Minutes of the University Senate Meeting
23 August 2011
3:00 p.m.
Broun Hall Auditorium
Submitted by
Larry Crowley, Secretary
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A complete transcription of the meeting is available
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Present: Ann Beth Presley, Bill Sauser, Larry Crowley, Robin Jaffe, Bill Hardgrave, Betty Lou Whitford, R. Lee Evans, Calvin Johnson, George Flowers, Timothy Boosinger, Bonnie MacEwan, Steven Clontz, Andrew Wohrley, Laura Plexico, Nedret Billor, Robert Cochran, Norbert Wilson, Sondra Parmer, Scott McElroy, Dean Schwartz, Jocelyn Zanzot, Gary Wagoner, Paul Swamidass, Bob Locy, Steve Duke, Eduardus Duin, Robert Agne, Sanjeev Baskiyar, Wi-Suk Kwon, Michael Stern, James Witte, Thomas Baginski, James Goldstein, Xing Ping Hu, Rusty Wright, Andrienne Angelo, Ruth Crocker, Ellen Abell, Jerrod Windham, Jerry Davis, Pambanisha King Whaley, Peter Stanwick, Herb Rotfeld, Tin-Yau Tam, Bart Prorok, Doug Rosener, Stuart Pope, Vicky van Santen, Brent Fox, Wesley Lindsey, Guy Rohrbaugh, Mike Bozack, Yasserr Gowayed, Annette Kluck, Emily Myers, Adrienne Wilson, and Ralph Henderson
Absent, sending a substitute: Kathryn Flynn (for Claire Crutchley) J. Molnar (for William Batchelor), B. Sanderson (for Gregg Newschwander), Dan LaRocone (for Ann-Katrin Gramberg), Vanessa Tarpos (for Kirby Turnage), L. Fuller (for James Bannnon), D. Olsen (for Mark Taylor), Rebekah Pindzok (for Daniel Phillips), Deborah Morowski (for Charles Eick), Keven Yost (for Harris Hollans), Kevin Huggins (for Suresh Mathews), Scott Copeland (for Richard Hoerner), and Kythia Stofer (for Richard Fox)
Absent, no substitute: Chuck Savrda, Nakeisha Hicks, Seth Humphrey, Michael Baginski, Winfred Foster, Werner Bergen, Sushil Adhikari, Prabhakar Clement, Larry Teeter, David King, Fenny Dane, Jared Russell, John Freeze, Forrest Smith, Steven Brown, Shelly McKee, Chris Correia, and Joe Fetsch
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Call to Order:
--Ann Beth Presley called the meeting to order, reviewed the rules of the senate, and a quorum was confirmed.
-- She announced that Bill Sauser, Chair-Elect will be serving as the parliamentarian for this meeting, in the absence of regular parliamentarian Constance Hendricks, and thus will not be voting.
-- Minutes from the June 7, 2011 meeting were accepted as posted without change.
Remarks and Announcements:
Dr. Gogue (Office of the President) presented several items.
-- Good news out of Montgomery. Alabama income tax revenues were up 5.6% and sales tax up 3.6% through July. Both these revenue streams feed into the Educational Trust Fund. As long as these increase by 2% there will be no additional proration in the current year.
-- Faculty meeting place on campus was a topic of discussion during an executive committee meeting of the senate on Monday. The area in Foy that previously served that purpose has now been re-carpeted and cleaned up through the directed efforts of Drs. Large and Carry. This location should be open for faculty use from 10 am to 4 pm. Other options are also being pursued to provide a meeting place for faculty.
-- Board of Trustees will consider the budget in September for the upcoming year that begins October 1st. There will be a recommendation to the board for a 3% merit increase to base pay and a 2% on-average one time increase in December similar to last year.
-- Proposals dealing with smoking on campus will be addressed during the fall by a small group of people with strong opinions concerning this issue, both pro and con, to be formed by the Provost, Don Large, and Dr. Carry. This group will make recommendation to the administration and any changes that may be made will be announced in January.
-- Dean of Engineering, Dr. Benefield, has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the academic year. A search committee is being formed and will be chaired by the interim provost with Dr. Gogue being the selecting official.
--Provost search committee has been interviewing candidates over the last couple of days with the goal to bring those candidates to campus in September.
-- Trustee selection committee made up of two members of the board of trustees, two members of the alumni association and the governor are meeting on August 30th in the auditorium of the state capitol for the next phase of the selection process. They have over 170 prospective candidates applying for those positions.
Comments from the Chair:
-- Welcomed everyone to the first senate meeting of the year, introduced the university senate officers for the upcoming year, announced the parliamentarian as Constance Hendricks, and introduced the administrative assistant for the senate Laura Kloberg.
--Revisions to the Faculty Handbook will continue this year with stage 2 during which existing policies related to AU faculty will be added to the handbook.
--Rules committee has staffed the university and senate committees over the spring and summer.
--Steering committee is starting to review committee reports to prepare for the coming year.
-- Announced the continued use of clickers for senate voting.
Action Items:
-- Larry Crowley (Secretary) presented two nominations from Rules for senate committees: Nancy Cox (Veterinary Medicine) to Academic Program Review Committee and Scott Ketring (Human Sciences) to Core Curriculum and General Education Committee. The floor was opened by the chair for any comments or discussion. With no discussion offered by the floor, a vote was called. The nominees were elected by 54 yes and 0 no.
-- Larry Crowley (Secretary) introduced a proposed revision to the Faculty Handbook concerning the number of nominees the rules committee would send forward for each opening on university committees. The proposed procedure will have the Rules Committee initially forward nominations equal to the number of openings on university committees. The floor was opened by the chair for any comments or discussion. After a brief discussion, a vote was called. The proposed revision was adopted by a vote of 53 yes and 5 no. (Proposed revision as a word file)
Information items:
-- Paula Bobrowski (Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, College of Liberal Arts) along with others presented plans for Auburn’s Research Week (pdf).
-- Bruce Smith (Immediate Past Chair of Faculty Research Committee) made a presentation on Auburn’s Intramural Grants Program (ppt file) .
Unfinished business:
None
New business:
None
The meeting was adjourned.