May 5, 2015 – Senate meeting

Meeting of the Faculty Senate
Approved Minutes
May 5, 2015

The meeting was called to order at 12:25 p.m.

1. A motion was made to approve the minutes from the meeting of March 24, 2015. The motion was approved unanimously by voice vote.

2. Bill FitzGerald, on behalf of the Academic Policy Committee, presented the following courses for approval and publicly thanked the committee for all their hard work. The APC unanimously supported the courses below: 

Bill also submitted a proposal for an Interdisciplinary Minor in Film Studies.  The Art Department and English department worked together on this proposal.  In addition,  the English Department will be introducing a concentration in film and media studies.  A question was posed whether additional staffing was needed. Lisa Zeidner said no, as these courses are already taught by existing faculty and have been offered as Special Topics courses previously and are now up for individual course numbers for the master course list.

Department	Course number	Course Title	New/Revision
Biology	50:120:444	Molecular Diagnostics	New
Biology	50:120:370	Introduction to Virology	New
Computer Science	50:198:467	Computational probability	New
Economics	50:640:222	Foundations in Econometrics	New
English	50:354:201	The Art of Film	New
English	50:354:211/212	Special Topics in Film	New
English	50:354:300	History of Film	New
English	50:354:301	History of Film II	New
English	50:354:302	History of Film III	New
English	50:354:311	Film Theory	New
English	50:354:312	Women in Film	New
English	50:354:313	Hitchcock	New
English	50:354:314	Special Topics in Animation	New
English	50:354:410	Senior Seminar in Film Studies (Capstone)	New
Foreign Language	50:940:127	Spanish for Medical Professions I	New
Physics	50:750:363	Molecular Liquids	New
Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice	50:014:355	Pan Africanist Theory and thought	New

A discussion followed regarding the numbering system and the use of terms in course titles, such as foundation, introduction, etc.  and the potential confusion that could exist for students as to the sequence of courses.  It was suggested that departments be mindful when choosing numbers and course titles to avoid ambiguity.  A motion was made to accept the courses as proposed.  All courses were approved unanimously by voice vote.

Jennifer Thiel will contact the Registrar’s Office for a listing of all newly approved courses that will be added to the Master Course List, to also load those courses into Degree Navigator.  Department Chairs are encouraged to follow up with the Registrar and Advising to confirm course have been added, edited or removed.

3. Bill Whitlow gave an overview of the General Education course proposal system. The committee has worked hard to make this easier by automating the application process.  The Committee is working to review all the courses submitted and hope to have that task completed and ready for the Fall 2016, when the new catalog comes out.  Transfer students, freshman, and any first year student entering will start with those new Gen Ed requirements in Fall 2016.  The Committee is working to coordinate the County Colleges’ Gen Ed requirements, which are mandated by the State, with our Gen Ed requirements.  The Committee will be meeting with the Colleges.  The ultimate goal is to make it more clear how courses will transfer in to our program.  Bill Whitlow reports that there is still a backload of courses to be approved and the Committee will be working on them this summer.

4. Joe Schiavo reported for the newly created ad hoc committee on online course instruction and development, created at the request of Dean Lindenmeyer. The Committee is comprised of department chairs interested in knowing how an online course is developed; what type of students take online courses; the difference between an online and face to face course, etc.  The Dean and Associate Dean, with Emily Corse (Director, Instructional Design and Technology) have developed a recommended set of guidelines for online course development.   The guideline are not in place to tell people how to teach and what content to include, but to assist those creating and developing online courses, to ensure that the course has “Rutgers quality and integrity”.    

Questions from the floor: 

Can students from other Rutgers campuses take our online courses?  Can our students take online courses from other Rutgers campuses?  Yes, students throughout the system are now allowed to take online courses from any campus, with the exception of students from Mason Gross.  It is strongly recommended that the student, prior to taking the course, confirm with his department mentor and advisor that the course will be accepted for credit in the program. 

In the proposed requirements, is there something about the ability to accurately assess the course’s success in the program and/or department?  The responsibility lies within the department and the chair. 

Senators also shared experiences with the online course development team; teaching online courses; and experiences and associations with students taking online courses.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:10 p.m.

Present (Senators):  Andrew Lees, Eric Klein, Jongmin Nam; Alexander Samokhvalov, Kate Cairns, Osama Hamed, Bill FitzGerald, Keith Green, Carol Singley, Paul Bernstein, Prospero Garcia, Ana Laguna, Nick Kapur, Susan Mokhberi, Will Lee, Joseph Gerver, Tim Knievel, Wayne Chan, Joseph Cutuli, Bill Whitlow, Wayne Glasker, Jean-Louis Hippolyte, Kenneth Hohing

Present (Invited Guests): Lisa Zeidner, Joseph Schiavo, J.C. Birget, Jennifer Thiel

Absent:  Laurie Bernstein, Rajiv Gandhi, Aaron Hostetter, Margery Amdur, Julie Still, Debashis Kushary, James Genone, Grace Brannigan, Shauna Shames, Brandi Blessett, Stephen Danley, Katrina Hazzard-Donald, Louis Tuthill, Kenneth Elliott, Cyril Reade