Minutes of Faculty Senate Meeting
September 11, 2001 3:30 PM

President Teresa Davidian called the meeting to order at 3:30 P.M.

Twenty-one senators were present or represented. There was no representative from Military Science.

I. Senators introduced themselves. New president Teresa Davidian laid out some goals for the coming year. She clarified that President McCabe feels that the Senate's role is in an advisory capacity, our by-laws state that our primary role is liaison between the administration and faculty. The administration does seem to want to establish better communication. Some of the goals for the upcoming year are to finish uncompleted tasks including finalizing a developmental leave policy, completing the new faculty evaluation forms, and revising the Senate By-laws. New projects may include a faculty senate newsletter, developing policies on faculty load, recognizing faculty research, and development of a tool for evaluation of administrators and administrative offices.

II Approval of Minutes
There was one change to the May minutes. Upon motion by Janis Petronis, the Senate approved the minutes of the May meeting.

III. Treasurer's Report.
The Treasurer reported a balance of $800.42 In addition, a budget review of expenditures and income for 2000-2001 and a proposed budget for 2001-2002 was handed out.

IV. Selection of New Parliamentarian
Allen Nelson was nominated by Carol Thompson. No other nominations were made. Election was by acclamation.

V. President Elect's Report: Advising during break. David Weissenburger reported that a meeting of the Dean's Council resulted in a memo which clarified the advisement problem discussed at the May meeting and seemed to present a reasonable solution.

VI., Committee Reports
A. Academic Council
Gene Atkinson reported that the Academic Council met in July and August to vote on the proposed Ed.D. program. Some discussion ensued over the fact that a program of great importance which changes the stature of the University was rushed through when the majority of faculty were absent. Although the proposal had been in the works since October 2000, public notice did not occur until late, underscoring the need for better communication.

Some discussion also ensued as to why the Academic Council is nether Academic nor appears to have any power and votes (if any are taken) are meaningless.

B. Calendar Committee
No meeting as yet this year.

C. Committee to Review Changes in Criteria for Promotion
Allan Nelson summarized the memo from this committee which recommended changes to the Criteria for Promotion and Tenure. These include recommendation of two new items and some language changes in the additional document. Upon motion to accept from Allan Nelson, the document was accepted. It will be forwarded to the VPAA.

D. Comparison of Senate recommendations for 2001-2 Committee Appointments
Gene Atkinson passed out a comparison of the recommendations that Faculty Senate had presented with the actual assignments made.

VII., Committees for 2001-2
A.  Senate Representatives appointed May 2001
The following committee appointments although having been approved in May were reapproved as required by our By-Laws.
1. EEO/AA: Teresa Davidian
2. Curriculum: Janis Petronis
3. Employee Benefits: Allan Nelson
    In addition, Teresa Davidian becomes the representative for the Calendar Committee.

B. Reorganization of Senate Committees
1. Administrative Confidence, The following were suggested as representatives for this committee: Randy Hines, Holly Lamb, Jim Kirby, and Chuck Rives (alternate). Allan Nelson recommended approval tentative upon their acceptance. Vote was unanimous to accept.

2. Faculty Advisory Committee
The following were suggested as representatives for this committee.
Science and Technology: Paul Lawrence, alternate Don Keith
Agriculture and Human Sciences: Joe Cadle, alternate Sandy Johnson
Business Administration: Hussain Jafri, alternate Dan Dudley
Education: Don Beach, Linda Duncan
Liberal and Fine Arts: Charlie Howard, Maria Bohm
Allan Nelson recommended approval tentative upon their acceptance. Vote was unanimous to accept.

3. Constitution and Bylaws
Gene Atkinson, Dennis Jones, and Mark Shipman are the new members of this committee. Janis Petronis moved approval which was unanimous.

VIII. Faculty Awards
Teresa Davidian read a letter from the Piper Foundation which clarified the situation with regard to eligibility. In part the letter from Carlos Otero of the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation reads "It is very true that many a dedicated teacher has moved to the ranks of administrative duties, or supervision of graduate programs, etc., thus reducing their teaching load for a semester or a year. This certainly does not diminish the fact that the teacher is an excellent educator. But again the main goal of this program is to recognize those who are currently teaching on a full-tine basis. It is one of the requirements for submitting candidates - the nominee must teach on a full-time basis."

Question was asked about the winner of the Piper award and that was unknown at the time.

IX. New Business
A. Dr. Gary Peer, the new provost/VPAA will be invited to address the Senate at their next meeting. The Senate Executive Committee has several meetings set up throughout the next academic year. Issues to be brought up include the developmental leave policy (pointed out that it already exists within the system), evaluation of administrators (which appears to be a system policy as well), and the need for a senate representative of the Distance Learning Committee.

B. The Senate luncheon for Fall will be sometime in late October on a Tuesday at noon. Gene Atkinson has in mind to get a state level representative fore the fall meeting to address educational issues and a system level person for the spring.

C. New Senate Committees
The following committees were formed:

Committee to develop a plan for evaluation of Administrators
George Mollick, Richard Sale, Randy Hines. George Mollick will call the initial meeting and the Chair will be decided by the committee.

Committee to develop recommendations on Faculty Load
Janis Petronis, Janet Whitley, Richard Winton. Janis Petronis will call the initial meeting and the Chair will be decided by the committee.

Committee to Develop recommendations for Faculty Research Award
Dennis Jones, chair; Richard Winton, Russ Higham, Bert Little, Mark Shipman

The suggestion to form a committee to develop a faculty newsletter was tabled for lack of interest.

D. Teresa Davidian requested approval for payment of dues ($300) for our membership in the Texas Council of Faculty Senates. Upon motion to approve by Janis Petronis, approval was unanimous.

E. There are proposed changes to the System Policies regarding tenure and dismissals. the proposed changes were handed out for review. TFA, TACT and others have already composed a formal reply. Senators were requested to discuss this with their departments and send comments to Teresa Davidian. Teresa will mail information on this matter to all senators.

F. Senators were requested to comment on the Core Curriculum as part of a review. Comments are to be sent to Teresa Davidian.

Meeting was adjourned at 4:55 PM.