October 1, 2013 Academic Council Agenda

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, October 1, 2013 from 10:30-11:45 a.m. in THC 305.  Please review the agenda below and the cited materials in advance of the meeting.

Approval of minutes from the September 17, 2013 meeting.

Consent Agenda:

Proposed changes on Special Program Opportunities – Internships.
The current catalog language about internships under the A&S section can be found here.  

Internships provide students with supervised opportunities to understand by direct experience how skills and theories learned in the classroom are applied in business, industry, community agencies, and government. Each internship must include an academic base, such as an appropriate reading list or other resources, which demonstrates or stresses the interrelatedness of the academic background with the selected workplace.

Any academic department may offer an individual internship under the following general description: 388 Individual Internship. Application of academic skills and theories in a selected work environment, plus related academic work supervised by a member of the faculty. Pass/fail grading may be designated by a department for any or all enrollments. May be repeated; however, no more than 1.5 units in the same department may be counted toward the total number of units required for a degree. Prerequisite: Permission of department concerned. .25-1.5 units. Note: No more than 3.5 units of internship of any kind may count toward the total number of units required for a degree. Student Teaching and Theatre Arts Practica are not included in this policy.

Individual departments may have varying limitations on internships. They may be only available to majors and/or minors in the department. Internships usually are limited to junior or senior students who must have the prior approval of the department concerned.

Further information is available from the chair or coordinator of the appropriate department or program.

Motion: Approve 388 course as available for 0 to 1.5 units (it is currently only approved for .25 to 1.5 units).

ANTH- revisions to major

ANTH- major/minor requirements

ANTH - honors program 

ANTH 401 

ANTH 402

CHEM 343

DANC 301

DANC 312

DANC 322

DANC 330

DANC 340

DANC 350

ENGL 390

LAIS

MLC 211

MLC 227

MUS 226

MUS 255

MSAP 260 - 282

Physics- Honors Program  

Sociology- curriculum changes

Sociology- major and minor requirements 

Theatre and Dance- major

Theatre and Dance- minor


Discussion Agenda:

1. Enhanced sabbaticals
2. Small groups to discuss annual reviews

September 17, 2013 Academic Council Minutes

Dean Skerrett called the meeting to order at 10:33 a.m. The minutes of the April 23, 2013 meeting were approved.

All proposals on the September 17, 2013 consent agenda were moved to the October 1, 2013 agenda.

•Introductions

Dean Skerrett introduced the associate deans and distributed the contact information and general areas of responsibility for each dean. Each dean has a concentration of duties and a special project.
Then the dean asked members of Academic Council to introduce themselves to the meeting, as there were new chairs and coordinators who have joined the Council.

•Promoting Courses

Associate Dean Libby Gruner reminded Academic Council that the Academic Advising Center keeps a list of special topic courses that are promoted through the Academic Advising Center. If there are courses that a department would like to promote, please reach out to Dr. Gruner. The Academic Advising Center is still working on the most effective way to promote these types of courses. Dr. Gruner also reminded Academic Council of the FYS deadlines and encouraged every department to submit a seminar if the schedule will allow.

Dean Skerrett explained that in past years, a capacity audit was used to plan allocation of First Year Seminars among departments.  Currently, the dean’s office reaches out to departments directly.
•Department Chair and Program Coordinator Compensation

Dean Skerrett discussed the change in payment of department chair and program coordinator stipends.  Previously, the chairs and coordinators were paid after the year of service.  For the past two years, the dean has been transitioning chair and coordinator compensation into the year of service.  Priority for this budget transition was given to new chairs and program coordinators. At the end of this fiscal year, all chairs and coordinators will be on the new schedule and will be paid in the year of service. The dean thanked the remaining chairs for their patience.

•Program-based Budgeting

Associate Dean Vincent Wang gave an update on the program based budgeting process. Most chairs have reported that they found the process very easy.  Each chair should review their FY14 budget and then decide how to proceed.  If a department chair would like to request an enhancement or new position, she or he must complete the forms. If a department chair is satisfied with their current budget and staff, she or he should check the “fast track” option.  Department chairs may review their budgets or budget requests with Associate Dean Vincent Wang if they wish to do so.  This is not required.

Last year, only requests for tenure stream faculty and staff positions were invited. This year the Dean’s Advisory Council and the dean will also accept requests for faculty of practice/director positions and student workers.  The dean reminded Academic Council that requests for director positions should not be made unless one would be clearly preferable for pedagogical reasons to a tenure-line position.

Dean Skerrett mentioned that the dean’s budget manager will realign department budgets every three years. If a department needs realignment prior to the scheduled review, please notify Terri Weaver.  All forms are due in the dean’s office by October 18, 2013.

•Adjunct Faculty

The School of Arts and Sciences currently has fifty-six adjunct professors, who are paid a standard rate per unit taught.  The dean invited the Academic Council to discuss the question of fair compensation of adjuncts and our use of adjunct teachers in our curriculum.  Some faculty members expressed recruitment concerns because other schools in the area offer more competitive pay for adjuncts; some schools offer less pay. It was suggested that the University stop benchmarking adjunct salaries against other schools. It was recommended that an annual pay increase be given to continuing adjunct faculty to keep those faculty members.  Another suggestion to the dean was to turn adjunct positions into term appointments. 

Dean Skerrett suggested that chairs should talk about this issue and make a proposal to the Dean’s Advisory Council in this budget planning cycle.  This would allow us to seriously consider the issue of adjunct pay and employment in the context of resource allocation for the School.

•Review of Endowments
The dean informed Academic Council that the central administration has been reviewing all endowments and endowment agreements.  She hopes this will enable us to move forward on some initiatives.

•New Visiting Faculty Share Agreement

The dean briefly discussed the new Visiting Faculty Share agreement. Some faculty have heard about this document, and expressed concern that it would hinder negotiations.  The dean said that it does not constrain her in negotiations but provides a uniform template for two institutions to streamline compensation, benefits and indemnifications.  It will assist the budget and operations managers so that they do not have to negotiate these details with each school every time we bring a visiting faculty member to campus.

The dean reminded Academic Council that only the dean’s office can make an offer and discuss terms with a candidate.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:41am

Respectfully submitted,

Zandria Haines

September 17, 2013 Academic Council Agenda

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, September 17, 2013 from 10:30-11:45 a.m. in THC 305. Please review the agenda below and the cited materials in advance of the meeting.

Approval of minutes from the April 23, 2013 meeting.

 Consent Agenda:

CHEM 343

ENGL 390

Discussion Agenda:

1.  Promoting courses and FYS scheduling -- Libby Gruner
2. Chair and Program Coordinator stipends
3. Program based budget announcements
4. Faculty compensation of adjuncts