Sep 27, 2006 Minutes

Members present:

Chair Stone, Senators Brennan, Conroy, Feakes, Hazlewood, Hindson, Homeyer, McGee, McKinney, Montondon, Sorensen, Warms, Winek,Wiley

Guests: Mark Fronstad, Geography, Micky Autrey, Dir of Curr, Paula Williamson, Assoc Dean of Grad Coll, Stan Wayment, Chair of Mathematics, Xingde Jia, Mathematics, Susan Morey, Mathematics, Alex White, Mathematics,

Mike Blanda, OSP, Paul Gowens, Fin & Econ

Meeting called to order at 4:00.

UCC Recommendation: The Senate considered the recommendation from the University Curriculum Committee to approve a new PhD degree program in the Department of Mathematics with two degrees: a PhD in Mathematics and a PhD in Mathematics Education.  After discussion, the Senate suspended its rules to allow a vote on the recommendation at this meeting and the Senate endorsed the recommendation of the UCC to be forwarded to the next level.

URC Discussion:  The main issue for discussion of the University Research Committee was resolved before the meeting, i.e., full funding ($350,000) was committed by the Provost’s office for this year’s REP cycle. Unexpended monies left over from last year’s REP cycle, approximately $36,000, with the exception of about $10,000 to be used for M&O in the program, will also added to the Provost’s funding.  There was quite a bit of discussion about IT support for REP.  OSP has been asking for someone from IT to support REP and everyone seems agreeable at the time of asking, but nothing seems to actually happen.  When push comes to shove, the response from IT is that they are too busy to help at this particular time.  To add to the situation, a new interface for proposal submissions that will supposedly interact with SAP is coming soon.  This program will have to be used in order for a grant proposal to get to the stage of going off campus. Uncertainties are how much training will be necessary for faculty to be able to use the interface and what potholes may be lurking as the transition is made to the new system.  A question was also raised about who could and could not apply for REP funding.  Any member of the URC (ex officio or not) is ineligible to submit a proposal.

Study Abroad Handbook:  A new handbook is circulating to possibly govern how study abroad courses are handled.  Senator Hindson was appointed as a Senate representative to track the development of the handbook to make sure that it doesn’t infringe on any faculty rights.

Info Items:

·         Analysis of M&O:  Assoc Provost Bourgeois is working on an analysis of departmental M&O. The Senate will ask for the information as it becomes available.

·         New Positions and Targets of Opportunity:  The administration is discussing the emphasis for this cycle’s new positions and targets of opportunity.

·         Enrollment Management:  There is overall concern about the decline in graduate enrollment.

·         Retired Faculty Benefits:  The administration has not yet finalized UPPS04.04.53 on retirement benefits for faculty.

·         Background Checks:  The draft UPPS on background checks has surfaced again.  This time, written as it was before the Senate made suggestions for rewording, including all of the original typos.

Break:

University’s Sports Program: Dr. Paul Gowens, Chair of the University’s Athletic Advisory Council, met with the Senate to discuss the potential retired faculty benefit cuts, specifically free tickets to the University’s athletic events.  Dr. Gowens reviewed the history of the issue, indicating that the President’s Cabinet made the recommendation to take away the free tickets to retired faculty at a meeting one and one-half years ago.  The initial proposal, which was not discussed by the Athletic Advisory Council, was to grandfather tickets to existing retired faculty, with the provision that they would have to move to less desirable seats (away from the 50 yard line) unless they were members of the Bobcat Athletic Foundation, and have new retired faculty purchase tickets at the regular faculty rate.  Dr. Gowens does not know where the recommendation originated, but he suspects it came from the Athletic Department. VPSA Joanne Smith has been directed to study what other universities do with respect to tickets to athlete events for retired faculty. She will meet with President Trauth, SAtP Gratz and AD Teis tomorrow to discuss her findings. Although he is not sure, Dr. Gowens thinks that free tickets will continue to be available for all athletic events except football and that President Trauth seems susceptible to opening a dialog about football tickets. In response to a question about any athletic issues that the Senate should be aware of,

Dr. Gowens mentioned that the Athletic Department has now gone on-line to try to spot and remedy student-athlete problems and urged faculty support for the process.  The University has a serious investment in its student-athletes and there are many NCAA standards that must be met.  A major effort is being made to insure as many student-athletes graduate as possible.  The University could suffer from national exposure if results are bad.

University Council: Dr. Alejandra Sorto, Mathematics, Dr. Kelly Wilson, HPER, and Dr. Marion Morrison, EAPS, were elected as tenure-track faculty representatives to the University Council.

Election of a Vice Chair: Senator Mary Brennan was elected to be the new Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate.

Tentative PAAG Items:

Several ideas were discussed as possible PAAG agenda items.  Some topics discussed were:

·         The new Capital Campaign

·         Should every department have a PhD program?

·         M&O data

·         Faculty Handbook

Topics will be finalized at the next meeting.