PRESENT: Anders, Bala, Blount (GP), Blount (KP), Buck, Burnside, Cammarata, Cook, Fox, Hickman, Hicks, Larkin, Lehman, Loter, Louchouarn, Maurstad, McDonald, McKee, Mendez, Morvant, Mott, Moury, Naehr, Nipper, Silliman, Smith-Engle, Thompson, Tissot, Tunnell, Waldbeser, Withers.

ABSENT: Barnes, Benson, Berkebile, Billiot (F), Billiot (E), Cabrera, Chopin, Samocha.

1.Welcome. Announcements? Grady read part of the letter from the Ocean Drilling Program inviting Dr. Naehr to participate in their next cruise.

2.New members of Regent's Academy: Buck, Tissot; Computer Inventory report. ACC allocates $59K to S&T. Grady stated that the plan was to replace all faculty PC's below 500 MHz this year. Macs, being more expensive, will have to have a longer replacement cycle time. Grady reminded everyone that Eugene Billiot is handling all requests for computer repairs/upgrades.

3.Teacher Certification Plans (Robert McDonald & Kit Price Blount). Kit presented a proposed BS in ESCI for 4-8 Science certification. Lehman made motion to accept with a two year sunset clause (degree would cease to exist after 2 years) and directed the Science Teacher Ed faculty to immediately begin work on a freestanding Science Ed degree. Loter seconded. As a submotion within this motion, McDonald presented coursework description for two sections of Topics in Science Education. Morvant moved and Loter seconded to accept these classes. Faculty approved unanimously. Then final vote on the 4-8 Science certification plan passed. Mark Morvant then presented a BS in CHEM designed to fulfill the high school Physical Science certification. Kit echoed Lehman's earlier motion, Lehman seconded, to accept it with a two year sunset and direction to begin work on a separate science ed degree. This motion also passed.

4.Biology course items (Mott). CLSC course items (Thompson). Mott described several Special Topics to "normal" class number transitions: Animal Nutrition (proposed as BIOL 3330) was approved after discussion (Loter moved and Lehman seconded) with CHEM 3312 included as a corequisite. - BIOL 2100 Biomedical Seminar and BIOL 2101 Medical Terminology also passed. Thompson then described catalog copy describing alternative certification routes in CLSC.

5.Other Business? Dave Moury handed out a TA Leave Form which was edited and approved by the faculty. Joe Loter reported that PALS now has > 1,200 students in our advisor files. The average number of advisees is 31 but some have as many as 50. Although there was considerable discussion supporting the need for direct student contact via advising, there was also a sense that the faculty need more support in order to handle these numbers efficiently. Joanna Mott will head up an ad hoc subcommittee which will present draft text for a resolution on the matter to be presented to the Dean and/or Faculty Senate. This text is due at the December 14^th meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 3:27 PM

1.Greetings, announcements?

2.Graduate catalog copy due to Dr. Smith-Engle by Wednesday, 11/14. Reminder only.

3.Vote to revise policy and allow revisions/changes in same. It was noted that our existing Graduate Faculty policy requires a 2/3^rd's vote "to institute additional rules, requirements, or responsibilities". It was felt that we should be specific about "changes" and also about who constitutes the 2/3rds. Since 2/.3rds were not present, Grady said he would circulate an on-line vote to have these items clarified in our policy.

4.Report on policy rewrite committee (Jennifer). There was considerable discussion of the proposed changes in regards to committee membership. Since we did not have 2/3rds present, a vote could not be taken. Also, since each graduate program has it's own policy on graduate committee membership, and since Graduate Faculty policy does not require membership per se, it would be prudent not to pursue a vote..

5.New course proposals? Shorebird Ecology and Management (Withers). There was some discussion about if this class would conflict with existing classes. Grady told group that if a class doesn’t make, we can find some other assignment for the faculty member. Not a bad thing. Jennifer moved and Louchouarn second to accept this as an ESCI Special Topics class. Motion passed.

6.Changes to Admissions Standards (Suzzette). Reminder about incorporating these new rules in catalog copy.

7.Other business? Tunnell questioned why the new BIOL Graduate catalog copy had been changed to include the word "tenure" in a discussion of graduate committee membership. Grady read part of an email from Harper in which she stated that such changes could not be less inclusive of non-tenured faculty and that the department chair would have the authority to strike such language. Grady indicated that he would do this. Nipper commented on the somewhat indefinite timing of graduate meetings. After some discussion, there was a vote to set a new time standard for the remainder of the year.

The graduate faculty will meet on the first Friday of every other month at 2 PM. This will separate the graduate meeting from the undergraduate meeting.

That also means our next meeting will be held on January 4^th in ST-201.