FACULTY SENATE EXECTIVE COMMITTEE

 

Monday, October 13, 2003

 

MINUTES

 

9:00 a.m.                                                                                              180. S. College Ave.

 

 

I.                    Adoption of the Agenda – Approved

II.                 Approval of the Minutes – September 22, 2003

III.               Old Business: 

a.        Report on General Education; report and next steps – Avron Abraham, Chairperson, General Education Cte., attended the meeting to give an update on the progress of the General Education report.  After brief discussion the Executive Committee asked Avron to submit his final report by Monday, October 20th.  The report will be placed on the Faculty Senate website, so that Senators can view it before the November meeting.  It was decided that the proper routing of the report is to the Undergraduate Studies Committee, who will use it as a basis for forming its own recommendations concerning the future of General Education.  As the report was commissioned to provide information to Undergraduate Studies, it is not appropriate to present it to the full Senate for vote. It would be appropriate for Avron to present the process his Committee followed in producing the report, and to entertain questions of clarity regarding its contents at the November Senate meeting.

 

b.      Promotion and Tenure Proposal – After some discussion it was decided to send this item back to the P & T Cte.   The Executive Committee’s main concern was with the wording that included provisions that more properly relate to work load policy.  It seemed as if the work load policy was driving the provisions of the P & T policy, and it should be the other way around. Suggestions were made as to how to reword the relevant sections. There was also discussion that the P&T Committee should consider a revision of the policy regarding the role of department representatives at the College level P&T Committees, particularly if the University Committee has made in the past exceptions to their own policy.  Karen Stein will send the Chair of the committee a letter with an explanation of concerns along with suggestions.

 

 

IV.              New Business:

a.       Request for Action from Dr. Plowfield to review grievance to determine if the university process was upheld. There was discussion as to the role of the Academic Appeals Committee and their exact responsibilities. Karen Stein will respond to Dr. Plowfield, concerning the responsibilities of the Committee.

 

b.      Senate responsibility to assess student’s learning (ie. Grade inflation).  The committee discussed this briefly.  Karren Helsel-Spry will contact former Senate President, Jay Hildebrandt, to see where the data is that was requested of the Registrar’s Office last year. It was decided that, if a study of grade inflation is being conducted at UD, faculty should take ownership of that study.  We will consider appointing an ad hoc committee for this purpose.

 

 

V.                 Announcements – None

 

VI.              Adjournment – The meeting adjourned at 11:30a.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Karren Helsel-Spry