The University of Southern Mississippi

Faculty Senate Meeting

January 18, 2008

Union Hall of Honors

Minutes

 

Guest Speaker:  Dr. Martha Saunders – (3:15 pm) reported on the following:

  1. Because of an economic downturn, President Saunders believes USM can expect either a flat budget or budget cuts.
  2. iTech received a grant from Oracle for a new email system to be available by August.
  3. Student Affairs – consultants have been retained to help USM develop a plan for enrollments
  4. David Wolfe has been named as the VP for Advancement.  His responsibilities will be to oversee the foundation, raise money for the university, oversee PR and Marketing and work with the alumni association.
  5. Dr. Saunders announced the names of the four candidates for Provost.  They are Dr. Bobbitt, Dean of Arts and Science, Arkansas, Dr. Lyman, Dean of A&S at Appalachian State; Dr. Olson, Dean of A&S at Illinois State, and Dr. Nieman, Dean of A&S at Bowling Green.  She expects that the candidate selected will begin in July.
  6. IHL will ask that USM send representatives to their Strategic Summit on Feb. 13.
  7. President Saunders will be inaugurated on March 28.

 

 

Guest Speaker:  Dr. Bobby Middlebrooks – (2:00 pm) reported on the following:

  1. Four candidates for provost will be interviewed before mid-February.
  2. Provost Office looking for money to supplement budgets for deans searches.
  3. There were 10 submissions for NCAT redesign from USM.
  4. IHL’s strategic planning initiative is focusing on retention and graduation rates.
  5. There are potentially many scheduling problems as College Hall is being renovated beginning Spring 2009.  College Hall may be unavailable for at least two years.
  6. There is an official agreement of 200 acres for the Cross Creek campus, but there has been no final announcement about where those acres will be relative to the remainder of the development.

 

 

1.0       Call to order- President Stephen Judd called the meeting to order at 3:08 after reports by President Saunders and Interim Provost Middlebrooks.


2.0       Approval of Dec. 2007 minutes:  Motion to approve minutes by Anderson, second by Harbaugh.  Motion passed.


3.0       Approval of agenda –  Judd recommended that the position of the report by Dr. Saunders be moved because the President was attending another meeting.  Motion to approve amended agenda by Anderson, second by Blackwell.  Motion passed.


4.0       Officers' Reports
            4.1       President – Stephen Judd

4.1.1        Judd announced that Heather Annulis will replace Cwikla as a coast representative on the Faculty Senate.

4.1.2        GCFC update – GCFC continues to work on their constitution which is being shared with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. 

4.1.3        UPC has been dissolved and a new committee, Strategic Planning Committee will be named by President Saunders soon and will include representatives from Faculty Senate, Academic Council, and Graduate Council. 

4.1.4        Judd has extended an invitation to Coach Fedora to address the senate in March. 

4.1.5        Update on Provost search:  the committee is working well within the proposed schedule, and there has been a good pool of candidates. 

                                   
            4.2       President-Elect – Steve Oshrin

4.2.1        Oshrin spoke with Chief Hopkins about systems they were investigating for alerting the campus in cases of emergencies.  The options include:

1.      voice system from a location central to academic buildings and residence halls

2.      this system will be tested

3.      upgrade of the siren system

4.      exploring an agreement with Comcast for visual signals to be sent to academic buildings and residence halls

5.      exploring the option of sending text messages but it does not appear that we have sufficient technology to do this

4.2.2        Oshrin is looking into options for future meeting places for Faculty Senate that would facilitate video conferencing with senators on the coast.

                                   
            4.3       Secretary –  Amy Young – reported about problems with Barnes and Noble textbook center.

 

4.4              Secretary-Elect – Stan Hauer no report


5.0       Committee Reports
            5.1       Academic and Governance – no report
            5.2       Administration and Faculty Evaluations – no report
            5.3       Awards – Judd for Catherine Price, chair – committee continues to review all awards along with the Office of the Provost.  Committee has been expanded.

            5.4       Budget – no report
            5.5       Constitution and Bylaws – no report
            5.6       Faculty Welfare – no report

            5.7       Government Relations – no report
            5.8       Technology – no report
            5.9       Elections – Meyer (co-chair) – committee is working on ballots
            5.10     Other committee and liaison reports

                                    5.10.1  Gulf Coast Faculty Council – Ken Zantow reports that the Coast senators are now automatically voting members of the GCFC.  He related expressions of both excitement and concerns about the planned Cross Creek campus.  Concerns are primarily about what is to happen before the campus is ready to open.

                                    5.10.2  Facility Management Planning Committee – no report

                                    5.10.3  Alternative Learning Committee – no report

                                    5.10.4  Distance Education Committee – no report

                                    5.10.5  Faculty Handbook Committee, David Beckett, chair – progress has been made on third-year review and grievance procedures for salary adjustments.  These changes, approved by the Senate, have been forwarded to the President.  Proposed changes are also reviewed by the Council of Chairs and deans.

                                    5.10.6  Evaluation of Teaching – no report

                                    5.10.7  AAUP – no report

                                    5.10.8  Academic/Graduate Council – no report

6.0       New Business – Judd reported on discussion with President Saunders about reviving the University Club.  Limited funding is available.  Faculty Senators expressed support for the University Club.

           

7.0       Old Business - none
8.0       Other - none
9.0       Adjournment:  4:05 pm

 

Faculty Senate attendance for Jan. 18, 2008


 

 

College of Arts and Letters

  1. Anita Davis (Redalje proxy)
  2. Cheryl Goggin
  3. Stanley Hauer
  4. Stephen Judd
  5. Art Kaul (Oshrin proxy)
  6. John Meyer
  7. Greg O’Brien (Redalje proxy)
  8. Kate Douglass
  9. Bob Press
  10. Paula Smithka
  11. Amy Young

 

College of Business

  1. Stephen Bushardt (Young proxy)
  2. Mark Klinedinst
  3. James Magruder
  4. Catherine Price (Judd proxy)

 

College of Education and Psychology

  1. Ann Blackwell
  2. Taralynn Hartsell
  3. John Rachal
  4. Daniel Tingstrom

 

College of Health

  1. Wendy Bounds
  2. Trent Gould
  3. Bonnie Harbaugh
  4. James McGuire
  5. Stephen Oshrin
  6. Tim Rehner

 

College of Science and Technology

  1. Randy Buchanan
  2. John Hannon
  3. Jeff Evans
  4. Jerry Griffith
  5. Barry Piazza
  6. Larry Mead
  7. Dave Beckett

 

Coastal Science, Marine Science & Gulf Coast Research

  1. Chet Rakocinski
  2. Don Redalje

 

 

 

 

 

University Libraries

1.  Jennifer Brannock

 

 

 

USM Gulf Coast

  1. Patsy Anderson
  2. Heather Annulis
  3. Pat Smith
  4. Ken Zantow

 

 

Guests:

Dr. Middlebrooks

Dr. Powell

Dr. Saunders

Joseph Navitsky

Homer Coffman

Mandy Nace