Minutes waiting to be approved by Faculty Senate

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Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

Harrison 123

January 22, 2025

3:15pm-4:30pm

I.            Call to Order 

a.      Meeting was called to order at 3:17pm.

II.            Approval of FS Minutes from December 4, 2024

a.      Chris Posbergh moves to approve. Jim Meyer seconds. None opposed. No abstentions. Approved. 

III.            FYI Items 

a.      Restart senate office hours in Spring

i.      Wednesdays 3:30 – 4:30 on senate “off weeks” will be online (WebEx)

b.      D2L to Canvas transition countdown: June 1, 2025

i.      Download all necessary student data before June1. https://ato.montana.edu/canvas/migrate/student-data/

c.       Call for applications: Center for Faculty Excellence director

i.      0.5 FTE appointment, one-year renewable term

ii.      Apply by March 3, 2025, for full consideration

iii.      Submit info to Julie Heard:  [email protected]

d.      Need examples for MSU’s Carnegie Community Engagement Classification from this academic year by Friday Jan 24

i.      academic-community partnerships (i.e., institutional, centers, departmental, and faculty/staff)

ii.      connected to the academic core of the campus

iii.      includes teaching, learning, and research, and illustrate both the breadth and depth of community engagement

iv.      the partner will be sent a questionnaire/survey from the Carnegie organization and must be willing to complete the questionnaire

e.      Volunteers needed: Working Group on Undergraduate Degree Requirements

i.      Advisory group for BOR policy 301.11: https://mus.edu/borpol/bor300/301-11.pdf

ii.      Collaborate with Tracy Dougher (on MUS working group currently revising this policy)

f.        Lambert Technology Rollout by Space Management

i.      Third party software, anonymizes device Wi-Fi connection data, used to track space use

ii.      How information will impact faculty is TBD

iii.      Roll out currently in SUB/Chem and Biochem Building. Barnard likely next.

iv.      Depending on number of Wi-Fi boxes, can get information down to a group of offices or a single office/classroom.

v.      Questions:

1.      What if students are not intentionally connecting to Wi-Fi?

a.      Do not need to be using the device, just connected to the Wi-Fi. 

2.      Ada Giusti moves to suspend the agenda and ask President Cruzado to speak. Marg Hammersla seconds. Agenda is suspended.

3.      Are students aware of this? If they don’t understand the implications of it, it may be premature to roll it out.

4.      What about labs? 

5.      Would like to know more about how the data will be used. 

IV.            President Cruzado

a.      Thank you for everything you do for Montana State University.

b.      Please join the search forums for the upcoming search for the new president. 

i.      Candidates could be on campus around spring break time.

c.       Tracy Dougher will be going to NWCCU to present our final report for our accreditation. Great report!

d.      Thank you to Rob Maher for his contributions to MSU. 

e.      Thank you to Doug Downs for stepping in for Rob.

f.        Lived through a cyberattack not long ago.

i.      Promised I would do whatever was in my power to make sure that didn’t happen again. 

ii.      If you want to continue to have access to your montana.edu email, you need to sign a form. Form will be available soon.

g.      Thank you. It’s been an honor to serve you. I hope you stay in touch. 

h.      GO CATS!

V.            Ice Breaker and Discussion

a.      Ice breaker

i.      What would you like to see on the agenda this semester?

1.      Faculty policies

2.      What to expect from changing political landscape.

a.      What can we teach under new political changes?

b.      Will we be getting updates from lobbyists on how things are going in Helena? 

i.      We could ask Tracy Ellig back.

ii.      OCHE has a lobbyist who is there every day. 

iii.      Friday’s, a weekly update is on their website. 

1.      Thought we used to get a faculty email with updates. 

3.      Would like to know more about how the faculty governance works. When do we get an FYI? When do we get a vote?

4.      Impact due to high turnover and understaffed units.

5.      Really high enrollment in certain programs. Difficulty delivering curriculum to such huge class sizes. 

6.      Health insurance

7.      Retirement

ii.      What is something laugh out loud funny that happened during the break?

b.      Discussion: New policy surrounding maintenance of Emeritus email accounts

i.      Discussion

1.      Would like UIT to come to senate and explain this.

a.      This is a “gut-punch” to these faculty who have dedicated decades to the university. Some are at the pinnacle of their careers. They are still writing grants that benefit the university. I hope that it is reconsidered. 

2.      How is the new form different that the original?

a.      New form on HR website: About as simple as it could be. Requires name, address, etc., and questions relevant to being emeritus. HR will work with UIT to be sure you have access for the year. 

i.      Does it have signatures required?

1.      Only the requestor signs. Does not need to go through dept. and college. 

3.      What changed that prompted this?

a.      UIT are cleaning up unused accounts and off-boarding process. 

4.      Think this could be made easier. Just clicking a box that says yes, or no, I’m still using this email. 

5.      Where did the background check come in? How is that linked to cybersecurity? It is insulting. 

a.      Background check was never part of the process to getting an email account. It was from a “one size fits all” form that was used for many different things. Like working at the MOR with children, for example. This new form is meant to avoid the frustration. 

i.      More explanation to these people would go a long way. They are hurt and angry. 

VI.            Information Updates 

a.      Committee updates

i.      Graduate Council 

ii.      University Council

VII.            Old Business

a.      Graduate school policies – Second Reading

i.      1 Credit Extension Policy

1.      Marg Hammersla moves to delay the vote until next meeting. Ada Giusti seconds. None opposed. No abstentions. Vote is delayed until next meeting. 

ii.      Doctoral Chair Deadline

iii.      Appeal Policy

1.      Take Doctoral Chair Deadline and Appeal policies back to committee

2.      Marg Hammersla moves to approve. Doug Down seconds. None opposed. No abstentions. Approved. 

VIII.            Undergraduate Courses and Programs 

a.      Courses – Second Reading

i.      AGED 101: Agricultural and Technology Education Community Exploration

ii.      AVFT 160: Enhancing Human Performance in Aviation

iii.      BIOM 404: Medical Virology

iv.      COA 330: Coaching Theory

v.      CSCI 252: Introduction to Data Science

vi.      GPHY 471: Data Science for Climate and Sustainability Analysis

vii.      MUSI 108IA: Orchestra: MSU String Orchestra

viii.      NUTR 440: Nutrition Education and Counseling

b.      Course Changes – First Reading

i.      WRIT 472 : Science Writing and Journalism 

1.      Number change from 372 to 472

2.      Title change from Science Writing for Popular Non-Fiction

3.      Changes to prereqs

ii.      WRIT 474 : Magazine Editing and Production

1.      Number change from 374 to 474

2.      Title change from Magazine Editing

3.      Going from 1 lecture, 2 lab to 3 lecture

iii.      WRIT 476 : Public Rhetorics and Writing

1.      Number change from 376 to 476

2.      Changes to prereqs

c.       Course Changes – Second Reading

i.      The GDSN faculty are adjusting the junior block, 300-level courses from 5 credits to 4 credits. This will require students to take 4, 4 credit courses in their junior year, rather than 3, 5 credit courses, allowing for more diversity in topics and themes explored during their education. This will lead to a variety of professional options when entering the design field. This new 4-credit format will fit more effectively into the summer 4x4 sessions—helping with consistency in course meeting times.

1.      GDSN 367: Identity Systems

2.      GDSN 368: Art Direction

3.      GDSN 369: Publication Design

4.      GDSN 371: Motion Graphics

5.      GDSN 372: Interaction Design

6.      GDSN 373: Illustration

7.      GDSN 374: Digital Visualization

8.      GDSN 375: Letterpress

9.      GDSN 376: Screenprinting

10.  GDSN 377: Design for Society

11.  GDSN 378: Guerrilla Advertising

ii.      GPHY 426: Remote Sensing

1.      Credit change from 4 to 3

2.      One credit less of lecture 

d.      Course Inactivations – Second Reading

i.      CSCI 482R : Interdisciplinary Project Instruction

1.      Changing the 2 semester Computer Science Interdisciplinary Option B.S. capstone from CSCI 482 (1 credit in the fall) / CSCI 483 (3 credits in the spring) to CSCI 483 (4 credits in the spring) will reduce curricular dependencies and help students graduate more easily.

IX.            Graduate Courses and Programs 

a.      Courses – Second Reading

i.      ERTH 586 : Geology of Earthquakes

ii.      MSSE 512 : NGSS Crosscutting Concepts

iii.      NUTR 540 : Nutrition Education and Counseling

b.      Course Changes – First Reading

i.      Moving from face-to-face to online-part of online program

1.      EDU 511 : Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse K-12 Students

2.      EDU 512 : Literacy Development for Culturally & Linguistically Diverse K-12 Students

3.      EDU 513 : Assessment of English Language Learners

4.      EDU 514 : Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

ii.      LRES 564 : Fundamentals of Environmental Monitoring

1.      changing from 2 credits to 3

iii.      LRES 584 : Soil Science for Middle and High School Teachers

1.      Title change from Twelve Principles of Soil Science for Teachers

iv.      MUSE 575 : Professional Paper and Project

1.      Credit change from 1-4 to 3

v.      NUTR 520 : Nutrition, Public Health, & Systems Change

1.      Title change from Advanced Diet and Disease Systems

X.            Senators’ Open Conversation 

a.      None

XI.            Public Comment 

a.      None

XII.            Adjourn 

a.      Jim Meyer moves to adjourn. Doug Downs seconds. Meeting is adjourned at 4:32.