Minutes waiting to be approved by Faculty Senate

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Faculty Senate Meeting

Harrison Hall 123

September 24, 2025

3:15pm-4:30pm

I.       Call to Order 

a.      Meeting was called to order at 3:16pm

II.      Approval of FS Minutes from August 27, 2025

a.      Chris Posbergh moves to approve. Maggie Thorsen seconds. None opposed. No abstentions. Minutes are approved. 

III.     FYI Items 

a.      Welcome new members!

b.      Faculty Senate committees and councils representatives: THANK YOU!

i.      ADA Facilities Advisory Committee (ADA-FAC)—Ellen Lauchnor 

ii.      Core Committee—Ada Giusti

iii.      Assessment & Outcomes Committee—Carrie Myers

iv.      "Can the Griz” committee—Brendan Mumey

v.      Outreach & Engagement Council—Stephanie McCalla

vi.      Campus Advising Action Team (CAAT)-Jim Meyer

vii.      Faculty Senate Bylaws Review-chaired by Doug Downs

c.       Course Inventory Management (CIM) system training

CIM users (Staff or faculty new to MSU who will be working in CIM, or any current CIM users who would like a formal training or a refresh.) 

i.      Option 3: Friday, September 26th, 9:00am-11:00am-SUB 235 

ii.      Option 4: Friday, September 26th, 1:00pm-3:00pm-SUB 235

d.      Homecoming activities: lighting of the M (7-8 W); awards (F 5:30), evening drone show (F 7-9); Saturday choir (9:30), parade (10:00), game (2:00PM) 

e.      Annual Founder’s Day faculty award nominations due November 15.

f.        MyMSU reminder: October 2 switchover

i.      www.montana.edu/uit/mymsu/

ii.      Send questions to: MyMS@montana.edu

IV.      Undergraduate Courses and Programs 

a.      Courses—First Reading 

i.      ECIV 453 : Transportation Safety

ii.      ECIV 458 : Traffic Flow Fundamentals

iii.      LS 335 : Food, War, and Migration: Eating Across Cultures in an Age of Turmoil

iv.      LSCI 420 : International Angling and Fisheries Research

b.      Courses—Second Reading

i.      ARTH 409 : Roman Imperial Monuments

ii.      CSCI 444 : Data Visualization

iii.      CSCI 487 : Data Science Capstone

iv.      EGEN 493 : Study Abroad - Faculty Led

v.      NASX 370 : Alaska Native Perspectives

c.       Course Changes—First Reading

i.      HDFS 337 : Personal and Family Finance I

1.      Major changes to learning outcomes

ii.      HDFS 419 : STEAM: Clothing & Textiles Instruction in FCS

1.      Major changes to learning outcomes

iii.      HDFS 494 : Seminar/Workshop

1.      Major changes to learning outcomes

iv.      KIN 330 : Motor Learning and Control

1.      Major changes to learning outcomes

v.      MAS 110 : DAF Heritage and Values I

1.      Title change from Department of the Air Force (DAF) Professionalism

a.      Changes to learning outcomes

d.      Course Changes—Second Reading

i.      GDSN 351 : Quickfire Course 

1.      Number change from 265 

a.      This change from a 200-level to a 300-level course will assist with Graphic Design BFA student degree completion in a timely manner. It does so by reducing the number of independent studies that will be offered and taken by students who need 1 to 2 credits in their advanced studio area as a result of the varying scale of credits that the GDSN 498 internship course offers. As a result, it helps GDSN students receive the required credits needed in the advanced studio area. In previous semesters, these quick-fire courses did not count toward a student’s graphic design requirements; the course counted as an elective. By changing the class to a 300-level course, the quick-fire courses will count towards the student’s degree and major completion, helping complete the required credits in a timely manner, as requested by the provost’s office.

2.      Minor edits to learning outcomes

ii.      HTR 230 : Fundamentals of Tourism Management

1.      Major changes to learning outcomes

iii.      NUTR 226 : Food Fundamentals

1.      Major changes to learning outcomes

iv.      WILD 401RN : Fish and Wildlife Capstone

1.      Credit change from 4 to 3

2.      Major changes to learning outcomes 

a.      These changes include elimination of the field techniques portion of the course and incorporate Structured Decision Making. Due to high enrollment, we are no longer able to deliver the original field techniques portion of the course as a part of the senior capstone. Additionally, we have incorporated Structured Decision Making to the course.

e.      Course Inactivations—Second Reading

i.      AMST 301 : Reproduction in America

1.      Course no longer offered

ii.      AMST 410 : Religion and the United States Supreme Court

1.      Course no longer offered

iii.      GEO 312 : Dinosaur Paleontology

1.      Has not been taught in 10 years; no faculty member available to teach it now.

iv.      GEO 420 : Hydrogeology

1.      Has not been taught since Spring 13; no faculty member available to teach it now.

v.      HEE 306 : Methods of Teaching Conditioning Activities

1.      Hasn't been taught since Fall 2020 and there aren't any plans to teach it in the future. 

V.       Information Updates 

a.      Council Updates (Grad Council, University Council, Research Council, ...)

i.      See slide presentation

ii.      Questions: 

1.      Doctoral courses cannot count towards a master’s degree. If these go through, students would like to be recognized with a master’s degree if they have to go back. 

2.      Will the proposed new policy on individualized learning contracts for professional-paper, thesis, and dissertation hours be required every semester?  Not clear yet.

b.      Faculty Senate orientation and introductions

i.      Letters & Science

ii.      Ag

iii.      EHHD

c.       How is it going? Senate small-group discussion.

i.      Comments that folks are having an issue about the grading. Students need to know how to upload their files. They are too big. 

ii.      Cannot set your grade scheme. Canvas figures the grade for you. Grade book has some dramatic limitations. Hard for students to see their graded work. 

iii.      Grading function of individual discussion posts doesn’t work. Canvas treats it like group work. 

iv.      Help site directs you to the company help site and sometimes mentions functionality that we do not have at MSU. 

v.      Susanne Cowan is teaching an online course and is having an easy time grading, so reach out to her if you want some advice. 

vi.      Confusion about what students can and cannot use. 

vii.      Small sections have trouble managing multiple sections of the same course. Working out the kinks. 

viii.      Grade scope syncing issue. Canvas communicates with their MSU email, and not their preferred email. 

1.      Students need to set up the merge on their end. 

ix.      Trouble adding GTAs due to preferred email.

x.      Making PDFs accessibility is very arduous. 

1.      Textbooks are also difficult to make accessible. 

a.      Library rep will look into if this may be an issue on their end. 

xi.      No issues with Panopto

xii.      On campus support team are very good. Hope the university is saving money on this because it is costing instructor hours trying to figure things out. 

d.      “Learning Network” and prep for strategic planning process.

i.      See slide presentation. 

VI.       Senators’ Open Conversation 

a.      Curious about what the administration thinks of the success of the Shared Services department. 

                                                              i.      Chair will get some information for the next meeting. 

VII.            Public Comment 

a.      Provost Mokwa: Good discussion on Canvas issues. Would like to see a list of the issues. Three years ago, Rob Maher served on the MUS committee that dealt with how best to accomplish the mandated LMS transition at each campus. Our D2L license just recently expired. We’ll see if we end up saving money. Money from the legislature helped us fund this. 

VIII.            Adjourn

a.      Susanne Cowan moves to adjourn. Maggie Thorsen seconds. Meeting adjourned at 4:25pm.