PRESENT
Laine Berghout, David Ferro, Colleen Garside, Azenett Garza, Doris Geide-Stevenson, Ed Hahn, Sue Harley, Ann Millner, Peggy Saunders, Kathleen Sitzman, Mike Vaughan – Kay Brown, Secretary

MINUTES
Colleen Garside: Moved to approve the minutes from the September 10, 2009 meeting
Second: Laine Berghout
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

GEN ED FLOWCHART
The Executive Committee discussed the role that the Senate plays in approval of gen ed renewal courses. If a course is currently a gen ed course and it is granted continuing status at the Curriculum Committee level do they need to be approved by the Senate or is that just informational? The Provost pointed out that taking the courses to the Senate could act as due process. If a course is not granted continuing gen ed status by the Curriculum Committee and it does not go to the Senate, then they have no recourse.

Executive Committee members felt that it was important to have the gen ed renewal courses go through the process as outlined in the Gen Ed Flowchart that was approved April 2009, this includes the review and approval of Senate.

The gen ed physical science courses were reviewed by the Curriculum Committee in September. The life science courses will be reviewed in the October Curriculum Committee meeting. Next year the creative arts and humanities courses will be reviewed.

DEGREE NAMES
Currently the Curriculum Committee handles requests to change the name of a degree as nonsubstantive. The Provost felt that name changes needed to be treated as substantive. Name changes go to the Regents.

WORKSHOP FEES
Workshop fees have not been adjusted in the past 20 plus years. Currently there is a $10 per credit hour fee for workshops. Workshops are processed through Continuing Education. The Teacher Education Department offers workshops to teachers in the Ogden Area that can translate to graduate credit hours toward a master’s degree.

BOOKSTORE PPM POLICIES
Bookstore polices are found in PPM 4-16, 4-16a, and 3-54a. These policies are 30 years old. PPM 4-16 references "Spring Quarter." President Millner suggested having Norm Tarbox and Rich Hill work with the Bookstore. David Ferro will talk with Norm Tarbox about forming a group to review and revise these policies.

CHAIR’S AD HOC CMTE
Department Chairs under the direction of Frank Guliuzza were meeting in years past. The group has not met since the departure of Frank Guliuzza from the University. Larry Dooley has been contacted and he is willing to organize and call up the Ad Hoc Department Chair’s group to begin meeting again.

PPM 4-21a PPM 4-21a - A proposed change to the policy came from the Foreign Language Department to the ASSA Committee.

The question was asked whether or not the ASSA Committee could address charges that come directly to them from faculty or departments. Committee chairs should review requests and decide if the request has merit and whether or not the committee has time to address the request. Formal charges come from the Executive Committee, but committees have the discretion to address additional items.

TEXTBOOKS
Federal law states that faculty (to the extent that it is practicable) need to get their information to the Bookstore before registration begins. Currently 80% of the books that are selected for classes Spring Semester now get to the Bookstore by the date selected. David Ferro will be sending a letter to Senators regarding the policy.

Noncompliance to the policy could result in loss of federal funding for grants and financial aid. The university has to show due diligence.

CAT TRACKS
Banner and Cat Tracks will be running parallel until at least July and departments will be able to access the information in Banner for at least one or two years after that. Departments need some training on inputting information so that it reflects better in Cat Tracks. One on one help is available to departments.

7-WEEK BLOCK
Do we anticipate a problem with student’s taking a full load in each of the seven-week blocks of hybrid courses? This would require approval. Generally speaking, our students take less than 12 credit hours a semester. There is a spring break option for those teaching a seven week block. There are 15 calendar weeks scheduled for Spring Semester which allows for two seven-week blocks of instruction. The MBA Program teaches in 8-week blocks.

H1N1
The Provost asked that an announcement be made at the Senate meeting reminding faculty to be flexible and use good judgment with students who miss classes because they have the flu. The University has been asked by the County Health Department, private physicians, and the Student Health Center for faculty not to send students in for notes.

ASSOCIATE DEGREES
The University is expecting guidance from the Regent’s Office or the Commissioner’s Office regarding associate degrees stating that, if a student comes in with an associate degree from a regionally accredited university they have fulfilled the associate degree requirements for your institution with the exception of core gen ed (math, English, history.

The Regent’s would like to see the information literacy requirement fulfilled more by testing and the course be treated as remediable.

ENROLLMENT
Fall enrollment for Weber State is 23, 003 students. Weber State’s enrollment for Fall Semester was up 10%.

ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.