Meeting Date: 
January 25, 2023
Date: 
01/25/2023 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Location: 
Zoom Meeting
Agenda: 
  1. Policy Discussion
    • Non-OSU instructors
    • GenEd courses by non-Baccalaureate units
    • Non-sponsored WIC/DPO courses
Minutes: 

Voting members present: Aidas Banaitis, Geoffrey Barstow, Daniel Faltesek, Kelsey Emard, Colin Johnson, Matthew Kennedy, Michelle McAllaster, Lori McGraw, Rene Reitsma, Justin St. Germain, Kari-Lyn Sakuma, Kaplan Yalcin
Voting members absent: Jack Istok, Randy Rosenberger
Ex-officio members present: Academic Programs & Assessment – Heath Henry; Difference, Power & Discrimination – Nana Osei-Kofi; Ecampus – Karen Watte; WIC – Sarah Perrault
Guests: Pat Ball, John Edwards, Michael Jefferis, Caryn Stoess

Policy Discussion

  • Non-OSU instructors
    • We have received proposals with thin OSU proxies for non-OSU actors who would be hired upon successful accession to the bacc core. 
    • Pros
      • GenEd should not consider contingent offers of employment
      • Units can propose courses as they see fit
      • Avoids perception that we are taking pitches for courses from potential new employees
    • Cons
      • Circumvention units would simply hire people
      • Units should be allowed to hire outside contractors/vendors to deliver instruction 
      • Proposals of this type are so weak they would never pass
    • This is a once-a-decade level issue. 
    • It is bad HR practice to make contingent offers based on secondary committee process. 
    • Vendor products are legitimate but should be used by OSU people in context (such as google 360 certificates) not as a replacement. 
    • General agreement that only current OSU employees are eligible to serve as instructor of record for gen ed courses/proposed courses.
      • Do courtesy faculty have access to CIM to propose new gen ed courses?
        • Rarely.
      • Non-OSU could not be assigned to a course. They must have an ONID, FERPA training, etc.
        • Teaching Assistants have been tasked to manage CIM on behalf of a unit, which can circumvent this
    • Would this policy have an adverse effect at other campuses?
      • The OSU-Cascades representative does not believe there would be any negative effects from this policy.
    • How do we define ‘faculty’? Does it fall under the committee’s purview to dictate hiring practices for units?
      • Associate and Assistant Professors would fall under the definition of faculty.
      • For the vast majority of proposals, the instructor would not be listed, making it unclear whether or not the instructor is an OSU faculty member.
    • This policy is being proposed as a result of a particular course that came through involving a courtesy faculty member who would get a course accepted and thus be on the OSU payroll. The course had multiple issues and the faculty member had questionable credentials.
      • Is this proposal enough of an outlier that a policy is not really needed?
    • The committee elected not to set a policy and to just address this issue as it arises.
  • GenEd courses by non-Baccalaureate units
    • Can Veterinary Medicine, Pharmacy, Student Affairs, Athletics, and University Housing & Dining Services (UHDS) offer courses?
    • Pros
      • Avoids misperceptions about Baccalaureate Core Committee as a budget committee 
      • Enterprise Resources should follow curriculum, not the other way around
      • Curriculum is driven by academic units, not by those with physical assets
      • Expertise from other units should be brought in on an adjunct basis
    • Cons
      • We shouldn’t box in units in case the budget model changes 
      • There may be substantial underutilized expertise in these other units
      • Budget choices may force some options to fade from academic colleges, creating new units in Student Affairs is a refuge
    • This is really a cluster of two distinct groups: non-baccalaureate academic colleges and athletics/auxiliaries
    • The most recent versions of these ideas were blocked or channeled away from bcc early in their administrative lives, do we want to codify an easy answer? 
    • What about new categories, such as Transitions, which is zero credits? Could UHDS offer a Transitions course?
      • The LOCR committee is leaning towards making the Transitions courses being four credits.
      • Beyond OSU is a zero-credit category.
    • Based on the previous discussion, should a policy be put in place? Courses should be judged based on their curricular merit, rather than on who is teaching it.
    • If another unit, such as Athletics, wanted to propose a course, it would still have to be tied to an academic home.
    • Is this another question that falls out of the committee’s purview?
    • The committee elected not to set a policy and to just address this issue as it arises.
  • Non-sponsored WIC/DPO courses
    • The committee will discuss this topic during the February 1, 2023 meeting.