This past Thursday, Nov. 7, the University Senate voted on two proposals concerning changes affecting students’ accessibility to class syllabi and instructional track faculty contracts.
Proposal 6-24 proposes changes to faculty reappointment and promotion review to strengthen job security for instructional track faculty (ITF) on campus. The senate body discussed this proposal at their previous meeting and it was passed with no dissention.
Proposal 9-25 from the Student Success Council seeks to require all teaching staff for courses to provide the course syllabus through the university Learning Management System (LMS), which is currently in Canvas.
According to Senator Paniz Hazaveh on the findings of the Student Success Council, “One of their findings was that not everyone obviously uses Canvas the same way, but one of their key points is they want a consistent start to the semester which has to do with the syllabus, based on this we proposed these changes.”
This proposal seeks to ensure syllabi are readily available to all students through Canvas, or any future LMS. This proposal, which had already been discussed at the previous meeting, was passed with no dissension.
The Senate also reviewed two new items which it will vote on at the next meeting, including changes to the Faculty Handbook and shelving the currently offered Masters Degree in Engineering Mechanics on campus.
University Senate meetings are held weekly in room 102 of ChemSci from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Thursdays. For more information visit the University Senate website.
