Present: Bible, Bourgeois, Caverly, Ford, Hays, Hunter, McGee, Pascoe,
Simpson, Sawey, Stimmel, Weller and Winek.
Absent: Deduck-Evans and Horne
Guests: Mike Moore, Dylan Sides (Star), Emilee Troup (Star)
CONTENTS:
DEVELOPMENTAL LEAVE
CAD UPDATE
Faculty Governance System
Compensation in Leiu of Salary
PPS 1.xx Centers, Institutes and Academies
PPS 8.03 Evaluation of Deans
PPS 8.05 Evaluation of Chairs
Calendar Process
Post Tenure Review
Faculty Awards Program
CLASSROOM ULITIZATION
AD HOC COMMITTEE ON TEMPORARY FACULTY
ACADEMIC PROCESS SURVEY
SENATE COMMITTEE STRUCTURE
Temporary/Part Time Faculty Committee
Academic Policy Compliance Committee
NEW BUSINESS
Technology Class Flyer
Health Professions School Review Group
Administrative Assistant Salary
DEVELOPMENTAL LEAVE
Prof. McBride (Mass Comm.) presented his developmental leave proposal,
as he will be out of town next week on University business when the
other leave proposals will be considered. Five media projects in
Bulgaria (an earlier Fulbright and two subsequent trips there) are
planned in the areas of (1) mass media "agenda setting" for the public
through content analysis and (2) advertising. He explained the
difficult economic and political situation Bulgaria is undergoing and
the elections which will be occurring this month. Tracking issues in
the media is already taking place and he will do more on this and
post-election later. Articles, a book chapter, and papers are planned,
some with collaboration of Bulgarian scholars in the U.S.
CAD UPDATE
1. CAD unanimously approved the Senate recommendation to open faculty
governance to "voting faculty," as defined in the Faculty Constitution,
rather than just senior faculty, and to put personnel matters in the
hands of the "personnel committee."
2. Internal Audit has brought up the issue of "compensation in lieu of
salary." They have determined that such compensation -- for example,
the travel money that Freshman Seminar instructors may opt to take in
lieu of salary -- is taxable income that should be reported to the IRS.
More information on this will be forthcoming.
3. The draft PPS on Centers and Institutes has been sent out for general
review. The Senate has had some questions about this draft and will
revisit the issue at a later meeting.
4. CAD agreed to the Senate request that final action on PPSs 8.03 and
8.05 (Evaluation of Chairs and Deans) be postponed until at least June,
so that an ad hoc committee of Senators can study and offer comments on
these drafts.
5. Dr. Smallwood discussed the process which is used to determine the
school calender. There is a desire to get the M-W-F and T-Th classes
more in synch. The draft discussed at CAD will be reworked and then
reconsidered at a future meeting.
6. The post tenure review document has been sent on to PC and the Board
of Regents.
7. There is some question about how the funds alloted to the Strategic
Plan part of the Faculty Awards Program will be parceled out, but as has
been previously noted the plan will be implemented, and retroactively to
cover the 1996-97 academic year.
CLASSROOM UTILIZATION
This issue was raised last week by Prof. Early, whose chair did not
approve his request for a change to a different classroom in Derrick
Hall. Business and Math/Computer Science share Derrick Hall classrooms,
and there was concern that the Coordinating Board rule might not be met
if Prof. Early did not use the classroom to which he had been assigned,
which in turn might have meant that Computer Science could lose that
space. When the issue arose the Senate asked Ombudsman McGee to
informally involve himself in the dispute, which he did; the Senate
determined that no further action on this particular issue is needed.
A motion was made to support the idea that if a vacant room is
available, faculty should be able to use it, as long as it does not
affect first call classroom space. A counter motion to table the
question until it could be discussed at the next PAAG was passed. [There
seemed to be some feeling that there must be a sensible way to
circumvent Board bean-counting, preserve first call rooms, and get
students and faculty into a better environment which is sitting vacant.
On the other hand, it was pointed out that room-swapping could be a
Registrar's nightmare, since there are a lot of rooms people don't like
apparently.]
AD HOC COMMITTEE ON TEMPORARY/PART TIME FACULTY
Prof. Hays reported that her committee has met twice and has been
exploring existing policies and the needs of such faculty. In some
schools there are no policies about treatment and expectations of
such faculty. The committee has scheduled a Town Hall type meeting of
those interested in this issue. The meeting will be held on April 17,
from 6:30-8:30 in Room 209 of Jowers Center. Some of the issues raised
are:
-Some departments lack written evaluative criteria applicable
specifically to temporary/part time faculty
-Evaluation of these faculty according to such criteria is vital
-Scrutiny of these faculty is often not as good as other faculty
-There is less opportunity of development in terms of research,
publications and service
All those interested in this issue are encouraged to attend the Town
Hall Meeting on the 17th.
ACADEMIC PROCESS SURVEY
In response to complaints from faculty that some administrative offices
do not adhere to existing policy, it was proposed that faculty be sent a
one page survey asking which offices they feel need to be investigated.
It was decided that Joe Meyer of the Office of Institutional Planning be
asked to help with this task. The survey would be distributed before
the end of this semester. The data compiled from this survey would be
used by the new Academic Policy Compliance Committee which will be
formed in the fall.
SENATE COMMITTEE STRUCTURE
After a discussion about eliminating some inactive committees the Senate
moved to create a subcommittee consisting of the Senate Chair, John
Davis (Chair of the Committee on Committees), and Jim Irvin (former
Chair of Committees on Committees). This group will examine the results
of the survey which will be sent to all Senate Committee Chairs, asking
for information about their committees' activities during this year.
The subcommittee will examine these forms and decide whether to
recommend the elimination or perhaps combination of any committees.
The Senate decided to create a new committee and to elevate one of our
ad hoc committees to full committee status. The new committee will be
the Academic Policy Compliance Committee, whose function will be to
monitor the extent to which policies (PPS's, etc.) are followed in
schools, departments, and insofar as it can be determined, the
administration. Ideally this committee will be sufficiently proactive
that its members will take the initiative to spotcheck policy compliance
by their chairs and deans and bring to the attention of the committee
any perceived problems; the Senate will also refer to that committee any
issues or problems that we want it to examine. This committee will
consist of one member from each school, to be appointed by the Senate
Committee on Committees.
The Senate also elevated to full committee status our ad hoc committee
on temporary faculty (see above). For the time being we will keep its
membership as is (four Senators), although new members will probably be
added later. Senator Pascoe asked to replaced on this committee because
of his involvement with the SACS Study, and the Senate approved Senator
Hunter as his replacement.
NEW BUSINESS
TECHNOLOGY CLASS FLYER
Dr. Habingreither was commended on his prompt and thorough
handling of the injudicious flyer posted without his knowledge (or the
University's permission, for that matter).
HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOOL REVIEW GROUP
Senator Hunter brought up the issue of an imbalance of chairs vs. senior
faculty (9 chairs and 7 faculty) on the School Review Group in the
School of Health Professions. This situation resulted from the recent
reorganization of the School which created some very small departments,
called programs, who have Program Chairs. The intent of the governing PPS is
to ensure a balance. It was decided that Senator Hunter would send
Chair Bible a memo detailing the situation, and that the chair would
then discuss the matter with VPAA Gratz.
ADMINSTRATIVE ASSISTANT SALARY
Chair Bible reported that he had discussed with the administration the
issue of a salary increase for Shirley Pilus due to her additional
responsibility of recording the Senate minutes now that the Senate
Secretary, Prof. Ford, is leaving the Senate. Chair Bible also made a
formal statement of appreciation to Ms. Pilus for her efficiency and her
dedication to her responsibilities to the Faculty Senate and for her
work in renovating and reorganizing the office.
MINUTES of 4-2-97
The Minutes of the 4-2-97 Senate meeting were approved as read.
The meeting adjourned at 6:07
Shirley Pilus
Administrative Assistant
