Keene State College Senate met at 4 p.m. on February 12, 2020. The College Senate serves as the policy-making body at Keene State.
The topic of offering micro-credentials at Keene State was discussed during the meeting. The issue of differentiating between micro-credentials and minors was also brought up. Another area of concern was students having the prerequisites to take the necessary micro-credential courses.
Current Keene State programs were reviewed to determine the value of continuing to offer them. The decrease in demand for geology, Earth sciences and French has led the college to consider eliminating these programs. Placing these programs on administrative hold was discussed during this senate meeting. Senate Curriculum Committee Chair Nicholas Germana offered a possible reason for this problem.
“I believe all these programs are in the position they are in because of the retirement of faculty and because of the lack of resources to hire more faculty,” Germana said.
“It’s important for us to know, with these three programs, what the timeline is,” Academic Standards Committee Senator Peg Richmond said.
Senate Chair Patrick Dolenc called for additional feedback to be provided through open forums and other forms created for this purpose.
The Academic Policy Committee (APC) had no new motions to bring to the College Senate at this meeting.
The Academic Standards Committee (ASC) made necessary revisions and met once prior to this College Senate meeting.
“Over winter break, all of the revisions were finished,” said ASC Chair Kirsten Riegler.
The Senate Curriculum Committee held a long meeting on January 22, where they discussed several motions. On January 27, the Senate Curriculum Committee voted to bring these motions before the College Senate.
All motions proposed by the Senate Curriculum Committee were unanimously approved by the College Senate.
Senate Chair Patrick Dolenc called for new business. No new business was addressed. The meeting was adjourned at 5:28 p.m.
Kelly Regan can be contacted at
kregan@kscequinox.com.
