Faculty Council Minutes

Faculty Council Minutes
Jan. 12, noon
Cohen House

Present: Ed Akin, Jose Aranda, John Casbarian, Vicki Colvin, Marjorie Corcoran, Lynne Huffer (speaker), Donald Morrison, Nancy Niedzielski, Robert Patten (deputy speaker), Caroline Quenemoen, Patricia Reiff, Herb Ward and Mark
Wiesner. Absent: Steve Crowell, Rebekah Drezek and Matteo Pasquali. Guests: Michael Gustin, Diane Havlinek, Derrick Mathews, David Tenny and Ann Wright.

(1) Minutes: The minutes were approved from the Dec. 7 business meeting.

(2) Self-Scheduled Exams: The business meeting was dedicated to the discussion of self-scheduled exams with special guests Michael Gustin, chair of the teaching committee; Diane Havlinek, director of enrollment; Derrick Mathews, Student Association president; David Tenny, registrar; and Ann Wright, vice president for enrollment.

Wright opened the discussion, giving a brief summary of the self-scheduled exam issue and stating that in 2003, the registrar’s office began researching problems associated with the self-scheduled exam policy. After an internal review in the registrar’s office, this issue was presented to Faculty Council in spring 2004 and was then assigned to the teaching committee for further review. Major concerns identified with the self-scheduled exam policy include lack of proctors to administer exams, classes with fewer than 50 students do not have the option to schedule an exam under the current system, increasing trend of faculty members moving exams to the last week of class to bypass this system and administrative burdens on faculty and staff.

Gustin presented the final exam proposal, dated Dec. 3, 2004. This draft proposal recommended the elimination of self-scheduled exams moving to a fully scheduled final-exam schedule, which would include scheduled take-home exams. Mathews presented the students’ viewpoints, agreeing with the recommendation to eliminate self-scheduled exams and suggested replacing them with take-home exams.

Guests answered specific questions from the council. Following the discussion, future steps in the self-scheduled exam evaluation and proposal process were outlined:

A. Survey the faculty to see what they are currently doing in regards to final exams and request feedback on how they would revise their process should self-scheduled exams be eliminated.

B. Obtain input and recommendations from the honor council.

C. Obtain input and recommendations from the Student Association.

D. Have the teaching committee review all information and draft a proposal to present to Faculty Council.

(3) Governance Reform: The Jan. 26 business meeting was set to be devoted to governance reform.

(4) Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 p.m., with the next business meeting scheduled for Jan. 26.

Sarah Holloman
Executive assistant