MINUTES OF THE ACADEMIC COUNCIL
TENNESSEE TECH UNIVERSITY
September 12, 2007
The Academic Council met at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 12, 2007, in the Deans’ Conference Room of Derryberry Hall with Christine Miller, Chairperson, presiding.
The following members of the Council were present:
Dr. Paul Semmes Dr. David Larimore
Dr. Larry Peach Dr. Sharon Huo
Dr. Bob Wood Dr. Don Visco
Dr. Winston Walden Mrs. Susan Clark
Dr. Roy Loutzenheiser Dr. Gretta Stanger
Mr. Mitchell Davis Dr. Kari Rajan
Ms. Whitney Tayes Dr. Linda Null
Ms. Nicole Bostick Mr. Ray Jordan
Dr. Cathy Cunningham Dr. Brian O’Connor
Dr. Susan Laningham Dr. John Harris
Dr. Jeff Roberts Dr. Darrell Hoy
Dr. Christine Miller Dr. Pat Jordan
Dr. Jack Armistead Dr. Pat Bagley
Others attending the meeting were Ms. Denise Hensley, Dr. Russ Witcher, Mr. Marc Burnett, Ms. Yvonne Gribble, and Ms. Patricia McKenzie. The following members of the Council were absent:
Dr. Susan Elkins Dr. Corinne Darvennes
Dr. Bobby Hodum Dr. Jim Baier
Ms. Amy Blaylock Dr. Steve Isbell
Mr. Dan Gager
SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS
Approved the agenda.
Approved the minutes of the April 4, 2007 meeting.
Discussed revisions to the Academic Council Procedures.
Selected committee to review the role of unspecified persons in a grade appeal meeting.
Discussed proposed process for evaluating transfer transcripts and requests for substitutions and exceptions.
Discussed the plus and minus grading system.
PROCEEDINGS
Dr. Miller requested the agenda items order be modified changing item 3 to 5 and vice versa. Dr. Larimore MOVED approval of the agenda as modified and Dr. Loutzenheiser SECONDED the motion. The agenda was approved as modified.
Two corrections to the minutes were noted: Dr. Don Visco was present at the meeting and the spelling of “losing” in the last paragraph, last page. Dr. Stanger MOVED approval of the minutes as corrected, and Dr. Larimore SECONDED the motion. The minutes were APPROVED as corrected and will be corrected on the web site.
Dr. Armistead stated that the President’s Office sent an email to all university standing committees to review their committee procedures due to the fact that the School of Nursing is now merged with the College of Agricultural and Human Sciences. This would reduce the number of total members to thirty and number of faculty to eighteen. Dr. Armistead also stated that even though the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Extended Education does not have designated faculty, there may be a need for a faculty representative from the School. Dr. Harris stated that he is considered faculty for the School, as well as three other faculty teaching for RODP. He could represent the School on the Council as an elected member at-large. The procedures will be revised and sent to the Council for their vote.
A copy of an email was distributed to the Council on this subject (copy attached). Dr. Armistead asked that the Council review the current policy, which appears in the Faculty Handbook and Student Handbook. The current policy specifies who is to be present at various meetings (chair, faculty member, student). However, it does not specify if anyone else can be in these meetings. A practice exists, but there is no policy. Mr. Burnett stated that on the non-academic side of judicial issues there is a policy which says students must tell them in advance who will attend the hearing. He has spoken with TBR legal counsel and they will be glad to review a draft policy for the Council. After some discussion, Dr. Null, Dr. Loutzenheiser, and Dr. Wood will work with Mr. Burnett to study this issue.
Proposed Process for Evaluating Transfer Transcripts and Requests for Substitutions and Exceptions
Dr. Armistead distributed the proposal and two forms for the Council to review (see attachment). These are working procedures being developed between the Academic Affairs Office, Records Office, and the Deans. The desire is to streamline the process for evaluating these items. This will place more responsibility in the deans and department chairs offices to handle cases that involve their majors. It will also give an official role to the chair of the General Education Committee for areas that are not major specific. He asked that the Council review this and discuss further at the next meeting.
Dr. Miller stated that Dr. Barker had suggested that the Council revisit the issue of TTU using the plus and minus grading system. She stated that for the TBR four-year institutions ETSU, MTSU, and Memphis allow plus and minus grades. Whereas, APSU, TSU, and TTU do not allow the plus and minus grades. Dr. Witcher was present to express his concern, based on feedback from his students, as to if there is a plus grade, why do you have to have a minus grade. He would recommend allowing plus grades only. Others have believed that if you have a plus, you must have a minus. It was recommended that the grading policy not be changed until after Banner was up and running for a year or more. After much discussion, Ms. Nicole Bostick said she would poll the SGA to determine what their preference is on this issue. The Council decided to table this issue until they hear from the students.
Dr. Hoy stated that the Faculty Senate should have involvement on any academic changes that will be made based on the use of Banner. Specifically that Banner does not currently allow for 16 credit hours for grade replacement. This issue was presented to the Council previously, but no policy change was approved. TTU is the only TBR school that has this cap. Therefore, the modification to Banner was not an issue with the other schools when they were implementing Banner.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:45pm.
Carol Holley, Recorder