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21 April, 2003 FPC Meeting Minutes

April 21, 2003

Room 158 Norman Hall

Members Present: Jim Archer, Phil Clark, Maureen Conroy, Vivian Correa, Silvia Echevarria-Doan, Paul Sindelar, Dale Campbell (for Lamont Flowers), Jane Townsend, Nancy Waldron, Elizabeth Yeager

Members Absent: Bridget Franks

Others Present: Associate Dean John Kranzler

Correa called the meeting to order at 2 p.m.

Agenda and Minutes

1.  Approval of the agenda for April 21, 2003.

Yeager made a motion to approve the April 21 Faculty Policy Council (FPC) meeting agenda as submitted by Correa. Clark seconded the motion. The FPC unanimously approved the agenda.

2. Approval of the minutes of the April 7, 2003 Meeting.

Sindelar made a motion to approve the minutes. Conroy seconded the motion, and the minutes were unanimously approved.

Reports from FPC Committees

College Curriculum Committee.

Waldron reported that the final CCC meeting of the 2002-2003 academic year would be held on April 28.

Undergraduate Admissions/Petitions Committee.

No report.

Graduate Admissions/Petitions Committee.

One incomplete petition is pending review by this committee.

Faculty Affairs Committee.

Townsend reported that the last meeting of the academic year for this committee would be held on April 28.

Research Advisory Committee.

Conroy indicated that the last meeting of the COE Research Advisory Committee was held on April 17. The committee has completed an Executive Summary of activities and recommendations for next year to Correa.

Student Recruitment and Admissions Committee.

Yeager reported that the Student Recruitment and Admissions Committee met on April 3. She indicated that the following three issues are scheduled for consideration at the beginning of the 2003-2004 academic year:

1. COE doctoral admissions policy

2. Doctoral admissions loophole identified by James Algina, Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, related to the new COE graduate admission requirements. The SRAC will make recommendations to the FPC after reviewing this issue further and obtaining input from faculty.

3. Review and consideration of the College Minority Recruitment and Retention Plan draft document that was submitted to the SRAC for review by Michael Bowie, Director of the COE Office of Recruitment, Retention and Multicultural Affairs, and Theresa Vernetson, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs.

Long-Range Planning Committee.

No report.

Executive summaries for each committee are due May 2. Committee chairpersons have been asked to provide both paper and electronic copies of the executive summaries to Correa.

Report from the Dean

No report was provided at this meeting.

New Business

Correa reported on the April 14 Faculty Meeting and the results of the votes on the COE constitutional amendments.

She indicated that the revised Constitution is posted on the FPC Website. The older versions are also available as archived documents.

Research Advisory Committee: Action Item #1: Doctoral Research Requirements

Conroy reported that – after receiving a substantial amount of faculty input regarding the issue of doctoral student research requirements – the COE Research Advisory Committee recommends that the FPC establish an ad hoc committee (with representatives from each department) to study this issue further. The task of the ad hoc committee will be to provide a formal recommendation concerning doctoral research requirements to the FPC for review and approval.

The data gathered by the RAC in response to the requests for faculty input were attached in order that faculty concerns could continue to be part of the process as the ad hoc committee moves forward on these issues.

A motion (as a report from a standing committee) was made to establish an ad hoc committee to address the COE doctoral research requirements. Clark seconded the motion.

The RAC recommended that the task force consist of the following members:

  • A faculty member from the Educational Psychology Department representing qualitative research methodology
  • A faculty member from the Educational Psychology Department representing quantitative research methodology
  • A representative from each department who has chaired multiple doctoral committees

Townsend expressed concern about the proposed membership of the ad hoc committee. She suggested that the committee needs a comprehensive view of research methodology, with adequate representation of different research paradigms. She also recommended that more than one faculty member from the School of Teaching and Learning be included on this committee.

Correa discussed the “culture” of committees, and suggested that there should be more open participation of non-members on College committees.

The FPC members discussed eliminating the first and second bullets of the action item, and expanding the third item. Kranzler explained the importance of the recommendation that faculty members representing both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies be included. Conroy stated that the task of the ad hoc committee would be to develop minimum requirements related to research requirements, and that these recommendations would be subject to FPC review and approval.

Yeager proposed a friendly amendment substituting the word “teaching” for “representing” in bullets one and two identifying the members of the ad hoc committee. Conroy and Clark accepted the friendly amendment, and the committee membership reads as follows:

  • A faculty member from the Educational Psychology Department teaching qualitative research methodology
  • A faculty member from the Educational Psychology Department teaching quantitative research methodology
  • A representative from each department who has chaired multiple doctoral committees

After an extended discussion, the FPC approved (eight votes for and one against) the action item, with the friendly amendment specified above.

Research Advisory Committee: Action Item #2: Submission of Thesis in the College of Education

Conroy reported that the RAC has recommended that the FPC apply the changes made to the Dissertation Submission Procedures that were adopted on March 24, 2003 to the procedures that address submitting a thesis. This recommendation was based on the same rationale that was used for amending the COE dissertation submission procedure.

Kranzler clarified the reasons for the changes that were made in the COE dissertation submission procedure. Specifically, he described how the elimination of the step that required review by the Office of the Graduate Studies and Research had made the COE dissertation submission procedures consistent with the University of Florida dissertation submission procedures.

He distributed copies of the current COE Masters Thesis Submission Procedure document for FPC review. Clark pointed out that the language in this action item refers to a procedure, not a policy. Waldron proposed that this would represent a change in the policy for Masters Thesis Submission and that the Office of Graduate Studies would be responsible for establishing procedures consistent with the policy.

As an action item submitted by a standing committee, the item serves as a motion for  approval. Clark seconded the motion.

This action item was voted on and passed unanimously by FPC members.

  • Selection Procedures of New FPC Committees

Correa distributed the following documents that provide information about the selection procedures for FPC committees:

  • COE Elections Committee Procedures Approved February 18, 2002
  • Calendar for nominations, elections, and announcement of new FPC members
  • Selecting New Committees for 2003-2004
  • New Slate for FPC Membership 2003-2004

There was an extended discussion about the various issues related to the selection of FPC members and FPC committee members.

Correa met with the Elections Committee (Loesch, Schwartz, Gregory) to set up procedures and timelines for college-wide election of new FPC members. A calendar for nominations, elections, and announcement of new FPC members was provided. Correa has asked the department chairs to submit three (or more) names of faculty members to the Elections Committee for the election of new FPC members. The nominations will close on May 9. Elections will take place from May 9 through May 20. The announcement of the newly elected FPC members for the 2003-2004 academic year will be made on May 21.

Due to different election requirements established by the UF Faculty Senate, election of COE Senate representatives will likely occur separately from FPC elections.

Correa will send a message to department chairs with information about the number of faculty from each department that are needed for FPC standing committees.  It was noted that faculty presently in the first year of a two year term as a result of college-wide elections last spring, will be asked to remain for another year on their respective committees. It is hoped that all committee memberships will be determined before the beginning of the new academic year.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

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7 April, 2003 FPC Meeting Minutes

April 7, 2003

Room 158 Norman Hall

Members Present: Jim Archer, Phil Clark, Maureen Conroy, Vivian Correa, Silvia Echevarria-Doan, Hazel Jones (for Paul Sindelar), Bridget Franks, Lamont Flowers, Jane Townsend, Nancy Waldron, Elizabeth Yeager

Correa called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m.

The Faculty Policy Council met with members of the NCATE-DOE-DCU Review Team as part of the national and state continuing accreditation review of the UF educator-preparation Unit.

Agenda and Minutes

1.  Approval of the agenda for April 7, 2003.

Clark made a motion to approve the agenda as submitted by Correa. Echevarria-Doan seconded the motion. The FPC unanimously approved the agenda.

2. Approval of the minutes of the March 24, 2003 Meeting.

Archer made a motion to approve the minutes. Yeager seconded the motion, and the minutes were unanimously approved.

Reports from FPC Committees

· College Curriculum Committee.

Waldron reported that due to limited agenda items, the last meeting of the CCC was held using an e-mail discussion and voting format. The next scheduled meeting is April 28.

· Undergraduate Admissions/Petitions Committee.

This committee has not met since the last FPC meeting.

· Graduate Admissions/Petitions Committee.

Echevarria-Doan reported that the committee has been completing its work by passing around petition requests and files to committee members for review and vote. Due to the small number of petitions, the next meeting of the committee has not been scheduled.

· Faculty Affairs Committee.

Townsend reported that the FAC met last week and continued discussion of faculty load issues. There is a need for the committee to collect information from departments and individual faculty related to this topic. This cannot be accomplished by the end of the academic year, thus the committee recommends that the issue be addressed next year by FAC.

Concerns were expressed about committee membership and the need for stability from one year to the next. FAC will lose all but one member next year, and it would be helpful to have greater continuity of membership from one year to the next.

·  Research Advisory Committee.

This committee has not met since that last FPC meeting. In response to a question from Correa about the requested recommendations from the committee about COE indirect costs, Conroy indicated that the COE Research Advisory Committee would present a draft policy to the FPC about this issue after additional faculty input is received.

The next RAC meeting is scheduled for April 17.

· Student Recruitment and Admissions Committee.

Yeager reported that the Student Recruitment and Admissions Committee met on April 3. She distributed information about a presentation that Dr. Terry Mills, UF Office of Graduate Minority Programs (OGMP), gave to the committee about the recruitment of graduate students and the activities of the OGMP. Dr. Mills addressed the following issues:

  • OGMP Diversity Guidelines
  • OGMP Recruiting Activities
  • Funding Opportunities Available for UF Graduate Students
  • Mentoring Advice
  • Recruitment Tips

Dr. Mills suggested that faculty members contact Ms. Denise Yates (at 392-6444), Coordinator of Recruitment and Retention, OGMP. Ms. Yates makes frequent recruiting trips, and is willing to take information from UF faculty members about their programs to disseminate on her trips. She will also provide names of potential students to faculty members and graduate programs.

Dr. Michael Bowie, Director of the COE Office of Recruitment, Retention and Multicultural Affairs, and Theresa Vernetson, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, distributed a document that they have drafted (Minority Recruitment and Retention Plan) for committee review. The SRAC will review the document carefully after soliciting and receiving faculty input about the proposed plan.

· Long-Range Planning Committee.

Archer reported that the Long-Range Planning Committee would attempt to schedule a meeting before the end of the academic year.

Report from the Dean

No report provided at this meeting.

Unfinished Business

·  Procedures for the Spring Faculty Meeting.

Procedures for the Spring Faculty Meeting that will be held on April 14 from 2:00- 4:00 p.m. were presented. The following meeting-related issues were discussed:

  • Communication to Faculty: Rationale for Revisions. Waldron distributed a draft document (COE Constitution – Proposed Revisions and Rationale) that lists the proposed amendments with the rationale for each and a chart that compares the current and proposed committee structures. This document will be posted on the FPC website for faculty review.
  • Voting Procedures. All faculty members will be encouraged to attend the Spring Faculty Meeting in order to ensure a quorum. Correa described how she plans to structure the voting procedures. She will present groups of amendments separately. A sign-in sheet will be provided to document attendance at the meeting and to confirm that a sufficient number of tenured and tenure-accruing faculty members are present to vote for the revisions.
  • Doctoral Research Requirements Report

Conroy reported that the COE Research Advisory Committee was in the process of developing a recommendation that it will submit to the FPC concerning doctoral research requirements. The committee will likely recommend that the FPC create a task force (possibly an ad hoc committee with representatives from each department) to study this issue further.

New Business

  • College Minority Recruitment and Retention Plan

Correa reported briefly about the development of the Minority Recruitment and Retention Plan by Michael Bowie and Theresa Vernetson. She expressed concern about the lack of faculty input in the development of the plan. She indicated that the SRAC would solicit and review faculty input carefully before making recommendations to the FPC about the plan.

·  Doctoral Admissions Loophole

Waldron reported that James Algina, Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, has expressed concern about the new COE graduate admission requirements. He has asked Waldron (as the departmental representative to the FPC) to present this issue to the FPC for discussion.

Specifically, he indicated that the following standard might provide a way for students who do not meet COE doctoral admission requirements to enter a doctoral program:

Minimum requirements for certified teachers and undergraduate students in the Unified Early Childhood and Elementary programs leading to certification who are applying for degrees culminating in the MEd and EdS degrees in the COE will be either a minimum GPA of B for all upper-division undergraduate work or a minimum Verbal-Quantitative total score of 1000 on the General Test of the GRE for students with an earned bachelor’s degree only.

He indicated that departments could subsequently change the degree option from MEd or EdS to doctorate for students admitted under this standard. Such decisions could possibly raise serious issues about COE graduate admission requirements.

After an extended discussion about the new admission requirements and the concerns expressed by Algina, FPC members recommended asking the SRAC to study this issue further, and to make recommendations to the FPC after reviewing this issue and obtaining input from faculty. It was noted that departments could recommend higher admission criteria than the COE graduate admission criteria.

Adjournment

Archer moved that the meeting be adjourned. Franks seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 3:14 p.m.

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