UAH FACULTY SENATE
DRAFT MINUTES OF MEETING #398
9 APRIL, 1998
PRESENT:
ADSC: Floyd, Schoening, Simpson, Porter
LA: Crouse, Harwell, Bollinger, Schenker, Buksa, T. Williams, Bliss, Haralick, ENG: Chittur, Leonard, Katsinis, Wells, Swain, Bower, Frederick
NUR: Brookman
SCI: Christy, Lawton, Lumpkin, Delugach, Hinke, Richards, Li, Zhang, Comfort, Miller
ABSENT WITH PROXY:
LBAR: Hanks, Waring
ENGR: Ho, Nordin, Wessling
NUR: Estes, Hays
SCI: Kunin, Lieu
ABSENT WITHOUT PROXY:
LBAR: Hutson
ENG: Feikema
LIB: Warren
NUR: Lethbridge
SCI: Baird
1. President Bower called the meeting to order at 12:40 p.m.
2. Draft Minutes of Meeting #397 were unanimously approved, after a motion by Steve Floyd, seconded by Niles Schoening.
- The Faculty Senate Executive Committee Report was accepted as presented.
4. A. Senate Committee Reports:
1. Executive: The next Senate Executive Committee Meeting is scheduled for April 16, 1998, at 12:30 p.m. in Madison Hall 110.
2. Faculty and Student Development: No Report.
3. Finance and Resources: No Report.
4. Governance and Operations: No Report.
- Personnel: No Report.
6. Undergraduate Curriculum: Dr. Haralick reported the Committee acted on six items, including course approvals, course changes, and a new minor in Marketing.
7. Undergraduate Scholastic Affairs: Dr. Bliss reported in Dr. Hanks absence that the Committee has one bill on today's agenda.
- University Committees: The Commencement Committee met today. Jack Edwards, President Pro-Tem of the Board and former Congressman from Mobile will be the Commencement Speaker. There will be two honorary degrees awarded (Mrs. Martha Simms Rambo and M.G. James Link). There are some changes in the way the ceremony is conducted. Dr. Robert James will be one of two professional readers reading the names of the graduates. Nominations are requested for a second person to be a reader. Forward those names to Dr. Fisher. There was some discussion regarding paraphernalia allowed on the robes. The deans are working with Dr. Fisher to develop a list of what is allowable. Only those cords, pens etc. that are associated with an academic honorary organization will be allowed. There will be different sizes of degrees this year. Those students marching but who have not yet completed all the requirements will only receive a rolled paper with a ribbon not a diploma cover.
- Officer Reports:
- Ombudsperson: No report.
2. President-Elect: No Report.
President: Dr. Bower expressed sympathy at the loss of Dr. Dimopoullos who died on March 30, 1998. The Senate is very sad to lose such a valuable colleague.
Dr. Bower reported attending the Faculty Governance Association Meeting in Portland, Oregon on April 2 through 5, 1998. There were representatives from 50 colleges. Some of the things discussed were Senate involvement in budget preparations and having members with budget savvy on the committees. The Committee should also have some representatives with accounting and economic backgrounds, and some with strategic planning/management background. There was a collaborative leadership workshop by SUNI and a trustee from California. The recommendation from that workshop was to develop a good relationship with the administration and talk to them in the good times and the bad times. If you communicate in the good times and get them to listen, they will then see you through the bad times.
There was some discussion regarding Faculty reward for service. Some discussion regarding high amounts of student to student interaction and student to faculty interaction. Rapid feedback is important. There were some demonstrations of web based instruction. One demonstration involved Spanish 101 with students solving a murder mystery by role playing and doing all the activities in the language.
There was an academic plan for the virtual university developed through all the campus faculty Senates.
One cornerstone project was "What is a baccalaureate degree?" This project involved granting the trustees an honorary baccalaureate degree.
Dr. Bower distributed to several individuals the Competencies of Math in Entering Freshman document from the conference and sugggested UAH may want to look at developing something like this. They also had another document at the conference that was Standards for Entering Students. These kinds of documents let the students know what is expected. In light of the student success, student satisfaction issue we may want to consider looking into and distributing such documents to high schools.
There was a report on the post tenure review at degree granting institutions. A formula was developed for how much faculty are in the classroom. California developed a three tiered policy--unacceptable, satisfactory and outstanding. They are trying to get a $5000 increase for the third tier. This review takes place every five years.
Dr. Bower announced the need for nominations and elections. There will be a called meeting to ratify the elections after the nominations and elections have taken place.
- President Franz:
- Dr. Franz too expressed sadness at the demise of Dr. Dimopoullos. Dr. Franz announced that Dr. Dimopoullos had endowed an associate position in Biological Sciences some time ago. This was a first and very special legacy to have left
- The Legislature is not doing much right now. They are trying to decide whether the trustee should live in Tuscaloosa or not. The person nominated lives in Birmingham. We will probably not see action on the budget until the last hours.
- We have begun a search for a Vice President for Research. Dr. Harwell is retiring and taking another prestigious position elsewhere. Dr. Harwell has done an exceptional job. The Search Committee is chaired by Dean G. Duthie. Members are Jim Simpson, S. T. Wu, K. Kavi, J. Ellis, M. Bower, B. Rozell, M. Lewis, S. Graves, C. Lundquist, W. Kirkpatrick, R. McNider. The ad is approved and should be out at the end of April. We need to move expeditiously. There is no one on track for the position, therefore, nominations would be appreciated. We do not know B. Schroer's plans at this time. The position is open and we need to look at well qualified individuals. They need an understanding of the broad spectrum of the job. Send your nominations to Mark Bower or any member of the Committee or Dean G. Duthie. We are on the fast track because we do not want a wide gap between Dr. Harwell leaving and the new person coming aboard.
- Provost McManus:
- The Council of Deans met today and passed 7 of the 9 resolutions sent forward by the Senate. One was tabled for more data and one was tabled to look at the context of the Handbook.
- We received more information on the viability issue but the Chief Academic Officers are not interested in amendments but are more interested in looking at the loopholes that are already available. Exceptions can be made for certain groups. The Articulation and General Studies reports from 12 Arts and Sciences discipline committees are to be decided upon. We anticipate some problems. We will be meeting tomorrow.
- Dr. McManus announced the upcoming events.
- Senate Bill 268 "Policy on Faculty/Staff Awards" (Third Reading). Dr. Bower introduced the bill. Dr. Lumpkin, seconded by Dr. Christy moved the bill to the floor for consideration at Third Reading. There was a question regarding the $100 figure in the bill. Dr. Franz will check on this number. There was some question of the vagueness of the bill. The Lawyers recommended the vagueness. The vote for the bill was 31 in favor, 0 opposed and 2 abstentions. The bill passed at third reading.
- Senate Bill 269 "Faculty Activity Report Performance Scale" (Third Reading). Dr. Schenker moved the bill to the floor and introduced it. This motion was seconded by Dr. Lumpkin. One correction to Line 23 "to the". There was some discussion regarding who sets the standards, the benefits, the use, and the flexibility. The vote for the bill was 31 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 abstention. The bill passed at third reading.
- Senate Bill 272 "GPA Computation for Graduation with Honors" (Third Reading). Dr. Bliss moved the bill to the floor and introduced it. He reported Dr. Hanks has discussed the bill with Dr. Johnson for clarification of some issues. Dr. Johnson checked with Dr. McManus and the State-wide articulation Committee Chair and found no problem associated with the articulation agreement. The motion was seconded by Dr. Brookman. The vote for the bill was 31 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 abstention. The bill passed at third reading.
10.
President Bower adjourned the meeting at 1:55 p.m.