Members present: Aigbedo, Andersen, Awbrey, Bee, Berven K., Butler, Cole, Condic, Connery, Doman, Dulio, Dvir, Eis, Estes, Folberg, Frick, Fu, Graetz, Grimm, Grossman, Guessous,  Hay, Hightower, Hoag, Hoffman, Jhashi, Latcha, Leibert, LeMarbe, Lim, Meehan, Moudgil, Mourdjian, Pickard, Polis, Rammel, Reger, Riley-Doucet, Roth, Russell, Schartman, Schuiling, Sethi, Shablin, Solomonson, Spagnuola, Sudol, Thompson, Thor, Wells, Wood, Zhang
Members absent :  Berven D., Chamra, Dalton, Dunn, Gallien, Gamble, Giberson, Giblin, Lauer, Miller, Stano, Tanniru, Taschereau, Tiegs, Williams

Provost Moudgil called the meeting to order at 3:15 P.M. He also wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate Adriene Lim, Dean of the University Libraries, upon her recent completion of the Ph.D.

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

1. Macomb Update – Ms. Youngblood (Associate Vice Provost, Outreach and Executive Director of Macomb Outreach)

Ms. Youngblood acknowledged that she discussed Macomb programmatic developments at the February Senate meeting, but would like to address the challenges now. There are many wonderful things taking place in Macomb including the introduction of six new programs in the past few months.  However, other colleges and universities are making inroads into Macomb including Wayne State University, Central Michigan University, and Baker College. Their increased presence has implications for us. OU’s market share has steadily declined: in 2005 OU offered 44% of the sections in the Macomb University Center but in 2011 that decreased to 33%. The same trend is seen with total student enrollment – from 45% to 29%. The sections and enrollment numbers have decreased even more dramatically at the Macomb Intermediate School District (MISD). There is an unmet need for higher education in Macomb. During Fall 2011, 6,000 OU students came from Macomb.  If half of these students were lost, OU would lose over $30 million in revenue. OU needs to be the university of choice in Macomb. Additionally, 20,000 OU alumni live in Macomb, so there exist numerous opportunities for expansion in philanthropy. Other universities are aware of the opportunities in Macomb.  Ms. Wells thanked Ms. Youngblood for sharing these statistics and also wanted to inform the Senate that this past Monday night she participated in new recruitment efforts to enhance the Macomb population. Courses are being offered on the weekends and a program certificate is also an option. Ms. Youngblood thanked the Senate members for the opportunity to speak today.

2. Senate Committee Openings – Ms. Condic

Ms. Condic requested that Senate members encourage their colleagues to submit their preferences for membership on Senate standing committees to the email address senate@oakland.edu by Monday, April 23, 2012.

Program modifications and additions: The following items will have 5 minute presentations and discussion.

3. M.S. in Information Technology Management (MSITM) 4+1 -- Mr. Dadashzadeh

Mr. Dadashzadeh described the MSITM 4+1 Plan  which has been developed to encourage high-achieving Management Information Systems (MIS) majors to continue to enter the graduate program and earn their combined bachelor and master degrees in five years. The current undergraduate MIS major takes the Business Administration core plus 4 required MIS courses and 3 MIS electives which are structured to allow four knowledge paths to choose from. In the MSITM program, graduate students must satisfy two foundation/prerequisite courses, plus three required courses, six electives, and one capstone course. For MIS majors seeking the graduate degree, the foundation/prerequisite courses have already been taken and the 3 required MSITM courses would normally be substituted with MSITM electives. Nevertheless, completion of the 10 courses in the MSITM program would typically take more than 2 years on a part-time basis and more than a year as a full-time student. By allowing MIS majors to take 2 graduate courses that would be double counted for the MIS major and the MSITM degree, it becomes possible to complete the MSITM degree in an additional year of full-time study, thereby making it possible for students to obtain more depth in a chosen knowledge path and greater breadth through more electives. The admission requirements to the MSITM 4+1 Plan are rigorous.

4. Modifications to Ph.D. in Reading -- Mr. McEneany

Mr. McEneany explained that the reading Ph.D. was designed in the 1970’s as a post-baccalaureate degree when it was important that students have experience in schools. The profession has changed over the years, and this Ph.D. program needs to be streamlined to reflect the current practices. Students are pricing reading programs, and our current degree program with 92 credits is more expensive for students than other Ph.D. reading programs that require fewer credits. Modifications to this program include reducing the number of credits to 68. Additionally, more courses will be offered online with the goal of having fully online versions of courses available by Fall 2013.

5. Court Administration – Master of Public Administration -- Ms. Hartmus

Currently within the Master of Public Administration there are four concentrations: Local Government, Non-Profit Organizations, Criminal Justice, and Health Care Administration. The new fifth concentration next Fall is Court Administration. Each concentration is 12 credits, core courses are 24 credits, 4 credits for a master project or internship for a total of 40 credits. This new concentration will be fully available at the Anton Frankel Center, and the Criminal Justice concentration is there as well.

The Autism Spectrum Disorder graduate certificate program is currently composed of three options. Option A includes those students who are previously endorsed in special education. Option B applies to those with a valid teaching certificate. Option C is for those not seeking a teaching certificate but wish to further their knowledge of autism. Two additional certificate options are being proposed which embrace Applied Behavioral Analysis. Opportunities are many, and these courses are to become Board Certified. The Autism Insurance Reform Bill was recently passed so the OU certificate needs to align the program with the bill to have national certification. There is an increased number of children with autism and this presents more employment opportunities.

The following programs proposed minor modifications and were online for information purposes but were not presented. Representatives from the programs were available to answer questions from senators.

7. Modifications to PM DNP Program -- Ms. Dunn and Ms. Jackson

8. Modifications to M.S. Physical Therapy -- Ms. Thompson

9. Modifications to M.A. in Teaching Elementary Education

10. Modifications to M.S. in Teaching Secondary Education

11. Modifications to Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy and Learning -- Mr. Cipielewski, Ms. Brown, Ms. Porter

12. Provost's Updates --Mr. Moudgil

         Commencement is being held on April 28, and Mr. Moudgil invited colleagues to attend. He expressed his view that it is an exhilarating day.

B. Roll Call -- quorum achieved with 52 present, 15 absent.

C. Approval of the Minutes of March 8, 2012

           The minutes of the Senate meeting of March 8, 2012 were approved (Doman, Bee).

D. New Business

1. Motion from the Steering Committee to recommend approval of the Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership in the School of Education and Human Services.

MOVED that the Senate recommend to the President and Board of Trustees approval of the Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership in the School of Education and Human Services (Thompson, Reger)

Jana Nidiffer, Chair, Department of Educational Leadership was present to describe the proposed Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership. This new program has been formed in collaboration with the Department of Counseling, and Lisa Hawley, Chair, Department of Counseling, was present as well. Ms. Nidiffer explained that the mission of the program is to produce transformational leaders who understand social justice practices. This new program infuses social justice issues throughout the curricula. Those who embrace the element of social justice will be aware of a culturally sensitive campus in which more students are likely to be retained. Mary Beth Snyder, Vice President of Student Affairs, was a consultant for parts of this proposal. Kresge library resources are well suited for this program since the university already has higher education and counseling programs. Ms. Nidiffer apologized for any confusion regarding library resources and added that $1,000 can be added to the existing budget for these resources. In an evaluation of peer institutions, Ms. Nidiffer felt that this new proposal was very comparable. Ms. Nidiffer indicated that it is difficult to predict student demand, so this process was approached in many different ways. Additionally, there were several letters of support for this new program.

Mr. Folberg questioned how the peer institutions were selected. Ms. Nidiffer answered that she obtained this information from Laura Schartman, Director, Institutional Research & Assessment. Mr. Folberg asked if these peer-institution selections were based on Carnegie Classifications. He added that peers must be selected wisely in order to set the benchmarks appropriately. He would like the Senate to discuss this topic at a future meeting. Mr. Moudgil appreciated the comments by Mr. Folberg. Ms. Schartman replied that the Carnegie classification Doctoral Research Group has a very limited mission and many are looking at a more aspirational grouping.

Ms. Butler introduced a motion to waive the second reading, second by Mr. Dvir. Mr. Russell reminded the Senate that new programs should not be rushed through in one reading. Mr. Grimm asked a rhetorical question: how many have read the entire proposal? Mr. Doman stated that he has thoroughly vetted the proposal and added that the two programs would like to get moving on this new program. Mr. Moudgil inquired as to the pleasure of the Senate. Mr. Russell pointed out that this is a very busy time and since he was not on any of the committees reviewing the proposal, this is the first opportunity he has had to read the proposal. Ms. Thompson moved that the Senate table the motion to waive the second reading, second by Mr. Latcha. This non-debatable motion passed with many Yays and one Nay vote.

Now the Senate was open for discussion of the proposal. Mr. Grimm asked about the capstone question and the nature of the internship. Ms. Nidiffer replied that students need to be familiar with all aspects of Higher Education. Mr. Grimm specified that he was interested in the nature of the internship – as a mentor, within an institution or either one? Ms. Nidiffer replied either one. Mr. Grimm wanted to clarify if the areas were considered a concentration or a cognate. Ms. Nidiffer indicated that they use the term cognate within the department. Mr. Doman moved to waive the second reading, second Mr. Meehan. Ms. Andersen commented that she agreed with Mr. Russell in that there was little time to read the entire proposal completely. She stated that she is happy to attend a Senate meeting in May. Mr. Dvir wondered how many others have not read the proposal. Ms. Guessous stated that she also agreed with Mr. Russell and that time should be available for members to read the proposal. Ms. Nidiffer stated that she has many interested students waiting to start this new program in September. Mr. Grossman inquired as to the timelines for the board and state approval process. Mr. Moudgil replied that the next Board of Trustees meeting and the next Presidents Council are both held in June. Mr. Grossman reminded the Senate that a quorum is not required for a May Senate meeting. The question was moved to waive the second reading. Three quarters approval is needed to carry this motion. Twenty voted in favor of waiving the second reading, but this was not enough to carry the motion, so it was defeated. The second reading was not waived.

MOVED that the Senate recommend to the President and Board of Trustees approval of the Ph.D. in Applied and Computational Physics in the Department of Physics (Guessous, Latcha)

Andrei Slavin, Chair, Physics Department, declared that it was a pleasure to introduce this new program after 20 years in the making. This is a viable step as Oakland strives to be viewed as a research university. Mr. Slavin indicated that there exists a solid pool of students for this program with applied physics and engineering students as our clients. He also commented that Physics currently receives a large amount of grant monies, the Physics faculty publish heavily in peer-reviewed journals, and students have received outstanding dissertation awards. He also commented that the new program will be able to attract the top class of students into this program. The financial requests include two teaching assistants, one full-time faculty for the 3rd year, and one visiting faculty. There are also several have letters of support for this program. Mr. Frick remarked that he had a friendly question regarding expanding this new program beyond physics to include other sciences. Mr. Slavin replied that it was very suitable for those in engineering to obtain a Ph.D. in this new program. Mr. Sethi suggested that the name of the program be changed to Computation Science. Mr. Slavin politely replied that it was too late to change the name of the program. Mr. Moudgil remarked that the strengths within the Physics Department drive this program.

Mr. Roth moved that the second reading be waived so in order to proceed to the vote, second by Mr. Dvir. Mr. Leibert rhetorically asked how many Senators had read the proposal.  Mr. Slavin commented that he has students ready to start this new program.  The motion to waive second reading failed since ¾ of the votes were not attained. Mr. Grossman moved that the Senate meet in May 2012 for the purpose of considering the motions on approving a Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership and a PhD in Applied and Computational Physics, second Mr. Grimm. Mr. Russell appealed to the Steering Committee to schedule the May meeting during a time when classes meet, not during the interim period. The vote on the motion to hold a May meeting passed with many Yays and two Nays. There will be a May Senate meeting. Mr. Dvir commented that too many new program proposals arrive at the April meeting. The new program process is too long and he hopes to see this streamlined. Mr. Moudgil commented that the process includes faculty committees for faculty input; the administration is not slowing down the process but is a facilitator. The Steering Committee is currently working on streamlining this process.  He urged faculty to introduce new programs in September. This allows plenty of time to refine the proposal.

E. Good and Welfare

1. Darren Hanna stated that the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Commencement is gathering input from students and parents. He hopes to have an information update at the fall meeting.

2. Ms. Cole wished to thank Mr. Folberg for highlighting the issue of peer universities with the hopes of compiling an aspirational group. She looks forward to that discussion during a fall Senate meeting.

3. Mr. Shablin offered a friendly reminder that grades are due Friday, April 27 by 5pm.

4. Ms. Jhashi commented that the study of past new proposals found that the review process takes three months. She also urged that faculty present new proposals during the Fall months from September through November. Mr. Moudgil expressed his consent.

5.  Mr. Russell expressed an appeal that new building custodial work be done in-house and not outsourced. A petition is in process.

6. Mr. Moudgil very graciously took this opportunity to thank George Preisinger and his staff for everything that they do, Dikka Berven and today Kris Condic for taking the minutes, Michelle Piskulich for coordinating the Steering Committee, and also Tamara Jhashi for all the work she has done, the Steering Committee members for their hard work, Jerry Grossman for his guidance, the Senators for taking the time to make shared governance work, and Dru Duran and Stephanie Lee for setting up the cookies, tea, and coffee. In addition, Mr. Moudgil wished to thank the Senators for letting him represent them and for helping him.

ADJOURNMENT
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Kristine Condic