Faculty Senate Meeting

September 10, 2004

The meeting was called to order by President Joan Brumm with 37 of the 52 eligible members present. Also present were 3 non-tenure track faculty. See attached sign in sheet for those present.

President Joan Brumm welcomed all new members and explained our position as a faculty of the whole.

1 Curriculum Committee Report: Peter Rachoetes

Two new degree programs (MSN and BS in CIS) were presented and approved by the Curriculum Committee at the September 1, 2004 meeting. These programs will require six new full-time faculty hires. A grant has been written to the Christus St. Michael Health System Foundation for funding for one of the nursing faculty positions.

Discussion:

1.      The need for some kind of articulation agreement between programs when current faculty will be shared to meet the needs of a proposed new program was identified by the Curriculum Committee members.

2.      The need for accreditation in Counseling Psychology and Business to remain competitive in student recruitment because of new certification and licensing requirements and guidelines affecting graduates of these programs was reported.

3.      It was noted that these programs (MSN and CIS) were approved by the Curriculum Committee without going through the process identified in the Senate Constitution allowing for faculty input on all new programs. (It was noted that the CIS program had already been submitted to THECB prior to local approval. Dr. Stripling explained that this was done to meet a July deadline for consideration in the September meeting and was done pending local approval.) Both proposals will be sent to faculty for input prior to the next Senate meeting.

2. Academic Council Report: Joan Brumm

The Academic Council recommendations and requests regarding the CAAP test were presented. See attached. This recommendation was presented to comply with a SACS mandate to assess juniors. A committee will identify ways to implement the Academic Councils recommendation for CAAP module workshops for those students needing assistance in passing the CAAP.

Additionally, each graduate degree program and the colleges were asked to identify pertinent criteria for Graduate Admissions requirements. These will be submitted to the Graduate Council for review.

3. Faculty Senate Standing Committees: Joan Brumm

Academic Affairs Committee

Issues for consideration for this academic year are:

Academic Dishonesty

Elimination of the No-Grade Policy

Faculty Status Committee

Develop a proposal for an equitable Faculty Evaluation system

Develop criteria for Faculty Awards in the areas of teaching, research/scholarship and service.

4. Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committees: Joan Brumm

The following committees were established for the current academic year.

CAAP Committee: Chair Larry Davis, Art Simonson, Patrick Ryan, Shirley Garick

Budget Committee: Chair Don Abbott,

Faculty Evaluation of Administrators:

Faculty Senate members who are interested in serving on each of these committees were asked to volunteer. A member from each college will be sought for all committees.

5. Summer Pay

The Senate charged the appointment of an Ad Hoc Committee to look into the issue of summer pay.  

6. Other

Dr. Lotven will be asked to update the faculty on the plans for the new faculty positions announced at the August General Faculty meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon. Senate members turned in sheets for committee assignment preference. The Executive Committee will make the appointments and present the list at the next Senate meeting.

Respectfully submitted

Denise Neill

Acting Faculty Senate Secretary