University Policies and Faculty Handbook Committee

POLICY & HANDBOOK END OF THE YEAR

SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY STATEMENT

APRIL 10, 2007

The members of the committee for the 2006 – 2007 academic year were:

April Dupree-Taylor, Abdullah Ficici, Eric Loomis, Frank Pettyjohn, Jim Swofford, Cheryl Vrettos, and Chair: Isabel Z. Brown.

We began the year by overseeing a vote for two Faculty Handbook amendments:

• In the event that a regular Faculty Senate meeting falls on a day when classes are not in session, the meeting will be held on the following Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.

• The Mentoring Committee will represent the Faculty in matters related to academic development and faculty mentoring at the university level. It will function to advance the mission of the Faculty Senate by providing collaborative planning and consultation on matters as they relate to the teaching, research, and service activities of the faculty; to provide input into University policy concerning academic development and faculty mentoring; and assess policy approaches to, and delivery of Faculty mentoring within the University.

Both votes passed and were sanctioned by the USA Board of Trustees at their March, 2007 meeting.

We recommended the following policy and amended the following procedure respectively, and the Senate subsequently passed them:

1. Grade Replacement Policy. This policy in essence states that: “Under certain conditions a University of South Alabama student may request that an earlier grade not be used in the calculation of the USA grade point average.” For more information on this policy and for the corresponding forms, please consult the USA Faculty Senate website.
2. In addition to allowing for disparities between 9- month contract faculty and 12-month faculty the major amendment to the Final Course Grade Grievance Procedure was the addition of a college level committee. For more information on this policy, please consult the USA Faculty Senate website.
3. On behalf of the Library Faculty and Staff and Committee passed a resolution that reads as follows:
   Section 3.4.5 in the Faculty Handbook - Time for promotion to Senior Librarian at the Associate Librarian level to be changed from (5) years to three (3) years, to match the time in rank at the Associate level for regular USA faculty.

ONGOING:

The Policy and Handbook Committee has voted to bring up a modification of the USA Late Course Withdrawal Policy in the 2007 – 2008 Senate session. It reads as follows:

After the conclusion of the Drop/Add period (typically, the end of the first week of a regular semester), but before the end of the last day to drop a class, a student may withdraw from a course only with the signature approval of the course instructor.