JOINT MEETING OF THE INSTITUTE SENATE &    
THE FACULTY SENATE
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
4:00 P.M.
Workman 101
MINUTES OF THE FACULTY SENATE

Call to order.  Dr. Westpfahl, Chair, called the Faculty Senate to order at 4:10 p.m. after the adjournment of the Institute Senate.   He called for approval of the Faculty Senate Minutes of February 5, 2008.

Approval of the minutes of February 5, 2008 meeting.  The minutes were approved by a motion made by Dr. Johnson and a second by Dr. Bowman.

Announcements.   Dr. López gave a brief history of the supercomputer that was funded at $14 million last year by the Legislature.   These funds did not cover operational costs so the computer has been sitting at Intel for a year.   The operating funds are being requested this year from the Legislature through House Bill 2.   There are many problems mixing educational monies with industry monies.    Dr. Lopez has deep concerns about this issue.  He is waiting for the Governor and the Legislature to iron out the difficulties before moving forward on Tech’s commitment to the project.

Dr. López gave a brief summary  on outcomes of this year’s Legislative Session:
            -2% raise package for higher education, plus .75 increase to ERB.
  Dr. López hopes to increase the raise pool to 3%
-Tech will receive $12 million next year over the base, of which $8.5 million is capitol outlay
                        -$25,000 for the Bureau of Geology
                        -$400,000 matching funds for PRRC
                        -$40,000 for Science Fair and Science Olympiad
                        -$30,000 for ICASA
                        -$50,000 for Aerospace
                        -$1 million for endowment funds for endowed chairs
                        -$54,000 for improvements to the bathrooms at the Golf Course
                        -$16,700 for CAVE & KARST
-$250,000 was requested for a one-time budget increase for GRC but it was reduced significantly

Dr. Gerity announced that this year’s Commencement Ceremony will be at 10:00 a.m. instead of 11:00 a.m.      The Faculty Senate will meet at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, and engineering faculty will meet at 9:30 a.m.to decide on the Cramer Awards.    Registrar,      Ms. Barrerras,  reported that they have cancelled all Thursday night final exams, and grades for all graduating students must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday.     She encouraged all faculty to check the final exam schedule on-line.  

New Business

Council of Chairs Meeting:

Final Exam Policy:  Dr. Gerity reported that the SA President, Josh Asplen, attended the Council of Chairs Meeting stating that the SA is reviewing the Final Exam Policy (http://externalweb.nmt.edu/aaffairs/finalexam.html).    The students are reporting that there are many violations of the existing policy.    Dr. Gerity asked that the department chairs remind faculty of the policy and to help enforce it.       

Curriculum Changes for Mathematics:   Dr. Hossain, moved to adopt the curriculum changes for Mathematics which were passed by the Council of Chairs.   The motion was seconded.

Summary of changes in the Requirements for the B.S. Degree in Mathematics:

1. Replaced the senior sequences with the mathematics electives;
2. Delete the “electives to 37 credit hours” section;
3. Rephrase the requirement of 18 credit hours of approved coursework in a single subject other than mathematics.

Reasons for the proposed changes:

1. The senior sequence requirement does not provide sufficient exposure to senior level mathematics neither in breadth nor in depth.
2. The requirement of a minimum of 37 credit hours in mathematics courses numbered 200 or above is equivalent to the requirement of one additional mathematics elective course.
3. The requirement of 18 credit hours of approved coursework in a single subject other than mathematics:  the requirement does not specify who approves the course work;
4. Students are not exposed to statistics.

Dr. Sonnenfeld asked how the change in the 37 credit hours for electives would affect the Physics majors that are double majors.    Dr. Hossain stated that it would not be a major change.   The motion passed to approve the above changes.

Conferral of Degrees in Special Cases:  Dr. Zeman moved to adopt the following steps in conferring special degrees:  
-The major department will bring the degree forward upon completion;
-The degree goes to the Registrar for a degree audit;
-With concurrence of the chair of the Faculty Senate;
-The recommendation goes to the Vice President for Academic Affairs to grant the degree.  
-The Vice President for Academic Affairs will then make the recommendation to the President;
-The President will bring it before the Board of Regents at the earliest possible time.    

Dr. Johnson seconded the motion.   Dr. Zeman reported that a number of cases have come up recently since 911 that require the graduating student to have the conferral of the degree and the date reported on their official transcript.    In many of the incidents, the students were unable to even receive a formal offer from an employer until the transcript noted such a date and degree on it.     Many questions were raised and a lengthy discussion followed.   A suggestion was made to have the approval process three times a year after completion of each semester, summer, fall and spring.     Dr. Johnson and Dr. Gerity both expressed that students are graduating at various times of the year, sometimes three weeks after the May commencement which would hold up the granting of a degree until the end of the summer session in late August.   

Dr. Borchers made a motion to table the original motion and have an ad hoc committee review the problem and return with a solution by the April Faculty Senate Meeting.     The motion to table was seconded.    A vote was taken and the motion passed 17 to 13.   Dr. Westpfahl, Chair, of the Faculty Senate appointed the following members to the ad hoc committee:   B. Borchers, O. Wingenter, D. Johnson, P. Gerity, L. Barreras, and I. Davidson.    

Graduate Council Meeting:

Dr. Johnson moved for adoption of a new course from Earth and Environmental Science:

GEOP5XX – Volcano Geophysical Field Methods, 1-3 cr
            Prerequisites:  ERTH 483 or equivalent; MATH 131/132 or equivalent; consent of instructor
            Offered summers (yearly)
An intensive field and lab computer-based class to teach the principles of hardware installation, data collection, digital signal processing, and analysis of geophysical data in an active volcanic environment.   Studies will be grounded in seismic data acquisition and may also include infrasound, geodesy, thermal, and gas sensing surveys.

The motion was seconded by Dr. Bowman and passed unanimously.

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn.    The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

                                                            Respectfully submitted,

                                                            Debby Olguin