Faculty Senate President David Weissenburger called the meeting to order at 3:30 PM. Twenty senators were in attendance.

I. Minutes of the May 7, 2002, meeting were approved.

II. The treasurer reported a balance of $776.03, with an allocation of $3100.00 yet to be made. He also indicated that whether the $776.03 could be rolled over into the new fiscal year had not yet been determined.

III. Election of Parliamentarian: Marlin Priddy, Senator from Agricultural Services and Development, was elected Parliamentarian by acclamation.

IV. Announcements.
A. Piper Award: The selection of a nominee for the Piper Award is to be coordinated by the Senate President-elect. Nomination forms are to be distributed by faculty senators directly to department members, with a final nominee to be selected by a vote of the entire senate in November.
B. Faculty Development Leave: This program was approved last year. A new committee will be formed to review and rank applications for the vice president for academic affairs.
C. Faculty Survey: The faculty survey was conducted last year and the results were compiled by Teresa Davidian and Gene Atkinson. The survey indicated that the most important concern of the faculty was salary, followed by teaching load. David Weissenburger compiled separate results for the Killeen campus, which showed facilities to be the top concern. Handouts reporting the results of the survey were distributed at the meeting. Senators were urged to share survey results with their respective departments.
D. Other Announcements: The Faculty Handbook will soon be finalized and distributed on
line rather than in hard copy, to save paper.

V. University Committees.

(Prior to the making of appointments, David Weissenburger reported that on the average, 79% of the Senate's recommendations concerning committee appointments had been honored. A wide range found in the percentage of recommendation that were honored for each committee. Some accepted 0% while others accepted 100% of the Senate’s recommendations. David Weissenburger reported that he had shared this information and his concern about the variance with the vice president for academic affairs.)

A. Appointments (all were approved unanimously).
1. Administrative Confidence.
Charles Howard (Fine Arts and Speech)--member
Dan Collins (Business)--member
Steve Simpson (Health and Physical Education)--member
Randy Hines (Animal Sciences)--alternate

2. University Grievance Committee.
Steve Steed (Computer Information Services)--member
Phillip A. Murray (Chemistry and Geosciences)--member
Christopher E. Guthrie (Social Sciences)--member
Sandra Johnson (Agricultural Services and Development)--member
Holly Lamb (Curriculum and Instruction)--member

3. Faculty Development Leave.
Mallory Young (English and Languages)--member
Hussain Jafri (Accounting, Finance, and Economics)--member
Richard A. Winton (Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering)--member
Linda N. Duncan (Educational Administration, Counseling, and Psychology)—
member
D. Frank Gilman (Agribusiness, Agronomy, Horticulture, and Range Management)--
member

4. Distance Education.
George Mollick (Engineering Technology)--member

5. Diversity Advisory.
Janice Petronis--member

B. Reports.
1. Academic Council.
Past President Teresa Davidian reported that the Academic Council had approved
polices on grievances, development leave, and the evaluation of Administrators, with a
new form for the evaluation of deans.

2. Other Committee Reports.
There were no other committee reports.

VI. Motions to Approve.

A. The Senate unanimously approved a motion endorsing the payment of $300.00 in dues to
the Texas Council of Faculty Senates.

B. Other Motions to Approve.
There were no other motions.

VII. Fall Luncheon.
Teresa Davidian announced that the Fall Luncheon would be held in early November on a Wednesday, with the date to be finalized soon, Tom Pilkington has been invited to speak on his research. The charge will be $1.00/faculty member.

VIII. Posting of Course Syllabi on the Web.
David Weissenburger said that this is a project pursued by the student government, and is not related to the SAC demand for master syllabi. A committee of students and faculty had a few meetings over the summer but has not yet formulated a definitive plan. Tentative recommendations of this committee include making the posting voluntary for faculty and having the posting done by students. Any formal proposal on this matter will be sent trhough the Senate for review and approval. No action is contemplated at this time; future action will be determined by future analysis of the issue.

IX. Faculty Workload.
David Weissenburger announced that Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Gary Peer considers this an "alive issue;" that Gary Peer is reviewing a draft proposal from the Senate, and that he is interested in analyzing the different talents required for different forms of faculty workload activities (eg. teaching versus research versus committee work versus advising, etc.), as well as different requirements imposed by different departments. The Senate will await a response from Gary Peer prior to taking any further action on the matter.

X. Excellence in Research Award.
David Weissenburger reported that the chairperson of a subcommittee to develop a recommendation on this matter was no longer with the Senate and that the subcommittee's work will be reviewed as part of an effort to develop such a recommendation.

XI. New Business.
A. Library Representation on the Senate.
At issue is whether librarians can retain representation on the Senate, given that they also have representation on the Staff Council and wish to be regarded as staff. Associate Librarian Donna Savage explained that if librarians have representation on the Senate they might be classified as faculty, thereby causing them to lose staff benefits such as longevity pay. In the course of discussion it was noted that the Faculty Senate Constitution explicitly provides for the representation of librarians on the Senate regardless of their status. Removing the librarian representative would require an amendment of the Constitution by cumbersome and time-consuming procedures. David Weissenburger recommended that no action on the matter be taken at this time, and that the resolution of the issue await his consultation with University Vice President for Finance and Administration Jerry Graham.

B. ITV/Web-Based Course Student Evaluation of Instruction.
David Weissenburger noted that questions used in the evaluation of ITV and web-based instruction included questions that evaluated faculty, and that these question had not been reviewed or approved by the Senate. A need exists to separate questions evaluating the course instructor from questions that evaluate instructional technology. He presented for discussion a set of revised questions that could be used to supplement the approved student evaluation of instruction questions that are now used in face-to-face instructional courses. Senator Mollick noted that the current ITV/web-based course evaluation is the result of SAC demands, that the previous instrument is not satisfactory, that it is to be lengthened to conform with best practices in this area and changed to separate the evaluation of technology from the evaluation of the instructor, and that the key issue is to develop a satisfactory process first and then to address issues for judging courses, etc. Senator Petronis recommended that special attention be paid to technology issues. David Weissenburger said the process of developing the evaluation should be a collaborative effort with the faculty, Center for Instructional Technology and Distributed Education (CITDE), and administration. He has discussed this issue with Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Gary Peer and will be meeting with CITDE Director Dr. Joann Wheeler to obtain more information, share faculty concerns, and begin working on the issue through a process of mutual communication. He will keep Gary Peer apprised of our concerns.

C. Other New Business.
Several members of the Faculty Senate expressed concern for the current practice of deducting sick leave for faculty requiring medical attention and/or hospitalization even when they miss no classes or scheduled office hours, especially at the end of semesters or between semesters. Teresa Davidian explained that the practice is the result of state legislation and is not something that can be resolved locally. Members of the Senate were also warned that medical problem may affect summer teaching offers (i.e., injury during the semester break that causes an instructor to miss the first day of class may cancel the offer).

XII. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned about 4:45 p.m. until 3:30 p.m., 10/8/02.