THE UNIVERSITY SENATE OF MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
Minutes of Meeting 396
19 November 2003
Synopsis: The Senate
President Bob Keen called University Senate Meeting 396 to order at 5:35 p.m. on Wednesday, 19 November 2003, in Room B45 EERC.
1. ROLL CALL OF SENATORS
Secretary Craig Waddell called roll. Absent were
At-large Senator Cindy Selfe and representatives from
Computer Science, Materials Science and Engineering,
the Keweenaw Research Center, Auxiliary Enterprises,
and Research and Finance and Advancement.
Liaisons in attendance were Brandon Richards (USG)
and Becky Christianson (Staff Council).
2. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS
Visitors included Jim Moore (School of Forest
Resources and Environmental Science), Brenda
Helminen (IT), Kent Wray (Provost), Cagan Cerkez
(MTU student), Max Seel (Dean, College of Sciences
and Arts) and, Marcia Goodrich (Tech Topics).
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Keen presented the agenda and asked for additions
or modifications. Senator Scott Pollins asked that the
discussion of Proposal 6-04, Wireless Lan Strategy
and Policies, be delayed until other members of the
Computer Committee were available to answer
questions. There were no additional modifications and
there were no objections to the agenda as amended.
[Appendix A. NOTE: Only official senate and library
archival copies of the minutes will contain a full
complement of appendices.]
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM MEETINGS 393
AND 394
Keen presented the minutes from meeting 393. He
said that except for one section, which has since been
amended, the minutes from meeting 393 were
approved at the previous senate meeting. He asked of
there were additions or corrections to the amended
section: 7.A. Proposal 1-04, 2004-2005, Academic
Calendar. There were none. There were no
objections to approving the minutes as amended.
Keen presented the minutes from meeting 394 and asked for corrections or amendments. Senator Terry Monson noted a missing % sign on page 10420. There were no further corrections or amendments. The minutes were approved as corrected.
5. PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Keen said that Proposal 3-04, Minor in Municipal
Engineering, has been transmitted to the
administration for approval. [Appendix B]
Keen said that he forwarded to the administration the sense of the senate indicating the senate's wish that semester designations be retained in the individual course descriptions in the undergraduate catalog. He said that the senate had received a notice from the Office of Student Records and Registration indicating that these designations would be retained.
Keen said that the senate needs to elect a new secretary, whose term would begin in January.
Keen said that senators representing academic units should have received and distributed to their constituents a notice that the Academic Tenure Committee has postponed the meeting and vote on revised Tenure, Promotion, and Reappointment Policies and Procedures from Friday, November 23 to Wednesday, January 28 in order to allow more time for faculty to consider the proposed revisions. The forum on this topic is still scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday, November 20. Keen said that the vote was originally scheduled for November 23 in order to allow the revision, if approved, to be presented to the Board of Control at the Board's December 2003 meeting.
Keen said that the Benefits Liaison Group (BLG) was confirmed by Senate Proposal 22-00. The senate representatives on the BLG are the senate president, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and the chair of the Senate Fringe Benefits Committee. Last year, at the request of Director of Human Resources Ellen Horsch, Senator Jim Pickens also served on the BLG. This year, Horsch has asked Bruce Barna to continue serving on the BLG.
The Senate Executive Committee met on Friday, November 7. The committee discussed Proposal 2-04, Honorary Posthumous Degrees, and at tonight's meeting will present that proposal to the senate in a substantially modified form. The committee also worked on Proposal 7-04, Expanded Undergraduate Degree Offerings, Proposal 8-04, The Role of Non-Engineering Disciplines at Michigan Tech, and Proposal 8-04, Enhancing the Campus and Community. All four of these proposals will be presented to the senate later this evening. The committee also discussed forms used for proposing new degree programs. The Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Curriculum Committee are considering developing forms for such proposals.
The Budget Advisory Group (BAG) met on November 13 to discuss plans for addressing expected cuts in state appropriations for higher education. At this meeting, an approach to addressing financial problems was outlined. This approach is different from that represented by last year's Budget Reduction Advisor Committee (BRAC). The new approach includes establishing several committees to develop and review plans for budget cuts. Keen said that Provost Wray had requested the senate's assistance in establishing a committee of tenured faculty to assist the BAG in developing budget reduction plans, primarily for fiscal year 2005 and fiscal year 2006, but possibly also for the current fiscal year. Wray's memo to Keen indicates that the committee should not have more than eight members and that although no criteria are specified for membership on the committee, experience with budgeting would be helpful. Keen said that members of this committee should not simultaneously serve on any of the other budget advisory committees. [Appendix C]
Keen said that he had asked the Senate Finance Committee to recommend means of selecting members of this committee. The Finance Committee recommended that senators solicit from their departments up to three tenured faculty for service on this committee. The nominees will be listed on a ballot that will be distributed to the entire faculty. The top eight vote-getters will comprise the committee. If there is a tie for eighth place, that position will be decided by the flip of a coin.
Keen said that Provost Wray had told him that the rationale for creating this committee was the paucity of faculty on the BRAC last year. Keen called for comments.
Senator Deb Bruch asked if it would be possible to ensure that each college and school was represented on this committee.
Keen said that this was an excellent point. He asked Wray if he concurred. Wray indicated that he did. Keen asked how the ballot would be structured.
Bruch suggested listing nominees according to college or school and asking faculty to vote for one nominee from each unit.
Senator Erik Nordberg said that the committee could be comprised of the top vote-getter from each of the five schools and colleges and the next three top vote-getters after these five.
Senator Terry Monson said that under this plan, if there was only one nominee from a given school or college, that nominee would automatically become a member of the committee.
Keen said that that was correct.
Bruch asked if department chairs were eligible to serve on this committee.
Keen said that they were not. He said that chairs were, properly, protective of turf.
Senator Marilyn Cooper said that many chairs know more about budgets than faculty do.
Keen agreed.
Cooper asked when the election would be held and when the committee would begin its work.
Keen said that the election would be held immediately after the Thanksgiving break and that the committee would begin its work as soon as possible thereafter.
Dean Max Seel said that one would not want to waste more time electing committee members than deliberating the issues. He said that the mid-year budget cuts would need to be decided upon before the end of December.
Keen said that the ballots should be distributed immediately after Thanksgiving break and should be returned shortly thereafter.
Senator Jacek Borysow said that Keen had said that department chairs tend to protect their turf. He asked Provost Wray if he was seeking independent advice from any person or group that has no turf interest at Michigan Tech.
Wray said that he was not.
Keen asked for further comments. There were none. Keen asked that all nominations to this committee be submitted no later than Friday, November 21.
Senator Bill Gregg asked what the name of this committee would be.
Keen said that the name was Budget Reduction Planning Committee -- Faculty. Keen said that the term of service on this committee was not specified.
Keen said that the Committee on Developing Policy met on November 11, with himself and Bill Gregg representing the University Senate. He said that they tried to fit several senate policies into the proposed policy format.
Keen said that two proposals (Minor in Polymer Science and Engineering and PhD in Industrial Heritage and Archeology) have been forwarded to the Senate Curricular Policy and Finance Committees for review.
Keen called for questions. There were none.
6. COMMITTEE REPORTS
Elections -- University Committees
Keen said the senate is still seeking nominees for
the Faculty Review Committee and for the Inquiry
Committee (for scientific misconduct).
Keen asked the senate's permission to appoint a member to the College of Sciences and Arts Dean Review Committee. There were no objections to Keen appointing someone to this committee.
7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Proposal 4-04, BS Program in Psychology [See
minutes, page 10449, for a copy of this proposal.]
Keen said that at its previous meeting, the senate
had extensively discussed Proposal 4-04, BS Program
in Psychology. He asked the Curriculum Committee
and the Finance Committee to report briefly on their
deliberations on this proposal.
Curricular Committee Chair Bill Gregg said that he had nothing to add beyond what he had reported at the previous senate meeting except that he had discovered that among college-bound high school seniors taking the SAT and ACT, as many students intend to major in psychology as intend to major in all engineering disciplines combined.
Keen said that the report from the Curriculum Committee at the previous senate meeting had been favorable.
Finance Committee Co-Chair Jim Pickens said that the Finance Committee always looks carefully at degree proposals, especially those that seem to require new resources. He said that the Finance Committee approves Proposal 4-04 but has some concerns about the included enrollment projections.
Pickens said that the addition of a bachelor's degree in psychology would help to diversify Michigan Tech's portfolio of undergraduate degree offerings. He said that adding degrees in software engineering, computer engineering, and electrical and computer science doesn't significantly diversify Michigan Tech's portfolio of undergraduate degree offerings since the same students would be interested in those degrees. He said that a psychology degree would both attract and retain a different group of students.
Pickens said that a bachelor's degree in psychology would also help to diversify Michigan Tech's student body. He said that he would expect psychology majors to have different worldviews than engineering majors. This would enrich the university community. Pickens said that a psychology major would also contribute to gender diversity.
Despite its support of Proposal 4-04, Pickens said that the Finance Committee has concerns about Michigan Tech's ability to attract students to this program. He said that there is no recent history of similar degrees being offered at Michigan Tech; the last degree program to be added to Michigan Tech's undergraduate portfolio outside of sciences and engineering was the program in Scientific and Technical Communication, which was added 25 years ago. Also, Pickens said that Michigan Tech is on longer a best buy; hence, the cost of tuition at Michigan Tech for a psychology major is significantly higher than the cost of tuition at other universities in the region, such as Northern Michigan University, offering similar degrees. Hence, the Finance Committee believes that most students enrolling in this program will probably be from the area or will be internal transfers.
Pickens said that although not specific to this program, the Finance Committee is concerned about the possible long-term implications of relying on graduate students and non-tenure track faculty as an inexpensive way to offer instruction. He said that the psychology proposal includes a non-tenure-track position, but that this position would be phased out after the first year or two and replaced with a new, tenure-track faculty line.
Pickens said that the Finance Committee was not confident that the program would attract 30 new students by per year by 2009-2010, as is projected in the proposal. However, he said that the program would probably do well even if it did not meet this goal.
Pickens called for questions.
Senator Terry Monson said that psychology majors would also take courses in other departments. Hence, he asked if the addition of theses new students would require new faculty in other departments.
Pickens said that the Finance Committee had considered this and had recommended that the proposers include two new faculty members to teach the new psychology majors across the rest of the curriculum.
Dean Max Seel said that four teaching assistants and one faculty member would be added to respond to this need.
Monson said that only two new faculty lines were identified in the proposal's resource analysis.
Pickens said that at the request of the Finance Committee, one more faculty member and several teaching assistants had been added to the resource analysis.
Monson asked what net profit was expected from the program.
Pickens said that if enrollment projections are met, the net financial benefit in 2009-2010 would be $216,735.
Monson said that the numbers Pickens displayed for discounted tuition revenue were different than those presented in the original proposal.
Seel said that these numbers had been revised at the request of the Finance Committee to reflect anticipated changes in salaries and tuition. Seel said that even if the program attracted only 20 new students per year, it would still create a net profit of $80,000.
Pickens said that psychology is a less expensive field in which to educate people than is engineering. Monson asked how likely it was that the administration would provide the funding necessary for the new positions required by this program.
Keen asked to delay this question until the motion to approve the proposal was on the floor. Keen asked for a motion to approve Proposal 4-04.
Senator Susan Amato-Henderson MOVED and Senator Ron Roblee seconded the motion to approve Proposal 4-04.
Keen opened the floor for discussion.
Monson asked how likely it was that the administration would provide the funding necessary for the new positions required by this program.
Provost Wray said that he was committed to funding the new faculty lines (1) if enrollments justified these lines, and (2) if funds are available to support these lines.
Keen called for further discussion. There was none.
The motion to approve PASSED on a voice vote with dissent.
B. Proposal 5-04, Master of Science Degree in
Mathematical Sciences [See minutes, page 10463,
for a copy of this proposal.]
Senator Terry Monson MOVED and Senator Scott
Pollins seconded the motion to approve Proposal 5-04.
There was no discussion. The motion to approve PASSED on a voice vote.
C. Proposal 2-04, Honorary Posthumous Degrees
[Appendix D]
Senator Marilyn Cooper MOVED and Senator
Pollins seconded the motion to approve Proposal 2-04.
Amato-Henderson asked if this proposal applied to both undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Keen said that it did.
Keen called for further discussion. There was none.
The motion to approve PASSED on a voice vote without dissent.
8. NEW BUSINESS
A. Proposal 7-04, Expanded Undergraduate Degree
Offerings [Appendix E]
Senator Becky Christianson MOVED and Senator
Ted Soldan seconded the motion to approve Proposal
7-04.
Keen opened the floor for discussion.
Monson asked if the proposal was for more degrees or also for tuition restructuring.
Senator Craig Waddell said that there had originally been five separate proposals, and the Executive Committee had suggested combining the recommendations in these proposals into a smaller number of proposals. Hence, recommendations on differential tuition and continued support for institutional marketing were added to the end of Proposal 7-04.
Keen said that the specific action requested by Proposal 7-04 is that the senior administration issue a call for new undergraduate degree proposals. He said that the comments on differential tuition and institutional marketing record what the senate supports without asking that the administration respond to this support.
Keen called for further discussion; there was none.
The motion to approve Proposal 7-04 PASSED on a voice vote without dissent.
B. Proposal 8-04, The Role of Non-Engineering
Disciplines at Michigan Tech [Appendix F]
Senator Deb Bruch MOVED and Senator Erik
Nordberg seconded the motion to approve Proposal 8-04.
Keen said that the specific action requested is the revision of the strategic plan.
Keen called for discussion. There was none.
The motion to approve Proposal 8-04 PASSED on a voice vote without dissent.
C. Proposal 9-04, Enhancing the Campus and
Community [Appendix G]
Senator Pollins MOVED and Senator Marilyn
Cooper seconded the motion to approve Proposal 9-04.
Keen said that the primary recommendation of Proposal 9-04 is to establish a committee to review proposals for enhancing the campus and community.
Senator Chris Williams said that one of her constituents had asked how such proposals would be prioritized.
Waddell said that he believed that prioritizing proposals would be one of the tasks that such a committee would be charged with.
Monson asked where such proposals would go after the committee was done with them.
Waddell said that the committee would probably be charged with forwarding recommendations to the appropriate person, office, or organization.
Keen called for further discussion; there was none.
The motion to approved Proposal 9-04 PASSED on a voice vote without dissent.
9. ADJOURNMENT
Senator Bruch MOVED and Senator Turnquist
seconded the motion to adjourn. The meeting
adjourned at 6:28 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Craig Waddell
Secretary of the University Senate