Skip to Content

Jan 26, 2011 Minutes

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

Guests: Sigler, Zamora (Star), D. Hazlewood

Meeting called to order at 4:00.

Announcements:

1. Open Forums on the topic of defining “faculty voter” and “personnel committee member” will be held on March 3 from 10-11, and on March 4 from 3:30-4:30, in Alkek 147 and Avery 366.

2.  Texas Council of Faculty Senates meeting: there is space for one more representative from Texas State to attend the meeting.

University Curriculum Committee: Don Hazlewood, Chair of the UCC, discussed with the faculty the ways the UCC interacts with the various College Curriculum Committees.  He explained that the goal of the CCCs is to have a committee at the intermediate level between departments and the UCC that will insure the accuracy of curriculum proposals.  Members of CCCs are generally elected by departments, but can be appointed by Department Chairs.  Recently, college representatives on the UCC also serve as ex-officio members of their respective CCCs, insuring direct faculty ownership of the curriculum.  Dr. Hazlewood noted that the process of the Senate choosing members for the UCC is the means by which that faculty role is maintained.  He did ask that the Senate consider making it a policy that each department on CCCs has only one vote. 

Faculty Development Leave Sub-Committee Charge: The sub-committee examining the process for reviewing development leave proposals will explore the following issues raised by the Senate: methods for evaluating proposals, voting schemes, tallying of votes, the nature of and necessity for applicant interviews, the nature of the proposals, and the methods for review used by other Texas universities.

Spring Commencement Mace Bearers: Mace Bearers for the spring commencement ceremonies have been selected. 

PAAG Agenda Development: The Senate will suggest the following items for the next PAAG meeting:

1.  An update on the current Legislative session;

2.  A discussion of organizational changes at the Texas State System Office;

3.  The effect of new rules regarding low-producing programs;

4.  The role of the recently opened U-Club.

New Business:

1.  A Senator reported that the new computer refresh cycle process has reduced the number of new faculty computers by half from previous years.  The Senate will investigate the effects of the new process in other departments, in advance of the upcoming joint Senate / CAD meeting, at which the issue will be discussed.

2.  A Senator is concerned about a recent incident in which the Provost issued a directive on an issue between two programs with conflicting class meeting schedules.

3.  A Senator asked about the relationship between the university pay plan and the definition of faculty groups.  It is unlikely that the pay plan faculty categories have relevance to the faculty definitions currently being considered by the Senate.

Minutes of 1/19/11 were approved.

Adjournment.