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Chair: Susan Camp
Recorder: Kimberly Kenney
Members Absent: M. Harrell, W. Silky, M. Ryniker
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 PM
I. Approval of Agenda
There was a motion to add the approval of the minutes of October
29th and also to remove the Faculty Senate Report from the agenda.
The agenda was approved as amended.
II. Approval of October 15, 2007 Minutes: There were some
additions made by Dr. Coultrap-McQuin, the minutes were approved as amended by
the Provost.
III. Approval of October 29, 2007 Minutes: The minutes were
approved unanimously.
IV. FA Chair’s Report – S. Camp
The Chair began her report by extending thanks from the School of Education
to everyone involved with the NCATE visit. She then reminded the Assembly
about the Interview Exchange ideas and said that Human Resources is still
collecting feedback, and Dr. Camp said she would like to be sent a copy of any
ideas. The website to go to in order to see the Interview Exchange is http://www.oswego.edu/administration/human_resources/vacancy.html.
Dr. Camp then spoke of the Voluntary System of Accountability, along with
the Faculty Senate Resolution and provided a website at which this can be seen:
http://www.nasulgc.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=418.
The Chair has invited Vice President Lyons, Jerry DeSantis, and Tom Simmonds
to come speak to the Assembly regarding how the construction wave over the past
5 years was handled and how it will affect planning of new construction
plans.
Dr. Camp will be receiving an electronic version of the Emergency Management
Report soon for the Assembly to review and provide feedback. Feedback on
Graduation Outcomes is being sent to APC for deliberation and recommendation to
the Assembly by the end of the semester.
V. Reports of Councils, Committees and Task Forces
Personnel Policies Council met and has decided to extend the
deadline for nominations to Dean of Education review committee.
Academic Policies Council met on November 2nd and
discussed a policy on grades in repeated courses. It was decided that students
shall only receive credit for the same course once. When a course is taken at
Oswego that was taken previously, the grade earned at Oswego is counted towards
the GPA. APC also approved the revised Minor program in Philosophy. APC
reported that they support the recommendation to establish a professional
development center, “The Academy,” in principle, yet they still would like some
more information.
General Education Council added Sociolinguistics (presently
ANT 301) as an approved course, to be taken as an option in lieu of ANT 344,
for students, with a documented learning ability in foreign languages. They
also approved the revisions of the Art Department writing plan. The Council
then disapproved the History Department critical thinking infusion plan, and
reminded the Assembly that there is a December 1st deadline for the
infused critical thinking plan, with implementation in fall 2008.
Information Technology Councilmet last Friday and elected 2
members to the SCAP committee. They are waiting for more clarification from FA
on the email policy.
Graduate Council met and voted to approve the following course
at its meeting on November 2nd.
CPS 569 Clinical assessment in Mental Health Counseling.
Undergraduate Curriculum Council met on November
1st and approved the following courses:
PSY 432 Applied Animal Learning Principles
HIS 393 Women and War in the Twentieth Century
HI 344 American Immigration and Ethnic History
Campus Concept Committee will meet Friday, November 16, to
discuss campus sustainability.
VI. President Stanley – A conversation
President Stanley came to address the Assembly about the vote for the new
school. She said that the close 19-17 vote was not very instructive, and
assured the Assembly that there was no need for polarization. She informed the
Assembly that money was not an issue, as the amount it would cost to start the
school is just a small amount. The President then spoke to the comparison
of funds from year to year, and said that there would be much more allotted
this year than in the past. She told the Assembly not to shy away from doing
one thing just because there is another project that is underway.
They are always looking for proposals regarding distribution of funds.
President Stanley then told the Assembly that the major issue is the
sustainability of the institution. The major areas of growth are downstate;
SUNY Oswego needs increased visibility in the environment and a reputation that
translates to prospective students and faculty.
A member of the Assembly then raised the point that it feels as though the
School of Arts and Sciences is losing three sections off of one entity. To
which President Stanley replied that there would be no diminishment of deans,
and Arts and Sciences is going to be the same as it was before. She noted that
the identification of SUNY Oswego would still be the same, and the new school
is just a designation for the institution. The President then noted that the
School of Business was once under Professional Studies.
Another person said they felt as though pushing the new school forward would
push other departments back. The President remarked that the niche the new
school fits into is not easily defined, and sustaining SUNY Oswego means
constant change and growth. She made an example that the Math and Sciences
Departments would benefit from the new buildings under construction soon. Along
with the issue of some departments feeling pushed back, a statement was made
that the Earth Science department lost a lot of secretarial staff and
infrastructure a few years ago, so they feel a little hesitant to support the
growth of a new area when theirs could use improvements.
An Assembly member then noted that combining these specific departments into
one school is not as much them wanting to be pushed forward, but rather them
not wanting to shrink as other schools and departments pass them by. To this,
President Stanley replied that Oswego had never been known as an art school,
and during some setbacks the university had to justify keeping the art
programs. She also said that SUNY Oswego embraces every opportunity for change
and growth that can be seen as beneficial: most of these plans coming from
Faculty Planning committees,
Another member of the Assembly then regarded that the accreditation of the
departments does not shine when it is encased in the whole school of Arts and
Sciences, but in its own school the accreditation would be much more
significant.
President Stanley spoke about the importance outside consultants would have
in this venture, and noted that their feedback would be very valuable as it has
been in the past regarding which programs are thriving and how to build SUNY
Oswego’s reputation upon its programs. If Oswego were to hire consultants, the
question for them to work on would be how the new school could be done
successfully and marketed to the prospective students. The President is also
accepting feedback and models from any member of the Assembly or their
departments.
VII. Elections
There is still a Faculty Assembly seat on the Admissions and Student
Services Council as well as an at-large seat on the Student Association
Senate.
VII. Unfinished Business
Proposed Definition of terms (pre-requisite, co-requisite and
advisement recommendation) and pre-requisite challenge policy- The
proposal asks the Assembly to approve the three definitions and the policy
challenge of a pre-requisite.
The first question raised was how this issue would be addressed
on the web banner. It was said that the banner will be user friendly and
specific enough to inform the student why a course is not available.
It was noted that all departments should comb through their
courses and take out any arbitrary pre-requisites, which should be able to be
done with a blanket “pre-requisite removal proposal form.”
Departments should figure out whether a course is an actual pre-requisite for
another course or if it is simply a recommendation. This should be dependent
upon the level of rigor that is impacted by the “pre-requisite” course.
The question was then raised whether a professor could
over-ride the system to allow a student into the course who was originally
denied due to pre-requisite problems. It is a possible resolution implied
upon all definitions.
A member proposed to change the wording in the sentence
beginning with “When a department has waived…” to “When a department has waived
a pre-requisite because of successful student challenge, a permanent
record of that decision will be kept on a Program Deviation form.” This
proposal was passed.
The next proposal made was to simultaneously divide the
proposal after the list of definitions and to vote only on the three
definitions. The second part of the proposal would be postponed until a later
date. This division along with approving the three definitions was passed
unanimously.
VIII. New Business
There was no new business.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:01 p.m.
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