Minutes of the University Senate Meeting

April 5, 2007

 

1.

 

The April meeting of the University Senate was held at 4:05 p.m. on Thursday, April 5, 2007 in Room 7, Gamble Hall. Tom Petros, chair-elect, presided. 

 

2.

 

The following members of the Senate were present:

 

Anderson, Cindy

Anderson, Suzanne

Baker, Mary

Benoit, Joseph

Berne, Jane

Boyd, Robert

Bradley, April

Dewar, Graeme

Elbert, Dennis

Elsinga, Lillian

Erickson, Daniel

Faruque, Saleh

Ferraro, Richard

Fisher, Jay

Haskins, James

Heitkamp, Thomasine

Hume, Wendelin

Iiams, Michele

Iverson, Joneen

Jackson, Jon

Jeno, Sue

Jerath, Sukhvarsh

Kelsch, Steven

Lane, Jason

Light, Steven

Mahar, Patricia

Marasinghe, Kanishka

Mayzer, Roni

Owens, Sarah

Perry, David

Petros, Thomas

Potvin, Martha

Rakow, Lana

Rex, Janet

Rice, Daniel

Rieke, Judy

Rosenberger, Thad

Stofferahn, Curtis

Stolt, Wilbur

Watson, John

Weisenstein, Greg

 

3.

 

The following members of the Senate were absent:

 

Bass, Gail

Behrmann, William

Buhr, Jordan

Campbell, Katherine

Covington, Chandice

Cripe, Haylee

Drewes, Mary

Flom-Meland, Cynthia

Folkestad, Sara

Gallager, Robert

Gosnold, Will

Hilliard, Nathaniel

Jackson, Margaret

Jacobson, Rachelle

Johnson, Gary

Johnson, Stefan

Kitzes, Adam

Koeser, Brandon Kupchella, Charles

LaVenture, Andrew

Lawrence, David

LeBel, Paul

Little, Michael

Lothspeich, Jason

Mamaghani, Iraj

Martindale, Nathan

Moen, Jan

Munski, Douglas

Murphy, Eric

Myers, Bradley

Nowacki, Michael

Olsen, Glenn

Perkins, Dexter

Picklo, Matthew

Poochigian, Donald

Rendahl, Stephen

Robertson, Charles

Schnellert, Gary

Seddoh, Samuel

Smart, Kathy

Smith, Bruce

Streibel, Kent

Venhuizen, Brett

Williams, Jim

Wilson, H. David

Wittgraf, Michael

Yurkovich, Eleanor

 

4.

The following announcements were made:

 

a. Mr. Petros announced that the Smoke Free UND campus will go into effect October 5, 2007. Will Gosnold is the Senate representative to establish the policy. Questions can be directed to co-chairs Jane Croeker, Laurie Betting, and Nate Martindale.

 

  1. Mr. Stofferahn reported that he was just notified that Senator Svedjan has proposed cutting $16M from UND’s budget and proportional amounts from other institutions. He encouraged the senators to contact Mr. Svedjan to voice opposition to the cut for UND. Mr. Stofferahn will let Senators know when he has more information. He also reported that the letter which was sent to the legislature regarding the salary and health benefits contained 99 total signatures. UND was the only institution that was able to organize in this way and have its voice heard.

 

  1. Jay Fisher, UND’s new Student Body President, announced the Big Event on April 14. Applications to participate were due on April 5, but would be accepted until the end of the week. The various groups go into the community for projects and to promote good relations.

 

  1. Tom Steen and Anne Kelsch presented the report from the General Education Task Force. Mr. Steen first presented background on the 28-member Task Force. The Task Force has worked two years reviewing how well general education is working and how it might be improved. This study was precipitated by three issues: 1) faculty being unaware or lacking knowledge on what it means to contribute to a student’s general education; 2) students indicating that general education is something to get through rather than to grow from; and 3) the North Central Association visit where they approved UND but thought there was a need to better assess student learning in general education.

 

Anne Kelsch described the process by which the Task Force approached their work: readings and study; review of best practices; bringing experts to campus; research at UND on general education and general education courses; and discussion and debate on a new direction of general education at UND. They encouraged the Senators to read the document before the May meeting and contact Task Force members with questions, or if they wished a department visit. They indicted that they believe the proposed document is balanced and asked for thoughtful consideration.

 

  1. Matt Cavalli announced that the General Education Requirement Committee decided to modify the General Education portion of the catalog. The approved courses will now be housed on the General Education website rather than being listed in the academic catalog. The catalog will have general information and will reference the url for the general education courses. Mr. Cavalli showed a prototype of what the site will look like.

 

5.

 

The question period was opened at 4:35 p.m.

 

Mr. Petros asked Mr. Weisenstein to give an update on the legislative process. Mr. Weisenstein commented that the Grand Forks Herald reports quite accurately. The Senate passed the 5/5 salary increases but the House passed the 4/4. He described the process where this difference is worked out in conference committee. He also described two hurdles: the Agriculture Research at NDSU being a separate state agency and, therefore, approved for 4/4 salary increase; and the Governor’s proposed budget regarding benefits. The Agriculture research issue has been worked out but the Governor’s proposed budget on benefits has not. He indicated that the tuition cap should remain. He also commented that Senator Holmberg has worked hard for education. 

 

The question period closed at 4:43 p.m.

 

7.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:43 p.m. due to a lack of quorum.

 

 

Suzanne Anderson

Secretary to the Senate