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The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Faculty Assembly Minutes
November 28, 2007

Attending: Jill Beckman, Frauke Bleher, Cinzia Blum, David Cunning, Anny Curtius, Warren Darling, Douglas Dion, Jennifer Glanville, Lenore Holte, Jean Gordon, Richard Hurtig, Pamela Keel, Joni Kinsey, Amnon Kohen, Réne Lecuona, John Menninger, David Peate, George de la Pena, James Pusack, David Redlawsk, Jon Ringen, Dennis Roseman, Jeanne Saunders, Morten Schlütter, Sujatha Sosale, Ramaswamy Subramanian, Steven Varga

Guests: Raúl Curto, Executive Associate Dean, CLAS; Steve Hendrix, Department of Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences; Steve McGuire, Art and Art History

Absent (Excused): Paula Amad, Paula Kempchinsky, Katina Lillios

Absent: Mark Andrejevic, David Arkush, David Bennett, Art Borreca, Tom Charlton, Christopher Cheatum, Jeffrey Denberg, Glenn Ehrstine, Loren Glass, Robert Leutner, Patricia Kelley, Meena Khandelwal, Jae-On Kim, John Kimmich, Philip Klein, Russell Lenth, Waltraud Maierhofer, Kerry McGannon, Barbara Mooney, Suely Oliveira, Carl Orgren, Craig Pryor, Alvin Snider, David Stewart, Glenn Storey, Nick Yablon, Vershawn Young, Yuzhe Zhang

1. Minutes of October 24, 2007. The minutes were approved as distributed.

2. Brief Messages and Announcements . There were no announcements at this meeting.

3. Discussion of a Proposal to Amend the College’s Manual of Procedure by redefining the College’s Voting Groups. Professor Steve McGuire (Art and Art History/College of Education), a member of the College’s Executive Committee, presented a proposal from the Executive Committee to revise the College’s voting groups (a full discussion is available here: http://www.clas.uiowa.edu//faculty/governance/fa/materials/Voting_groups11_07.pdf). The Executive Committee urged approval of this proposal in order to redress an imbalance among the groups of the opportunity to be nominated and serve on the College’s elected bodies.

There was brief discussion of the proposal, which calls for an initial re-division of the groups by the Executive Committee and a review of the divisions by the Executive Committee every 10 years to ensure that balance is maintained. J. Beckman (Linguistics) asked when, if approved, the proposal would become effective. Any change to the Manual of Procedure requires a vote of the entire faculty. The proposal vote would be taken during the next CLAS elections (March 2008), and if approved the proposal would become effective and be used during the following elections (March 2009).

The motion to approve the proposal passed on a unanimous voice vote. The proposal will be added to the March 2008 elections as a referendum item.

4. Continued Discussion of the Proposal for a Disaster Policy. At the October meeting, the Faculty Assembly had approved the Educational Policy Committee’s proposal for an Academic Policy to cover Pandemic situations. They now took up the discussion of the second part of the EPC’s proposal, policies for disasters that are short-term and more local in their impact, like a tornado or fire. John Menninger, a member of both the EPC and the Assembly, spoke in favor of the proposal and explained the greater number of options available to students and faculty in disaster situations.

The motion to approve the proposal passed on a unanimous voice vote. The College’s proposals will be sent by the Dean to the Provost.

5. Discussion of a Proposal for a New Minor in Environmental Sciences. Professor Steven Hendrix, Biological Sciences, and coordinator of the Environmental Sciences major, spoke on the proposal. The proposal had been submitted to and approved by the Educational Policy Committee. Professor Hendrix explained that the Environmental Sciences major has been very successful, and currently enrolls about 80 students. A number of students in various majors have inquired about a minor in Environmental Sciences, and the faculty developed a proposal this fall which has been approved by the Educational Policy Committee.

D. Roseman (Mathematics) asked who might choose to complete the minor. Professor Hendrix said that students majoring in Biology, Chemistry, Geoscience, or Geography were all likely candidates. D. Roseman also asked about Environmental Sciences at our peer institutions – is this a growing discipline? Professor Hendrix responded that a number of institutions offer somewhat similar majors, but that our program is more scientifically based than most. In a number of institutions there are Environmental Studies majors, which do not demand as many science courses as does our Environmental Sciences major.

The motion to approve the minor passed on a unanimous voice vote. The Dean will forward the proposal to the Provost.

6. Discussion of a Proposal to Change the Name of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. Professor Richard Hurtig (Speech Pathology and Audiology and Past Chair of the Faculty Assembly), rose to explain the motion to approve the change of name of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. This proposal had been submitted to and approved by the Executive Committee. Professor Hurtig said that the department was seeking to change its name to The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders because the department’s focus is on all aspects of speech and hearing, not just disease and disorders. He noted, too, that the majority of programs in the discipline offering advanced degrees have chosen similar names . The change would affect only the department name, not the names of any of the department’s undergraduate or graduate programs. He told the Assembly that the department had consulted with other units on campus, and while the Department of Communication Studies did have some concerns about possible confusion among students, they did not, object to the change.

The motion to approve the name change passed on a unanimous voice vote. The Dean will forward the proposal to the Provost. Approval by the Regents is also needed before the change may take place.

7. Adjournment. The business of the meeting having been completed, and there being no new business raised by the members, the Chair called for a motion to adjourn, and the meeting ended.

Respectfully submitted,
Cinzia Blum
Secretary, 2007-2008