1. Call to Order - Dean Richard Meadows called the meeting to order at 3:39 p.m. in MER 131.
   1. Announcements - Dean Meadows reported that the Research Growth Initiative (RGI) has occupied a lot of his time during the Fall semester. His involvement in the development of RGI has been beneficial for the College because he was able to approach that task with a special eye to what will serve the interests of the College. Various aspects of the initiative have been designed so as not to put the College in jeopardy. RGI represents an enormous change from past practices because it proposes to support new research with seed money rather than base dollars. Although the number of proposals developed at UWM has increased, the success rate has been dropping. It is worth trying RGI to see if this trend can be turned around. With even more proposals being submitted, there should be an increase in funding. Because this is such a new idea, there probably still are many questions. Dean Meadows indicated that he and the associate deans are anxious to assist faculty members in the process of developing proposals.
      
      
   2. Question Period (10 minutes maximum) - Margaret Atherton said that Dean Ourmadz seems willing to make room for the arts and humanities, but there still are questions about how the seeded aspect will work, particularly the model of expecting a return of three times the money input Dean Meadows indicated that this is not a hard and fast requirement for all efforts that are seeded. The expectation is that the overall investment will produce that level of return. Everyone is aware that funding occurs differently in the natural sciences than in some of the social sciences and humanities.
      
      Dean Meadows also raised the issue of teaching load reductions. He said it is important to understand that getting seed money was not tied automatically to a reduction of one's teaching load. The current distribution of 101-4 monies does not translate in any case to load reduction. The provision of a one course reduction was added to the RGI parameters as an incentive. Margaret stated that faculty members in the humanities are concerned about being able to raise the level of funding needed to support their salaries. Dean Meadows noted that if an individual does not need reduced time for the research, then the "payback" will not be calculated with salary as part of it. Margaret said that faculty members need time more than anything. Dean Meadows responded that we also may need to discuss ways to fund humanities research outside of RGI. However, at this point, we really don't know what to expect. Margaret said that she did not want to encourage individuals to apply if there really is no chance that they will get funded. Dean Meadows indicated that one of the goals in setting up RGI was to make the application as easy as possible so that completing it wouldn't be an overwhelming task.
      
      Jay Moore commented that the 101-4 monies currently are being used for something. If we give up those funds, he asked, how can we pay for the things currently being supported? Dean Meadows indicated that almost 100% of the College's share is in salaries. If we are able to get back from the Graduate School just the share we put in, which he feels is very likely, we will be able to pay the bills. Campus has guaranteed we won't lose salary money because of this initiative, and there is some campus money that can be used. No one will be laid off; all salaries will be paid. One way to look at the situation is that we are spending the money now, but what are we getting for it? There will continue to be pressure on the deans to sustain important activities that won't get 101-4 funding. We are not talking about a huge percentage of our total funding. The allotted time for questions ended, so Dean Meadows moved to the next agenda item.
      
      
2. Automatic Consent Business- There were no objections to any of the Automatic Consent items; they stand approved.

   A.	Approval of the Minutes of the October 13, 2005 Faculty Meeting (on web at www.uwm.edu/letsci/committees/)
   B.	Recommendation for Consideration of Candidates for Degrees and Honors for December, 2005		720
   C.	Annual Reports
   	Certificate Program in Celtic Studies Annual Report, 2004-2005		721
   	Certificate Program in Jewish Studies Annual Report, 2004-2005		722
   	Certificate Program in Middle Eastern and North African Studies Annual Report, 2004-2005		723
   	Certificate Program in Urban Studies Annual Report, 2004-2005		724
   	Academic Policies and Curriculum Committee Annual Report, 2004-200		725
   	Academic Planning and Governance Committee Annual Report, 2004-2005		726

3. Old Business -- no later than 4:00pm

   A.	Status Report on Faculty Recommendations to Revise the L&S Degree Requirements (Fac. Doc. 677 amended) - Connie Jo reported that the proposal for changes to the degree requirements has been forwarded to the Provost by APCC. We are awaiting approval from that office. She reviewed the major changes, explaining the elimination of the seminar and capstone requirements, which are being replaced by a requirement of research in the major. Tom O'Bryan pointed out that approval of the new requirements does not mean that the old ones will go away immediately. Students who begin undergraduate studies before implementation of the new requirements fall under the old requirements. Chuck Schuster noted that those students also have the option to choose between the old and the new requirements.
   B.	Recommendation Concerning the Implementation Date of the Revised L&S Degree Requirements - It was moved and seconded to recommend to the Dean approval of Fac. Doc. No 727. Chuck Schuster expressed concern about how transfer students will be affected by the new foreign language requirement of the B.A. Tom O'Bryan noted that this is likely to be a problem regardless of when that requirement is implemented. He indicated that immediate implementation of the B.A. foreign language requirement will impact new freshmen and probably will impact our enrollments. Although foreign language teachers may have known for quite some time that this requirement was coming, it is not clear that high school counselors know about it. It is likely that they have been telling students with just two years of language that they have satisfied UWM's requirement. It would be much better to give the counselors time to adjust. Tom then moved that the original motion be amended to indicate that all provisions of the new degree requirements would be implemented in Fall, 2006 except the new foreign language requirement for the BA, which would be implemented in Fall, 2008. The motion to amend was seconded. Jack Johnson asked to hear reasons why a two-year delay would be a problem. Gabrielle Verdier responded that UWM, with Parkside, has one of the lowest foreign language standards in the System. A delay will perpetuate the image of UWM as a second-class institution for two additional years. In addition, UWM supposedly has made a commitment to internationalizing the curriculum, and the revised language requirement is an important part of that effort. Gabrielle also said she found it hard to believe that the high school teachers and counselors do not communicate with one another. Larry Kuiper suggested that we might need to do some additional investigation of where the counselors in the area stand on this issue. Dean Meadows noted that approval today of Fac. Doc. No. 727 without amendment means that the Fall 2006 implementation date for all changes will go forward to Chapman Hall; the document does not provide the flexibility to change anything later. If a change to the BA foreign language implementation date is desired later, it will require a new action of the Faculty. Mike Allen asked for clarification: is the choice between implementation in 2006 or 2008? Dean Meadows responded that it is a question of implementing everything in 2006 or everything EXCEPT the BA foreign language requirement in 2006, with the language requirement being implemented in 2008. Kathy Wheatley said that it makes no sense to delay the requirement. This is not a requirement we hope students will do in high school. We have proposed this change because we think it will be good for our students. Margaret Atherton indicated that she supported Kathy's position; the Faculty proposed and approved the change because we feel that students will benefit from language study. We didn't intend this as something to be avoided. Ed Mabry said it should not matter when the requirement is implemented if it is an exit requirement. Tom O'Bryan responded that the implementation date does matter because it determines to which student cohorts it applies. He added that his motion to amend was not intended to denigrate foreign language, but he recognizes serious issues especially for transfer students who will not have had the advantage of discussing the requirements with a counselor who knows about the change. It's likely that such students will arrive at UWM having taken any college level foreign language. He also stated that Jack Johnson's question - what is the harm in waiting - had not been answered. Dean Meadows stated that transfer students who were unaware of this requirement may choose to go elsewhere, in which case there will be budgetary implications. Tom's motion is aimed as lessening those budget impacts. Jack Johnson said that this seems to him to be an issue of surprise, that we will be springing something on students that they were unable to anticipate. An unidentified speaker asked why we should not put off implementing all of the requirements. Kathryn Dindia responded that the current seminar and capstone requirements are a huge problem for many departments, especially those smaller departments that do not have enough seniors each year to fill a capstone course. Sandra Braman said if our concern is losing transfer students who don't want to do foreign language, might we not attract the same number of good students by having this requirement? Larry Kuiper said that his point in looking for more time to gather additional information was to be able to address such questions. There was no further discussion, and the motion to amend failed on a show-of-hands vote of 10 for and 27 opposed. Attention returned to the main motion. There was no further discussion. The motion to recommend approval of Fac. Doc. No 727 was approved unanimously.		727

4. New Business

   A.	Recommendation to Change the Name of the Honors Program Committee and to Modify Its Charter - It was moved and seconded to recommend to the Dean approval of Fac. Doc. No. 728. Connie Jo explained that the changes were editorial, relating to changing the name of the Honors Program to the Honors College. The motion was approved unanimously.		728
   B.	Recommendation to Add Four New Tracks to the Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies - It was moved and seconded to recommend to the Dean approval of Fac. Doc. No. 729. Kris Ruggiero explained that there are students interested in global studies who are not interested in business management. The proposal adds four new tracks within the degree that pairs L&S courses and ideals with professional education. The motion was approved unanimously.		729
   C.	Recommendation to Approve a Request to Implement a MA in Spanish - It was moved and seconded to recommend to the Dean approval of Fac. Doc. No. 730. Ismael Márquez noted that the department has grown and now has the faculty capability and courses to support its own master's program separate from MAFLL. He indicated that Spanish will continue to cooperate with MAFLL and pointed out that the translation program will remain in MAFLL. He said the new Spanish master's degree will provide better preparation for Ph.D. work in Spanish. The motion was approved unanimously.		730

5. Adjournment - The meeting was adjourned at 4:31 p.m.
   
   
   

Respectfully submitted,

Assistant Dean Connie Jo
Secretary to the L&S Faculty