UH Hilo Faculty Congress Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127

Members Present:

Norman Arancon, Brian Bays, Harald Barkhoff , Kathleen Commendador, Sevki Erdogan, Emmeline dePillis, Ramon Figueroa-Centeno, Jean Ippolito, Barbara Leonard, Seri Luangphinith, Yumiko Ohara, Hiapo K. Perreira, Yu Cheng Qin, Elizabeth Stacy, Norman Stahl, Ghee Tan, La`akea Yoshida.

Members Not Present: Kerri Inglis, Michele Ebersole, Sabry Shehata (Bruce Matthews was present and taking notes for Dr. Shehata).

Ex-Officio Members Present: Rose Tseng, Chancellor, Philip Castille, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Luoluo Hong, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Debra Fitzsimons, Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs, Randy Hirokawa, Dean, CAS, April Komenaka, Interim Dean, CCECS, Linda Golian-Lui, Director, Library, Marcia Sakai, Dean, COBE.

Other Guests Present: Bruce Matthews, Dexter Irvin, Henry Yada.

I Meeting was called to order at 3:05 pm. Motion to approve minutes from 11/13/09 meeting was approved by acclamation.

II Introduction of new Athletic Director, Dexter Irvin. Welcome Mr. Irvin!

II Report from Chair: Sevki reported that the membership of the search committee has been finalized, and that he and Barbara Leonard from Faculty Congress are on it. The search committee has met once and is working on the MQs and DQs for the new Chancellor, which will be posted to the UHH website soon. UH President Greenwood met with the Faculty Congress Thursday, 12/3 to discuss the financial situation of the State of Hawaii and the University of Hawaii. Sevki reported that he has been attending a lot of meetings.

III Committee Reports:

Executive Committee:  Motion: To approve the following Achievement Award to be engraved on a plaque and granted to Dr. Regina Titunik, posthumously.

Achievement Award

The University of Hawaii at Hilo 2009-2010 Faculty Congress

Recognizes Dr. Regina Titunik UH Hilo Faculty Congress Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127

For Her Service to the University For Her Teaching Excellence For Her Research Contributions And For Being a Role Model To Us All The motion was approved by acclamation

 Motion: To amend Charter to enable Congress to use electronic voting to change the Charter (Second reading, changes will be sent to the faculty via written ballot to approve these changes. Proposed changes are highlighted)

Article VII, Amendments to the Charter

Whenever after two readings, a majority of the Congress votes to amend the Charter, the proposed amendment shall be referred to the faculty for ratification, and written or electronic ballots shall be distributed to all UH Hilo tenure-track faculty. The Charter shall be amended when proposals are approved by a majority of those voting.

Motion approved by acclamation

 Motion: To amend the Bylaws to charge Faculty Congress with administering annual Dean evaluations and to allow for electronic ballots: (Second reading)

6. Administrative Review

Congress will conduct an annual administrative review. Tenured and tenure-track faculty will be sent a confidential form via electronic or written means. If the form is mailed, it is to be returned in a blank inner envelope with the faculty member’s name on the outer envelope. At least three Congress members will oversee the opening of the envelopes such that confidentiality is maintained. The forms will be analyzed and summarized with a report sent to the appropriate supervisor. In the case of an electronic form, every reasonable means should be taken to ensure confidentiality, anonymity, and one vote per person. At least three Congress members will oversee the electronic assessment and compilation of results. In the case of a Presidential evaluation, a report will be sent to the Board of Regents. In the case of a Chancellor evaluation, a report will be sent to the President. In the case of Vice Chancellor evaluations, a report will be sent to the Chancellor. In the case of Deans, a report will be sent to the Chancellor via the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. Academic units may choose to administer their own Dean evaluations, but if they have not done so by April 15 of each year, UH Hilo Faculty Congress Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127

Congress will be charged with administering the Dean evaluation. The report summary will be reviewed by Congress in executive session and shall not be reported in the minutes.

Discussion: It was suggested that Faculty Congress use Survey monkey or some other email device to ask the faculty in each unit each year if they want Faculty Congress to administer or assist them in evaluating their Dean. If the faculty in a unit wish to do their own Dean evaluation, Congress will not perform a Dean evaluation for that unit unless the unit itself has not administered the Dean evaluation by April 15 of each year.

Motion approved, 12 for, 0 against, 2 abstain.

 Motion: That the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs take measures to efficiently utilize all available classrooms so that the maximum amount of courses can be offered to our students.

Rationale: Currently classroom allocation is partitioned among different units, which results in an underutilization of classroom space and tuition revenues.

Discussion: It is necessary that one person be in charge of classroom assignments in order to efficiently allocate classroom space and offer more courses. Since classroom assignment is an academic affair, the consensus is that the VC of Academic Affairs be in charge of classroom allocation.

Motion approved unanimously.

Admissions Committee: Report from Emmeline de Pillis, Chair

UHH changed its admissions standards around 2000, and no longer requires an SAT or ACT score. The sole requirement to UHH for first-time freshmen is a 3.0 HSGPA. Most first-year still submit SAT scores, however.

According to our strategic plan, UH Hilo does not do remediation; that is supposed to be done in the CCs. Although we have placement tests that are taken at the student's discretion, we have no single measure of what constitutes a remedial student. Many institutions use SAT or ACT scores to place students into remedial courses. The SAT cutoff ranges from 400 to 480. We used the midpoint, a cutoff score of 440, to estimate which of our first time freshmen are likely to require remediation. Since 2002, all of our first-time-freshman enrollment growth has come from students likely to require remediation. UH Hilo Faculty Congress Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127

One possible contributing factor is grade inflation in high schools, resulting in a 3.0 GPA no longer signaling adequate preparation. Another possible contributor is that most universities do require a minimum SAT or ACT score, so we are signaling to potential students that we are the place to go for those with weak test scores.

This ongoing trend has implications for retention, graduation, and classroom interaction. The Admissions Committee is formulating recommendations for the incoming Chancellor.

Assessment Committee: Report from Seri Luangphinith, Chair

Report on the work of the Assessment Support Committee for Fall 2009. The VCAA funded the attendance of the GE Committee Chair, the Assessment Support Committee Chair, and the WASC coordinator at the WASC Assessment Retreat in San Jose in October. At that time, several recommendations were offered in informal review of the documents associated with the GE Program and Program Review:

1. That a comprehensive assessment plan need to be developed, which could start working at aligning courses in GE at the 100-level and the 200-level vis-à-vis the learning outcomes identified by the GE Committee;

2. Work on actual assessment tools and corresponding assessment rubrics had to begin immediately;

3. Direct student input, which had been lacking in the past, needed to be better integrated into the process;

4. Many of the goals for GE could easily be worked into Program Review to give departments and programs a basic foundation.

The Committee has, in the last month, tackled the first three. During our alignment session, teachers were surprised how their definitions of student success (exhibited skills) were very similar to each other and to student perceptions, which we garnered through informal surveys of students provided by the student representative. We then identified a signature assignment (research paper) and have developed a draft of the first assessment rubric, which we will test read in January (based on papers from this term) and work toward a larger sampling of student papers at the end of Spring 2010. Our rubric was designed in consultation with WASC benchmarks, the assessment program developed by the librarians in LILO, and a few sample rubrics from other universities. Our rubric measures the following: Documentation Conventions, Appropriateness of Sources, Evaluating Sources, and Integrating Sources.

UH Hilo Faculty Congress Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127

It became clear that this one rubric and this one assignment would not give teachers enough information on how well students are (or are not) gaining skills on finding and analyzing appropriate information. Specifically, a research paper is a good indicator of whether a student knows documentation conventions, if the writer knows what kind of information is required for the paper, and how well that information is addressed (critically analyzed); a paper will not necessarily show if a student knows how to approach research databases since PDF versions of articles will not reflect source (i.e. LexisNexis, JSTOR, etc.). This suggests that other assessment tools can be identified (annotated bibliographies) or developed (questionnaires) to help teachers assess the quality of the process as opposed to simply the end product.

Academic Policy Committee: Report from Ramon Figueroa-Centeno, Chair

Motion #1: Change the existing Grade Policy to the following:  Once a student has graduated, grade changes may not be made in the student’s record except in cases of documented instructor error. Requests for changes resulting from documented instructor error must be made through the College Dean within the following regular (fall or spring) semester. The Dean will communicate the change of grade to the Registrar’s office, which will implement the change.  Rationale: There is no policy on this matter, and recently, two offices disagreed as to what the policy should be when a faculty member attempted to change a grade given in error after a student had graduated. One office thought that no changes should be made after a student graduates. It was generally agreed that students should not have the opportunity to do more work to raise a grade in this situation. This policy is intended to delineate both the circumstances under which grade changes could be made and the person authorized to make the determination. Motion approved unanimously Motion #2: Approve revised policy on Residency Requirement:  The current policy appears in the 2009-2010 catalog, page 46-47. The relevant parts of the policy are provided, with proposed changes in bold. New language is underlined. Baccalaureate Degrees: General Requirements

Baccalaureate degrees are granted only to those students who 1) earn at least 120 semester hour, 2) complete satisfactorily the program of courses prescribed for their majors, 3) earn at least a 2.0 UH Hilo cumulative GPA in courses required for the major (a higher GPA may be required for some degrees) and minor (if any), 4) earn a minimum of 30 semester hours from UHH, 5) are registered as a classified student with a declared major and in attendance at the University of Hawaii at Hilo during the semester or summer session in which the degree is granted, 5) have been registered as classified students with a declared major in attendance at UH Hilo within the preceding year and 6) meet all requirements of their respective colleges and departments. UH Hilo Faculty Congress Minutes for December 4, 2009 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127

 Rationale: In CAS, exceptions are granted in every case appealed by students who have completed their requirements but who have failed to apply on time for graduation during their final semester. Students who do not appeal must register for an additional credit and spend another semester in residence. This presents a financial burden for students, who gain minimal value for the money. The requirement as it stands is neither equitably applied, not does it further any of the university’s goals for its students. Motion approved unanimously

General Education Committee:

Report from Jean Ippolito, Chair

 Motion for the final endorsement of all documents (posted on the Faculty Congress website for this meeting) to be submitted to the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs for the Fall 2011 implementation of the General Education Program, including the Fall 2010 catalog preview.

1. Fall 2010 Catalog Preview 2. Fall 2011 Catalog Entry 3. Matrix for 2010 Preview and 2011 Catalog Entry 4. Articulation of General Education Transfer Policy 5. Policies on Retroactive Credit and Special Topics courses 6. Finalized Learning Outcomes for Catalog Entry and Assessment Purposes 7. GE Certification Tally Sheet 8. GE Certified Course List by Category

Motion approved unanimously

New Business

 Presentation from the Long Range Development Plan Committee, Harry Yada and VCAA Debra Fitzsimons distributed a handout prepared by PBR HAWAII & Associates, Inc. and Design Partners, Inc., which identifies different master plans for the future development of the campus facilities. Because of the lateness of the hour, it was decided to devote the entire January 22, 2010 Faculty Congress meeting on this topic alone, and to invite all the faculty to attend the meeting (UCB 127??).