MINUTES OF MEETING NUMBER 131
OF The
Senate OF mICHIGAN tECHNOLOGical university
28 September 1983
(Senate Minute pages: 2260-2275)
President Abata called the meeting to order at 7:08 p.m., September 28, 1983 in the Ballroom of the Memorial Union.
Roll: Twenty three members/alternates were present. Absent were: DePuydt, Francis, Hein, Hellawell, Hodek, Melton, Petersen, Stein, and Whitten.
Recognition of Visitors: None.
Minutes of Meeting No. 130:
It was noted under Section VII.C. (p. 2243) that there were several abstentions during the vote reported in the final paragraph. It was also noted that the report on the May 10, 1983 Academic Council Meeting (p. 2258) referred to the University Curriculum Committee in its first paragraph instead of the University Course Change Committee.
President's Report: (Appendix A - Available by Request from the Senate Office)
Vice President's Report: (Appendix B Available by Request from the Senate Office)
Committee Reports
A. Institutional Evaluation.
Chairperson Suzanne Beske-Diehl reported that Proposal 8-83, Departmental Governance, was still in committee. She indicated that Vincent Hauge and Joan Kuipers were no longer on the committee and that new members were needed.
Paul Nelson reported that the committee was evaluating suggestions to change the constitution in order to strengthen the Senate. The key area of proposed change is membership. At present, each academic department and research institute has a senator. Consequently, a department with 4 members has the same representation as a department with 50. Moreover, if a particular department has several faculty members who happen to be interested in Senate type work, it is difficult for more than one of them to get into the Senate. The At-Large Senator route is only open to two people in the whole university each year. The committee is looking at one proposal to replace departmental senators with senators elected at large from within colleges or schools so that the College of Engineering would elect 7 or 8 senators from within the college and the College of Science and Arts would elect 7 or 8 from within.
One senator indicated that faculty in large departments do indeed feel underrepresented. Another senator indicated that the one to one correspondence of senators to departments was essential for effective representation. Another senator indicated that it might be difficult for a senator from one department in engineering to effectively represent the interests of faculty in other engineering departments. Senator Nelson stated that perhaps the committee should explore an alternative in which departments with more than thirty faculty members could have two senators. In this way, departmental identity could be retained, yet larger departments would not be underrepresented.
B. Faculty Handbook
President Abata reported that former Chairman Crowther told him that the preliminary draft of the new edition of the handbook has been typed and is under review by the Vice President for Academic Affairs. At this point, the committee does not know whether there will be further faculty input.
C. Elections
President Abata reported that in the spring elections, William W. Predebon and Paul A. Nelson were elected Senators-at-Large and Bradley H. Baltensperger was elected to the University Tenure Committee.
The following persons were nominated for Senate offices:
President: Paul A. Nelson and Richard F. Schwartz
Vice President: Terrell L. Warrington and Suzanne Beske-Diehl
Secretary: Gary G. GimmestadThe floor was opened for nominations. There being none, a motion to close nominations was made and passed.
The election was conducted by ballot and Paul A. Nelson was elected President; Terrell L. Warrington was elected Vice President; and Gary G. Gimmestad was elected Secretary. A motion was made and passed to destroy the ballots.
The meeting was turned over to the new officers. President Nelson entertained a motion to thank the old officers for their service during the past year. That motion was seconded and passed.
Old Business
A. General Education
A senator noted that the recommendations of the Ad Hoc General Education Committee appointed by Vice President Whitten were sent to the academic departments for implementation as the departments see fit. The Senate was bypassed. The senator wondered how general education requirements could in fact be general when individual departments could do anything they want with them. The Senate Council was asked to consider the problem of general education requirements.
New Business
A. Sabbatical Leave Report
Senator Schwartz reported that Albert P. Ruotsala is the new Chairman of the University Sabbatical Leave Committee. The following sabbatical leaves have been approved since September 1, 1982:
Ward Frea, spring 1983, Germany
W.C. Gappy, 1983-84, University of Minnesota
J. Allison, 1983-84, England
Toby Fulwiler, 1983-84, several institutions
Randall Freisinger, 1983-84, Massachusetts
F. Abata, winter and spring 1983-84, Canada
Wilson Gulick, winter 1983-84, writing a book at a remote locationSenator Schwartz reported that he had received sabbatical leave reports from the following: C.R. Baillod, B.H. Baltensperger, H.E. Boyer, L.W. Erlebach, W.J. Frea, A.A. Hendrickson, J. Kalliokoski, L. Laub, G.F. Reynolds, D.W. Smith, J.B. Spain, and S.A. Stephens. A report from V.R. Potnis is expected. Interest in sabbatical leave continues and without a doubt it contributes to the strength of MTU.
B. Winter Quarter Academic Calendar Change
President Nelson reported that a proposal was submitted by the Student Council to change the academic calendar for winter quarter 1983-84. Nelson referred the proposal to the Instructional Policy Committee and cautioned the committee that any attempt to alter the academic calendar during a year in progress leads to all kinds of problems ranging from union contracts for support personnel to purchases of laboratory animals.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:42 p.m.
Paul A. Nelson
Senate Secretary