The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair and Presiding Officer Larry C. Schooley at 3:00 p.m. in the Center for Creative Photography Auditorium.

Present: Senators Aguilar, Aleamoni, Auxier, Caldwell, Chow, Dahlgran, D. Davis, T. Davis, DeYoung, Erlings, Gruener, Hau, Heckler, Hogle, Houtkooper, Howell, Impey, Ivey, Jenkins, Laetsch, Levin, Levy, Likins, Marchalonis, Maré, Medine, Merkle, Mishra, Mitchell, O’Brien, Parsons, Pepper, Pope, Powell, Roberts, Schooley, Sheridan, Spece, Swindle, Szilagyi, Voyatzis, Warburton, Witte and Zwolinski. Robert Sankey served as Parliamentarian.

Absent: Senators Armstrong, Dalman, Dvorak, Dyl, Garcia, Gibbs (substitute for Christiano), Heinrich, Hurt, Joens, Kosta, Larson, Newell, Nolan, Perches, Pitt, Silverman, Sypherd, and Weinand.

2. OPEN SESSION

(Please note that speakers at the Open Session are expressing their personal opinion, which may not reflect the position of the Faculty Senate.)

Dr. William Bickel (Professor of Physics) – statement regarding the Professor M. Kay case. (attachment)

3A. ASUA President Francisco Aguilar

Report deferred until January.

3B. GPSC President Laura Roberts

Senator Roberts informed the Senate of two groups of graduate students, the Class Action Committee and the Coalition of Graduate Students (COGS), that are looking into unionization to protest excessive teaching loads, inadequate compensation, benefits and housing, and instate registration fees. In response to these concerns, the GPSC is initiating a fact-finding Task Force composed of faculty, administrators, GPSC representatives and other student representatives to examine these concerns, identify similarities and differences across campus and with peer institutions, and determine how to prioritize possible improvements of these conditions. This task force hopes to issue a report in February. The GPSC is supporting a fundraising effort for support of childcare.

Vice Chair Schooley announced that agenda item #9, the WRIMCAT proposal, is changed to discussion only for today’s meeting.

3D. Secretary of the Faculty Susan Heckler

No report.

3E. Chair of the Faculty Jerrold Hogle (attachment)

Chair Hogle reported the Arizona Faculties Council’s progress on learner-centered education. He distributed related documents (attached) including the AFC’s final definition of learner-centered education and a draft listing of Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) policies which might need to be changed in order to facilitate more learner-centered course offerings. He asked Senators to provide him with input regarding additional policies or regulations that could be restrictive of learner centered education. He will attend the Academy for National Leadership Conference January 4-9 as part of a team of participants from the Arizona Board of Regents, ASU, NAU and UA. Chair Hogle presented the family of the late Professor Fred Hill with an award honoring Dr. Hill’s service to faculty governance and to the General Faculty of the University of Arizona.

3F. Provost Paul Sypherd

Report deferred until January.

3G. President Peter Likins (attachment)

President Likins advised Senators of the progress with Campaign Arizona. The Strategic Planning and Budget Committee (SPBAC) solicited and received about 220 proposals that have been catalogued into several themes. He met with the authors of the proposals to explain the process by which all of the proposals will be entered into a database to be drawn upon by Deans or the Campaign Executive Committee as they develop strategies to communicate the University’s priorities to potential donors and the general public. The Governor’s Task Force is now meeting on a monthly basis and has engaged consultants whose reports will ultimately shape the future of higher education in Arizona. The Class Action Committee has submitted a request for relief along with signed petitions that Dr. Likins referred to the GPSC task force. He also recommended that the GPSC identify a graduate student who is also employed to participate on the Campus Advisory Council. Speaking about the M. Kay case, Dr. Likins read a prepared statement to the Senate (attached) and commented that he must be absolutely disciplined in refraining from public comment so as to not complicate an already complex case that is currently in litigation and under negotiation.

4. QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD

Senator Gruener inquired whether the Campaign proposals might be publicized on a website. President Likins hopes the database will be able to be accessed electronically by next fall.

Senator Auxier inquired whether the Board of Regents has developed any strategies to fund, implement and enforce learner-centered education. Chair Hogle explained that the Board has no funding, but can only request funding for the universities from the legislature. Regent Ulrich hopes to work with the business community to find ways to provide financial support for technological improvements. Chair Hogle also explained that the Board agrees with the universities that the efforts toward learner-centered education should be faculty-driven.

Chair Hogle called for a Special Meeting of the Faculty Senate on Monday, December 13, 1999 at 3:00 p.m. in the Center for Creative Photography for discussion and possible action on a resolution calling for Dr. M. Kay’s immediate reinstatement which was submitted by Senators Marchalonis, Nolan, Parsons, Weinand, and Witte (attached).

The minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting on November 1, 1999, were approved as distributed.

Senator Caldwell (Chair, Committee of Eleven) reported in Senator Larson’s absence that he has recently met with the chairs of the APPC, the Committee on Conciliation, the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT), and the former chair of the Committee on UHAP, Constitution, and Bylaws Changes. After further clarifications from these groups as to how to revise the ASU grievance policy to fit the University of Arizona, a writing committee consisting of the Chair of APPC, the new chair of the Committee on UHAP, Constitution, and Bylaws Changes, and the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee of Eleven will draft a policy to be brought to the Senate for a first reading in the early spring, 2000.

Senator Aguilar asked the Faculty Senate to endorse ASUA’s resolution encouraging faculty to voluntarily submit a class website to be listed on a central location within the University Web system. Chair Hogle moved [Motion 1999/00-5] the Senate endorse this resolution. This motion carried unanimously.

8.  APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA ITEM FORWARDED FROM THE INSTRUCTION AND CURRICULUM POLICY COMMITTEE (attachment)

Both consent agenda items [Motions 1999/00-6, 1999/00-7] as detailed in the motions at the end of these minutes, were approved.

9.   DISCUSSION ON WRIMCAT PROPOSAL –SENATOR HOWELL, CHAIR, ICPC

Senator Howell distributed a memorandum from the two undergraduate curriculum committees from the College of Engineering and Mines and from the Department of Mathematics (attached). Senator Howell recognized R. Richardson of the WRIMCAT committee. Dr. Richardson told the Senate he has prepared written responses to all twenty-one issues that were raised at the Senate’s first reading on October 4, 1999, and they are available upon request. The Deans have requested that action on the WRIMCAT be deferred while they consider implications at the college level. He invited Senators to share any particular concerns and explained the goals of the WRIMCAT are to provide a mid-career writing assessment which must be passed to graduate and which integrates writing across the curriculum and demonstrates that students are prepared to write at the upper division level. Senator’s suggestions and concerns included the following: 1) the charge of the WRIMCAT committee is too narrow; next semester the first students who were enrolled in General Education Writing Intensive courses will be taking their UDWPE, and the new data on the effectiveness of these courses will be available then and should be compared with previous data; 2) substitute a writing portfolio for the timed writing exam; 3) the memorandum from the undergraduate curriculum committees from the College of Engineering and Mines and from the Department of Mathematics perceives the WRIMCAT as not student friendly and should be taken seriously; 4) it should be possible to improve writing on this campus without expenditures of $250,000 and a bigger bureaucratic staff; 5) we should consider why improved writing has not occurred given that students are currently taking a variety of courses that have been designed to improve their writing skills; 6) we should obtain specific data on the numbers of parents and prospective students who view the proposal as either needed or problematic.

10.   DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROPOSAL – SENATOR HOWELL, CHAIR, ICPC

Senator Howell reported that this proposal comes as a seconded motion [Motion 1990/00-8] from the ICPC. Dean James Dalen of the College of Medicine addressed the Senate to request permission to reorganize the Arizona Prevention Center into a College of Public Health. This would be the 29^th College of Public Health in the United States and the first in the Southwest. The proposal would have an immense impact on the Arizona Health Sciences Center (AHSC) in teaching, research and outreach. Most AHSC programs teach how to care for individuals. This College would teach prevention, health outcomes, health policy, environmental issues, and how to care for a community. Furthermore, AHSC has been ineligible for some research funds because they are only available to colleges of public health. The Master of Public Health has been offered by AHSC since 1993 and was fully accredited in 1997. Resources already available within the Arizona Prevention Center include 180 undergraduate students, 15 graduate students, 50 faculty (7 MD’s, and 43 PhDs), a state budget of $1.5 million and $7 million in research grants, and 40,000 square feet in the AHSC, and a $5 million endowment and a $5 million gift towards a new building from the Canyon Ranch. Senators expressed strong support for the proposal. Questions and concerns include: there is a major need for clinical investigators trained in biostatistics and epidemiology; the administrative structure would be a college with a dean who reports to the Vice President of Health Sciences, and most of the staff position are already in existence. This motion carried unanimously.

11.   DISCUSSION (FIRST READING) ON BACHELOR OF LIBERAL ARTS DEGREE PROPOSAL – SENATOR HOWELL, CHAIR, ICPC

Senators’ questions and concerns include: 1) who is the target audience for this degree proposal? Is it meant for true generalists or just undecided? - Humanities Program faculty will be involved in advising the students in this degree program according to this proposal; 2) the two examples of program options (Science and Religion, Science and the Arts) for the third and fourth year are too narrow - the program options listed in the proposal are just examples and not limited to just those two examples; 3) how does this degree differ from that offered by the Arizona International College (AIC)? – AIC does not feel this proposal competes with their degree program because a) students cannot select this degree program until they’ve completed 30 units, b) AIC curriculum is weakly articulated with main campus, so it is for a non-overlapping student body set; c) it may or may not be international, and d) all AIC courses are interdisciplinary; 4) the hallmark of a liberal education is both the breadth and some sort of depth major - the degree needs to be declared 30 units before graduation, requirements are meant to be a rigorous challenge and include 42 upper division credits and a 5 unit capstone experience with a faculty mentor; 5) how can a degree be granted by a non-degree granting college which has no faculty? – there is already a degree housed in University College, Interdisciplinary Studies, with about 39 majors and involves faculty from almost every college, so University College is an appropriate way to house this degree as it is meant to be outside the boundaries of a single college; 6) the Senate is urged to avoid making decisions which remove options for our students based on how we’ve chosen to organize the faculty; 7) the workload may increase the already heavily-worked Humanities Program faculty – the proposal is strongly supported and endorsed by the Humanities Program and they are considering how they might maintain their teaching responsibilities; 8) what is the student demand for this degree? – the proposal estimated demand based on responses of students enrolled in Humanities Program courses who were queried about their interest in such a program, and similar demands at ASU and NAU; 9) is this an avenue for students who’ve had improper advising? 10) the Senate needs to hear from more students across colleges and not just in the Humanities Program; 11) could the BLA be integrated into the Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) program? – the IDS is essentially three disparate minors (20 units) without a capstone experience, and is significantly different from this proposal; 12) would teaching assistants’ (TA’s) class sizes of these core courses be increased? – the Humanities Program classes are capped at 50 students and they have no TA’s. so to increase class offerings would mean to find additional resources to hire TA’s; 13) this proposal may encourage the students’ indecision in selecting a degree and a major; 14) at least one of the courses included in the proposal is for majors only and another that has not been offered for the past five years; 15) some mention of the marketability of this degree should be included in the proposal. All these concerns will be considered by the degree’s proponents and ICPC.

Senator Witte reminded Senators of the Committee of Eleven’s upcoming Millennial Forum with the first session on January 19, and asked Senators to return their forms with two to three questions for each forum and three wishes and a vision for the UofA in 2025 to the Faculty Center.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Susan E. Heckler, Secretary

Dr. William Bickel’s statement at the Open Session

The Arizona Faculties Council’s Definition of Learner-Centered Education and Draft listing of Board Policies that may present barriers to learner-centered education

President Likins’ Statement to the Faculty Senate, December 6, 1999

ASUA resolution supporting centralized listing for class website materials

Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee proposal for possible Faculty Senate action on December 6, 1999 (consent agenda)

Senator Howell’s overhead used for discussion of WRIMCAT proposal

Memorandum from the two undergraduate curriculum committees from the College of Engineering and Mines and from the Department of Mathematics

Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee Proposal for Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree

Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee Proposal for College of Public Health

*Copies of material listed in the Appendix are attached to the original minutes and are on file in the Faculty Center.