Sep 20, 2006 Minutes
Chair Stone, Senators Brennan, Conroy, Davidson, Feakes, Hazlewood, Hindson, Homeyer, McGee, McKinney, Montondon, Sorensen, Warms, Winek, Wiley
Meeting called to order at 4:00.
· Retired Faculty Benefits: The debated removal of benefits to retired faculty in the recent revision to UPPS04.04.53 was discussed. Retired faculty will still get a university identification card and a library card. Free parking permits and admission to athletic events are still under question. Admission to Fine Arts events is still a perk, but an office on campus is essentially gone due to the lack of space campus wide. E-mail will continue to be available to retired faculty, but there is still a question of whether space for a web page will be allowed. The University Bookstore will continue to provide discounts to retired faculty. While the President and Provost had indicated that the issues of parking permits, access to athletic events and full e-mail privileges were still open to negotiation, someone indicated that newly retired faculty members had been unable to get free tickets to football games although faculty who had been retired for more than a year were still given free tickets, so even though there is no official policy, some benefits have been removed for retired faculty. Maybe some of this can be clarified when Dr. Gowins meets with the Senate next week.
· Faculty Handbook: Liaisons were brought up to date on the status of the Faculty Handbook. The Senate forwarded a draft to the Provost last October, and an administratively edited version is now posted on the Provost’s web page. A subcommittee of the Senate is looking at the revised version and will report to the Senate regarding the administration’s alterations.
· Uniform Class Schedule: The uniform class schedule that is set to be initiated in fall 2007 was discussed. Liaisons indicated that some departments are not completely satisfied with the new schedule format. Particular concern was expressed about class starting times of 8am and 5pm. Also, it was mentioned that having only two classes per week for learning a modern language was problematic. Some liaisons indicated that they had not been made aware of the idea at the department level even though the Council of Chairs had endorsed the new schedule in the spring semester. Somewhere along the line, the information should have trickled down to the faculty, but as always seems to be the case; a chair being aware of an issue does not mean his/her faculty are informed of the issue. A question was raised about how the uniform schedule format would affect summer scheduling. The Senate will seek clarification.
· Course Fees/Flat Tuition: The issue of removing course fees and having a flat tuition to compensate for the lost revenue was discussed. This idea is coming from the Board of Regents’, Texas State University System, and the Provost’s office is to make a recommendation on implementation to the Board in February. Some concern was expressed that since 25% of tuition income goes to scholarships by legislative stipulation, tuition would have to be increased by 125% in order for departments to recoup 100% of their course fee monies. There was some skepticism about whether the monies from a flat tuition would actually come back to the departments. Senators Stone and Feakes will have an opportunity to talk with the Texas State University System Chancellor, Charles R. Matthews, about the issue next month.
· Adequacy of Department M&O: The question was posed to liaisons regarding the adequacy of departmental M&O: does anyone have severe shortages? While it appears that universally, M&O monies are tight (it is reported that M&O hasn’t increased since 1998), none of the liaisons pointed to any severe shortages.
· Campus Wide Parking Plan: The real test to the parking plan will come in January when the faculty has its first real experience with the shuttle-bus system as parking garage construction gets started.
· Departmental Concerns:
o Course Fees: Almost all liaisons expressed concern about the loss of course fee dollars. Since course fee money supplements departmental M&O, there is a real fear the loss of course fees will have a major impact on departments. Also, a question was raised whether the library fee and the computer fee were part of the course fee issue. Again, the Senate will seek clarification.
o Parking: Faculty who teach evening classes are concerned with red parking lots being opened to students at 5pm. They have a difficult time finding parking spaces after 5.
o Recruiting Money: Several liaisons mentioned that money for recruitment was inadequate. They were directed to go to the Provost for money if it was really a problem. The Provost has indicated to the Senate that he wants to increase funds to what are needed to recruit effectively. Of course, money for recruitment must come from somewhere, so faculty should realize that more money for recruitment may cause some other area to have lesser funding.
o TRS costs: A concern was expressed that departments must pay a several thousand-dollar reemployment fee for a faculty member on modified retirement who is enrolled in TRS. The Provost has indicated that departments with problems in that area should seek his support on a case-by-case basis.
Follow-up on Liaison Session: The following issues raised by the liaisons are issues the Senate is not already considering:
· Summer Schedule and how it is impacted by the uniform start times
· Mini-Session times
· Graduate Related Issues
Enrollment Data: While the PhD enrollment is up, graduate enrollment at the Master’s level is down 2%. Master’s admission is down 8.8%, with applications, generally, down 9.5%. The University’s 12th day enrollment is up 1.4% even though the number of new freshmen is down and the number of transfers is down. The difference is credited to retention. There was a question about the number of transfer students we get from Austin and San Antonio. The number of transfers from Austin is far greater than the number of transfers from San Antonio.
Honor Council: Walter Dorman, Mathematics and Eric Schmidt, EAPS, are recommended for vacancies on the Honor Council.
· Graduate Admissions: Someone has asked the Senate to look at graduate policies in the future.
· M&O: The Senate will continue to investigate issues related to departmental M&O.
· Workload Audit: There still seems to be some inconsistencies with respect to how chairs report faculty workload to their faculties and personnel committees. It may be time for the Senate to do another audit.
· Summer Schedule: The Senate will consider the impact of the uniform class schedule on summer school.
· Capital Campaign: The University is kicking off its new capital campaign
| Academic Dept | FS Liaison Name | Phone | E-mail |
| Accounting | * Lu Montondon | 5-3540 | |
| Agriculture | Greg Pollard | 5-3330 | GP11@txstate.edu |
| Anthropology | * Rich Warms | 5-2504 | |
| Art and Design | * Michel Conroy | 5-3776 | |
| Biology | Gary Aron | 5-3371 | GA06@txstate.edu |
| Chemistry & Biochemistry | *Debra Feakes | 5-7609 | |
| Clinical Laboratory Science | Phil Kostroun | 5-2719 | PK01@txstate.edu |
| Communication Disorders | Open | | |
| Communication Studies | Mary Hoffman | 5-2222 | |
| Computer Info. (Systems & Quantitative Methods) | Vivek Shah | 5-2049 | |
| Computer Science | Moonis Ali | 5-3409 | |
| Criminal Justice | * William Stone (Chair) | 5-3343 | |
| Curriculum & Instruction | Open | 5-2041 | |
| Educational Admin. & Psych. Services | *Linda Homeyer | 5-3757 | |
| English | Rebecca Bell-Metereau | 5-3725 | |
| Family & Consumer Sciences | Judy Allen | 5-2409 | JA01@txstate.edu |
| Finance & Economics | *John McGee | 5-3228 | JM28@txstate.edu |
| Geography | Mark Fonstad | 5-7809 | MF16@txstate.edu |
| Health Information Management Program | Jackie Moczygemba | 5-3503 | JM38@txstate.edu |
| Health, Physical Education & Recreation | *David C Wiley | 5-2946 | |
| History | * Mary Brennan | 5-2110 | |
| Management | Jana Minifie | 5-3187 | JM13@txstate.edu |
| Marketing | Ruth Taylor | 5-3226 | |
| Mass Communication | Sue Weill | 5-3486 |
| Mathematics | *Donald Hazlewood | 5-3444 | DH08@txstate.edu |
| Modern Languages | Lucy Harney | 5-2490 | |
| Music | *Ian Davidson | 5-3290 | |
| Philosophy | * Audrey McKinney | 5-2047 | |
| Physical Therapy | Barbara Melzer | 5-3519 | |
| Physics | David Donnelly | 5-3644 | |
| Political Science | *Theodore Hindson | 5-3282 | |
| Psychology | John Davis | 5-2526 | |
| Radiation Therapy | Open | | |
| Respiratory Care | Bill Wharton | 5-8243 | |
| Health Professions | *Wayne Sorensen | 5-3556 | |
| Sociology | Patty Giuffre | 5-8983 | |
| Technology | *Gary Winek | 5-2137 | |
| Theatre & Dance | Michelle Nance | 5-2175 | |
| Library | Jan Tidwell | 5-2351 |