Latest from the Senate - March Meeting Recap
ENGL 200 concerns discussed
The apparent phase out of VCU’s ENGL 200 writing course was a major topic at the March meeting of Faculty Senate.Vice Provost for Instruction Dr. Joseph Marolla attended the meeting, along with the Dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, Dr. Robert Holsworth.
Dr. Marolla explained that VCU is currently offering about 200 sections of ENGL 200 per academic year and that nearly all those sections are taught by adjunct faculty. According to Dr. Marolla, the lack of full-time faculty involvement can be attributed to the fact that many who previously taught ENGL 200 are now teaching the University’s new Focused Inquiry courses in the University College.
“It is problematic to continue in this way – we simply cannot find enough people to teach it,” Dr. Marolla said of ENGL 200.
Dr. Holsworth agreed and pointed out that the complete reliance on adjuncts is “not the best situation for a core requirement class. You don’t have enough control or accountability.”
Dr. Marolla said the decision to phase out the course is part of the new core curriculum plan to make the responsibility for writing proficiency a “University problem instead of an English department problem.”
“Under the revised curriculum, writing will be taught in Focused Inquiry courses, English courses and within the schools and majors themselves,” said Dr. Marolla.
Dr. Marolla also pointed out that many schools complained that ENGL 200 was designed to help students write traditional research papers, something some schools considered irrelevant to their programs. Now, Dr. Marolla says they have a chance to address that problem.
“The plan is to have schools and majors create writing intensive courses that are customized to fit the type of work that occurs there,” said Dr. Marolla.
Some senators expressed concerns that programs or schools may not have the training they need to create specialized writing courses or the money needed to hire experts.
“We’re more than willing to work with you in developing a course,” said Dr. Marolla.
Dr. Holsworth and Dr. Marolla pointed out that ENGL 200 will continue to be offered for at least another year, but most likely with fewer sections. Individual academic units are expected to use that time to develop a writing course for their students.
Bookstore Survey Results Are In
Senator Valerie Robnolt reviewed the Faculty Senate Survey of the current VCU bookstores. The survey was widely distributed and there was a high number of respondents (404). The qualitative data yielded ambivalent responses about customer service, yet positive responses about management. A quantitative summary is forthcoming. The results of this survey will be sent to Business Services and the next bookstore vendor who receives the contract after July 1st will be able to view the results of the survey.
Student Groups Petition Faculty Senate on Social Justice Issues
Two student groups, VCU SGA and HOMBRE (Honduras Outreach Medical Brigade Relief Effort), visited Faculty Senate to share information and to garner support for their latest projects. SGA is sponsoring a “Greening Initiative” that urges VCU to continue its journey to becoming more environmentally-friendly. An open letter to Dr. Trani can be viewed at www.green.vcusga.com. Faculty Senate passed a resolution to support SGA in their efforts. HOMBRE is a non-profit (501c3) organization of MCV students and medical professionals who provide health care and health care education to Hondurans. Medical student Shivani Shodhan, a member of HOMBRE, gave a presentation that outlined HOMBRE’s needs and asked for faculty to support this initiative. To find out how you can help, visit www.hombremedicine.org.
