The University Senate
of Michigan Technological University
Minutes of
Meeting 512
2 November 2011
Synopsis:
The Senate
·
Presentation on AQIP projects by Associate
Provost Christa Walck
·
Presentation on graduate program by Provost
Max Seel
·
Proposal 6-12 passed
·
Proposal 7-12 passed
1. Call to order and roll call. President Rudy Luck called the University Senate Meeting 512
to order at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, November 2, 2011. The Senate Secretary Marty
Thompson called roll. Absent were representatives of Biomedical Engineering, Materials
Science and Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, Physics, Visual and Performing
Arts, Academic Services B, Auxiliaries and Cultural Enrichment and Staff
Council and Senators Bulleit.
2. Recognition of visitors. Guests included Max Seel (Provost
Office), Christa Walck (Provost Office), Jim Frendeway (School of Technology),
Hasan Sapci (School of Technology), Guy Hembroff (School of Technology),
Jessica Benda (Student Affairs), Sean Kirkpatrick (Biomedical Engineering),
Zack Kukkonen (Daily Mining Gazette), Stacey Kukkonen (Daily Mining Gazette),
Anita Quinn (Hman Resources), Pushpa Murthy (Chemistry) and Shehar Joshi
(School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science).
3. Approval of agenda. Luck
asked if there were any changes; there being none Luck declared the agenda
stood approved.
4. Approval of minutes from Meetings 511. Luck
asked if there were any changes; there being none Luck declared the minutes
stood approved.
5. Presentation: “Update on AQIP
Projects” by Associate Provost Christa Walck
Luck introduced Associate Provost
Christa Walck, who proceeded to discuss action projects, accreditation and
strategy updates pertaining to AQIP. She noted a quality check-up visit which
will occur in March 2012. Walck discussed several ongoing projects and new
projects such as, increasing the numbers of female faculty and students, and
improving student success. Seel noted the placement rates are very good. Walck
said the placement rates are good but the corresponding data gathered was not
very good. Seel said 94 percent is very good. Walck agreed but felt the sample
size was too small to be statistically significant. Mullins asked who our peer
institutions are. Walck said it depends on what aspect we are looking at. Seel
said it varies by department. Kallio said the benchmarks are on the Tech
website. Walck discussed the new task force on blended and technology-rich
teaching/learning environment and support systems. Seel noted Steve Kamp from
the senate is a member of the task force. Walck concluded by mentioning the
NSSE 2012 student survey. Luck asked who chose the two representatives from Tech.
Walck said the higher learning commission. Luck asked if the commission is comprised
of peer-institutions. Walck said no and noted most of the commission is
composed of community colleges as they also choose AQIP. Luck thanked Walck.
6. Presentation: “Provost
Report on the Graduate Program” by Provost Max Seel
Luck introduced Provost Max Seel,
who provided information about graduate student support. Seel described the
support mechanisms for doctoral and master’s students. Mullins asked how this
compares to research intensive universities. Seel said we are trying to grow
our graduate program. Mullins asked for the comparable numbers at other institutions.
Seel said that the external research support needs to be much higher. Mullins
said at engineering schools the self-supporting students represent about 90% of
the total. Seel said we need to grow the master’s degree numbers, noting the
majority were self-supported (504 of the 664 master’s students were
self-supported versus 127 of the 500 doctoral students were self-supported). He
noted the state support to universities has gone down whereas tuition and fees
have gone up over the past 30 years. Vable commented that the state
appropriations and tuition amounts presented as a percent of revenue does not
describe the point being made. Seel referenced the plot as a general trend and
as support for scholarships to bridge the widening cost gap. Luck asked about
the ‘Other’ category. Seel said ‘Other’ includes, dorms, endowments and
anything else that goes into the fund. He noted the state financial-aid
decreased dramatically and institutional financial-aid has more than doubled.
Vable asked about the graduate and undergraduate numbers. Seel restated the graduate
and undergraduate financial-aid amounts. Vable asked what percent of
undergraduate tuition goes to the institutional support of students. Seel said that
amount is approximately 40%.
7. Report from the Senate President
Luck noted the administration
approved Proposals 1-12 through 5-12, noting Proposals 1-12, 3-12 and 4-12 had
changes that the senate needs to approve. Seel said they were only typos. Luck
presented the changes to Proposal 1-12, and asked if there were any additional
discussion on the proposal. There being none he called for a vote; the revised proposal
passed unanimously on a voice vote. Luck presented the changes to Proposal
3-12, and asked if there were any additional discussion on the proposal. There
being none he called for a vote; the revised proposal passed unanimously
on a voice vote. Luck presented the
changes to Proposal 4-12, and asked if there were any additional discussion on
the proposal. There being none he called for a vote; the revised proposal passed unanimously on a voice vote. Luck reminded the senate that Vice-President
Reed was giving a presentation next week on strategic budgeting. He made an
announcement for the chess club. Luck requested that each committee with senate
appointed members provide a report which will be made available to the
senators. He noted the Benefits Liaison Group is busy and will have a meeting
1/5/2012 to make 3-5 year projections on benefits. Luck noted that Aetna made
an evaluation and concluded there was not much we could do to make
health-related improvements. Luck disagreed and said we could all stand to lose
some weight. He concluded by requesting an update on the IT transformation and commenting
on Michigan House Bill No. 4770 – a bill to prohibit public employers from
providing certain benefits to public employees. Luck then suggested a sense
of the senate resolution Scarlett noted the bill is in conflict with our
strategic plan item 1.1: competitive compensation and recruitment. Barr said
this issue will continue to reoccur until sex-orientation is protected under
law. Luck said this rule applies to any domestic partnership. Riehl stated this
is still a problem with cohabitation in terms of Tech’s benefits plan. Barr
said that issue is more of an IRS rule. Barkdoll asked what the role of this
senate resolution is. Luck felt it was moral support. Mullins noted the local representative is a
supporter of the bill. Vable recommended we send our resolution to him. Herbig
asked if the above text could be attained. Luck said it will be in the minutes.
8. Report from Senate Standing Committees
Onder, Elections Committee, asked
for additional nominations to serve on the committee for the evaluation of the
Dean of CSA. There being none, Vable moved forward. Luck asked if there were
any additional nominations; there being none he called for a vote; the senate unanimously approved Vable’s appointment to the Dean evaluation committee by a
voice vote.
9. Old Business
Proposal 6-12: “Proposal for a non-departmental Ph.D.
Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB)”
Storer, Curricular Policy Committee,
reiterated the units involved and noted that the authors of the proposal were
present for questions. Mullins Finance Committee (FC) stated that we lose money
for each student we graduate and declared that his committee should turn down
all proposals that do not state new costs. Seel said if we cannot do this
because this is true of all programs. He stated that research is expensive and
our mission is to educate and do research. Kirkpatrick said 51-04 needs to be
revamped to reflect what information the FC actually needs. Seel said he would
revisit 51-04 to work out new wording. Murthy noted reallocations exist but if
chairs and deans are aware of this and sign off on it, they are aware of the
impacts. Luck said the FC is important as an analysis independent of deans and
chairs, noting the challenges of the committee. Luck asked if the proposal
should move forward. Mullins said it should and noted our non-resident graduate
tuition is among the lowest in the country. Luck cut the comments short
referring Mullins to the next meeting where the specific issue of graduate
tuition will be discussed. Storer pointed out the new wording in section 12.
Onder said his constituents were in support of this proposal. Luck asked if
there were any additional discussion on the proposal; there being none he
called for a vote; the proposal passed
unanimously
on a voice vote.
Proposal 7-12: ““Master’s Program in Biomedical Engineering”
Storer, Curricular Policy Committee,
noted there is currently a doctoral program in the Department of Biomedical
Engineering and this master’s degree is a logical addition. Luck asked if there
were any additional discussion on the proposal; there being none he called for
a vote; the proposal passed unanimously on a voice vote.
10. New Business
Proposal 8-12: “ Master of Science in Medical
Informatics”
Storer, Curricular Policy Committee
(CPC), stated this is from the School of Technology. He added that early
concerns about the proposal have been addressed and it has CPC support.
Proposal 9-12:
“Bachelor of Arts in Physics”
Storer, Curricular Policy Committee,
said this is a bachelor of arts degree with less intensity in physics
permitting more study in a range of other subjects. Barkdoll asked about the
demand. Storer noted the B.S. and B.A. degrees are quite common at many institutions.
Proposal 10-12:
“Bachelor of Arts in Physics with a Concentration in Secondary Education”
Storer, Curricular Policy Committee,
said this was similar to Proposal 9-12 and has a concentration in secondary education
built into the degree program. Luck stated there was a great need for physics
teachers in high-school and this degree makes the timeline more tangible.
11. Adjournment. Onder moved to
adjourn; Storer seconded the motion.
President Luck adjourned the meeting at 6:35pm
Respectfully submitted
by Marty Thompson
Secretary of the University Senate