Jan 19, 2000 Minutes

Senators Present:  Peeler, Gordon, Gillis, Stone, Renick, McGee,
Stimmel, Skerpan-Wheeler, McKinney, Conroy, Hays

Absent:  Bible

Two seats vacant

Guests:  LeAnne Smith Stedman, Mike Moore, Tim England

Senate Chair Hays called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm.

Chair Hays introduced the new secretary to the Senate:  Terry Aguirre.

Chair Hays announced two vacancies on the senate--both in the College of Science--due to the retirement of Senator Early and resignation of Senator Irvin. Elections will take place soon.  Chair Hays also announced the pending retirement of Liaison Caruana and the need for a replacement for him.

The senate heard a report from LeAnne Smith Stedman, Chair of the University Arts Committee.  Ms. Stedman urged the senate to endorse a request for either release time for the chair or a full-time staff person to assist the chair, citing the extensive duties of the chair.  After discussion, the senate agreed to have Chair Hays and Ms. Stedman draft such a request.

The senate discussed a request to reconsider the ranking of one faculty memberÕs developmental leave proposal.  A motion to decline to reconsider (Stone/Gillis) was passed unanimously.

Senator Renick opened a discussion of the question of academic honesty at SWT, continuing the conversation begun at the December PAAG meeting.  The senate unanimously passed a motion (Conroy/Peeler) to recommend that VPAA Gratz convene a panel to gather information about the extent of cheating at SWT, examine university policies on academic dishonesty, and recommend appropriate action; and that the membership of the panel include senators (Gillis and Skerpan-Wheeler); members of the Academic Governance committee; representatives from Student Justice, ASG, and the Quality Team; and administrators from the levels of chair, dean, and vice president.

Senator Renick opened a discussion of the current state of the language of Paragraph 12, as it came out of the senate/chair conference committee. Senators had reservations about the language, but agreed to it with the following revision of section 5:  ÒBefore making final merit  recommendations, chairs shall be required to indicate to each faculty member, without mentioning a specific number of steps or percentages of increase, the approximate level of merit determined for that faculty member (e.g. high, medium, low), or whether the chair intends to recommend that faculty member for merit.Ó

Discussion of developmental leaves and senate membership was RTAÕd until after election of the new senators from the College of Science.

Chair Hays announced the dates of the spring semester PAAG meetings.

Chair Hays presented the following items of New Business:

1.  whether we should discuss the US News and World Report rankings at PAAG. (the senate decided against it);

2.  who should take minutes of meetings now that Senator Early has retired (the senate decided to rotate the position among senators);

3.  whether the senate should accept the language Senator Irvin drafted concerning the charge of the Academic Governance Committee (language accepted);

4.  the availability of Mike Farris for a presentation on the new web course management system (the senate urged that he be invited to make such a presentation to the senate);

5.  the need for two replacements for one semester on the Curriculum Committee. (Susan Morris, English and John Spellmann, Math)

6.  the need for a representative to the Signage Committee (Wayman Mullins, Criminal Justice)

7.  the current parking policies concerning permit owners who have both a car and a motorcycle;

8.  the need for a second mace bearer for spring commencement (Miriam Echeverria will be one);

9.  a request for Senator Gordon to present results of the faculty survey to help the senate set goals (to be discussed January 26).

The meeting adjourned at 6:16 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth Skerpan-Wheeler