UAH FACULTY SENATE

DRAFT MINUTES OF MEETING #477

11 JANAURY 2007

PRESENT:

ADSC: Schnell, Tseng

LBAR: Pritchard, Bollinger, Moore, Meister, M. Johnson, Ragsdale, Heikes, Reeves, Sitaraman, Neuschatz

ENG: Joiner, Kulick, Gholston, Karr, Frendi, Wessling, Lin

NUR: Lawson, Anderson, George, Thompson

SCI: Boyd, Paddison, Delugach, Ai, Miller

ABSENT WITH PROXY:

ADSC: Gramm, Patnayakuni

ENGR: Gaede

LIB: Vaughan

LBAR: J. Johnson, Ferris

NUR: Foote

SCI: Weimer, Aygun, Ravindran, Magnuson

ABSENT WITHOUT PROXY:

ENGR: Banish, Anderson, Jovanov

SCI: Mecikalski, Bishop, Oluseyi

0. Senate President Melinda Lawson called the meeting to order at 12:45 p.m.

1. Draft Minutes of Meeting Number 476 were approved. Motion by Kader Frendi, seconded by Shari George.

2. Senate Executive Committee Reports accepted. Motion by Kader Frendi, seconded by Sharon George. Motion by Francis Wessling and seconded by Kader Frendi.

3. President Franz’s Report.

Since I last met with you we had the SACS meeting in Orlando. IT was a long meeting. At the end of the meeting they read the names of those who were reaffirmed. We were reaffirmed. Dr. Franz thanked all those involved in the process.

We have many projects proceeding on the campus. The Applied Sciences Building is behind schedule because of contractor problems. They are behind by about one month. The lake and entrance are ahead of schedule and will be finished before the building. The Charger Café renovation is under way and the Café is still open. This should be finished by Summer. In the Sanderson Subdivision there have been six houses moved and another is on the platform to move. There are two more to be purchased.

Dr. Franz talked about seeing a special with Tom Sever from the NSSTC.

We will take preliminary information on the Intermodal Parking to the Board.

The MLK Program will occur today at 4 in the UC.

The Drop in Clinic for Faculty and Staff has been established. Louise O’Keefe will be heading it up.

There was some discussion regarding the official start date for Faculty and it was suggested that the early date be made the official start date for the academic year and for the pay period.

4. Dr. Radonovich’s Report.

Dr. Radonovich was at a meeting in Birmingham.

5. A. Senate Committee Reports:

1. Executive: The reports were distributed with the minutes. The reports were approved.

2. Faculty and Student Development: No Report.

4. Governance and Operations:

No Report.

5. Personnel: No Report.

6. Undergraduate Curriculum: No Report Senate Bill 308 will come to the floor later.

7. Undergraduate Scholastic Affairs: No Report.

8. Finance and Resources: Dr. Delugach reported the REU is on track. He thanked the Administration for support. There are 33 proposals and all but one are viable. The Committee is trying to chase down funding. The Space Grant Consortium will fund some. We will try to get the decisions by the first week in February.

B. University Committees: No Report.

C. Officer Reports:

Parliamentarian: No Report.

Ombudsperson: No Report.

President-Elect: No Report.

President: The Search Committee is moving along and you should be receiving information soon..

6. Senate Bill 308: Course Repeat Policy Revision

Shari George talked about the purpose of the change in the policy. It is for clarification purposes. There is no substantive change. The Committee worked on the wording for clarification. Dr. Severn addressed the major change that in the past students had to apply for the Course Repeat and now is would become automatic. A good number of the students don’t read the Handbook and the policies. Most institutions use an automatic system for this. There was some discussion regarding the courses that repeat that should not be counted in this. There was a suggestion to have an opt out. Allow the students to declare it later in the semester. There was some discussion regarding whether Banner will give a message. There was some discussion regarding where the number five came from. There was discussion regarding allowing a student to choose the grade in order to choose or will the higher grade be used. Dr. Boyd proposed a friendly amendment after line 32 that failed.

Dr. Wessling proposed a friendly amendment at the end of the bill to state: “This course repeat policy will automatically be applied unless the student notifies the Registrar otherwise upon registration.”

The bill with the friendly amendment passed at second reading 25 in favor, 4 against, and 1 abstention.

It was announced Ray Pinner will be at the next Senate Meeting to give his presentation to the Senate. Please send him any questions or topics you would like addressed.

Dr. Miller brought up an issue regarding problems with the network. A specific suggestion put in the form of a resolution from the Senate was discussed. Dr. Miller was advised to send his comments and questions to Ray for addressing at the next meeting.

7. Melinda Lawson adjourned the meeting at 1:45 p.m. Motion by Dr. Reeves, seconded by Dr. Frendi.