MSU FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES October 30, 2002 Members Present: Gipp, Morrill, Sherwood for Giroux, Engel, Kommers, Schlotzhauer, Linker, Leech, Taylor, Stewart, Jones, Nehrir, Conant, McMahon, Cloninger for Amend, Levy, Bogar, Bond, Jelinski, Idzerda, Pratt, Fisher, Prawdzienski, Kempcke. Members Absent: Young, White, Anderson, Howard, Chem Engr, Comp Sci, Lefcort, Locke, Engl, Lynch, Lynes-Hayes, Knight, Hoffman. Others Present: Faculty Affairs Chair Metz, Bandyopadhyay, Fedock. The meeting was called to order by Chair Elect Warren Jones. The minutes of the October 16, 2002, Faculty Council meeting were approved as distributed. Chair's report - Warren Jones. - MSU held an all-day town hall meeting October 23. Representatives from the four MSU units, legislators, business representatives, and others were in attendance. - The support voiced for higher education by the business community leaders was encouraging. The negative stance of some legislators was disappointing. - Some Faculty Council members were surprised by the emphasis put upon distance education by Commissioner Crofts. There was disappointment among those who attended at least part of the meeting that they didn't hear Gamble's early remarks; this was viewed as an opportunity for the president to make a clear presentation of MSU's vision and position. - The Montana Associated Students has distributed a Montana Student Voter Guide around campus. It can be accessed at http://www.montana.edu/wwwasmsu/voter_guide.htm - Retention of students and the role faculty play in it is still on the agenda. The Executive Summary of the Student Entrance and Transition Initiative (May 30, 2002) was distributed. Warren will make the report available to those interested in it. - In response to a query about anticipated attendance at the November 27 Faculty Council meeting, it was agreed to cancel the meeting because of a probable lack of a quorum. - Clayton Marlow and Tom Wessel were invited to attend Faculty Council next week to discuss the Morrill Act. Because of a class conflict, Dr. Wessel will not be able to attend, and Warren was unable to contact Dr. Marlow. Instead, Provost Dooley and Director of Planning and Analysis Rimpau will be invited to discuss the UPBAC process and data-gathering support that can be offered by the Office of Planning and Analysis. Faculty Affairs Committee report - Walter Metz. - The academic deans voiced concern about some sections of the post-tenure review proposal. Dean Acord attended the October 24 UGC Steering Committee meeting to share these concerns, and Faculty Affairs is addressing them. - An addition to Faculty Handbook Section 1312.00 (Conciliation and Grievance - Deadlines for Filing) was presented: If notification by the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs is made less than thirty (30) days before the end of a faculty member's contract period, the faculty member's right to file a complaint will be extended to October 1 of the following contract period. - The policy was approved as an interim policy by Faculty Council in April, 2001. The change was deemed necessary in cases where a decision is made in May, and then having the summer months in between the decision and the possibility of a grievance hearing. - Jack Jelinski moved forwarding the policy to faculty, by means of the STAFF BULLETIN, for comment. The motion was seconded and carried. Liberal Studies degree program - Ralph Johnson, Abigail Dachs, Michael Sexson, David Cherry. - The original idea for such a program came from discussions of CLS and other interested faculty. There is no "committee" per se and there is no charge. Administrative support is provided by the Provost's Office. - The group came together because faculty felt that the teaching and learning potential of the university could be used to greater advantage through such a program. - Two groups of students would most likely use the program: those wanting to merge fields or disciplines and those interested in professional programs such as law, medicine, and architecture and seeking a classical course of study. - The "committee" looked at programs from other institutions but did not find one that fit MSU's goals. The easy thing would have been to adopt someone else's program, but the choice was to develop a distinctive program which could be a model for other universities. - Goals of the program include a rigorous curriculum, an integrated curriculum, and a capstone element to demonstrate mastery of a course of studies. - Administrative considerations: the current departmental structure will be used, current distributive education will be used while building on the new core's aspirations, and it is anticipated students will be attracted and retained. - The proposed program includes an orientation seminar, integrative studies requirements followed by quaternity or nature and culture studies tracks, and a capstone experience. An important element alongside the course of study is student participation in seminars and keeping a journal. - One of the more controversial aspects of the program is the quaternity which seeks to deepen and contextualize knowledge through thinking, intuition, sensation, and feeling. The quaternity is broken down in this way, because students don't necessarily know that all four are present in all disciplines. - The program will build upon existing courses. The new courses will be the seminars. - The program will probably be modeled after Women's Studies, with faculty directing it. - Interdisciplinary Studies allows students to come up with an individualized course of study. This program would not duplicate it. Students involved in it would choose one of two "tracks". - The reason the nature and culture studies option is given is that some students are interested in this, not just the classical education provided through the quaternity. - A faculty forum on liberal studies will be held Thursday, October 31. - It is anticipated there will be some revisions to the proposal. A recommendation will be made to the Provost's Office for consideration. - From information gathered, it is thought there may be about 50 students who will take advantage of this program at the end of their sophomore year. Some students may be retained through this option. - Concern was expressed for the significant workload of monitoring and advising students. A part-time to full- time administrator may be needed, whose primary job would be advising. - The quaternity are the most sought-after qualities of students after graduation. Empirical data shows that these students are being sought by professional schools and many industries. - It was suggested the group return to Faculty Council for a final presentation of the proposal after further input is gathered. As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:10 PM. Joann Amend, Secretary Warren Jones, Chair Elect