Inside Iowa State

Sept. 12, 2008

Academic programs get senate approval

by Erin Rosacker

The Faculty Senate opened the books on the academic year with its initial meeting Sept. 9 and approved a pair of items introduced last spring.

An undergraduate minor in nuclear engineering, administered by the mechanical engineering department, was unanimously approved. No new courses will be developed for the minor at ISU, but some web-based classes will be offered through four other member schools in the Big 12 Nuclear Engineering Consortium -- Kansas State University, Texas A&M University, University of Missouri and University of Texas.

The senate also unanimously approved an undergraduate certificate program in community leadership and public service. The interdisciplinary program, administered by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will involve 14 academic departments across five colleges. The student affairs office and the Catt Center for Women and Politics also will work closely with the program.

At next month's meeting, senators will consider a proposal to merge the wildlife biology and animal ecology master's and doctorate programs into a single graduate program in wildlife ecology.

Behind the scenes

Work already is beginning on three priorities senate president Clark Ford (food science and human nutrition) listed for the year.

The faculty development and adminstrative relations council is working on a policy that would provide tuition scholarships for faculty family members.

Ford also is assembling a pair of task forces. One is studying the limits set on the number of non-tenure eligible faculty who teach courses. ISU policy sets that limit at 15 percent, but the annual numbers consistently rank above that benchmark.

The second task force will explore a faculty dining or meeting area. Ford said the lounge concept is something many other universities have in place, and would offer ISU faculty a central place to meet and interact.

Senate president Clark Ford will ask faculty groups to look into:

• Tuition scholarships for faculty family members
• Failure to meet limits set for the number of non-tenure eligible faculty who teach courses
• A faculty dining or meeting area