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Chair: Susan Camp
Clerk: Kimberly Kenney
Members Absent: D. Parsons, W. Silky, J. McKeown
The meeting was called to order at 3:14
pm
I. Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved unanimously.
II. Approval of Minutes from September 17th,
2007
The minutes were approved unanimously.
III. FA Chair’s Report – S. Camp
Dr. Camp began her report by addressing the issue of the proposed new
school. She said that it was the responsibility of the Assembly as a
recommending body to engage in discussion that would ultimately lead to a
recommendation to the President from the Assembly.
She also told the Assembly that she was going to initiate the administrative
officer review of the Dean of Education and she will call for the committee
election process to begin shortly.
She advised the Assembly to begin thinking of people from whom they would
like to hear reports, such as VP Lyons, J. Grant, K. Dorsey or other
campus-wide committees. Assembly members are to send any suggestions to Dr.
Camp.
Again Dr. Camp reminded the members of the Assembly that they are to review
the proposed Graduation Outcomes with their departments and send any
suggestions to whiting@oswego.edu by
early November for APC deliberation and recommendation to Faculty Assembly.
IV. Reports of Councils, Committees and Task Forces
Personnel Policies Council reported that they had met on
Friday, Oct. 12, and discussed:
--the UCC need for a library liaison in the event that no one from Penfield is
elected to the council.
--the new software being utilized in all faculty searches. Concern has
been expressed about the lack of consultation and communication about this
software, the phrase "To ensure that your credentials receive maximum
visibility with our hiring managers, ..." that appears on the first
screen of Interview Exchange, problems that search committees are encountering
as they attempt to use this software, and problems that potential applicants
might have in submitting materials such as teaching evaluations, performance
portfolios, etc.
--how the formation of a new school of Communications and Creative Arts
might affect the Penfield Library faculty when it comes to peer review at the
subdivision level for promotions and DSI.
Academic Policies Council met and approved adding the
following courses to the list of electives for the Anthropology major and
minor:
- ANT 332 Explorations in Archaeology
- ANT 335 Experimental Archaeology
- ANT 360 Documentary Anthropology and Creative Ethnography
- ANT 395 Anthropologists in the Global Village
- ANT 450 Borders of Self, Life and Culture
The APC and Associate Dean David Bozak also distributed a memo to the
Assembly regarding the GPA for second majors being set at 0.00 to be consistent
with transfer students. The memo will be posted on the FA site under “handouts”
for the Oct. 15th meeting.
Priorities and Planning Council met Sept. 28th and
heard from Dave King and Yvonne Petrella about the new Metro Center. They also
heard from Walter Opello about international education experience.
General Education Council met on October 2nd. They
approved the Chemistry Department’s plan to infuse Critical Thinking into the
curricula. The assessment plans for Critical Thinking and Computer/Information
Literacy have been received from the Chemistry Department and discussed. The
counsel also discussed the issue of “double-counting” history courses in two
categories or not counting them. They did not reach a resolution but will
return to the issue at the next meeting: October 16th at 8 a.m.
Information Technology Council met last Friday and made an
agenda for the year. They also passed a draft of the new email policy, which
was distributed to the Assembly. Their next meeting will be November
9th, 2007.
Library council met October 9th and discussed an
ongoing assessment of print journal attainment in the library, as most of the
journals are now online. They also discussed library renovation plans,
infrastructure issues, private study space issues, group study space issues and
library staff space issues, etc. regarding the renovation.
Undergraduate Curriculum Council met on October
11th and approved some courses with minor revisions:
PBJ 454 Religion, Crime and Justice
THT 181 Movement for the Actor
BIO 471 Proteomics with lab
CHE 471 Proteomics with lab
PSY 441 Theories of Personality
The total number of courses submitted for revision stands at 7. The approved
number of courses also stands at 7.
Academic Outreach Council will hold its first meeting on
October 22nd.
Writing Across the Curriculum and Steering Committee WAC is
meeting this week on 10/17 at 8:00 AM in 306 Park Hall, and is anticipating the
election of an at-large faculty representative at today's meeting.
Prerequisite Enforcement Task Force met and distributed a
report to the Assembly for their review and approval at the next meeting. The
handout will be available on the Faculty Assembly website.
V. Elections
-There is still an open seat for Student Association Senate (at-large)
-WAC Steering Committee Faculty-at-large representative: Christine
Hirsch
VI. Unfinished Business
-Regarding the proposal for School of Communication and Creative Arts, Dr.
Camp made a list of possible recommendations (“motion to accept the proposal as
written,” etc) and posted it on the screen for the Assembly to use as a guide.
There was a motion to support the proposal as written. Discussions following
this motion lead to a discussion of concerns of the Assembly, which will be
included at the end of the minutes. Ultimately this motion was voted down 17
for 19 against. A final motion was introduced to forward the results of
the vote, the discussion and concerns to President Stanley; this motion was
passed.
VII. New Business
- There was no new business
The meeting was adjourned at 4:58 P.M.
Concerns from members of the Assembly regarding the new School of
Communication and Creative Arts: ** Amended
10/31/07**
Geraldine Forbes raised the idea of bringing in a consultant to develop and
impact study regarding implications of the new school on the General Education
Program, loads, finances, etc. She wondered whether the school would actually
attract new students and be able to bring in grant money.
There was a question about whether or not SUNY Oswego was also going to have
an engineering school.
Furthering the discussion of funds, someone asked where the $200K allotted
for the school was coming from. Provost Coultrap-McQuin said that the money
would come from funding from outside current Academic Affairs funds and would
be offset by contributions and grants.
Someone asked whether there would be grants that continue to pay for the
salary of the dean. To this, Provost Coultrap-McQuin replied that the grants
would not fund the salary, but rather that they would pay for other costs
like equipment costs and capital expenses. She insisted that this school
would attract strong students much like the Engineering program. She also noted
that there was progress in the science planning and renovation, with plans
going to the Science Planning Committee. She believes that students will come
to look at SUNY Oswego because all of our distinctiveness in programs and
facilities, etc.
Discussion then turned to the General Education program at large. Someone
asked whether the new school was just sending a message that liberal arts are a
requirement and just an obstacle towards getting to the degree being sought. To
which the student representatives said that the General Education courses were
similar to high school courses, but they are essential and can sometimes lead a
student to discover a new major to study.
Another Assembly member said that the heads of the departments that wish to
branch off into a new school have energy and passion and should be allowed to
do what they want.
Discussion again turned to financial issues. Another member questioned
whether the College as a whole could realistically support a new school as part
of several ventures aimed at increasing enrollment when there is anticipation
of declining enrollments. He believes that the College needs to carefully
allocate resources.
The Department of Biological Sciences has concerns about the impact of
future faculty support lines if money is being used for additional
administration. If there is a limited amount of money it would serve the
students better to have more faculty members instead. Using the Biological
Sciences as an example, stating that even after two more faculty are hired,
there will only be 12 faculty members for 500 majors in laboratory and research
intensive programs. He also said that creating a new school for the purposes of
recruitment may not be wise and that the current model of one dean overseeing a
diverse set of departments is preferred.
Steve Abraham noted that he was not advocating for or against the new school
but raised a couple questions he would like to see addressed. First, he is not
100% sure that the new school will not drain Oswego of too many resources. Even
though the school can afford it now, will it have an effect on future plans of
the school? He wonders if it will consume so much money that the school might
not be able to do other things it wished to accomplish. Steve’s second issue
concerned the effect of the new school on the remaining departments within Arts
and Sciences. He said that there is no doubt it will benefit the four
departments included in the new school, but he wonders what will be possible
effects on the other departments and regarded that he would hate to see the
other departments in Arts and Sciences disadvantaged because of the creation of
the new school.
Another member questions whether balkanization of the educational centers
send the signal to students that liberal arts are a necessary evil on the way
to getting a vocational degree. He said he would like to see concrete steps in
the proposal to express a commitment to well-rounded education as an
end-in-itself and to ensure that a broad education is part of the mission of
this school.
Tania Ramalho told the Assembly that the discussion reminded her of colonial
countries that did not want to yield to their colony’s struggles for
self-determination. She said that since there was momentum for the formation of
the new school, it should be supported. She said that finances and material
support would materialize and that the Assembly should not have fears. When
someone asked Tania what would happen when the other departments wanted to
break away, she replied, “We would have a federation.”
Other concerns raised include the total number of initiatives Oswego can
afford to do, the opinions of the faculty at large, the issue of tenure for
affecting faculty that speak their minds, name concerns and confidentiality,
possible dialogue between the chairs of those involved in the new school and
chairs of the rest of the Arts and Sciences Department, absentees voting or
not, any possible detriments to the school as a result of the split and a sense
of unfinished business even after the vote is completed.
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