UAH FACULTY SENATE
PRESENT:
ADSC: Schnell
LBAR: Johnson, Pritchard, Bollinger, Meister, Martin, Ragsdale, Heikes, Sitaraman
ENG: Joiner, Jovanov, Fork, Gholston, Karr, Frendi, Wessling, Lin
LIB:
NUR: Lawson, Foote, George, Thompson
SCI: Delugach, Ai, Miller
ABSENT WITH PROXY:
ADSC: Gramm, Tseng
ENGR: Anderson, Gaede, Kulick
LBAR: Reeves
ABSENT WITHOUT PROXY:
ADSC: Patnayakuni
LBAR: Ferris, Moore, Neuschatz
NUR:
SCI: Mecikalski, Boyd, Bishop, Magnuson, Weimer, Paddison, Aygun, Ravindran, Oluseyi
0. Senate
1. Draft Minutes of Meeting Number 475 were approved. Motion by Sharon George, seconded by Deborah Heikes.
2. Senate Executive Committee Reports accepted. Motion by Kader Frendi, seconded by Sharon George.
3.
Dr. Franz was out of town.
4. Dr. Radonovich’s Report.
Dr. Radonovich reported there are numerous things in the works but not
completed yet. He offered to answer any
questions.
He reported that Barry Scott, who has been the WebCT manager has
resigned to take a job with a contractor on the Arsenal November 24. There are a large number of faculty and
students who use WebCT so we would like to continue it. There is also now a package added to Banner
to interface with WebCT and there are operations with the UA Telecampus that
operate with WebCT. WebCT competed with
Blackboard but has now been bought by Blackboard. Our fees will go from $30,000 to $162,000
partially because WebCT will maintain their own server and allow us to continue
to operate as we have been. Faculty are
accustomed to using WebCT and are not likely to want to change or use something
else. Faculty will need assistance so
Dr. Radonovich would like to have the operation continue by having CNS continue
to operate the WebCT and do a search to hire someone that will do Instructional
Development with faculty. CNS will
continue the current operations with WebCT.
Dr. Radonovich would like to have the Instructional Development person
full time and have the mechanics and technical part run by CNS. Dr. Radonovich asked faculty to send him any
thoughts they may have on this.
It was suggested they look at other alternatives using things such as
email and web pages and things other than WebCT. It was pointed out that most of what is done
on WebCT can be done on turnitin.com. It
was pointed out that WebCT offers e-packs for courses that go along with the
textbook. It was suggested that the
appropriate Senate Committee take a look at the options and get back to Dr.
Radonovich. There was some discussion regarding how
Distance Learning will be impacted by this.
Dr. Radonovich stated he will be sending out information about the continuation
of WebCT in about a week.
5. A. Senate Committee Reports:
1. Executive: The reports were distributed with the minutes. The reports were approved.
2.
4. Governance and Operations:
Dr. Fork reported the Committee met and a representative is needed from
the Senate to sit on the EOAA and the Humans Subjects Committee. They will continue to look at and address
changes to the Senate Bylaws.
5. Personnel: No Report.
6. Undergraduate Curriculum: Ms.
George reported the Committee received information from Dr. Severn for the
Course Repeat Policy revisions. They are
close to completing the revision to this policy.
7. Undergraduate Scholastic
Affairs: Dr. Heikes reported the Committee is also looking at the Course
Repeat Policy, a posthumous grading policy and they would appreciate any
comments or suggestions regarding the posthumous grading policy. They also have a bill on the agenda at second
reading today.
8. Finance and Resources: Dr.
Delugach reported the Committee has looked at the REU program and made
revisions to it. The Committee came up
with ideas for the new proposal process and streamlined it. They will be finalizing these guidelines and
processes next week and will send an announcement to faculty. It will require about a one and one half
page; proposal. They also made changes
to streamline the pay process and provide a stipend as opposed to hourly
pay. They are looking at funding a
couple of dozen proposals. The faculty
were requested to talk this up in their colleges.
B. University Committees: No Report.
C. Officer Reports:
Parliamentarian: No Report.
Ombudsperson: No Report.
6. Linda Vaughan Discussion Regarding
Library Hours.
Linda stated that since she requested a slot on the agenda that Dr.
Luquire had submitted a proposal to Dr. Franz that if there was an extension in
the Library Hours that there be shared cost of additional staff to man the
Library during those hours. The proposal would have the Library open from
7. Senate Bill 306: Academic Misconduct: Unauthorized materials in Exams.
Dr. Heikes presented the bill.
Dr. Radonovich was asked to give a brief background of the origin and need
for the bill. Dr. Radonovich discussed
the problem with student using devices in exams. He talked about articles that have been out
about this kind of activity. Many in the
academic world are alarmed by these activities.
Faculty can include statements on their syllabi about this information
but we also thought it would be wise to include a policy and have the syllabus
information as the fallback or default.
There was some discussion and concern that the statement about the
disability waiver was too general and should be more specific. Dr. Delugach offered a friendly amendment and
then withdrew it and replaced it with “Only students with a current University
issued disability waiver may be exempt.”
The vote in favor of the bill was unanimous with no abstentions. The bill passed at second reading and was
declared to be administratively passed at third reading since the vote was
unanimous. The bill will be forwarded to
the Administration for action.
Dr. Delugach requested that faculty be considerate of other faculty and
stay strict to the class time. Do not
run over with your class because it impacts others.
8.
Melinda
Lawson adjourned the meeting at