The Faculty Senate of Metropolitan State University of Denver hosted its biweekly meetings Oct. 5 and Oct. 19 to share announcements, listen to guests of the Senate and discuss policy changes. Both meetings were led by Faculty Senate President Liz Goodnick, Ph.D.
Announcements
- Roadrunner Shoutout Awards nominations are always open, and the Early Bird particularly needs faculty and student-employee nominations.
- Nominations for Roadrunners Who Soar and Team Roadrunner Awards are open until Dec. 2.
- Provost Alfred Tatum, Ph.D., holds Tuesday Talks With Tatum each Tuesday.
- MSU Denver’s first Rowdy Pit Stop took place Oct. 15.
- MSU Denver has received $270,000 over four years to support adoption and adaptation of Open Educational Resources.
Banking Policy Task Force
The policy would compensate faculty members for teaching mentorships, internships, independent study and other similar situations. The Faculty Senate voted 91% in favor of the banking policy in March, but the policy was not passed by the handbook committee and therefore was not put into the handbook. The task-force goal is to work with the Senior Leadership Team and Tatum to develop new language to bring to the handbook committee by December.
Votes
Rules Committee Bylaw changes
Sen. Kelly Evans, Ph.D., read proposed changes to the Rules Committee Bylaws to change any he/she pronouns to “the member” and change Student Government Association to SGA: The Student Advocacy Council. The votes were 74 in favor with three abstentions to pass.
Adjustments to Catalog language for international students
Sen. Jenny Allert, MSN Ed., RNC-OB and chair of the Academic Policies Committee, read changes to the body regarding the admission of international students. The proposed change removes the requirement of having an F-1 visa and can be found on slide No. 12 here. The votes were 79 in favor with five abstentions.
Participation Verification Policy
Because MSU Denver is not in compliance with Title IV regulations for financial aid, Allert read the Mandatory Participation Verification for faculty members to determine whether a student has participated enough in a course to receive financial aid. The policy can be found on slide No. 15 here. The votes were 72 in favor, four not in favor, with eight abstentions.
First reads
Delivery-method options
Sen. Kim Klimek, Ph.D.; Connie Sanders, Registrar; and Jeff Loats, Ph.D., director of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Design, held a first read on delivery-method options. The proposal would give students different modes of available classes consisting of in-person, hybrid in-person, syncflex, hyflex, asynchronous online, synchronous online, dual mode: online, hybrid online and self-paced asynchronous online. If passed, the proposal would go into effect next summer.
Multicultural redesign
Sen. Devon Wright, Ph.D., and the Multicultural Committee held a first read on the proposal of changing “Multicultural” in the title to “Ethnic Studies and Social Justice.” This would modify five of the existing Student Learning Outcomes and require updating the description. If the resolution passes, there will likely be four workshops in spring to help transition classes.
Open discussion
Sen. Christina Foust, Ph.D., discussed the Workforce Implementation Resolution that will ask Tatum to share implementation plans from each college with the Faculty Senate before the end of the fall semester. With the information, the Faculty Senate can discuss the implementation plans during the first meeting of the spring semester and vote to affirm or reject the proposals. There was a motion to continue the discussion into Wednesday’s meeting and 59 voted in favor, 13 not in favor, with two abstentions.