Faculty Council considers counting military credit

The council also discussed energy conservation measures.

By Rachel Allred

Published Jan. 22, 2010

Faculty Council discussed counting military training as credit and revisited continuing issues at its meeting Thursday.

Executive Committee Member Joe Parcell updated the council on a task force encouraging MU to allow military courses and experience to transfer as credit.

"This committee was formed as a result of a veterans affairs task force on campus looking at how to make this a more friendly atmosphere for veterans," Parcell said. "One of the things identified was the inability of veterans to have military credit transfer to MU."

Parcell said the courses taken during military service are certified through American Council on Education but are not officially accredited. Due to this lack of accreditation, MU does not accept these credits, but there is room for leeway, Parcell said.

"Within this proposal, the drawback is that this is an institution that doesn't accept credit from unaccredited institutions," Parcell said. "This would be an appropriate exception."

The recently formed task force wants to accommodate military credit for various reasons.

"We try to do what we can to support veterans," Parcell said. "Also, as we looked around at our peer institutions, a lot of them are accepting credits from the military."

MU's acceptance of military credit would not supersede most of the processes that MU uses for other transfer students, Parcell said.

The proposition the task force has proposed does account for stipulations. Veterans would have to meet certain requirements, such as honorable discharge and a certain length of service. Credit by examination could also be used, and each department would determine how credits would transfer.

"We realized there's going to be certain academic units or departments where there may be absolutely no credit that can be given to veterans," Parcell said. "This puts the decision-making power in the hands of each department or academic unit."

Faculty Council Chairwoman Leona Rubin said departments would examine ACE guidelines and determine what courses could transfer.

"One of the things the committee would like to see happen is each department look at the ACE courses and generate a list of courses that they think is comparable to courses in their department," Rubin said. "When a military individual comes to Mizzou they can look and see what credits they can get."

Aside from military credit, the council discussed energy conservation. Campus Facilities Energy Management Manager Paul Coleman presented information about the department's efforts to advance energy conservation. Coleman said the conservation program started 20 years ago.

Main areas of focus include lighting, building temperature and energy conservation awareness. Coleman said over the years high-tech and high-efficiency appliances such as LED lights and cooling towers were installed and utilized to save energy and money.

Coleman encouraged faculty to continue taking part in the conservation effort.

"We would like you to treat energy like you personally were paying the bill," Coleman said.

Energy Management Director Paul Hoemann said they have received a lot of assistance and cooperation.

"We work with faculty all the time," Hoemann said. "We really appreciate that partnership."

Since the program began, MU's energy bill has decreased an average of 1.5 percent annually, Coleman said. Since 1990, energy use has reduced by 10 percent per square foot and greenhouse gases have reduced 12 percent per square foot.

Saving energy has also saved the campus money. Campus Facilities Assistant Vice Chancellor Gary Ward said the money accumulated through those savings is invested back into energy conservation.