Academic senate approves Master's of Health Administration program
Members of the Academic Senate approved the creation of a Master of Health Administration program.
"Currently there is a heath service administration degree in the Master of Science in Administration degree, those students take the same courses as the undergraduate students take," said Steven Berkshire, director of the health administration program. "An undergraduate who graduates from Central Michigan University at this time cannot take that Master's degree. This takes care of that so they can stay here and complete their Master's Degree."
The new program is a concentration, requiring 15 credits of healthcare management courses within a 36 credit hour degree program. Its curriculum is designed to emphasize a focus on finance, marketing, economics and management in healthcare organizations.
The program will not replace the Master of Science in Administration degree and will be implemented in the fall 2016 semester.
Academic Senate Administrative Aide Jill Noch announced that faculty in the College of Science and Technology voted to rename to College of Science and Engineering. Objections to the change must be made to the senate office by December 15, 2015.
Benjamin Heumann, faculty member in the department of geography, said faculty were told the word "technology" is an outdated term to describe the college.
"What (Dean Ian Davidson) told our department is that "technology" is not resonating with employers and companies in Michigan, so our engineering students are not getting the exposure that they need and deserve," he said.
James Hill, faculty member in the department of political science and public administration, asked what costs associated with the name change during Provost Michael Gealt's report. Gealt did not know the cost, but said the decision was an overwhelming 92-20 vote by faculty in the college.
Gealt also announced several grants awarded to faculty in various academic colleges.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
- Ralph Hullender, Holly Hoffman and Julie Cunningham, Art and Design, Counseling and Special Education, Center for Student Services — $5,400 award from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs/NEA for a project titled “STEAM: Creating an Environment of Accessibility and Innovation.”
- Kim Walters, Public Broadcasting — $904,523 award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a project titled “Annual CPB Grant – Television.”
- Kim Walters, Public Broadcasting — $273,943 award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a project titled “Annual CPB Grant – Radio.”
- Darcy McMahon, Science/Mathematics/Technology Center — $2,600 from Michigan Virtual University for a project titled “Regional Elementary Science Curriculum Development.”
- Scott McNaught, Biology — $4,162 from the Hannahville Indian Community for a project titled “Macroinvertebrate Identification and Enumeration for HIC.”
Mary Senter, faculty in the department of sociology, anthropology and social work, announced an ongoing initiative "Reach Beyond Bias," an independent project of the Mount Pleasant Area Diversity Group and the CMU Student Government Association to make CMU and the surrounding community a safer and more equitable place. Senter said the campaign is mostly focused on relations between black and white community members.
A race implicit association test is available on the campaign's website, which compares unconscious associations between European Americans and African Americans. There are other tests available that discuss biases around gender, ability, sexuality and religion.
"We all have biases and are not aware of them," Senter said. "These biases can create a climate which makes success difficult for some of us and some of our students."
Several minor changes were also made to the Honors Program admission policy.
Budget Priorities Committee Co-Chairs Ray Christie and David Whale and, committee member Marcy Taylor updated senators on actions taken by the Budget Priorities Committee Update. The committee representatives said their major achievements of the academic year which are available in a September report.
Three achievements included the creation of a budget reporting template, called a departmental budget dashboard, used by each academic department and college to report financial information, an informational forum hosted by the committee and a survey designed to gauge the committee's effectiveness and the campus' budget priorities.
After the report, Sen. Senter expressed reservations about the committee's involvement in determining budget priorities.
"A cynic could say the only budget requests the president forwards to the committee is either one he has decided to fund but wants additional support from committee such as yours, or one he has reservations about and wants to send it to some committee to kill so he can blame it on the committee rather than take blame himself," Senter said. "My point is process that is a more open the campus and transparent would run with a set of understanding that any request over a certain dollar amount that makes its way to cabinet would be sent to the committee to review for review. Otherwise it looks like picking and choosing and the rest of us have no way of entering that process."
Whale was sympathetic to Senter's concerns.
"I thought the same thing, it's a natural thing to wonder if we are a rubber stamp," Whale said. "All I can say is you have to have some trust in the people you're with. There is a degree of communication and trust involved. I understand what you're saying — I've had those same questions — but I really believe in what the committee and administration are trying to do."
The senate also accepted a report listing prospective December 2015 graduates.
TOTAL PROSPECTIVE DECEMBER 2015 GRADUATES BY DEGREE: 2,308
