February 2013 Senate Synopsis

March 2013 Senate Meeting Highlights

Chair Jackie Trischman opened the sixth Academic Senate meeting of 2012-13 with several announcements:  (1) Senate officers will work with President Haynes and Interim Provost Oberem to move forward to address issues revealed in the Academic Affairs Restructure Survey completed by faculty and staff last month, and a synopsis of the findings are on the Senate website; (2) Kudos and Thank You to both School of Nursing and Program Assessment Committee for the comprehensive and helpful program review on the B.S. in Nursing, a very worthy program; (3) Congratulations to the Office of Community Service Learning on its national award, and Chair Trischman and Vice Chair Bennett will be working with the president, interim provost, and OCSL director on next steps in the reorganization of the unit; (4) Provost candidates will be on campus the week of May 6-10 with many meetings and fora to be announced; (5) The Celebration of Faculty Scholarship and Creative Activity will be on April 12; (6) The Student Research Symposium was last week, with ten students being named finalists for the CSU competition; (7) Oberem will form a Provost’s Space Advisory Group to engage in requests for space from units in Academic Affairs; and (8) A big Thank You and a standing ovation to recognize AVP for Academic Programs David Barsky, who will be returning to the faculty after years of tireless administrative service to the university and extraordinary service to Academic Senate.   

In a major item of business, the Senate approved a revision of the Student Course Grade Appeals policy.  Discussion items included the Department Chair selection policy, the Faculty Awards policy, and the All-University Writing Requirement.  These will be brought back to Senate in April, when they will be considered for action.

Complete minutes of each Academic Senate meeting are available on the Senate website as soon as they are approved at the following Senate meeting.  The next Senate meeting is Wednesday, April 10, from 1-3 PM in COM 206.  You do not need to be a senator to attend Senate meetings.  All members of the campus community (students, faculty, staff, administrators) are welcome to attend.

Janet McDaniel, Secretary