NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING AND
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
1. Call to order and approval of minutes
President Dave Raymond called the meeting to order at 4:03 pm with a call for approval of the September 2, 2014 minutes
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Dr. Jamie Kimberly moved to approve the minutes, Dr. Michelle Creech-Eakman seconded. The minutes were approved by unanimous consent.
Classroom schedule is now online
Sara Grijalva reported that the classroom schedule in now online. She explained that she has had requests for some time to have the classroom schedule online. ACT was able to do this. Sara showed how to access this schedule by going to the ACT website. After clicking on the classroom link, it will list the classrooms with a calendar. The Registrar's office will still need to be notified if a room needs to be reserved.
Presentation of academic calendar
Sara Grijalva presented the proposed academic calendar for fall 2015 through spring 2020. It is the same structure that was used for the last five years.
Sara explained the color coding on the calendar:
Light blue are the days the semester is in session.
Orange are the academic holidays.
Dark blue is Final exam/mid semester.
Green is St. Patrick's Day to help determine when Spring Break is.
Email Sara Grijalva with feedback.
Academic honesty policy at a glance
The chair noted that Dr. Mary December was not able to be at the meeting but the Senate can view the information online
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3. Senate committee reports
Benefits (Bruce Harrison)
Dr. Bruce Harrison reported on the benefits committee. He noted one thing that has changed is that we now have an Institute-wide benefits committee. There are more representatives from the staff. The committee has been meeting with the leadership team on a regular basis. The Benefits Fair will be November 12
. The current proposed changes to the health plan will be to discontinue plan 1, which had the smallest enrollment. It cost more to run than it was bringing in. Plan 2 and Plan 3 will have an 8 percent premium increase. Maximum out of pocket has been increased to the Federal maximum - $6,600 individual / $13,200 family. Implement a separate Out of Pocket maximum for Prescription Drug co-pays at $3,000 individual /$ 6,000 family.
There are changes to the NMT contribution vs. Employee contribution, previous percentages are in parentheses:
Salary Brackets % NMT Contribution % Employee Contribution
$15,000 – 19,99980% (70%) 20%(30%)
$20,000 – 24,99970%(65%) 30%(35%)
$25,000 and greater60%(60%) 40%(40%)
Dr. Bruce Harrison encouraged the senate to attend the Wellness Health evaluation. November 5th is the last day to register for a blood test at NM Tech. Employees and their spouses participating in the wellness program will receive $250 each as credit on the plan deductible for calendar year. Dr. Bruce Harrison noted that they would like to catch illnesses at an early stage to help with the cost. Presentations will be at the benefits fair.
Computing on Campus report (Jun Zheng)
Dr. Jun Zheng reported on the following items:
A campus-wide technology committee consisting of both faculty and staff has been formed to prioritize and solve important technology issues.
The system Moodle will be terminated at the end of Spring 2015.
The subscription of Starfish will be over by the end of this year. VPAA will make a decision to continue it or not.
Argos has been purchased and the installation date to begin has been set for February 2, 2015.
ITC is collecting feedback from SGA and GSA about email service. The faculty voted for Google last Spring.
Dr. Brian Borchers indicated that the cost of Starfish is: $20,000 for undergraduate and $30,000 for both graduate and undergraduate.
Dr. Iver Davidson noted that ACT will handle the transition from Moodle to Canvas.
Dr. Lorie Liebrock made a brief announcement that tomorrow (5 November) is the last day for grade changes.
Retention Committee report (Brian Borchers)
Dr. Brian Borchers reported that the Retention Committee report is online. There is good news and bad news. The good news is regarding our retention rate. It has risen every year for the last seven years. Our retention rate for fall 2013 to fall 2014 is 78 percent. This is an all-time record going back to the 1980's. This is for full time first time freshman who entered NM Tech in the fall semester of 2013. This report does not list transfer students. Dr. Brian Borchers stated that it is pretty clear that this is a real trend. The bad news is the six year graduation rate for those students who entered in the fall semester of 2008 was 44 percent compared to last year's 47.3 percent.
There is good news on suspensions. In the fall of 2009 we implemented a new policy. This allows students who aren't doing well to meet with their advisor and come up with a plan to do better. The percentage of students suspended for the Spring semester has gone from 5.7 percent to 2.4 percent between 2007 and 2014.
Dr. Brian Borchers made a plea for more data for the committee. The committee has had very limited access to data on retention, persistence, and graduation. The process now is to ask the registrar but it's a long wait to receive the data. His hope is that with the new Argos reporting software it will make it possible to access Banner data more readily.
Budget and Research committee report (Ken Minschwaner)
Dr. Ken Minschwaner noted this is a preliminary report. The committee was asked to review and report on budget allocations. They are currently in the process of reviewing the structuring and administration of endowment accounts as they have been approached with questions. Lonnie Marquez has provided support. It is important to understand what the return is on endowment accounts. Endowment funds can either be set up publicly through the State Investment Council, or privately through the NMT Research Foundation. The donor, in conjunction with the NMT Advancement Office, makes the decision of whether to use the State or the Foundation. To date, no funds have ever been transferred from the State to the Foundation, or vice versa. The Langmuir Endowment is an exception to the above policy; it is managed by Smith-Barney. NM Tech and the Foundation do not assess service fees for managing account, however, the SIC and brokerage firms do. Investments will be managed on a total return basis with 4.5 percent of the average five year market value.
The committee is continuing to review these specific issues. Dr. Ken Minschwaner explained that they are working with Lonnie Marquez, but it may take several months to sort this out. Dr. Tom Engler asked if it was possible to accelerate this in any way. Dr. Richard Sonnenfeld noted that the committee has been working really well with Lonnie Marquez. He noted that Lonnie Marquez likes written questions. If there is something specific that you would like to know send an email to the committee. They will make a request to Lonnie Marquez to expedite this.
Distance Education (Dan Cadol)
Dr. Dan Cadol briefly reported on the Moodle phase-out. There is support from ACT to transfer your contents from Moodle to Canvas.
4. Report of Council of Chairs
Dr. Warren Ostergren asked Dr. Gary Axen to present the course changes for the E&ES department. Dr. Gary Axen explained that there were some undergraduate and graduate changes that he will bring at a later date. What he is bringing forward today is a change in the credit requirements for Earth 200, Introduction to Mineralogy from 3 credits to 4 credits. This has been approved in the E&ES department and Council of Chairs during the October 2014 meeting. There is also a change in pre-requisites to include CHEM 121. Dr. Gary Axen explained that this allows the course to be more rigorous and do a better job of teaching students basic mineralogy.
Dr. Gary Axen moved to accept these course changes.
By unanimous consent the motion passed.
5. Report of Graduate Council
Dr. Lorie Liebrock asked Michelle Creech-Eakman to present the five year BS/MS program from the Physics department that was approved by the Graduate Council during the October 2014 meeting. Dr. Michelle Creech-Eakman reported that students will start to take some of the work during their fourth year. They have to apply to be admitted during their third year. If they are admitted to the program they can start doing their research during their fourth year and they are encouraged to stay the summer between the fourth and fifth years. After completing the B.S., the student may apply for a graduate teaching or research assistantship (TA or RA). Students may apply PHYS 509 to both the B.S. and M.S. degree requirements. A student can finish with an M.S. with Thesis or a M.S. with Independent Study.
Dr. Michelle Creech-Eakman moved to approve this. By unanimous consent the motion passed.
Graduate dishonesty index
Dr. Lorie Liebrock reported that there were two academic dishonesty cases this year for the graduate office. One case had two students who collaborated to correct errors on assignments. Due to the number of assignments that were done in this manner, both students received an F in the course. The other case, a student plagiarized online resources. The student ended up with a warning that did not affect the grade as the student redid the assignment.
Dr. Lorie Liebrock also pointed out that the strategic planning committee is asking the Faculty Senate to look at the drafts of strategic planning materials and provide feedback.
Updating Standing Rules; postponed until December.
The chair noted that the standing rules for Faculty Senate were not yet finished. There may be some additional issues that will need to be considered. This is postponed until the December faculty senate meeting.
By unanimous consent, the Faculty Senate adjourned at 4:49 pm.