University Senate Minutes 27 Jan 2012

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Committee (CAPC): Chair Dr. Ryan Brown

Motion 1112.CAPC.003.P General Education Goals Revision is brought forward from committee and as such does not require a second.

A motion to amend was made and seconded related to the Written and Oral Communication to change from “Integrate effective speaking and/or writing skills in multiple contexts” to “Integrate effective speaking and writing skills in multiple contexts.”

Motion to amend was passed.

A motion to amend was made and seconded related to Informed Citizenship to change “Demonstrate an awareness of the responsibilities of informed citizenship in personal and professional contexts” to “Demonstrate an understanding of the responsibilities of informed citizenship in personal and professional contexts.”

Motion to amend was passed.

Motion 1112.CAPC.003.C was approved as amended.

Motion 1112.CAPC.004.C GC Core Curriculum (GC3) Revision is brought forward from committee and as such does not require a second.

A motion to amend and correct typo in sentence # 2 of item 1 in the supporting document from “Area A discipline” to “Area A and discipline” was made, seconded and approved.

Motion 1112.CAPC.004.C was approved as amended.

Academic Policy Committee (APC): Chair Dr. Amy Pinney

The committee met on January 13th and addressed the following issues:

Video Recording Class Lectures Update: We re-visited video recording. Mark Vail will contact Marc Cardinalli again for policy, and the topic is on our agenda for February.

Fall Commencement: Guest Evan Karanovich. In December we met with Kay Anderson, who heads the committee planning Fall Commencement. At that time she said we did not need a motion. At the ECUS meeting that I am unable to attend as I am in class, Bryan Marshall was told we DO need a motion. We are collaborating with Kay on text.

Department of Government and Sociology requested APC’s consideration and approval of a proposal. Funke Fontenot and Jason Rich outlined the proposal, which we support. The motion will be crafted by Funke Fontenot and Jason Rich and be presented at our February meeting.

Student Affairs Policy Committee (SAPC): Chair Ms. Dianne Chamblee

The committee met on January 13th and addressed the following issues:

Review of Sexual Harassment Policy

Jennifer Graham updated the SAPC on the current progress of the Sexual Harassment policy update. The committee currently working on this is basing the policy revision on national standards. Currently the committee is dealing with the appeals process.

Initiative that supports student retention

The committee began discussion of this issue by asking where this charge originated. This was raised after we discussed the university Strategic Enrollment Plan, which appears to cover this issue very well. Dianne will take this question back to ECUS.

The committee decided that they wish to review the Strategic Enrollment Plan, in addition to map works data for the sophomore year. We will create a plan of action after reviewing this information.

Bobcat Vision Management and Use Guidelines (from SGA)

The plan was not present for the committee to review at this meeting due to a few more issues that needed to be addressed before our review. Dianne will contact Evan Karanovich to ask him to send the policy to the committee prior to the next meeting so that the committee can vote on it.

Experiential Credits – Bruce Harshbarger

Bruce Harshbarger discussed the transcript with Sara Faircloth, and related the conversation to the committee. The committee discussed how to better expose students to the transcript and how to submit information to it. The committee discussed standardizing the freshman seminars. Mike Augustine mentioned that this is happening to some extent currently. The committee decided to wait to see how the freshman seminars are organized next semester.

Impact of Change in Common Meeting Times – Members

Doreen Sams was absent, but is currently working on compiling information on this topic. Doreen related to Dianne that next semester several students will be researching the impact of no common meetings on student groups.

New business

The committee discussed the idea of creating some sort of system to provide either small loans or short-term financial assistance to students in need. The committee believes that this would need to be hosted through the foundation. Jennifer Graham will speak to University Advancement to find out if such an account would be possible to be created through the foundation.

RIPIPC: Chair Dr. Judith Malachowski

RPIPC met on Friday, December 2, 2011 and addressed the following items:

Gap analysis report – Carnegie Community Engagement – Mr. Tom Miles, Chair of Task Force

Mr. Miles reviewed a brief background leading to the initial investigation of a Carnegie Community Engagement designation for Georgia College. A full report of that discussion is posted in the minutes.

RPIPC supported continuing to seek this designation for Georgia College.

A motion will be presented at the February Senate meeting

Smoking policy

The Georgia College smoking policy was reviewed once more. The issue seems to be enforcement of the current policy, particularly requiring smokers to use the designated smoking areas. There are no sanctions for violation of the policy.

RPIPC takes no further action on this topic.

Comments of the committee presented to ECUS on January 13:

1. request a University-wide review of the new common meeting time, including the impact of student activities.

2. suggest changing the opening of the MAX at 7:15AM instead of 7:30AM so students have more time to eat prior to an 8:00AM class.

3. a general comment for more information about the progress of the crosswalk between Front Campus and Student Activities Center.

RPIPC met on Friday, January 13, 2012 and addressed the following items:

Shared Leave Policy – Jen Maraziti

Jen reviewed the work of the committee looking at revision of the Shared Leave Policy. She stated that this draft has been about 18 months in the planning stages. She provided RPIPC with a draft of the work of that group. One of the major changes is that employees may request shared leave (assuming they meet the criteria for that leave) to care for a sick family member. Another proposed change is the creation of a leave pool to which employees may contribute on a regular basis.

RPIPC made a suggestion that the Shared Leave Committee clarify the definition of “immediate family member” in the draft report.

Service Recognition Dates – Carol Ward

Ms. Ward reviewed the current policy of recognition of employees for multiple years of service. She stated the anniversary year is calculated from the actual start date. Most faculty begin employment at GCSU on August 1. There is more variability in the start dates of staff. There is not, therefore, one date that will capture everyone. Some suggestions:

Hold two ceremonies each year – one in Fall and one in Spring

Change the date of a single ceremony to Fall

Communicate to new hires about the policy and practice that the actual anniversary date may mean a few months delay in official recognition

Other:

Carol Ward (HR) gave an update of benefits negotiations.

Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC): Chair Dr. Craig Turner

The FAPC report is attached to these minutes as a supporting document.

Government Retreat Planning Work Group (GRPWG): Chair: Dr. Dee Sams

The Governance Retreat Planning Work Group (GRPWG) functions as the planning committee for the annual governance retreat. This year’s work group consisted of six members (1 – College of Business, 1 College of Education, 1 Health, and 3 from Arts & Sciences). The group met seven times beginning at the end of the spring semester and the remainder during the summer. The group was charged with informing the University Senate of the dates, time and place for the event as well as the theme “Pumping up the Flow: Shared Governance as the Heart of GC.” Members of the University Senate were surveyed as to their plans to attend the upcoming August 10, 2011 retreat and their preferences as to food and refreshments. Based on feedback from the University Senate, the GRPWG forged plans for the events. The following report contains key accomplishments of the group on a meeting-by-meeting basis. Next, the report provides findings from a survey of retreat attendees as to their level of satisfaction with each event. The next portion reports, “what worked” and puts forth recommendations. Details are provided in the appendices and include copies of surveys, analyses, and forms used by the GRPWG.

It was the pleasure of the members of the GRPWG to serve the 2011-2012 University Senate in their duties as work group members. The information contained in this report is expected to be useful in planning the 2012-2013 GC governance retreat.

Executive Committee of the University Senate (ECUS): Chair Dr. Jan Clark

We have met 4 times since the last senate meeting.

Senate Retreat Committee (Catherine Whelan, Jan Clark, Dean Baker, Monica Starley, Craig Turner) – still welcome volunteers to be on it. The Retreat will be in August.

Developed a Goal and Expectation Policy

Goal: To provide the Georgia College community with a clear, concise, and searchable website of current policies, procedures, and practices that is readily available and provides a transparent process for revision and review.

Expectations:

Reformat each of the existing items on the website so that they are presented in a consistent format identifying policies, procedures, and practices (See University template for policies).

Reorganize the website to highlight those policies that are particularly relevant to specific groups of stakeholders.

Establishing a method to automate a review of existing policies for relevance and currency.

Goal accomplishment will include consideration of topics identified by University Senate (See Appendix A).

When contradictory statements are identified or when editing is required, content will be reviewed by the appropriate University Senate committee or University agency.

Routine progress briefings towards this goal will be provided to the University Senate.

Establishing a practice for informing the community of changes.

Establish a temporary electronic drop box to report perceived contradictory, outdated, inaccurate and/or missing content.

Presidential Search is going well. Hopefully we will hear some more soon.

Student Government Affairs: by Mrs. Evan Karanovich

Presented a Trivia Question: In what year were the Student Government formed and dress codes abolished? Answer 1934.

Homecoming: Encouraged everyone participate in Homecoming. Tickets can be purchased at Be at every Homecoming.gcsu.edu for $15.00

Office decorating contest is underway – Judging will take place.

Information Item University Bookstore: Mr. Kyle Cullars and Ms. Lynda Grable

Report from Kyle Cullars and Lynda Grable regarding the university bookstore and some questions that had been raised by faculty related to textbook adoptions.

Benefits of having a university bookstore:

Outside bookstores cannot meet the full demand of what students need.

Customer service – get the information directly from faculty so can provide more information for the students. For fall semester the bookstore had 1143 texts ordered and out of those only 30 texts had to be reordered. Of those 30 that were reordered all were filled by the end of the first week.

Convenience – we are here on campus.

Tips to help the student:

If faculty agrees to use the text for 4 semesters (do not have to be consecutive) they can be rental text for which saves the student a large amount of money.

If faculty does not meet the order date, then this can impact the student’s ability to sell the text back to the bookstore.

Order books only that you are going to use. Avoid bundling.

Motion to Adjourn

There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made, seconded and approved. The meeting adjourned at 4:45.

Next meeting February 24, 2012 at 3:30 A&S 2-72

Recorded by Deborah MacMillan