President Roger Hull outlined for faculty on Tuesday a proposed “Plan for Union” that will be presented to the Board of Trustees for discussion at its March meeting.
The plan, based largely on recommendations from the recent Middle States review and the U2K committee, is academically driven, Hull said.
“The most important academic initiative we can take is to change the culture of this institution,” Hull said.
The plan would address the following areas:
- Faculty – attract and retain faculty through competitive research, sabbatical and teaching opportunities;
- Students – attract and retain a larger percentage of excellent and diverse students;
- Undergraduate research – enable students to work independently and achieve expertise through internships and research;
- International study – have all students either study abroad or interact electronically with students in other countries;
- Technology – infuse technology throughout the curriculum and develop a technology literacy requirement;
- Civic service – educate students to be engaged as responsible citizens through volunteer efforts in the community;
- Engineering – create a program focusing on “Converging Technologies” and recognize the distinctiveness of the engineering programs built on Union's liberal arts foundations;
- Arts – further develop arts facilities and programs;
- Library – maintain a library that enables first-rate course work and research;
- Advising – provide an advising system supported by modern technology and a central facility;
- Relationships with other institutions – develop formal arrangements in which students spend a portion of their career at other institutions.
The plan also calls for the creation of a residential system that promotes a sense of community, enhanced living and learning opportunities and faculty interaction; development of a social environment that encourages activities on- and off-campus; and enhancing athletic facilities.
In other action at the faculty meeting on Tuesday, faculty approved an amendment to the faculty manual section on academic dishonesty to make it consistent with the student handbook.
Thomas McFadden, director of Schaffer Library, told faculty about a Web site through the library that may be of assistance in detecting instances of Internet plagiarism. The site is www.union.edu/PUBLIC/LIBRARY/cheat.
Proposed changes in the WAC program were tabled pending a minor revision in wording. Under the proposal, students would be required to take a total of five WAC credits, including at least one outside of their major (which may be reworded to say “five credits from at least two divisions,” said Kimmo Rosenthal, associate dean for undergraduate education.).
Faculty also tabled for further discussion a proposal that would change the minimum GPA for departmental honors from 2.5 to 3.3 and the GPA for courses within the major from 3.0 to 3.3.