UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - EAU CLAIRE

UNIVERSITY SENATE MEETING

VOL. 44, NO. 7

 

February 12, 2008

 

 

Members Present:

 

Rose Battalio, Ned Beach, Judy Blackstone, Janice Bogstad, Jacqueline Bonneville, January Boten, Michael Carney, Barbara Davis, Patrick Day, Gary Don, Jeff Erger, Martha Fay, Leslie Foster, Mitchell Freymiller, Andrea Gapko, Susan Harrison, Robert Hollon, Robert Hooper, Rosemary Jadack, Jeff Janot, Debra Jansen, Lia Johnson, Harry Jol, Fred Kolb, Heather Kretz, Kate Lang, Bruce Lo, Barbara Lozar, Brian Mahoney, Carmen Manning, Karl Markgraf, Sean McAleer, Sue Moore, Mike Morrison, Jill Pastrana, Jill Prushiek, Donna Raleigh, Rick Richmond, Scott Robertson, Sherrie Serros, Earl Shoemaker, Nick Smiar, Linda Spaeth, Charles Tomkovick, Sharon Westphal, Scott Whitfield, Marty Wood, Deborah Wright

 

Members Absent:

 

Robin Baker, Jennifer Brockpahler, Margaret Devine, Ann Hoffman,  Larry Honl, Dale Johnson, Amanda Krier, Lisa La Salle, Brian Levin-Stankevich, David Lonzarich, Tarique Niazi, Geoffrey Peterson, Mehdi Sheikholeslami, Jeanne Skoug, Laurie St. Aubin-Whelihan, Steve Tallant,  Troy Terhark, Charles Vue, Rebecca Wurzer

 

Guests:

 

Kris Anderson, Mary Jane Brukardt, Margaret Cassidy, Donald Christian, Hana Dehtiar, Bernard Duyfhuizen, Chip Eckardt, Alyssa Halfman, Mackenzie Kojis, Katie Krause, Jennifer Morvak, Emily Mueller, Damian O’Brien, Jessica Perez, Andrew Phillips, Le Anna Rasar, Lindsay Rossmiller, Katie Rydlund, Brittney Schedler, Andrew Soll, Alan Voss

 

 

The regular meeting of University Senate was called to order by Chair Wood at 3:04 p.m. on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 in the Tamarack Room of Davies Center.

 

1. Minutes of December 11, 2007 University Senate meeting approved as distributed

                                                                   

2. Chancellor’s Remarks – Chancellor Levin-Stankevich

• None

 

3. Unfinished Business

• None

 

4. New Business

A.    First Reading – Motion from Academic Staff Personnel Committee

Report from Academic Staff Personnel Committee on reorganization of the Academic Staff Personnel Committee – Senator Freymiller

• With retirement of Jan Morse and the reorganization of the duties of that position, the Academic Staff Personnel Committee’s make-up is shifting
• Important to have a good balance of types of Academic Staff, from Senate, from outside of the senate, Instructional Academic Staff and Professional/Administrative Academic Staff, so that all viewpoints are represented
• The revision would reflect a balance of academic staff from all categories

 

Motion 43-AS-01

The University Senate Academic Staff Personnel Committee, by a vote of 6-0 (for, against) recommends that the University Senate accept the following adaptations to the makeup of the Academic Staff Personnel Committee:

The Academic Staff Personnel Committee

 

a. Membership: The committee includes nine members: four academic staff senators, one of whom is the Academic Staff Representative and one of whom must be instructional academic staff, elected by the academic staff members of the University Senate; four academic staff, one of whom must be instructional academic staff, elected by the academic staff at large; and one administrator selected by the Chancellor the Academic Staff Representative to the UW System Academic Staff Council.  During a year when an academic staff member of the Senate has been elected to serve as Academic Staff Representative-elect, that person becomes an ex officio (and voting) member of the committee, increasing the number of members on the committee to ten. Three seats must be held by instructional academic staff members and five six seats must be held by administrative or professional academic staff members. One administrator selected by the Chancellor serves the committee as an ex officio, non-voting member.  Members shall serve three-year terms. (US 11/04; rev. new date)

 

b. Functions: The Academic Staff Personnel Committee shall consider and recommend policies affecting the academic staff in regard to status, salary, indefinite appointment, promotion, and working conditions. It shall also consider and recommend the practices and procedures for implementing those policies and serve as the primary agent for recommending revisions and amendments of the UW-Eau Claire Academic Staff Personnel Rules. (US 11/04)

 

Debate

• As stated in the constitution, implementation date would be on ratification
• Committee duties
  • Items that would get discussed and acted upon by this committee would be things such as personnel and government rights for administrative and professional academic staff, instructional academic staff and research academic staff  in regards to contracts and appointments
  • Academic Staff Personnel Committee functions for personnel issues that are in the handbook
  •  Benefits or detriments
  •  a classified staff member that is on the committee currently does not have voting rights among academic staff
  • The administrator who serves on the committee is a resource person for the committee

 

 

B.    First Reading – Motion from Academic Policies Committee

New Emphasis in the Department of Marketing and Management: Marketing Analytics – Senator Hollon

• Enhance marketability of our students and expansion of existing course combinations
• Involve revision of a couple courses

 

Motion 44-AP-03

The University Senate Academic Policies Committee by a vote of 9 votes for and 0 votes against, recommends to the University Senate that the Marketing Analytics Emphasis in the Department of Marketing and Management be approved.

 

Debate

• Explanation of why it states in the cons of the recommendation that general marketing majors could complete the same courses but not earn the emphasis
  • unless a student declares it or  identifies themselves it would not be on their transcripts
• Is there a reason why they would take the courses and not have the emphasis
  • Can’t see anyone who would earn the right and not get credit for it
  • It will take a while for communications to come out as there is a demand for people to have analytics
  • This emphasis was created to help our students and our curriculum
  • Most would get credit for the emphasis as we don’t see why someone would take courses and not take credit for it

 

MOTION by Senator Tomkovick that we suspend the rules to vote on this today seconded and PASSED without dissent.

 

 

Continued Debate on Motion

• if general marketing majors complete the same courses as this emphasis why do they need to declare this emphasis
  • it is a  level of distinction one could earn in a credentalized way
  • will advise everyone to the best of our ability  
  • could take course without emphasis

 

Vote on Motion 44-AP-03: Motion PASSED by University Faculty senators. 

 

C.    First Reading – Motion from Academic Policies Committee

Eliminate the Bachelor of Music Therapy Degree And Comprehensive major in Music Therapy – Senator Hollon

• Came to Academic Policies Committee this fall
• It was discussed at several meetings as there were questions about the process of how this motion might be addressed
• Introduced several times and removed from the agenda at the end of October so there would be more time for input
• Reintroduced at the beginning of the semester and input was gathered from anyone interested in providing information
• There is now an excess of 300 pages of different kinds of documents and issues discussed
• Professor Le Anna Rasar
  • Would like to call to your attention to points from the Strategic Plan and the goals that were outlined
    • We mean what is in the Strategic Plan and we showcase that
• In Music Therapy our students in the program see over 1000 people in the community  on weekly basis for over 12 years
  • people are seen in their homes, hospitals, nursing homes, special education settings, clinical settings and the clinic on campus
• First internship in Australia (International Education) one year ago and they offered the student 2 jobs at that hospital and also asked that UWEC send a student every year
• Going to Cambodia in November with the intent to lay groundwork for internships
• Hospital in Jordan that is willing give our students training when they will be going to 3^rd world countries
• The website has many international hits on it
• Scholarships consist of 3 Blugold fellows, 1 diversity mentor and numerous people who won  leadership awards at the University level as well as at the College level
•  Rationale given for why the program should be cut
  • The National Accrediting Agency for the Music Department said that the program had to move out of the Department of Public Health Professions and move back into the College of Arts and Sciences otherwise music would be the add a faculty or cut once we moved there
    • The  National Association for  the Schools of Music stated they would never say that you would have to move a program or that a program has to have a faculty member cut
• Second Rationale given was the Strategic Plan
  • Look at the goals that this University has outlined and use those criteria to evaluate the program
• Third rationale given was that we don’t find jobs for our students
  • As part of APC’s materials Professor Rasar included a list of students that have jobs and where they got jobs
  • Number of students graduating has increased from 5 to 11
• Interim Associate Vice Chancellor Phillips
  • University cannot be all things to all people
  • Priorities have to be set
  • Choices have to be made
  • There are good quality community connections
  • This program is a unique program in the State of Wisconsin
  • The only coeducational public university program of this type but choices have to be made
  • Members of the Department of Music and Theatre Arts made the choice not to reallocate any of their existing resources
  • Department Chairs in the Department of Arts and Sciences made the same choice to not support the allocation of any positions or resources from within that College for this program
  • The Deans and the Deans council and the Provost staff confirmed the same choice to not reallocate resources at the University level to support this program
  • The issue is about viability of the program and the University cannot sustain the program with one faculty person
  • On one hand you have a quality program that is special but on the other hand we don’t have the resources to reallocate to this program
  • Much of what Le Anna described to you is true but it is not a viable program with one faculty person
  • The Academic Policies Committee made the choice to eliminate the program as choices have to be made

 

Motion 44-AP-04

The University Senate Academic Policies Committee by a vote of 5 votes for and 2 votes against, recommends to the University Senate that the Bachelor of Music Therapy and comprehensive major in music therapy be eliminated

 

Debate

• It states in the motion that the music therapy program was moved from the College of Nursing to the Department of Music in the College of Arts and Sciences in July 2006 but it should read July 2007
• Heard many reasons why this program is doing many good things but the counter argument was the viability of this program with one person. But the program seems to be viable and is doing well with one person and haven’t  heard any argument that it is not viable
• Concern about one faculty member associated with the program as Actuarial Sciences is supported by one person and is curious if this would become a precedent
  • Actuarial Sciences is an emphasis within a mathematics major for Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree where here we are talking about an entire degree lead by one faculty member
  • Discussing approaches to address that issue within mathematics
  • Same concern about vulnerability of a program lead by one faculty person
• Is it required that Senate has to vote before dropping a program
  • An academic program cannot be created or dropped without our approval
  • Although it can be unfunded
  • Faculty have control over the official curriculum
• There is not another university in the state that offers this program
• How many majors
  • Were up to 53 and were told to cap enrollment so got it down to 40 but not all were allowed to register so we now have 35
• Curious what new applicants or freshman are being told
  • Professor Rasar states that they are discouraged from majoring in music therapy when they call in to schedule an audition they are  told that they will be put on a waiting list if they are interested in music therapy
  • Executive Director of Enrollment Services/Admissions Kristina Anderson states that they are admitting students with this declared major
    • Currently there are a dozen freshman admitted
• If the program was eliminated  where would the additional resources be allocated
  • It would be phased out over 4 years so the students that are currently in the program would be given the opportunity to complete their degrees. Professor Rasar’s  tenure home is in Music and Theater Arts so presumably she would continue in a different teaching role in that department
• Would additional courses in music be opened up for other students
  • Not anywhere near that level of discussion but Professor Rasar does have that capability of teaching a wide array of courses and presumably would find alternative roles in the department teaching
• The strategic plan focuses on  what makes UW Eau-Claire unique and it seems that this program is unique as this program isn’t offered anywhere else in the system
  • We ought to consider the uniqueness of this program and consider this as a mark of excellence rather than eliminate the program
• What kind of consideration has been given to increasing the number of faculty
  • That was the focus in a discussion in the Department of Music and Theatre Arts but the college didn’t want to reallocate from within their department
  • The Chairs council in Arts and Sciences the same question was asked and they responded the same way  among the many places that you could put resources that was not among the top priorities
  • If you put resources in one  place then you have to take them from somewhere else and where is that somewhere else
• Of all the other possible resources why not take from another program or position within the University where 1 position can be removed or not filled to fund this program as the Strategic Plan is calling for what is valuable to UW Eau-Claire
  • Provost recommendation to eliminate the music therapy came from a recommendation from Dean Christian. The Provost had requested that Dean Christian evaluate music therapy as an Arts and Sciences program once it was determined that the program would be moving into the College of Arts and Sciences building
  • The music faculty know that Dean Christian held up a vacant position in their department for the better part of a semester without approving it for release so it would be available for us to consider reallocating to Music Therapy
  • At the same time Dean Christian did a careful analysis of a course demand data
  • There is not a department in the college that has not lost at least one person and at least one department is about 4 or 5 faculty below what it should be to meet course demands
  • Every year for the last 2 years we have relied on over $400 thousand dollars in additional funding beyond the budget to support the course availability demands in the college
  • Could identify multiple programs that could use a new position more than music therapy to meet the mission of the College of Arts and Sciences and how we contribute to the university
• It is required that you be board certified to practice in a school and certification requires that  you have the college credits
• Accreditation would not be withdrawn if program continued with only one person
  • There is certification of Music Therapy curriculum and there is accreditation of our music programs by the National Association of Schools of Music and those are different processes
  • The National  Association of Schools of Music trumps Music Therapy certification
• The timing is bothersome as the draft clearly says that the goals to our plan and the commitment to align financial resources is our priority goal
  • There is no doubt that all administrators have looked at the current budgetary situation  but our priority goals have not yet been set as the Strategic Plan is currently being worked on
  • Once that occurs then we will know the criteria for our goals
  • If the program matches our goals then it becomes a priority
  • It is stated that with our current resources we have trouble with this program and that is why the elimination of this program has come forward but why are we willing to cut to go the other way to meet our goal  
  • the timing to bring forward to vote on it now is not right
• If allocated from the department the only place would be to take the keyboard position that is being held back and it didn’t seem possible to allocate this position as the department had already lost a position from the keyboard area
  • If funding became available then the department would fund the position in Music Therapy
• It is too early as there is no comparative evaluation so we are better to wait until we know our goals
• UW-Parkside interested in developing this program if we eliminate ours
• If allocation, meaning extra resources going to this program, then if this program is working with current budget resources then the only argument against it, other than a comparative one about laying it out against other programs  that could be on the chopping block, which has not been talked about, is the fragility of one faculty member
  • If the program is high quality and one faculty member is running that program and it appears that it is going along the lines of the strategic plan in process then the urgency is not seen in passing the motion today
• Not convinced that institution has eliminated all possibilities to fund this position
• We can endow a chair , why not a program or this department
  • Told that the program might be kept but unfunded
  • Would like the opportunity to seek funding as currently money cannot be received/donated
• This program makes our institution stand out
• Not prepared to vote on this as there are too many issues that have come up
• People have access to view all reports and documents and Academic Policies Committee members can provide access to the documents
• We should chose to value curriculum and allow parties to find funding
• What is consequence/ramifications of the vote for the students in the program
  • Generally there would be a teach out plan over 4 years
  • All students and potential students given that plan and they can decide
• A vote against means that there is no recommendation to the Chancellor
  • There may be other steps taken
  • If it is not passed it ends here
• Provost’s Office to give brief summary on where we would stand dependant on the vote

 

5. University Senate Chair’s/Faculty Representative’s Report – Chair Wood

• Will send out notes from the last 2 Faculty Representatives meetings and from the most recent Board of Regents meeting
• Please pay particular attention to the update on the Voluntary System of Accountability, the Growth Agenda -Wisconsin Advantage item and the new Board of Regents Academic Program Approval Process, which includes the requirement that all requests be accompanied by an institutional academic plan

 

6. Academic Staff Representative’s Report – Senator Brockpahler

• None

 

7. Reportable Items from Committees

• None
•  

8. Special Reports

Report on Higher Learning Commission Self-Study – Interim Associate Vice Chancellor Phillips

• Immediately following November 27, 2007 meeting, we held a feedback session with you that  reviewed an early draft of the Responses to the 1999 Challenges section of our report
• Thank you all for staying and providing feedback as we found it to be very helpful
• Revised draft will be available soon
• Should you decide to review that section again you may discover that your specific input may not appear where you expected it
• The reason for this is some will be addressed in the major sections of the report that deal with the 5 criteria
• We want to keep the Responses to the 1999 Challenges sections as brief as possible
  • Focused on just the specific issues that the 1999 Higher Learning Commission cited
• If suggestion could be worked into later sections of the report we opted for that approach
• In some cases the feedback was conflicting
  • Interesting challenge as since we want to reflect a variety of viewpoints, even when they differ substantially
  • We are doing our best to incorporate these viewpoints, always substantiated by data
  • Will include in the report that not all people agree on all points
• This section of the report is likely to change yet again before the visit
• That is a sign that significant action continues to occur to address the challenges
  • In the general area of assessing student learning - from assessment of learning in individual academic programs, to assessment of GE, to assessment of the Baccalaureate Goals, to assessment of co-curricular learning
    • These areas we must continue to address
    • This is our most significant challenge
    • Anything you can do to marshal campus support for these efforts will be in the best interest of the University
    • We’ll come back to these issues in the late fall and conduct another round of revisions to update the status of our progress on this challenge and the other 6 as well
    • The draft is really just a draft until it is presented to the visiting team
• Each of the study groups is nearing completion of their draft section of the report
• Expect to begin working on those sections in the next few weeks
• Each of those sections will use the evidence gathered to support a future focused approach for moving forward and why we think we have the foundation and track record to do so
• Any challenges we discover in addressing those 5 criteria will provide us with goals to accomplish in the next few years
• We are prepared to focus our energies on the future and remain consistent with our mission
• Again, thank you for supporting this important process and for your participation
• Please feel free to offer your feedback and advise on this process

 

Draft Strategic Plan

• Goal over the next 6 weeks is to discuss with the campus what is thought of the draft
• Remind colleagues that February 25, 26 and 27 there will be an open forum to give comments and can also comment anonymously online
• Would like to know what you think about the plan, what you like about the plan, what its strengths are, what you are prepared to support or what you think the university needs to support what might as well as what might improve the plan
• Soon you will be able to download a report, a summary and a video on the Strategic Plan
• The vision statement seems to be missing the words Liberal Arts and am curious to know why the choice was made to leave it out as UWEC is supposed to be a Liberal Arts school
• It wasn’t  a deliberate decision
• The sentence has been edited several times and may argue to put it in
• Would not see why it shouldn’t be in here
• Consumers looking at this school would question the commitment of the school if this statement is not in the vision statement
• This is not a Liberal Arts institution but rather a Liberal Arts base
• If it were labeled as a Liberal Arts school then it would undermine the other colleges
• Editing should capture the full scope
• There should be an understanding that Liberal Arts doesn’t mean Arts and Sciences
• We cannot be all things to all people
• Page 7 speaks of encouraging faculty and staff to engage in intercultural and international scholarship
• Should pursue ways to have special funds to travel o international conferences
• Is there an intention on what kind of graduate or professional programs are spoke of in the vision statement
  • Graduate programs at UW Eau-Claire have the advantage of generating revenue that exceed the expenses of the operating costs
  • Where we have a need to offer service to our regional constituents and those individuals are in a position where they can help us generate revenues through offering graduate programs that is going to help the entire university
  •  There was no intention on the part of the University Planning Committee to start graduate programs that would take away from the undergraduate programs
    • The intent was to develop more self-supporting programs for non-traditional students, graduate students and take the revenue that is generated from those programs to use to do some of the creative things in the Strategic Plan
    • There would be some incremental changes in the relative number of graduate and undergraduate in our total enrollment that could yield a fairly sizeable resource reward
      • To make room for a small number of additional graduate students we might select fewer undergraduate students
      • Rather than interpreting that any change in the total number of graduate students will dilute undergraduate strength as we might be able to do better than what we have been doing
• This document is welcome and does good showing our overall goals of the university
• Undergraduate learning  community for global leaders puts things at the national/international level where graduate programs seem to be targeted at the regional level
  • so long as that emphasis is held, serving non-traditional students to serve the region is a limited graduate goal that would be supported by our focus on undergraduate education
• If we are focused, we can do it well
• It is not detailed because it is not our business to get that detailed
• The vision is a possible future
• When we agree as a university we proclaim where we are, this is where we are going, this is what we value and this is our ethic
• Area by area the plan is built from the inside out
• Look at the very first page of the strategic plan and ask yourself if you agree that the right learning goals are identified and are you prepared to promote them
• If you are in favor, then we can work out the details
• This is the time to have your input
• Do you believe what is being said and are you prepared to go in that direction
• We will need to make tough decisions
• Clarification on intentional learning
  • Why the content is important and what is highlighted
  • They what and why of learning
  • Taking the goals of the baccalaureate and have it work for the student
  • How it effects the students experience so change becomes international for them
  • The students entire experience at UWEC in intentionally thought about in ways that are meaningful and enrich their lives
• Can another word be used in place of “Nonacademic”
  • Open to suggestions to other alternate words
• There are many statements saying for the students as opposed to stating what students will do
  • Didn’t seem like it was saying what students will do often enough
• Using the wording global leaders sounds imperialistic
  • Change to globally aware, globally engaged or global citizens
• This document is general enough where most departments that are in danger of being eliminated can find something to support themselves
• Goals are not meant to be sequential
• Like the first goal because they make it a goal, not a requirement
• Surprised to see under the Foundational Goal: Transform the University; Streamline the Faculty and Academic Staff Handbook but think it should be represented in a different order

 

9. Miscellaneous Business

• None

 

10. Announcements

• Encourage colleagues to read the Strategic Plan and attend the upcoming session(s)

 

Without objection, meeting adjourned at 4:43 p.m.

 

Submitted by,

 

Tanya Kenney

Secretary to the University Senate