May 8, 2008

University Senate wraps up busy year

At its April 21 meeting, the Senate approved a proposal from the Educational Policy Committee to adopt three grade indexes: semester, cumulative and a program GPA derived from a degree audit. All three indexes will appear on a student's transcript.

For a student going through a change of degree objective (CODO), the new college or school will calculate a program GPA based on its requirements and use that as a criterion in accepting the student.

"I think the Senate can agree that this a fair, balanced, and transparent system," said Jim McGlothlin, EPC chair. "The EPC worked diligently to serve the needs and will of the Senate."

A draft of the University's next strategic plan was released at the Senate meeting. Senate members were asked to review the document and provide feedback.

"This plan is a statement of the direction in which members of the faculty and staff would like to see Purdue grow," said Senate Chair George Bodner, who served as co-chair of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. "The strategic plan will provide a foundation upon which a series of action items will be built, and I am excited about the prospect this provides."

The draft plan is available at www.purdue.edu/strategic_plan/2008-2013/.

The Senate heard a report on enhancing graduate programs from Morris Levy, chair of the University Resources Policy Committee. The presentation was a follow-up to URPC's 2006 report, "Graduate Staff Appointment Fees and the Strategic Plan."

The initial report detailed the URPC's concerns about increases in fees charged to graduate teaching and research assistants. The committee noted that the fees were affecting graduate staff's net compensation and likely reducing Purdue's competitive ability to grow and enhance its graduate programs.

The latest report finds that graduate enrollment has been static over the past five years while fees have increased by 134 percent since 2000. 

"To recruit and retain the increased numbers and caliber of graduate students we need to achieve the goals of our next strategic plan, we must in some way improve our competitive net compensation for graduate students," Levy said.

The URPC suggests that Purdue either reduce graduate staff appointment fees or stop future increases to allow for stipend increases to readjust net compensation to competitive levels. In addition, the committee suggests Purdue devote more funding to graduate diversity recruitment as well as increase the number and amount of graduate fellowships.

Martin Curd, associate professor of philosophy, provided the annual report of the Athletic Affairs Committee. Curd reported that in spring 2007 and fall 2007 the student-athlete grade point averages were 2.98 and 2.97, respectively. The all-campus student GPA for both periods was 2.91.

Curd said that for fall 2007-08, 8 percent of student athletes earned a perfect 4.0 GPA, compared with 3.1 percent of their all-campus peers.

In other business:

-- Bodner presented a revised draft of Purdue's Policy on Research Integrity, Executive Memorandum C-22. Bodner said there is still time for Senate members to submit comments and suggestions before the draft goes before the Board of Trustees for action.

-- Based on recommendations from the Academic Documents and Records Committee, the Senate voted in favor of having committees review approved documents every five years. The committees will decide if documents are still pertinent as written, in need of updating, or need to be rescinded.

The Senate also voted to disband the Academic Documents and Records Committee. The committee's only charge was to maintain the Academic Procedures Manual, which has been discontinued.

-- The following faculty members have been elected to serve on University Senate committees during academic 2008-09:

Educational Policy Committee: Janet Alsup, associate professor of English education; Joseph Kmec, associate professor of mechanical engineering technology; Mark Moriarty, associate professor of management; and Teri Reed-Rhoads, assistant dean of engineering for undergraduate education and associate professor of engineering education.

Faculty Affairs Committee: A. Charlene Sullivan, associate professor of management; Volker Thomas, associate professor of marriage and family therapy; and William Zinsmeister, professor of earth science.

Student Affairs Committee: David Anderson, professor of mechanical engineering; Sally Hastings, associate professor of history; Marion Trout, associate professor of bands; and G. Thomas Wilson, associate professor of pharmacy practice.

University Resources Policy Committee: Ernest Blatchley III, professor of civil engineering; Lawrence DeBoer, professor of agricultural economics; Shawn Donkin, professor of animal sciences; Chong Gu, professor of statistics; Richard Johnson-Sheehan, associate professor of English; Daniel Mroczek, associate professor of developmental studies; Phillip Pope, professor of forestry; Teri Reed-Rhoads, assistant dean of engineering for undergraduate education and associate professor of engineering education; and Paul Schwab, professor of agronomy.

-- Brent Bowditch, assistant director at Human Resource Services, reported to the Senate on health care costs and initiatives to contain costs and improve benefits.