200 Bricker Hall Printer-Friendly Version
December 7, 2005
3:00-5:00pm
MINUTES
Present:
Professors: Lora Gingerich Dobos, Kay Halasek, Richard Gunther, Margaret McMahon, Raymond Noe (Chair), Electra Paskett, W. Randy Smith (Vice Chair), Harald Vaessin, and George Valco.
Student Members: Jane Evans and Scot Pearson (Council of Graduate Students); Kevin Freeman (Inter-Professional Council)
Guests: Professors Diane Birckbichler, Chair, and Dennis Manahen, Chair, French Curriculum Committee, Department of French and Italian; Professor Robert Kaufman, Chair, and Carol Shirkey, Academic Counselor, Department of Sociology; Professor Edward H. Adelson, Associate Executive Dean, Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Brad Myers, University Registrar; Jefferson Blackman-Smith, Senior Associate Director, and David Roy, Office of Undergraduate Admissions and First Year Experience
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF NOVEMBER 16, 2005
Halasek moved approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of November 16, 2005. Freeman seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously.
COMMENTS FROM THE VICE CHAIR – PROFESSOR W. RANDY SMITH
• The Board of Trustees approved three proposals at its meeting on December 2, 2005: a Doctorate in Physical Therapy; academic center status for The University Honors and Scholars Center; and renaming the College of Medicine and Public Health to the College of Medicine.
• In the weeks ahead, Council can expect to review proposals to restructure the Department of Geological Sciences, to create a Center for Microbial Interface Biology, and to establish Regular Clinical Track Faculty in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Subcommittees will be formed soon to begin the review of Centers, and Enrollment Limitation Plans.
• Campus-wide review of the Final Report of the Committee on the University-wide Review of Undergraduate Education is underway. Comments are to be submitted to the Executive Vice President and Provost by March 15, 2005. Council will then be given those comments during Spring Quarter 2006. It is expected that Council will meet several times over the Summer to discuss the comments and prepare its report for submission by early Autumn Quarter, 2006.
PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH TWO NEW TRACKS IN THE FRENCH MAJOR - PROFESSOR MARGARET MCMAHON, CHAIR, SUBCOMMITTEE B
McMahon said that Subcommittee B had met with Professors Diane Birckbichler and Dennis Minahen on a few items that were later addressed to their satisfaction in a letter from Birckbichler. McMahon said the Subcommittee felt the proposal was straightforward and recommended approval.
• The word “minor” was used in Subcommittee B’s cover letter regarding purpose and rationale. Were they speaking of the major or the track? Use of the word “minor” was incorrect and needs to be changed in the proposal.
• Was the concurrence form from the Fisher College of Business the official written agreement? Specific business courses were written in the margin. Are these the business courses that will be used? If that is the case, then they should be listed with the other course requirements for easier understanding.
DISCUSSION WITH PROFESSORS DIANE BIRCKBICHLER, CHAIR, AND DENNIS MINAHEN, CHAIR, FRENCH CURRICULUM COMMITTEE, DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN
Birchbichler provided the rationale for the two new tracks in the major saying that they would prepare students who wanted more of a professional orientation in French.
• Was the concurrence form from the Fisher College of Business its written agreement? Yes. Were the courses they listed then added to the tracks? Yes, they are under the Business 555 category. Birchbichler commented that the courses they had originally chosen were too advanced and not suited to the tracks. So the courses that Business recommended were used. Birckbichler had met with Subcommittee B on the courses, and had consulted with an advisor.
For easier identification, it seems that the Business courses should be listed individually just as the other courses are listed. Professor Edward Adelson, Associate Executive Dean, Colleges of Arts and Sciences, will check with the Fisher College of Business to verify this listing.
• Asked for clarification of the statement that fifty hours of courses at the 400 level are required when the list contains a small number of 300 level courses, Birchbichler explained that the 400 level courses are French, but that the 300 level courses are from other departments. For clarification she will reword the statement.
Council voted approval contingent on revisions: an approved list of business courses, and clarification on the required 300 and 400 level courses . The revisions will be sent to Smith and he will notify Council members.
McMahon moved approval, Gunther seconded the motion, and it was approved unanimously.
PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH AN UNDERGRADUATE MINOR IN SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND INEQUALITY – PROFESSOR MARGARET MCMAHON, CHAIR, SUBCOMMITTEE B
McMahon said there were two separate majors offered in the Department of Sociology - Criminology and Sociology. The new minor was designed to target those students majoring in criminology and provide a sociological background in stratification and inequality, an area of expertise that had grown in recent years. McMahon said that Subcommittee B had requested a correction to the concurrence from the Department of African-American and African Studies, as well as concurrences from the Department of Human and Community Resource Development, and the Department of Human Development and Family Science. All had been received and Subcommittee B recommended approval.
Adelson said that originally, within the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, there had been considerable discussion about this minor and some concerns, but changes had been made to the proposal that made it more acceptable. It was noted that there is variation in minors across campus.
DISCUSSION WITH PROFESSOR ROBERT KAUFMAN, CHAIR, AND KARYL SHIRKEY, ACADEMIC COUNSELOR, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
Kaufman said that there is considerable interest in the private sector for graduates with knowledge in stratification and inequality. Shirkey commented that there are two distinct majors in sociology and criminology, but that criminology is a more specialized field, one in which this minor would fit. It would give students more career opportunities in the private sector and the opportunity for post baccalaureate work.
Subcommittee B recommended approval, Paskett seconded the motion, and it was approved unanimously.
UPDATE/DISCUSSION: PROPOSAL TO MERGE THE JOHN GLENN INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE AND PUBLIC POLICY AND THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY AND MANAGEMENT – PROFESSORS KAY HALASEK, RICHARD GUNTHER, AND W. RANDY SMITH
Smith briefly summarized the review process to date. The proposal was developed during Spring 2004, and then submitted to Council for action. He and Professor David Stetson, then-Council Chair, had interacted with the University Senate leadership to ensure that the review process would adhere to the steps outlined in the Faculty Rule on the Abolition or Alteration of Units. This is the first proposal to be reviewed through that Rule. Halasek, Chair of Subcommittee B, was assigned to chair an ad hoc committee to review the proposal. It worked throughout the 2004-05 academic year and completed its review in May 2005. However, by Rule, an advisory vote by the University Senate’s Faculty Council is necessary before this Council can act, and the Faculty Council was not able to schedule a meeting to conduct its review of this proposal until December 1, 2005.
Halasek then gave a summary of the Faculty Council meeting. She and Smith had attended on behalf of this Council. McMahon and Valco of the ad hoc committee also attended. There had been a large turnout, with many Faculty Council members, faculty and students from the School of Public Policy and Management, staff from the Institute, and Senator John Glenn, all in attendance. She had informed the Faculty Council that the proposal had two main components. The “merger” component had widespread support. However, the proposal to “change the reporting line” from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) to the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) had resulted in serious concerns about personnel matters (notably tenure and promotion reviews), programmatic development (notably at the undergraduate level), and the overall precedent-setting nature of this reporting line. In response, the ad hoc committee recommends supporting the merger, and recommends a five-year period during which the new School will report to OAA, but with i) annual detailed reviews by this Council and ii) a decision about the long-term administrative status of the School being determined by this Council before the end of the 5 years.
Following her presentation to the Faculty Council, Senator Glenn, the current interim leadership of the School (Professor Anand Desai) and the Institute (Professor Lawrence Libby), and the Dean of the College of SBS (Professor Paul Beck), gave brief statements to the Faculty Council. In addition, Professor Richard Gunther, a Senator and member of this Council, informed the Faculty Council that over a few days prior to the meeting, he had consulted with Desai, Libby, and Beck and developed a compromise relating to what he believed was the most problematic part of the ad hoc committee’s proposal – the membership and roles of the internal committee.
Following all of these presentations, and a brief discussion by Faculty Council members, the Chair of the Faculty Council, Professor T.K. Daniel, indicated that no action could be taken at that time. The proposal will need further discussion at future meetings (January 5, 2006 and February 2, 2006). He asked Halasek to revise the proposal to include the appropriate wording, as specified by Gunther, and he asked that other Senate Committees, notably the Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility and the University Research Committee, submit reactions/comments no later than January 15, 2006.
Following Halasek’s overview of the Faculty Council meeting, Gunther then elaborated more fully on the compromise language on which he and others had worked. Central to the discussions had been membership on a proposed internal committee that would work with the Director. Its functions were specified, and it was agreed that the Deans from the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, the Fisher College of Business, and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, needed to be members, given the pervasiveness of policy-related research in these colleges.
Halasek noted that following the Faculty Council meeting there had been continued discussion about the proposed committee, and she then distributed, and read, new wording to which the leadership of the School, the Institute, the College (SBS), the ad hoc committee, and Barbara R. Snyder, Executive Vice President and Provost, have all agreed.
“Academic and budgetary guidance and review will be provided by a committee chaired by a Vice Provost and also be composed of the deans of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Fisher College of Business, and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, as well as three senior faculty from appropriate disciplines appointed by the aforementioned four administrators.
The Board of Directors of the John Glenn Institute will be reconstituted to include these seven committee members, as well as other prominent members of the community.”
Gunther elaborated briefly on some of the issues that had led to opposition to the proposal, notably within SBS – the contrasting missions of the two units as they exist today, concerns about how promotion and tenure reviews would occur in such a small unit with no full professors, and potential involvement in undergraduate education. Moreover, the precedent-setting nature of the stand-alone reporting line was central to the opposition to this proposal - 85% of SBS faculty voting, voted against this part of the proposal. However, several of these issues had been confronted and addressed by the ad hoc committee, and the compromise language about the committee (above) would also ensure that they are being monitored.
Gunther noted that it is important to bring this review process to closure. Both units have “interim” leadership. It is important to begin a search process for permanent leadership.
Smith reiterated that this Council will not act on the proposal until the vote of Faculty Council has occurred, and that may not be until February 2006.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30pm.
Respectfully submitted,
W. Randy Smith
Joyce Rankin
