12/07/07

With a few notions of unfinished business left over from last month’s meeting in November, Tuesday’s faculty senate meeting highlighted what upcoming plans and announcements Baker University will be a part of.

As Faculty Senate Vice Chair Martha Harris reiterated what exactly the unfinished business from last month’s meeting was, ballots were passed around the room in order to complete a two-thirds vote for approval.

“The motion from Nominating Committee regarding the (College of Arts and Sciences) Standing Committee to change from six faculty members to five faculty members passed with a 15-1 vote in favor of the idea,” Harris said. “The faculty will be elected annually by and from the designated assessment coordinators, student representative and the associate and assistant deans.”

New business included a motion from Academic Standards and Enrollment Management Committee regarding proposed catalog wording with regard to admission, in addition to the approval of the December graduates.

Judy Smrha, assistant dean for institutional effectiveness, explained the importance of having an unweighted GPA versus a weighted one.

“Many high school students have a weighted GPA, which means they can receive higher than a 4.0 due to enrolling in advanced placement courses,” Smrha said. “Baker has always used an unweighted system because every school district can weigh students’ GPA however they want.”

Earth We Are President Sarah Romereim asked faculty senate for its permission and support to organize what is called “Focus the Nation,” which will be held on Baker’s campus Jan. 29.

“We will be inviting community leaders and asking them what they think solutions to global warming could be,” Romereim said. “I wanted to ask the faculty senate for their support so we can put their name on the Web site saying who knows about this event and who supports it.”

Approving the list of December graduates, faculty senate also addressed the report on the senate motion asking for monthly reports regarding the CAS early retirement plan.

Rand Ziegler, vice president and dean of the CAS, discussed why it is important to enforce the early retirement plan.

“People who have approached me, wondering if it is even there or if it is an option, do not realize that the early retirement plan is there and can be enforced,” he said. “The Board of Trustees is really interested in working at it in depth over the next year.”