The University of Southern Mississippi

1.0 Call to Order
2.0 Approval of Agenda:

Moved/seconded/approved with two changes – move 5.0 Gulf Coast Incident Resolution to 4.0; added 6.0 SACS Accreditation.

3.0 Officers' Reports
3.1 President - Dave Beckett gave a brief update on misc. items:

Awards – The provost met with the deans and they made a decision regarding the Faculty Awards. They decided that they will give out 2 awards per college, one for teaching and one for service (Dave B. was unsure if the library was included but will find out). Dave B. said that the faculty senate would continue to give out their awards. The provost agreed. Dave asked that money still be awarded for the Faculty Senate awards and the dean said to get back with him concerning that.

Provost Search – 2 cuts have been made by the committee to narrow down the applications.

Commencement Speakers – there will be a committee to decide commencement speakers in the future. Attempts will be made to have successful USM alumni come back to speak.

Student Evaluations – Dave B. asked for FS volunteers to serve on a committee to examine the system of student evaluations, particularly the online evaluations. Jerry Mattson, Alan Thompson, Bill Powell and Dave Beckett volunteered.

4.0 Gulf Coast Incident Resolution:

Dave B. thanked the members of the Academic and Governance Committee for drafting the resolution. After some minor discussion, a secret ballot on the resolution was taken. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 41-1. Copies will be sent to all involved and a copy then posted on the FS website Statement Concerning Gulf Coast Incident.

5.0 Post Tenure Review Ad Hoc Committee Report:

Mary Lux (chair) gave a 2 sided handout to senators – one side had the policy additions and changes to the post tenure review policy recommended by the ad hoc committee; on the other side was additions and changes suggested by the Council of Chairs. Mary asked senators to review both and vote on one of the 2 drafts that they felt was best. Much discussion ensued. The main difference between the 2 drafts was the evaluation process used to trigger a post tenure review. The Council of Chairs version had the review triggered by “… an unsatisfactory performance in two or more areas (teaching, scholarship and/or service) for two consecutive years…” The ad hoc committee version had reviews triggered by 2 years of unsatisfactory performance based on yearly evaluations weighted on a scale of 1-5 with the “…weighted average of the evaluations in each category that is tied to assigned responsibilities determined by the chair in collaboration with the faculty member and the Personnel Committee.” Myron Henry addressed the senators and gave examples of how evaluations would differ if done with and without the weighting factor. A vote was called and the ad hoc committee’s draft was adopted by a vote of 41-1. (Here is a link to the adopted document).

6.0 SACS Accreditation:

Dave B. gave an overview of what he knew of the university being put on probation by SACS. He had attended a meeting at 2:30 that afternoon with Dr. Thames, Dr. Exline, deans, Chairs of council of chairs and academic council, and the provost. Dave B. said that at the administration’s request, he was unable to share much information about the meeting with senators so that blame for probation was not assigned to any person. But what he could share:

Apparently SACS sent a letter to us requesting information. In fall of 2004, we sent a progress report. SACS wasn’t satisfied with the response.

A senator asked who had done the progress report and how was it developed? Dave did not know.

Another senator stated that he had heard that SACS had requested the information 2 years ago. Was that correct? Dave wasn’t sure.

Senator: What information did SACS request? Dave said that they weren’t told specifically. The policy number that was cited was 3.3.1 Institutional Effectiveness (setting and evaluating goals) and Continuing Education Effectiveness.

Senator: Doesn’t the president and provost talk to SACS regularly? Dave didn’t know.

Senator: Is the activity that is now going on (forming of committees, etc) through Dr. Exline’s office a result of the SACS announcement? Dave said committees were created and operating before the announcement. Dr. Exline had formed the groups last July for the next SACS visit.

One senator stated that the committees had been working on stuff for a long time and that the SACS documentation was a huge task. The senator said that we should be concentrating on what we need to do to fix the probation.

Another senator commented that the problem was a result of the turnovers and discontinuity in leadership. Another senator agreed that we need to fix the problem but that personnel changes were needed as part of the fix since personnel was part of the problem.

A senator asked if a FS ad hoc committee should be formed to investigate the who was responsible?

Another senator wanted to know why Dr. Exline had stated at a president’s council meeting that everything was on track with SACS when apparently it wasn’t?

Dave said that there were still a lot of unanswered questions and that the actual SACS report was still not out and that suggested the senate should wait until they had more information. He said that Dr. Exline had asked to speak to the senate and that he had invited her to attend the January meeting. If the senate was in concurrence, he would schedule Dr. Exline as the guest speaker for the January meeting when more information would be available. Senators concurred. A senator finished by stating that the faculty senate should go on record as “wanting to do whatever possible to fix this situation” and also to go on record as being “extremely concerned” about the situation.

7.0 Meeting was adjourned.

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

College of the Arts & Letters

Joe Brumbeloe

Amy Chasteen-Miller (Amy Young)

Phillip Gentile (Anne Wallace)

Kate Greene

Stephen Judd

John Meyer (Bill Powell)

Bill Powell

Bill Scarborough

Paula Smithka

Jennifer Torres (Stephen Judd)

Anne Wallace

College of Business

James Crockett

David Duhon (Peter Butko)

Bill Gunther

Laurie Babin

College of Education & Psychology

Taralynn Hartsell

Melanie Norton

Joe Olmi

Janice Thompson (Taralynn Hartsell)

Daniel Tingstrom

College of Health

Bonnie Harbaugh

Susan Hubble (Bonnie Harbaugh)

Amal Khoury (Margot Hall)

Mary Lux

Mary Frances Nettles

Tim Rehner (Michael Forester)

College of Coastal Science

Chet Rakocinski

Don Redalje

College of Science & Technology

David Beckett, President

Randy Buchanan

Peter Butko

Raymond Folse

Mary Dayne Gregg (Randy Buchanan)

Myron Henry

Gerald Mattson

Gail Russell

Alan Thompson

University Libraries

Mary Beth Applin

Jay Barton Spencer

USM-Gulf Coast

Allisa Beck (Mary Beth Applin)

J. Pat Smith

Wil Watson (J. Pat Smith)

Kay Harris

Members Absent:

College of the Arts & Letters:

College of Business:

College of Education & Psychology:

College of Health:

College of Coastal Science:

College of Science & Technology:

University Libraries:

USM-Gulf Coast: