Marietta College Faculty Meeting

September 9, 2002

MINUTES (approved 10/14/02)

 

A meeting of the Marietta College faculty convened at 5:00 p.m. September 9, 2002, in the Selby Science Center, room 101.  Dr. Sidney Potash, Chair of the Faculty, presided.

 

1.  Announcements

a)      Dr. Potash announced that Dr. Suzanne Walker and Professor Fraser G. MacHaffie would serve as Parliamentarian and Secretary, respectively, for the 2002-03 academic year.

b)      No objection was raised to Dr.Potash’s suggestion that the usual arrangement be followed of inviting a representative of The Marcolian to attend faculty meetings.

c)      Dr. Potash reported that the Advancement Office was still interested in receiving nominations for the Young Alumnus/a Award and the Distinguished Alumnus/a Award  to be presented at Homecoming in October.

d)      Regular meetings of the faculty were scheduled for October 14 and November 11, with a special meeting on the curriculum to be held on September 30.

e)      A revised website for faculty matters including Council minutes, Development committee forms and timetables, Curriculum Committee minutes was to be found at http://marietta.edu/~mcfac

 

2.  Minutes

The minutes of the faculty meetings of April 22 and 29 were approved as submitted.

 

3.  President’s Report

a)    Dr. Scott reported on the following topics:

b)   Enrollment.  The Fall enrollment was 1030 f.t.e., about the mid-point of the “middle” budget for 2002-03.

c)    President’s Council.  The Council was being established in an attempt to improve communications among the administrative divisions.  The membership would consist of the President’s cabinet plus second-level managers.  The Chair of Faculty had been invited to be a member.  The first meeting was scheduled for October 9.

d)   Diversity.  The President was about to appoint a small working group to follow up on diversity issues from last year.

e)    The future.  The President proposed to create opportunities for open conversations on the future shape of the College which would extend beyond the time horizon of the President’s Planning Group.

In response to a question, Dr. Scott agreed that the post-9/11 environment was making it more difficult for international students to obtain U.S. visas.

 

  1. Provost’s Report

Dr. DeWine reported on the following topics:

a)         September 11.  Various events were planned to note the anniversary of the September 11 attack, including the Perspectives Series.

b)        Evaluation and Program Review.  Faculty were reminded of the timetable for evaluations and programs reviews.

c)         Radio.  Dr. DeWine commented on the excellent quality of the radio reporting of sports events, and thanked Prof. McNamara for his work.

d)        Admissions material.  Faculty were reminded of the meetings arranged with Stein Communications as part of the program for preparing new material.

e)         WebCT.  Faculty were encouraged to participate in the meetings of the WebCT group.

f)          Homecoming.  An event involving current and retired faculty was announced for the Friday of Homecoming Weekend.

 

  1. Curriculum Committee

Dr. Sibicky, Chair of the Curriculum Committee, addressed the faculty.  The latest draft of the curriculum review had been circulated previously and a copy is attached as an Exhibit to these minutes.  Among the issues raised were:

 

Why is there now one rather than two courses required in the Global/Diversity area?  Why do the diversity criteria all specify the U.S.A.?  Can the reference to “committed citizens of the U.S.” not be eliminated from the Global description?  The sentence “Global Issues or Diversity…” is not consistent with the criteria for the Diversity courses.  Why 51 hours of general education ?  Why do Global courses look only at contemporary issues?  Is the Curriculum Committee to be the final arbiter on approving courses?  Should the Quantitative Reasoning requirement not indicate that only courses beyond Mathematics 080 satisfy?  Why is the committee recommending that a course may satisfy only one general education requirement, but can also count in a major or minor?  Had consideration been given to “grandfathering” the current students into the new curriculum?  One faculty member indicated concern over the way technology was covered: is it a requirement? and technology means more than computers.  Why is there no recommendation on a language requirement?  Should Global and Diversity not be separated?  Will there be a problem in supplying courses to satisfy the Ethical Leadership requirement?  One faculty member asked that clear definitions be given of each category.  Since the capstone is being described as not part of general education but a part of each major, is a separate proposal required?

 

  1. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

 

Fraser G. MacHaffie

Secretary of the Faculty

 

EXHIBIT: 21st Century Curriculum Proposal, September 5, 2002

 

Distribution:

Dr. Jean A. Scott, President

Dr. Sue DeWine, Provost and Dean of the Faculty

Dr. Sidney Potash, Chair of the Faculty

Dawes Memorial Library Reserve Section