Faculty Assembly Minutes 9-28-12

College of Arts and Sciences

Faculty Assembly 

September 28, 2012

 

Registering Attendance:

Anthropology: F. Crespo, J. Zhao

Biology: C. Corbitt, R. Fell, J. Steffen

Classical & Modern Lang: R. Buchanan, W. Cunningham, M. Dalle, B. Fonseca-Greber, J. Greene, M. Groenewold, C. Hardin, G. Hutcheson, D. LaLonde, F. Nuessel, W. Pfeffer, M. Rodriguez, P. Sanchez, C. Sullivan, L. Wagner, W. Yoder

Communication: M. Cunningham, L. Della, M. D’Silva, J. Ferre, A. Futrell, J. Gregg, J. Hart, S. Smith, K. Walker

English: D. Anderson, T. Byers, K. Chandler, G. Cross, J. Dietrich, S. Henke, K. Kopelson, C. Petrosino, B. Willey, B. Williams, E. Wise

Fine Arts: Y.K. Chan, M. Eckert, L. Friesen, L. Gordon, J. Grubola, B. Hanger, S. Massey, G. Mayer, P. Miller, J. Whitesell

Geography/Geosciences: C. Hanchette, D. Howarth, K. Mountain, W. Song

History: J. McLeod, M. Taylor, D Vivian, L.S. Weissbach, J. Westerfeld

Humanities: A. Allen, P. Beattie, P. Pranke, G. Sparks

Mathematics: C. Biro, M. Bradley, L. Larson, J. Li, T. Riedel, P. Sahoo, D. Swanson, D. Wildstrom, S. Young

Pan-African Studies: L. Best, T. Rajack-Talley

Philosophy: A. Kolers, D. Owen

Physics: D. Brown, C. Jayanthi, 

Political Science: J. Farrier, M. Merry, R. Payne, L. Rhodebeck, S. Wallace

Sociology: J. Busch, C. Negrey, D. Potter

Theatre Arts: N. Burton, R. Frye, R. Vendenbroucke

Urban & Public Affairs: D. Simpson

Women’s & Gender St: K. Christopher, K. Story, N. Theriot

 

Professor Byers, Chair, called the Assembly to order.

The minutes of the meeting of April 20, 2012, were approved as distributed.

The Chair introduced the A&S Faculty Senators to the Assembly.

The Chair requested and received unanimous consent to alter the order of business to take up the request that the College select representatives to the Undergraduate Council, to serve in the interim period while the Council’s role and composition is being re-defined.  

Professor Dietrich moved, seconded by Professor Brown, that the Assembly select a representative from each Division of the College to serve during this period, with the understanding that positions will afterward be filled through the regular election process.   Professors Robert Carini (Sociology), Russell Vandenbroucke (Theatre Arts), and David Wildstrom (Mathematics) were selected.

The Chair again requested and received unanimous consent to alter the order of business to take up the proposal of the M.F.A. in Studio Art and Design (new business) before returning to the revision of the student course evaluation form under old business.

Approval of the M.F.A. was moved by Professor Howarth for the Planning and Budget Committee and Professor Yoder for the Curriculum Committee, seconded by the committees. Discussion included Professors Brown, Henke, Chan, and Howarth.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion for approval carried.

Returning to old business, the Chair reminded the Assembly that at the meeting of April 20, it had passed a substitute motion presented by Professor Heineken to replace the ad hoc committee’s revision of the student course evaluation form with one modeled on the evaluation form used at Duke, and that was the document currently on the floor.

The Chair recognized Professor Pfeffer, who moved deletion of page 5 of the document , which contained an alternative evaluation system based on comparison of the instructor being evaluated with other instructors whom the student has had before (ie, “best of all instructors I have had in other courses; top 25%,” etc).   The motion was seconded.  Discussion included Professors Steffen, Willey, and Pfeffer.  Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion to delete the possibility of this system of evaluation carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Gregg who moved that the numbering scale of the responses (1=strongly agree; 2=agree, etc) be reversed to 5=strongly agree; 4=agree; 3=neutral; 2=disagree; 1=strongly disagree.  The motion was seconded.  Discussion included Professors Meeks, Yoder, and Weissbach.   Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Wise who  moved that “instructor” be substituted for “class” in question #10:  “The class stimulated my interest in the subject. “

Discussion included Professors Yoder, M. Cunningham, McLeod, Weissbach, Kolers, Wise, Byers, Kopelson, and Allen.   

The Chair put the question and the motion failed with 35 in favor and 38 opposed.  

The Chair recognized Professor Pfeffer who moved that question #10 be deleted.  The motion was seconded.  Hearing no call for discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion to delete carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Steffen who moved deletion of question #11:  “The grading in the course was fair.”  Discussion included Professors Kolers, Williams, Wildstrom, Hutcheson, and Steffen.  Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion to delete carried.

The Chair recognized Professor Hutcheson who moved, seconded by Professor Wise, that a question be added to replace #11:  “The grading criteria in this course were made clear.”

Professor Cross proposed to an amendment to the motion, which failed for want of a second.

Professor Meeks proposed that the motion be amended to the active voice:  “The instructor made clear the grading criteria in the course.”  The motion to amend was seconded.   The Chair put the question and the motion to amend carried.

Discussion of the motion as amended included Professors Kopelson, Bradley, Meeks, Steffen, Rhodebeck, Henke, Yoder, and Willey.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion failed.  Question #11 remained deleted, with no substitution.  

The Chair recognized Professor Weissbach who moved deletion of question #8 (“My instructor uses helpful examples in lecture or discussion.”) as offering no significant amplification of question #6 (“Class discussions or lectures contributed greatly to my understanding of class content.”)  The motion was seconded.  Discussion included Professors Riedel and Christopher.

Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and declared that the motion had carried.  On a division of the house, the motion carried with 34 in favor and 29 opposed.  

The Chair recognized Professor Kolers who proposed a new question to replace #11:  “The grades I have received in this class reflect the quality of the work I have done.”  The motion was seconded.

Discussion included Professors Kolers and Steffen.   Hearing no call for further discussion, the Chair put the question and the motion failed.

The Chair recognized Professor Dietrich who asked that the minutes reflect that the final version of the evaluation form was to retain the questions approved by the Assembly last year on distance education courses and on the learning assistance  and supplemental instruction provided by REACH in  courses for which such assistance is provided.   The Chair so ruled.

The Chair noted that the announced time of the meeting was drawing to a close and proposed that further discussion of the evaluation question be deferred to the next Assembly.

Professor Riedel moved adjournment.  

[10/01/12]