2005-2006 FACULTY SENATE
California State University, Sacramento

Minutes
April 20, 2006

ROLL CALL [+ indicates alternate]

The agenda was amended to add FS 06-102, Support for Quality Graduate Education, Resolution on from the floor. The agenda was approved as amended.

ACTION ITEMS

Academic Affairs Budget Advisory Group
Steve Perez, SS&IS, 2008

Carried unanimously.

Academic Policies Committee
Rafiqul Bhuyan, At-large, 2009
Todd Migliaccio, At-large, 2009
Maureen Smith, At-large, 2009

Curriculum Policies Committee
David Lang, At-large, 2009
Cirenio Rodriguez, At-large, 2009
Ed Dammel, At-large, 2009
Kimberly Elce, At-large, 2009

Faculty Endowment Fund Committee
Mark Siegler, At-large, 2009

Faculty Policies Committee
Chris Bellon, At-large, 2009

General Education Policies/Graduation Requirements Policies Committee
Jonathan Kaplan, At-large, 2007

Committee on Diversity and Equity
Marlyn Jones, At-large, 2009
Diane Hyson, At-large, 2009

Carried unanimously.

Carried unanimously.

Consolidate and simplify GE – Major Overlap Policies

Consolidate policies addressing overlap between major and General Education to a single basic rule: “Not more than nine units from courses bearing the same designation as students major, e.g. Photography. may be applied to General Education requirements."

Current policies regarding overlap of courses between major and General Education include many, interacting variables—

• Is the course in question upper or lower division?
• Is the course from the student’s major requirements or major department?
• Is the course required for the major, but from a department other than the major?
• Will the course be applied to a GE Area requirement, the nine-unit upper division GE requirement, the Race and Ethnicity requirement, the Writing Intensive requirement – or to one of the many possible combinations of these?

ARGUMENTS: The complexity of GE – major overlap policies make it impossible to clearly articulate these requirements in writing. (See example below.) Faculty advisors who have worked in the Academic Advising Center need at least a full semester to learn them. The complexity of overlap requirements make the desirable prospect of integrating GE and major advising daunting for most faculty. Students often make mistakes and take longer than expected to fulfill GE requirements because of the complexity of overlap requirements.

To illustrate the complexity of G.E.-Major overlap policies, the university’s current effort at trying to explain it in the printed and online Advising FAQ is included below:

Can I use a course from my major for GE requirements?

Parts of this can get complicated, so we’ll answer in sections:

• Lower Division Courses. Up to 6 units of lower division courses from your major department, including courses in your major, can also count toward GE. Some majors require lower division courses from other departments, e.g., Business, Engineering, Biology, Kinesiology; there is no limit on overlap of these courses with GE.
• Upper Division Courses in Your Major. No upper division courses used in your major can count for GE. This applies to specific GE area requirements (e.g. C1, D2, etc.) and to the 9-unit upper division requirement in GE. (See exceptions for some majors in the chart below.)
• Upper Division Courses in Your Major Department. Upper division courses from your major department which are not used in your major can be used for GE area requirements and the Race and Ethnicity requirement. However they cannot be counted toward 9-unit upper division GE or GE residence requirements. (See exceptions for some majors in the chart below.)
• Race and Ethnicity Courses in Your Major. A course used in your major can be used to satisfy the Race and Ethnicity requirement. (If it’s a lower division course it can also be applied to a GE area.

Carried.

The Faculty Senate recommends adopting the policy on General Education Program Review as detailed in the April 6, 2006 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment A.

Background can be found at the April 6, 2006 Faculty Senate Agenda Attachment A-1.

Carried.

Having reached the hour of adjournment, the following items will receive a first reading at the April 27, 2006 Faculty Senate meeting:

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. Status on actions taken by the Senate:  http://www.csus.edu/acse/05-06_actions.htm
3. In anticipation of first reading on April 27, 2006, please see the University ARTP Committee's report on Periodic Evaluation of Tenured Faculty.
4. In anticipation of second reading on April 27, 2006 of FS 06-90, Comprehensive Writing Proposal:

• Updated Comprehensive Writing Report and Executive Summary
• Beth Kivel's memo
• Writing and Reading Subcommittee's response and Writing Research Bibliography

5. Upcoming Faculty Senate meetings for Spring 2006:

April 27, 2006 - Senate meets May 11, 2006 - Senate meets SAVE THE DATE: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2006 - FACULTY SENATE RETREAT