GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
FALL MEETING OF THE ACADEMIC SENATE
Combined with a Called Meeting of the
GENERAL FACULTY
Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 3:00 pm
Student Center Theater
MINUTES
1. The President opened the meeting at 3:05 P.M. and offered the following comments on matters of interest to the Georgia Tech community:
a. He
began by announcing that the
b. The overall annual state budget process is moving along positively. The Chancellor has given the Governor his recommendations. Key needs are the support for salaries and for the Institute work load. The latter is based on a formula that tracks enrollment growth but lags about two years. Meeting the formula is crucial to keep up with ongoing growth such as experienced over the past few years. Tech is hopeful that the Governor and the legislature will support these recommendations.
c. On the Capital Campaign, Tech will finish 2007 on target and more than half way to its goal of raising $1 billion. The campaign is still in its quiet phase, in which Tech is in touch with prospective donors but has made no overall public announcement. At some point there will be a meeting with the Campaign Steering committee to determine whether the Campaign goal needs to be revised. Dr. Clough reported that meetings are also underway with deans and other unit heads to ascertain whether unit goals need revision. Some revision of unit goals, up or down, will help keep the various teams focused on achievable goals. There is no doubt however that an overall goal of at least $1 billion is achievable.
d. President Clough reported that the Financial Times of London has ranked Georgia Tech in the top 200 World Universities. Tech’s rank this year is 97th, up from 145th last year. There was also a special category for the world’s best in technology and innovation. They listed 50 universities and Tech was 8th on that list.
e. The Faculty Benefits Committee has brought
the need for more childcare to the attention of the administration. Some years back, Tech had no childcare for
employee and student families but then with the help of two generous donors, it
became possible to build a childcare facility in
The President stated that this facility is now over-subscribed. So a second facility is needed and Dr. Clough
pointed to two issues: a) finding the
funds to build it, and b) finding funds to subsidize it. This will need to be accomplished with
private money as state funds cannot be used.
When the latest family housing units were built they also included the
shell of a daycare center but the facility was not fitted out on the inside. Dr. Clough reported estimates of about $2
million to complete construction and make it ready to use.
He then called on Provost Gary Schuster to comment on outcomes from a study
group instituted to prepare for the next phase.
Dr. Schuster affirmed Dr. Clough’s assessment that demand for daycare
has outstripped the resources of Tech and in the surrounding community. Proximity to where people work is very
important to parents who may need to stop back into the daycare facility to
deal with issues that arise. He said
that a lot of the demand comes from graduate students.
Tech has requested and expects to receive soon a proposal from Bright Horizons to
accomplish the needed expanded facilities.
This will take account of state regulations concerning the size of the
facility relative to the population in various age groups to be served. Dr. Schuster said he was hopeful that a plan
would be adopted within the next few months.
He said that the challenge of finding a source of funding for the $2
million needed had not yet been met but that meeting this need is a high
priority.
f. Dr. Clough mentioned two groups that have
been chartered for initiatives concerning water issues and the drought in
A second group has been instituted by
Provost Gary Schuster and is made up of some of Tech’s academic experts in
water usage and related topics. They
will provide advice and assistance to regional governments and the federal
government concerning the drought. This might
involve reservoir planning and management, assessment of water conditions,
policy issues, and many other topics.
They will soon issue reports on several areas and these will be shared
with the campus. Dr. Clough said this
work is timely and a valuable service to the citizens of
g. Lastly, he called attention to the ongoing search for a Vice-Provost for Academic Diversity. An outstanding pool of four candidates has been announced. This new position is needed to ensure the campus is doing all it can to diversify participation in all its activities. Dr. Clough said this involves more than just ethnic diversity – it also includes economic diversity and global diversity among others. He said he hoped to have this search completed soon.
2. Hearing no questions on the above, the President asked for approval of the minutes of the meeting of October 16, 2007 [a meeting of the General Faculty, General Faculty Assembly and the Academic Senate]. He indicated that the minutes were published and posted on the faculty governance web site and that there were no additions or corrections. (See Attachment #1 below for web site reference). The minutes were approved without dissent.
3. The President called on the Registrar, Reta Pikowsky, to present the degree candidates for the December 2007 commencements. She said that the list of degree candidates for the commencements had been reviewed and revised as necessary. She moved that they be accepted. The motion was seconded and passed without dissent. Dr. Clough reminded everyone that this was a year of many graduations. Renovations of the ventilation system were still not complete in the Alexander Memorial Coliseum and so commencements were being handled in a series of smaller ceremonies in the Coliseum as follows: Masters and PhD candidates will graduate Friday evening, Dec. 14. Undergraduate candidates from all colleges except engineering will graduate Saturday morning, Dec. 15, and engineering candidates, in the afternoon of that day. The speakers for these events are respectively, Robert Grubbs, Nobel laureate in chemistry; Lt. Governor Casey Cagle; and Norm Augustine, a distinguished leader in the aerospace industry and in government service.
4. The President introduced Mr.
Andy Altizer as a relatively new member of the Georgia Tech staff and the
Director of Emergency Preparedness on campus.
Dr. Clough cited examples of the kinds of things that fall in Mr.
Altizer’s purview and mentioned an incident on Nov. 8 when a small explosion
occurred in the
Mr. Altizer made his presentation on emergency preparedness using and following
closely the PowerPoint slides contained in Attachment
#2. He introduced himself and
explained that just prior to coming to Tech he had been with the Georgia
Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) for five years and before that had been
deployed with the military to
Mr. Altizer discussed work to address possible future incidents like the one at
Virginia Tech. He noted that there had
been a major joint planning meeting between Georgia Tech and
He commented that Tech is now better prepared to assist mobility impaired
personnel in cases of fire because they have a database of such persons and
when a fire alarm is activated for a building, the information on persons
needing assistance is made available to the fire department.
In regard to hazardous weather, the campus has recognized they need for more
specific information than countywide alerts, so Tech has contracted with a
weather service that monitors weather reports and radar systems and contacts
Tech when a specific threat is approaching the campus.
Mr. Altizer commented on the importance of comprehensive planning and
coordination in responding to emergencies.
As an example, he cited the recent explosion in the
Mr. Altizer reported that Tech has reached out to several other campuses
including Virginia Tech for insights on lessons learned elsewhere. He commented that building robust plans also
involves many beyond the network of emergency responders. It includes campus housing and many other
units necessary to rally logistics for a full response. For example, if there were ever a major
residence hall fire, then a sizeable number of students would have to be
relocated in a hurry. Many in the campus
community would be needed to make the best possible response.
Mr. Altizer then gave the faculty a history of the GTENS System which was
created to notify the campus if an emergency event was in progress. Initiated on August 20, 2007, this system was
designed to send out voice messages, emails, and text messages, and has been
based on the Connect-ED
product from the NTI Group, Inc.
He said GTENS would be complemented by the installation of a new outdoor warning
system comprising seven siren/loudspeaker combinations. This system will be completed by around the
end of January. Of course there are
other established communications channels as well, such as campus cable TV, the
GIT web page, etc.
Mr. Altizer outlined the campus emergency notification Standard Operating
Procedure using Slide 21 of the attachment and said it is being revamped in
light of the experiences of Nov. 8. He
also explained that the text messaging part of GTENS is limited to 130
characters so GTENS notices will be supplemented with more details on the Tech web
page and in emails. The President’s
Office, Institute Communication and Public Affairs Office, the Dean of Students
and others will have a 1-800 number they can call for management purposes. A policy of automatic recall of critical
personnel to the campus during an emergency is being worked out.
Mr. Altizer then reviewed lessons learned in the erroneous use of the GTENS
system on Nov. 8, as shown in the outline in Slide 23 of the attachment. All the feedback received from the campus has
been very helpful. Heard clearly was the
message that more information about the problem and more detailed instructions
were needed.
He reported that about 16,000 people have opted into the GTENS and more are
signing up everyday, in spite of the problems.
He urged all to sign up [via the Georgia Tech Passport System] and to
encourage others so that as many as possible on campus are participating.
In referring to lessons learned from Virginia Tech, Mr. Altizer announced that
locks are being put on fifty of Tech’s largest or most prominent classrooms so
that they can be locked from the inside and provide haven in cases similar to
the tragedy at Virginia Tech. More work
of this kind will follow.
He wrapped up by saying that the main keys to successful emergency preparedness
are to avoid complacency and to promote teamwork.
The floor was opened to questions and the first one was, will messages in the
future be manually composed or will there be a library of canned messages. Mr. Altizer responded that messages in the
future would be written manually to fit each particular situation. Another person asked whether there would be a
planned test of the GTENS situation in the future. Mr. Altizer answered that a test is planned
for the third or fourth week of January.
In advance of the test itself, an email will be sent to everyone saying
when the GTENS test will happen and asking persons to provide feedback if they
do not receive the GTENS messages when they should have.
5. Dr. Clough called on Mr. Tim Strike, Chair of the Statutes Committee to bring a first reading of a recommendation for a change in one of the Statutes. He made his presentation using the material in Attachment #3. Mr. Strike stated that he was presenting a recommended change in Statute 5.6.12 concerning the Student Grievance and Appeals Committee. The need for this change was first requested by the Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Integrity. It was motivated by revisions the faculty adopted last year in the Student Code of Conduct. In the revised code the Student Grievance and Appeals Committee no longer handles appeals from students who have received sanctions under the code. Mr. Strike presented a recommendation to delete an obsolete paragraph describing this appeals work. Dr. Jeff Streator, Chair of the Student Regulations Committee, commented that he was glad to see this taken care of. He chaired the effort last year to revise the Student Code of Conduct and believed the recommended change was necessary. Mr. Strike moved that the recommended change documented in Attachment #3 be accepted. The motion was seconded and passed without dissent.
6. The President then called on representatives of some of the Academic Faculty’s Standing Committees to present minutes and action items requiring approval. Copies of minutes have been recorded at the website noted as Attachment #4 below.
a) Prof. Paul Benkeser, member of the
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, introduced minutes from three meetings
(10/10/07, 10/24/07, 11/7/07), two of which had action items:
In the 10/10 meeting minutes, the following changes were approved: Three new special topics courses from CETL were
recognized and free-elective credit was allowed for students taking two
existing courses. Four courses were
dropped from the ME curriculum. Prof.
Benkeser also pointed out errors in the original agenda’s listing of action
items and this correction has been made to the agenda on file.
In the 11/7 meeting minutes, the following changes were approved: Both degree
programs of the Civil and Environmental Engineering will participate in the
Research Option. The Div. of
Professional Practice was approved for six new courses built around domestic
and international part-time internships.
Eight of their old courses were deactivated. Both degree programs of the
Prof. Benkeser moved that all the above
minutes and action items be approved.
The motion was second and approved without dissent.
b) Prof.
Gary Parker, Chair of the Graduate Curriculum Committee, introduced minutes
from two meetings (10/25/07, 11/15/07), both with action items:
In the 10/25 meeting minutes, the following changes were approved: A new course was approved for Computer
Science and one for Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. A joint masters degree with the
In the 11/15 meeting minutes, the following changes were approved: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and
Architecture each were approved for a new course. Mathematics was approved to cross-list two courses
with Computational Science and Education in the
Prof. Parker moved that all the above
minutes and action items be approved.
The motion was second and approved without dissent.
c) Prof.
Jeff Streator, Chair of the Student Regulations Committee, introduced minutes
of two committee meetings (8/29/07, 10/29/07) and the results of one email
ballot (11/21-26/07). In reviewing the
action items in the latter two, he used the attached PowerPoint slides and text
in Attachment #5.
Prof. Streator began by moving that the
Academic Senate approve the minutes of 8/29 which had no action items. This was
approved without dissent.
He went on to explain the recommendations that came out of the 10/29
meeting:
1) Policy documents will henceforth state that academic averages are truncated after two decimal places rather than rounded up. Prof. Streator explained that this is already how published grades are computed. The change was just to get this in writing. Dr. Streator moved that this change be accepted. It was seconded and passed without dissent.
2) In the
regulations about how student grade grievances are handled, the word “not”
shown in blue on Slide 2 of Attachment #5a was
inadvertently dropped in preparing the text of the regulations in section XX of
the Catalog of the Institute. Dr. Streator moved that “not” be put back
in. It was seconded and passed without
dissent.
3) Ordinarily, the Georgia Tech Registrar’s Office
only accepts transfer credits from accredited institutions of higher
learning. Dr. Streator reported that the
committee wanted to relax that for new institutions of the University System of
Georgia as shown in Slide 3 of Attachment #5a. Dr.
Streator moved that this change in policy be accepted. The motion was seconded and passed without
dissent.
4) The rules in Section XVII of the Catalog
governing participation in extracurricular activities currently require that a
student not be on academic probation.
The committee proposed to delete that requirement. Prof. Streator explained the rationale as
being in part an issue of enforcement.
Current procedures do not provide a mechanism to know all the activities
a student participates in or to inform all student activities of ineligible
students. He noted that intercollegiate
athletics is one exception where the necessary information is available to
enforce current policy. Thus, he said
there is an issue of fairness in singling out students in activities like athletics. Prof.
Streator moved to delete the requirement that a student not be on academic
probation in order to participate in extracurricular activities. The motion was seconded.
In discussion, Dr. Clough commented that the NCAA does not have a rule that a
student must not be on academic probation, and Tech is one of a very few
institutions that requires this. He said
that it was probably put in place with the thinking that extracurricular
activities took time away from effective studying but he said he knew of no
evidence to support that. John Stein
(Dean of Students) commented that there are other student activities that
currently are monitored for enforcement of this rule; namely, student
government. It is not just applied to
intercollegiate athletes. A question
from the floor was, if it is not known whether a student involved in
extracurricular activities is not on academic probation, how is it known
whether they satisfy any of the other three criteria. Prof. Streator and Reta Pikowsky (Registrar)
acknowledged that this was a very good question. Dr. Clough indicated there may be a few
people participating in extracurricular activities who are not Georgia Tech
students. Another comment from the floor
was that the rule in question might serve as an important communication to students
about the importance of not getting on academic probation even if the rule is
unenforceable. Dr. Streator said the
committee felt that ultimately fairness outweighed that concern. Relative to motivating students to get off
academic probation, Dr. Clough submitted that the NCAA rules on academic
progress were strict enough to be an even more effective tool. If the student athletes stay on academic
probation they and the Institute lose a scholarship. The NCAA rules are designed for each student
to graduate in five years and to check them every term. John Stein commented that while athletes may
be properly motivated, the proposed change would remove a tool from motivating
other students. He also said that
fraternity and sorority members are also monitored with respect to academic
probation and are another group for which the current rule is enforced. Dr. Clough observed that students often do
not have this rule high in their thinking about their academic performance and so
there may be other more effective ways to reach them. Prof. Streator reminded the meeting that
academic probation itself is a sanction and visible on the transcript. Bill Schaefer commented that the change made
sense in respect of the hundreds of students who participate in extracurricular
activities but are not required to be documented on any list. Those organizations that wish can retain in
their constitution a requirement not to be on academic probation.
The above motion passed on a voice vote.
Prof.
Streator moved that the minutes of the 10/29/07 meeting of the Student Regulations
Committee be approved. The motion was
seconded and passed without dissent.
Prof. Streator then explained that a question of Tech’s
competitive admissions policy had come to the committee and was decided by an
email ballot. He reported the committee
favored a change in the wording of these policies as shown in Attachment #5b.
It is recommended to delete the sentence “Applicants who do not satisfy
basic admissions criteria may, for sufficient reason, be admitted with the
approval of the Executive Admissions Committee appointed by the president of
the Institute.” Also recommended is a minor
change in choice of wording in the next paragraph as shown in the
attachment. Prof. Streator stated that
he learned from the President’s Office that the Executive Admissions Committee
does not make admissions decisions and thus the revised text is more accurate. He noted that these changes apply to the
admissions policies governing both freshmen and transfer applicants.
Prof. Streator moved that the proposed
change in wording be approved. The
motion was seconded. Dr. Bohlander commented
that the need for this change was noted by the Georgia Tech committee that has
been working toward NCAA certification in recent months. Dr. Clough stated that the objective is not
to be doing anything special for any student group that Tech does not do for
everybody. So this change makes clear
that all prospective students have access to the same processes for
admissions. The motion passed without dissent.
7. The President stated that approval was needed for the minutes of two Standing Committees of the General Faculty. None of these minutes had action items. Copies of minutes have been recorded at the website noted as Attachment #4 below. Dr. Bettina Cothran, Chair of the Faculty Benefits Committee moved that the 9/25/07 minutes of the Faculty Benefits Committee be approved. Ms. Marlit Hayslett, member of the Academic Services Committee moved that the 9/20/07 and 10/18/07 minutes of that committee be approved. The President combined these motions without objection and obtained a second. The motion(s) passed without dissent. Dr. Cothran also thanked the President and the Provost for their attention to the needs for childcare facilities.
8. The President called for any other business, and hearing none, he adjourned the meeting at about 4:40 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Ronald
A. Bohlander
Secretary of the Faculty
December 6, 2007
Attachments to be included with archival copy of the minutes: