Academic Senate Youngstown State University Youngstown, Ohio  44555

Note 1: Please submit agenda items and cover sheets for the February 6, 2002, Senate meeting to Bege Bowers, A&S Dean's Office, by noon on Friday, January 25. Provide both a hard copy and a disk or electronic copy of your report and cover sheet in Word or rich text format. A downloadable cover sheet is available at the Academic Senate web site:

Note 2: If you want to read or print the pdf version of these minutes and don’t have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you may download the program at the following link: <http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html>.

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Major topics presented/discussed: Report of the Ad Hoc Classroom Assessment/Review Committee; state grant and scholarship funds distributed to Ohio's public, private non-profit, and proprietary (for-profit) institutions; Bylaws change adding an academic adviser to the Academic Standards Committee; annual elections report.

Call to Order:

Jim Morrison, chair of the Academic Senate, called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting:

Minutes of the 7 November 2001 meeting were approved as posted.

To view the November minutes, click here; click your “Back” button as necessary to return to the December minutes.

Senate Executive Committee (SEC) / Report from the Chair: Jim Morrison reported that the SEC has met to discuss several items. He made the following announcements:

• Bege Bowers has resigned as Senate secretary, effective as soon as possible. The SEC is exploring ways to fill the position.

• The SEC is forming an ad hoc committee to review the structure and procedures for election of Senate officers. Appointments to the committee should be complete by the end of the week.

• The three other ad hoc committees are the Ad Hoc Ethics Committee, which reported at the last Senate meeting; the Ad Hoc Global Awareness Committee; and the Ad Hoc Classroom Assessment/Review Committee. Morrison yielded the floor to Charles Singler for a report on the latter:

Singler, chair of the Ad Hoc Classroom Assessment/Review Committee, noted that President Sweet asked Jim Morrison last summer to form a committee to review the scheduling, use, and condition of classrooms. The committee, which has met almost weekly, includes Singler, Mary Lou DiPillo, Louis Harris, Bob Hogue, David Law, Martha Pallante, and Susan Russo.

The committee was established, at least in part, because of statements that appeared in the auditor's report last year. The committee's charge included reviewing the classroom list to determine its accuracy and establishing priorities for repair and modification of classrooms needing improvement to meet their instructional mission. The committee consulted department chairs and colleagues in its review of classrooms, laboratories, and studios, including those in Phelps, McDonough, Cafaro, and Stambaugh, as well as the regular classroom buildings. 

Singler summarized portions of the 19-page report the committee submitted to Jim Morrison and President Sweet on December 4. In addition to classroom inventory and scheduling, the committee looked into classroom safety and cleanliness, climate control and ventilation, and whether classroom "soundproofing," lighting, and equipment are appropriate for each room's purposes. The committee found that some of the rooms listed on the classroom inventory are not classrooms or were listed with the wrong capacity—and some do not exist. Among the committee's recommendations are the following:

• create an up-to-date central classroom inventory, with subsets for scheduling, maintenance, etc.;

• provide mechanisms for regular faculty and student input;

• consider a furniture budget or replacement schedule;

• review classroom use regularly to see that classrooms are adequate for their intended purposes.

Ohio Faculty Council (OFC): Tom Shipka, our elected representative to the OFC, made the report that appeared as Attachment 1 to the December 5 Senate agenda. He believes he has succeeded in getting NEOUCOM to participate on the OFC. In relation to item 4 in the report, he noted that there will be a meeting with Jim McCollum and the Inter-University Council on December 17 to discuss a possible statewide health-insurance plan.

The performance report referred to in Shipka's report should be available about December 12. It will be posted on the OBOR web site, which you can reach from the Academic Senate web site. [Update 12/12/01: The report is now available at http://www.regents.state.oh.us/perfrpt/.]

Shipka circulated a table that Robert Sheehan distributed via e-mail (see Attachment 1: Distribution of State Grant and Scholarship Funds by Sector FY 1999 to FY 2001). The table categorizes state grant and scholarship funds distributed to Ohio's public institutions, private non-profit institutions, and proprietary (for-profit) institutions. As the shaded columns of the table in the attachment show, in FY 2001 $83,243,607 went to public institutions, compared to $83,148,423 to private non-profit institutions and $14,659,040 to proprietary institutions. Thus, the total for private non-profit and proprietary institutions ($97,807,463) exceeds the total for state institutions by $14,563,856.

Discussion followed the report:

Nancy White, Psychology: Do we have access to the number of students to figure out per-student rates?

Shipka: Figures will be in the performance report when it is posted on the OBOR web site. We do know that some of the posted private-institution tuition figures are "mythical," because the institution gives the students large grants.

Morrison: The table you distributed shows figures for FY 2001. As we know, state subsidies and OhioLINK have been cut 6% in FY 2002. Were any of the line items in the table cut?

Shipka: According to Sheehan, none of the line items in the table have been cut.

Howard Mettee, Chemistry: How does the amount of the total subsidy compare to the numbers in the table?

Shipka: The subsidy was much larger.

Gordon Mapley, Assistant Provost: The subsidy is $44 million or so.

Charter and Bylaws Committee: Nancy White, chair of the committee, gave the report that appeared in Attachment 2 to the agenda for the December 5 Senate meeting.

She made the following motion: In Senate Bylaw 6, Section 2 (i) (1), add the words “one academic adviser;” after “undergraduate Dean;”—the motion, which adds an academic adviser to the Academic Standards Commitee, was seconded and carried.

Elections and Balloting Committee: Louise Aurilio, chair of the committee, did not report at the meeting but submitted the attached annual report showing the results of Senate elections for 2001-2002. See Attachment 2: Senate Elections and Balloting Committee Report: Fall, 2001-2002.

Academic Standards Committee; Academic Programs Committee; University Curriculum Committee; Academic Planning Committee: No reports.

General Education Committee (GEC):  Bill Jenkins, chair of the committee, could not attend the December 5 Senate meeting. A list of newly certified "intensive" courses appeared in Attachment 3 to the agenda for the December 5 Senate meeting. A list of all certified general education courses appears on the General Education web site at http://www.ysu.edu/ger/.

Integrated Technologies Committee, University Outreach Committee:  No reports.

Library Committee:  Tom Atwood presented information about items in the report that appeared as Attachment 4 to the agenda for the December 5 Senate meeting. In regard to item 1 in the report, he asked that we encourage students to use the current-periodicals section of Maag Library. In regard to item 2, he noted that one archival project will focus on materials related to the history of YSU.

Academic Research Committee, Student Academic Affairs Committee, Student Academic Grievance Committee, Honors Committee, and Academic Events Committee:  No reports.

Jim Morrison noted that the Academic Events Committee, which contributed significantly to President Sweet's installation, will meet with students and others to explore ways to make academic ceremonies such as graduation and the Honors Convocation more "celebratory." The committee is also exploring re-instituting, under the "academic umbrella," new-student convocations (Student Affairs sponsored those in the past).

Unfinished business:  None.

New business:  None. 

Adjournment:  The meeting adjourned at 4:36 p.m.