Nov 29, 2006 Minutes

Chair Stone, Senators Brennan, Conroy, Davidson, Feakes, Hazlewood, Hindson, McGee, McKinney, Warms, Winek,Wiley

Guests: Lisa Chrans, Univ. Coll., Ron Brown, Dean Univ. Coll., Oren Renick, Chair HA/HSR, Micky Autrey, Curr. Dir., Rickey Lattie, Univ. Police, Maria Canabal, Chair Fam. & Consumer Sci., B.J. Friedman, Fam. & Consumer Sci., Bill Lancaster, Univ. Star

Meeting called to order at 4:00.

University Curriculum Committee: The University Curriculum Committee made several recommendations for Senate endorsement:

·         Addition of a School of Health Administration in the College of Health Professions

·         Addition of a Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) major in General Studies

·         Change in the BSFCS major in Nutrition and Foods

·         Addition of a Master of Science major in Human Nutrition

Discussion centered primarily on the BGS degree.  Dean Brown indicated that the degree would serve two general populations at the University:

·         Talented students who want to tailor make an interdisciplinary degree program

·         Students who have two minors, but are having trouble completing a major

It was mentioned that specific oversight had been added to the degree’s final project to ensure faculty input from each of the minor disciplines for its final approval.  The committee’s recommendation will be considered for a formal vote at the next meeting.

University Research Committee: Chair Elizabeth Skerpan-Wheeler brought the committee’s recommendation for Research Enhancement Grants.  Total of the requests from both tenured and tenure-track faculty was $1,079,635.49 for the available $368,000.00.  Of eight-two tenure-track proposals, thirty-one are recommended for funding, and of thirty-eight tenured proposals, ten are recommended for funding.  The committee’s recommendation will considered for a formal vote at the next meeting.

Workload Compliance: Final changes were made to the Senate’s survey to Senators and Liaisons regarding compliance to Attachment 1, Section 5, of PPS7.05, Faculty Workload Policies, which states “…The chair/director will provide each faculty member with a copy of his or her workload report.  The chair/director will then distribute a copy of all departmental/school workload reports, or a summary report, to the departmental/school personnel committee.”  A show of hands indicated that few Senators had received reports for this fall.  A motion was made, seconded and passed to run the survey that will go, this time, only to Senators and Liaisons to get some perception of compliance by departmental/school chairs.

Break:

PAAG Agenda: The Senate discussed topics for next week’s PAAG meeting.  It was decided to include the following items:

·         The Provost’s Lab Space Analysis.

·         The curriculum review process to meet the 120-hour degree requirement.

·         The status of the retired faculty benefits pps.

·         The workload report compliance.

·         The status of the Faculty Handbook.

·         The Capital Campaign.

New Business:

·         Excused Student Absences:  A question was raised about a student who had requested an excused absence due to required duty with the National Guard.  Apparently there is no current provision for such absences in the student handbook.  The Senate will review the matter.

·         Senate Webpage:  A subcommittee was formed consisting of Senator McGee and Dr. Vivek Shah, CIS & Quant. Meth., to work on the Senate’s new webpage.

Minutes: The minutes for 11/15/06 were approved.