January 12, 2017
Questioner: John Hatle
Posed to: Radha Pyati, President/Designee, UNF Faculty Association
I write to comment on the November 2016 draft of the Course Banking Policy. In particular, I would like to understand the motivation behind the first part of the last Exemption.
“Any independent study that has students paid as research assistants on the topic associated with the DIS…”
I have a federal grant that has dual goals of doing good science and exposing young students to real research. (Page from NIH AREA solicitation: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/area/area.htm).
This exemption in the banking policy would not allow me (and others in a similar situation) to earn credits for mentoring two students on one project, with one student paid off the grant (a reward for longevity on the project) and another earning DIS credits. Training students is a major goal of the grant program, and a record of successful mentoring is vital to renewed funding. To me, prohibiting faculty to bank credit in this situation penalizes those who have been successful at attaining grants to support scholarship. And the university is still collecting tuition and fees from the DIS student.
Response from the Floor by Provost Earle Traynham:
The provision referred to in this question has been eliminated.
