MINUTES UMKC FACULTY SENATE
December 3, 1996 (Approved 12/17/96) |
3:00 PM Kathy Loncar called the meeting to order.
3:05 Minutes of date were approved with minor corrections
Faculty Senate Committee reports: none given
Presidential Succession
Faculty Representatives to this
committee must be Curators’ professors. However, in subsequent meetings with
General Officers and the IFC the Board decided that each campus can send two
junior professors. These junior professors must have won a teaching award on
their campus. Shari Barrett gave Kathy Loncar a current list of faculty who have
won teaching awards for this year. Our Senate will consider nominating faculty
who have won UMKC campus awards. We will try to get a list that goes back 10
years that and exclude those on the list who have retired.
Executive Order 21:
Dee Steinle and Dr. Agapito Mendoza.
Ms. Steinle has been in her new position for three months. Her background
includes higher education and special education research prior to that . She
coordinates disability services with students by determining what is the
disability, obtaining current documentation for the student’s file, and by
recommending appropriate accommodations to the instructors involved. The attempt
is to “level the playing field” and give academic balance to our student
population.
At this point in time, UM stands firm on the criteria it uses to confer degrees. In most universities and colleges, a student can opt to replace a required course with a different course in order to accommodate his/her disability (i.e. take courses that don't require a time limit to take a test). In 1990 UMKC made accommodations for 15 disabled students. In 1996, this figure has risen to 150 students. It is difficult to deal with this many students, each of which needs accommodations in five or six classes. The work is very labor intensive. If a student identifies himself on the first day of class as being disabled, send them to Dee and write a memo to the student and Dee about your conversation concerning the disability. The Internet has a UMKC Faculty Rights & Responsibilities page concerning disabled students. There is also a boiler-plate copyright document that you can print out and have the student sign if the student wishes to record your class. This will help to protect the faculty member against copyright infringement. Kathy Loncar suggested that a posting of the definitions of disabilities would help faculty better understand disabilities for which they may have to provide accommodation.
Ed Mills asked if it is permissible to add a few lines to your syllabi explaining that there is a disability office that can provide help with accomodations if you need it? Dr. Mendoza said that is a good idea and that a professor could use the same language about disability that is in the schedule of classes each semester. The SIS names only one professor to a class regardless of how many professors teach that same class. In that case, the instructor identified by SIS should inform other professors about students needing accommodation. Additional recommendations for the policy must be forwarded to Columbia and recommendations will be probably be discussed in March. When the policy is approved it will be added to the Collected Rules and Regulations.
A motion to adjourn was moved & seconded. Adjourned 4:00 p.m.
Present: Valerie Blanco, Jane Carl, Les Chafetz, Robert Cleary, Rafael Espejo-Saavedra, William Frederickson, , Rich Hamilton, Joseph Hughey, Kathy Loncar, James McKinley, Janet McKinney, Ed Mills, Dennis Pyszczynski, Jan Russell, David Schwarzer, Khosrow Sohraby, Nancy Stancel, Jakob Waterborg
Excused: Jean Braun, Ray Coveney, Alfred Esser, Barbara Glesner-Fines, David Harris, John Rapley, Hans Uffelmann, David Yourtee
Absent: Greg Arling, Julie Cheslik, Steve Krantz
Respectfully Submitted,
Nancy D. Stancel
Secretary, Faculty Senate