Faculty Senate President Janet Whitley called the meeting to order at 3:30 P.M. Twenty-one
Senators were in attendance.

I. Minutes of the May 6, 2003, meeting were approved.

II. Secretary-Treasurer Malcolm L. Cross reported that the Faculty Senate had received an allocation of $3100.00 and that it was probable that it could keep an additional $55.31 which had not been spent in the previous fiscal year and would probably be rolled over into the Senate account for the new fiscal year.

III. Election of Parliamentarian: Marlin Priddy was re-elected Faculty Senate Parliamentarian by acclamation.

IV. Announcements.
A. Piper Award: Janet Whitley announced that the process for selecting a Piper Award nominee would begin next month, and conducted online.
B. Faculty Development Leave: Janet Whitley confirmed that Leslie Stanley-Stevens had received faculty development leave for this academic year, and that the Faculty Development Leave committee would meet for the first time this year on September 10.
C. Budget Task Force: David Weissenburger, discussing the University’s budget, announced that:
· There had been small overall cuts in the budget;
· Funds for travel had been reinstated;
· The status quo in most areas was being maintained; and
· Merit pay increases and other issues remained to be decided.
Also, Janet Whitley announced she would be meeting with Gary Peer on 9/10,
and would discuss budget matters.
D. Excellence in Research Award: Janet Whitley announced that this issue had been
referred to Gary Peer, and that she would discuss the matter with him on 9/10.
Russ Higham said that the possibility of online administration of the award
selection process should be explored, and that an effort to make this the first
academic year in which the award was given should be made.
E. Other Announcements:
1. Committee Assignments: Janet Whitley announced distributed a statistical
analysis showing that 57% of the recommendations made by the Faculty Senate
for appointment to university committees had been accepted by President
McCabe.
2. Meeting with Dwayne Snider: Janet Whitley announced that she and David
Weissenburger had met with Dwayne Snider to discuss several issues concerning
the evaluation of faculty, and had learned of the following:
a. The pre-printed forms: The faculty evaluation forms will be revised by
omitting the name and number of the actual course being evaluated, and will be
printed by an outside company rather than by Tarleton’s Information Resources.
b. Dwayne Snyder wants to formalize the procedures for evaluating distance
education courses. David Weissenburger, who will be the Faculty Senate’s
contact person on this issue, added that the CITDE will get feedback only on the
evaluation of technology used in a particular course, but not on student reaction to
the faculty member being evaluated. Each instructor’s department head will
receive the latter data.

V. University Committee Appointments.

A. Appointments.

1. Administrative Confidence: The Faculty Senate elected the following
faculty members to the Administrative Confidence Committee:
Charlie Howard (COLFA);
Joe Priest (COE)
Steve Field (COST, and representing the Faculty Senate); and
Dan Dudley (COBA, as Alternate).

2. University Grievance Committee: The Faculty Senate elected the following
faculty members to the University Grievance Committee:
Sandy Johnson (COE)
Steve Steed (COBA)
Holly Lamb (COE)
Jim Kirby (COST)
Chris Guthrie (COLFA)

3. Distance Education Advisory: The Faculty Senate re-elected Bill Bane to the
Distance and Distributed Education Committee and George Mollick to the TLTR.

4. Enrollment Management Advisory Council: Janet Whitley announced that she
would talk to Kelli Styron about representing the Faculty Senate on the
Enrollment Management Advisory Council.

Also, the question of whether faculty senate members selected for committee
assignments last spring had actually been appointed to the respective committees
was raised, and Janet Whitley said she would check with Gary Peer about this
matter.

B. Committee Reports:
1. Academic Council: Malcolm L. Cross, who represented the Faculty Senate at
the Academic Council meeting of August 19, announced that the Academic
Council had made the following policy changes:
· Concerning residence requirements, the Academic Council voted to permit exceptions to the policy of permitting a maximum of 68 semester hours of academic credit to be accepted for degree credit from a two-year institution, in order to provide more flexibility in working with two-year institutions, and discourage two-year institutions from establishing their own bachelor degree-granting programs;
· Concerning credit hour requirements, the Academic Council voted to increase from 36 to 45 the number of hours of advanced credit required for most baccalaureate degrees from Tarleton, in order to improve Tarleton’s academic image and increase its per-pupil funding.
2. University Planning Committee: Janet Whitley announced that the University Planning Committee had met in July to hear progress reports, and would meet again in January.
3. Enrollment Management Advisory Council: Janet Whitley announced that the Enrollment Management Advisory Council was planning to establish a Welcoming Center for students, since research has shown that the most important factor determining whether a potential student accepted for admission actually enrolls is the quality of his/her visit to the campus.
4. Hallmarks of Excellence Task Force: Janet Whitley announced that Tarleton failed to make the next cut in the process outlined in the Minutes for the May 6 Faculty Senate Meeting.
5. Other Committee Reports: there were no other committee reports.

VI. Motions to Approve:
A. Payment of Dues to Texas Council of Faculty Senates: The Faculty Senate voted
to authorize the payment of $300.00 in dues to the Texas Council of Faculty
Senates when billed.
B. Texas Council of Faculty Senates—October 24-25: The Faculty Senate approved
the sending of Janet Whitley, David Weissenburger, and Kelli Styron to the Texas
Council of Faculty Senates at an estimated cost of $150.00 per person.
C. Noon Aerobics: Pending further review, the Faculty Senate tabled a motion to
approve continuing financial support for the Noon Aerobics Program, after
Senators questioned whether the $625.00 traditionally paid was excessive in light
of the actual number of faculty who participate in the program (estimated at 6 or 7
per day) and other budget constraints.

VII. Fall Luncheon: David Weissenburger announced that the Fall Luncheon had not yet been
scheduled, and that he was open to suggestion concerning the Luncheon’s scheduling
and program. He noted previous fall luncheons had been well-received with about 70
attending last year’s Fall Luncheon and 50 attending the Spring Luncheon. However,
costs were a special concern. In the ensuing discussion, the possibility that faculty
members could select their lunches in the student section of the dining hall at a cost of
$3.25/person to be born by the Faculty Senate was raised.

VIII. Reception for Killeen Faculty: David Weissenburger announced that last year’s proposed Senate-sponsored luncheon for Killeen faculty had been cancelled for lack of funds, and that this fall’s proposed Senate-sponsored reception for Killeen faculty had been cancelled because of the rescheduling of faculty meetings on August 29, but that the possibilities for future Senate-sponsored events for the Killeen faculty will be explored.

IX. Faculty Workload. Janet Whitley announced that David Weissenburger will continue to work with Gary Peer on this issue. David Weissenburger announced that he will incorporate comments made by faculty senators and their constituents in the policy document, which will be submitted to the Faculty Senate for its approval.

X. New Business.
A. Faculty Salary and Benefits Committee: Janet Whitley announced that at its
next meeting the Faculty Senate will consider selecting members to a
reconstituted Faculty Salary and Benefits Committee.
B. Other New Business: Various faculty senators raised the following issues:
· The Campus Store and Book Orders: Several faculty senators reported that the Campus store was changing the book orders submitted by faculty by cutting the number of books ordered and changing the editions specified on the grounds that students do not buy the books and faculty really do not care what editions are ordered. Janet Whitley said she would discuss the matter with Dr. Peer.
· Possible Salary Increases for Administrators. Several faculty senators asked whether administrators had received larger salary increases than faculty, despite a senate resolution last year critical of the practice, and urged that the matter be investigated.
· A faculty senator reported that he had heard that a student had been unable to graduate early and thereby earn a $1000.00 refund on tuition because he had had to take an honors class which delayed his graduation.
· David Weissenburger praised the work of former Faculty Senate Past President Teresa Davidian, and the Faculty Senate voted to award her and her successors with commemorative gavel-motif placques to be acquired by incoming President Elects and paid for by the Faculty Senate.
· David Weissenburger reported on parking policy at the Killeen campus, noting that a policy of assigning individual parking places to faculty had been ended at the request of a majority of the faculty (over 80%), and that the previous policy of reserving certain areas for staff and faculty parking had been reinstated.

XI. Adjournment: The Senate adjourned at 4:52 P.M. The next meeting is scheduled for 10/14/03, at 3:30 P.M. in the Library Multi-Purpose Room