CAS Minutes 2015-04-29

The Chair introduced ASCC Chair, Prof. Nash, who provided the following presentation on the new on-line course proposal form.

The ASCC created a subcommittee to develop an on-line, updated CAS course proposal form. The on-line form they created re-orders and clarifies content from the previous version.

New Form Contents & Modifications:
Part I – no major changes (similar to current form)
Part II – syllabus section with link for uploading it
Part III – department minutes with specific guidelines for department-level approval protocol

The previous form was cumbersome, and with multiple proposal elements, various files were sometimes forgotten or lost. The new form asks the same questions but they are now interactive text boxes and check boxes. The clickable, electronic form helps proposers make certain that they submit all necessary information and materials, and it helps the ASCC speed up the process and increase its efficiency. If you forget to fill in or check a box, you get a reminder; you cannot submit until the application is complete.

Some new updates and features include:
1. We updated course format options to keep pace with curricular innovation at Fairfield.
2. The new form includes a question about course evaluation (IDEA) choices.
3. The new form also asks proposer to specifcy technical support needs
4. The new form also includes course attributes to help registrar enure they are correct for degree evaluations

Ulitimately, the subcommittee created the revised on-line form to reduce errors and make life easier for the ASCC and for the proposer.

The Chair opened the floor to questions.

Prof. McFadden: Some requirements are the responsibilty of the proposer and some are the responsibility of the Chair. The Chair, for example, completes the course attributes section. The proposals are routed through the Chair.

Prof. Porter: The on-line form should have a dave button so that the proposer and Chair can complete the proposal in steps.

Prof. Nash:   IT is looking for a software fix to help us with issues like this one. For now Google forms is our stop gap. Fortunately, Google forms does have the auto-save feature. When we migrate from Google forms, we’ll be certain to maintain an auto-save feature.

Prof. Gudelunas: This is good work. Is there discussion about department approval requiring a face-to-face meeting?

Prof. Nash: We could amend that policy [face-to-face meeting/approval requirement] at a future meeting, but we would need to refer to the Governance Document before considering a change.

Prof. McFadden: My reading of the proposal and policy is that the face-to-face meeting is currently a requirement. If appropriate, maybe that can be changed in the Governance Document.

Assoc. Dean Perkus: The new on-line form seems like stop-gap. Our mission here is to support the process and develop an efficient work flow that includes UCC, diversity committees, and other bodies who also review and consider the proposals (the content has to go elsewhere after ASCC). Google forms provides a nice spreadsheet at the end of the process, but it is the ASCC Chair who still must ensure that it works.

Prof. Nash: It is a stop-gap, but given my experience, this new approach is much easier to complete, receive, and review. It improves the work flow efficiency, and it is a clear improvement over paper proposals.

Prof. Rakowitz: Is the ASCC seeking formal approval of the on-line form today, or are you simply seeking our feedback?

Prof. McFadden: The committee would like the CAS faculty endorsement for implementing the proposed on-line form this summer so that it would be operational for Fall 2015. For next semester, the choice is before us: the on-line form or continue the old procedures.

Prof. Rosivach: Prof. Rakowitz raised an important point. The current course proposal form was approved by this body. Any changes to the form therefore require the approval of this body.

Prof. Bayne: The Governance Document is actually silent on this issue. It does not specify whether or not changes to the form must go before the CAS faculty for approval. That said, it went before this body in the past, and that is the precedent.

Prof. Rosivach: Exactly. Once it was approved by the faculty, any changes must be approved here.

Chair:    The form with the ASCC recommended revisions are before the CAS faculty now. This body has choices in terms of how to move forward. We could entertain a motion to amend, or we could consider a motion to endorse and/or approve.

Prof. Mieczenkowski MOVED to endorse the on-line course proposal. Prof. McFadden SECONDED the motion.

Chair: We must determine if we need a formal vote today. Then we can proceed.

Prof. Mulvey: I object to rushing this proposal's approval. The decision if we need to approve or not should be up to this body.

Chair: We could consider a motion to require approval (now or later). But we have motion on the floor to endorse.

Prof. Klug: Are there major changes, or are we talking more about formatting and the transition to an on-line format? Are we changing the requirements?

Prof. Nash: No. We aren't changing any requirements except for the addition of an IDEA question and technology support question.

Chair: Let's maintain parlimentary procedure. Please speak either for or against the motion on the table.

Prof. McFadden: I speak In favor of the motion.   Our choices are clear. We should endorse and approve the new form today. We can try it and make any necessary modifications into the future. We approve the form today or we're stuck with the old system for Fall.

Prof. Rosivach MOVED TO AMEND THE MOTION to endorse the on-line form for use in the summer and for Fall 2015. Prof. Mulvey SECONDED the motion.

The Chair opened the floor to discuss the amendment to the motion. With no comments from the floor, the Chair called the vote. The motion to amend PASSED (52-6-6)

The Chair read the amended motion to endorse the on-line form solely for summer and fall terms, 2015. With no further discussion from the floor, the Chair called the vote. The motion PASSED (70-0-1).

The Dean presented the CAS Annual Distinguished Teaching Award. He noted that this year's nominees were exceptional, and he read the names of several previous award winners. Then he announced that we can now celebrate as colleagues because we have a new name to add to this impressive list: Prof. Marci Patton. The Dean shared read the award:

"Great teaching incites intellectual curiosity in students, engages them thoroughly in the enterprise of learning, and has a lifelong impact. Our very best teachers in the College are able to inspire, promote, and sustain the intellectual development of our students. And they provide advising and mentoring of students, in the spirit of cura personalis, outside the classroom, too. This year’s recipient of the CAS Distinguished Teaching Award epitomizes all of these qualities, and she has done so for almost 25 years.
Prof. Marcie Patton of the Department of Politics focuses on one of the most challenging and difficult topics about which to teach: Middle Eastern politics. Prof. Patton’s specialty is Turkey, and her years of travel, study abroad, and international networking enable her to bring this complicated political place alive for her students. Politics Chair Jocelyn Boryczka writes that Prof. Patton “embodies the work of the professor who challenges our students to think differently about the world – in this case a part of the world that is veiled in fear and ignorance – and to give them the support that they need in order to go into that world and explore it in all its complexities.” Prof. Patton has worked tirelessly to internationalize the curriculum at Fairfield. She was a key participant in establishing the International Studies Program and the World Diversity core requirement, and she currently is working with a core group of faculty to create an Islamic Studies program. She has encouraged students to pursue alternative study abroad options as Turkey, Dubai, and Tanzania. Through the Middle Eastern Studies Association, Prof. Patton has worked to gain protections for other teachers, in the U.S. and abroad, who often confront opposition from the government, the public, and sometimes from their own schools.
For these sustained commitments and accomplishments, the College of Arts and Sciences recognizes Professor Marcie Patton with the 2015 Distinguished Teaching Award."

CAS Colleagues rose to their feet and enthusiastically applauded as Prof. Patton received her award.

The Chair congratulated the following colleagues for their publications and accomplishments in 2014-15.

Ben Fine, Co-Author
Professor of Mathematics
The Elementary Theory of Groups: A Guide Through the Proofs of the Tarski Conjectures
De Gruyter, 2014

Introduction to Abstract Algebra:
From Rings, Numbers, Groups, and Fields to Polynomials and Galois Theory
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014

Janie Leatherman, Author
Professor of Politics & International Studies
Violencia Sexual y Conflictos Armados Bellaterra S.L., Edicions, 2014

Mark S. Leclair, Author
Professor of Economics
Philanthropy in Transition
Palgrave Macmillen, 2014

R. James Long, Author
Professor of Philosophy
Hagar's Vocation: Philosophy's Role in the Theology of Richard Fishacre, OP
The Catholic University of America Press, 2015

J. Vincent H. Morrissette, Co-Author
Adjunct Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures
Je me souviens: Histoire, culture, et littérature du Québec francophone
George University Press, 2014

Michael P. Pagano, Author
Associate Professor of Communication
Communication Case Studies for Health Care Professionals: An Applied Approach
Springer Publishing Company, 2015

Nels Pearson, Author
Associate Professor of English
Irish Cosmopolitanism: Location and Dislocation in James Joyce, Elizabeth Bowen, and Samuel Beckett
University Press of Florida, 2015

Lynne Porter, Author
Associate Professor of Visual & Performing Arts
Unmasking Theatre Design: A Designer's Guide to Finding Inspiration and Cultivating Creativity
Focal Press, 2015

Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, Author
Professor of History
Hi Hitler! How the Nazi Past is Being Normalized in Contemporary Culture
Cambridge University Press, 2015

Giovanni Ruffini, Author
Associate Professor of Classical Studies
The Bishop, The Eparch, and The King: Old Nubian texts from Qasr Ibrim (P. QI IV)
Journal of Juristic Papyrology, 2014

The Dean shared the following remarks:

It’s hard to believe I was standing here eight months ago at the start of a new school year. Time flies

I want to thank you all for giving me such strong support throughout this year as your Interim Dean. It’s a selective club: Ray Poincelot, Kurt Schlichting, myself are the only interim deans of The College in the last 20 years.

I have learned a lot from being on the inside, some of which may surprise you:

I continue to think the school’s decision to bring on Lynn Babington as the chief academic officer was the best thing that has happened to the academic division in my 19 years here. Most of you noticed Lynn was recently promoted to provost, and I expect she will have even more clout and leverage as she continues to lobby on behalf of the academic division. She and I do not agree on all issues, but that is to be expected. She is huge plus for Fairfield, and we are lucky to have her. Incidentally, for next year, she approved renewing every Professor of the Practice, and every Visiting Assistant Professor position in the college, PLUS all four tenure track hires I requested, plus 10 more new POPs and VAPs, and then gave us a fifth tt hire, a senior hire in physics. That dwarfs what other academic divisions received collectively. [HEARTY APPLAUSE]
I am pleasantly surprised by how much I have enjoyed working with Executive Vice President Kevin Lawler. I have interacted with him 15 or 20 times. We academics pride ourselves on wanting diversity, wanting a chorus of different voices at the table so that the truth might emerge triumphantly. I have found him to be reasoned in his comments, selective on when he intervenes on an issue, and useful in providing a business-oriented voice at the table.
I have renewed respect for our system of shared governance. I have seen up close this year how the vetting by multiple faculty committees results in much stronger proposals by the end of the process. Complaints that the process is too long or too cumbersome strike me as grossly overstated. The two new majors in The College – journalism and pr – went through five committees in eight weeks. And the new Integrated Nursing and Health Studies minor didn’t take much longer. I’m not sure I would want any quicker movement on complicated proposals
I continue to think the college’s large size is its best defense against the infatuation that some seem to have with our professional schools. [APPLAUSE] We should not think of this as either-or. It’s not either the liberal arts and sciences, or the professional schools For example, I am proud that we combined courses from nursing and the sciences to create the new integrated nursing and health studies minor. I am pleased that journalism students will be able to take engineering courses in computer science as part of their English major, and PR students will be encouraged to look at marketing courses in the Dolan School. I feel these kinds of combinations should be encouraged whenever they naturally occur, and this might break down the mentality of the professional schools VS CAS.
I am proud of efforts in The College to recruit more diverse faculty colleagues. Now we have to work harder to hold onto them. I stood here in September and said I had asked all departments engaged in tenure track searches to appoint a diversity monitor to keep an eye on the racial and gender breakdown of the candidate pool. Whether due to that request or other reasons, I am pleased that the chemistry search generated a new female colleague, even though I was warned the discipline can have trouble attracting women professors. The history search yielded your new colleague Sunil Puru-shot-ham, and the Economics search led to the hiring of Hedieh Shadmani. I am sure my successor, Prof. Yohuru Williams, will work with you all on better department mentoring so that Fairfield can improve its record on faculty of color making it through our rank and tenure process. I have full confidence in Yohuru’s leadership overall, and I can promise a smooth transition.
Perhaps the keenest insight from being dean is to see just how impressive our faculty is, and how smart it was for Fairfield to keep hiring during the financial crisis while other schools suspended hires. Harvard had a hiring freeze… now our folks are going up for tenure… dazzled me. A lot of those new faculty members are now approaching tenure and promotion, and to meet with each one of the fifth year faculty in recent weeks was a highlight of the year. I have now worked closely with about 45 of you over these three years in the dean’s office -- maybe on rank and tenure issues, IDEA scores, mentoring concerns, or personal issues. Knowing so many of you allows me to be even more enthusiastic when I look parents in the eyes and tell them: send your children to Fairfield. They will get a great education. We will take care of them.
Let me thank the other members of the all-star team in the Dean’s office who work so closely and effectively with you. It’s been a delight to work with Associate Deans Brian Walker, Aaron Perkus and David Gudelunas, all of whom will be in the office next year and provide continuity. Assistant Deans Sue Peterson and Andrea Martinez are even more effective when you can watch them up close, bringing to life the promise of cura personalis that we make to all of our students. And words fail when it comes to Jean Daniele, assistant to the dean, who makes everything run as smoothly as the CAS Student Awards Night did this week.Please join me in a round of applause for all their efforts [APPLAUSE]
I often have thought of our friend Robbin Crabtree during this year, staying in touch with her at LMU, completing a journal article with her, and reflecting on the great job she did of preparing me to join the dean’s office three years ago. I would like to remind you of Robbin’s favorite saying. She argues: “you don’t have to be a dean or vice president or president to exert your influence at Fairfield.” Instead, her mantra is: "Lead from where you are. Lead from who you are." Again, "Lead from where you are. Lead from who you are"
So many members of the College of Arts and Sciences take that advice to heart. People like Bob Epstein, who has done a great job this year as college chair and now switches over to new duties as Director of The Core. People like the members of the Arts and Sciences Planning Committee, and the Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee. And dozens and dozens and dozens of you in the audience, whether you hold an official position or not. I started the year by warning about a five year slide in the number and percentage of entering Fairfield freshmen who chose the college. VP Babington told academic council this week that the numbers look good for this year’s entering class, with an uptick in the percentage choosing to enroll in the college of arts and sciences. I couldn’t get any other details. [HEARTY APPLAUSE] Let’s take that as a sign of the great things to come as the college enters into a new year in September.

It’s been a privilege serving in this job. But I have to admit a yearlong sabbatical starting July 1 sounds pretty good right now. Thank you again for your support