UAHuntsville FACULTY SENATE
DRAFT MINUTES OF MEETING #490
PRESENT:
BA: Burnett,
Bao
LBAR: Johnson,
ENG: Banish,
Anderson, Gaede, Kulick, Coe, Gholston, Cassibry
LIB:
NUR: Lawson,
Showalter,
SCI: Davis, Scholz, Zhang, Etzkorn,
Ravindran, Wu, Miller, Takahashi
ABSENT WITH PROXY:
BA: Schnell
LBAR: Pritchard, Smith, E.
NUR: O’Keefe
SCI: Bishop,
Edmondson
ABSENT WITHOUT PROXY:
BA: Wilhite
LBAR: Harwell, Gyasi, Ragsdale
ENG: English,
Wessling, Lin
NUR: Linsky
SCI: Mecikalski,
Boyd
0.
President Gaede called the meeting to order at
1.
Draft minutes of Meeting Number 489 were approved. Motion by Lawson, seconded by
2. Senate Executive Committee Report approved. Motion by Lawson, seconded by Etzkorn.
3. Gordon Stone’s Report (Higher Education Partnership)
FY 08 did not have proration because we borrowed $400 million from the Proration Prevention Fund and because the state closed the books early. However, that makes us start FY09 with a negative balance and makes it harder this year. Ask everyone to vote yes to Amendment 1 on Tuesday. We have two savings accounts to assist with education where the state sets money aside in surplus years for use in shortage years. The Rainy Day fund is at present tied to 05 statistics. Amendment 1 will tie it to the previous year. This will allow the amount in the savings account to be increased. This is a better model to deal with the account, and the state has to pay it back in a set amount of time. The polls show that right now, it is a close race and that Alfa is against and is working hard with its members. The trust fund was established by a constitutional act and therefore, it takes a constitutional act to change it. Right now, $3.25 billion is in the two accounts and we will probably borrow $400 million. Mr. Stone then handed out papers about Higher Education Partnership and the Amendment 1.
4. President Williams’ Report.
Dr. Williams was not present.
5. Dr. Karbhari’s Report.
· We are still waiting to hear the level of cuts. Trying to come up with ways to raise money externally. If you have ideas that can help, send them to the “why not” website. The Provost is having weekly lunches in the Charger Café with faculty to discuss any issues. If you hear rumors, please tell him. The budget information is now on the website. If you have questions, let him know.
· Question was asked – what is a natural expense? Provost reported that he was not sure but would find out.
· Question was asked – what is happening with the paper towels? Discussion followed about why the dispensers were being removed. Provost will let the Faculty Senate know.
·
Question was asked – what is the latest with the
centralized audio visual system?
· Statement was made – it is troubling to the faculty member that we are discussing removing paper towel dispensers and not addressing the major problems of the university. There is so much dead weight – OSP, Shipping and Receiving, Purchasing, CNS. This should be addressed. The Provost responded that he is still reviewing the faculty surveys and will meet with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to determine how to implement the best strategies and move forward.
6. A. Senate Committee Reports
1. Faculty and Student Development
Looking into partner benefits at
other schools.
2. Finance and Resources
Reminder – Proposals for REU are due December 1.
3. Governance and Operations
No report.
4. Personnel
No report.
5. Undergraduate Curriculum
No report.
6. Undergraduate Scholastic Affairs
They are working on the
Undergraduate Scholastic Affairs and the Academic Action Threshold. The academic action threshold is defined as
the GPA below which a student is subject to probation, academic warning or
dismissal (in that order). It is
currently 1.6 for freshmen, 1.8 for sophomores and 2.0 for everyone else.
The committee is also still looking at an attendance policy.
7. Faculty Handbook Committee
The committee proposed an amendment to extend the review period from May, 2009 to December, 2009. There is too much information to compile and they are unable to have it ready by May.
A motion was made by Andree Reeves to extend the review period to December, 2009 and seconded by Melinda Lawson. There was no discussion. Unanimous vote.
B. University
Committees
1. Commencement
C. Officer Reports
1. President
Nothing additional
2. President-Elect
Wants the senate to think about looking carefully at the rules and by-laws to see if there needs to be an update.
3. Ombudsperson
What are his duties? These need to be defined.
7. A motion was made to adjourn by Melinda
Lawson and seconded by Jason Smith. The
meeting was adjourned at