ACADEMIC FACULTY ASSEMBLY
M I N U TE S
Stieren Theatre
Friday, April 28, 2006
CALL TO ORDER, WELCOME, AND REMARKS
President John Brazil called the
meeting to order and offered some brief remarks, noting that:
·
The
Capital Campaign is proceeding as anticipated, and a running total will be
announced at the upcoming meeting of the Board of Trustees. There have been
encouraging turnouts in
·
The
Carnegie Commission on Higher Education released its final basic classification
system in February, but U.S. News and
World Report will continue using the former system for 2007 and is looking
into how best to incorporate the changes in 2008. President Brazil stated that
whatever happens,
·
The
reaffirmation (reaccreditation) process is proceeding. The “must” standards
have been replaced by 12 core requirements, 10 comprehensive standards, and several
federal requirements. The timeline includes a compliance certification due by
·
Earlier
this year the Faculty Senate recommended that opportunities for interaction
between the Board and the Faculty be created. To that end, 13 faculty members
plus the chairs of the Faculty Senate and University Curriculum Council have
been invited to visit with the Trustees at lunch during the May Board meeting. Next
year all new faculty will also be invited to meet with the Trustees.
·
There
is a new brick wall along
·
The
Last Great Reception begins at
·
Professor
Victoria Aarons was selected as one of the 2006 Piper Professors.
VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND DEAN OF THE FACULTY
Vice President Fischer continued the meeting as Chair.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE ACADEMIC
FACULTY ASSEMBLY OF March 3,
2006 .
It was moved and seconded to approve the minutes of
the Academic Faculty Assembly of March
3, 2006 . The motion passed.
APPROVAL OF CANDIDATES
FOR DEGREES TO BE CONFERRED AT THE
It was moved and seconded to approve the list of candidates
for degrees to be conferred
REPORT FROM THE
ACADEMIC HONOR COUNCIL
Professor Barbara MacAlpine, Faculty Advisor to the Honor
Council, reported on the number and nature of the cases to come before the
Honor Council this year, the types of sanctions imposed and types of ongoing
education, and noted that Professor Judith Fisher would be serving along with
her as the second Faculty Advisor. She also thanked Professor Nina Ekstein for
her enormous contribution to the Honor Council.
REPORT FROM THE FACULTY SENATE
Professor William C. McCaughrin, Chair of the Faculty
Senate, acknowledged and thanked the outgoing Senate Chair, Professor C.
Mackenzie Brown, for his many contributions to the major activities and
accomplishments of the Senate. He also noted some of the accomplishments during
2005-2006:
Through the leadership of Professor Carolyn Becker, the Faculty Gold Room was created; through the efforts of Professors Barbara MacAlpine and Mackenzie Brown, Trinity Faculty will now have the opportunity to meet with the Board of Trustees on an informal basis; as a result of the work of Professors Tucker Gibson and Bob Blystone, the Senate engaged the Trinity Faculty in the Capital Campaign, and to date, more than 65 per cent of the Faculty have pledged to the Campaign; and Professor Dante Suarez facilitated the restructuring of the University Diversity Committee, whose task is to celebrate and increase diversity in every aspect of University life.
Professor McCaughrin then brought forth a proposal on behalf
of the Senate. (Distributed to the
Faculty on
Motion: To substitute
the course assessment form distributed to Faculty on
Professor McCaughrin then proposed an amendment to the form
to insert the words, “encourages creativity,” into item 6 on page 2 between
“…or existing skills,” and “or teaches useful strategies….”
The amendment passed.
Professor Richard Butler then moved to recommit the main
motion back to the Faculty Senate with the following instructions: that early
in the Fall Semester 2006 the Faculty Senate conduct three forums—one for the
entire faculty body, one for the departmental Chairs, and one for the members
of the Association of Student Representatives, open to all students, for the
purpose of integrating feedback on how the proposed Course Evaluation Form
should be improved. After having integrated the feedback, the Faculty Senate
will then present the revised form to the Association of Student
Representatives and to the entire faculty body for comments on the revision.
This final revision of the Course Evaluation Form will then be reintroduced to
the faculty assembly for approval no later than the end of the Fall Semester,
2006.
The motion was defeated (42 for and 75 against)
Professor L. Brooks Hill moved a two-part amendment to the
main motion proposed by the Faculty Senate and called for a separate vote on
part II.
Part I: Replace the
last seven lines of the front page of the proposed evaluation form (starting
with “Please check the boxes…” and ending with “…make suggestions for change”)
with the following:
Fill in the
bubble that indicates your response, using the same scale as for questions 1-7.
A.
Overall, I would give this course a positive rating [NA SA A N D SD]
B.
Overall, the instructor is an effective teacher [NA SA A N D SD]
Please explain below the reasons for your
responses to questions A and B.”
The amendment was defeated.
Part II: Amend the proposed amendment to Section
6HIIC of the Handbook immediately
following the sentence, “A separate report shall include cross-tabulations of
responses on background questions and numerically rated items” by adding the
following sentence: “This report will include the means and medians of the
responses to the evaluative questions.”
Since Part I of the amendment was defeated, Part II was not
considered.
Professor Jorge Gonzalez then moved to amend the Senate’s
proposal by adding the following language:
“Implementation of the new form
will take place only after the completion and evaluation of a pilot program. In
the fall of 2006, a sample of approximately 10% of all classes, including some
in each department, will use the new form in place of the current one. A
committee appointed by the Faculty Senate will seek feedback about the
effectiveness of the new form from chairs, participating faculty members and
the Association of Student Representatives. The committee will report its
findings to the Faculty Senate during the first half of the spring semester,
2007.
If the Senate concludes that the
new form is successful, it will recommend to the Faculty Assembly later that
semester that the new form be implemented beginning in the fall of 2007. If the
Senate instead concludes that revisions are needed, it will establish a process
and schedule for bringing a revised form to the Faculty Assembly for its
consideration.”
The amendment was defeated.
Professor Sammye
Johnson then proposed an amendment to the main motion:
Reword item three of the proposed
form by inserting “class handouts (such as published articles, lists, reference
citations) or” after the word “If…” and before “electronic resources (such
as….” and by substituting “support the
content of” for “enhance.”
There was no vote.
Professor L. Brooks Hill moved to recommit the main motion
to the Faculty Senate.
The motion passed (52
for and 42 against)
REPORT FROM THE UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM COUNCIL
Professor Duane Coltharp, Chair, reported that the UCC this
year fleshed out the remaining provisions of the new curriculum by finalizing the
forms and procedures that faculty members may use in proposing Beyond the
Classroom experiences; by posting a Beyond the Classroom proposal form on the
UCC website; and by requesting and receiving Senior Experience information from
all departments.
What remains is the Senior Interdisciplinary Seminar (one of
the four ways in which students may satisfy the Senior Experience requirement).
A small group of faculty members has begun discussing possible models for the
senior seminar, and a larger group has been invited to participate in a one-day
planning workshop on May 15.
The members
of the 2006-07 Curriculum Council are as follows:
Paul Kelleher (Education)
Glenn Kroeger (Geosciences)
Nanette LeCoat (Modern Languages and
Literatures)
John McGrath (Speech and Drama)
Berna Massingill (Computer Science)
Michael Soto (English) – Dr. Soto
will be on academic leave during the coming Fall semester, during which time he
will be replaced by Andrew Kania (Philosophy)
Dan Spiegel (Physics and Astronomy)
Carol Yoder (Psychology)
Charles Sharman (student)
and Kim Robertson (Business
Administration), the chair of the UCC for the coming academic year.
Professor Coltharp also thanked
Professors Sarah Burke, Kim Robertson, and all the current members of the UCC
for making this year a productive and rewarding one.
PRESENTATION OF DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS FOR 2005-2006
Vice President Fischer announced the
recipients of these awards, and Dr.
- Distinguished
Scholarship, Research or Creative Work or Activity:
Professor Steven Gilliam,
Professor of Speech and Drama
- Distinguished
University and Community Service:
Professor William
Christ, Professor of Communication
- Distinguished
Advising:
Professor Kim Robertson,
Professor of Business Administration
- Junior
Faculty Distinguished Teaching and Research:
Professor Mark Lewis,
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
- Junior
Faculty Distinguished Teaching and Research:
Professor Christine
Drennon, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology
OTHER
Professor Nina Ekstein presented a resolution of
appreciation for Sarah Burke’s work as Secretary of the Faculty for the past
five years.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the
meeting adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Predock Burke
Secretary
of the Faculty