October 25, 2023 Minutes

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Faculty Senate Meeting

Leon Johnson 346

October 25, 2023

3:15pm-4:30pm

I.            Call to Order 

II.            Approval of FS Minutes from October 11, 2023: Julie Ruff moved for approval, Christina Anderson                                 seconded, approved.

III.            FYI Items 

a.      Faculty Senate & All Staff Council Reception in the Blackbox Theater 

b.      Next Faculty Senate meeting will also be held in the Blackbox Theater 

c.       The 2024 Research Development Day will be held on January 11, 2024: https://www.montana.edu/research/ord/research-development-day.html

d.      PI Training soon – Save the date!  Tuesday November 7th, 2023, 8:30am – 12 noon in Byker Auditorium. Please RSVP by October 30th to [email protected]

e.      Oct 30 – Nov 3 (next week!) is the Montana State University Climate Week 2023:

https://www.montana.edu/communitydevelopment/climateweek.html

See the MSU news article on this as well: https://www.montana.edu/news/23209/montana-state-students-and-faculty-organize-second-annual-climate-week

IV.            Information Updates 

a.      Athletics update from the Director of Athletics (AD) Leon Costello and Senior Associate AD Jamie Rizzuto. 

b.      Accreditation update from Dr. Tracy Dougher, Vice Provost for Curriculum, Assessment, and Accreditation   

V.            Undergraduate Courses and Programs 

a.      Courses—First Reading 

i.      PHOT 355: The Experimental Color Darkroom

b.      Course Changes — First Reading 

i.      LSCI 121: Digital Information Literacy: Library Research Skills

1.      Credit change from 3 to 1

2.      This course was previously a 1 credit course and was modified to meet current student needs. As the needs of our students and our focus on retention efforts have shifted post-pandemic, the Library curriculum committee feels this is the best choice to offer our students an option for success.

ii.      PHOT 374: The Experimental B&W Darkroom

1.      We are hard numbering a course we have offered under 494, The Experimental Color Darkroom. Sometimes these two courses get confused and one is all silver gelatin black and white, one is all color paper. We will propose to call the new 494/now 3XX class The Experimental COLOR Darkroom and this The Experimental B&W Darkroom to clearly differentiate. That is the only change. It also more closely matches the title of the textbook The Experimental Darkroom.

iii.      HSTR 146IH: The Silk Road: Religion and Globalization 

1.      Title change from History and Culture of the Silk Road.

2.      New title is more accurate to the course and not so broad.

c.       Course Inactivations – Second Reading

i.      ACT 109: Beginning Racquetball

1.      Course is no longer being taught as there are no racquetball courts on campus.

ii.      DANC 150: Social Dance

1.      Course is no longer being taught.

iii.      EDEC 271: Paraprofessional Experience in Early Childhood

1.      No longer being offered.

iv.      EDSP 307: Exceptional Learners Lab

1.      No longer being offered.

v.      FILM 100IH: Intro to Film & Photography

1.      This course is too similar to FILM 101IH Understanding Film and Media and thus we are eliminating this one and making 101IH the required course. *** Note, this course will be taught SUMMER 2023 and then inactivate Fall 2023.

vi.      HDFS 459: Reaching the Hurt Child

1.      Course has been replaced by HDFS 451 and is no longer being taught.

vii.      PHOT 304: Recent History of Photography

1.      This class is being replaced by PHOT 301 Photo: Global Histories and Perspectives. It was supposed to be deleted in the 2023-24 catalog but since it was taught for one last time Spring 2023 we couldn't do it that soon.

d.      Courses—Second Reading 

i.      GPHY 401: Environmental Planning and Management Toolkit

ii.      MCH 220: Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing Metrology

e.      Course Inactivations – Second Reading

i.      HDFS 454: Professional Issues - Senior Seminar

1.      Hasn't been offered in several years and has been replaced by HDFS 494.

VI.            Graduate Courses and Programs 

a.      Courses—First Reading 

i.      ECIV 544 : Civil Engineering Computations

ii.       GPHY 501 : Environmental Planning and Management Toolkit

b.      Courses—Second Reading 

i.      ASTR 550 : Radiative Processes in Astrophysics

ii.       ASTR 561 : Astrophysics of Galaxies

iii.       ECIV 444 : Civil Engineering Computations

iv.      ECNS 503 : Microeconomic Theory I

v.       FILM 528 : Non-Fiction Film Performance

c.       Course Changes — Second Reading 

i.      ASTR 560 : Stellar Astrophysics

1.      Rubric change from PHSX

2.      Title change from Astrophysics

3.      The Physics Department is updating the program and requirements for the PhD in Physics. This course is being slightly revised as part of the change.

ii.      ERTH 524 : K-14 Earth System Science

1.      Credit change from 2 to 3.

2.      Although the learning outcomes for this course have not changed, the time needed for students to complete more complex activities related to these learning outcomes has increased. As such, we'd like to propose a move from 2 credits to 3 credits for this course to account for the time changes.

iii.      FILM 505: Critical Approaches to Science and Natural History Filmmaking

1.      Credit change from 3 to 4

2.      Title change from Crit Apprch Nat Hst Filmmaking

3.      The course meeting time will increase to 4 hours / week with a seminar format. The credit change from 3 to 4 credits reflects this increase in meeting time and more accurately reflects the in-class and out of class workload expectations.

iv.      PHSX 501: Mathematical Methods and Their Applications in Classical Mechanics

1.      Title changed from Advanced Classical Mechanics

2.      Physics is updating program requirements for PhD in Physics.

v.      PHSX 519: Mathematical Methods and Their Applications in Electromagnetic Theory

1.      Title changed from Electromagnetic Theory I

2.      Physics is updated program requirements for PhD in Physics.

vi.      PHSX 580: Conceptual Physics for Teachers

1.      Number changed from 575 which is reserved for the professional paper and project.

d.    Course Inactivations – Second Read

i.      CSCI 520 : Distributed Systems

1.      The instructor who developed and teaches this course is no longer at MSU. Furthermore, the course has been replaced by CSCI 521

ii.      CSCI 548 : Reasoning Uncertainty

1.      This course is being replaced by a recently approved course, CSCI 546: Advanced Artificial Intelligence. 

iii.      DGED 614 : IGERT: Advanced Methods in Geobiology

1.      Course was part of an NSF grant and is not being offered.

iv.      DGED 676 : IGERT: Geobiological Systems Science - Internship

1.      Course was part of an NSF grant and is not being offered.

v.      ESOF 523 : Software Testing and Analysis

1.      Instructor who developed this course no longer at MSU. No other faculty have proper background to teach. 

e.     Program Inactivations – Second Reading

i.      MADO-CERT : Online Graduate Certificate for Dual Enrollment Mathematics Teachers

1.      Program has not generated interest or applicants.

VII.            Senators’ Open Conversation 

a.      Alison Brennan, Julia Haggerty, Sarah Stoneback, Sarah Rushing, Tim McDermott;  questions and comments re; accreditation.

b.      Roberta Amendola, Stoneback, Sara Rushing:    Re: MUS benefits  

VIII.            Public Comment 

a.      None

IX.            Adjourn