MARIETTA COLLEGE FACULTY MEETING
January 26, 2004
MINUTES (Approved 2/9/04)


A meeting of the Marietta College faculty convened at 5:00 p.m. January 26, 2004, in the Selby Science Center, room 143, Professor Edward H. Osborne, Chair of the Faculty, presided.

1. Announcements
   1. Assessment. Professor David Freeman distributed a single-form General Education Assessment form for use during and at the end of the current semester. A copy is attached as Exhibit A (ivory). This replaced the previous two-page document. Faculty were encouraged to send to him the assessment forms for the Fall 2003 semester.
   2. Re-accreditation. Dr. Dorothy Erb on behalf of the Student Learning and Effective Teaching subgroup of the Self-Study. process directed the attention of the faculty to a survey that was being distributed electronically through the department chairs’ offices.


2. Minutes
   The minutes of the meeting of November 10, 2003 were approved as submitted.


3. President’s Report.
   1. Admissions. Dr. Scott reported that the outlook continued positive with 1700 applications (1,355 at the corresponding date in 2003), 1,060 accepted students (950), and 204 deposits (89). The Spring 2004 enrollment exceeded the budgeted number. She thanked the faculty for its role in the area of retention.
   2. Travel. Dr. Scott commented on her several trips away from campus: fundraising in New York and California, visiting an alumnus in San Diego; attending the NCAA Conference in Nashville where several policy changes affecting Division III athletics were discussed and made; meeting with the College’s largest alumni/ae group in Fort Myers; attending a meeting of the Council of Independent Colleges Presidents; visiting Texas as part of the preparation for the February trustee meeting. She hoped to be in a position soon to announce an exciting challenge gift.
   3. Planning Committee. Dr. Scott reported on the ongoing work of the group. While growing beyond 1,250 students was being explored, the committee had chosen to concentrate on the issue of the quality of the students accepted. The President indicated that she expected higher quantitative data to be expected of new students. The committee was concerned about increasing diversity on the campus and also achieving a four-year graduation rate of 65%. The number of freshmen graduating within four years was currently just below 50%. The committee was working on identifying the type of educational experience that would provide a substantive enhancement of the image of the College. This required an examination of programs at the College since quality programs would attract students more likely to make achievable the goals of higher quantitative scores and improved retention. Dr. Scott recognized that quality academic programs required quality faculty and mentioned that a separate salary study was under way. Dr. Scott identified areas which had potential for being developed in addition to those mentioned at the opening Convocation in August 2003, area studies in Asia/China and Latin America, for example. She was enthusiastic about developing inter-disciplinary courses and co-curricular programs. In connection with the latter, Dr. Scott mentioned the separate study of the athletics programs. Space utilization and enhancement was also being examined. Dr. Scott saw an ncreased role for alumni/ae in developing attractive programs. The President invited faculty members and departments to send brief descriptions of programs they believed were candidates to be signature programs and to identify programs and projects that should be included in the next campaign. All the discussions were being conducted within the context of planning for the next capital campaign and Dr. Scott indicated that the plans for the campaign should be completed in the 2004-05 academic year.


4. Provost’s Report
   1. Recruitment. Dr. DeWine reported that several candidates were expected on campus in the next few weeks and encouraged faculty to attend any presentation being made.
   
   
   2. Accreditation. Dr. DeWine emphasized the importance of the earlier requests from Prof. Freeman and Dr. Erb.
   3. Tuition Exchange. Dr. DeWine made available copies of a document prepared by the College’s Director of Human Resources . A copy is attached as Exhibit B. (pink).
   4. Founders’ Day. Dr. DeWine encouraged faculty to attend and encourage their students to do likewise using any incentive that seemed appropriate. The speaker scheduled for Thursday February 12 was Dr. Donald L. Fixico.
   5. Technology Advisory Group. Dr. DeWine reported that this group was exploring an Ohio Network Learning grant possibility on learning communities and technologies.


5. Curriculum Committee
   Since the subject of the motion affected his department, Prof. Osborne recused himself as Chair and Faculty Council had agreed that the position be assumed by Dr. Mark Sibicky.
   
   The following motion was proposed by Dr. Beverly Hogue and seconded
   
   
   That the Faculty of Marietta College approve the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Management Information Systems as described in the attached document entitled “PROPOSAL FOR A B.A. DEGREE WITH A MAJOR IN MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (MIS).”
   
   Dr. Sibicky invited Dr. Sidney Potash, Chair of the Department of Economics, Management and Accounting and Prof. Grace Johnson to address the faculty. Supporting documentation is attached as Exhibit C (blue).
   
   In response to a question, it was clarified that the proposal covered a major within the existing B.A. degree structure and did not represent a new degree. Other issues raised: impact of major on Computer Science and Computer Information Systems major, and is the major a long-term replacement for the CIS major, (a member of Department of Mathematics and Computer Science spoke in support of the major, the provost commented that the new major would add technology strength to the current offerings); is number of hours excessive (same as CIS major but greater spread across disciplines); will all MIS courses be taught by a new hire (yes, or most); what are prospects of hiring (difficult, if hire is not completed before Catalog deadline, major will not be listed in Catalog); is EMA still concerned about redundancy between MIS and CIS major (majors attract different students; the department still saw a redundancy if both majors coexisted).
   
   The question was called and sustained on a show of hands. By a show of hands, plus three absentee ballots, the motion passed: Yes 54, No 0, Abstentions 0.


6. Adjournment
   The meeting adjourned at 6:02 p.m.

Fraser G. MacHaffie
Secretary of the Faculty


Exhibit A (ivory): General Education Assessment
Exhibit B (pink): Tuition Exchange Status Update
Exhibit C ( blue): Proposal for a B.A. Degree with a Major in Management Information Systems (MIS)


Distribution:
Dr. Jean A. Scott
Dr. Sue DeWine
Prof. Edward H. Osborne
Dawes Memorial Library