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 October 14, 2003, meeting were approved with the understanding that the minutes would more explicitly acknowledge that the resolution passed at the October 14, 2003, meeting calling for the Tarleton Administration to raise the ORP contribution for all faculty hired since 1995 to be raised from 6.0% to 8.5% beginning with the 2004-05 fiscal year did not have the unanimous approval of the Senate.

II. Secretary-Treasurer Malcolm L. Cross reported that the official balance in the Faculty Senate account as of November 11, 2003 was $2665.33, which was $489.98 less than the balance of $3155.31 reported at the October 14, 2003 meeting, and noted that the decrease in funds reflected:
· Payments totaling $389.98 to meet the travel-related expenses of various faculty senators, and
· A charge of $100.00 levied against the faculty senate account by the University to defray expenses incurred in the moving of the Faculty Senate’s equipment, files, etc. to its new office.
The Secretary-Treasurer also noted that the balance would be altered with the completion of various pending financial transactions, including:
· The deposit of $52.00 received by the Faculty Senate at its November 5 Luncheon;
· The payment of $300.00 in dues to the Texas Council of Faculty Senates; and
· The payment of $64.00 for the plaque presented at the Faculty Senate Luncheon to a previous Faculty Senate President, Dr. Teresa Davidian.
Also discussed in connection with the presentation of the Treasurer’s Report was the question of whether the Faculty Senate should continue to wait to pay $625.00 it had been requested to pay to support the Noon Aerobics Program. At the October 14 meeting the Senate had voted to make the payment on receipt of a promised deposit of $600.00 from the Office of the vice President for Academic Affairs. However, at the November 11 meeting the Senate voted to pay the $625.00 prior to receipt of the promised $600.00 and in anticipation of the generosity of the Office of the VPAA. The Secretary-Treasurer noted that the completion of this transaction, together with the completion of the aforementioned transactions, would reduce the Faculty Senate’s balance to $1728.33.

III. Piper Award: The Faculty Senate selected Dr. James C. Kirby, Professor in the Department Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering, to be Tarleton’s nominee for the academic year’s Piper Award.
IV. Announcements.
A. Faculty Salary and Benefits Committee: Jeremy Curtoys, Chairman of the
Faculty Salary and Benefits Committee, told the Faculty Senate that President
McCabe was committed to raising faculty salaries and that Vice President for
Academic Affairs Gary Peer was developing 3 to 4 strategies for promoting salary
raises, although these strategies have not yet been completed for presentation.
Jeremy Curtoys also said that the Committee was concerned with the issue of
internal equity, that the Committee had data on who was getting how much, but
that additional data was needed. To secure that data he distributed copies of a
Faculty Compensation Survey which he requested Faculty Senators to distribute
to their colleagues, and to collect and return the results to him by November 14.

B. Faculty Excellence in Scholarship Award: Russell Higham, chairman of the
committee established by the Faculty Senate to establish guidelines for the
awarding of a Faculty Excellence in Scholarship Award, presented a second draft
of the Award guidelines written after its initial consideration by the Academic
Council. He noted that the most controversial issues raised in the Academic
Council concerned:
· The definition of eligible scholarly activities, given the diversity of faculty backgrounds and forms in which research can be conducted and presented; and
· The degree to which research reflecting collaboration among faculty, and collaboration between faculty and students should be acknowledged; and
· Whether research should be recognized at the university level, the college level, or in a manner allowing for recognition at both levels.
The Faculty Senate voted to accept the revised proposal after:
· Changing the first phrase under “Eligible Scholarly and Creative Activities (p. 1)” to read: “To be eligible for nomination, a prospective nominee must be involved in one or more activities such as the following:”
· Adding, under part b of “Eligible Scholarly and Creative Activities,” a Roman numeral iv, reading “conducted and published collaborative research,”
· Amending part c of “Eligible Scholarly and Creative Activities” to read “conducted state, national, or international-level seminars, workshops, or comparable creative activities in a scholarly environment.”
· Adding the statement that “Individual college-level award nominees will be recognized within their respective colleges.”
None of the votes to amend the proposal or accept it after amending it was
unanimous.

C. Bookstore Issues: The Faculty Senate selected a committee consisting of David
Weindorff (chairman), Mark Holtorf, and Russell Higham to meet with the
Campus Store Manager and the Vice President for Finance and Administration to discuss outstanding issues, including the Campus Store’s reported failure to order
either the number of copies of texts or the correct editions of texts specified by
faculty.

D. Student Evaluation of On-Line Courses/Evaluation of Distributed Education
Courses: David Weissenburger reported that a second draft of a proposal establishing policy on this issue had been produced, and that progress was being made in addressing several issues discussed at the October 14 Faculty Senate meeting, including:
· The routing of instructor-related information to department heads rather than to the CITDE;
· The aggregation of data on a college-wide basis; and
· The elimination of student involvement from the processing of evaluation data.

E. Texas Council of Faculty Senates Meeting: Kelli Styron distributed a written
report on the recent meeting of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates.

F. ITV Senate Meetings: Janet Whitley announced that the televising of Faculty
Senate meetings was technically unfeasible.

G. Other Announcements: Janet Whitley announced that:
· The Texas A & M University System Council has proposed the creation of a Faculty Advisory Council to meet with the System Chancellor, and that Dr. McCabe is supportive of this idea; and
· Dennis Jones, Director of General Studies, has requested the Faculty Senate to select a representative to serve on the “First Year Experience Committee” whose goal is to encourage student retention. Randy Harp agreed to serve.
Also, David Weissenburger distributed the “Higher Education Pathways Model” report and noted that the Killeen campus will need an enrollment of 2,500 students to achieve status as an independent school.

V. University Committees.
A. Reports:
1. Academic Council: Janet Whitley announced that at a called meeting the
Academic Council decided to no longer require the TASP Test.
2. Curriculum Committee: No report.
3. Calendar Committee: Janet Whitley announced the Calendar Committee had
met the week prior to the November 11 Faculty Senate meeting and had
approved the 2004-05 Calendar, which will be discussed at the December 9
Faculty Senate meeting.

4. Enrollment Management Advisory Council: Janet Whitley announced that a
report on the Enrollment Management Advisory Council will be presented at
the Faculty Senate’s January 13 meeting.
5. Employee Benefits: Janet Whitley announced that a report on the Employee
Benefits Committee will be presented at the Faculty Senate’s January 13
meeting.
6. Distance/Distributed Education: Bill Bane announced that incentives other
than money or release time to teach via distance learning technology were being solicited.
7. TLTR: George Mollick distributed a draft of the TLTR’s mission statement,
“A Proposed Vision for Technology in Teaching and Learning at Tarleton
State University,” to be discussed at the Faculty Senate’s January 13 meeting.
8. EEO/AA: No report.
9. Other Committee Reports: None.

VI. Motions to Approve: None.

VII. Fall Luncheon: David Weissenburger reported on the Faculty Senate’s Fall
Luncheon, held on November 5, stressing the great positive feedback elicited by the
Luncheon and its featured speaker, Political Science Professor Dr. Barry Price, who
described his experiences as a Fulbright Scholar in Nicaragua.

VIII. New Business: None.

XI. Adjournment: The Faculty Senate adjourned at 5:02 P.M. The next meeting is scheduled for 1/13/04, at 3:30 P.M. in the Library Multi-Purpose Room