Faculty Senate Meeting of June 6, 2008

Faculty Senate Meeting of June 6, 2008

Minutes

As is customary with the Senate, the June meeting concludes the prorogued meeting of May then adjourns for the seating of the Senate of 2008-2009 and the June meeting proper.

Attendance. Senators present (or represented by proxy) were as follows: Annulis, Beckett, Buchanan, Davis, Douglass, Evans, Goggin, Gould, Griffith (Judd), Hannon, Harbaugh, Hartsell (Blackwell), Hauer, Haynes (Beckett), Judd, Klinedinst, Magruder, McCormick, Mead, Meyer, O=BRien (Grivno), Oshrin, Piazza, Press (Greene), Price (Beckett), Rachal, Rakocinski, Redalje, Rehner, Scurfield, Smith (Bristol), Smithka, Spencer, Tingstrom, and Zantow.

Senators absent were Bounds, Brannock, Bushardt, McGuire, Russell, and Young.

President Judd called the Senate to order at 2:00 in the Union Hall of Honors. He announced the 2007-2008 awards for Creative Activity (Dr. Bruce Tychinski, School of Music) and Service (Dr. Linda Pierce, Department of English). Plaques will be presented privately to these individuals. Also the service of Dr. Bobby Middlebrooks as Interim Provost was acknowledged. Likewise President Judd recognized the distinguished service and retirement of Dr. Myron Henry, presenting him with a plaque citing his various roles as Aprofessor, provost, Faculty Senate president, colleague, and friend.@ Copies of President Judd=s remarks about Professors Middlebrooks and Henry are reproduced as Appendix1 and Appendix 2 of these minutes.

President Judd presented the new University Provost, Dr. Robert Lyman, to the Senate. The Provost spoke briefly.

After slight modifications, the agenda was approved.

President=s Report. President Saunders was out of town and unable to attend; her written remarks were read by President Judd. Despite the best hopes of President Saunders, there will be no faculty or staff raises this year. As a result, President Saunders requests the Senate to examine models for financial planning of salaries; specifically she requests that we select Apeer institutions@ with which we would like to be compared in the planning process.

Report of the President-Elect. President-Elect Oshrin raised two issues of note: (1) The proposed outsourcing of Physical Plant will apply only to Amanagement,@ a total of about eleven positions. The university is considering a number of associations appropriate to submit proposals. Outsourced employees with at least fifteen years of service will remain on the university staff so that their pensions will not be jeopardized. (2) The iTech Advisory Committee meeting that Dr. Oshrin attended produced several items of interest: (a) the iTech budget is available for viewing on line. (b) iTech employees keeps track of all employees and charges auxiliaries accordingly, with some notable exceptions, including athletics; the last point might bear investigation. (c) Students on campus are charged for wireless services and for telephones in the dormitories, the latter being a considerable revenue generator for the university; students with cell phones, however, question the necessity (and expense) of university-provided telephone services. (d) The Oracle Collaboration Suite, a new e-mail server, is now in operation, and by September faculty must migrate to this new server. (e) Faculty should sign up through the university web site for the AEagle Alert System,@ an early warning system for disasters and emergencies. (f) We will have video conferencing in the Senate=s new meeting room, TCH 216; Mr. Kevin Sellers is in charge of the installation.

Election of New Officers. The positions of President-Elect and Secretary-Elect were open for election. Nominees for President-Elect were Senators Evans, Davis, and Klinedinst. Senator Davis withdrew her name. Senator Evans was elected on the first ballot. There was only one name for the position of Secretary-Elect, so Senator Meyer was elected by acclamation.

Committee Reports. There were no substantive committee reports since these were handled in the May meeting.

Concluding Remarks from the President. President Judd thanked the Senate for its service and recognized the retiring Senators. On the previous day, President Judd had sent his final report to the Senate by e-mail; it is reproduced here as Appendix 3. His concluding remarks to the Senate are printed in Appendix 4.

President Judd adjourned the Senate at 3:25, and the gavel was assumed by President Oshrin, who welcomed the new members.

Attendance. Senators present (or represented by proxy) were as follows: Annulis, Beckett, Blackwell, Burgess, Campbell, Daves, Davis, Evans, Fisher, Goggin, Gould, Hannon, Harbaugh, Hauer, Judd, Klinedinst, Kyriakoudes (Grivno), McCormick, Meyer, Oshrin, Pandy, Pate, Piazza, Press (Greene), Rachal, Rakocinski, Redalje, Rehner, Rushing, Scurfield, Smithka, Spencer, Tingstrom, and Zantow.

Senators absent were Brannock, Bristol, Buchanan, Burnett, Bushardt, McGuire, and Young.

Remarks of the Incoming President. President Oshrin addressed the Senate for the first time in his new office. His remarks are printed as Appendix 5.

Committee Reports. Two committees continued their business from the May meeting. (1) Senator Beckett of the Handbook Committee presented a number of changes for endorsement. These are reproduced in Appendix 6. (2) Senator Blackwell of the Ad Hoc Distance Learning Committee reviewed a ten-point recommendation from the Academic and Graduate Councils. The document is reproduced as Appendix 7. After some discussionBmostly about the effectiveness of graduate education online and the inadequacy of faculty training in technologyBthe Senate endorsed both measures unanimously.

President Oshrin adjourned the Senate at 3:55 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted by Approved by

Stanley Hauer Stephen Oshrin