George Mason University
Approved Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting
January 15, 2003
Present: J. Bennett, L. Brown, R. Coffinberger, M. De Nys,
E. Elstun, D. Kuebrich, P. Stearns
Chair Jim Bennett opened the meeting at 12:08 pm.
I. Approval of Minutes
The Minutes of the January 8, 2003 Executive Committee meeting were approved
as distributed.
II. Announcements
There were no announcements.
III. Old Business
Esther Elstun reported on her trip to Richmond for Lobby Day. She and Dave Kuebrich
met with 20 of the 26 delegates from Northern Virginia to discuss higher education
issues. One piece of good news is that Delegate Albo’s legislation concerning
tenure is no longer being considered. All of the representatives visiting from
Virginia colleges and universities were recognized before the State Senate and, overall, it was a very profitable day.
IV. Reports from Senate Standing Committee Chairs
A. Academic Policies
The Committee will be introducing a motion: “The C- grade is unsatisfactory.”
at next week’s Faculty Senate meeting. A preliminary report on the graduate
grade of B- has been sent to the Graduate Council for review and advice. The
pending
item of International Internships has been given to Jim Metcalf for action.
B. Facilities & Support Services & Library
The Committee will introduce a motion on library governance in April.
C. Faculty Matters
The Committee has no action items for this month’s Faculty Senate meeting.
D. Nominations
The Committee will submit a nominee for the new vacancy on the General Education
Committee.
E. Organization & Operations
Phil Buchanan is currently out of the country so there was no report.
F. Ad Hoc Budget Committee
Rick Coffinberger requested that the Provost ask the Deans and Directors for
a breakdown of their individual budgets opposed to just an aggregate number.
He emphasized the importance of faculty input at all stages of the budget process
at both the university and college/school/institute level. The Provost and Vice
President has worked with the Ad Hoc Budget Committee to do this at
the university level, but there hasn’t been much cooperation at the college
level. The Provost agreed to discuss the issue with the Deans and Directors.
The Committee is also reviewing the current policy of charging one tuition amount
for 12-17 hours. Further study needs to be done to calculate the possible increase
in income if the policy is changed, and if the additional amount would be worth
the discontent it would cause among students. Another question concerning this
issue is if the policy entices students to take more hours than they should
when so many of them have heavy work schedules.
V. New Business
A. Remarks from Provost Stearns
1. Minors Issue
The issue is being researched by the Provost’s Office, and the Provost
will try to have a report at the February 5th Executive Committee meeting.
2. Tenured Faculty Teaching Undergraduate Courses
The Provost will address the issue of tenured faculty teaching undergraduate
courses at the next Faculty Senate meeting. Currently 32% of Freshman/Sophomore
classes are taught by full-time faculty, which is very low in comparison to
other universities. One reason is the low number of graduate assistants at GMU.
The Provost would like to aim for 54%, which is projected in GMU’s 2007
Plan.
CAS will be told that part of money it will receive back from the budget cuts
is contingent on more full-time faculty teaching lower division classes. The
Provost is also working on incentive plans for “full-time faculty regularly
teaching lower division classes with excellence.” He added that the selection
of these professors would be based on peer review and student evaluations. It
was noted that departments that already have a large number of full-time faculty
teaching Freshman/Sophomore classes should also be recognized in some way.
3. Associate Provost Reorganization
The Provost announced that Sheryl Beach and Julie Christensen’s terms
as Associate Provosts will expire this year, and they have both decided not
to continue. Their positions will be merged into one Associate Provost who will
be responsible for Distance and General Education (possibly International Education
also, depending on Yehuda Lukacs’ role), the Catalogue, and Grievances.
4. Standing Faculty Committee on Academic Integrity
The Provost has named a Standing Faculty Committee on Academic Integrity headed
by Laurie Fathe. The Committee has already made a substantial change in the
procedures so that first plagiarism offenses in which the student admits to
the violation are no longer brought before the Honor Committee but worked out
between the student and professor. It was mentioned that the Organization and
Operations Committee is currently reviewing the former Task Force on Academic
Integrity’s recommendations for distribution.
VI. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 1:45 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Debi Siler
Clerk, Faculty Senate