2019 - 2020 Motions - Faculty Senate

2019 – 2020 Motions

September 18, 2019

October 16, 2019

The Program Creation and Reorganization Review Committee (PCRRC) is proposing changes to the Policies and Procedures (P&P) Manual

Background:
The University of Maine System Board of Trustees, at its July 15, 2019 meeting, passed revisions to UMS Policy 305.1 regarding Academic Program Approval. Per the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs:

the “Intent to Plan (ITP)” process was eliminated and replaced with a requirement for a market analysis consultation with UMS or campus institutional researchers and a 250-word request from the appropriate academic unit to their campus Provost
the existing mandatory, external review for any new degree program was eliminated, with the need for external review to be determined at the discretion of the COAC and VCAA.

Campus policies and procedures need to be updated to align with these UMS Policy 305.1 revisions.

The intent of the revisions, according to the July 23, 2019 memo from the VCAA, is to make it possible that “campus-level consideration of a proposed program could occur within 120 days.”

The revisions to the P&P Manual being proposed by the PCRRC clarify steps for Program Request submission, Full Proposal, and UMS /evaluation process, as well as responsibilities for each step. The number of steps has been reduced from 15 to 13.

This motion only covers Chapter 2 and its Appendix. Should the motion pass, then additional changes to subsequent chapters of the manual may be necessary.

Motion to update Chapter 2 and its Appendix A in the Faculty Senate Program Creation and Reorganization Review Committee Policies and Procedures Manual

Motion: The Faculty Senate supports the proposed revisions to Chapter 2 (and its Appendix A) of the PCRRC Policies and Procedures Manual, to align campus processes for program creation with streamlined procedures adopted by the University of Maine System.

Vote:
Approved 23
Opposed 1
Abstention 7

Chapter 2 original-2 copy
Chapter 2 Proposed Revisions clean copy
Appendix A original-2 copy
Appendix A Revisions clean-2 copy

November 20, 2019

December 18, 2019
University of Maine Faculty Senate Motion on
Proposed MS in Athletic Training
December 18, 2019

Motion:
The University of Maine has offered an athletic training education program (ATEP) to its students since the mid-1960s at the baccalaureate level. This program is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE). CAATE Standards are changing and will require ATEPs to educate students at the graduate level for graduates to be eligible to sit for the national certification examination (a requirement for licensure to practice athletic training in Maine and most US States) beginning in the fall of 2022, students will no longer be certification exam eligible if they are not matriculated into a graduate degree program. Institutional research shows that the field of athletic training is a growth field with higher than average demand for new athletic trainers in the future. Because of this, the University of Maine School of Kinesiology, Physical Education, and Athletic Training (KPEAT) is seeking to begin a new degree program offering a Master of Science in Athletic Training and to eliminate the present Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training degree via a teach-out process to accommodate present students. The University of Maine System and Board of Trustees are accepting an application from the University of Southern Maine (USM) and the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) seeking to develop their own joint master’s program. The University of Maine College of Education and Development and Provost have been notified that adding the University of Maine to a joint program with overlapping course offerings and curriculum would be welcomed. Because both USM and UMPI see their CAATE accreditations expiring at the end of the present academic year, a joint proposal will be brought forward by these two schools in January seeking BOT approval to develop a program that will begin in the fall of 2020.

The University of Maine proposal includes a 3+2 option for undergraduates from UMPI, USM, or the University of Maine Exercise Science program to complete baccalaureate work and be guaranteed acceptance into the stand-alone UM Master’s program (given successful completion of prerequisite work at a satisfactory level). Additionally, students completing Bachelor’s degrees from any institution (UMS or otherwise) could apply for and be accepted into the UM Master’s program (so long as they meet prerequisite requirements). UM students that enter the 3+2 program will be offered the option to complete a capstone project and additional course work and graduate with a Bachelor’s of Exercise Science degree, if they elect to withdraw from the graduate program upon completion of the third year of the program. Academically rigorous prerequisite coursework would be required of all students, including successful completion of core science courses with minimum grades. Students in the UM Master’s program would be required to complete a thesis as part of program requirements and complete all coursework to satisfy CAATE standards requirements. Projections completed by the School of KPEAT and the Provost’s Office support the belief that annual cohorts of 12-20 could be recruited with minimal new resource requirements (one additional faculty line requested has already been approved).

Given this information, PCRRC recommends that the faculty senate vote to recommend that the School of Kinesiology, Physical Education, and Recreation move forward with its proposal for a Master of Science in Athletic Training degree program.

MOTION: that the School of Kinesiology, Physical Education, and Recreation move forward to create a Master of Science in Athletic Training degree program.

Vote: Approved

February 5, 2020

March 4, 2020

Resolution of the Faculty Senate in Support of Fogler Library February 2020 Preamble
Fogler library is a critical resource for the University of Maine, the colleges of the University of Maine System and the State of Maine. The Senate Library committee has gathered a number of statistics that relate to the library and show its importance. Some of those are as follows:

Fogler Library is a net lender to other libraries. In FY19 Fogler loaned more than 16,848, primarily monographs to libraries in the State and elsewhere. This includes service to 260 public libraries, 32 academic libraries, 42 special libraries (includes health science libraries) and 573 K-12 libraries. Budgets have also been constrained elsewhere in the UMS. For example, USM no longer purchases monographs and relies on UM for lending in most cases.
Downloads via electronic access to library resources and through library controlled databases for FY 19 were in excess of 661,401 and all electronic database searches including the Digital Commons exceeded 2.4 million
Fogler Library building attendance in FY19 was 572,413. During the academic year the library is open 102.5 hours each week. The library is also open to the public.
Fogler has been a United States Government Publications Depository since 1907 and a Regional (complete) Depository since 1963. Fogler is responsible for the depositories in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Reference staff answered more than 20,309 questions in FY19. Staff prepared library guides and course guides were accessed 225,126 times. In answer to requests, help is provided to students, faculty, and staff of UM and UMS, the public, business personnel, state government officials, and other professionals from across the state.

Challenges:
For two years (FY20, FY21) Fogler’s budget has been cut. The total is now over $0.5 million, nearly 5 percent of the total budget of this critical resource. By necessity, most of the budget cut results in a curtailment of acquisitions that affect teaching and research at the University of Maine and, by extension, to the other campuses within the UMS. Cuts last year resulted in the removal of a number of databases from the library as well as a loss of monograph purchases. The impending cut will curtail the purchase of nearly all monographs as well as new journals and serials. A reduction of library personnel and operating supplies will also be necessary.

Resolution:
The members of the Faculty Senate, representing the faculty of the University of Maine, are keenly aware of budgeting issues facing both the University and the University of Maine System. However, in view of the fundamental importance of Fogler Library to the teaching and research missions of the State’s Land Grant University and the entire UM System, we call upon the administration to take the following actions immediately:

That future budget cuts to both the operating and acquisitions budgets of Fogler library be limited to levels that will not affect the needs of students or faculty.
That a plan be clearly established that will search for the necessary funds to prevent further erosion to the research and teaching resources of Fogler library

Vote: Yes 17
No 7
Abstention 1

Motion regarding change of major in Sociology – Criminal Justice
PCRRC Committee
March 4, 2020

Background for Faculty Senate that will be deleted from the Motion
In December of 2019, Jeff St. John and Emily Haddad reached out to Dave Townsend, Dee Nichols and Margo Lukens requesting a meeting to discuss plans for a new degree, Criminal Justice in the Department of Sociology. As background:

The Sociology Department came forward to the CLAS Academic Council in fall 2019 seeking to augment its existing offerings in Criminal Justice in response to numerous requests for (and queries about) Criminal Justice by high school students/families at high school recruitment events, open houses, and accepted student days. The focus on Criminal Justice reflects ongoing curriculum and enrollment trends in the Sociology Department. The “Crime, Law, and Justice” concentration in the Sociology major is a popular option for current students.

From the outset, the department and the college conceived of the proposed changes to Criminal Justice as a substantive change to its existing “Crime, Law, and Justice” concentration, building on what Sociology already does so as to be able to offer a major that is much in demand. The changes did not constitute a new program from a disciplinary perspective, and the UMS Vice Chancellor’s office had indicated that changes of this nature did not need to be proposed to the System Office as a new program. When the proposed curricular changes came forward to UPCC, Jeff St. John spoke with Tim Cole (twice) and then with Emily Haddad to confirm that this was in fact not a new (from scratch) major, but rather a modification of an existing program. Dee Nichols then returned a call from Dave Townsend to assure him that Sociology/CLAS was not creating a new degree.

In December as the new proposal was making it through that stages, Student Records contacted Jeff St. John to report that from a MaineStreet perspective– i.e., the necessity of building a new program code or “stack” for Criminal Justice as newly configured– Criminal Justice technically represents a new degree program. This interpretation was not anticipated (by anyone) including a preliminary review from the PCRRC chair, Margo Lukens and committee member Dee Nichols. If it had been anticipated, PCRRC review would have been included in the process.

Given the gap between the academic intentions for Criminal Justice and the definitional constraints of MaineStreet, the Sociology Department and members of CLAS brought all parties together in January 2020 to determine how best to move forward.

After this meeting, the PCRRC reviewed the proposal and while it is still unclear if this proposal needed to go through this level of review, we are bringing it forward to Faculty Senate.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Motion regarding change of major in Sociology – Criminal Justice
The Department of Sociology seeks to establish a new major and degree in Criminal Justice. This new major in Criminal Justice is a modification of the Sociology major’s existing optional concertation in Crime, Law, and Justice. This change in classification of a new degree and name change would be housed within the existing Sociology department, and continue to have an interdisciplinary scope. In addition to the new major a new minor would also be identified. Both of these options already exist as concentrations for sociology majors, but this change would make these options more marketable and identifiable for students.

Rationale
Sociology majors may currently choose to fulfill the requirements for a criminal justice concentration, and successful completion of these requirements is then noted on their transcripts. More than one-third of our majors do choose the concentration, which the Sociology department established many years ago because of keen interest in our courses in this area.

High school students at University of Maine Open Houses and Accepted Student Days regularly express interest in this concentration and also ask whether the university offers a major in this area. Reflecting this interest, UMaine Admissions has encouraged the development of a criminal justice major.

Because the Crime, Law, and Justice concentration has proven so successful, the Department now wishes to expand it into a full-fledged CJ major. CJ majors around the nation are extraordinarily popular, with many majors, at large universities and smaller colleges alike enrolling hundreds of students. The number of CJ students in the United States has grown steadily and even dramatically during the past few decades, with this growth showing no signs of abating (American Sociological Association 2010; Sloan and Buchwalter 2017). Reflecting the large number of jobs in criminal justice and related fields and the popularity of crime and criminal justice stories in the popular and news media, bachelor degrees in criminal justice at nearly 700 institutions rank among the ten most popular bachelor degree programs in the United States (Sloan and Buchwalter 2017). Maine features approximately 2,500 full-time sworn law enforcement personnel and perhaps an equal number working in other areas of criminal justice, while the United States features approximately 750,000 full-time sworn law enforcement personnel and perhaps at least that number working in other areas of criminal justice (Banks et al. 2016). At the same time, law enforcement agencies in Maine and elsewhere report a noticeable shortage of qualified candidates to fill their many vacancies, with this shortage expected to worsen because of anticipated retirements in the years ahead (Burns 2016; Lear 2018; Moss 2018; Rodriguez 2019).

Many other criminal justice positions exist in Maine and elsewhere, including probation and parole officers, juvenile intake officers, crime analysts, border patrol agents, bailiffs, correctional officers, crime prevention specialists, victim service specialists, substance abuse counselors, and fraud investigators. Criminal justice majors also go on to obtain advanced degrees to become attorneys, professors, and other professional positions.

Burning Glass data gathered in July 2019 for the prior twelve months point to the demand for criminal justice positions in Maine and beyond, with 582 job postings in Maine between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019 across the range of positions for which a criminal justice education would provide excellent preparation. In addition to many of the positions just listed, the Burning Glass positions also included paralegals and legal assistants, security managers, and occupational health and safety specialists. Using different search criteria, another Burning Glass search for all of New England yielded 2,698 job postings in the broad area of Legal Support, and 2, 141 postings in the area of Youth and Career Counseling, with expected growth during the next decade in these

These considerations all strongly suggest that the addition of a CJ major at the University of Maine will help attract many new students to the University and to the Department while also benefiting the law enforcement and more general criminal justice workforce of the state and beyond. Befitting its placement within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, this major will have a strong liberal arts orientation and offer a B.A degree rather than the vocational orientation and B.S. degree of many criminal justice programs around the nation. A liberal arts education and its attendant development of critical thinking skills are considered increasingly important for law enforcement and other criminal justice personnel in today’s society (DuFour 2018; Phillips and Burrell 2009; PoliceOne 2016).

Although the University of Southern Maine already offers a B.A. criminology major in its Department of Criminology, our proposed major in criminal justice differs from USM’s major in two significant ways, providing a valuable alternative for students from Maine and beyond who are seeking to enter the workforce in areas related to criminal justice. First, unlike USM’s program, which is grounded in theoretical criminology, our proposed major focuses heavily on the criminal justice response to crime, with core and elective courses on policing, criminal courts, and corrections, while still providing an excellent foundation in criminological theory and criminological research methods. These emphases of the proposed program will provide students the intellectual and practical knowledge they will need to become criminal justice and related professionals, with their research methods training helping them to stand out in a competitive market. This comprehensive set of required and elective courses offers students a CJ major that should thus have considerable appeal for them and for potential employers. Students with our criminal justice degree will be marketable in a wide range of employers, from non-profit agencies and private companies to the federal government.

Second, the proposed major will be interdisciplinary, with requirements in Psychology and Political Science among a wide range of elective options in these essential fields. These interdisciplinary requirements will acquaint our criminal justice students with other disciplines’ perspectives on criminal behavior and the legal system and will further develop the flexibility of mind that a liberal arts education promotes. As B.A. students in the UMaine College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, all CJ majors must also complete a minor or second major, providing yet another opportunity for students to develop complementary, cross-disciplinary expertise in a field relevant to their professional goals.

Beyond all these considerations, the addition of a criminal justice major to Maine’s flagship campus in the more northern part of the state will expand the opportunities for students from Maine and elsewhere to major in this very popular and professionally desirable area. On a related note, faculty and other parties at the University of Maine at Machias have expressed excitement over having a new criminal justice major in Orono in view of their campus’s interests in rural law enforcement and conservation law. Possibilities thus exist for synergies across the Orono and Machias campus in criminal justice, which would be appropriate in view of UMM’ s developing status as a regional campus of UMaine.

Motion:
The Program Creation and Reorganization Review Committee (PCRRC) has met with the various units associated with the creation of this new degree, thoroughly examined and reviewed the proposal, and moves to accept the creation of the new degree and minor in Criminal Justice housed within the Department of Sociology.

Vote: Approved
Abstention 1

April 8, 2020

REVISED Faculty Senate Motion, for April 8, 2020 Full Senate Meeting
MS degree in Data Science and Engineering at Maine

BACKGROUND on the Data Science and Engineering MS degree proposal
A collaborative interdisciplinary team developed an emerging research area proposal on Data Science and Engineering which was approved by the Provost in 2014. The MS proposal and the particular title for the proposed degree emerged in part from this research proposal. The interdisciplinary team developing the proposal discussed the name. The rationale for selecting the name was 1) to reflect the emerging research area title, 2) to differentiate UMaine’s program from more generalized Data Science proposals that tend to focus largely on statistical analysis, and 3) to specially cover engineering aspects within the program. The team purposely discussed the inclusion of “engineering” in the degree title to indicate a focus on engineering in the sense of “the tradition of design and problem-solving skills.” The five thematic areas articulated in the program are broader than most Data Science programs. One of the guiding goals is to be as inclusive as possible in terms of target student populations. The team believes data science and engineering skills are becoming universally necessary skills for students in all disciplines, from the humanities and social sciences, to the natural sciences, to business and engineering. UMaine’s program thus aims to be broadly inclusive and allow entry points and pathways for students from both STEM and non-STEM backgrounds. Another aim is to have the degree obtainable by distance education. There is a potential population currently in the workforce that are seeking and can benefit from retraining, particularly in data science and engineering skill sets.

In 2019 the team received approval for the Intent to Plan for graduate programs in Data Science and Engineering (MS, Graduate Certificate, 4+1). At that time, the Senate encouraged them to consult with all affected units as theydeveloped the full proposal. In consultation with the five UMaine college deans, the team formed a planning committee with broad representation. They have since added a planning committee member to represent UM Machias.

The team submitted their full proposal to the Senate PCRRC on January 9, 2020. At that time, the full proposal was circulated to the Senate via email, and the PCRRC met to discuss and identify questions arising; PCRRC raised questions about governance structure, the necessity of intensive advising in a program attracting students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, and ongoing funding for program administration. The PCRRC held a campuswide meeting on the MS in Data Science and Engineering at 9:00am on February 19, 2020 in the Bumps Room, Memorial Union.

RESERVATIONS:
The most salient issue from the discussions is the necessity for a campus policy on governance of interdisciplinary graduate programs, of which there are likely to be more, not fewer. If an interdisciplinary program such as this is proposed to report directly to the Graduate School, we think this provides insufficient faculty governance; in the present campus structure, the VPR/Dean of Graduate School does not report to the Provost/VP Academic Affairs. Such a structure short-circuits policies for faculty oversight of campus academic programs. While members of Senate PCRRC endorse the principles of the MS in Data Science and Engineering, we think this is the moment to urge campus administrators to initiate work on creating campus policy for robust faculty governance of interdisciplinary programs.

Acknowledging these important reservations, based on the discussion in committee and at the campus-wide meeting, PCRRC recommends that the proposed program move to a vote in Faculty Senate on April 8, 2020.

MOTION:
The Program Creation and Reorganization Review Committee (PCRRC) has met with the various units associated with the creation of this new interdisciplinary MS degree, thoroughly examined and reviewed the proposal, and moves, with the reservations outlined above, to accept the creation of the new Master of Science in Data Science and Engineering, an interdisciplinary degree at the University of Maine.

Vote: Approved 41
No 6
Abstain 3

Academic Affairs and General Education Committee
Motion to adopt the movement toward using the Online Student Evaluation of Teaching
Online Student Evaluation of Teaching Background and Current Policies and Procedures

Acknowledging that student input is essential in improvement of instruction, the AFUM contract states that faculty conduct student evaluations in each course taught. Specifically, the contract states (Article 10B2): The parties agree that student input is essential in the improvement of instruction and shall be considered during evaluation. Further, student input is a meaningful part of evaluation. Consequently, Unit members shall conduct evaluations in each course taught.

I. Online Student Evaluation of Teaching System

UMaine implemented the Explorance Blue Course Evaluation System in December 2016. This system includes support for multiple instructors, dynamic timing, and customized survey questions (configurable by instructor, course, department, and/or college), and will permit distributed reports based on complex permission settings. UMaine deployed Blue for all online courses at UMaine & UMM starting in spring 2017. Since spring 2017, an increasing number of academic units have also moved to Blue for evaluating in-person courses: As of fall 2019, 30 academic units or programs, plus 42 individual faculty members, were using Blue for all course evaluations. UMM is now using Blue for evaluating all courses – online and in-person. Currently, UMaine, USM, UMFK, and UMM use Explorance Blue for online Student Evaluations of Teaching. Access to Blue through the portal is implemented through UMaine’s authentication service and the Blue hosted data center is SOC 2 Type 2 certified.

II. Evaluation Form Items
The AFUM contract indicates that forms must contain a series of questions, each confined to a limited aspect of the unit member’s teaching performance. Academic units may develop or revise their own evaluation form or procedure (Article 10, Section B2). Consequently, faculty must use the form identified by their unit, which could be the default form (the 19-item short form) or a custom form. Some units also use common custom questions for their labs, recitations, or clinicals. Faculty Senate and the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment will examine other forms such as (Laboratory Courses, Lecture/Lab, Project based courses, Online, Hybrid, ITV delivered, Internship/Practica/Clinical, Seminar, Studio Performance, Independent Research, Activities, etc.). If approved these alternate forms could be selected during the Question Personalization process.

Faculty also are given the option of adding their own customized questions during a question personalization period.

III. Signed Comments
Per the AFUM contract, items that consist of broad solicitation, without limit or direction, to evaluate the instructor’s performance shall only be placed in the personnel file when signed by the student who has conducted the evaluation. Consequently, students are given the opportunity to sign their evaluations. In Blue, students are provided a check box item to indicate that they have signed the form and therefore would like their open-ended comments to be included in the instructor’s personnel file.

IV. Multiple-instructor courses
In cases where courses have multiple instructors, students are asked to evaluate each instructor. There are two sets of questions: a common set of questions relevant to the course and individual sets of questions for faculty.

V. Online Student Evaluation of Teaching process

The online SET process requires multiple steps as shown in the following figure and described below.

Identification of courses to be evaluated: Each term, OIRA provides units a list of their active courses. Units indicate which courses are to be evaluated in Blue. OIRA uses evaluation history to set default indicators. For example, if an independent study has not been included in the past, the default will be to not include it unless otherwise indicated.
Timing. Course lists are sent mid-semester.

Question personalization: Faculty have an opportunity to design personalized questions prior to the evaluation period.
Timing: For standard semester-length courses, question personalization will open two weeks week prior to the evaluation period – four weeks prior to the end of the course. Faculty receive an initial email invitation and one reminder prompt. Question personalization closes one day before the evaluation period.

Evaluation: Students are sent emails directing them to Blue for evaluating their courses. The emails include directions for completing the form.
Timing: Per the AFUM contract (Article 10, Section B2b). For courses scheduled for a full term, the evaluation window is the last two weeks of classes. Students receive an invitation email to complete their evaluations the Monday of the second to last week of classes. They receive two additional reminders. Evaluations close at midnight on the last day of classes. Evaluations are not open during finals week. (Alternative schedules are arranged for courses with alternative lengths/schedules.)

To ensure adequate response rates, instructors are encouraged to provide students class time to complete the online SETs, as they would for the paper form.
Response rate monitoring: Faculty have the opportunity to monitor their response rates throughout the evaluation period and can also monitor in real time while students complete in class. They receive an initial email invitation directing them to the response rate monitor in Blue. The email is followed up with two reminders during the evaluation period.

Distribution of Reports. Reports are generated in Blue two weeks after grades are due to be submitted to the Office of Student Records.
Reports: Two sets of reports are generated: One report includes the quantitative items from the academic unit form, as well as signed comments. This report is shared with the faculty member, academic unit chair/director, and administrative support staff for the unit. The second report includes the personalized questions and unsigned comments. This report is only shared with the instructor. Reports will not be generated for courses with fewer than two responses.
Distribution: Faculty members receive an email indicating that their reports are ready and are directed to Blue for access. Academic unit chairs/directors and administrative support staff are provided summary reports for each course section and faculty member.

Data Storage and Access
Confidentiality: Student identity is confidential and not included with responses in instructor reports, except signed comments, which include student names if signed. Student information is deleted from data downloaded from Blue for the purpose of calculating departmental and college norms.

Access to Data:
Reports: Instructor and departmental reports are securely stored within Blue. In Blue, access is controlled by user-defined roles such that only current faculty members, chairs, deans and administrative staff have access to each level of reporting. OIRA staff with administrative accounts in Blue also have access to all reports. Access is available via the Blue icon on the UMaine Portal or directly via https://maine.bluera.com/maine. Reports can be downloaded as PDF for local storage. In addition, reports for departmental use, are downloaded from Blue and stored in UMaine’s secure cloud storage solution (currently Box). Currently, a Box folder has been created for each academic unit, and access is provided to the academic unit chair/director as well as the unit’s administrative support staff member. OIRA staff members also have access to this Box folder for the purpose of adding reports or retrieving reports to send to individual faculty members who need reports that are not stored in Blue. (e.g., paper evaluation reports.)

Raw data: Data downloaded from Blue for the purpose of calculating unit and college norms are stored in Box and managed by staff members of the OIRA for the purpose of calculating departmental and college norms. To maintain confidentiality, student ids are deleted when the data are downloaded for the purpose of confidentiality. Evaluation data collected through the paper forms are combined with the aggregated data collected through Blue for the purpose of calculating the comparative norms used in the promotion and tenure packages.

Motion:
The Faculty Senate of the University of Maine endorses and supports the move to the full implementation of the Online Student Evaluation of Teaching as outlined in the policies and procedures section above. In addition, Faculty Senate asks the Senate Committee of Academic Affairs, along with the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA), to explore other forms of student evaluation of instruction that represent differing course structure (i.e. online, seminar, internship, methods, etc.) that could be selected during the Question Personalization process. The elected members of Senate also request the Senate Academic Affairs Committee and OIRA to continually provide information regarding best practices for ensuring high return rates and to report this information to Faculty Senate annually.

Vote: Approved 38
No 4
Abstain 8

May 6, 2020