Academic senate meeting closes out school year

President G. Wayne Clough addressed the combined General Faculty Assembly and Academic Faculty and Academic Senate meeting on April 22 for the final time as the Institute’s president. The group voted on three agenda items, and several others were discussed, including proposed changes to the Faculty Handbook.

Action items mostly included alterations previously discussed in the Student Regulations Committee. During the approval of the minutes of the Standing Committee of the Academic Faculty, the first action item was the source of some debate.

Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Jeffrey Streator presented changes to Student Rules and Regulations, which would permit cross enrollment for all students in another institution during the summer without prior Institute approval.

To enroll in another institution while enrolled at Georgia Tech, students must gain prior approval during the fall and spring semesters, but not for summer courses, as most students are not enrolled during this time. Under current rules, however, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires enrollment for scholarship athletes during the summer, so pre-approval still applied for them. The committee’s proposed rule change would enable athletes to enroll without the requirement.

“Athletes are required to be here taking classes during the summer,” Streator said. “General students do not have the same restrictions.”

Some members wanted to know why asking for advanced permission was problematic. “It sounds as if we’re saying taking the course at Tech [puts the student] at a disadvantage,” one member said. Other mitigating issues were presented, such as financial aid opportunities and the timing of summer semesters—some schools may offer classes earlier or later than Tech, which would fit better into some student athletes’ schedules.

Additional changes recommended by the committee were that cross-enrollment and concurrent registration during the summer be made available to all degree-seeking students, instead of for only degree-seeking juniors, seniors and graduating students. The committee also proposed the Student Rules and Regulations Section VIII-B provide for “academic renewal,” or allowing for students who have been absent from enrollment for at least five years to petition for return, gaining a fresh start on their GPAs.

All proposed exceptions passed.

Handbook changes discussed included an amended section on intellectual diversity, streamlining the faculty grievance process and implementing improvements to elections.
Georgia Tech Research Institute Principal Research Technologist Timothy Strike presented the proposed intellectual diversity section, which states that faculty and students will not be evaluated or disadvantaged based upon their political opinions. This change brings the Institute in line with the American Council on Education’s position.

Due to the high volume of grievances in 2006 and 2007, Literature, Communication and Culture Professor Carol Colatrella, with the Task Force on Faculty Status and Grievance Committee, presented three recommendations to the body, including adding formal administrative support, creating a secondary pool of academic or general faculty to assist if needed and changing the current grievance process by adding an Informal Resolution section.

Secretary of the Faculty and GTRI Principal Research Scientist Ron Bohlander presented the recommended handbook changes to help improve faculty elections. Proposals included pooling candidates for multiple elections on the same committee or body; controlling the curriculum committees’ sizes, better ensuring fair distribution of positions across the colleges; and providing a more effective process for electing representatives in Services and Central Administration. He added the most recent elections were run in this manner, to favorable results.

The Intellectual Diversity and Faculty Status and Grievance Committee alterations were approved unanimously, while the faculty elections procedural change also was unanimously approved upon its second reading.

Other business:

Proposed changes to the undergraduate curriculum were unanimously approved. Changes include the following: changes in minor requirements across the Institute, 13 new courses for the College of Computing, a new certificate in astrophysics, five new courses for a mechanical engineering and management minor, a new course in microelectronics and nanotechnology and two new courses in Modern Languages, as well as a revised linguistics certificate.

Proposed changes to the graduate curriculum also were approved. Changes include the following: Students earning a bachelor’s in Environmental Engineering have the option to participate in the five-year bachelor’s/masters program, a new Economics doctorate along with 16 new courses, 14 new courses for the College of Management, new curriculum for the Tech/Emory University Biomedical Engineering Department, a new doctoral concentration in Prosthetics and Orthotics in Applied Physiology, a new professional master’s degree in Applied Systems Engineering as a collaborative program between the College of Engineering, GTRI and Distance Learning and Professional Education, a new five-year bachelor’s/masters program in Digital Media for Literature, Communication and Culture and 15 new courses for the College of Engineering, seven of which are with the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

For information, visit www.facultysenate.gatech.edu.