Report from Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting

September 20, 2007

1. Meeting of 20 September, 2007

Attending: Reeves, Boyd, Schnell, Karr, Heikes, Burnett, Severn, Frendi, Anderson, Kulick

1.1 Faculty Senate President’s Report

Dr. Boyd reported Melinda Lawson and she went to the Board Meeting. The Proposal for the DNP was approved and the name change for the College of Administrative Science and the name change for the Masters in Business Administration were approved.

1.2 Reports from Administration

No Reports.

1.3 Committee Items and Chair Reports

1.3.1 Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (Sharon George).

No Report.

1.3.2 Personnel (Michael Anderson).

No Report.

1.3.3 Governance and Operations (Jeffrey Kulick).

Dr. Kulick reported he is collecting information on the Faculty Senator attendance issues.

1.3.4 Faculty and Student Development (Andrée Reeves).

No Report. Dr. Reeves was asked to look into a resource for Faculty who have poor teaching scores. An example from UA was given regarding Teaching Scholars. It was stated Dr. Radonovich also has some ideas regarding this. It was recommended the Chairs be involved.

1.3.5 Finance and Resources (John Burnett).

Dr. Burnett reported he met with Dr. Delugach and he was a great source of information regarding the REU and the Distinguished Speaker Lecture Series. He still has to meet with Dr. J. Gregory and Dr. B. Vogler. The funding is there for the Distinguished Speaker series but he needs to talk with Dr. Radonovich regarding the REU funding and make the request for the $30,000. He will contact Ray Pinner regarding a detailed report from him for the September 27 meeting.

1.3.6 Undergraduate Scholastic Affairs (Deborah Heikes).

Dr. Heikes reported the Committee has two bills for review today on which they have been working—the NC Grading and Class attendance.

1.3.7 President-Elect—Kader Frendi

No Report.

1.3.8 Ombudsperson—Gerald Karr

Dr. Karr reported he has dealt with some issues this past year and he has a written report he is turning over to Peggy Bower for Confidential Keeping for the person who is the next ombudsperson. He has five issues brought to his attention and they are all still active.

1.3.9 Senate Bill 311—Undergraduate Scholastic Affairs (Dr. Deborah Heikes)

Abolishing the NC Grade

Dr. Heikes brought the bill to the floor. The question was asked of whether the Committee had asked the students or SGA about changing this.

Dr. Schnell spoke in support of the NC Grade option. He pointed out that this started as a retention tool. He talked about the fact that Departments have the option of not using it and that the special cases could be dealt with on a case by case basis. He stated based on comments he received from his college it should continue.

There was some discussion regarding restricted it to those with a certain number of hours. Communicate the option of it being a departmental choice.

Dr. Heikes reported the faculty from Liberal Arts that communicated with her and those from other areas of campus indicated a concern for encouraging bad behavior and that it causes students to give up too quickly or too soon.

The vote for the bill was 4 in favor and 5 against at first reading. The Committee was asked to revisit the bill to incorporate some of the concerns raised in this meeting. They were asked to gather data regarding the NC grading.

The remainder of the bills were tabled for this meeting.

1.4.0 Proposal from Dr. Ramon Cerro Regarding OSP.

Dr. Boyd brought a proposal from Dr. Ramon Cerro regarding OSP to the floor for discussion. The Governance and Operations Committee was asked to look into this and look at possible solutions. Dr. Kulick suggested he may set up a small Committee of personnel from across campus that work with OSP on a regular basis to help determine possible solutions and report back to the Senate with a proposal for the Administration. Dr. Kulick asked the members of the Senate Executive Committee to send him names of individuals from their College who do research and that will be willing to help look into the problem.

1.4.1 The Agenda was set for the September 27, 2007, Faculty Senate Meeting.