Approved Minutes
17 November, 1999

1. & 2.             Call to Order and of Roll

Present:

Spector, Thurston, Vetrosky, Brown, Cohen, Dilsaver, Haywick, Jones, Labbe, Miller, Morris, Payne, Rogers, Bracken, Hsu, Kennett, McGinnis, Langan, Ryder, Trufant, Wilson,  Davidson-Shivers, Van Haneghan, Parker, Engebretson, Murray, Norman, Brandon, Cepeda, Cox, Foster, Kayes, Nelson, Teplick, Tuck-Muller, Wesenberg, Doolittle, Weitzel.
Absent (Excused):
Dagenais, Bowers, Chryslee, Ledoux, Weston, Arata, Hamid, Allison, Ballard, Olsen, Honkanen, Townsley, Stevens, DeWitt.
Absent (Unexcused):
Hitt, Sternberg, Zhang, Frederick, McIntosh, Strange
3. Approval of Minutes:
Minutes from the October meeting were approved.
4. Report from the Chair:
Dr. Labbe stated that the search for the Dean of Arts and Sciences was going well. She stated that she had a list of over 33 nominations and encouraged the faculty to peruse the list, attend the presentations, and offer feedback as was appropriate.

Ed Harrison gave a presentation as to how the search for the Vice President of Academic Affairs was progressing. He stated that the search committee had been assembled and a list of candidates was in progress of being compiled.

The subject of football was again discussed. A feasibility study is needed and will be an involved process. The continuing sentiment of the faculty is that at this time, there should be no football. The recent report from the Ad Hoc committee is posted on the senate Web page.

Many issues that the faculty has brought to their senators have concerned faculty governance.  The senate wants to study the issues and problems related to faculty governance and develop strategies to suggest to President Moulton. Dr. Labbe proposed that an  ad hoc committee be appointed to work on this issue.

The Long Range Planning & Presidential Search Process Committees have met. The Search Process Committees is gathering information from other universities and will begin drafting a procedure to be recommended to the Board of Trustees.

Dr Labbe also commented on the faculty senate networking effort. She thanked Sally Murray for updating the senate Web page. She also thanked  Doug Haywick and Cindy Stanfield for sending updates to all A&S, and Allied Health Professions faculty members respectively.  She mentioned that if each caucus leader could do this once a month or when important issues arose it would be a great way to continue to facilitate faculty communication.

5. Reports from Standing Committees:
Salary and Benefits Committee report was given by Skip Foster. He stated that the committee continues to investigate instituting a dental plan for the faculty. The committee was also investigating a vacation policy. He noted that such a policy might not be applicable to 9 month faculty members. Finally, the committee was working on how to address salary compensation/equity issues such as faculty members who are at the same rank but have disparity between their salaries.

Policy and Handbook Committee made mention that the work load policy has been implemented. The committee wants feedback and comments on how this policy is being administered and enforced. The committee also distributed draft proposal resolutions on faculty hiring guidelines and chairs of departments serving as faculty senators. These will be distributed and discussed among the colleges, and voted upon at the December faculty senate meeting.

A report from the Planning and Development Committee was distributed. Included in this report was information and a resolution from the University Long Range Planning Committee.
 
(Resolutions will be attached once minutes are approved.)


6. Reports from Caucus Leaders:

There were no caucus leader reports.
7. Communications from the University President:
President Moulton stated that he is very open to input from the faculty and faculty senate regarding faculty participation in governance. He also stated that salary issues were a priority for next year as was scholarships for new and continuing students. He stated that the administration is also looking into the possibility of dental insurance but is concerned that the results may be disappointing.
8. Old Business:
Football was briefly discussed and the possibility of drafting a resolution was mentioned.

As mentioned in the Chair's report, an Ad Hoc Committee was appointed to investigate faculty participation in University governance. The committee is to examine the literature, what our internal structure is currently,  and how other universities are addressing this issue. The committee chair is Dan Rogers.

9. New Business:
A suggestion that the faculty receive minutes from the Deans Council and Associate Deans Council. This will be investigated.

Steve Morris, Chair of the Policy and Handbook Committee briefly discussed the resolutions from his committee.

Calvin Jones attended the Alabama Council of University Faculty Presidents. He stated that the main item of discussion was the development of a faculty data base. There was much controversy pertaining to misinterpretation of data, privacy issues, and comparable data collection across universities.

10. Adjournment:
Elise Labbe adjourned the meeting at 3:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by:

D. Vetrosky, Secretary



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