THE university SENATE OF
MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Minutes of Meeting 455

17 October 2007

Synopsis:

The Senate

(1) heard a presentation by Les Cook and John Lehman on Admissions and Enrollment

(2) Passed Proposal 2-08, Certificate in Global Technological Leadership

(3) introduced Proposal 3-08, Revision of Senate Bylaws to Reflect Changes in Constituency Units

1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

President Sloan called the University Senate Meeting 455 to order at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, 17 October 2007, in Room B45 EERC.

Secretary Glime called roll. Absent were representatives from Army/Air Force ROTC and Academic Services A. Liaison in attendance was Lakshmi Krishna (GSC). Academic Services C and Auxiliaries currently have no elected representatives.

2. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS

Guests included Mary Ann Klooster (Exercise Sci., Health, & PE), Bob Warrington (IIS), Lesley Lovett Doust (Provost), John Lehman (Asst VP Enrollment Svcs), and Les Cook (VP Student Affairs).

3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

President Sloan announced that Proposal 4-08 had been temporarily withdrawn, cancelling item 8b of the agenda. Item 8c would be added, "next meeting date."

P. Nelson MOVED and Pellizzaro seconded the motion to approve the agenda as modified. The motion to approve PASSED on voice vote with no dissent.

4. Presentation: "Admissions and Enrollment" by Les Cook and John Lehman

Cook (VP Student Affairs) reported on the fall 2007 enrollment. The applications were 5046, up by 436 (9%). Acceptances were 4233, up 461 (12%). First-time freshmen included 918 residents (up 107), 245 non-residents (down 85), and 59 international (up 31). Grad students included 139 M. S. (down 30) and 72 Ph. D. (down 5). The total enrollment is 6738 (up 209), 80 above the goal. The number of students on campus is 6667, the largest enrollment since 1992. These positive figures are despite the decrease in distance learning.

Senator Dewey asked how our number changes compare. Cook responded that other schools are seeing more commuting students than we are.

Cook reported that the College of Engineering is up by 52, Sciences and Arts by 100, School of Business by 20, SFRES by 28, and Technology down by 64. There has been little change in diversity.

The ACT scores averaged 25.6, up from 25.2. The national average is 21. However, most college fair students have ACT scores of 28 or higher.

Our retention rate has also improved by 2%, up to 82.7%. Our goal is to reach 85% in five years.

The enrollment for 2008 is encouraging. The Applications are 2418 (up by 255 ), acceptances of 1466 (up by 252), and deposits of 48 (up by 7). The Monday following the open house 312 new applications came in, the largest single day record ever.

Krishna (GSC) asked how many grad students had applied and been accepted. Cook responded that he would find out.

Senator Vable stated that incorporating of incomplete applications in total applications  was started two years ago and inquired about the number accepted and then enrolled this year. He asked if the increase included the incomplete applications. Les Cook replied that 5046 included both the complete and incomplete applications. Vable asked how many incomplete applications were in the count. John Lehman (Asst VP Enrollment Svcs) responded that they count all the acceptances. Of the 5046 total u-grad applications, 4576 of them were completed (91%).

Senator Gregg asked what the current rejection rate is. Lehman responded that it is 7%. Gregg asked if the year with 18% rejections was correct. Lehman responded that he did not know how that figure was calculated.

Lehman distributed Smart Cards and other materials that had been used during the Open House and College Fair.

Senator Miskioglu asked about the financial aid given to the current freshman class. Lehman responded that 85% receive financial aid; about 45-48% of the students received merit-based scholarships. [Note: information added after the meeting: 85% is typical elsewhere, e.g. Ann Arbor. Financial aid today is largely loans and counts scholarships from outside the university, such as those given by foundations or locally and even the state merit scholarships.]

Gregg asked if the online registration trend is up or down. Lehman responded that he didn't know. Those students with incomplete applications are usually missing transcripts or test scores.

Senator Luck stated that he had seen a ranking based on "interest of the country" and was surprised to find that MTU is only ranked at 186. Lehman responded that President Mroz had sent a note regarding the rating. We learned that they count ROTC for Navy (which we don't have), but not for Army or Air Force among criteria for ratings.

5. approval of minutes from meeting 454

Polzien MOVED and P. Nelson seconded the motion to approve the minutes of Meeting 454 as presented. The motion PASSED on voice vote with no dissent.

6. President’s Report

President Sloan reported that there had been no administrative actions to report.

7. Old business

Proposal 2-08, Certificate in Global Technological Leadership

Miller MOVED and Keith seconded the motion to approve Proposal 2-08.

Senator Kern asked, on behalf of Biological Sciences, who would assign the grades in the courses. Warrington responded that grades would be assigned by faculty in their respective academic units.

Senator Givens inquired about the expected outcomes of the program. Warrington responded that four areas had been identified: 1) increased awareness of their own leadership ability and increased experience – assessed by the advisory board and the students' portfolio; 2) keeping contact with the program; 3) alumni contact; 4) increased and earlier global assignments.

Givens asked if the program would require an extra semester for completion of the 25 credits. Warrington responded that most of the credits would be taken in one summer (12 credits). Four credits of seminar would be added to the normal workloads. Some credits are part of the normal program. The leadership course could be used as a free elective. The practicum would be an add on to the senior year. The hope is that students can do the program and still complete their degrees in the normal time.

Senator Boschetto-Sandoval asked the meaning of "indirect assessment." Warrington responded that it included such things as self-assessment.

Gregg asked if there is a history of using a person's name in a course title. The program is known as the Pavlis Program in honor of the donor. Warrington responded that he didn't know of any. Gregg added that the name Pavlis on the transcript may be strange and asked if Pavlis is known in the corporate world. Warrington responded that Google only found the MTU program and that the Pavlis name does not appear on any products. P. Nelson offered that it identifies the program in the course name, making it easier for students to find the course.

Proposal 2-08 PASSED on voice vote of academic units with no dissenting votes.

8. New Business

b) Proposal 3-08, Revision of Senate Bylaws to Reflect Changes in Constituency Units

Senator Nitz inquired why the library had representation in both the academic and non-academic units. Sloan responded that it was because they had both academic and non-academic interests. Secretary Glime added that they had only one person to represent both interests, but that they were listed both places because they could vote on both kinds of issues.

Senator Miller commented that the list was only quasi-alphabetical and suggested it should be fully alphabetical. Others agreed. Sloan explained that it had been due to the name changes, but that the Senate Assistant could provide an alphabetical list for the next meeting when the vote would be taken.

Senator Storer asked why Exercise Science was not included in Academic Services A rather than in its own unit as #10. It appeared that the department was over-represented. Sloan explained that they had mostly non-tenure-track members in the department. This led to questioning whether representation of Academic Services C should be re-worded.

Senator Veurink asked who had proposed this representation list. Sloan responded that it had been organized by the Senate Assistant. [Following the meeting the Senate Officers agreed that Group 3 (Academic Services C) should be changed from "All other Academic Departments" to "All other non-represented Academic Departments." This would restrict the Exercise Science, Health and Physical Education non-Academic Unit representation to #10. The same person would represent both the non-academic and the academic unit.]

c) Next Meeting Date

President Sloan pointed out that the next meeting date is scheduled for Hallowe'en and that several Senators had indicated they would not be at the meeting or would prefer not to be at the meeting. We want to ensure that if we meet we will have a quorum. We could meet a week earlier or cancel the meeting. However, Senators may already have made other commitments for the next week. There are no urgent items pending, and general support was expressed for cancelling the meeting.

Nelson MOVED and Pierce seconded the motion to cancel the meeting on 31 October. The motion PASSED on voice vote with no dissent.

9. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 6:30 pm.

Respectfully Submitted by Janice M. Glime

Secretary of the University Senate