Faculty hold first meeting of the semester; Moodle discussion, committee reports dominate

University professors met for the first faculty meeting of the semester in the Union Building Ballroom Monday. The meeting was mostly procedural in nature, comprising reports from eight faculty committees.

The Committee on Management of Academic Operations (MAO) chairwoman Inga Aures reported the committee was in the process of fine-tuning class time banks which will be enacted for the 2008-2009 school year. Additionally, the committee was looking into how students fare in fulfilling all six group requirements, a standard enacted three years ago.

MAO presented four measures for faculty approval, three of which passed unanimously. A topics course entitled Biology 190 was created and designated as group one, while a Beginner's Tap Dancing class was approved for group six status.

The fourth measure called for a revision of graduation requirements for students enrolled in the School of Music's five-year dual-degree program. The motion proposed that music students pursuing a College of Liberal Arts degree should be exempt from taking a second semester-level foreign language course. Instead, their group five credits would be fulfilled by School of Music diction courses in English, French, German and Italian.

"It has been a scheduling conflict and a nightmare to try to work in all these different languages with the double degree," said associate professor of music Caroline Smith.

German professor Howard Pollack-Milgate spoke against the proposed change.

"It is a mistake to think that three first semester courses are somehow equal to the second semester proficiency in one language as other Bachelor of Arts students must earn," Pollack-Milgate said.

The motion was ultimately defeated.

Academic Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) chairman Bruce Sanders addressed the ongoing transition from Blackboard course management software to the Moodle program.

"There is no expectation that the use of Blackboard will be continued after this year," Sanders said. "The committee urges everyone who has yet to make the transition to begin doing so."

ATAC reported approximately 20 percent of this semester's 750 courses are utilizing Moodle. Multiple faculty members spoke about personal difficulties with the new software, but Sanders said that efforts to familiarize students and instructors with Moodle will continue as its predecessor is completely phased out.

Another issue heard by the faculty was the current student retention rates.

Vice President for Academic Affairs Neil Abraham provided some facts and figures about the rate, which varied somewhat from class to class.

"The retention rate of the sophomore class is a bit lower than in the past," Abraham said.

However, Abraham said the current senior class' retention rate is the highest retention rate in University history - closely followed by the current junior class. The pair of record-breaking retention rates, coupled with the largest freshman class in recent years, led to a spike in total current enrollment.

"The class of 2011 is larger than planned but not as large as was feared," Abraham said. "All together, there are around 2,350 degree-seeking students this year."

Abraham also spoke about the degree of gender equity amongst summer faculty hires. Males accounted for 58 percent of the positions filled, which was on par with the percentage of males in the faculty as a whole.

The meeting ended with the announcement that DePauw will join 600 other universities nationwide in a "Focus the Nation" event on Jan. 31, 2008. As part of the event, faculty members will be encouraged to lead their classes in discussions on global climate change. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) has accepted an invitation to appear on campus on the day of the event, and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) has also been invited.