Academic Senate Youngstown State University Youngstown, Ohio  44555

Note:  The next meeting of the Academic Senate is scheduled for September 13, 2006, at 4:00 p.m. Information on due dates for agenda items will be available at the beginning of Fall Semester.  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 [hit "cancel" if asked for a password]:

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Minutes of the Previous Meeting:

Minutes of the April 5, 2006, meeting were approved as posted.  To view the minutes, go to <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/minapr06.htm>. 

Senate Executive Committee (SEC) / Report from the Chair / Ohio Faculty Council Report:  Tom Shipka, Chair of the Senate, reported:

As is my custom, I will consolidate my several reports. My report today will be brief to provide sufficient time to work through a heavy agenda in our last meeting of the school year.

1. The Ohio Faculty Council will meet at the Ohio Board of Regents suite in Columbus on Friday, May 12, when Professor Robert B. Brown, chair of STRS and professor of mathematics at The Ohio State University, will be the guest. The April meeting of the OFC was cancelled.

Dr. Robert Herbert, YSU provost, has authorized a continuation of YSU serving as the custodian of the Ohio Faculty Council web site as a YSU service to Ohio public higher education. Bob Hogue, James Sacco, and Joan Bevan continue to handle this responsibility and I am grateful to them for their help and cooperation. There is a link to the OFC web page on the Senate web page.

2. Elections required under the Senate Charter and Bylaws are now completed, thanks to Dr. Annette Burden, chair of the Elections and Balloting Committee. Also, nearly all Senate committee appointments for 2006-2007 have been completed. I will be sending a list of 2006-2007 committee members to all committee members and Senate members in the next few days. To the extent that it is possible, I am asking all Senate committees to meet at least once before the start of classes in the fall to select a chair. This is being done so that committees are ready to participate in the reaccreditation process as requested by the provost’s office.

3. Vice Chair of the Senate, Dr. Chet Cooper, and I, will leave our Senate posts officially on August 15. Chet will be on Faculty Improvement Leave at that time and my retirement is effective on that date. Pursuant to the ruling of our Parliamentarian, Dr. Bill Jenkins, I will soon convene the Senate Executive Committee, the membership of which is now settled, to select an interim Senate chair for the fall semester and I will publicize that selection as soon as the Executive Committee makes it.

In addition to what I have just read to you, I have additional comments about the Senate which, without objection, I will ask our Secretary, Bob Hogue, to include in the minutes of this meeting for your perusal at a later date. Are there any questions?

[Secretary's note: Dr. Shipka's retrospective on the YSU Academic Senate is contained in Attachment 1.]

 

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Update from President Sweet and Provost Herbert:

President Sweet reported on the following items:

Enhanced facilities: The YSU Planetarium was substantially improved this year. This is a nice link to our community. Also, the Flad Performance Pavilion and the Recreation & Wellness center were opened this year. This and other achievements mentioned here are not achievements of Tod Hall, but of our students, faculty, and staff.

Budget items: The FY06 budget coming to a conclusion, and the FY07 budget will soon be starting. The variable we have to continue to work on is enrollment. We hope to get $1 million of the $30 million to be allocated to state universities. A tuition proposal is to go before the Board of Trustees in June. Summer enrollment is down, and Fall is about stable. We have asked each unit to give back total of $1.2 million, with a base adjustment of $1.5 million. We have to demonstrate that we are addressing the budget crunch. On the horizon, Ken Blackwell, the Republican candidate for Governor, has been a leading advocate for the TEL/TABOR issue on the ballot in November. If that succeeds, the impact on higher education will be about $400 million. We need to mobilize an information program on this.

South campus development: The new Williamson College of Business Administration building is an important part of this collaboration with the City of Youngstown. The Board is soundly behind it. [Secretary's note: A fact sheet about the Lincoln-Rayen-Wood redevelopment is contained in Attachment 2.]

Labor-Management Council: My final response to the Labor-Management Review Panel is in. We have as an Administration put into place things to improve relations. The Labor-Management Council has met twice. The group is made up of three administrators, four labor presidents, and one student. We want to invite a facilitator to campus. We also plan a workshop for this summer, and we hope to invite people from other campuses that have made progress in this area. Two months ago, Dr. Anderson asked for input to improve communications. Some of these suggestions are in the process of being implemented. The improvement of labor-management relations is the task of everyone is involved.

Community college: The Board of Trustees has asked us to take a look at implementing a Community College related to YSU. This is stimulated in part by the Governor's State of the State address. Mahoning county is the only metro area in state without a community college. Toledo has 38,000 students at UT and Owens Community College. This is not an attempt to change our mission or to turn YSU into a community college. We are not trying to de-emphasize graduate programs or research. Nate Ritchey is chairing a pre-planning group. There are risks and challenges here, but it's something we need to consider.

Provost Herbert:

Priorities of Academic Affairs: A change in academic leadership usually causes a period of adjustment. What is the direction that we want to take in Academic Affairs? When I was interviewing for the Provost position last year, many people expressed a desire to put academics back at the center of the University. We need to claim that position unambiguously. Prior to that, we need to get our house in order. It is not the job of Tod Hall to do that. We need to put in place a set of procedures that will be broadly consultative. Earlier this year we started a planning process for program review. We want to produce a forward-looking document that is realistic with respect to the educational atmosphere in the state. We had to have a 1.25% cut in FY06. For FY07, we are asked to cut another 1.5%. Our response has been to engage in soul-searching and to engage in strategic program reduction. None of these options was attractive, but alternative was less attractive.

We need to be more accountable in use of our resources. In particular, we need to be accountable in our use of reassigned time. An important cost is the impact on our full/part time ratio, which is impacted by reassigned time.

There seem to be relatively few forums in which faculty and administration participate. Relying on deans and chairs as conduits sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I would like to have a full faculty meeting chaired by the Provost at start of Fall and Spring semesters. Also, I have been thinking about an Academic Affairs newsletter. The challenge will be to find someone to take on this task. I hope that better communication will show that differences result from different backgrounds, not an us-versus-them attitude.

 

Charter & Bylaws Committee:    No report.

Elections & Balloting Committee: Annette Burden reported. Dr. Burden thanked the members of the committee for their work this year. The results of the elections for Senators and for committee seats requiring elections are contained in Attachment 3.

Academic Programs Committee:    Sunil Ahuja reported. A list of approved program changes is contained in Attachment 4.

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee:    A list of approved courses is contained in Attachment 5.

General Education Committee:   Bill Jenkins, Committee Chair, reported.

As a result of a survey of recently-graduated students, it was found that there are significant problems in meeting the Intensive requirements of the General Education Model. So, the General Education Committee is proposing a new policy for the Intensives The proposed policy is attached to the agenda. (See Attachment 6.) The purpose is to move away from requiring only a course-based approach and to allow a program-based approach as well.

Dr. Jenkins moved to adopt the proposal. Seconded. Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez: It seems as if this will water down the Intensives. This will lower the standards, rather than simply improving the logistics. Dr Jenkins: It is not our intention to lower the standards. We are just trying to spread ways to meet the goals of intensives, including projects like Quest or other activities or assignments. All of these should meet the minimum guidelines for the General Education Intensives. Dr. Palmer-Fernandez: Our goal in the General Education Committee during the formation of the current model several years ago was to ask what are the basic needs are for liberal arts education. It was the unanimous opinion of the committee members that the model that we passed was appropriate. I don't see how this proposal maintains those standards. Dr. Shipka: Note that the General Education Committee will review all proposals from departments, so there will still be oversight. Ram Kasuganti: This still leaves the original option on the table, but departments may now propose their own methods for satisfying this. Louise Popio: Will there be any requirement on time limit? What if a department keeps the status quo? Dr. Jenkins: There is no specific time limit in the resolution, but there is the more general mandate that Intensives be satisfied. Some departments are able to do this well as of now, but we recognize that some departments need other ways to satisfy this. Dr. Palmer-Fernandez: My concern is that this is no longer "general" education, because the department would now control the Intensives. Dr. Kasuganti: But it was always at the discretion of the department. Chad Miller: I understand that concern. I worked on this committee. Right now I'm taking a writing-intensive course. Is that the same writing as I need in a HHS course? Intensives are generally taken at the upper level. Departments don't always offer enough Intensives. This proposal allows departments to mold the Intensives to their programs. Tod Porter: The primary reason for the present problem is that faculty have not brought forth enough Intensives. The approval system is too bureaucratic. Faculty have been unwilling to create the Intensives. We need to make the system for approval more streamlined. Bob McGovern: I echo Chad Miller's support for the change. This gives the opportunity to spread Intensives throughout the major. Dr. Palmer-Fernandez: We should keep General Education as is. Are we talking about the logistics or the standards? This directly and adversely affects the standards. I oppose the resolution.

A vote on the motion was then taken. Motion passed.

Academic Research Committee:    Janet Williams reported and moved approval of the committee's recommended modifications of the Research misconduct policy as contained in Attachment 7. The rationale for the recommended changes is also contained within the attachment. Motion was seconded. Dr. Shipka asked about the numbers 9006 versus 1016. Dr. Williams replied that 9006 refers to a section of the University Guidebook, while 1016 is a subsection of the Code of Federal Regulations. A vote on the motion was taken. Motion passed.

Student Academic Affairs Committee:    Richard Baringer reported and introduced a resolution concerning the creation of a standardized Curriculum Sheet for all majors (see Attachment 8). to recommend that the University provide curriculum sheets. Dr. Baringer moved adoption of the resolution. Motion was seconded. Tom S: Who will develop this? Dr. Baringer: That wasn't specified in the committee, but we will work with colleges. Cynthia Hirtzel: I was present when SGA presented this. In some colleges, these sheets already exist. I assume this doesn't mean that there has to be one format for all majors. Dr. Baringer: That is correct. Bob McGovern introduced a friendly amendment to change the "Resolved" phrase so that it begins, "Resolved that the Academic Senate, in concurrence with the Student Government Association ..." The amendment was accepted by Dr. Baringer and the seconder. Mr. McGovern then moved another friendly amendment that the resolution be modified by adding the following statement at the end of the resolution: "And be it further resolved, that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Provost, Deans, and Department Chairs, Academic Advisors, and Program Coordinators. Amendment was accepted by Dr. Baringer and the seconder. A vote was then taken on the motion. Motion passed.

[Secretary's note: The resolution contained in Attachment 8 contains the friendly amendments described above.]

Unfinished Business:   None.

New business:   Bege Bowers introduced a Resolution of Appreciation for Dr. Thomas A. Shipka (see Attachment 9) and moved approval of the resolution. Motion was seconded. Motion passed unanimously.