Please bring your February 19, 2004 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment G & February 19, 2004 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment H

2003 - 04 
FACULTY SENATE
California State University, Sacramento

AGENDA
Thursday, March 11, 2004
Foothill Suite, University Union
 

MOMENT OF SILENCE

CATHY COOK-IRVINE Staff, Management Services 1999 - 2004	PAMELA VAN HAAFTEN Wife of Russell Wyatt Staff, Management Services
RORY BARLOW Husband of Madonna Barlow Staff, University Publications and Design

OPEN FORUM

BUDGET UPDATE

CONSENT CALENDAR

CONSENT ACTION

The Faculty Senate receives the recommendations (Attachment A) of the Program Review Oversight Subcommittee on the program review of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and recommends that the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics, the Bachelor of Arts in Physical Science, and the Single Subject Teaching Credential in Physics be approved for six years or until the next program review. 

REGULAR AGENDA

The Faculty  Senate elects college representatives to the 2004-2005 Committee on Committees (see Attachment B [in MS Word] for eligibility by college.  (Remove this attachment from your agenda to use as a ballot.)  Members must be available to meet two Tuesdays in the spring semester from 3:00-4:00 p.m.). 

SECOND READING

BACKGROUND. The Council for University Planning (CUP) uses the Strategic Plan as a guide in its efforts to identify areas in which improvement is needed. The process for making such recommendations involves the assessment of the goals associated with the following eight themes defined in the Strategic Plan.

1. ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
2. Campus Life
3. Enrollment Management
4. Institutional Effectiveness
5. Pluralism
6. Community Engagement and Impact
7. SCHOLARLY AND CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT
8. TEACHING AND LEARNING

CUP may also, from time to time, identify the need to revise one or more of the Themes. Such a request was made for revision of the TEACHING AND LEARNING THEME, with the responsibility for doing so clearly delegated to the Faculty Senate. At the request of the Executive Committee the revision before the Senate was prepared and approved by our Curriculum Policy Committee and is forwarded to the Senate having been approved unanimously by the Executive Committee.

Once approved by the Senate, the proposed revision will go back to CUP for its approval. The Council’s approval is in the form of a recommendation, which is then sent to the President for his approval.

Note. A similar request was made in spring 2002, which led to the Senate’s approval last year of the revised “CREATIVE AND SCHOLARLY ACHIEVEMENTS” theme and again last November when the Senate approved the revision to the “ACADEMIC PROGRAMS” theme.

The Faculty Senate endorses the Teaching and Learning Program Theme in the Strategic Plan as amended and recommends that it be forwarded to the Council on University Planning (February 19, 2004 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment G).

Background:  The intent in proposing these guidelines is to clarify and simplify the process and the work associated with the “assessment” required of all programs. These guidelines were developed by the Curriculum Policies Committee in collaboration with Academic Affairs in response to the concerns and suggestions made by department chairs with regard to the organization and the documentation of the process and the work. A sample assessment report will be included with the guidelines and presented at our Senate meeting.

The Faculty Senate recommends adopting the Assessment Plan Guidelines for Program Assessment as described in the February 19, 2004 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment H.

FIRST READING

Background:  The August 1991 Policies Pertaining to the General Education Program and Course/Proficiency Requirements for Graduation with the Baccalaureate Degree states (in Section III A1):  "No more than three units credited toward a minor and no upper division course credited toward a major may be used to meet General Education requirements.  In addition, students are allowed to use no more than six lower division units from their major field (even if the units are not credited toward major requirements) to meet General Education requirements."  The proposed change would permit students to meet General Education requirements and choose courses toward fulfillment of the requirements of a minor using the same classes.

The Faculty Senate recommends adoption of the following:

(underscore = addition; strikethrough = deletion)
No more than three units credited toward a minor and No upper division course credited toward a major may be used to meet General Education requirements.  In addition, students are allowed to use no more than six lower division units from their major field (even if the units are not credited toward major requirements) to meet General Education requirements.  There are no limits on overlap between the minor and General Education.

Background:  The current Foreign Language Proficiency Requirement was created by the August 1991 Policy on General Education. In the last decade there has been considerable debate about the usefulness and intent of this requirement. Many have pointed out that only one other CSU campus has a Foreign Language requirement that is significantly greater than the CSU entry requirement. To clarify faculty expectations and in order to prepare assessment plans for the requirement, learning goals were developed by the GE Policies/Graduation Requirements Committee, in consultation with the departments offering courses that currently meet the requirements. The Senate unanimously passed the Foreign Language Graduation Requirement Course Learning Goals (Attachment C) in October of 2003 (FS 03-39).

With this motion, the Senate is being asked to essentially change the foreign language requirement from requiring three semesters to two semesters of a college level foreign language. As is currently the case, students can choose one of a number of options for fulfilling the requirement either before or after enrolling. The GE Policies/Graduation Requirements Committee, in recommending this change, proposes to correct previous inconsistencies while being true to the newly approved learning goals. It is the position of the Committee that the following improvements would be made if the recommendations are approved

1. Correcting the mismatch of high school credit to university credit. Three years of high school foreign language will now be equivalent to two semesters of university study.
    
2. Allowing students who have strong cultural and clear speaking mastery of a language (like a first generation American who speaks but does not write or read a foreign language) to meet the requirement.
    
3. Allowing American Sign Language students a testing option not available when reading and writing were required skills to be tested.

It is important to note that if the proposed changes are approved, additional study in foreign languages will still be required beyond the university’s entry requirements. This is additional study that is NOT required, as indicated above, at 21 other CSU campuses in the CSU.

This motion will be presented by Jackie Donath, chair of the GE Policies and Graduation Requirements Committee. In addition, representatives from Foreign Language and American Sign Language will be present to respond to the proposed changes.

The Faculty Senate recommends amending the Foreign Language Graduation Requirement as outlined in Attachment C-1.

INFORMATION

1. Faculty Senate's home page:  www.csus.edu/acse, or, from the CSUS home page, click on Administration and Policy, then Administration, then Faculty Senate.
2. Actions of the 2003-2004 Faculty Senate:  http://www.csus.edu/acse/03-04_actions.htm
3. Upcoming Senate meetings: 

March 25, 2004 - Senate meets April 1, 2004 - tentative April 8, 2004 - Spring break April 15, 2004 - 3:00-3:30: nomination of 2004-2005 Senate Officers; 3:30-5:00: 2003-2004 Senate meets April 22, 2004 - tentative

April 29, 2004 - 3:00-3:30: election of 2004-2005 Senate Officers; 3:30-5:00: 2003-2004 Senate meets Tuesday, May 4, 2004 - Outstanding Community Service and Lifetime Achievement Awards Reception May 6, 2004 - no meeting--Outstanding Teaching and Service Awards Reception May 13, 2004 - tentative