Skip to Content

April 13, 2011 Minutes

Members present:  Senators Wilson, Brown, Feakes, Morey, Furney, Huling, Stone, Melzer, Martin, Payne, Hazlewood, Conroy

Guests: Gross (Star), Skerpan-Wheeler, Sigler

Meeting called to order at 4:00.

Announcements:

  1. The Senate request for fall workload releases for committee Chairs undertaking significant service projects has been sent to Dr. Bourgeois.
  2. Surveys of Administrators were sent to faculty on April 11.  The Chair encourages all faculty to complete them.
  3. Gail Ryser will visit the Senate soon to speak about changes to ODS Testing procedures.
  4. Dr. Carranco, Director of the Health Center, noted that the Tobacco-Free Campus policy will take effect at the beginning of the fall 2011 semester.  The new policy has been endorsed by the President’s Cabinet.
  5. CAD recently discussed the University budget.  The Administration expects a $12 million budget cut, but hopes for a $6 million increase in tuition revenue.  They have also found some savings across campus.  Even so, there is an additional $3 million in expenses that will have to be covered, so they are exploring other areas where cuts could be made, including not replacing open tenure-track lines and delaying merit raises.  At the Legislature, a number of targeted cuts have been discussed: ending funds for foreign travel, reducing State support for employee health benefits, and reducing State contributions to employee retirement benefits.

Faculty Senate Election Results: The Chair distributed by email the results of the final round of Senate elections.  She explained that one newly elected Senator will be on development leave during the fall 2011 semester; he will attend summer Senate meetings and then return to the Senate the spring semester following his leave.

URC Recommendations: Chair Skerpan-Wheeler shared a number of recommendations from the Committee, which the Senate will vote on at its April 30 meeting:

  1. Departments must designate both a representative and an alternate to their College Review Committee.
  2. There should be no bonus points awarded to applicants.
  3. Applicants should be allowed to include in their budgets travel money to enable them to present their research at conferences.
  4. In joint proposals, applicants must designate a single Principal Investigator.
  5. Guidelines must specify that PI and co-PI must be employed by the University.

Definition of Personnel Committee Member: The Senate continued its discussion of a revised definition for the phrase “personnel committee member.”  The Chair will distribute a new version of the definition to the Senate at its next meeting, and explained that a final version will be sent to the faculty once the Senate reaches agreement on wording.

BREAK

New Business:

  1. The Campus Safety Committee is meeting this week, exploring in particular poorly lit interior spaces on campus.  Senators and faculty who know of such areas should inform the Chair so that she can share the information with the Committee.
  2. Dean Ellis sent the Chair a memo asking the Senate to consider developing a formal University policy on mentoring new faculty and staff.  The Chair will ask for more information on the proposal.
  3. A faculty member expressed concern about the security provided for testing in online courses.  The Senate will discuss this issue with Gail Ryser when she visits the Senate.
  4. A Senator announced that the School of Art and Design will host an auction on April 16 to raise money for scholarships.
  5. The Chair shared that the revised PPS on workload policy is now being reviewed University-wide.
  6. The Chair now has the data from the survey of Chairs, and will distribute it to the Senate.

Minutes of 4/6/11 were approved.

Adjournment.