Meeting of the CCAS Faculty Senate
Approved Minutes
October 28, 2025
The meeting was called to order at approximately 12:45 p.m., with CCAS Faculty Senate President Rafey Habib presiding. There are 33 Senators, including 3 officers and 3 senators-at-large. Of the 33 voting members, 23 were present. A quorum was met.
I. A motion to approve the minutes of September 30, 2025, was made. The motion to approve the minutes was approved.
Voting record: 23 ayes, 0 opposed, 0 abstentions.
II. Discussion of APC courses and programs (Alex Roche, Chair of APC)
a. The official charge of the APC is overseeing the college-wide curricular requirements and academic standards. This applies to School 50 (undergraduate Arts & Sciences) only.
While the APC Committee formally approves new course proposals, the Committee solicits input from the faculty Senate. The Senate does not vote on the course or program proposals. The APC seeks input from Senators to check that the new course proposals are appropriate. Meaning:
-
-
-
- Do they have appropriate course names and course numbers?
- If it’s new content, is the content modern or current?
- Is there evidence of duplication, either in the same department or in a different department?
-
-
b. What is the point of a Form 29?
For a class to be taught, the course and course number must exist (be present in the official list called the Master Course List). The Form 29 is the mechanism for creating a new course and getting approval for the course to appear in the MCL. The form must be submitted by the department chair. If the form is forwarded to the APC by a program director or the department admin, the form must at least be signed by the chair. The approximate turnaround from time of submission to processing by the Registrar’s Office is about one month.
c. Special Topics courses are to be used just as placeholder course numbers for courses that are being offered on a trial basis or a once-only basis. Departments should not be repeatedly offering the same special topics course over and over as this is a violation of a special topics course, which is to offer a course without formal approval.
|
Courses presented for discussion and recommendation by APC to Faculty Senate |
||||
|
Department |
Course # |
Course Title |
Credit Value |
New/ Revision |
|
Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice |
50:920:358 |
Health Disparities |
3 |
NEW |
|
World Languages & Cultures |
50:941:447 |
Spanish Proficiency for the Health Professions |
3 |
NEW |
|
World Languages & Cultures |
50:941:467 |
Cultural Literacy in Healthcare |
3 |
NEW |
|
World Languages & Cultures |
50:941:477 |
Humanism in Health Care |
3 |
NEW |
|
Programs presented for discussion and recommendation by APC Committee to Faculty Senate |
||||
|
Department |
Minor |
Date when program will begin |
||
|
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
||
III. Remarks by the Dean
- New criteria for NTT faculty being able to be approved as distinguished NTT faculty. Previously, there was no criteria in the faculty handbook, and not all schools at Rutgers have criteria. While it does not require a vote from the Senate, the Dean asked for any comments regarding the criteria.
- FASC Committees report directly to the Dean. Many of the committees have actionable duties, while others are not so clear. The Dean will be working with the execs to discuss all of the committees and make sure there is clear definition of responsibilities and that they are active.
- The Dean provided clarity on online teaching and when it is appropriate. There are five (5) departments going through program review this year that have been asked to specifically address where they are using online in the curriculum, as part of that process.
IV. Charge for Online/AI Committee
There were 17 volunteers to serve on the committee. The Senate Executive Committee proposed splitting up the committee to create two separate committees: one to focus on online education, one to focus on AI (half of the volunteers expressed interest on one topic, while the other half expressed interest on the other topic).
A motion was made to split the committee as proposed. The motion was approved.
Voting record: 23 ayes, 0 opposed, 0 abstentions.
V. Operation of FASC Committees
A poll was done looking to see how often the committees meet and who the chairs are as not all are identified on the Committees website. Dean Griffin will be reaching out to some committees for further clarification.
The meeting adjourned at 1:28 p.m.
Present (Senators): Craig Agule, Julio Alicea, Margaret Betz, Bailey Blessing, James Boucher, I-Ming Chiu, Iman Dehzangi, Travis DuBose, Naomi Fair, Chris Fitter, Anthony Geneva, Carly Goodman, Rafey Habib, Ann Heidelberg, Michelle Livings, Randy Mershon, Tamara Nelson, Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, Kayla Preito-Hodge, Guannan Shen, Nir Yakoby
Absent (Senators): Paul Bernstein, Hong Fang, Anthony Grasso, Alejandro Loureiro Lorenzo, Emily Marker, Clinton McNair, Stass Shpanin, Longmei Shu, Youwen Zhang
Excused Absent (Senators): n/a
Present (Senators-at-Large): Jean-Louis Hippolyte, John Wall
Absent (Senators-at-Large): Ophelia Eryn Hostetter
Excused Absent (Senators-at-Large): n/a
Present (Invited Guests): John Griffin, Christina Jackson, Alex Roche, Jennifer Thiel
Drafted by: Melinda Aviles, 11/10/2025