The University of Southern Mississippi

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

April 4, 2008

Guest speaker:  Dr. Bobby Middlebrooks

Academic Affairs:  Dr. Middlebrooks reported that the interviews for advertised deans positions was ongoing and that recommendations and decisions should be forthcoming.  In view of Dean Fos’s decision to accept the Provost position at University of Texas, Tyler, an interim dean will be named for the College of  Health by May 1 and that a search for a new dean will begin in the Fall.  President Saunders made the decision to extend the search for the College of Education and Psychology Dean and indicated that it is possible that the services of an outside search firm will be sought to seek a larger pool of qualified candidates.  The NCATE Focused Visit is scheduled for April 20-22.

Dr. Middlebrooks also reported for President Saunders on the following:

Administrative Affairs: 

            Budget:  The IHL board will be addressing equity funding at its next meeting.  This involves several proposed options for allocating appropriated funds.  Southern Miss should not be negatively impacted by any of these options, although we have offered counter-proposals that we believe will work best for us.  Our anticipated growth as we recover from Katrina will help.

            Cross Creek campus:  IHL staff is still finalizing details with the master planners.  President Saunders has commissioned an update of the 1998 Feasibility Study on Educational Needs on the Coast to inform us as we move along.

Advancement:

            USM is planning to have a strong presence at Mississippi Day in Central Park in June.  This is a big celebration and very popular with native Mississippians living in NYC.  USM will host a dinner for alumni living in the area (approximately 300) in the NASDAQ conference center thanks to our alumnus Bruce Aust, who is one of the NASDAQ vice presidents.

            Four new IHL board members have been named and two are from USM.

Athletics:

            The Spring game is coming up and we hope to pack the stadium as a show of encouragement to our new head coach.

External Relations:

            Things are getting intense in Jackson.  Chairman Watson delivered a bond bill from the House.  Senator Kirby has responded with a more modest bill and it is all going to conference soon.  It is imperative that we get R&R money to repair our buildings and we have been working hard to get this through.  The governor has opposed the bond bill but we are hoping he will soften his stance.

Student Affairs:

            Noel Levitz consultant has met with the enrollment planning committee and they have identified key performance indicators.

President’s Office:

            The University Strategic Planning Committee has heard reports from the subcommittees recommending key performance indicators for our areas of strategic interest.  The chairs of those committees will be working together to merge the recommendations.  We will then gather data needed to set realistic goals.  This should be available in the Fall for departments to set strategies, tactics and resource needs.

            Provost-elect Lyman is receiving information on activities and is eager to get started.  Lyman spoke to all of the dean candidates.

            President Saunders expressed special thanks to all who made her inauguration so special and one of the finest days of her life.

1.0       Call to order:  2:20 p.m.

2.0       Approval of past minutes: Motion by Beckett to approve the past minutes, second by Press, motion passed.

3.0       Approval of agenda:  Motion by Blackwell to approve the agenda, second by Brannock, motion passed.

4.0       Officers' Reports
            4.1       President Stephen Judd

4.1.1 Strategic Planning Committee:  Judd reported on the energy and excitement of the members of the SPC and expects announcements at Fall Convocation with implementation in the Spring.

4.1.2 Course fee freeze:  Provost Council decided in implement a course fee freeze as the fees and justifications are reviewed.

4.1.3 Tenure clock and pre-tenure review:  Concern was raised at the Provost Council meeting that if faculty come in with years toward tenure that the timing of the pre-tenure review might not allow enough time to do a fair evaluation.  The deans and the Faculty Handbook committee will each send in a proposal to clarify the timing of the pre-tenure review.

4.1.4 Gulf Coast Faculty Senate meeting for May 2:  Judd encourage all senators to attend the meeting on the coast and commended coast faculty for their commitment to the university.  The Hancock Bank board chair George Schlogel has been invited to address the Senate at that meeting.

            4.2       President-Elect Steve Oshrin

4.2.1 iTech Advisory Committee – the budget report is posted on our website so senators can see what projects were funded and what was not funded.  There was a discussion about recent email security issues with so much of USM email being bounced back.  iTech should be notified at infosec@usm.edu to correct this problem.  Oracle suite may provide better security for our system.

4.2.2 Strategic Enrollment Planning Council – information on the March meeting is available on our website.  The enrollment plan will be targeting specific populations with the analysis of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (swot).

            4.3       Secretary Amy Young

                        4.3.1  van for coast:  will be provided for transportation on May 2.

4.4      Secretary-Elect

4.4.1 Centennial Celebration Convocations

5.0       Committee Reports
            5.1       Academic and Governance – no report
            5.2       Administration and Faculty Evaluations – completed and delivered.
            5.3       Awards – see announcement on the listserve
            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 – second round nearly done, but there were problems with CST ballots.
            5.10     Other committee and liaison reports

                                    5.10.2  AAUP – no report

                                    5.10.3  Facility Management Planning Committee – no report

                                    5.10.4  Alternative Learning Committee – no report

                                    5.10.5  Distance Education Committee – no report

                                    5.10.6  Faculty Handbook Committee - Faculty Senate approved the following modifications to the handbook: 1) delete the sentence
referring to the departmental personnel authority (only mentioned once in the
present FH) (Section 8.2.7), 2) put in a mechanism to choose another
Departmental Personnel Committee (DPC) option if the department chair resigns
from the DPC (Section 8.3.4), 3) allow members of a three-person DPC to be
evaluated by the other two members of the DPC rather than the departmental
chair (Section 8.4.2), 4) restore a mechanism to evaluate departmental chairs
regarding their teaching, research, and service if the department has chosen
the chair-alone option for the DPC (Section 8.4.2), 5) clarify that post-tenure
review is based upon two consecutive overall unsatisfactory annual evaluations
(Sections 8.5.1 and 8.5.2), 6) update the time of the year when promotion
dossiers are due to the departmental chairs (Section 9.5.1), 7) clarify when
third-year reviews (pre-tenure reviews) are conducted (Section 9.7.2), and 7)
require that College Advisory Committees and University Advisory Committees
provide rationales for their votes concerning tenure and/or promotion (Sections
9.8.2 and 9.9.2 respectively).
                                    5.10.8  Evaluation of Teaching – no report

                                    5.10.9  Academic/Graduate Council – no report

5.10.10 GCFC – Joe Paul and Joe Morgan met with the council and a summary report that includes income, expenditures will be provided.  A committee will be studying the needs of students for student affairs on the coast and to determine if the student experiences on the coast are similar to those in Hattiesburg.

6.0       New Business

7.0       Old Business
8.0       Other
9.0       Adjournment:  4:40 p.m.