Faculty Senate Meeting Notes – October 9, 2002
Rollcall ; the following senate members were excused: Anthony, Braender, Conjura, Edelbach, Kobrynowicz, Lovett, Ruane Miller, Quinton, Rao, Vincelette
-Crofts noted that the Senate had four new members: Gladys Word, Gerry Miller, Ruane Miller, and Anita Allyn
-The permanent roster is now set for the rest of the year
-Crofts pointed out that for the duration of the fall semester the senate will meet on the second Wednesday of the month at 3:30. In the spring semester we will resume regular meetings according to the Wednesday schedule, on the fourth Wednesday at 12:30.
-Crofts introduced Lisa Angeloni, Dean of Admissions
-Crofts commended the Admissions office; the numbers of interested and bright students at the college continued to grow, and the change over time was massive
-Angeloni spoke about what admissions is doing
-College has changed its admissions operations
-Philosophy of the institution has shifted for the better
-Now there is open dialogue that was not here six years ago when Angeloni became dean
-Angeloni distributes a handout detailing how admissions decisions are made, etc.
-Angeloni points out that admissions is now allowed to read student files in the context of where the students come from; how well did they perform in the context of their high school?
-Angeloni mentioned various recruitment objectives such as how do we broaden/strengthen the name of the institution?
-Mentioned the need to spread the word about the college
-Admissions has been approved to work with a marketing firm which they feel can really capture the identity of the college
-Admissions will now begin marketing to high school students earlier than before
-Angeloni said that high school students are very saavy and we need to give them information about the school as early as sophomore year of high school
-Admissions is experimenting with admissions standards; this year 50 students were admitted who did not exactly meet the requirements; they are going to track these students to see if there is a difference in their performances
-Angeloni then talked about enrollment management
-Admissions is currently meeting enrollment targets although some argue that the college is over/undersubscribed
-Angeloni mentioned the issue of having to pull back on admitting students to majors such as computer science due to over-enrollment
-Wolz agreed saying that computer science students are at a disadvantage because there are not enough faculty for the number of students
-Angeloni said that this year 1232 freshman were admitted even though they gave out fewer offers this year than in prior years
-Admitted students are making big jumps in SAT scores, extracurriculars, GPA, etc.
-Angeloni pointed out that the cohort is stronger in all measurable areas
-Angeloni said that they didn’t want to under-enroll because they need the money
-Konzal questioned about the yield rate of students admitted
-Angeloni responded that it is very high at 42% as compared to our competitors’ rates that are in the low 20’s
-Angeloni said that admissions does an annual report of everything admissions does
-Angeloni mentioned the need to make personalization better
-Want to start doing interviews for admission requirements
-At the suggestion of the marketing company, admissions is now going to market to
parents as well notifying them that their son/daughter is a good candidate
-Admissions is making steps like this to personalize the process
-Angeloni then began talking about recruitment initiative
-Said that every year events hosted by admissions generate thousands of visitors
-Admissions did a search mailing of 28,000 students whose names were purchased from the college board; these students were targeted from all of NJ, PA, and NY and some of CT, MD, and MA
-Angeloni said that there is a high return rate of 5% and these 5% are then heavily marketed to
-Half of the freshman class comes from names purchased through ETS
-Mentioned the successfulness of the off-campus scholars receptions
-Last open house generated 3500 people to campus; was the largest event ever; however Angeloni called it “organized chaos”
-Karsnitz said that departments need to be notified early to prepare for such a large number of students
-Konzal said that when they get so many people that it would be better to have separate question & answer sessions
-Behre agreed saying that would relieve the pressure at the student center
-Angeloni said that the next open house is on November 11, 2002 and agreed to consider Konzal’s suggestion
-Leake asked about global education students and thought we should bring students to campus that are foreign or have lived abroad; we should consider mailing to them because they have something unique to bring to the campus community
-Angeloni said that she would like to see that as well
-Behre mentioned the myth that open options students get admitted more easily than students who declare a major
-Angeloni said that at this point they don’t do differential admission much
-Tebbe said that 8 families asked at the last open house about differential admissions policies which no one ever did before
-Morrison asked Angeloni whether the college sends the message to students that they had better declare a major in advance
-Angeloni said that they are trying to get feedback on implementing a system in which all students would enter as open options; open options students have increased in past years
-Morrison asked what the role of faculty in that discussion was
-Angeloni said that they have discussed with many faculty who believe in open options, but that some departments have majors that cannot be completed in four years unless started immediately; need to play with this idea because it would change the entire dynamics of the campus and would start internal recruitment within the majors
-Angeloni said that admissions is starting to track characteristics of open options students and what majors they end up going to; said that open options students have a higher retention rate and graduate sooner
-Knobler asked if Angeloni foresees reducing the number of students admitted in the hopes of increasing the quality of students
-Angeloni replied that there is no discussion of that; if anything, the numbers will increase to a limited extent
-Knobler asked if there is a place for faculty or students to be available to interview all prospective students
-Angeloni said that it is possible but has to be thought through
-Angeloni closed the discussion by urging faculty to call her for suggestions on potential students
-Crofts mentioned the article about TCNJ in the NY Times to be of interest
-Appointments to vacancies
-Knobler asked whether the addition of Shao toploads SOSA with historians
-Crofts said that Chazelle was in the last year of her term
-Motion was moved by Fradella, seconded by Nicolosi; one abstention; rest in favor
-Senate sponsored events on syllabi and courses
-Nicolosi mentioned the Monday-Thursday rotations of all events; no Tuesday-Friday
-Crofts said that it was a good point but that other events will be scheduled on Tuesday-Friday
-Gross asked if this will be posted on the faculty list; Crofts said that it already is
-O’Connell asked Crofts to clarify what is going on with these events and clarify that it is
simply to share information and nothing more
Redefining of majors
-Crofts noted to the three questions on the handout and opened up the discussion
-Fradella said that the Law & Justice department retained an external curriculum consultant; a retreat was organized and it was very productive; feels like the department made great headway and would encourage other departments to do the same
-McMahan said that Music has certain requirements to meet and did something similar in a huge department meeting; said that these retreats were invaluable
-Wolz had outside consultant for CS that made the process go more smoothly; they now feel like they have a good handle on what the accrediting agency wants; said it is worth getting an outsider’s opinion
-McMahan said that his department is gradually getting courses approved by curricular committee
-Knobler asked whether courses will be expected to go through two levels of scrutiny
-O’Connell asked if the classes look much different in art/music than they did before
-Allyn said that everything in those departments is on course and they have effectively combined classes
-McMahan said students in these classes will be much more self-sufficient
-O’Connell said that the Biology department doesn’t know what the new courses should look like
-Fradella said that the consultant helped a lot with that issue
-Crofts asked Kamber how courses were approved when he was Dean
-Kamber said that as long as committee approves courses there is no problem with the dean approving them
-Karsnitz mentioned the concern over the dean having veto power
-Wolz said that the faculty should make dean aware of all new proposals
-Kamber said that the faculty creates the curriculum, not the administration
-Morrison agreed; the dean should not have the final say
-Clifford said that their dean said they wouldn’t veto unless the proposal was crazy; the point of the dean having veto power is to get faculty to take the process seriously
-Kamber said that the function of the dean’s signature is to say the process is complete, not an independent judgment
-Konzal said that the faculty should have the criteria beforehand to work with so that they can demonstrate that what was done was done appropriately
-San Pedro asked if all courses are going to be enhanced at once or gradually
-Crofts said that we don’t know but we have a right as senators to express ourselves and our opinions
-Wolz said that it is important for the senate to have a resolution; senate needs to follow up on this fear of veto power
-Curtis said that their dean wanted to be involved and aware and that she wants to maintain control over weighting courses
-Wright said that her department needs to know about general education; said it is difficult to change 100 and 200 level courses when you don’t have practical information about the timetable being used for enhanced courses; she expressed concern over having outsiders make judgments because the true experts are the faculty
-Nicolosi agreed with Kamber that veto power sets a dangerous precedent; what if the dean feels a course is unworthy?; is against taking power away from the curriculum committee
-Knobler made a motion to draft a resolution expressing concern that deans may veto course syllabi
-Crofts asked Knobler to accept that the Exec Board would draft a statement, circulated in advance, for the Senate to consider at the next meeting
-Kamber suggested that representatives of the Senate consult with the provost on this matter.
Motion to adjourn