Report from Executive Committee Meeting

21 November, 2002

1.      Meeting of 21 November, 2002

Attending:   Radonovich, Williamson, Schnell, Meister, Redmon, Waring, Karr, Reeves, Smith

Absent:       Johnson,  Hillman, and Miller

1.1.      Faculty Senate President’s Report –Information

Dr. Waring reported he had attended a Board Meeting since the last Executive Committee Meeting.  He will report on that to the entire Faculty Senate.  He learned some interesting things. 

Dr. Waring reported last weekend Dr.  Hillman and he attended the ACUFP meeting.  He will ask Dr. Hillman to give a full report on this meeting at the Faculty Senate.

Dr. Waring reported the Deans and Directors met today.  There was a discussion of the recently passed bill regarding the Honors Statement.  The request was to make this available for faculty use and place it on the application for admission.  The Deans did not like the bill.  Some of the reasons were that it is not effective, and it might hurt recruitment.  All but one dean voted against having the statement on the application.  Two of the deans had proxies at the meeting.  Some discussion occurred in the Senate Executive Committee regarding the Honors Statement.  It was deemed that no further action is necessary on the part of the Faculty Senate at this time.

1.2.      Reports from Administration

Dr. Franz was attending another meeting and was not present.

Dr. Radonovich reported he attended the NASULGC meeting last week and the forecasting for the future of Higher Education was for difficult times, fiscally speaking.

There was a directive that came out within the last couple of days to international students and visiting faculty that they need to report to Reva Bailey or Scott Verzyl if they plan on leaving during the break of if they think they are out of compliance in any respect.

 

1.3.      Committee Items and Chair Reports

 

1.3.1.   Undergraduate Admissions and Scholastic Affairs (Smith)

Dr. Smith reported the Committee has been looking at the periodic readmissions and evaluating those after the exam each semester.  The Committee is recommending meeting on reading day instead of waiting until after the exam.  Waiting until after the exam does not give enough time to get the information out.  Taking care of these on reading day gives time to get the information out. 

Dr. Smith reported he has been looking at a draft of the AAT Policy.  He sees problems with implementation.  There was some discussion regarding the lack of input from the Faculty Senate on this and problems that might occur with some aspects of the policy.  Dr. Waring asked Dr. Smith to write him a letter regarding this issue so that he will know how to proceed.

 

1.3.2.   Governance and Operations (Andree Reeves)

No Report. 

 

1.3.3.   Finance and Resources (Adriel Johnson)

Dr. Johnson was not present.  Dr. Waring reported there has been an agreement to commit some funds for speakers for the campus.

1.3.4.   Faculty and Student Development (Melinda Redmon)

Ms. Redmon reported there will be a presentation of turnitin.com at the next Faculty Senate meeting.  This presentation will be open to all.

The Committee is also looking at F for misconduct in NC Courses.

 

1.3.5.   Personnel (Joan Williamson)

Dr. Williamson reported the Committee has looked at promotion raises and collected data from other institutions.  Dr. Waring has this information and will discuss it further later in the meeting. 

The Committee has also looked at what constitutes Distinguished faculty and the process for selection.  Dr. Waring informed the group there is no process in place for selection of distinguished or university faculty.  The President has indicated he would welcome a process and gave suggestions for it.

The Committee has looked at individuals leaving and coming back and the service date used for the purpose of Service Awards, etc.  Mr. Rieder has been consulted on this issue.  Mr. Pinner has been invited to the next meeting. 

 

1.3.6.   Undergraduate Curriculum (Gerald Karr)

Dr. Karr reported the Committee is in the process of reviewing about 100 course changes.  He hopes to have them done by the next meeting of the Faculty Senate.  He needs to receive changes by December 12.

1.4       Draft AAT Policy

This is the program to assist students in difficulty.  There have been discussions regarding this for some time and Dr. Franz was looking for something to get help for students in trouble.  The Administration drafted a policy.  It appeared the policy did not come out of the Faculty Senate or have their input.  Dr. Waring complained.  There is concern for an academic policy without Faculty involvement from the beginning.  We may agree that this is a good policy but there may also be some concerns with some aspects of it.  Dr. Smith stated he was interacting with Dr. Johnson and he had some concerns for the implementation part.  Most of those are addressed in the final draft.  He was asked if the Committee had met to consider this.  The answer was no.   Dr. Waring asked Dr. Smith to send him a letter regarding this issue.

 

1.5       Promotion Raises

After gathering data it is determined that we are on the low end of the promotion raises compared to other institutions in the state.  Dr. Waring reported he has had conversations with the Provost and the Provost asked Dr. Waring for a recommendation.  Dr. Waring stated we have collected the information and it is now time to write a letter with a recommendation.  Dr. Waring stated he would like to ask for raises that are comparable to those in place at Auburn.  The rates there are fixed amounts, which seems to be preferable to percentages.  There was some discussion and a question of where the money would come from.   There was also some discussion regarding effect on compression/inversion issues.  Dr. Smith wants to recommend a “time value for money raise”.  Dr. Waring will write a letter to the Provost making a recommendation.

  1.6     Agenda

The agenda for the upcoming Faculty Senate Meeting was set.