Members Absent: M. Santiago, R. Mandel, Z. Bedy, J. Shallit, C. Santos, H. Shock, C. Seekamp, F. Vigeant, J. Presley, J. DeSantis, J. Scharfenberger

Meeting called to order at 3:10 PM

I. Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved.

II. Approval of FA minutes for 10/10/00 (others to be distributed later)

The minutes were deferred until next semester’s meeting.

1. FA Chair’s Report- D. King

D. King first updated the FA on Herb Van Schaak, who is recovering nicely from his accident. D. King also stated that for the Spring 2001 semester, there will be a new system in place for dealing with FA minutes.

Last Friday there was a College Council meeting. D. King did not get into detail, but said that he would ask Provost Presley to report to the FA early next semester about all the academic program developments underway on campus.

He reported on the F A Bylaw revision process, and the proposed revisions were distributed to the Assembly. W. Opello will be "walking" the FA through the proposed changes article by article. D. King praised the work of the Ad Hoc Committee on Governance, which conducted extensive interviews and met many times to draft recommendations regarding governance reorganization. W. Opello was a member of that Ad Hoc committee and D. King thanked him personally for his leadership. He also thanked the Personnel Policies Council, which has been under the leadership of P. Liebenauer for the last several years. The goal is to address these proposed Bylaw changes at the first two or three FA meetings of the Spring 2001 semester- (29 Jan., 12 Feb., and 26 Feb.).

In March of next semester, there will be three FA meetings to focus on the revision and re-registration of the five graduate programs in Education. FA must approve the entire FA Bylaw revision by vote of 2/3 of the FA membership. Then, at a General Faculty meeting called for the consideration of the proposed revision, the Bylaw revision must be approved by a majority of those in attendance.

IV. Reports of FA Councils and Committees

1. Admissions Council- APC met 4 Dec and will meet again 29 Jan at 12:30 in room 105 Mahar. They are working with the Admissions Office on recruitment of international students. They will also be recruiting faculty to email prospective international students interested in specific majors. A Transfer Open House is planned for 7 April and a Freshman Open House for Monday, 9 April. Last year, our first attempt to offer a Transfer Open House, over 300 prospective students and family members attended. Faculty members were very enthusiastic. We look forward to active faculty involvement again.

2. Library Council- LC met on Tuesday, 28 Nov at 8 AM and discussed the Access Services component of the Library’s Strategic Plan. This component examines hours of operation, desk coverage, ADA compliance in terms of physical settings and restrooms, improvements in environmental conditions, and completion of the acquisition of the Instructional Media Collection from Lanigan. They also discussed the necessity of having web-access services connecting off-campus sites in Pheonix and Watertown to Penfield library resources. The Library’s role in "Engagement 2000" was presented and some discussed. Library Council also commended the Library for its part in the Annual Reception to recognize SUNY Oswego faculty’s scholarly and creative works, hosted this year at Shady Shore on Thursday, 30 November.

3. Priorities and Planning Council- P+PC met 1 Dec with S. Rosow to continue consideration of the proposed Global and International Studies major. P+PC approved the program with the understanding that the following paragraph will be inserted into the narrative about the program:

At present Oswego does not have sufficient resources to include a concentrate in African Studies in the Global and International Studies Major. We intend to increase Oswego’s course offerings in African Studies and to add a concentrate when the minor is revised. We consider the inclusion of an African Studies concentrate in the Global and International studies Major as our first and most important priority for further development of the program.

They also discussed the proposed governance changes that would affect the council.

4. Undergraduate Curriculum Committee- UCC approved Chem 313- Chemistry of Art.

2. Unfinished Business

1. Proposed major in Global and International Studies

This proposed major engendered extensive discussion. It was pointed out that the program would probably be especially appealing to Business students, seeking a double major as well as students with a Business minor. D. King projected a copy of the Priorities and Planning Council’s proposal (noted above). The major issue was discussed and approved. D. Hill and G. Auleta pointed out some procedural problems with the way the program was being handled by Priorities and Planning Council. Some typos were pointed out in the proposal. The absence of African Studies classes at Oswego was also discussed. Once the question was called to the floor for vote, there were 32 in favor, 0 opposed, and 1 abstaining.

2. Proposed Changes in Childhood and Adolescent Education Programs

The proposal was presented to the FA with the deletion of the third bulleted item. Some other errors were pointed out to the FA due to changes in State Education Department General Science standards. The vote in favor of the program revision was unanimous.

3. Proposed Changes in Vocational Teacher Education Programs

The State Education Department approved one of the four majors included in these program changes in the Spring 2000 semester. These changes are merely revisions of these majors; the vote was unanimous to approve the program changes in Vocational Teacher Education.

4. Proposal for a Task Force on Academic Expectations

D. King pointed out that this Task Force would focus on a variety of issues and that the list of issues cited was not inclusive. The Task Force would study issues and recommend actions to the Administration, appropriate FA Councils and other bodies as appropriate. The point was made that a task force could only make recommendations rather than actual policy changes. The Task Force would report regularly to FA. The vote in favor of the proposed Task Force was unanimous.

3. New Business- Proposed Faculty Assembly Bylaw Changes

The meeting was adjourned at 4:48 PM