2011-2012 FACULTY SENATE
California State University, Sacramento

MINUTES
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Foothill Suite, Union
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

 

Present:

Altman, Nursing; Barrena, Biological Sciences; Bersamin, Child Development; Blanton, Speech Pathology and Audiology; Blumberg, Music; Bogazianos, Criminal Justice; Boulgarides, Temporary Faculty (Kinesiology and Health Science); Bowie, Social Work; Buckley, Computer Science; Buckman, Humanities; Carroll, Student Services; Cortez, Associated Students, Inc.; W. Dillon, Government; J. Dixon, Temporary Faculty (Music); Domokos, Mathematics and Statistics; Echandia, Temporary Faculty (Bilingual/Multicultural Education); Fanetti, Susan, English; Fell, Civil Engineering; Flohr, Art; Gherman, Chemistry; Gibbs, Design; Goodrich, Theatre and Dance; Gonzalez, Associated Students, Inc.; Hadley, Sociology; Hamilton, Mathematics and Statistics; Hecsh, Teacher Education; Kirlin, Public Policy and Administration; Kornweibel, Emeritus Faculty (History); Krabacher, Parliamentarian and ASCSU Senator (Geography); Liles, Counselor Education; Marbach, Mechanical Engineering; Matthews, Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Mayberry, Foreign Languages; McKeough, Physical Therapy; Mejorado, Bilingual/Multicultural Education; Meltzer, CPC Chair (English); Michael, Management; Mikhailitchenko, Business Administration; Moni, Women’s Studies; Mosupyoe, Ethnic Studies; Moylan, Family and Consumer Sciences; Noel, FPC Chair (Teacher Education); Peigahi, GE/GRPC Chair (Library); Quirarte, Student Affairs; Reddick, Library; Russell, Social Work; Shaw, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration; Sheppard, Faculty Senate Chair (Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration); V. Smith, Communication Studies; Stevens, Environmental Studies; Strasser, Anthropology; Taylor, Physics and Astronomy; Theodorides, Kinesiology and Health Science; Van Gaasbeck, APC Chair (Economics); Wanket, Geography;

Absent:

Bellon, Philosophy; Chanda, Nursing; Choi, Business Administration; Deegan, Temporary Faculty (Family and Consumer Science); Hammersley, Geology (excused); Koegel, Communication Studies; Miller, GSPC Chair and ASCSU Senator (Communication Studies) (excused); Numark, History; Penrod, Psychology; Perez, Economics; Reveles, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies; Singer, Criminal Justice; Vacant, Athletics; Vacant, Special Education, Rehabilitation, School Psychology & Deaf Studies

 

MOMENT OF SILENCE

 

Jack Heron

Emeritus Coach

Intercollegiate Athletics

 

Matthew Anderson

Student

 

 

 

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

 

The agenda was amended at the request of the Chair, and without objection from the membership, to remove FS 11/12-50/GSPC/Ex.  The amended agenda was approved unanimously.

 

CONSENT ACTION

 

FS 11/12-75/

CPC/Ex                       PROGRAM REVIEW- GEOLOGY

The Faculty Senate recommends that all degree programs and minors in the Department of Geology be approved for six years from the date of Senate approval. Attachment A

 

Carried unanimously.

 

FS 11/12-76/Ex           COMMITTEE APPOINTMENT – SENATE

                                    General Education/Graduation Requirements Policies Committee

                                    Sue Holl, Spring Semester 2012

 

Carried unanimously.

 

FS 11/12-77/Ex           COMMITTEE APPOINTMENT – UNIVERSITY

                                    ASI Appellate Council

                                    Sylvester Bowie, 2013

 

Carried unanimously.

 

REGULAR AGENDA

 

FS 11/12-78/Flr           MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 2, 2012

 

The Faculty Senate will review the minutes at the February 23, 2012 meeting.

 

INFORMATION ITEMS

 

§  “Redefine the Possible” – President Gonzalez     3:30 pm

 

§  Introduction of the Faculty Endowment for Student Scholarship Award recipients    4:00 pm

Reception to follow.  Appendix A

 

FS 11/12-73/

SCIPP/Ex                    POLICY ON INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM PRIORITIES: ACADEMIC PLANNING, RESOURCE ALLOCATION AND ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT, AMENDMENT OF

 

The Faculty Senate recommends the following change to the quartile grouping as outlined in Section V of the Policy on Instructional Program Priorities: Academic Planning, Resource Allocation and Enrollment Management:

 

The process of making recommendations for academic prioritization shall result in four separate groupings-undergraduate degree programs (majors), other undergraduate programs (e.g., minors/certificates), graduate degree programs, and other graduate programs (e.g., credentials/certificates)-into quartiles based upon the criteria described in Section III for undergraduate programs) and Section IV (for graduate programs).

Background

Section V of the Policy on Instructional Program Priorities: Academic Planning, Resource Allocation and Enrollment Management states that “the process of making recommendations for academic prioritization shall result in undergraduate and graduate/credential programs (separately) being grouped into quartiles based upon the criteria described in Sections III and IV.” This ranking process places programs into two groupings. Based on the most current list of approved programs received from Academic Affairs, there are 238 programs in the undergraduate grouping and 122 programs in the graduate grouping.

Whereas, each quartile grouping would result in four (4) clusters of equal frequencies, the undergraduate grouping (with 238 programs) would have approx. 60 programs within each quartile cluster and the graduate grouping (with 122 programs) would have approx. 30 programs within each quartile cluster.

Based on the most current list of approved programs received from Academic Affairs, the breakdown of undergraduate programs are:

·         140 programs are majors

·         83 programs are minors

·         15 programs are certificate

Based on the most current list of approved programs received from Academic Affairs, the breakdowns of graduate programs are:

·         94 programs are majors

·         28 programs fall in the certificate/credential category

Justification

The task of comparing and ranking dissimilar programs is a formidable one. To make the task meaningful, the Senate Committee on the Policy on Instructional Program Priorities (SCIPP) is recommending that two (2) additional groupings be added to the ranking process. The addition of two groupings for non-major programs at both the undergraduate and graduate level would reduce the problems associated with ranking programs that are inherently non-comparable on multiple criteria.  For example, many minors and certificates have extremely low or negligible costs as they rely on coursework already embedded in majors.  Conversely, only major programs strictly "graduate" students.  On balance, the Committee thinks that more of the criteria (those not associated with cost) disadvantage non-major programs than advantage them. 

 

While being careful not to anticipate results, the Committee would like to guard against the possibility that the bottom two quartiles could potentially be weighted with non-major programs. It doesn't seem to be within the spirit of the policy that the lower quartiles be populated with non-major programs simply because the criteria seem more focused on measurements associated with majors.  While the majors would likely see their rankings artificially elevated, it undermines the purpose of a quartile approach to meaningful program comparisons.

 

Carried unanimously.

 

FS 11/12-52/

APC/Ex                       MINIMUM GRADES FOR UNDERGRADUATE PREREQUISITE

                                    COURSEWORK, AMENDMENT TO

                       

The Faculty Senate recommends amending the “Minimum Grades for

                        Undergraduate Prerequisite Coursework” as proposed in Attachment D-1.

 

                        Note: The side-by-side comparison can be found in Attachment D-2.

 

                        BACKGROUND:

Academic Affairs referred the issue of minimum grades required for prerequisite coursework. Currently, there is no university policy on satisfactory completion of prerequisites. However, there is a policy that provides that a grade of “C-” be considered a “C” for the purposes of satisfying prerequisite coursework. Last year, there was an inquiry from Geography regarding our policy regarding a minimum grade requirement for prerequisite coursework.  This past summer, we had a similar inquiry from Physics. In CMS, the default setting for a prerequisite is “C-”; however, our actual policy is ambiguous as to whether or not a grade below a “C-” (i.e. “D”) is sufficient to fulfill a prerequisite requirement.

 

The Academic Policies Committee voted unanimously on October 7, 2011 to refer the item to the Executive Committee.  At the same meeting, a motion to endorse the item failed: 4 Yes, 4 No, 3 Abstentions On October 14, 2011, the Academic Policies Committee voted unanimously to recommend the attached policy language.

 

The following issues were raised by APC on Minimum Grade of C- or better in prerequisite coursework

·         The absence of a University policy allows individual departments to enforce minimum grade requirements without Faculty Senate approval/review.  Some departments may assume the enforcement of a specific grade.

·         If there is uncertainty in how grades in prerequisite coursework are enforced, this may create difficulties in student course plans and advising.  Having a university baseline, or default, would alleviate this uncertainty because it would require that departments explicitly state their prerequisite grade requirements, if they differ from a university standard.

·         There is no evidence that the lack of a university minimum grade requirement is problematic.  The question of how many students would be affected, and therefore the need for such a policy, was raised by the committee.

·         Establishing a minimum standard for prerequisites at the university level makes sense based on the definition of grades in academic policy (e.g., passing with a C grade versus passing with a D grade).

·         There is ambiguity in the current catalog language, which suggests that some change to the policy is needed to eliminate this ambiguity.  The current catalog language is based on the assumption that before the introduction of “+/-” grades, a “C” was required in order to satisfy a course prerequisite.

 

Carried unanimously.

 

FS 11/12-54A/Flr.       BA AND BS POLICY CHANGE (UPPER FISISION UNITS IN MAJORS), REFERRAL

 

                                    The Faculty Senate refers back to CPC with a request that the item be brought back with language that inclusively addresses all bachelor's degree types offered on this campus with respect to the number of units of coursework                            required in the major.

 

            Carried.

 

FS 11/12-54/

CPC/Ex                       BA AND BS POLICY CHANGE (UPPER DIVISION UNITS IN MAJORS)

 

                                    The Faculty Senate recommends amending the BA and BS Policy as follows:

 

Bachelor of Arts Degree majors require a minimum of 24 semester units in the major with at least 12 units at upper division. Bachelor of Arts Degree majors are limited to 48 units in the major field, including lower division prerequisites. The comprehensive liberal studies degree program which includes both major and general education requirements is currently exempt from the 48 unit limitation. Exemptions to the unit limitation are granted only upon the recommendation of the Academic Senate's Curriculum Committee and approval of the school dean and the Vice President, Academic Affairs.

 

The Bachelor of Science Degree has the same primary objectives as the Bachelor of Arts Degree but is grounded in scientific methodology and emphasizes applications in a wide range of technical and professional fields. Bachelor of Science majors require a minimum of 36 semester units in the major with at least 18 semester units at upper division, and are limited to no more than one half the total degree unit requirements in the major field, inclusive of both lower and upper division units, but exclusive of co-requisite requirements. Exemptions to the unit limitation of Bachelor of Science programs are made in the same fashion indicated for Bachelor of Arts programs.

                        The complete background information and side-by-side comparison can be found

                        in Attachment F.

 


 

FS 11/12-53A/Flr.       ACADEMIC RENEWAL, REVISIONS TO INCLUDE GRADUATE STUDENTS, POSTPONEMENT TO

 

The Faculty Senate recommends to postpone pending an answerto the question of authority to make such changes, with the item to be returnedto the agenda at such time as the Executive Committee deems appropriate.

 

            Carrried unanimously.

 

FS 11/12-53/

GSPC/Ex                    ACADEMIC RENEWAL, REVISIONS TO INCLUDE GRADUATE STUDENTS

 

                                    The Faculty Senate recommends revising the “Academic Renewal Policy” to

include graduate students. The original proposed policy can be found in Attachment E. The policy with proposed amendments is found in Attachment E-1.

 

Background: Existing policy defines Academic renewal as it pertains to undergraduate students, as can be seen in the catalog: http://catalog.csus.edu/current/first%20100%20pages/academicpolicies.html#Renewal


The lack of parallel policy language as it would apply to graduate and post-baccalaureate students was brought to GSPC's attention by the Graduate Coordinators and by the Graduate Advisory Council.  The proposed policy revision creates parallel language to define Academic Renewal in those contexts.

 

SENATE SPRING SCHEDULE

 

The Faculty Senate meets routinely the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Thursday of each month, from 3:00-5:00 pm, in the Foothill Suite, University Union, unless notified otherwise

 

The Faculty Senate meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month, on an as needed basis.

 

It is currently anticipated that the organizational meetings for the 2012-2013 Senate will occur on March 15th and 29th.  These are the meetings during which nominations and elections are held for next year’s Senate. On those dates, the 2012-2013 Senate will meet from 3:00 pm – 3:20 pm (approx.) and the 2011-2012 Senate will meet and continue with regular business immediately following adjournment of the 2012-2013 organizational meeting.

 

Adjourned