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COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
April 18, 2006 2:00 PM
Hill Hall Room 300
ATTENDEES: Andersen, Davis, Honeyman, Mehta, Mishra, Parker, Romberger, Santi, Vincent, Voorhees and Wolden
APOLOGIES: Christiansen and Dagdelen
GUESTS: Arthur Sacks - Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs; Tom Boyd - Associate Dean of Academic
Programs; Chet Van Tyne - Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering; Kyle Fitzpatrick - Undergraduate Student
Representative ASCSM; Robert Applegate - President, CSM Graduate Student Association; CSM Board of Trustee members - John
Coors, Frank DeFilippe, Roger Hutson, Michael Nyikos, Terrance Tschatschula, and David Wagner; Bill Scoggins - CSM
Presidential Candidate; and Susan Potter - Administrative Assistant Presidential Search Committee
Honeyman, Senate President, called the meeting to order.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the March 7, 2006 Faculty Senate Meeting were approved. The minutes of the
April 4, 2006 Faculty Senate Meeting were approved.
OLD BUSINESS:
- Undergraduate Council - Mehta submitted the following written report:
ROUTINE COURSE APPROVALS
UCG met on 4/12/2006. Addition of GEOL 310, EGGN 487, LIMU 350 were unanimously approved. Changes to ESGN 463,
CHGN 221, 222, 223, and 224, EGGN 403, LAIS 100 were also unanimously approved. EPIC 351 and 41 additions were
tabled.
CURRICULUM CHANGES
Changes were made to the Mining Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Mathematical and Computer Sciences curricula.
The details follow:
Mining Engineering curriculum changes: GEOL311 Structural Geology (2cr) replaces GEOL 308 (3 cr), GEOL 310 (4 cr)
replaces GEOL 210 (3 cr), MNGN 322/323 is reduced by 1 cr, MNGN 408 is also reduced by 1 cr. Net reduction of 2
credits.
MCS curriculum change: The "Modeling, Analysis and Computation" (i.e., the Math) option for MCS majors is being
replaced/renamed by a "Computational and Applied Mathematics" option. A new "Statistics" option is also being added.
(This is in addition to the Computer Science option, which is not affected by these changes.) Field Session will be
revised to a transitional course MACS 300 "Foundations of Advanced Mathematics." Senior Seminar will be replaced by
a capstone project. Other changes include renumbering and renaming courses, adding courses: Hons Linear Algebra (MACS
342), Advanced Statistical Modeling (MACS 436), Multivariate Analysis (MACS 437).
CHEN curriculum change: Chemistry is splitting Organic Chemistry I CHGN 221 (4 cr) into (i) a 3 cr lecture
component and (ii) a 1 cr lab CHGN 223. Similarly CHGN 222 (Organic Chemistry II) is being split into CHGN 222 (3cr)
and 224 (1cr). CHEN is modifying their curriculum so that only one of the two lab classes is required. This results
in a 1cr drop in the CHEN curriculum.
A motion to adopt these changes was made by Mehta seconded by Wolden and unanimously passed.
MINOR IN MATHEMATICS INSTRUCTION
Finally a Minor in Mathematics Instruction (previously known as "Predagogy") was approved with one opposing vote.
This Minor will be offered by special arrangement with the proposed partner institutions Colorado Christian University
(CCU) and Metro State College and will not be a "CSM Minor." An articulation agreement will be signed by President
Trefny and the Presidents of CCU and Metro. Courses taken at CCU/Metro will be transferred in as free electives and
ASI electives into the MCS curriculum.
A motion to adopt this minor was made by Mehta, seconded by Voorhees and unanimously passed.
CHANGES TO ASI/MINOR IN UG BULLETIN
To accommodate this, UGC revised the language that it passed in its February 2006 meeting (which proposed changes
to the Bulletin descriptions of the ASI and the Minor). The new language is:
Minor Program/Area of Special Interest
Established Minor Programs/ Areas of Special Interest (ASI) are offered by all of the undergraduate degree-granting
departments as well as the Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, the Division of Liberal Arts and
International Studies, and the Military Science Department.
A MINOR PROGRAM of study consists of a minimum of 18 credit hours of a logical sequence of courses. With the
exception of the McBride Honors minor, only three of these hours may be taken in the student's degree-granting
department and no more than three of these hours may be at the 100- or 200-level.
An AREA OF SPECIAL INTEREST consists of a minimum of 12 credit hours of a logical sequence of courses. Only three
of these hours may be at the 100- or 200-level and no more than three of these hours may be specifically required for
the degree program in which the student is graduating.
As a minimum, CSM requires that any course used to fulfill a minor/ ASI requirement be completed with a passing
grade. Some programs offering minors/ASIs may, however, impose higher minimum grades for inclusion of the course in
the minor/ASI. In these cases, the program specified minimum course grades take precedence. For additional information
on program-specific minimum course grade requirements, refer to the appropriate program section of this Bulletin.
As a minimum, to be awarded a minor ASI, CSM requires students obtain a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher in all
minor/ASI courses. All attempts at required minor/ ASI courses are used in computing this minor/ASI GPA. Some programs
offering minors/ASIs may, however, require a higher minimum cumulative GPA. In these cases, the program specified GPA
takes precedence.
- Graduate Council - Wolden presented the following revised language for a graduate certificate:
Each Graduate Certificate requires a minimum of 12 total credit hours. No more than 3 credit hours at the 400
level may be applied toward the minimum credit-hours requirement. All other credits must be at or above the 500
level. Students may not, on an individual basis, request credit hours be transferred from other institutions as
part of the Certificate requirements. Some Graduate Certificates, however, may allow the application of specific,
pre-approved transfer credits, toward fulfilling the requirements of the Certificate. All courses applied to a
Graduate Certificate are subject to approval by the program offering the certificate.
If a student has earned a Graduate Certificate and subsequently applies, and is accepted into a Master's or PhD
program at CSM, credits earned in the Certificate Program may, with the approval of the advanced degree program, be
applied to the advanced degree subject to all the applicable restrictions on credit hours that may be applied toward
fulfilling the requirements of the advanced degree.
A motion to adopt these changes was made by Santi, seconded by Mehta and unanimously passed.
- BS - Manufacturing Science Degree
Fitzpatrick stated that 21 out of 30 students present at ASCSM supported this new degree. A motion by
Romberger, seconded by Voorhees to table this item until the May 2nd Senate meeting was passed by a vote of seven
in favor and three opposed.
- Approval of Commencement Lists
- Undergraduate - A motion made by Romberger and seconded by Parker that based on successful completion of all
requirements for the BS degree, those undergraduates listed are approved to receive a Bachelor of Science degree
from the Colorado School of Mines was passed unanimously.
- Graduate - A motion made by Voorhees and seconded by Romberger that based on successful completion of all
requirements for the respective degree, those graduates listed are approved to receive the degree from the Colorado
School of Mines was passed unanimously.
- Senate Elections - Andersen announced that two nominations have been received for the two one-year terms, but
nominations are still needed for the three three-year terms.
NEW BUSINESS:
- Evaluation Committee - Graham presented the following written proposals for the Senate's adoption at their May 2nd
meeting:
To: Faculty Senate
From: Committee on Evaluation
Date: April 18, 2006
Re: Procedures for Processing Completed Student Evaluations of Faculty
It has come to the Committee's attention that the procedure for processing the completed Student Evaluations of
Faculty, once they reach the department or division secretaries, has not been officially stated. At present most
department or division secretaries send the packets directly to David Larue in Computing and Networking. He scans
the forms, produces the summary report, and then returns the forms to the departments or divisions once the final
grade-posting deadline has expired. At that point department/division heads may look at the forms for written
comments on the back, after which the forms are returned to the faculty member.
In at least one department/division, however, the department/division head looks at the forms before they are sent
to Computing and Networking. For various reasons, including the fact that the department/division head may be
reviewing the forms from their own classes prior to submission of grades, the Committee and Evaluation recommends
that this be disallowed. To ensure the integrity, and perceived integrity, of the official evaluation process we
recommend the following:
- Per the new evaluation instructions that the Committee has drawn up, the completed evaluations will be sealed
in the provided envelope and delivered promptly by two students to the department or division secretary.
- The department or division secretary should maintain securely and then deliver by the due date the sealed
envelopes to the appropriate person in Computing and Networking (currently David Larue) for processing. The
completed forms should not be made available to others (faculty, students or administrators) until after they are
processed by Computing and Networking.
- Upon completion of processing, Computing and Networking will forward the forms and/or summary statements to
Academic Affairs and/or whichever entity is charged with processing the answers to any free response questions.
Once Academic Affairs has completed their review the summary statistics and forms are returned to the department
or division for review and distribution.
Computing and Networking has indicated that they would certainly consider a request to process specific material
early in order to accommodate unusual situations. Even in these cases, though, the envelopes should remain sealed
until they have been processed by Computing and Networking.
To: Faculty Senate
From: Committee on Evaluation
Date: April 14, 2006
Re: Proposal for Faculty Evaluations in Co-taught Courses
In October 2005 Dr. Laura Pang, Division Director & Associate Professor Division of Liberal Arts and International
Studies, approached the Committee on Evaluation with a request to examine the evaluation of faculty teaching Nature
and Human Values. That class involves both large common lectures plus small (20-student) seminar sections. The
large lectures, one hour each week, are taught by Tenured, Tenure-track, and Lecturer faculty, some only giving one or
two lectures during a semester. Each seminar section meets for 3 hours each week under a single instructor. All
grading of the course is undertaken in the seminar sections. Dr. Pang noted that the existing Student Evaluation
of Faculty asked many questions that were not applicable to the larger section. She was particularly concerned that
there was not enough student contact with each of the instructors in the large lectures to warrant individual
evaluations of those instructors, and that pooling their efforts in one overall evaluation, which was current
practice, was not fair to all involved. Nor did it provide useful information by which to evaluate each individual
instructor.
The Committee on Evaluation considered potential evaluation solutions for NHV, and for team-taught courses more
broadly. It has the following recommendation:
- In co- or team-taught classes, the standard Student Evaluation of Faculty forms should only be used where a
faculty member has substantial student contact and contributes in a significant way to the course. This might
involve two or three faculty each being involved in one or more lectures each week, or one faculty taking the
first 7 weeks of the class and another taking the next 8 weeks of class. In these cases a Student Evaluation of
Faculty should be completed for each faculty member. Pooled Student Evaluations of Faculty should not be used.
- Nature and Human Values, as currently structured, has a large lecture format that should be exempted from
Student Evaluations of Faculty as per (1) above. Student Evaluations of Faculty should, though, be conducted for
the smaller sections that meet weekly with a single instructor.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Faculty Handbook - Arthur Sacks would like faculty feedback on the proposed changes to the Faculty Handbook.
- Kyle Fitzpatrick announced that ASCSM is seeking faculty to serve on the ad-hoc "Purple Pickaxe" committee. Contact
Fitzpatrick if you are interested.
- Nigel Middleton, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, will present faculty awards on April 26, 2006 in
Friedhoff - Green Center at 4:00 pm.
The business meeting adjourned at 2:30 pm.
Terrance Tschatschula introduced Dr. Myles W. "Bill" Scoggins, CSM Presidential Candidate, to the Senate. A question
and answer period followed.
The Senate meeting adjourned at 4:00 pm.
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