text:
A method and apparatus for performing autonomous data transfer are disclosed. In one preferred embodiment, a mail server notifies a mobile computing device that the server has received new email. Acting in accordance with instructions or an instruction contained within the notification, the mobile computing device connects to the server and downloads the email. The data connection is preferably a wireless connection and the notification is preferably in the form of a SMS message send in accordance with the GSM short messaging service. In an alternative embodiment, the data to be transfer corresponds to a software update or database update. In this embodiment, the mobile computing device downloads the software update and can autonomously execute an install script or the data in the form of a self-extracting archive. In a similar fashion, a remote database can be updated. The remote computing device may be mobile and in the form of a laptop computer incorporating a specially adapted GSM cellular communications module. The invention provides for complete automation of the data transfer process as the specially adapted GSM module can be kept in a passive mode and, on receipt of a notification of pending new email, power up the laptop computer in which it is resident. The invention may find application in the field of mobile computing and remote network administration.
1. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data between a data source and a data destination including the steps of:
in response to a data transfer trigger event, creating a message incorporating information adapted to act as an instruction which initiates the transfer of data;
transmitting to the data destination said message; and
the data destination, acting on the instructions contained in the message, effecting the transfer the data from the data source to the data destination.
2. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
3. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
4. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
5. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
6. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
7. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
8. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
9. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
10. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
11. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
12. A method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data as claimed in
13. A computer or network of computers adapted to carry out the method of
14. A mobile computing platform adapted to receive messages from a data source and, on the basis of instruction contained in the message, autonomously establish a wireless connection to the data source and download data.
15. Computer readable media adapted to carry out the method as claimed in
16. A remote computing device for autonomously transferring data from a local computing device to the remote computing device, said remote computing device incorporating a wireless communications module adapted to receive an instruction message and, acting on said instructions establish a data connection to the local computing device and transfer the data, said communication module controlling with said remote computing device.
17. A remote computing device as claimed in
18. A remote computing device as claimed in
19. A remote computing device as claimed in
[0001] The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for controlling and handling automatic data content. More particularly, although not exclusively, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for notifying and handling the transfer of electronic mail, software updates or upgrades and any other forms of data transfer which is initiated independently of a recipient user. The present invention may also find application in maintaining software integrity and currency in relation to, although not restricted to, mobile computer hardware such as notebooks, PDAs, cellular phones and the like.
[0002] With modification, the invention may also be used in the area of remote network and/or hardware management in relation to hard-wired or wireless networks of computer hardware or generic network devices, including situations of monitoring, locating and remotely controlling computer hardware.
[0003] The use of electronic mail (email) is pervasive and, in many situations, essentially taken for granted as a tool for business and personal communication. It's use, however, is somewhat problematic in the context of the mobile or wireless networks. Email sent over a network, using for example SMTP, is ultimately stored in a users INBOX (or logical equivalent). In cases where a user maintains a constant, live connection to the network, a notifying signal is sent to the user interface. This is usually by way of an icon appearing on the users PC desktop or an audible tone when new email arrives. This prompts the user to access the newly arrived email using an email application. This is adequate in situations where the users email interface and application is constantly connected to the mail system via a network connection. However with the rapidly increasing use of small, portable off-line computing platforms such as notebooks and PDA -type devices, mobile users must actively initiate a connection to read their new email. Without doing this, there is no way that the user can know whether there is new incoming email waiting to be downloaded or read. This can be a significant problem. Firstly, a user must in fact remember to check their email on a regular basis. Otherwise, the immediacy of email as a communication medium is lost. Further, depending on the cost of the users network connection, checks for new email initiated on a regular basis can be prohibitively expensive. This is particularly so where the user habitually works with email in offline mode, reading and composing email while disconnected. In this mode, the user only connects to transfer pending outgoing and incoming email.
[0004] There are a number of solutions that allow a mobile user to check his or her email. For example, via Ethernet/ISDN or dial-up land line. A popular method of connecting to an ISP when a wired line is not available is via a data enabled cellular phone connected to the users computing device. Once a PPP or similar type of link is established, the mobile device can be used as a client platform to run network applications such as, ftp, email, or HTTP web browsing. With web browsing capability, the user can access web based email system such as such as Hotmail™ instead of POP3. Methods of implementing PPP, POP and HTTP email access are known to the skilled person and will not be discussed in detail.
[0005] A number of solutions have been proposed which attempt to address the problems outlined above. Japanese patent application no. JP1997000031139, assigned to Toyo Communication Equipment Ltd, describes a system in which an incoming email causes an email server to send a paging message to an email recipient's pager. The pager indicates that there is a new email by means of an audible tone, vibration or the like. However, the user must still arrange to physically access their email system and thus there is no way to mirror the users normal online email functionality.
[0006] WO 99/03239 describes a similar method in which an incoming email causes the server to dial a recipient's telephone. An audible tone or visual indicator notifies the user that he or she has received a new email. Again, the recipient must actively connect to the email server to download or view their email.
[0007] In the context of mobile communications, PCT/SE99/02491 describes a system whereby a user is notified of new voicemail messages by means of the Short Message Service available under the GSM standard for cellular communication. However, the technique described is concerned with managing voicemail notification between networks and as such does not address the issue of email notification and access.
[0008] None of the references or techniques discussed above address the issue of making mobile email access transparent to the user in such a way that gives the user the impression of shorter or no connection time. It would be extremely useful to provide a mobile email or content system which mirrors that of an always connected online email system.
[0009] A number of analogous situations also suffer the same disadvantages as described above. For example, sometimes it is desirable that mobile content be updated non-periodically. An example of such content the installation of periodic software upgrades, periodically updated databases and the like. In the example of a software upgrade, a user usually uses a web browser or an ftp interface to connect to a vendor website. Once the required file is located, it is downloaded to the users local machine using one of the commonly available protocols on the internet. When the file is downloaded on the user machine, an installation script can be run and the appropriate software in the form of configuration files or machine executables can be copied to their required location. Other systems can directly install the upgrade files from the website or ftp site. However, either of these methods suffers the same disadvantages as those described above.
[0010] In one aspect the invention provides for a method of remotely initiating the autonomous transfer of data between a data source and a data destination including the steps of:
[0011] in response to a data transfer trigger event, creating a message incorporating information adapted to act as an instruction which initiates the transfer of data;
[0012] transmitting to the data destination said message; and
[0013] the data destination, acting on the instructions contained in the message, effecting the transfer the data from the data source to the data destination.
[0014] Thus, in situations where the data destination is not physically connected to, or in communication with, a data source, the data destination can be controlled so as to connect to the data source and initiate a transfer of the data.
[0015] In a first preferred embodiment, the data corresponds to email and the data transfer trigger event corresponds to the receipt of new email, whereupon the email is transferred to the data destination at the instigation of the data destination on receipt of the message.
[0016] Preferably the message corresponds to a Short Message System (SMS) transmission sent over a wireless link.
[0017] Preferably the data destination corresponds to a computing platform adapted to receive SMS messages.
[0018] Preferably the computing platform incorporates a wireless receiver adapted to, on receipt of the SMS message, check for the authenticity and integity of the SMS message, power up if necessary the computing platform and establish a communications link between the main computing platform and the data source to that the email can be downloaded to the computing platform.
[0019] The data source may correspond to a mail server, said server adapted to, on receipt of a new email, compile a SMS message containing the necessary instructions to cause the computing platform to establish a connection to the mail server, download the new email and notify the user that a new email has been received.
[0020] The connection between the computing platform and the email server may be a wireless communications link.
[0021] The computing platform may incorporate a cellular mobile telecommunications circuit adapted to operate when the computing platform is powered up or down and further adapted to be responsive to the SMS message in the manner defined above.
[0022] Thus the invention provides a means by which a user of a mobile computing platform can be notified of new email in a manner which is strongly analogous to that exhibited by a live networked connection or email feed. The need for a user to periodically check for the existence of new email by connecting to an ISP or network, is obviated thus saving time, effort and connection costs.
[0023] In a second preferred embodiment, the data may correspond to software and the message incorporate instructions which cause the data destination to transfer the software from the data source to the data destination.
[0024] The software may correspond to upgrade software, which must be downloaded to the computing platform in order to be installed.
[0025] The message may contain instructions which cause the computing platform to connect to the data source, download the upgrade software and install the upgrade.
[0026] The instruction may be such that download of the upgrade and installation occurs without any user input at the data destination.
[0027] Preferably the transfer of the upgrade software occurs over a wireless link.
[0028] In a further aspect the invention provides for a computer or network of computers adapted to carry out the method as hereinbefore defined.
[0029] In a further aspect, the invention provides for a mobile computing platform adapted to receive messages from a data source and, on the basis of instruction contained in the message, establish a wireless connection to the data source and download data.
[0030] In a further aspect, the invention provides for a computing device for autonomously transferring data from a local computing device to the, said computing device incorporating a wireless communications module adapted to receive an instruction message and, acting on said instructions establish a data connection to the local computing device and transfer the data, said communication module controlling with said computing device.
[0031] In yet a further aspect, the invention provides for computer readable media adapted to carry out the method as defined above.
[0032] The present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the drawings in which:
[0033]FIG. 1: illustrates a simplified schematic detailing a mobile computing platform and server architecture;
[0034]FIG. 2: illustrates a method of notifying a user of new email; and
[0035]FIG. 3: illustrates a method of automatically updating mobile content.
[0036]FIG. 1 illustrates a highly simplified example of a system which allows the automatic notification and transfer of data content. By way of exemplary embodiments, the transfer of email and software upgrades will be described. However these are not to be construed as limiting applications. With suitable modification, other types of data could be transferred in different contexts.
[0037] Referring to FIG. 1, an email server 10 receives email from a network by means of a network connection (not shown). The mail transfer functionality may be handled by the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) or similar. Software resident on the server identifies the email and its recipient and operates as follows. The server compiles a SMS message which incorporates a digital signature and an "EMAIL", or similar, header string. Of course it is possible that the instruction message is sent from a different physical location to that where the email is stored (i.e. the email server). There may be some advantage in transmitting the message from a source/location which is not physically associated with the server. The SMS message also includes sufficient information to instruct the recipient mobile hardware to connect to the email server and download the email. This may be in the form of a download script which includes a dial string, and, if necessary, other instructions to control the operation of the mobile hardware. It is also possible that the SMS message may contain only minimal information. For example, it might be simply a flag which causes the remote computer to act on information residing on that device which has been preconfigured.
[0038] The SMS message is then sent to the mobile hardware via the GSM network. The server would need to know the telephone number of the mobile hardware's GSM module or phone in order to route the SMS message correctly. It is noted that although the present description is given in the context of mobile cellular phones, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can also be applied in where other types of hardware handle the communications and data transfer. Although ideally and preferably suited to mobile applications, the message could be transmitted on wired networks. Of course, this situation would require the remote computing device to be connected at the time that the data transfer is attempted. Also, although the present description refers to the GSM system, the present invention may, with suitable modification, to any communication system in which messages and data can be routed by wireless means.
[0039] The mobile hardware will usually be in the form of a mobile computing platform such as a laptop computer. The computer will preferably incorporate a modified GSM data module or similarly functioning circuit. In a preferred embodiment this circuit will consist of a GSM receiver/transmitter and a microprocessor programmed to recognize and act on the unique SMS message sent by the said server. For the purpose of this discussion, this GMS transceiver+microprocessor circuit−can be called the 'Alert module'. this corresponds to the combination of 14+15 in figure (1). Alternatively, the notebook may communicate with an external GSM module by means of an infrared or wired link. To ensure that the Alert module is able to receive SMS messages at all times, the alert module may include a supplementary power supply which is charged when the laptop is connected to mains power.
[0040] To this end, it is usual for laptops and other mobile computing devices to be switched off when not in use. This, however, would not necessarily be a barrier to the operation of the invention. The alert module associated with the mobile device could be maintained in a low power consumption standby mode and on receipt of an SMS message containing an "EMAIL" header, power up the notebook.
[0041] Once the laptop is powered up, the alert module would pass the connection and download instructions to the laptop CPU. The laptop would then dial the Internet Service Provider (ISP), connect to the mail-server and download the email. Passing the instructions from the alert module to the laptop hardware could be achieved using a script-file or using purpose-written software. The required functionality occurring between the alert module and the CPU or laptop hardware could be implemented in a number of ways and is considered to be within the scope of one skilled in the art.
[0042] Once the pending incoming email is downloaded, the notebook disconnects from the ISP. Depending on the email application software resident on the mobile device, a notification prompt is activated. This might be a visual indicator such as an illuminated light emitting diode or a icon appearing in the system tray or desktop. Alternatively or additionally, new email might be indicated by means of an audible tone. It can be seen that the invention desirably allows for the remote autonomous transfer of data. That is, without any intervention or input from a remote user.
[0043] While the invention is primarily concerned with notifying the user of incoming email, the temporary connection initiated by the SMS message provides the opportunity for the mobile hardware to upload any pending outgoing email originating from the mobile user. This particular mode of operation could be selected by the user.
[0044]FIG. 3 illustrates a second embodiment. In this case the content corresponds to a software upgrade. Software upgrades may occur periodically. However, major software upgrades are often preceded by a lengthy period of bug-testing and code adjustment/rewriting. Notification of software upgrades can be sent via email. However, in the case of a mobile user, access to an upgrade can be problematic. This problem is exacerbated in situations where the upgrade is eagerly sought and ostensibly fixes major problems with existing software. Usually an upgrade is installed directly from some form of removable media such as floppy disks or CDROMs. However, the target hardware must be in data communication with the upgrade source for this to be possible.
[0045] The present invention can solve this problem the following way. The upgrade provider server compiles an SMS message containing instructions, which cause the mobile hardware to connect to the upgrade server and download the upgrade software. As for the email embodiment described above, the message can be sent from a different location to that at which the upgrade software is stored. In fact the three functions of administering the upgrade, transmitting the message and being the source site to which the mobile device connects, can be performed at three different physical or logical locations.
[0046] The instructions contained in the SMS message might also contain code which controls the upgrade process itself as well as details of the connection, file location, source server, validation passwords etc. This SMS message is sent to the mobile hardware and, in a similar manner to that outlined above, the alert module checks to see if the mobile hardware is powered up. If necessary, the alert module instructs the CPU to power up the hardware. The SMS message then passes instructions to the mobile hardware in order to establish a connection to the source server (usually by means of a dialup or similar), download the upgrade and install it. The installation step may include the step of invoking an installer or the downloaded software might be an executable, self-installation file. In any case there are a number of techniques by which an upgrade package can be installed once it is resident on the target machine. Such techniques are well known to those skilled in the art and will not be discussed further.
[0047] It can be seen that the upgrade process can proceed autonomously, that is, with essentially no interaction or awareness by the user of the mobile hardware. There may be security and virus issues in causing a mobile computing platform to dial a server and download an executable file. However, passwording and authenticating the SMS message in conjunction with properly identifying the target hardware are modifications that may be implemented.
[0048] Thus, so long as the mobile software is accessible via chosen communication path (GSM etc), a software upgrade can be performed at the time of the upgrades release. This may be particularly important in a corporate environment where uniformity in operating system and application software may be required. The consequences of out of synchronization releases coexisting in a networked environment can be highly problematic if the day-to-day use of the software requires a substantial degree of interoperability or version compatibility.
[0049] In a manner analogous to software upgrades, mirroring operations can be performed in accordance with the invention. This embodiment may be suitable where mobile users need to have installed the most recent version of databases, user or corporate data. For example, if a customer database is updated, a database server or other machine could assemble an SMS message as outlined above, and send it to a recipient PC whereupon the alert module in the PC would dialup the database server and download the updated database. Such a process could, in fact, be scheduled to coincide with times when the mobile user is not using the mobile hardware, such as at night or out of business hours. Therefore, the updated database could be ready for use at the beginning of the working day. Alternatively, the SMS reception, dialup, download and update could all occur in batch mode and the mobile user might not even be aware that his or her mobile hardware has carried out an upgrade or update procedure. The invention may also be useful where an IT manager wishes to locate laptops in the field. An SMS message could be sent to a laptop, following which a signal sent from the device could approximately locate it within a cell.
[0050] Thus it can be seen that the present invention provides a substantially improved capability in terms of carrying out administrative tasks, which are usually restricted to a hard-wired or networked piece of computing hardware. It is advantageous in that it can operate without the mobile user being aware and it can be configured to the particular policies or working habits of the corporate or individual.
[0051] Although the invention has been described by way of example and with reference to particular embodiments it is to be understood that modification and/or improvements may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
[0052] Where in the foregoing description reference has been made to integers or elements having known equivalents, then such equivalents are herein incorporated as if individually set forth.
Referenced by
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text:
Chickpea, Orzo, Spinach and Tomato Salad
1/2 cup orzo
1.5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 15ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
1 tablespoon basil
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cups baby spinach leaves
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1. Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Cook orzo until just tender, about 9 minutes, Drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Transfer to a medium bowl and toss with oil.
2. Add the chickpeas, basil, tomato, spinach, and pepper. Toss gently to combine.
Haven't tried our mouthwatering gourmet food, yet? CLICK HERE to get a FREE SAMPLE. To stay up to date with the latest articles and tips from Blue Ribbon Foods, please connect with us on Twitter and Facebook!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
PDCs are tricky. For two weeks we tumble into this community of unfamiliarly familiar, curious strangers. The constant whirlwind of habits, obligations, and distractions that composes our lives momentarily dissipates and we are thrust into this world where our main responsibility is to be open-minded, observe, think, learn, and connect. Yet, at the end of… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Community Projects
Pam Warhurst: How We Can Eat Our Landscapes (TED video)
This is a fun and very inspiring talk by Incredible Edible Todmorden champion, Pam Warhurst, on the great work her town is doing in northern England and its growing influence around the world. One of the many encouraging things I take from this talk is hearing how local businesses in Todmorden are, with the renewed… Read more »
Update on Permaculture Implementation and Design Development at Hafto Site, Hadiya Zone, Ethiopia
Editor's Note: Regular readers will have appreciated Alex McCausland's regular and comprehensive reports from precariously positioned Ethiopia, and the great work he and his team have been doing on the ground. If you want to learn practical permaculture and gain real-world permaculture aid work experience in a location rich in agricultural history, then please consider… Read more »
Preparing Our Children For a Resilient Future, Part IV: Localisation and Community
Our local areas and community are likely to play a much bigger role in our future resilience, so it makes sense to begin to include active community participation in our children's lives. Children often enjoy having a sense of being an important part of something that matters and even young children can develop a feeling… Read more »
Permaculture at Wadeye – an Aboriginal Community in the Northern Territory, Australia
Wadeye is the Northern Territory's largest aboriginal community. Having been here just over a year now I can say I have become quite acquainted with many of the indigenous locals and I will be quite sad when I soon leave. However, to paint a brief picture of reasonable accuracy, the town itself is the result… Read more »
Permaculture as a Tool for Implementing the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
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Rusinga Island, Kenya, PDC With Lesley Byrne (December 2012)
What: Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course with Lesley Byrne Where: Rusinga Island, Kenya When: December 4 — 17, 2012 Rusinga Island is one of the bigger islands in the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria. It's the home of ancient fossils from before Homo Erectus and was once a green and luscious island, home of unique… Read more »
Incredible Edible Todmorden (video)
If you want a little inspiration today, the following video about the excellent work going on in Todmorden, UK, should do the trick.
Amazon Women Working Together
Our mission of doing things right at Eco Ola extends beyond our partner farms and into the local community. In addition to sharing sustainable agriculture techniques with independent local farmers, we've also started our own, small-scale, microfinance endeavor. As a mother of two and co-running Eco Ola, I appreciate and understand the challenges of motherhood… Read more »
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Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Course: Permaculture for the Rural African Environment (December 2012, Konso, Ethiopia)
This 13-day practical and demonstrative PDC will take place in Konso, south Ethiopia, from December 10th – 22nd, 2012, at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge. It will have a special focus on the application of permaculture to communities in the developing world. It will involve practical demonstrations both form Strawberry Fields' own model permaculture site and… Read more »
Grant Opportunity to Bring Permaculture Solutions to Women Farmers in the South
Sri Lankan household Photo © Craig Mackintosh The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has, of course, a lot of resources at its disposal. Unfortunately it's been shown that those resources have not always been utilised in ways that actually assist the people they purport to want to help. I'd like to believe that this disconnect… Read more »


text:
Green Power Partnership
Partner Profile
|Warren Wilson College
|Asheville, NC
|Organization Type
|Education (Higher)
|Annual Green Power Usage (kWh)
|Percentage Green Power
|Purchasing Third-Party Certified Green Power Product?
|Organization-wide Partner
|Partner's Reporting Period
|7/1/2012 - 6/30/2013
|Latest Annual Report Received On
|Environmental Web Page
|Partner Profile
Warren Wilson College is an independent, liberal arts college located outside Asheville, North Carolina. As a founding signatory of the College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, Warren Wilson College seeks to reduce its overall greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent less than its 2007/2008 emissions by 2020 in pursuit of an eventual carbon-neutral footprint. Renewable energy, both the generation and the procurement of, plays an important role in achieving this goal. By meeting its electricity usage with 100 percent green power, Warren Wilson College estimates it reduces its total greenhouse gas emissions by 42 percent annually. In addition, the College operates a 13-kW solar array that is grid-tied, thus providing the region with a source of clean energy.


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Volume 38-----February 1, 2005-----Number 4
The Senate Record is the official publication of the University Faculty Senate of The Pennsylvania State University, as provided for in Article I, Section 9 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, and contained in the Constitution, Bylaws, and Standing Rules of the University Faculty Senate, The Pennsylvania State University, 2004-2005.
publication is issued by the Senate Office, 101 Kern Graduate Building, University
Park, PA 16802 (telephone 814-863-0221). The Senate Record is
distributed to all libraries across
Except for items specified in the applicable Standing Rules, decisions on the responsibility for inclusion of matters in the publication are those of the Chair of the University Faculty Senate.
When existing communication channels seem inappropriate, senators are encouraged to submit brief letters relevant to the Senate's function as a legislative, advisory, and forensic body to the Chair for possible inclusion in The Senate Record.
Reports that have appeared in the Agenda for the meeting are not included in The Senate Record unless they have been changed substantially during the meeting, or are considered to be of major importance. Remarks and discussions are abbreviated in most instances. A complete transcript and tape of the meeting is on file. Individuals with questions may contact Dr. Susan C. Youtz, Executive Secretary, University Faculty Senate.
I. Final Agenda for February 1, 2005 Pages ii-iii
II. Minutes and Summaries of Remarks Pages 1-22
III. Appendices
A. Corrected Copy—Senate Committee on Undergraduate Appendix I
Education, Revision of Policies 51-50 and 60-00
B. Attendance Appendix II
A. MINUTES OF THE PRECEDING MEETING Page 1
Minutes of the December 7, 2004, meeting in The Senate Record 38:3
B. COMMUNICATIONS TO THE SENATE Page 1
Senate Committee on Curricular Affairs
Senate Curriculum Report of January 18, 2005
Implementation of Revised Bachelor of Arts Degree Requirements
Cultures Requirement
Senate Calendar for 2005-2006
C. REPORT OF SENATE COUNCIL – Meeting of January 18, 2005 Page 1
D. ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE CHAIR Pages 1-3
E. COMMENTS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY Pages 3-9
Undergraduate Education Pages 10-20
Special Forensic Session on the General Education Health
and Physical Activity Requirement (GHA)
G. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Page 20
Committees and Rules Page 20
Revision to Standing Rules Article I, Section 11 (b, d, e)
Undergraduate Education Pages 20-21
Revision of Policies 51-50 and 60-00
I. ADVISORY/CONSULTATIVE REPORTS Page 21
Admissions, Records, Scheduling, and Student Aid
Financial Aid Report Page 21
Reserved Spaces Program Pages 21-22
University Faculty Census Report for 2005-2006 Page 22
K. NEW LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS Page 22
L. COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE Page 22
M. ADJOURNMENT Page 22
NOTE: The next regular meeting of the University Faculty Senate will be held on
Tuesday, March 15, 2005, at
1:30 p.m. in room 112
The University Faculty Senate met on
Tuesday, February 1, 2005, at 1:30 p.m. in room 112
Chair Steiner: We have a short meeting today, I think, so life looks pretty good right now. I want to remind you to please turn off you cell phones and pagers.
Chair Steiner: The first agenda item is minutes of the preceding meeting. The December 7, 2004, Senate Record, containing a full transcription of the proceedings, was sent to all University Libraries and is posted on the Faculty Senate Web site. Are there any corrections or additions to this document? May I have a motion to accept?
Senators: So moved.
Chair Steiner: Seconded?
Chair Steiner: All in favor of accepting the minutes of December 7, 2004, please say, "aye."
Senators: Aye.
Chair Steiner: Opposed, "nay?" The ayes have it. The motion carries; the minutes have been approved.
Chair Steiner: Agenda Item B, Communication to the Senate: the Senate Curriculum Report of January 18, 2005, is posted on the University Faculty Senate Web page.
The Senate calendar for the next academic year has been prepared and is included near the front of the Agenda. Also near the front of the Agenda is a memo from Doug Brown, Chair of Curricular Affairs, describing the implementation of the revised Bachelor of Arts Degree requirements, and another memo from Doug describing the implementation of the new United States Cultures and International Cultures requirement.
Chair Steiner: Agenda Item C is the report from Senate Council. The minutes of the Senate Council meeting of January 18 are included in today's Agenda.
Chair Steiner: Agenda Item D is announcements by the Chair, and I have just a few comments.
As I am sure you know, at its January meeting, the Board of Trustees voted to adopt a Memorandum of Understanding approved just the week before by the Dickinson Board of Governors. This Memorandum of Understanding sets the University on a course toward a dual-campus law school. You may share with me some sense of satisfaction in the outcome represented by these votes; satisfaction on behalf of the University, President Spanier, Provost Erickson, and Vice President Schultz. I think they deserve congratulations for successfully resolving this extremely difficult issue.
The Senate, of course, was not
involved in these negotiations. I have given Council a complete description of
our activities in this matter, and you can read that account in the November 23
Council minutes. The short description of those activities is that we were
actively preparing to develop a Senate position addressing faculty issues in
the event that negotiations with the Board of Governors failed. The other
officers and I met with the
As most of you know, it has been
many years since our students were required to have an advisor's signature for
registration. In fact, an advisor's signature is still required for very little
that a typical student does at this University. Self-advising has become
increasingly common and in fact increasingly easy. Students can easily register
for courses and get answers to most of their questions by logging into eLion,
which, by the way, is a
We are all painfully aware that diminishing state support has shifted more and more of the financial burden of higher education to students. This was the subject of one of President Spanier's special addresses to the Senate last year. Many of us were the first persons in our families to attend college. We know the transformative power of education, and we know how important it is for young men and women to have access to our universities. That is why I asked Admissions, Records, Scheduling and Student Aid Committee to sponsor today's report on financial aid and the costs of a university degree, and the sobering implications of these data for questions of affordability and access to higher education.
The Council of Commonwealth Student
Governments (CCSG) is working with student organizations from other
Commonwealth universities to organize a rally calling for increased state
support of higher education. This rally will be held on the steps of the
On the Senate home page you will
find a link to a preliminary report entitled, "Academic Integrity in
Intercollegiate Athletics: Principles, Rules, and Best Practices" by the
Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics. Past Senate Chair John Nichols is our
representative to this group (in fact, I think he was one of the founding
members of the group) and he attended a meeting at
I am sure that President Spanier will bring this up as well, but I would like to personally encourage your support of the 33rd Annual Dance Marathon, which will occur in two and one-half weeks. I must admit that I personally have never been to THON, but my wife and I pledge to each student who asks, and every year several students manage to find our neighborhood somehow. Over its history, this even has raised more than $40 million for the Four Diamonds Fund, which assists cancer patients at the Penn State Children's Hospital. It is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.
I want to remind you again that the Nominating Committee of Council, chaired by Chris Bise, and the Committee on Committees and Rules (CC&R) Nominating Committee, seek nominations for the Officers of the Senate, which is the responsibility of the Council Nominating Committee; and for members of the Faculty Advisory Committee to the President; and three extra-Senatorial Committees. Those nominations are the responsibility of CC&R Nominating Committee. This process is still open; I think probably for another two weeks or so, so please talk with your unit colleagues and caucus members to identify senators and faculty members to nominate for these positions.
Finally, my last remark: I regret to pass on the message that Candace Spigelman, a faculty member at Penn State Berks, passed away unexpectedly on December 17. Candace had been a senator since 2003 and served on the Undergraduate Education Committee and the Writing Subcommittee.
Chair Steiner: Agenda Item E is comments by the President of the University. President Spanier is with us today and I would like to invite him to come up and make a few comments.
Spanier: Thank you very much. I will begin by commenting on the Dance
Marathon, which is coming up very quickly. Let me do a show of hands. How many
of you have been to THON? That is fabulous. For those of you who have not
visited Dance Marathon, in recent years since it has been in Rec Hall, I really
do encourage you to stop by and take a look at it any time of the day or night
on Dance Marathon weekend. I try to spend as much time there as possible myself
and it is a very, very impressive event. The logistics of it, the volunteer
effort—about ten thousand students volunteer in one way or another. The amount
of money they raise, and just the spirit behind it is quite remarkable. As you
may know, the students from Dance Marathon have provided the lead gift for the
new children's hospital at the
Well in the news, the governor
announced that he would be delaying slightly the release of the State budget,
of his budget proposal, because he plans to be in
I have been out of town the last few
days. I also noticed in the news there was a scathing indictment of my presidency
by a sports columnist, who often writes very strong and unfriendly things. It
was read to me over the phone, while I was out of town. So I am going to have
to go back and reread it. I understand the cause of his denouncing me was my answer
to a member of the Board of Trustees, in a public session, about what I thought
about the arms race in intercollegiate athletics, the great spending that is
taking place at some universities nationally. Among the things I said, was that
it was our philosophy at
I also want to thank the Faculty Senate leadership. We have been speaking to them at every one of our meetings, giving updates on the situation with the Dickinson School of Law. I am very pleased that almost all the stars have aligned at this point: the Board of Governors of the Law School, the Board of Trustees of the University, and the Cumberland County Redevelopment Authority, which is involved because they are the entity that would be a conduit for matching money that would come from the governor for refurbishment of the facilities in Carlisle. We are still in discussions with the governor, bringing his part of it to closure. Meanwhile, one of the reasons I was out of town is that I have started the process for privately raising the $10 million that we hope to raise as part of that matching plan.
I want to thank all of you, on behalf of all of your colleagues around the University for your role in making such a smooth transition in our new I.D. system. Moving to I.D. numbers away from social security numbers is part of our process to provide a little more protection to faculty, staff and students, and insulate ourselves a little better against identity theft and some of the other things that are out there. It was amazing how compliant the faculty were in getting their grades in very early. So I am thinking every year we should invent some crisis, which requires everybody to get their grades in a very timely way because we had wonderful turnaround this year.
I want to raise just two issues
briefly. We continue to struggle a bit at
I do not think there is another
university that has done as much programming around Martin Luther King Day as
It is a federal holiday; of course,
The last thing I want to bring you
up-to-date on a little bit, when we have had a few minutes to think about
something other than the
Our goal by the March Board of Trustees
meeting is to have figured it all out, and to make some announcements about
changes in all different areas of the University that will look forward for the
next ten years or beyond, and to think about how we might function a little better.
It is a good thing for a University to do, and as complex as we are, and given
the challenges for us that are out there, I think these are things that are
worth talking about. Certainly, from time to time we take a fresh look at the
overall academic support services at the University, and that is an area that
we will look at. We are very mindful of the important and growing role of
continuing education in this state for adult learners, and the importance for
In the area of University Relations (communication, public relations, publications, advertising), we are also looking at how we do business there. I hope you give me a little license for putting it this way. For protecting Penn State's brand name; for getting our message out there in an increasingly competitive environment; for dealing with what we see as a tremendous proliferation of publications; and web sites of varying quality; to see if we can bring everything up to a certain level of quality and have necessary coordination in that area.
We have been listening to your Faculty Senate leadership, which does this wonderful thing of going around and visiting campuses, and listening what the faculty has to say and giving us some feedback. Clearly what we are hearing from the campuses overlaps substantially with what we are feeling in the administration. That is, we have a certain degree of curricular drift we might call it, or a lack of curricular coherence that has developed, for some good reasons in many cases. There is a positive side to this; it is all not necessarily a negative side. We want to look at how we are doing business, how we are organized, and how the Senate gets involved in looking at the whole business of the curriculum.
We also have to face up to the
continuing difficulty that the
I mentioned the increasing
competition we have from other colleges and universities.
Chair Steiner: March 15.
President Spanier: I do not know if we will be ready then, because I think we want to give our Board of Trustees the first shot at the discussion. I think that is a few days after March 15. So I do not know; it might be the following Faculty Senate meeting. Somewhere along the way, I will ask for at least one-half hour on the Agenda. I will give a whole presentation on what we are thinking; how we got from here to there; what all the different variables are; and what the specifics would be. We will also try to be mindful of any of the things we might be doing that would be important for the Senate to take up as well. We are talking mostly at this point about administrative structural things. Of course, anything that gets into the curriculum we would ask for support of, and maybe appoint a faculty committee to delve into some of those issues after we get the structural things looked at. So I hope that I did not confuse you too much, but if you start picking up rumors about it, or you hear things around the edges because we are going to involve more and more people in these discussions, we do not want you to think there is something afoot that you were totally unaware of. So, I am happy to open it up for questions and comments now.
T. Turner, Abington: President Spanier, to ask you a question about some opportunities
for Penn State, please bear with me while I read a brief excerpt from the
January 19 Philadelphia Inquirer editorial,
which you have seen. "Almost two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese,
and more than half get too little physical activity. In 2001 the Surgeon General,
David Satcher, declared obesity a serious public health problem." Later in the
editorial it reads, "Only one state,
Spanier: What an interesting way to pose that question. I think I have an
idea where you are headed with that. I think that editorial sounds like it is
focused on the K-12 system, and what they are doing with physical education and
athletics in the public schools. I think it is unfortunate that those programs
are being cut back in some schools. I also think it is unfortunate that they
are cutting back the programs in art, music and some other areas as well. There
are a lot of things in the K-12 educational system, like going to the cafeteria
for lunch at a certain time, recess, and going to required assemblies; which we
do not carry forward to the university. We assume that by the time people get
to the university, they are able to construct a profile of their activities and
experiences that do not have to come as a result of a mandate from the university.
It is no secret that I am supportive of
The data I see, and I get the data
regularly, is that
I think requiring them to take one credit of golf or racquetball is not the way to go with that. I think the change that we made when we last revised the General Education curriculum was a very good one. We allowed part of that requirement to be fulfilled with broader courses in nutrition, how the body works, or other things that seem a little more academic to me, and still promoted health and wellness. I do not happen to believe that we need the GHA requirement as it is constituted right now. I would like to see those courses taken out of General Education and put on an elective basis. You could still take them and have them count towards graduation maybe if you met all of your requirements; or, I would like to see those kinds of courses maybe administered on a self-support basis by our recreational folks, but I think given that we are trying so hard to keep the General Education credits within a certain zone, and not increase the number or credits for graduation, this is an area where maybe it is a time for a change. We cannot force everybody to be healthy, but I think we are doing a pretty good job without needing that requirement here at the University.
I know you are going to talk about this more. By the way, we do not have any intention of taking any tenured faculty member where this is what they do, and saying we do not have that requirement anymore, so we are removing your tenure, or we are forcing you to do this or that. That is not going to happen. This should not be seen as a human resources or employment issue for tenured or tenure-track faculty members. We are very mindful of that. So if there is any reaction to that issue, I think I can give you some assurance that is not what that is about. In time there may be some retirements. There will be some turnover. Maybe a campus or college would choose to use that position differently if fewer of those courses were being taught. This is not a cost savings thing. There is no intention of removing lots of money from Health and Human Development or Kinesiology. For that matter, I think we have a fabulous department of Kinesiology. We do not plan on slashing the budget of that department because of this discussion either. I really hope you can look at it in the terms of academic merits of an issue like this.
Steiner: Any other questions for the president? Graham, I just have to tell
you I have a son who lives in
President Spanier: Well, I should not have brought that up, but it was on my mind.
Chair Steiner: Any more comments or questions for the president? Graham, thank you very much.
Chair Steiner: Agenda Item F is forensic business, and we have business under this Agenda item today. The Committee on Undergraduate Education is sponsoring a forensic session on the General Education Health and Physical Activity requirement as we were just talking about.
Now, before I bring Art Miller up to introduce this discussion, I want to say a few words about how we got here, because I have heard some comments about this. Coming into the fall, we had an upcoming report from the Undergraduate Education Committee that had been drafted by a special ad hoc committee to look at the implementation of the Senate's last legislation on the GHA requirement. That was the sub-committee that was chaired by Barton Browning and charged by Chris Bise. That sub-committee was just charged just to look at the implementation of that requirement. Just as we have been looking at the implementation of other General Education requirements from time to time, including most recently, the First-Year Seminar. This year we are looking at the Writing Across the Curriculum requirement, and I am sure we will be looking at other General Education requirements in the future.
As Art and I looked at that report
coming to the Senate, it was our collective opinion that this report dealt
solely with the implementation of the requirement. It had nothing to do with
the requirement itself, and that when we presented it on the floor of the
Senate, that we should just talk about the implementation—that the requirement
was not part of the charge; it should not be part of the final report, nor
explicitly or even implicitly, part of the discussion. However, that said,
coming into the fall, and coming into the presentation of that report, I knew
that these events might lead us to the point that we are at right now, because
I knew the discussion of the implementation of the GHA requirement might very
well precipitate discussion about the requirement itself. I mean, people
discuss what they want to discuss, and it seemed fairly natural that might come
up. You may recall, however, that the delivery of the report in October at the
Before the decision to have a forensic session, I heard suggestions that the Senate leadership was colluding to silence any opposition to the GHA requirement, and after the decision was made I heard suggestions that we were colluding to do away with the GHA requirement. Now, the truth of the matter is, if I or anyone else in the Senate leadership tried to do either of those things, it would complicate my job, and I do not feel like making my job any more complicated than it is. It is easy to believe that special interests are behind decisions like this. That seems like a natural and simple explanation. But the real explanation is even simpler than that—even simple-minded. In my experience, and certainly while I have been Chair, decisions have been based on a basic notion of fairness to the competing interests within the Senate, and certainly there are competing interests within the Senate. I view my role in this job as being an agent for your will, really, an agent for the will of the Senate. If there is any leadership part to do this job, it is in bringing important issues to the attention of the Senate and its committees, and then in drawing out whatever it is that is the Senate's will on the matter. So that is how we got to this point. I wanted to say those things for the benefit of people who might not understand. I was in the Commonwealth Caucus meeting this morning and I drafted these comment before that, but I felt there certainly were people who do not understand.
With that, I would like to ask Committee Chair Art Miller to come forward and introduce the forensic discussion.
Special Forensic Session on the
General Education Health and Physical Activity Requirement (GHA)
Arthur C. Miller, Chair Undergraduate Education
Art Miller: Thank you, Kim. At committee meetings we have been discussing this at the last couple of sessions we have had. What we wanted to do was get input from the Faculty Senate. I would like to pose two questions basically on the merit of keeping the GHA requirements and the merit of eliminating the requirements. What I would also like to do is stay away from any anecdotal comments. It is really looking at the merits both academically—whether we should have it or whether we should not have it. What we are going to do is go back to the Undergraduate Education Committee, and discuss further the input we get from the Faculty Senate today. Our next committee meeting on March 15 will have this item on the Agenda again.
Chair Steiner: Thank you, Art. If you would all turn to Appendix C in the Agenda. There are two specific questions posed with some sub-questions under those. The questions are:
What are the educational merits of maintaining the GHA requirements?
What are the educational merits of eliminating the GHA requirements?
Then there are some guiding questions under each of those. Once I call on you, you can say just about anything you want. I hope people will confine their comments to those specific issues, because if we are going to be talking about a General Education requirement, whether it is GHA or something else, these to me and to Art and his committee are really the important questions we need to be asking.
I want to remind you that a forensic session is for the purpose of exchanging ideas among senators; however, there is a provision in the By-Laws for non-senators to ask for the privilege of the floor. I have had two requests for that privilege, and I will be calling on those two non-senators sometime during the course of this discussion. Those are the only non-senators who are entitled to speak in this forensic discussion. Senate Council has set aside thirty minutes for this discussion.
Steiner: Thank you,
Bise, College of Earth & Mineral Sciences: Thank you, Kim. Thank you
very much for providing the background in this issue. Last year when I charged
that committee it was one of my agenda items, basically because I served on a
committee looking at General Education ten years ago. If you recall, we dropped
the whole General Education requirement by one credit. That one credit was
taken from the combination of the health and physical activity from four to
three credits. We looked at combining this area such that you could take three
credits and a health education course. So I figured, just like any other
General Education area should be examined to see how well it is addressing the
issues brought by the Senate, that this would be the one issue I would like to
look at this year, much like we looked at First-Year Seminars, and so forth.
What drove that was every night you go home, you watch the TV, you read the
newspapers, and they talk about as you are hearing now, health and wellness,
onset of juvenile diabetes, and so forth being a problem. The Center for Disease Control says that physical activity among
Pennsylvanians of all age groups under 65 has decreased over the past ten
years. In fact, if you look at leisure activities among all age groups under 65,
you find it is 25 percent or less who spent any form of leisure activity within
a month prior to the survey. So I thought this was a timely issue to take a
look at, and see how well it was being addressed. I was not asked by anybody to
bring it up; I had an interest in it admittedly, and to see how well things
were. I think the question now we have to ask is, how is health education
valued by the
Chair Steiner: I do not want to interrupt anybody, their train of thought, what they want to say next, but there are six bullets under these two questions, and we talked about one bullet so far. So let us think about what else needs to be said.
Landa Pytel,
Peter Rebane, Abington: I will try to stick to the bullets, Kim. It is true, as the President said, we have a tremendous voluntary recreation program, and people are involved in all kinds of sports. Unfortunately, it is those people who do not take part that perhaps we can motivate by having this requirement and reaching them. I look at the other bullets here. What are the educational benefits of this particular physical education requirement? Well I am not so sure how I can measure what a couple of courses on drugs, health, reproduction, and so on will do for a student five or ten years down the line. However, neither can I measure what a student who sits in my class in Western Civilization really benefits from it, if they sit there and do not learn anything from it.
Turning to the second page, there is an interesting question. It reads, "Justification for eliminating the GHA requirement must be predicated on the argument that there are better uses for these three credits in our curricula." I would like somebody to stand up and tell me what three credits are better. Three credits in arts, three credits in electrical engineering, three credits in the use of Windows? I really do not know. Dr. Pytel raised the issue about we should have some more knowledge of technology. Well, there will be those who argue that if you sit in front of the computer you are less mobile, less active, more susceptible to heart attacks, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and other things. I guess I would rather see my child be forced to take some kind of program on drugs, health, and so on. So unless I am convinced that there are three other credits that are a better substitute for the GHA requirement, I think that this is a better choice than either dropping the three credits and then having a poor students graduate, albeit in better psychological shape with three credits less, or with some other course we dream up. I strongly urge we look at those issues before we eventually decide on it. Thank you.
Chair Steiner: Thank you, Peter. I am going to take a diversion now and call on John Pfau, instructor in Kinesiology, who has asked for the privilege of the floor. John, do you still wish to make a comment?
So you know who I am. Who am I
representing today besides myself? I am representing a very large group of people.
All of those faculty members, who have devoted part of their professional lives
since 1919, teaching educationally-oriented physical activity experiences here
on this campus. The John Lucas's, the Janet Atwood's, the Jim Thompson's, the
Joe Harvey's, and many, many more. Health Science and Physical Activity has had
a very glorious past.
What are the merits of General Education, the GHA requirement? Merits having worth: educational, of or about learning. The requirement that was designed and passed in this room back in 1999 was designed to give students various gateways into the world of health and wellness. Our courses have merit. This group of scholars certified them as having merit. Along with that change in the requirement when we went from one credit of health and three required credits of physical education to three credits of Health Science and Physical Activity, there was a very, very strenuous review process. All of our courses were rewritten; they had to meet certain criteria, and this body certified that criteria.
General Education Bulletin reminds us that the purpose of General Education
is to encourage students to experiment, explore, to take academic risk, to
discover things they did not know, and to learn how to do things they had not
done before. It is very hard to meet those goals by moving three credits back
into a majors program. Do we deliver the programs that we said we were going to
deliver? Yes, we do. Bob mentioned our SRTE ratings of 6.0 on a 7 point scale.
A cynic in the room might think we pandered the students with easy classes. We
do not, and that would be really underestimating the quality of our faculty,
and the quality of the
Research, you have heard some data here today. The active and physically fit not only have better organic functioning, they live longer and enjoy better health. College students who are engaged in fitness and activity programs are happier, more opportunistic, more self-confident, less hostile, less anxious, have higher self-confidence, sleep better, can concentrate longer, and are more physiologically resilient. We can produce the data to backup those statements.
John Pfau: What are the educational merits of eliminating the GHA requirement? I have a little trouble in even saying that. I saw a great movie when I was a kid. It had to do with Bernadette of Lourdes, and I think Loretta Young played the part. As the movie ended and the picture faded to black, there was a voiceover and it said, "For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't believe, no explanation is possible." I think what we are talking about today is a little bit of that kind of situation. I believe in General Education. I believe that human beings are more than bundles of cognitive mathematical intelligences running around the world. For me there is no argument to eliminate the requirement, but I might be biased. Some voices on campus would have us leave things to chance. I think the things that this requirement represents are too important to be left to chance. We do, as Bob mentioned, have very good recreational facilities, but they are recreational. Kinesiologists manipulate physical activity experiences to create certain end-states. In this case, they are educational end-states. I do not see anyone suggesting that our libraries, museums, and concert halls be used to fulfill the humanities requirements, just leaving it to chance.
Chair Steiner: John, I think we have probably reached the limit.
John Pfau: Can I just wrap this up in one final comment?
Chair Steiner: Yes, you can.
John Pfau: I have great faith in this body to make the right decision, and if we do choose to move forward with this requirement, I would ask that you invite us in. Please stop talking about us and start talking to us. We are not perfect. Help us make things better and deliver the kind of program that you want us to deliver. Thank you.
Chair Steiner: Okay, let's go to the back row.
Zambanini, Berks: I am a rather new senator. I would like to give you a
younger perspective on things here. I was listening and trying to come up with
some counterpoints to the bullet items as you requested. I have six of them.
First, I think we all know it is going to help if the requirement is kept. So I
do not explain anything further on that. Secondly, it also educates on the
physical side. For example, martial arts is an art. We learn more about it. I
am getting a little bit of a belly, so if I take the right kind of class maybe
I can find out the right way to get rid of it. Thirdly, it gives diversity. It
is a different kind of class. It is not like a usual class where you walk into
a classroom. You can actually put on hiking equipment, go travel 30 miles, and
climb a cliff. It is different. It is a different type of education. We are
saying, "Maybe we do not need this." Why not get rid of a humanity requirement?
Do you know what I mean? If we are going to get rid of a gym requirement, I do
not see the point. Fourth, it is fun. The students like it. I have only been
advising for two years. They all like it. Every student I have advised says,
"Yeah, I took that one class. It was really fun. I am looking forward to part
two." Fifth, it is flexible. It gives the students flexibility. Let us say a
student has 11 credits. They need to do really well in two of them, their entry
to major requirements, they need one more credit. What better way to give them
a little sense of relaxation then to take the extra credit as gym? Lastly,
there is a bullet item about what are the benefits of removing the requirement.
It sounds like, with all due respect to senator Pytel, we need the three
credits to use elsewhere, as if to say we do not have time for it. Maybe that
is why
Chair Steiner: Thank you Robert. Professor Singh, you are next.
Chair Steiner: Thank you. Okay, Tram, I think you have had your hand up the longest. Let us all think about whether we are going in new directions with our discussion.
Turner: Given the Chair's emphasis on the desire to identify the will of
the Senate; I would note that the will of the Senate was expressed in that
compromise when we went from four to three credits. I also would like to pick
up on Jean Landa Pytel's comments. She raised a very, very important issue: that,
in fact, those of us—I served along with Chris Bise—those of us who spent 22
months on the revision of General Education, among other measures, met with students
not once, not for one month, but often. There were surveys that another former
senator, John Cahir, mailed out to alumni. That is part of why the whole
process took 22 months. Jean Landa Pytel raised the question, "Do we know what
has been the outcome of these courses?" It is a great, valid question, and it
is increasingly being asked in all areas. It has become a part of Middle States
Accreditation. In her field, engineering, one of the great innovations in ABET
accreditation is more emphasis on outcomes. I humbly submit that probably Undergraduate
Education has jumped ahead of the game. There has been no survey of outcomes.
Art, perhaps in the ongoing discussions, your committee could take up the
question of doing an alumni survey, since we have had these requirements in
place for quite awhile. We will have more evidence in terms of asking or
answering the question, "What is the merit of keeping the requirement?" You
will have more feedback. I do think it is incredibly important to note that
various units in the University have unusual pressures. Engineering to keep
certification—engineering at
Art Miller: Let me say, I do not think the Undergraduate Education Committee is jumping the gun. What we are trying to do is get input so we can go back and better discussion.
Chair Steiner: Thank you, Len. Barton Browning, you are next.
Barton Browning, College of the Liberal Arts: I have a slightly different take, and that involves the designation for the course as activity courses, health and activity courses. Well, the courses we have are not merely activity courses. These are courses where students actually learn skills. Sometimes coming from their backgrounds, they would never have a chance to learn to ski, to golf, to fly fish, to do yoga. These are real opportunities for students that they might not be afforded otherwise. One of the problems, I think, in looking at the physical activity, physical skills part of the requirement, is that people question whether physical activities are worth academic credits. I think we might want to look at another part of our General Education requirements, the General Arts requirements. As you know in the General Arts requirements, you may take either a course on theater history, art history or you may, in fact, take a course in painting, in drawing and other physical activities, physical skills that you learn through that requirement. So if we are being consistent, across General Education, I think the GHA requirement certainly has as much place as the GA requirement.
Chair Steiner: Thanks, Barton. Ingrid, I have you next on the list.
Chair Steiner. Thank you, Ingrid. Howard Sachs, in the back.
My second comment is, I do not want to see this degenerate into what occurred at another institution that I worked at: a full employment discussion. I would like to suggest that there are other courses that perhaps could be double counted. I teach two GN courses. One of them is Human Anatomy the other is Human Physiology. I think I could conduct a reasonably persuasive argument that those courses could not only count for GN but for GHA. So I would like to see us keep an open mind about where this is going, and not try to kick it out to try to save credits. Thanks.
Chair Steiner: Thanks, Howard. I have some other people that have raised their hand. Dennis you are next and we are going to have to think about our time limit pretty soon.
Dennis Gouran, College of the Liberal Arts: Such spirited defense in the face of a non-assault is rare, it seems to me in the annals of this body. We have heard one person speak in favor of the possibility of either revising or eliminating that.
Chair Steiner: I am still trying to get a sense of where this discussion is going, Dennis.
Dennis Gouran: Unless there are a lot of people who are opposed to the existing requirement in General Education, who are not representative of this body, it seems to me that the Committee on Undergraduate Education has gotten its answer. I do not know if we need to prolong the discussion. (applause)
Chair Steiner: Let me ask this, does anyone else want to speak in the face of that? Speak now or forever hold your peace. We will not be coming back to this for another two years. Thanks, Art.
Chair Steiner: Agenda Item H. The first Legislative Report comes from the Senate Committee on Committee and Rules and appears on today's Agenda as Appendix D, entitled, "Revision to Standing Rules Article I, Section 11 (b, d, e,)." Pam Hufnagel, Chair of the committee will present the report.
Revision to Standing Rules, Article I, Section 11, (b, d, e)
Pamela P. Hufnagel, Chair Committee on Committees and Rules
Pamela Hufnagel: Good afternoon. This revision will simply write into the Constitution the possibility for on-line voting. As you know, we have been voting on-line for a couple of years. The only changes here are: the ballots will be e-mailed to you (the ballot can still be mailed if that is a necessity); the number of tellers drops from five to three because all the tellers need to do in an electronic vote is to watch the results and say there they are. Are there any questions on this report?
Chair Steiner: If there is no discussion, we are going to vote. This report has been brought to the floor by committee and does not need a second. All those in favor of this legislation, please say, "aye."
Senators: Aye.
Chair Steiner: Opposed, "nay?" The ayes have it. The motion passes. The Senate has approved this legislation. Thank you, Chair Hufnagel.
Our next Legislative Report comes from the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Education and appears on today's Agenda as Appendix E entitled, "Revision of Policies 51-50 and 60-00."Art Miller, Chair, is back to present this report.
Revision of Policies 51-50 and 60-00
Arthur C. Miller, Chair Undergraduate Education
Art Miller: What the policy addresses is students who were moving from an associate to a baccalaureate degree, and from a baccalaureate to an associate degree. Basically, their cumulative grade-point average (GPA) was starting anew as they would start that next degree. What was getting caught was if a student was doing a baccalaureate degree, and then re-enrolling in a sequential degree, the policy indicated that the cumulative grade-point would start with a new degree. What that means is, if you had an undergraduate degree with 120 credits, then you did a sequential degree and you only needed 15 credits to perform that, your cumulative grade point average for that second degree would be based upon those 15 credits. We thought that is not a very good indication of your overall GPA. What this legislation is saying is, those students who are getting an associate degree to an associate degree or a baccalaureate degree to a baccalaureate degree, their GPA will be computed using the grades earned in all courses take at the University. So that is the purpose of this legislation.
Chair Steiner: Any discussion on this legislation?
Art Miller. I have one editorial change where we said "second," and it should be "subsequent." You can actually get more than a second degree. You can have many degrees. So there is an editorial change that will change it from "second" to "subsequent."
Chair Steiner: Did everyone understand that editorial change? This report has been brought to the floor by the committee and does not need a second. Are we ready to vote? All those in favor of this legislation, please say, "aye."
Senators: Aye.
Chair Steiner: Opposed, "nay?" The ayes have it. The motion passes. The Senate has approved this legislation.
Chair Steiner: That brings us to Agenda Item J, Informational Reports. We have three reports on today's Agenda. The last report in the Agenda is the report entitled, "University Travel Task Force Report." Unfortunately, Catherine Shannon, who is the lead person on this report, is ill with the flu, and we were asked to postpone this report until the March meeting.
Aid Report, Appendix F. This report was presented by Anna Griswold, Assistant
Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Student Aid, and Donald E. Heller,
Associate Professor and Senior Research Associate in the Center for the Study
of Higher Education. The report focused on the challenges facing students in
financing an education here at
Reserved Spaces Program, Appendix G. This yearly report provides data on the three categories of "reserved spaces" for eligible freshmen at the University Park Campus. Some examples of students participating in this program are ROTC scholarship students, Educational Opportunity/CAMP students, Approved Athletes, and Blue Bad members. In fall 2004, 248 of 340 allotted spaces were used.
University Faculty Census Report for 2005-2006, Appendix H. Dawn Blasko, Chair of the Election Commission gave a summary of the report that lists the total Senate seats for 2005-2006. She commented that a revised census report would appear on the March 15 Senate Agenda.
Chair Steiner: Are there any comments?
Chair Steiner: May I have a motion to adjourn?
Senators: So moved.
Chair Steiner: All in favor, please say, "aye."
Senators: Aye.
Chair Steiner: Motion carries. The February 1, 2005, meeting of the University Faculty Senate was adjourned at 3:40 p.m.
Please note the next meeting of the
University Faculty Senate will be on March 15, 2005, at 1:30 p.m. in room 112
A student's cumulative grade-point average is the weighted mean value of all grade points (see Section 51-30) earned either by enrollment or examinations in courses at the University, except for the following: (Note: the words student and undergraduate student are used to designate a baccalaureate or associate degree candidate, a provisional student, or a nondegree student.)
2. a student who has been approved for academic renewal—cumulative grade-point average will be computed in accordance with Senate Policy 58-60. (Note: A student who is changing from a baccalaureate degree program to an associate degree program, may petition for a special case of academic renewal without four years in absentia from the university.
3. The cumulative GPA for a baccalaureate degree graduate who is re-enrolling in an associate degree program or an associate degree graduate who is re-enrolling in a baccalaureate degree program will be computed using only the grades earned in courses taken after re-enrollment. The cumulative GPA for a student who is completing more than one undergraduate major program, either a sequential or concurrent degree, (baccalaureate to baccalaureate or associate to associate) will be computed using the grades earned in all courses taken at the university.
*(Moved to #2)
Note: A student
who is changing from a baccalaureate degree program to an associate degree
program, may petition for a special case of academic renewal without four years
in absentia from the university.
At the baccalaureate or associate
degree level, students may be approved for admission to more than one major
under the
Concurrent Majors Program or the Sequential Majors Sequential
or Concurrent Majors Program. A
Sequential Majors Program is one in which a student has graduated and then
re-enrolls for another major. A
Concurrent Majors Program is one in which students take courses to concurrently
meet the requirements of at least two majors, with graduation for all majors in
the program occurring during the same semester. A Sequential Majors Program
is one in which a student has graduated and then re-enrolls for another major.
Any student requesting more than one major program shall, for each major, meet the same acceptance standards and graduation requirements as met by all other students. Colleges and departments may identify and should publish any combinations of majors that would not be approved for more than one major program. In general, an undergraduate student may not combine a general major with a departmental major within the same college.
Cheryl L. Achterberg
Thomas E. Boothby
Robin Bower
Richard A. Carlson
James M. Donovan
Caroline D. Eckhardt
Gary J. Fosmire
Cheryl A. Gallagher
Janis E. Jacobs
Jeffrey B. Kranzel
Mark A. Levin
Nancy S. Love
Arthur C. Miller, Chair
Justin E. Patchcoski
Laura L. Pauley
A. David Salvia
Dhushy Sathianathan
John L. Selzer
Patience L. Simmonds
James A. Strauss
John B. Urenko
Beverly J. Vandiver
Eric R. White
Sara M. Yerger
Gregory R. Ziegler, Vice Chair
The following senators signed the attendance sheet and/or were noted as having attended the February 1, 2005 Senate meeting.
Abdalla, Charles Carpenter, Lynn
Adams, Fred Casteel, Mark
Alcock, James Cecere, Joseph
Ambrose, Anthony Challis, John
Ansari, Mohamad Clark, Paul
Atchley, Anthony Cohen, Jeremy
Bagby, John Conklin, Martha
Baggett, Connie Conti, Delia
Barnes, David Coraor, Lee
Barshinger, Richard Costantino, Roselyn
Becker, Paul Cox-Foster, Diana
Benson, Thomas Cranage, David
Berkowitz, Leonard Curtis,
Berlyand, Leonid Dansky, Katherine
Bernhard, Michael Das, Rishi
Bettig, Ronald Davis, Dwight
Bise, Christopher DeCastro, W. Travis
Bittner, Edward Disney, Diane
Blasko, Dawn Donovan, James
Blood, Ingrid Du, Qiang
Blumberg, Melvin DuPont-Morales, M. Toni
Boehmer, John Eckhardt, Caroline
Bowen, Blannie Egolf, Roger
Bower, Robin Elder, James
Breakey, Laurie Engelder, Terry
Brewer, Cynthia Erickson, Rodney
Bridges, K. Robert Evensen, Dorothy
Brinker, Daniel Falzone, Christopher
Brittingham-Brant, Margaret Farmer, Edgar
Brockman, William Feigelson, Eric
Browne, Stephen Fernandez-Jimenez, Juan
Browning, Barton Floros, Joanna
Brunsden, Victor Formanek, Edward
Burgess, Robert Fosmire, Gary
Cardamone, Michael Frank, Russell
Carlson, Richard Frank, Thomas
Franz, George Kump, Lee
Freedman, Debra Kunze, Donald
Gapinski, Andrzej Lau, Andrew
Gates, Zachary Le, Binh
Geiger, Roger Lee, Sukyoung
Georgopulos, Peter Levin, Deborah
Glumac, Thomas Love, Nancy
Goldstein, Lynda Lundegren, Herberta
Gorby, Christine Lynch, Christopher
Gouran, Dennis MacCarthy, Stephen
Gregg, Kelly Maksimchuk, Kenneth
Griswold, Anna Mara, Cynthia
Hagen, Daniel Marden, James
Hanes, Madlyn Marker, Anthony
Hannan, John Marsico, Salvatore
Harding, Andrea Mason, John
Harmonosky, Catherine McCarty, Ronald
Harris, Ashley McCorkle, Sallie
Harrison, Terry McDonald, Anita
Heinsohn, Robert Mcdonel, James
Hellmann, John Mengisteab, Kidane
Hester, Anne Meyers, Craig
High, Kane Miller, Arthur
Hines, Michael Miller, Gary
Holcomb, E. Jay Moore, John
Holen, Dale Moses,
Horwitz, Alan Mueller, Alfred
Hudson, Benjamin Myers, Jamie
Hufnagel, Pamela Namasivayam, Karthik
Irwin, Zachary Neiderer, Catherine
Jacobs, Janis Novack, Robert
Jago, Deidre Osa, Justina
Johnson, John Osagie, Iyunolu
Jones, W. Terrell Osagie, Sylvester
Jurs, Peter Pangborn, Robert
Kamp, Marie Patchcoski, Justin
Kane, Eileen Pauley, Laura
Kennedy, Richard Peck, Kyle
Kephart, Kenneth
Kester, Mark Pietrucha, Martin
Khalilollahi, Amir Puzycki, Joseph
Koul, Ravinder Pytel, Jean Landa
Rannels, D.
Rebane, P. Peter Urenko, John
Richards, David Vandiver, Beverly
Ricketts, Robert Ventrella, Matthew
Romano, John Vgontzas, Alexandros
Romberger, Andrew Vickers, Anita
Roth, Gregory Wagner, Kristy
Russell, David Weidemann, Craig
Sachs, Howard Wheeler, Eileen
Salvia, A. David Wiens-Tuers, Barbara
Sandmeyer, Louise Wijekumar, Kay
Scaduto, Russell Willits, Billie
Scaroni, Alan Wilson, Matthew
Schaeffer, Stephen Wrzos, Helena
Schengrund, Cara-Lynne Wyatt,
Schmiedekamp, Ann Yahner, Richard
Selzer, John Yerger, Sara
Semali, Ladislaus Yoder, Edgar
Shantz, Lisa Youmans, Charles
Simmonds, Patience Zambanini, Robert
Simpson, Timothy Zervanos, Stamatis
Singh, Harjit Ziegler, Gregory
Sinha, Alok
Smith, James
Smith, Carol
Smith, Edward Total Elected: 208
Sommese, Kristin Total Ex Officio: 3
Spanier, Graham Total Appointed: 15
Spector, David Total Attending 226
Spychalski, John
Steiner, Kim
Stoffels, Shelley
Strauss, James
Su, Mila
Szczygiel, Bonj
Tellep, Andrew
Tempelman, Arkady
Thomas, Steven
Tikalsky, Paul
Tormey, Brian
Triponey, Vicky
Troester, Rodney


text:
What was thinking if serving avocado juice? There may be a welcomed and there is also holding a sense of want to taste in order to maintain his weight. So far we know that avocados contain fat which can make the body fat. It turned out that our thinking about it wrong. In fact it turns out avocados can lose weight. The facts below will explain why the avocado did not make weight to be climbed.
One surprising fact is found by a Potchefstroom Institute of Nutrision at Potchefstroom University, in his findings at the mention that the avocado can facilitate a person's body weight reduction. This break assumtion that avocados can cause fat or gaining weight. Avocados do contain fat, even a very high fat content. But fat is "good fats" that is a monounsaturated fat called oleic common omega-9. These fats can lower bad cholesterol in our bodies.
In addition to contain "good fats", avocados are also high in fiber. With these fibers will be disposed of with the bad cholesterol junk foods. A medium-sized avocado contains 10 grams of fiber, which means 40% is enough fiber in one day.
Avocados also contain the mineral potassium. Half a medium-size avocado contains 546 mg of potassium, which means higher 15% of the potassium content in bananas. Potassium itself is beneficial for lowering high blood pressure, pulse control and maintain the health of the nervous system.
If the three above content is of good fats, fiber, and potassium combined will prevent diseases caused by hypertension and excess cholesterol, in particular those affected by stroke and heart disease. And who have diabetes also may benefit who usually suffer the same risk of complications.
Apparently during the time we have been prejudiced in avocado. Happy news for those who love avocados but there is a problem with weight, eating avocados can now calmly. But of course do not overdo it. Something healthy but not excessive either. So eat avocados every day to meet the taste of omega-9, vitamin E, potassium, and fiber in the body. So that form the body healthy. Balance with other foods, to health awake with the contents of a balanced diet.


text:
Talk about attempting to milk as much controversy as possible from a non-event.
Whether Shane Doan said what he is alleged to have said, or not, remains to be established in court.
It certainly not has any place in the debates of the House of Commons.
But of course, Gilles Duceppe is doing all he can to foster as much controversy as he can about this, in a blatant attempt to outrage les Québécois que nous sommes.
After all, the PQ got trounced in our last provincial elections and the whole idea of a referendum on Québec's sovereignty is not only on a back burner, it appears to be on life-support.
In addition, Monsieur Duceppe's mendacity is plainly there for all to see, thanks to his very own words:
"(...) (Doan) says he told Joseph: "Four French referees in Montreal, Cuje, figure it out." And Joseph has backed up his story. But Duceppe called even that comment unacceptable. He said his party is right to demand answers from Hockey Canada. "That's what you call racial profiling," Duceppe said."It looks as if the BQ leader has never played a single minute of hockey (let alone any team sport) in his parochial, little life.
I have played hockey (for a long time) - "heat-of-the-moment" curses, cusses and slurs are time-a-dozen during a game, especially in a hotly disputed one. By Mr. Duceppe's ludicrous reasonning, I have therefore been often guilty of profiling when I called English-speaking adversairies "Bloke!" ou "Tête Carrée!".
And what did it make me when I shouted slurs, cusses and curses at opposing players who were French-speaking players - like moi? Was I still profiling, Monsieur Duceppe?
Am I proud for having said such idiotic things during all those games of hockey, soccer, etc., that I have played? Of course not - besides, I never meant a single one of such silly, infantile words. They are (and were always) meant to throw the other players off their games (or to express outrage at bad referees). And Mr. Duceppe? Such things are done not just in hockey, but in virtually every team sport!
You, as well as all those who have gotten onto their high horses on this non-issue, are revealing yourselves as the intellectual sloths that you truly are.
Either that or you are disingenuous hypocrites.
Such simpleton, asinine and insipid rationalizations (which come right out of the book of "Demagogues for idiots") that you and others like you are throwing at us constitute nauseating noises that are insulting to everyone else's intelligence.
Monsieur Duceppe - shame on you. Resign or learn to control those bouts of intellectual sloth-driven hyperbole of yours.
Vous êtes ridicule, Monsieur Duceppe, et vous faites honte à tous les Québécois raisonnables.
Update: 05/05/2007 - I knew Duceppe's hypocritical hyperbole was a calculated attempt at rekindling the séparatiste passions in Québec - and then some. Of course, PQ leader Boisclair is not amused. Therefore, Monsieur Duceppe denies everything.
Meanwhile on Parliament Hill, M.P.'s have finally returned their attention to more serious business ... yeah, right.
Update II: 05/09/2007 - Boisclair is now out ... will Duceppe step in? The PQ keeps on using its leaders as sacrificial lambs on the Holy Altar of Séparatisme.