Bryon Clark, Margaret Avard, Diane Dixon, Sandra Thomas, Stan Alluisi, Kyle Thomas, Randy Prus, Glenda Zumwalt, John Allen Hendricks, Ken Elder, Jerry Polson, Brett Elliott, Glenn Melancon, Lisa Hill Coleman, William Fridley, Jamie Knapp, Kenneth Chinn, Buddy Pierce
Bryon Clark called the meeting to order at 3:00.
There was a correction to the April minutes. Instead of saying that "the faculty was not in strong support of the salary card", it was changed to "the faculty was not in strong support of the salary card.exceptions" A motion to approve the modified April minutes was made by Ken Chinn and seconded by Glenda Zumwalt. The modified minutes were approved.
Bryon Clark reported August 30th will be the Forum on Shared Governance. The Budget Survey was presented to President Johnson and he said he will take it into consideration.
Bryon Clark reported on his monthly chair meeting with President Johnson, V.P. Snowden, V.P. Walkup, A.V.P. McMillian and Dr. Barnes. In response to a memo about shared governance the President approved the request that Faculty Senate Chair will have a 3 hour reduction in teaching each semester and a 3/8 compensation for the summer semester. (see memo) The President also wanted the Faculty Senate to select faculty from a list of faculty nominees for the Mission Statement Review Committee (see memo). Steve Hogan, Bryon Clark, Randy Prus and Chip Weiner were nominated. Jamie Knapp made a motion to accept these nominations and Glenda Zumwalt seconded. The motion passed.
President Johnson then addressed the Senate regarding the Higher Education Budget. He told the Faculty Senate that the bill for allowing the State Regents to raise the tuition has passed the State Senate. The cap on raising the tuition is 7%. He then told that there is $100 million in funds available for system wide needs and Higher Education needs at least $ 33 million to stay even. He said that maybe more money will be available with the rainy day funds. (see handout)
Bryon Clark then continued his report on the monthly chair meeting. He told the Senate that the Faculty Senate's recommendation of making the Honors Committee a university standing committee was not accepted by the administration. They thought that the committee could be outside Faculty Senate. The Senate wanted to know why. It was suggested that the Honors Program would be more integrated in the university and more visible if the Honors Committee was a university standing committee. Glenn Melancon made a motion that Committee on Committee develop a rationale for the Honors Committee to be under Faculty Governance under the oversight of Faculty Senate. Ken Chinn seconded.. The motion was approved.
The recommendations of the task force was approved by the President.
Bryon Clark reported that in addition to the exceptions to the Salary Card, the Task Force also endorsed two additional recommendations: 1.) The salary cap for years of service should be eliminated at all ranks this year. 2.) Future modifications to the salary card should address inequities in salary at the senior ranks. In order to retain high quality faculty, the salary structure should be changed such that all ranks are compensated closer to national averages (within 90%); currently this is only true for assistant professors for most disciplines. (see memo) A memo indicating this will be sent to the President (see memo)
The executive committee proposed that because Sam Bigham has retired, Jerry Polson should remain the past chair on the executive committee. Ken Elder made the motion that Jerry Polson remain past chair and Brett Elliott seconded. The motion passed.
There was no report. Bryon Clark suggested that for Faculty Senate Awards that first the schools pick the top two candidates before the Senate votes.
The letters for committee appointments has been sent out by the President. The Bachelors in Applied Arts and Sciences is in planning. If it is approved then there needs to be appointments to the committee for that. The Committee on Committee needs to work on the wording on Senate membership in the Constitution. This need to be done for the Faculty Forum. The committee also needs to look into the distribution of senators with the reorganizing of the schools. Ken Chinn suggested the committee look into a different way to select members for committees.
See report. Diane Dixon made a motion that a memo be sent to the departments requesting the criteria it employs in making tenure and promotion decisions in the categories of teaching, scholarship, and service. Randy Prus seconded. and the motion passed. John Allen Hendricks commented that number 6 on the charge items (regarding changing the status of the MFA degree to be considered a terminal degree) is of Board of Regents Policy. It was suggested that Personnel Policies Committee request that the President propose a change to the Regents Policy. Bryon Clark suggested the committee consider giving new hires a reduced teaching load the first year. There was not much support for this suggestion.
Glenn Melancon presented a flow chart model for the proposed advising center. (see flow chart) Ken Elder made a motion that the Faculty Senate endorses the model for the advising center. Randy Prus seconded and the motion passed. A memo that the Faculty Senate endorsed the model will be sent to the Academic Council.
See report. The actions and charge items were discussed.
Ken Elder made a motion to adjourn and Brett Elliott seconded. The executive committee will address the additional issues.
June 18th a draft is due for the Forum on Shared Governance.
Meeting adjourned 4:55.
