The University of Southern Mississippi

1.0 Call to Order: 2:07

2.0 Approval of September 10, 2004 minutes: moved, seconded, approved.

3.0 Approval of Agenda: moved, seconded approved with a change to add the forum after Approval of Agenda and a possible move of 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 with Provost Grimes here to answer questions regarding 4.1.2 (post-tenure review issue).

4.0 Forum Speakers:

Richard Giannini, Louis Marciani, Peter Fos, Jay Dean gave an overview of the bond and what it will be used for. The vote is Nov. 2 and some voters may have to go to different spots than normal to vote. The bond is to raise $12 million of a $50 million fund needed to cover university projects. The state is kicking in $10m while the university has secured $28m thru private funding. It is a 1 cent tax applied to hotels, restaurants and alcoholic beverages in Hattiesburg and is time-limited. The money will be used to renovate Reed Green Coliseum, M.M. Roberts Stadium, Bennet Auditorium, lighting for the Track/Soccer Complex, a new Sports Complex to take the place of the old Sports Arena (which is heavily used by the College of Health for academic classes), and a new Tennis Complex. There is more info available at a website: http://www.SouthernMissBondIssue.com

5.0 Officers' Reports
5.1.0 President – D. Beckett welcomed Dan Tingstrom, a new senator appointed for one year out of the College of Ed/Psych. He also announced the resignation of senators Joyous Bethel and Tony Lewis.

5.1.1 Update on the AA/EEO Reorganization: D. Beckett gave an overview of the meetings executive committee (ec) members have had with Becky Woodrick, Bud Ginn and President Thames regarding the AA/EEO reorganization. EC tried to meet with Russ Willis but was unable to. From the info the ec was able to gather regarding the AA/EEO position, the ec made the recommendation to the president that the office remain separate from HR with a full-time officer. The president felt that $56,000 could be saved through the reorganization – money that could be used for a new faculty position, equipment or raises. The president and ec agreed to let faculty senate bring it to a vote.

Much discussion followed. Myron Henry had a concern regarding about voting for an independent affirmative action office and full-time affirmative action officer versus saving $56,000 by eliminating affirmative action as we know it and devoting those "savings" to faculty positions and salaries. Senators had concerns about why this particular issue was allowed to be decided on by faculty and why faculty were still being left out of regular general budget discussions.

It was decided to vote “To support” or “Not to support” a decision to keep the AA/EEO office as it is. Senators cast secret ballots. The vote was 36 in support and 2 not in support.

5.1.2 New Concerns Regarding Post-tenure Review: D. Beckett reviewed with senators discussions he had had with the president and data that he had received from Dr. Grimes regarding the post-tenure review information sent to the IHL. The information showed that the 8 state institutions had submitted numbers totaling 28 and that 20 came from USM – 12 of those from the College of Business. The numbers were submitted by Tim Hudson who had asked deans to submit numbers of faculty who received an “unsatisfactory” on their last evaluation.

Senators had many questions about whether or not the USM post-tenure review policy was actually in place at IHL and here at USM. Jay Grimes came to the meeting to answer faculty questions the best he could. Dr. Grimes believed the policy was accepted by IHL but had not been implemented by USM. He said that the issue would be brought up and clarified at the next IHL meeting and that he would try to get the board to accept a corrected number. Senators asked that the information also be corrected and that PR make a statement afterwards so that the public is aware of the mistake.

5.2 President-Elect

5.2.1 “House Calls:” B. Powell shared with senators a brief description of a new Residence Life program which has faculty visiting new students in their dorms. He strongly urged faculty to participate next year.

5.2.2 Bookstore Information: Reps from B & N Bookstores met last Friday (Oct. 1) with some FS senators and Gregg Lassen to answer questions about the new bookstore. During the Faculty Senate meeting, a senator wanted to know why ‘class packets’ were so costly.

5.3 Secretary

5.3.1 Proxies

5.3.2 Update on College Listservs for Senators: M. Applin has contacted Itech’s Valerie Craig to determine feasibility of college lists. She said that she has asked Itech to create lists for colleges and will ask them to move it up on the list of priorities at our request.

5.3.3 Committee Assignments: Committee assignments are not yet completed. EC will meet next week to complete them and will notify senators.

5.4 Secretary-Elect: No report

6.0       Committee Reports
            6.1       Academic and Governance
            6.2.      Administration and Faculty Evaluations
            6.3.      Awards: Last year’s Awards Committee members met with Cynthia Moore to discuss last year’s process and what improvements could be made to this year’s process. Membership was discussed and the idea of having co-chairs (faculty senate member and non-faculty senate member) was floated. It was decided to wait until Faculty Senate president could meet with Cynthia Moore and Jay Grimes concerning the matter.
            6.4.      Budget
            6.5.      Constitution and Bylaws
            6.6       Faculty Welfare
            6.7.      Government Relations
            6.8.      Technology
            6.9.      Elections
            6.10.   Ad hoc committee reports and liaison reports (AAUP and others)

President’s Council: Ray Folse handed out the organizational chart given out by the president at the PC meeting.

AAUP: A. Young gave a report regarding the last AAUP meeting. Items discussed included the events surrounding Noel Polk’s departure (Dean Pood has asked to speak to AAUP members at their next meeting concerning this issue); International Development dept. moving to Political Science; Problems with chair searches in Arts & Letters; EEO reorganization; and the sweeping of rollover budgets. Next AAUP meeting is Friday, Oct 22 at 4pm in LAB 204.

Parking Management Liaison: B. Scarborough gave an update on campus projects. The Bicycle and Walking Project is slated to begin soon. The road by the Geography building (Kelly) will be done during the X-mas break. West Memorial Dr. will be closed for good after the X-mas break.

7.0 Old Business

7.1 Information on Contact Hours and Calendar: D. Beckett showed overheads of changes to the academic calendars for Spring ’05-Spring ’06 due to the change in contact hours to 2250. Highlights: Mardi Gras break ’05 includes Monday and Tuesday now; Fall ’05 classes begin on Thursday, August 25^th and will end December 16^th; Classes will begin spring ’06 on January 17^th.

7.2 Update on Provost’s Search: S. Hubble gave an update of the provost search. The committee has begun reviewing applications.

8.0 New Business

8.1 Moving of Economic Development Department: J. Crockett gave an update on what was happening with the Econ. Dev. Department move. He said that because of lax standards, the dept. was keeping the Business College from obtaining accreditation. The dept. was being split and part of it was moving to the College of Science and part was moving to Arts & Letters.

9.1 Other
10.0 Adjournment

Members Present and Those Represented by Proxy (In Parenthesis):

College of the Arts & Letters

Joe Brumbeloe

Amy Chasteen-Miller

Phillip Gentile

Kate Greene (Bill Powell)

Stephen Judd

John Meyer

Bill Powell

Bill Scarborough

Paula Smithka

Anne Wallace (Stephen Judd)

College of Business

James Crockett

David Duhon

Bill Gunther

Laurie Babin

College of Education & Psychology

Taralynn Hartsell

Melanie Norton

Joe Olmi

Janice Thompson (Taralyn Hartsell)

Daniel Tingstrom

College of Health

Bonnie Harbaugh

Susan Hubble

Amal Khoury (Mary Lux)

Mary Lux

Mary Frances Nettles

College of Coastal Science

Chet Rakocinski

Don Redalje

College of Science & Technology

David Beckett, President

Randy Buchanan

Peter Butko

Raymond Folse

Mary Dayne Gregg (Ray Seyfarth)

Myron Henry

Gerald Mattson

Gail Russell

Alan Thompson (Mary Beth Applin)

University Libraries

Mary Beth Applin

Jay Barton Spencer

USM-Gulf Coast

J. Pat Smith (Bill Scarborough)

Alissa Beck

Members Absent:

College of the Arts & Letters: Tony Lewis

College of Business:

College of Education & Psychology:

College of Health: Joyous Bethel

College of Coastal Science: Hal Shoemaker, Allisa Beck

College of Science & Technology:

University Libraries:

USM-Gulf Coast: