Faculty Senate Meeting
December 5, 2002, 3:30 P.M.
Library Multi-Purpose Room

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

I. Minutes of the Minutes of the November 12, 2002, meeting were approved.

II. Secretary-Treasurer Malcolm L. Cross reported a balance of $3576.03 in the Faculty Senate account, with no financial activity to report since the previous Faculty Senate meeting. However, he also noted the receipt of a bill for $860.00 for food and beverages served at the 11/13/02 Fall Faculty Luncheon.

III. Posting of Course Syllabi on the Web: Student Government Association representative Ms. Jackie Ruess presented the SGA’s proposal to post faculty syllabi on the web. She stressed that faculty participation would be voluntary, and that the issue was not related to the issue of whether to post student-completed evaluations of faculty on the web. David Weissenburger suggested that members of the Faculty Senate solicit their colleagues’ reactions to the SGA proposal for discussion at the January meeting.

IV. 2003-2004 Academic Calendar: Calendar Committee Chair Dr. Janet Schmelzer
discussed the issues the Calendar Committee must face in formulating academic
calendars, emphasizing that:
· The schedule for finals given at the Killeen campus is determined by the desires of those who rent facilities to Tarleton;
· The reduction in length of final examination periods from 2.5 hours to 2 hours would allow the insertion of one more time slot per day; and
· The creation of a fall break in future academic years would require that the fall semester would have to either begin earlier in August or end later in December.
The Faculty Senate voted to accept the proposed calendar for the 2003-2004 academic year.

V. Announcements.
A. Faculty and Staff Administrative Handbook. David Weissenburger announced that the Faculty and Staff Administrative Handbook is now on line.
B. Faculty Development Leave. David Weissenburger announced that faculty development leave applications would soon be on line, and that the deadline to submit an application to one’s department head would be 1/25/03.
C. Fall Luncheon. David Weissenburger announced that the Fall Luncheon had elicited much favorable feedback.
D. Student Evaluation of Teaching. David Weissenburger announced that he had discussed with Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Gary Peer the unacceptably long turnaround time for evaluation results initially projected at the last Faculty Senate meeting. Dr. Dwayne Snyder, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, announced that Information Resources will try to develop a 30-day turnaround time, return forms to the departments with the relevant data, and supply photocopies or typed summaries of student comments.
E. Texas A&M System Symposium: David Weissenburger reported that the Symposium had been interesting, with good opportunities to network and discuss issues raised at our faculty forums, and break-out sessions concerned with the Southern Association of Colleges, faculty development, and the promotion of excellence. He noted that he was especially impressed with comments recognizing and stressing the diversity among the schools in the Texas A&M University System, and that a major message stressed at the Symposium was that the System’s central administration should pay more attention to its schools outside of College Station.

VI. Motions to Approve.
A. Faculty Development Leave COAHS Representative: No action was taken by the
Faculty Senate due to the absence of the college’s senators. Barbara Collins, a former Faculty Senate president, said David Weissenburger could make a temporary appointment at a later time if needed.
B. Other Motions. There were no other motions.

VII. University Committees.
A. Reports.
1. Academic Council: David Weissenburger reported that the catalog would have a new editor and an abbreviated format, and items previously approved by the Curriculum Committee had been approved.
2. Curriculum Committee. No meeting.
3. Employee Benefits Committee: No meeting.
4. Distance Education Committee: David Weissenburger announced that the Distance/Distributed Education Committee would meet on 12/6/02 and the Teaching and Learning Technology Roundtable would meet on 1/11/03.
5. Calendar Committee: See item IV above. The Faculty Senate took no further action.
6. Other Committee Reports: None.
B. Other Committee Business: None.

VIII. Faculty Research Award. No report.

IX. Faculty Workload.
David Weissenburger reported that he, Janis Petronis, and Janet Whitley had met with
Gary Peer to discuss the issue, and that the goals he stressed included the development of
ways to:
· Measure faculty workloads as functions of teaching, research, and service, the three basic activities for which faculty are already evaluated;
· Achieve equity across departments and within departments;
· Create a system of course banking, in which faculty members receive credit for teaching course overloads;
· Create a system of course-equivalent banking, in which faculty members receive credit for working with abnormally large numbers of advisees;
· Measure and assess the significance of other faculty activities, such as judging or sponsoring clubs.
Several senators said that chairing graduate committees and supervising undergraduate research deserved recognition in assessing faculty workloads. David Weissenburger stressed that no cookie-cutter approach should be taken to the creation or measurement of individual faculty members’ workloads. Rather, each individual faculty member’s strengths should be considered in determining the assignment of duties and the measurement of workload.

X. New Business.
A. Salary and Benefits. The Faculty Senate developed a list of faculty members to be asked to serve on the new committee, created at the November Senate meeting, to examine faculty salaries and benefits.
B. Other New Business. David Weissenburger introduced a “Resolution on Administrative Fees,” developed by faculty senates within the TAMU System to reflect both their opposition to the TAMU System’s unilateral imposition “upon its faculty and staff a $1.75 monthly administrative fee for all health plans,” and their concern that doing so would set a precedent by which the System could impose additional fees in the future. The Faculty Senate unanimously approved the resolution, thereby saying that it “Joins the Faculty Senate of Texas A&M University in College Station and other TAMU System universities to condemn the administrative fee for all health plans and urges its immediate rescission.” Following the passage of the resolution, faculty senators discussed other matters, including:
· the possibility of devoting more discussion to the selection of nominees for the Piper Award and the Jack and Louise Arthur Award:
· the means by which cross-listed course, problems courses, and labs were to be evaluated; and
· The assessment of the effectiveness of the new student evaluation forms.
David Weissenburger said he would talk with Gary Peer about implementing a periodic review of the evaluation forms and their administration.

XI. Adjournment.
The senate adjourned at 5:05 P.M. The next meeting is scheduled for 1/14/03, at 3:30 P.M.