THE university SENATE OF
MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

 

 Minutes of Meeting 454

3 October 2007

Synopsis: 

(1)   The Senate elected Gerry Caneba to the Faculty Distinguished Service Award Committee

(2)   The Senate Introduced Proposal 2-08, Certificate in Global Technological Leadership

1.     CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

President Sloan called the University Senate Meeting 454 to order at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, 3 October 2007, in Room B45 EERC.

Secretary Glime called roll.  Absent were at-large Senators Michele Miller and Nick Koszykowski and representatives from Army/Air Force ROTC, Biomedical Engineering, Geological and Mining Engineering and Science, Mathematical Sciences, Physics, and Academic Services B.  Liaisons in attendance were SherAaron Hurt (USG), and Lakshmi Krishna (GSC).  Academic Services C and Auxiliaries currently have no elected representatives.

2.     RECOGNITION OF VISITORS

Guests included Bob Warrington (IIS).

3.     APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Nelson MOVED and Kern seconded the motion to approve the agenda.  The motion to approve PASSED on voice vote with no dissent.

4.     approval of minutes from meeting 453

 L. Davis MOVED and Veurink seconded the motion to approve the minutes of Meeting 453 as presented.  The motion PASSED on voice vote with no dissent.

5.     President’s Report

President Sloan reported that the Provost is dining with the Board of Control tonight.  The administration hasn't acted on any Senate proposals since our last Senate meeting.

6.     Old business

University Standing Committee Elections

Gerry Caneba has agreed to serve on the Faculty Distinguished Service Award Committee, if elected.  There were no contending nominations, so he was elected by acclamation.

President Sloan announced that there is also an open position on the Public Safety Oversight Committee.  However, there were no nominations.

7.     New Business

Proposal 2-08, Certificate in Global Technological Leadership

Senator Kern, asking on behalf of Bill Yarroch, questioned why the majority of teaching staff, mostly GTA's, are from one department if this is an interdisciplinary program.

Warrington responded that the courses include outside speakers and the responsibilities are actually distributed among a number of faculty and staff in a number of departments.

Senator Boschetto-Sandoval pointed out that the graduate degree was in Rhetoric and Technical Communication, not Scientific and Technical Communication.  She inquired where the languages would be taught.

Warrington stated that they had been working with Sylvia Matthews to set up the language training program.  The first group of students has actually elected to go to Kumasi, Ghana, where more than 60 languages/dialects are spoken.

Boschetto-Sandoval commented that there is no reference in the proposal to intercultural communication.

Warrington responded that the students need to understand the culture of the country and the technology.

Kern expressed the concerns raised by Yarroch regarding cost.  The proposal refers to 20 scholarships for students.  That means they are not paying, so how is new money generated, as suggested in paragraph 4 of page 4?

Warrington responded that they already have some donors and that the current capital campaign is seeking more so that the scholarships will be funded through endowments.  The tuition would then come to the university, so it is win-win.

Kern asked Warrington to contact Yarroch with that information.

8.     Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 5:48 pm.

 

Respectfully Submitted by Janice M. Glime

Secretary of the University Senate