Alabama's Public Liberal Arts University

Faculty Senate

September 30, 2005

 

Call to Order:  Michael Patton called the meeting to order at 2:05 pm.

 

Members Present:  Casey Bassett, Jason Cooper, Charlotte Daughhetee, Michelle Duran-McClure, Sherry Ford, Brook Miller, Michael Patton, M. E. Spencer, Elizabeth Thrower, Cindy Tidwell, Eric Vaccarella, Samantha Webb, Jill Wicknick

 

Approval of September 16, 2005 Minutes:   M. E. Spencer moved that the minutes be approved after corrections, Casey Bassett seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

President’s Report:  Michael Patton reported on the following items

  • The presidential search committee has been formed and the faculty senate will be communicating faculty concerns to the committee.
  • The faculty governance discussion group will begin on October 5th.  Michael Patton will send out an email reminder.
  • Michael Patton met with the College of Business faculty in an effort to encourage COB participation and representation on the Faculty Senate.

 

Committee Reports:

  • Bookstore:  The faculty senate discussed concerns about the bookstore including:
    • The bookstore does not order the amount of books designated on the order form. This causes problems particularly in May and in the summer. 
    • Sending the books back early in the semester caused problems for Monday classes which were not in session due to Katrina and Labor Day, and Saturday classes which did not begin until September 10th.
    • faculty would like to order desk copies directly through efollett.com

The bookstore committee will communicate these and other concerns raised by faculty members with the bookstore. 

 

Liaison Reports:

  • Hollie Cost has agreed to be the designated Faculty Senate liaison to the city council.
  • Jason Cooper will be the liaison to IITC
  • Senators were asked to recruit liaisons for Chamber of Commerce, OSP and SGA.

 

Old Business:

  • Dependent Tuition Waiver-no report at this time but information related to faculty concerns is being gathered.
  • Faculty Survey-a summary report is under development.

 

New Business:

  • HEP - Michael Patton has invited Gordon Stone to attend a Faculty Senate meeting. 
  • Cookout-The Faculty Senate will sponsor a cookout at the faculty lounge on October 27, 2005 beginning at 2:00 pm.
  • The senate discussed support for junior faculty research/writing.  Ideas included:  pre-tenure sabbaticals and teaching releases for research.  Jill Wicknick and Cindy Tidwell will gather information from other institutions and report back.
  • A question was raised regarding administrators who are hired without tenure and if such administrators are held to the same scholarly requirements as faculty.
  • The timing of sabbatical applications can cause scheduling problems if a sabbatical is denied.  The senate will look into suggestions for possible adjustments to the sabbatical application process.
  • An electronic archive of past Faculty Senate minutes and documents would be helpful.  Jason Cooper will report back to the senate on what would be involved in setting up an archive.
  • Web page-The senate discussed the need for department web masters to be empowered to make changes to web pages and to directly assist faculty in setting up web pages.  Senators reported that many faculty members feel constrained by the template.  Brook Miller and Charlotte Daughhetee will report back to the senate on this issue.
  • International faculty-the senate would like clarification on the university’s policy regarding hiring of international faculty.  Samantha Webb will find out about specific international faculty policies.

 

Announcements:  The next faculty senate meeting is on October 14th, 2005 at 2:00 pm in the Merrill Room.

 

Adjournment:  Elizabeth Thrower moved to adjourn, Michelle Duran-McClure seconded and the motion passed unanimously.  The meeting adjourned at 3:20 pm.

 

Charlotte Daughhetee, Faculty Senate Secretary