University Governance
SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
November 3, 2009, 3:00 P.M., Provost’s Conference Room
Approved 11/17/09
PRESENT: John Stratton, Lisa Wolf-Wendel, Jim Daugherty, Steven Maynard-Moody, Ben Eggleston, Kellee Kirkpatrick, Jeannette Johnson, Mason Heilman, Barbara Phipps, Ada Emmett
EXCUSED: Mary Ann Baker, Andrea Peterson, Paul Farran, Dennis Constance
ALSO PRESENT: Molly Mulloy and Kathy Reed, Governance
Chair John Stratton called the meeting to order.
MINUTES for 10/20/09 were approved.
STANDING REPORTS
SenEx Chair.
John Stratton welcomed new member Ross Ringer, who is replacing J J Siler on SenEx. He reported on KU’s United Way committee and the “KU vs. MU Loose Change Day” competition on Nov. 18th. Stratton emailed the chair of the Committee on Retirees Rights and Benefits (CRRB) about SenEx’s response to CRRB’s request that the Provost reinstate free Lied Center tickets for retirees, and he discussed this issue with the Provost as well.
Student Body President
Mason Heilman reported that Student Senate passed a resolution reconfirming last year’s decision to add the Student Body Vice President as the 13th student member on University Senate.
Unclassified Senate President
Jeannette Johnson reported that Provost Danny Anderson will speak at a Brown Bag lunch on Nov. 12th. She and Dennis Constance met with the Provost to discuss the fact that supervisors do not uniformly support their employees’ involvement in governance activities. The Provost agreed to send a letter to supervisors thanking them for allowing their employees to participate in governance.
UPDATE ON AP&P COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
The NP (No Progress) Grade. AP&P Chair Nancy Kinnersley described the changes to the grade menu for graduate students that were originally proposed by Graduate Studies Dean Sara Rosen and discussed by the AP&P Committee. AP&P believes the NP option should be up to the departments because they determine if the TA is making progress. AP&P also recommends that the final grade assigned for the course should replace the P or NP grades recorded for the previous year. They further recommend that no credit be given for an NP grade earned more than one year prior to course completion.
In the discussion that followed, a member stated that it is a financial burden for a graduate student who receives an NP grade for six hours to pay tuition again to retake those hours. Jeannette Johnson mentioned that according to the GTA contract, a GTA must enroll in six hours until he gets to comprehensives. If the GTA receives six hours of NP, he/she is not making academic progress toward the degree. Lisa Wolf-Wendel mentioned that doctoral students in the School of Education are not full-time students; rather, they are full-time school superintendents or educational administrators. Her colleagues would not want to give an NP that would require the student to start over on the 18 hours. A question was raised about how “ within a year” is calculated. Does summer count as a semester? For example, if a student gets a P grade in Fall 08, Spring 09, and summer 09 and completes a dissertation in October 09, then will the P in Fall 08 be changed to a letter or not? Another member asked why Dean Rosen proposes an NP grade when an F would serve the same purpose. Lisa Wolf-Wendel/Ada Emmett moved that SenEx request clarification from Dean Rosen on the NP proposal before it is forwarded to the University Senate. Passed.
CR/NC in Courses Taken in the Minor
Nancy Kinnersley stated that the original request to consider allowing CR/NC in courses taken for the minor was requested by Student Body VP May Davis. The USRR states that CR/NC may not be used in courses for the major but does not address minor courses. However, John Stratton pointed out an inconsistency in pg. 41 of the Undergraduate Catalog which states that a student may enroll in one CR/NC course per semester “…if the course is not in your major or minor.” A second inconsistency is that the accompanying chart in the catalog listing each school’s policy for CR/NC in the major/minor is not consistent with the sentence on pg. 41.
Kinnersley said that AP&P raised many issues about CR/NC in the minor and forwarded them to CUSA for feedback. CUSA had additional concerns, such as: 1) professional certificate programs require a letter grade for all courses. 2) “CR” is treated as a “C” grade, but now that the College has instituted a plus/minus grading, would a C- minus count as CR or NC?
Ben Eggleston commented that perhaps a university-wide policy should not be codified in the USRR if the CR/NC policy for courses in the minor differs among departments and schools. Stratton reiterated that the undergraduate catalog’s statement and chart need to be made consistent with each other and with the USRR. Nancy Kinnersley reported that the AP&P committee was not able to come to consensus on this issue. Following discussion, SenEx asked AP&P to continue discussion of the CR/NC grade for courses in the minor.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST (“COI”) POLICY
John Stratton welcomed Sara Wilson, chair of the COI task force, and Bill Sharp, director of Research Integrity and member of the task force. Wilson noted that the task force was charged to develop a unified COI form that would include both the KUMC and Lawrence campuses and would comply with Regents and federal requirements. A second charge was to update the policy document that is an amalgamation of Regents, KU, and federal policies. Utilizing a Powerpoint presentation, Wilson emphasized that the intent of the new form is to make it more transparent and easier to complete electronically. The task force is forwarding the form to University Senate for endorsement now because the form will require a year of preparation, must be implemented next year, and does not need to wait for the policy itself to be updated. In the meantime, the task force will be developing KU’s new Conflict of Interest Policy and will bring it to the Senate for endorsement later this year. Ben Eggleston/Lisa Wolf-Wendel moved approval of the concept of the merged KUMC/KU Lawrence Conflict of Interest form, and to forward the form and the informational flow chart to University Senate for endorsement on Nov. 12. Passed.
REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE ON LEARNER OUTCOMES
John Stratton noted that the final report was sent to members before the meeting and is on the governance website. He stated that SenEx created the Task Force chaired by Dan Bernstein in 2008 in response to the Board of Regents’ interest in across the board assessment of learning outcomes at the schools under their purview. Following discussion, members agreed to commend the task force for the thoughtful and useful report, whose recommendations will be up to the administration to implement. Ada Emmett/Lisa Wolf-Wendel moved to accept the report, thank the task force members, send it to Vice Provost Barbara Romzek with a copy to the Provost and Chancellor, and inform University Senate members. Passed.
NEW BUSINESS
Ombuds Annual Report.
Ben Eggleston/Lisa Wolf-Wendel recommended that SenEx commend the Ombuds Office for its excellent report. Passed. Molly Mulloy will convey this to the Ombuds.
Meeting Agendas.
Ada Emmett suggested that a brief description of documents attached to meeting agendas be included in the email sent to members before each meeting. Mulloy will do this.
No further business.
Respectfully submitted,
Molly Mulloy