concentration in Legal Studies

The Committee on Academic Planning had recommended that the Faculty Senate approve the creation of a Legal Studies concentration within the Political Science major.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote.

New Concentration in Applied Physics/Material Science

The Committee on Academic Planning had recommended that the Faculty Senate approve the creation of an Applied Physics/Material Science concentration within the Physics major.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote.

Existence of Certificate Programs

The University Committee offered the following motion:

RESOLVED, that the UW-Parkside Faculty Senate endorses the creation of a category of submajors to be known as "certificates."

Professor Pernacciaro (Political Science) sought and received assurances that this resolution referred to certificates with credit-bearing courses, since we already had non-credit certificates. Professor Mayer asked how the UW System felt about the term "certificate." The chair of the Committee on Academic Planning, Professor Dudycha (Business), said that the UW System seemed to use the term "submajor" a great variety of program arrangements below a major. Professor Rosenberg asked how these certificates differed from concentrations and minors. Professor Feldt (Computer Science and Engineering) noted that one did not need a degree to receive a certificate. Professor James (Political Science) asked whether this meant one could show up on campus for 9 credits of courses and walk away with a certificate, never to be seen again. Professor Pernacciaro said that it did.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote. Professors James, McArthur (Business), and Stathatos (Modern Languages) asked to be recorded in opposition.

Guidelines for Certificate Programs

The Committee on Academic Planning had developed guidelines for certificate programs, which were presented to the senate for its approval.

A certificate program is a set of courses, normally nine credits or more, designed to develop a particular expertise or set of skills. At least 50% of the course work for certificate programs must be taken at UW-Parkside. Students must have earned at least a 2.0 grade point average in courses which apply to the certificate. Individual programs may specify higher grade point requirements. Certificate programs are not to be confused with certification programs, which lead to certification by an outside agency (such as the Department of Public Instruction's Teacher Certification).

The agenda also included procedures developed by the committee to govern the approval process for such programs. No motion was made concerning these procedures, which were provided for the information of the senate. Committee members Dudycha and Feldt noted that departments proposing certicate programs had been given draft versions of these procedures, which had then been revised in the light of the committee's experience with its first set of proposed certificates.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote.

Certificate in Sports Management

The Committee on Academic Planning had recommended that the senate approve a certificate in Sports Management, to be offered by the Health, Physical Education, and Athletics department.

Professor Mayer asked what would happen if the program were to be changed after initial approval. Professor Dudycha said that the Committee on Academic Planning had authority to approve such changes and to decide which were so substantial as to require senate action.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote.

Certificate in Wellness

The Committee on Academic Planning had recommended that the Faculty Senate approve a certificate program in Wellness to be offered by the Health, Physical Education, and Athletics department.

Professor Mayer said that he would like it revised eventually to include the major sequence for BioSci majors as well as the courses aimed at non-majors. Professor Rosenberg observed that far less information was provided with this proposal than with the proposal from the same department for Sports Management. Professor Klaver (Health, Physical Education, and Athletics) said that less information was available in this case, since there were few parallel programs. In any case, this proposal did not involve new courses. Professor Dudycha said that since there was no cost involved, the committee had thought this program worth a trial. Professor Rosenberg noted that the materials mentioned new equipment. Professor Klaver said that would be called for only if the program really took off. Professor Schleiter (Sociology/Anthropology) said that committee procedures said that programs calling for new courses required more justification.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote.

Certificate in Professional Writing

The Committee on Academic Planning had recommended that the Faculty Senate approves a certificate program in Professional Writing to be offered by the English department.

The chair of the English department, Professor Graffin, said that the courses in the proposed program were already being taught, so that there seemed little reason not to experiment with this packaging of them. Professor Rovelstad (Business) noted that the senate agenda had omitted the last page of the materials concerning this certificate. On the question of whether the senate could proceed to a vote without the missing page, Professor Meyer said that the University Committee placed great trust in the work of the Committee on Academic Planning. Professor Graffin asked why they didn't just trust the English department. Professor Pernacciaro suggested that the senate could somehow vote the proposal in and then table it if it failed to pass.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote.

Entitlement to Plan: Criminal Justice

The Committee on Academic Planning had recommended that the Faculty Senate endorse the on-going planning for a Criminal Justice major.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote.

Certificate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution

The Committee on Academic Planning had recommended approval of a certicate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution to be offered by the Communication Department, but this approval had been conditional on position authorizations, so that the item had been placed on the senate agenda as an information item only. In the meantime, recruiting for the position in question had been approved, Professor Shailor (Communication) MOVED, and Professor James SECONDED, that the senate approve the certificate.

Professor Stathatos noted that the program might be over-dependent on one person. Professor Shailor said that that was a fair question but that there were a number of others involved. Professor Feldt said there were other concentrations in majors which depended heavily on a single faculty member.

Motion PASSED on a voice vote.

Concentration in Graphic Design

The Committee on Academic Planning had endorsed planning for a concentration in Graphic Design to be offered within the Art major, but it had declined to recommend approval for the program pending position authorizations and a proposed curriculum. Since the position request needed had since been approved, Professor Murphy (Art) moved that the senate approve the concentration, SECONDED by Professor Lindner (English).

Professor Feldt noted that the department still had not provided a proposed curriculum for the new concentration. Professor Murphy said that they wanted to have their new hire help design the curriculum. The chair suggested that the senate could approve the concentration and delegate approval of its curriculum to the Committee on Academic Planning. Professor Pernacciaro said that the senate itself should vote up or down. Professor Mayer thereupon MOVED the following substitute motion, SECONDED by Professor Pernacciaro:

Resolved, that the faculty senate endorses the on-going planning for a Graphics Design concentration within the Art major.

Substitute PASSED on a voice vote.
Motion as amended by substitution PASSED on a voice vote.

Other

Report of the Chancellor

There was no report. The Chancellor was attending a national AASCU meeting.

Report of the University Committee

The committee chair said that the committee had been working hard to represent faculty views in the planning process and felt that it had had some impact. He asked that faculty respond to the continuing iterations of the planning documents. He praised the work of the Committee on Academic Planning. As matters of future concern, he listed the planning process, distance learning, measurable outcomes, alternative class formats, and faculty compensation.

Questions

Written

No written questions were received.

Oral

Professor Warren (Dramatic Arts) said that he was concerned that we had a genuine crisis on our hands and that we needed to ask what we as faculty could do to help with our problems. Professor Meyer said the University Committee was trying to do so. Professor Warren said we faced permanent budget cuts next year and lost positions and colleagues as a result. Vice Chancellor Ostheimer said that we had a plan in place, though the prospect of base budget cuts was certainly sobering; he was encouraged by the senate's actions at this meeting. Professor Rosenberg said faculty needed to help more in recruiting. Professor Meyer said this would require more administrative coordination of such efforts as well.

Adjournment

The senate having paused in its out-of-order discussion, the chair declared the meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.