OAKLAND UNIVERSITY SENATE
Thursday, 12 April 2001
Seventh Meeting
MINUTES
Members present: Alber, Andrews, Bhatt, Buffard-O'Shea, Coppin, Didier, Dow, Downing, Eberwein, Emrich, Esposito, Estes, Gardner, Gilroy, Ginger, Grossman, Herman, Kochenderfer, Laski, Long, Marks, Mayer, McNair, K. Moore, Mosby, Olson, Otto, Russell, Schwartz, Shablin, Sieloff, Sudol, Wood, Wharton
Members absent: Abraham, Benson, Blanks, Brieger, Carter, Chapman, Early, Eberly, Fink, Goldberg, Haskell, Hildebrand, Kleckner, MacKinder, McIntosh, D. Moore, Moran, Nakao, Pfeiffer, Rozek, Rusek, Schochetman, Sen, Sevilla, Sharma, Stamps.
Summary of actions:
1. Information items.
a. Appointment of Ms. Moore as Secretary for the April meeting.
b. Air Force ROTC Cross Town Agreement.
2. Approval of the minutes of the March 15, 2001 meeting. (Ms. Wood, Ms. Sieloff) Approved as corrected.
3. Motion from the Graduate Council to recommend approval of a Master of Science Program in Embedded Systems (Mr. Andrews, Mr. Mayer) Second reading. Approved.
4. Motion from the Graduate Council to recommend approval of a Master of Science Program in Information Systems Engineering (Ms. Sieloff, Mr. Andrews) Second reading. Approved.
5. Motion from the Graduate Council to recommend approval of a Master of Science in Information Technology Management (Mr. Coppin, Mr. Mayer)
6. Motion from the Graduate Council to recommend approval of a Doctorate in Physical Therapy and a Post-professional Doctorate of Science in Physical Therapy (Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Olson) Second reading. Approved.
7. Motion from the Steering Committee to endorse the report of the Nursing and Health Sciences Task Force. (Ms.Sieloff, Mr. Andrews) Second reading. Approved.
8. Motion from the Senate Library Committee to endorse three recommendations to the President and the Board (Mr.Andrews, ??second) Approved as amended following approval of a motion to waive the second
reading (Mr. Andrews, Ms. Wood)
8a. Motion to amend wording of the Senate Library Committee motion. (Mr. Downing, Ms. Didier) Approved.
9. Procedural motion from the Steering Committee to staff Senate standing committees (Ms. Sieloff, Ms. Gilroy) Approved.
The meeting was called to order by the Provost who then announced that Kathy Moore had agreed to substitute as secretary for this meeting. Ms. Moore requested that everyone say as little as possible.
Air Force ROTC Agreement
He then turned to Ms. Andersen who reported that the Air Force ROTC has expressed interest in having a "Cross Town Agreement" with Oakland University. She's met with the Air Force ROTC regional director of admissions and with UCUI and worked with Registrar Steve Shablin to gather information and guidance.
The Southeast Michigan Air Force ROTC program is housed at the University of Michigan and Cross Town Agreements are already in place for Wayne State, Concordia College, Eastern Michigan, Lawrence Tech, U of M--Dearborn, and U of M--Flint. Essentially, students under Cross Town Agreements enroll at their home universities for their degree programs and once a week go to Ann Arbor for their AFROTC officer training coursework. They receive full tuition and books and living allowances as do AFROTC students at the base institution. Several OU students have already expressed interest in this program and such a program would, clearly, have appeal for a small number of OU students or potential students.
The two requirements the AFROTC has for institutions participating in Cross Town Agreements are that they publicize the program in university documents (for example, the catalog and admissions/recruiting materials) and that they "consider" awarding credit for the courses. The Admissions Office would be pleased to publicize the programs for new students, but material could not go into the catalog until 2002-03 given our publication schedule. Next year the relevant COIs and UCUI can "consider" the credit issues.
We did enough research already to determine that credits are treated variously by different institutions. At U of M credit is awarded for the officer training coursework, but the credits are "not for credit toward LS&A degree." At Lawrence Tech, the credits are accepted as transfer credits and are counted as electives in degree programs. At U of M-Dearborn they are accepted as add-on's. Oakland is not, by the Agreement, obligated to take the credits in any form, merely to "consider" the matter. For students in the 4-year program, the total is 16 U of M credits.
If we execute an agreement with the Air Force, it is likely we will have the other branches' ROTC programs also requesting Cross Town Agreements.
There seems to be no institutional prohibition against military programs. In reviewing Senate legislation from the Viet Nam war era, a January 10, 1968 report from the Placement Council about permitting military recruiters on OU's campus was accepted by the Senate on April 18, 1968. The Council recommended that such recruitment continue to be allowed "through the normal mechanisms of the Placement Office" for three reasons: 1) "curtailment of recruiting would be of unnecessary inconvenience and, in some instances, of hardship to a sizable group of students," 2) "students have generally a right to information; to ban all or certain recruiters from the campus would effectively be to infringe on that right," and finally 3) it is inappropriate for the university, "as an institution," to condemn U.S. policy on Viet Nam.
Because of the military need for officers, the AFROTC has just instituted a one-year program, so seniors at OU could actually take advantage of this program in 2001-02 if we implement it. (The traditional programs are 4- and 2-year programs of study.)
Mr. Esposito indicated that the University will participate and that the question of credits will be decided at a later date.
The classroom technology status report will be provided at a later date.
The minutes of the March meeting were approved as corrected (the Travis donation figure was corrected to $583,000 by Mr. Downing), following the motion by Ms. Woods and a second by Ms. Sieloff.
Master of Science in Embedded Systems
The first item of old business, a motion to recommend approval of a Master of Science Program in Embedded Systems, was approved unanimously with no further discussion.
Master of Science in Information Systems Engineering
The second item, a motion to recommend approval of a Master of Science Program in Information Systems Engineering, was approved unanimously with no further discussion.
Master of Science in Information Technology Management
On a roll, the next motion, a proposal to recommend approval of a Master of Science in Information Technology Management, was approved with no further discussion.
Doctorate in Physical Therapy
However, the motion to recommend approval of a Doctorate in Physical Therapy and a Post-professional Doctorate of Science in Physical Therapy elicited some discussion. Mr. Russell raised a concern about the number of faculty in the program without doctorates, and although he understands that this will change over time, he pointed out that the program will be producing doctorates with only one doctorally qualified member of the faculty. He also expressed concern over the use of the term "doctor of science in physical therapy", noting that the phrase doctor of science normally refers to a research degree, with a research component and a dissertation. He suggested that Oakland might follow the University of Southern California pattern and offer an entry level doctorate (DPT) and a post-professional DPT degree and moved that the terminology in the proposal be changed so that both degrees would be DPTs. (e.g. Doctorate in Physical Therapy and Post Professional Doctorate in Physical Therapy.) Ms. Walters explained that profession has requested this so that the two groups can be differentiated, the DScPt does exist in other programs and that's why they chose it. The motion to amend failed for lack of a second. Responding to his first concern, Ms. Walters also added that there are three doctorally prepared faculty but only one is tenure track. She added the program contains a research component but it is primarily a clinical degree and so it is appropriate to have clinicians teaching. Mr. Russell argued further that the Doctor of Science was like a Ph.D.
Mr. Grossman asked if the difference in terminology would affect the university's Carnegie classification. Mr. Esposito indicated he wasn't sure but thought that they would be counted just like Ph.Ds. However, he also said he thought that the Doctor of Science was generally not considered a research degree. Mr. Downing stated that it needs to be clear that we are approving a clinical practitioners degree and not a research degree.
The motion was then approved with one dissent.(Russell)
Nursing and Health Sciences Task Force
The final item of old business, a motion to endorse the Nursing and Health Sciences Task Force, was next on the agenda. The motion was approved with several dissents (Olson, Russell, Otto)
Senate Library Committee recommendations
Moving onto new business, the Senate then considered a motion from to endorse three recommendations from the Senate Library Committee:
1) To conform to the NCA recommendations of 1989, 1994, and 1999, Kresge Library should receive automatic annual increases to its base budget to compensate for library inflation rates;
2) Money appropriated for new academic programs should be delivered to Kresge Library immediately after Board of Trustees' approval of the program and before admission of students into the program.;
3) To keep Kresge Library in compliance with the goals of the OU 2010 Profile, the library budget of FY 2010 should be double the current budget. This increase should occur in regular annual increments to both the materials budget and the positions budget.
Ms. Wood moved to waive the second reading, Ms. Didier seconded and the motion to waive was approved unanimously. Mr. Gardner asked what the rationale was for a doubling of the budget in 2010. Mr. Dow responded that the library budget has been neglected for so long that the ideal would be for it to be doubled tomorrow. However the library can't utilize money like that so this incremental schedule was proposed. Mr. Gardner asked how the needs were documented and how would costs be affected by their changes in format availability. Mr. Dow indicated that this proposal was simply to bring Oakland up to its peer institutions. Ms. Didier responded that electronic formats generally cost more and require more sophisticated equipment. And while you may not need staff to check in individual issues of journals, you need a higher level of clerical and librarian sophistication to provide the linkages of electronic records. She indicated the proposal to double the budget was conservative, given the lack of funding increases since 1994 and that the library has about one-third the size staff it had 20 years ago. Ms. Sieloff pointed out that there's been a significant inflation rate (40%) of library materials, especially journals, since 1994 and that's another reason to support the recommendation. Mr. Downing indicated that, while he appreciates what the motion is attempting to accomplish, he is troubled by the wording in that it directs the doubling of a budget in Academic Affairs without putting in context the entire budget of Academic Affairs. It is possible that the Board could direct the Provost to double the budget of the library without any increment to the budget of Academic Affairs and he hopes this isn't what is being proposed. Mr. Downing proposed an amendment to the last sentence so that it would read:
3) To keep Kresge Library in compliance with the goals of the OU 2010 Profile, the library budget of FY 2010 should be double the current budget. This increase should occur in regular annual increments to both the materials budget and the positions budget, reflecting an increase to the Academic Affairs future base budget.
Ms. Didier seconded the proposed amendment. The motion to amend was approved and then the main motion was approved.
Senate Standing Committees
Ms. Sieloff then presented the annual April motion to staff Senate Standing Committees, a motion seconded by Ms. Gilroy. Mr. Mayer noted that a number of the committees did not have designated chairs and Mr. Esposito responded that the Steering Committee was working on it. The motion was then approved.
Good and Welfare
Ms. Awbrey indicated that the Undergraduate Catalog is at the printers and will soon be available.
Ms. Buffard-O'Shea asked for background regarding the fact that OU diplomas do not contain designation of majors, but just degrees awarded. Mr. Shablin stated that around half of the institutions in the country do not indicate majors on diplomas, the other half do. Oakland does not at the undergraduate level but does at the graduate level. Mr. Esposito indicated that the university will be looking into this. Mr. Grossman commented that he hoped the university would be looking not just at how to do this, but consider the merits of doing this, adding that we are educating the students and giving them a bachelor's degree and the major is just one part of the degree and their educational experience. Ms. Gilroy clarified that the transcript is the official proof of what was conferred upon a student and a diploma is just an honorary document suitable for framing.
Mr. Russell asked about the status of the Bookstore for the summer term. Mr. Esposito indicated that he would look into it and that it is likely there will be a change by September.
Submitted by:
Linda L. Hildebrand
Secretary to the University Senate
(based on the notes by K. Moore and the audio tape)
9/18/01