Faculty Senate President David Weissenburger called the meeting to order at 3:30 P.M.
Eighteen senators were in attendance.

I. The Faculty Senate considered the minutes for the March 11 meeting to be complete and accurate. However, it requested Secretary-Treasurer Malcolm L. Cross to rewrite parts of the minutes to express ideas presented by Senators in topical form, rather than in the chronological order previously employed. Approval of the minutes was deferred until the May 6 meeting.

II. Secretary-Treasurer Malcolm L. Cross reported a balance of $1260.85. in the Faculty Senate account

III . Announcements.
A. Senate Elections: David Weissenburger said that:
· Faculty senators whose terms were set to expire need to conduct elections in their departments for their replacements,
· Newly-elected Senators would be invited to attend the May 6 meeting,
· The Senate must elect a President-Elect at the May 6 meeting; and Kelli Styron, Senator from the Department of Social Work, Sociology, and Criminal Justice, would be nominated for President-Elect in May.
B. Regents Professor: David Weissenburger that the Regents Professor Award for this year had been cancelled due to budget constraints.
C. Spring Luncheon: Malcolm L. Cross announced that $50.00 had been received from those who attended the Spring Luncheon on 4/10/03. Teresa Davidian said that Aramark will be charging the senate for 56 dinners.
D. Committee Requests for Next Academic Year: Teresa Davidian reported that the Senate’s solicitation of committee assignment requests had elicited over 100 responses from the faculty.
E. Faculty Development Leave for Next Academic Year. David Weissenburger said that he had worked for the approval of at least one faculty development leave request to keep the process alive, and that one request had been approved, at no cost to Tarleton, pending final action by the Texas A & M University System Board of Regents.
F. Proposed Legislation on Faculty Compensation—HB 1783: David Weissenburger said that HB 1783, a bill to raise faculty pay in Texas public universities to the average faculty pay for public universities in the ten largest states, is still before the House Committee on Higher Education.
G. Other: David Weissenburger said that the State House of Representatives is considering HB 2645, which would prohibit pay increases to higher education administrators greater than pay increases given faculty.

IV. Motions to Approve: None.

V. University Committees.
A. Reports.
1. Academic Council: No report.
2. Curriculum Committee: No report.
3. Employee Benefits Committee: Kelli Styron said that President McCabe wants the Employee Benefits Committee to convene to elect a representative to the System Employee Benefits Advisory Council.
4. Distance and Distributed Education Committee and TLTR: Bill Bane reported that the Distance and Distributed Education Committee was developing a list of “good practices” for on-line courses, that on-line courses would be examined to determine the extent to which they adhere to “good practices,” but that actual course content would not be reviewed. George Mollick reported that Gary Peer wanted the TLTR to develop a mission statement and specify its goals to help in the budgeting process, and that the TLTR was administering a questionnaire to help develop computer competency standards for new faculty hires who may need to use computer technology in the classroom.
5. Calendar Committee: No report. However, the Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution endorsing the creation of a week-long Fall Break to coincide with the Thanksgiving Week.
6. EEO/AA: No report.
7. Planning Council: Kelli Styron announced that at the Planning Council meeting Dennis McCabe said that he would reexamine institutional effectiveness standards developed at the January planning retreat during an upcoming retreat with the Vice Presidents.
8. Other Committee Reports: None.
B. Other Committee Business: None.

VI. Budget Reductions. David Weissenburger announced that:
· the Task Force established by Dennis McCabe to propose budget cuts had elicited numerous candid suggestions from faculty, staff, and students,
· the Task Force would prioritize and forward its recommendations by 5/1;
· the Task Force’s recommendations would probably be published; and
· Budget hearings at Tarleton will not be held until June or July after the Legislature acts.
In the ensuing discussion Senators expressed concerns about:
· The possibility of layoffs;
· The timing of announcements of layoffs;
· The availability of funds for travel, and for whom
· The necessity to be kept informed of budget-related deliberations and decisions; and
· The need for the Senate to remain involved in the budget-making process.

VII. Summer Pay for Faculty: The committee established by the Faculty Senate to compare Tarleton’s policy on faculty compensation for summer teaching reported that its analysis showed that Tarleton’s compensation was no more generous than that offered by other schools for similar work. In the ensuing discussion concerns were expressed about the possible decline in the quality of summer courses if Tarleton faculty were to be replaced by adjuncts paid less for the same work. The Faculty Senate unanimously adopted a resolution “Emphatically urg[ing] the Tarleton State University administration to maintain the established practice of summer school faculty compensation.”

VIII. Excellence in Research Award: Russ Higham, chairman of the committee established by the Faculty Senate to develop the Excellence in Research Award, distributed a draft of the committee’s proposal, which included eligibility criteria, selection procedures, and presentation procedures. The Senate unanimously endorsed it with minor edits. The final draft will be forwarded it to the administration.

IX. Proposed Faculty Workload Policy: This item was tabled until the May 6 meeting.

X. New Business.
A. New Faculty Annual Activity Report. David Weissenburger distributed copies of the proposed Faculty Annual Activity Report being developed to create a new database. The Faculty Senate’s discussion of the report included expression of the following concerns:
· The purpose of the information being elicited;
· The identities of the recipients;
· Whether this is a new form of faculty evaluation;
· Whether completing this report will duplicate other information-gathering activities.
B. Faculty Development Leave Committee—COLFA representative: DavidWeissenburger announced that he would conduct an election among members of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts to choose a representative to serve a three-year term on the Faculty Development Leave Committee. The nominees were Richard Shigley of the Department of Social Work, Sociology, and Criminal Justice, and Charlie Howard of the Department of Fine Arts and Communications.
C. Other New Business: There was no other new business.

XI. Adjournment.
The Senate adjourned at 5:03 P.M. The next meeting is scheduled for 5/6/03, at 3:30 P.M.
in the Library Multi-Purpose Room.