President Teresa Davidian called the meeting to order at 3:30 P.M. Twenty-one senators or representatives were in attendance. Donna Mitchell was absent.

I. Minutes of the February 15, 2002 meeting were approved.
II. The treasurer reported a balance of $3095.45.
III. Arthur Award (Weissenburger)
A. Selection of 3 Candidates
The senate selections for nomination for the award were Sandra Beaty, Jim Kirby, and Mark Holtorf..

B. College Representatives for Selection Committee
Then representatives for the committee were Richard Winton, Sam Dodson, Mary Ann Block, Joe Gillespie, and Bill Bane.

IV. Announcements
A. The following were chosen to serve on the Regents Professor selection committee: Dennis Jones, Russ Higham, and Tracy Holtman.

B. The spring luncheon will be April 2nd. There was a proposal to pay each musician $50. The motion was approved.

C. Gene Atkinson reminded people that committee requests are due March 8th. He will compile those requests and then the Executive committee will put together final recommendations.

D. Teresa Davidian reminded senators that nominations for the executive board positions are due in April. Departmental elections for replacement senators should also be done in April. New senators should come to the May meeting to be introduced.

E. Dr. McCabe forwarded an email about cutbacks in higher education which are occurring in many states. Compared to most states, is in relatively good shape.

F. A few more budget hearings were scheduled and a call for senate representatives was made.

G. The new Student Evaluation of Faculty Form may be ready this spring for a trial run. Department heads will be making recommendations for its use.

V. Unfinished Business:
A. IRB Rules: Feed back on the rules was received from three departments and will be forwarded to the IRB committee.

B. The Dean's and Provost will be re-examining the current attendance policy and making recommendations for change. The College of Liberal and Fine Arts is planning to have a forum on the issue.

VI. University Committee Reports
A. University Planning Council: Three subcommittees are developing mission statement in the areas of teaching, research, and service.

B. Faculty Development Leave Policy has been slightly modified and will be voted on at the next Academic Council meeting

C. The Evaluation of Administrators Committee handed out a draft of the policy and forms for review. Comments should be returned to Teresa Davidian by March 26th.

D. The Faculty Load Committee is still hoping for more comments, eventually the draft policy will go to Dr. Peer for his input.

E. The Grievance Committee is also awaiting further review from faculty. Please send comments to Steve Simpson by March 26th.

F. The Excellence in Scholarship Awards committee met early in March and will draft a document for review in April.

G. The spring meeting of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates was attended by Teresa Davidian and David Weissenburger. A summary of comments is attached.

H. Other Committee Reports (Benefits, Calendar, Etc.)
The Calendar Committee has been working on the 03-04 calendar. One proposal is concerned with the final week of each semester and exam schedules. Senators will vote one of two options:
(1) keep the schedule we have now (i.e., last day of class is on a Wednesday); or
(2) extend the semester by one day (last day of class is on a Thursday); so that Thursday night classes can meet 15 times (and not just 14). Saturday (the 6th) would be first day of finals, Sunday off, M-F (8-12) finals, Saturday the 13th (commencement). Grades would be due after commencement (Monday, December 15)

Other news from the Calendar Committee: spring break is scheduled to occur one week later during the 02-03 calendar year.

VII. New Business: Student Appeals Policy (Davidian)
A draft policy has been formulated and was handed out. Senators comments should be sent to Teresa by March 26th.

A proposal was made to develop a new faculty survey form. Marlin Priddy, Gene Atkinson, and Janet Whitley will develop and conduct the survey.

A complaint was forwarded regarding the current Travel Policy which does not allow payment of meals for day trips. It was felt that this was State policy and that we could do nothing about it.