GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

AGENDA FOR THE FACULTY SENATE MEETING

March 28, 2012

Robinson Hall B113, 3:00 – 4:15 p.m..

I.                   Call to Order

 

II.        Approval of the Minutes of February 1, 8, 15, and 29, 2012

 

III.             Announcements

President Merten

Special Meeting of the Faculty Senate with Senator Barbara Favola and Delegate David Bulova Wednesday, April 11, 2012 – 3:00-4:00 p.m. at Founders Hall, room 126, Arlington Campus

 

IV.       New Business – Committee Reports

A.     Senate Standing Committees

Executive Committee     

 

Academic Policies

Proposed Changes to Catalog Copy:  Permission to Study Elsewhere     ATTACHMENT A

 

Budget & Resources

 

Faculty Matters

 

Nominations

Amin Jazaeri (COS) is nominated to fill a vacancy on the Technology Policy Committee

    for Spring, 2012.

 

Organization & Operations

Preliminary Report on Teleconferencing Faculty Senate Meetings           ATTACHMENT B

 

             B. Other Committees 

                                     

V.    Other New Business

Technology Upgrade/Transition to Windows 7 – Sharon Pitt, Executive Director, Division of Instructional Technology

 

VI.       Remarks for the Good of the General Faculty

 

VII.     Adjournment

 

ATTACHMENT A

DRAFT/PROPOSAL – 1/6/12

 

Amended 3/13/12 and 3/20/12

 

Current Catalog Copy

Permission to Study Elsewhere

Students who apply for admission to Mason usually do not seek simultaneous enrollment at another collegiate institution. In those unique situations when a student does seek concurrent enrollment, the student must obtain advance written approval from their academic dean. This process permits a student to enroll elsewhere in a suitable course unavailable at Mason. Catalog numbers and descriptions of courses to be taken elsewhere must be submitted with the request for approval. Students must submit an official transcript for all such course work to the Office of the University Registrar. Note that while credit may be approved for transfer and a minimum grade must be achieved, grades themselves do not compute into any Mason GPA. Students who enroll elsewhere without advance written permission while enrolled at Mason may not receive transfer credit for course work taken at other institutions. The Permission to Study Elsewhere form can be found at registrar.gmu.edu.

 

Proposed Changes (in bold) to Current Catalog Copy

Permission to Study Elsewhere

Students who apply for admission to Mason usually do not seek simultaneous enrollment at another collegiate institution. In those unique situations when a student does seek concurrent enrollment, the student must obtain advance written approval from an academic dean. This process permits a student to enroll elsewhere in a suitable course unavailable at Mason or through the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Catalog numbers and descriptions of courses to be taken elsewhere must be submitted with the request for approval. Students must submit an official transcript for all such course work to the Office of the University Registrar. Note that while credit may be approved for transfer and a minimum grade must be achieved, grades themselves do not compute into any Mason GPA. Students who enroll elsewhere without advance written permission will not receive transfer credit for course work taken at other institutions unless they re-apply for admission to Mason as transfer applicants and meet all priority deadlines. Re-admission is not guaranteed and transfer credit is awarded based upon course equivalencies in effect at the time of re-admission.The Permission to Study Elsewhere form can be found at registrar.gmu.edu.

 

 

 

Proposed Additional Paragraph for Catalog

(bold type indicates additions by Academic Policies Committee)

 

Special instructions for undergraduates: Freshmen and transfer students in their first semester at Mason are not permitted to study elsewhere. Once enrolled in degree status at Mason, students may request permission to take a limited number of credits at another regionally accredited institution. Students must be in good standing with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.00 in their Mason courses and obtain advance, written approval from their advisor and the academic dean of the college, school, or institute that offers the course(s) at Mason. Individual colleges/schools/institutes determine restrictions on the number, type, mode of delivery, location and offering patterns of courses that can be taken elsewhere.Courses previously attempted at Mason (including withdrawals) cannot be taken elsewhere. Students must also meet the minimum 30-hour residency requirement at Mason.

 

Financial Impact of Current Policy

Summer 2011 Total Course Elsewhere Credits                                                             1,194

 

 

Credits Taken Elsewhere by Students in College where Course is Taught

Credits Taken Elsewhere

Approved by Students’ own Disciplines/Colleges

Enrollment/FTE $ Going Elsewhere

CHSS

276

348

$116,000

COS

150

611

$203,667

VSE

344

117

$39,000

SOM

133

33

$11,000

CVPA

53

48

$16,000

CEHD/RHT

131

12

$4,000

CHHS

91

15

$5,000

SCAR

0

6

$2,000

UNDE

3

15

$5,000

 

Example of Financial Impact:  During the summer of 2011 students in COS received permission from COS to enroll in 150 credits from other universities. However, students in other colleges around the university received permission from their deans to enroll in a total of 611 COS courses as study elsewhere credits.

ATTACHMENT B

 

VideoConferencing Faculty Senate Meetings, Preliminary Report

O&O Committee, 3/8/12

A member of the Faculty Senate from the Arlington campus has requested that we consider videoconferencing the Faculty Senate proceedings to avoid disruption of the work day from traveling back and forth to the Fairfax campus.  Based on information from Jeff Pugh, Lead Technician for Fairfax Classroom Support, and a conversation with Cherie Galantis, the Manager of Collaborative Video Technologies in DoIT, these are the options available.

*Rooms available at Arlington and Prince William campuses.  Both Arlington and Prince William have videoconferenced conference rooms, and the possibility of using videoconferenced classrooms subject to course usage.  Both campuses also have “telepresence” rooms which would suffice as well.

*Currently rooms are not readily available on the Fairfax campus based on size and schedule.  With 50 Senators and a visitor’s gallery, any room used would have to hold 60 at a minimum.  There are only two rooms available with that size.  Research 163, controlled by Events Management, is no longer supported as a videoconference room as the equipment is aging and there is no sustaining budget for replacements.  Innovation 132, scheduled by the Registrar’s Office, holds 73 people, but is booked solid from 9 am to 10 pm through the week for classes.

*Mobile options are severely limited. Events Production has a portable videoconferencing cart, but there is a minimum $300 charge per use, and it takes two hours to set up the equipment and bridge the needed connections.  Since Robinson B113, the current meeting space of the Faculty Senate, is also a classroom, gaining 2 hours of access is not feasible on a continuing basis.

Summary

While there may be additional facilities coming online in the future, the current videoconferencing facilities and options are prohibitive of broadcasting Faculty Senate proceedings across the distributed University.  Resources at the Arlington and Prince William campuses are sufficient to participate in this venture, but the limited facilities at the Fairfax campus make this a non-viable option in our current configuration.