February 2013 Senate Synopsis

April 10, 2013 Senate Meeting Highlights

Chair Jackie Trischman opened the seventh Academic Senate meeting of 2012-13 with several announcements:  (1) Thank You to the provost’s office and Extended Learning for their agreement to support additional reallocated time for the Senate vice chair and the chairs of UCC and BLP next year (in recognition of increased responsibilities for these chairs and the impact of EL on Senate business); (2) AALC and BLP met on April 9 to discuss funding priorities for the Academic Affairs budget proposal to University Budget Committee (UBC); (3) Senate leaders attended a workshop with Catalyst and University Advancement about fund-raising; (4) Faculty might wish to contribute to the Senior Class Gift Campaign to help fund a scholarship; (5) Several referrals to committees were made. 

Vice Chair Vivienne Bennett reported on the UBC meeting in which other divisions made their cases for funding; Academic Affairs will present its priorities at the next meeting (all decisions dependent upon funding increases that might be realized—stay tuned for legislative action and the May Revise).  The April 9 workshop with Catalyst was encouraging.

President Karen Haynes reported that the provost’s search is moving forward, with many well-qualified applicants.  Semi-finalists will be interviewed via Skype, and up to four finalists will have campus visits at the end of April/beginning of May.

CSU Academic Senator Glen Brodowsky announced that CSU Faculty Trustee Bernadette Cheyne’s rescheduled visit to CSUSM will be April 29.

The Senate approved AY 2013/14 calendars for Academic Senate meetings and the Retention/Tenure/Promotion process.  Many committee appointments and course/program proposals were also approved via the consent calendar.

In a major item of business, the Senate approved the Department Chair Selection Policy and Procedure (as amended), a revised Faculty Awards Policy, and a revised All-University Writing Requirement.  Under a suspension of the rules, a discussion item was taken up for action; this was a minor revision to the Graduation Requirements Policy to account for the different credit requirements for the B.A. and B.S. degrees.  In a time-sensitive situation, a resolution to oppose Senate Bill 520 “California Online Student Access Platform” was introduced and passed. 

Major items on the discussion agenda were:  Program proposal for the Master’s in Social Work degree; RTP policy revision for SSP-ARs; RTP policy revision for Library; Lower Division GE certification form revisions; Upper Division GE learning outcomes revision; Academic Calendars for 2014/15 through 2017/18; and Revision of the acceptable grades in Lower Division GE “Golden Four” courses.  These will be brought back to Senate on April 24, when they will be considered for action.

Janet McDaniel, Secretary