June 11, 2012

Present: Louise Abbott, Judith Ball, Michael Benedik, Doug Biggs, Edward Brothers, Joe Cerami, Jonathan Coopersmith, Joe Dannenbaum, Walter Daugherity, Darryl De Ruiter, Edward Funkhouser, Norma Funkhouser, Holly Gaede, Clare Gill, Ira Greenbaum, Ed Harris, Kevin Heinz, Kim Quaile Hill, Wendy Jepson, Andrew Klein, Karen Kubena, Paulo Lima-Filho, Blanca Lupiani, Igor Lyuksyutov, Clint Magill, Jeffrey Morris, Brian Perkins, Michelle Pine, Leslie Reynolds, J. Maurice Rojas, Karen-Beth Scholthof, Brian Shaw, John Stallone, Bob Strawser, Manuelita Ureta, Wyoma vanDuinkerken, Gary Varner, Jijayanagaram Venkatraj,
 
Absent: Derya Akleman, Jaime Alvarado-Bremer, Perla Balbuena, Maria Barrufet, Hassan Bashir, Leonard Bierman, John Carhart, Charles Bollfrass, Gwendolyn Carroll, Gwan Seong Choi, William Bedford Clark, Mark Clayton, Richard Curry, Robin Dabareiner, Swaroop Darbha, John Edens, Janice Epstein, Gioia Falcone, Jose Fernandez-Solis, Stephen Guetersloh, James Heilman, Shelley Holliday, Richard Hutchinson, Thomas Linton, R.N. Mahapatra, Sam Mannan,A. Gene Nelson, Harland Prechel, Sudarsan Rangan, Dale Rice, Luis San Andres, Jason Sawyer, Elizabeth Tebeaux, Grace Townsend, Wei Wan, William West, Tryon Wichersham, Jim Woosley, Keyan Zhu-Salzman
 
20 Senators were officially inactive for this meeting: Ergun Akleman, Jorge Alvarado, Carisa Armstrong, Patrick Burkart, Ron Douglas, L. Paige Fields, Fran Gelwick, Janet Hammer, Mike Hanik, Guido Kanschat, Carol Loopstra,Vanita Mahajan, Christopher Mathewson, Kathryn McKenzie, Stephen Miller, Kathleen Speed, Winfried Teizer, Mike Thornton, B. Dan Wood, Richard Woodman
 
Call to Order Speaker Comments:
The speaker reported that:
1) the dining services outsourcing review committee on which he and Manuelita Ureta represented the Senate had submitted its report to the president,
2) he and former speaker Benedik have been appointed to a committee to consider the prospects and problems concerning re-merging the Health Science Center into TAMU, and
3) the Texas Public Policy Foundation has recommended cuts to state funding of higher education and urged Senators to contact legislators with their concerns.

Speaker Stallone presented former speaker Michael Benedik with a framed Texas A&M collage from the Benjamin Knox gallery.

The April 9 Faculty Senate meeting  minutes were approved as submitted.                         Attachment A
                                                                                                                                                FS.30.001

 
Consent Agenda
The consent agenda was approved as submitted
GRADUATE COUNCIL GC Report                                                               Motion Passed
New Course Requests - May 3, 2012                                                         FS.30.002                    
CSCE 630            Speech Processing                                                              Attachment B
EDAD 628           Advanced Legal Issues in Higher Education
GENE 677           Genes and Diseases
MARB 605          Air Breathing Marine Vertebrate Research Techniques
MARB 615        Coastal Marine Biology and Geology of Alaska
VIBS 688             Epidemiological Modeling of Infectious Diseases

Change in Courses - May 3, 2012                                                                                             Motion Passed
EPSY 631          Program Evaluation in School and Clinic Prerequisite(s)                                     FS.30.003
EPSY 647 Adult Development and Aging                                                                                     Attachment C
 

Special Consideration -                                                                                                             Motion Passed
Graduate Council approved  the Mays Business School: Proposed Certificate in Advertising.    FS.30.004
                                                                                                                                                      Attachment D

Change in Curriculum - May 9, 2012                                                                             Motion Passed
Dwight Look College of Engineering                                                                                 FS.30.006
 Zachry Department of Civil Engineering                                                                           Attachment F
B.S. in Civil Engineering

Dwight Look College of Engineering                                                                           Motion Passed
Zachry Department of Civil Engineering                                                                          FS.30.007
B.S. in Ocean Engineering                                                                                                Attachment G
Request to change grade requirements

College of Liberal Arts                                                                                                   Motion Passed
Department of English                                                                                                      FS.30.008
Minor in English with Emphasis in Creative Writing Request to withdraw minor             Attachment H

College of Science                                                                                                    Motion Passed 
Department of Physics and Astronomy                                                                      FS.30.009
Minor in Physics                                                                                                          Attachment I
Request to change requirements
 
W-COURSES                                                                                                            Motion Passed
 Courses submitted for W certification - May 16, 2012                                            FS.30.010
 ESSM 415            Range Analysis and Management Planning                                Attachment J
INTS 403        Nations and Nationalisms
SOCI 299             Qualitative Methods
SOCI 404             Sociology of the Community
WSFC 484           Internship in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences

Courses submitted for C certification - May 16, 2012
ACCT 421            Critical Communiation Skills for Accountants

Courses submitted for W recertification - May 16, 2012
ACCT 407            Auditing
BIOL 491             Research in Biology
ECEN 405            Electrical Design Laboratory
GEOG 404                          Spatial Thinking
HIST 327            Caribbean History Since Emancipation
HIST 412         Soviet History, 1917-1991
HIST 481            Senior Seminar
JOUR 303            Media Writing II
MARA 440           Global Economy 
MARA 466                          Strategic Management
POLS/WGST 367  Women in Government Around the World
POLS 481  Comparative Ethnic Politics
RPTS/RENR 460   Nature, Values, and Protected Areas
SOCI/WGST 315  The Marriage Institution
WFSC 406           Conservation Biology and Wildlife Habitat Management
 

 End of Consent Agenda  

COMMITEE REPORTS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
 
 
UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE                                                           Motion Passed 
Special Consideration - May 9, 2012                                                                             FS.30.011 
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences                                                                           Attachment L

 
University Studies Degree
Area of Concentration – Environmental Business Request for a new program
Although the request was opposed by the College of Geosciences on the basis that the use of Environmental Business for the proposed program represented only a subset of environmental topics and courses so would be better named ‘Bio-environmental Business or Environmental Business-AG for example, others observed that there are a number of programs that include environmental as a part of the name including two Environmental Studies degree programs, one in Geosciences and another  in COALS.  After debate ended, the proposed University Studies degree was approved by a narrow margin

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE                                                                           Motion Passed
University Studies Recommendation                                                                           FS.30.012
                                                                                                                                     Attachment L
The recommendation to transfer oversight of University Studies degrees to the Colleges and Departments and to design degree options with an area of concentration and two defined minors that will permit direct entry of new and transfer students into University studies was passed by voice vote.