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Sept 01, 2010 Minutes

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

Meeting called to order at 4:00.

Announcements:
Bids for Remodeling part of LBJSC to accommodate the university club are being announced.
There will be no target of opportunity positions this year.
In the lottery for reserved parking places, current permit holders have the opportunity to retain their reserved space. Reserved permit holders are not supposed to park in other spaces. PAAG meetings will be held this semester on September 15, October 20, November 10 and December 1.
Since October 2008 departments have been allowed to pay per-course faculty an additional stipend to cover parking fees. The stipend is reimbursed to the departments. A reminder was sent today.
Spring 2010 workload data is being sent to the Senate for review. Associate Provost Gene Bourgeois will meet with the Senate to discuss workload.
A call for development leave proposals will be made as soon as the website is updated.

Presidential Award Committee Representation:
Senators from colleges with vacancies on various Presidential Award Committees suggested names of faculty to fill the vacancies. The Chair will follow up with the nominees.

Definition of Faculty Voter:
Ev Swinney and Don Hazlewood sent reports on the history of the definition of voting faculty. Concerns voiced during the Senate discussion included teaching experience at Texas State, departments in which a faculty member with joint appointments can vote, the implications of 50% as opposed to more than 50%, people on grants, status of associate deans, length of service at Texas State and the concept of a home department. A subcommittee of Senators will investigate further.

HB 2504 Pilot:
A report on the Summer II pilot study of the university-wide student evaluation form developed for compliance with HB2504 was distributed to senators and will be distributed to faculty. The committee recommends no change. Hybrid courses will use the scantron form, and there will be an online survey for 100% online courses. The possibility of merging the questions with departmental forms will be investigated.

Break

Faculty Senate Joint Meetings:
The Senate schedule for Fall 2010 was examined. The Senate meets with CAD on Oct 12, 1:30—3:30 in the Reed Parr room. The Oct 13 meeting will be held as usual, with the expectation that Piper recommendations and the Ph.D. proposal for Materials Science, Engineering and Commercialization will need action. Oct 20 is a PAAG meeting, Development Leave presentations will be conducted Oct 27 and Nov 3, Nov 10 is a PAAG meeting and Nov 17 will be a meeting with the Senate liaisons. The workload report will be put on TRACS and college-level meetings will be conducted in October, in advance of the liaisons meeting.

New Business:
Development Leave applicants are encouraged to meet with their respective Senators before submitting applications.
Senators were asked to bring names for macebearers for fall commencement, which will be held Dec 17-18.
Nominations were solicited for two at-large faculty members for the Equity and Access Committee.
No action was taken on a request to revisit +/- grades because the issue had been explored last semester.
There was a discussion about the appropriateness of controversial committee assignments for tenure-track faculty. Senators expressed concern but were unable to identify a response mechanism.
Information about outside employment being distributed to faculty is contradictory.
The Senator inquiring about a placement exam with a grade was referred to Gail Ryser

Minutes:
The minutes of the July meeting were approved.

Adjournment.