Faculty Council
Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 12:00 p.m.
Cohen House, Esther M. Cohen Dining Room
Present: Jose Aranda, John Casbarian, Marj
Corcoran, Steve Crowell, Rebekah Drezek, Lynne Huffer (Speaker), Donald
Morrison, Nancy Niedzielski, Matteo Pasquali, Bob Patten (Deputy Speaker),
Caroline Quenemoen, David Scott and Mark Wiesner. Absent: Vicki Colvin, Patricia
Reiff and Herb Ward. Guests: Sid Burrus and Joe Warren.
(1) Minutes (08/31/04): The minutes from the
August 31, 2004 meeting were approved.
(2) Introduction of New Members and Guests: The four new members of
Faculty Council were introduced (Casbarian, Morrison, Pasquali and Scott) along
with guest speakers Warren and Burrus.
(3) Honor Council: Joe Warren, Convener of
the Faculty Appeals Board of the Honor Council, gave a brief review of the
Honor Council appeals process, which in his opinion has been very
successful. Warren also
distributed the document Honor Council Faculty Appeals Board -
Guidelines& Procedures. Maintenance of the Appeals Board was discussed
and Warren recommended adding two additional members to the existing
seven-member board to create a total of nine members. According to this plan, each member will serve for a
three-year term, with staggered three-member rotations off the board each year.
Members of the Appeals Board are to be appointed by Faculty Council. Warren also recommended Faculty Council
receive copies of the Presidentıs letter when the President overturns rulings
by the Appeals Board. Faculty
Council members agreed to add the two additional members to the Appeals Board
and agreed to make nominations for
approval at the next Faculty Council meeting.
On another issue related to Honor Council,
Donald Morrison raised concerns about potential changes to the Honor Code
currently under discussion among the undergraduate student body. He assured the Council that the
potential changes would require an amendment to the Honor Council Constitution,
and agreed to keep the Council apprised of any further developments. During the discussion the ongoing
problem of self-scheduled exams was reintroduced. The Speaker agreed to contact Ann Wright, EX&S, and the
chair of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for further information
regarding this issue.
(4) Master of Bioengineering Degree: Dean Burrus presented the
proposal for a new Master of Bioengineering degree, and clarified the rationale
and practical questions raised by this new degree program. A motion was made,
seconded and unanimously approved
to forward the Master of Bioengineering proposal to University Council and then
to the full faculty for final approval.
(5) Faculty Council By-laws: A motion was made to
approve corrections and edits to the Faculty Council By-laws to reflect items
that had previously been approved but not yet incorporated into the written
version of the By-laws. The motion was approved to accept the changes as
distributed, effective October 1, 2004.
(6) Faculty Council Committee Assignments: Faculty Council
committee assignments were distributed with no objections as stated. The 2004/2005 Committee Assignments
will be communicated to the Faculty through email and posted on the Faculty
Council web site.
(7) Elimination of Degree in Systems Theory: Faculty Council has
received a request to eliminate the Ph.D. in Systems Theory, which has not been
used in over ten years. Faculty
Council members generally agreed that elimination or addition of degrees in the
Registrarıs Office should follow established procedures regarding degrees, and
should therefore be brought to the Faculty for a vote. There was some
disagreement on this point, and it was decided that further discussion for the
elimination of this degree would be deferred until the next Faculty Council
meeting.
(8) Transcripts of Faculty Poll on the Future
of Athletics at Rice University: Transcripts of the
Faculty Poll were distributed with a recommendation that they be posted on the
Faculty Council web site following the removal of any potentially identifying
information. Faculty Council members agreed to post the transcripts on the web
site. Marj Corcoran, Chair of the Faculty Council Athletics Committee, also
related her recommendations for areas of focus for this yearıs committee,
including: 1.) tracking of athletics costs, 2.) recommending academic advising
outside of thletics and 3.) tracking of academic priorities.
(9) Adjournment: The meeting was
adjourned at 1:30 p.m., with the next Faculty Council business meeting
scheduled for October 14, 2004.
Sarah Holloman
Executive Assistant