MARIETTA COLLEGE FACULTY MEETING
January 28, 2002
MINUTES (Approved 1/11/02)

The regular meeting for January of the Marietta College faculty for the 2001-2002 academic year convened at 5:00 p.m. January 28, 2002, in the Selby Science Center, room 101. Dr. Sidney Potash, Chair of the Faculty, presided.

1. Announcements
   
   
   1. Faculty Manual. Dr. Potash thanked Dr. Michel for his work in adding the Faculty Manual to the Faculty Council website.
   
   
   
   2. Evaluation. Dr. Potash reminded the faculty of the opportunity to participate in the evaluation process of the President and Provost and asked faculty to complete and return the forms distributed earlier in the month.


2. Minutes
   

   The minutes of the meeting of December 3, 2001 were approved as submitted.



3. President's Report
   
   
   1. Spring Enrollment. Dr. Scott reported that the actual FTE for the Spring semester was 1020, the figure included in the budget.
   
   
   
   2. Task Force. Dr. Scott invited interested faculty to participate in a task force being created to consider a range of issues including multi-culturism, diversity, and minority recruiting.



4. Provost's Report
   
   
   1. Dr. Laura Little. Dr. DeWine introduced Dr. Little, who had joined the staff as an instructional technologist. Dr. Little's appointment had been made possible by the Title III Department of Education grant.
   
   
   
   2. Dr. Gloria Stewart. Dr. DeWine had intended also to introduce Dr. Stewart, Director of the Physicians Assistant Program, but Dr. Stewart had been delayed by her involvement with the team considering provisional accreditation for the P.A. Program. (Dr. Stewart was introduced at the conclusion of the meeting.)
   
   
   
   3. Evaluation. Dr. DeWine distributed a revised evaluation form which reflected her desire to move from a summative to a more formative approach. She invited feedback from the faculty and announced that on Friday, February 22, she was convening a meeting at noon to discuss the issue of evaluation. Dr. DeWine considered the February meeting to be especially important for new faculty. A copy of the revised set of forms is attached as Exhibit A (green).
   
   
   
   4. Founders' Day. Dr. DeWine announced that the speaker on Founders' Day would be Dr. Everett M. Rogers of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. His topic would be "Globalization."
   
   
   
   5. Freshman. Dr. DeWine reported that a greater number than usual of freshmen were on academic probation and that this might require instructors to pay especial care to pedagogy when teaching classes with freshmen.
   
   
   
   6. Summer Conferences Services. Dr. DeWine distributed a new brochure advertising the College facilities available for summer conferences. A copy of the brochure is attached to these minutes as Exhibit B (ivory).



5. Curriculum Committee: First Year Program

   A motion calling for the establishment of a College Life and Leadership Lab as part of the First Year Program was proposed by Dr. Itzkowitz and seconded:

   That the faculty approve the implementation in the Fall of 2002 of a College Life and Leadership Lab as described in the attachment to this notice.

   A copy of the material distributed prior to the meeting is attached as Exhibit C (yellow).

   An amendment was immediately proposed by Dr. Spilatro and seconded:

   That the "Logistical assumptions" section of the material distributed be amended
   1. to have bullet point #4 read "Students earn one credit, graded pass/fail (P/F)", and
   2. to delete bullet point #5.

   The rationale and explanation for the amendment was contained in a note prepared by the First Year Task Force. The note was distributed and a copy is attached as Exhibit D (pink).

   The question on the amendment was called but failed to be sustained on a vote being taken.

   Discussion ensued and the following issues were raised (and responses made). Does "P" mean a letter grade? (No.) Is "P/F" a new grade? (Yes, and it is intended only for the College Life and Leadership Lab.) Currently, a student repeating a course must repeat the course under the regular grading system, i.e. letter grade. (It will not be possible for a student to repeat the course.) Does "P" mean D- or better? (Yes.)

   On being put to a vote, the amendment passed: Yes 46, No 8.

   Dr. Stephen Schwartz spoke to the amended motion. He elaborated on a handout attached as Exhibit E (blue) to these minutes.

   Discussion followed and both Dr. Schwartz and Ms. Arbuckle responded. Issues raised included: How are the stipends to be financed? (The Provost has the funds, Arbuckle.) Can the goals contained in the handout be achieved? (Not all of them. There is a need to select. Also, an expert in assessment work on the first year will be brought to campus to help shape the lab, Schwartz.) Where does the primary responsibility for the course rest? (With Student Life. The qualifications of each administrator teaching the course will be considered and there would be training, Schwartz. Petroleum freshmen are already obliged to take 18 credit hours; the lab would make it 19. Will they have the pay for the extra credit hour? (The Provost will waive the charge for the extra hour, Arbuckle.) What about students in other majors requiring a high number of courses in the freshmen year and who might be prevented from enrolling in co-curricular activities such as music? (Dr. DeWine indicated willingness to look at other majors if the same situation applied to them.) Is the lab quite independent of the First Year Seminar? (Yes, Arbuckle.) How will be labs be scheduled? (At different times of the day, Arbuckle.) It was suggested that a weekly meeting was not optimal and that more frequent meetings for part of the semester plus starting the process during orientation would be more effective.

   On being put to a vote by ballot, the amended motion passed: Yes 45, No 11, with 4 abstentions. Tellers were Drs. Golden and Perruci.



6. Adjournment.

   The meeting adjourned at 6:05 p.m.