Minutes of the Auburn University Senate Meeting
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
238 Broun Hall Auditorium
3:30 P.M.

A full transcript is available for this meeting.

Attendance
Officers:
Patricia Duffy, Chair; Larry Crowley, Immediate-Past Chair; Larry Teeter, Chair-Elect; Gisela Buschle-Diller; Secretary; Laura Plexico, Secretary-Elect.
Administration:
Bill Hardgrave, Dean, College of Business; Betty Lou Whitford, Dean, College of Education; Gregg Newschwander, Dean, School of Nursing; Lee Evans, Dean, School of Pharmacy;  Nicholas Giordano, Dean, COSAM; Chris Roberts, Dean, College of Engineering; George Flowers, Dean, Graduate School.
Ex-Officio
Present:
Tim Boosinger, Provost; Leonard Towns, Graduate Student Council President; Michael Freeman, Staff Council Chair; Ashley Hamberlin, A&P Assembly Chair; Sara Wolf, Steering Committee; Emily Myers, Steering Committee; Keven Yost, Steering Committee; Michael Baginski, 2nd, Steering Committee.
Absent, sending substitute:
Brett Walton for Walker Byrd, President, Student Government Association; Emmett Winn for Bonnie MacEwan, Dean, Libraries.
Absent, not sending substitute:
Joseph A. Aistrup, Dean, College of Liberal Arts; Calvin Johnson, Dean, College of Vet Med.
Senators, by Department:
Present: Robert Cochran, Accountancy; Andrew Sinclair, Aerospace Engineering; Valentina Hartaska, Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology; Dean Schwartz, Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology; Barb Bondy, Art; Cliff Defee, Aviation Management and Logistics; Bob Locy, Biological Sciences; Mark Dougherty, Biosystems Engineering; Mark Taylor, Building Sciences; Eduardus Duin, Chemistry; Ed Youngblood, Communication and Journalism; Allison Plumb, Communication Disorders; David Umphress, Computer Science and Software Engineering; Beth Guertal, Crops, Soil and Environmental Sciences; Jada Kohlmeier, Curriculum and Teaching; Michael Stern, Economics; Thomas Baginski, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Hilary Wyss, English; Leonardo  De La Fuente, Entomology and Plant Pathobiology; Jung Park, Finance; Rusty Wright, Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture; Latif Kalin, Forestry and Wildlife Science;  Brent Fox, Health Outcomes Research and Policy; Tiffany Sippial, History; Amy Wright, Horticulture; Jerrod Bradley Windham, Industrial Design;  Sean Gallagher, Industrial Systems and Engineering; John Quindry, Kinesiology; Gregg Schmidt, Library; Peter Stanwick, Management; James Carver, Marketing;  Dmitry Glotov, Mathematics and Statistics; Daniel Mackowski, Mechanical Engineering; Matthew Hoch, Music; Kevin Huggins, Nutrition and Foods; Vicky van Santen, Pathobiology; Muralikrishnan Dhanasekaran, Pharmacal Sciences; Wesley Lindsey, Pharmacy Practice; Eric Marcus, Philosophy; Michael Fogle, Physics; Tung-shi Huang, Poultry Science; Daniel Sventek, Psychology; Jill Meyer, Special Education, Rehab and Counseling; Kristina Shuler, Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work; Adrienne Wilson, Theater; Annette Smith, Veterinary Clinical Sciences.  
Absent, sending substitute:
Rusty Smith for Rebecca O’Neal-Dagg, Architecture; Carol Warfield for Wi-Suk Kwon, Consumer Sciences; James Witte for Lisa Kensler, Educational Foundations and Leadership; Pedro Cebollero for Traci O’Brien, Foreign Languages and Literature; Bridgett King for Murray Jardine, Political Science.
Absent, not sending substitute:
Paul Brown, ACES; Don Mulvaney, Animal Sciences; Allan David, Chemical Engineering; Cliff Lange, Civil Engineering; David King, Geology and Geography; Tom Smith, Human Development and Family Studies; Stuart Pope for Constance Hendricks, Nursing; Gwynedd Thomas, Polymer & Fiber Engineering; Chippewa Thomas, Outreach; Jeffrey Hemmes, ROTC Air Force; Scott Copeland, ROTC Army; Paul Michael Esposito, ROTC Navy.

Minutes
At 3:30 PM Chair Patricia Duffy called the meeting to order, reminded the Senators of the rules of speaking at Senate meetings and to speak into the microphones for better recording. She then established a quorum using iclickers. There are currently 87 members of the Senate and a quorum requires therefore 44 members to be present. The minutes of the February 3, 2015 Senate meeting were approved without modifications.

Remarks and Announcements
Office of the President, Jay Gogue, President
The President stated that this is the first day of the legislative session. Alabama is one of the few States that has two budget pools, the general fund and the education trust fund. The pools have to be kept completely separate. The general fund contains about $1.5 billion. This is the fund the Governor is calling for tax increases of about $700 million to go into. The educational trust fund (about $6 billion) is the fund Auburn University receives its money from. About 70% are going to K-12 and roughly 30% or slightly less to higher education. The anticipated new revenue in the educational trust fund is about $55 million. Topics that will be on their agenda include charter schools, prisons, gun control, churches and job creation. Additional funds will be needed to provide funding for retirement as well as for veterans. A bill was passed last summer that ensures that veterans will receive in-state tuition for themselves, their spouses and children.

The President mentioned the new classroom facility that will be in front of the Library, facing Mell Street. Construction will begin this summer and Mell Street will be closed during construction. The Board also approved the removal of Allison and Parker for the creation of the Laboratory facility and the additional part of the Central Classroom facility.
The new Vice President for Alumni Affairs is Gretchen VanValkenburg. She has 20 years of experience in higher education and has been working both on the development and fund raising side as well as the alumni side.

Auburn was ranked by the Business Journal nationally as the best university in the State of Alabama (selectivity, retention rates and prestige of the university). Auburn also received the Alabama Green Ribbon School Award and is the only university that received this award for sustainability. The President further mentioned that on an almost weekly basis, ambassadors from a variety of countries (Italy, Peru, Germany, Israel, etc.) are being welcomed on campus to meet with faculty and students and set up special programs of interest.

Office of the Provost, Tim Boosinger, Provost
The Provost reported on progress regarding the Cluster Hire Initiative, a program developed in the fall with multiple sessions to encourage multidisciplinary research and teaching. Ten proposals have been submitted to be reviewed by the ADRs, faculty representatives of the Faculty Research Committee and representatives of the OVPR. The goal is to prioritize the proposals and select one or more by the end of the semester. It will then be decided how to proceed.
Further he mentioned a project with the Educational Advisory Board on Student Success Collaborative. People call it a Big Data project in which 10 years of transcripts at Auburn University be looked at to better understand where the barriers may be to students’ success. It should help making better decisions on the number of seats when designing a class, how classes will be scheduled and from that how to better design curricula. It will also provide insights for academic advising.
Auburn successfully completed the site visit for AALAC accreditation (American Association of Laboratory Animal Care). This is the gold standard for how a university treats its laboratory animals. Auburn passed with flying colors.
Lastly he mentioned that three candidates for the position of the Dean of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences are on campus for interviews over the next two weeks.

Questions: none

University Senate Chair, Patricia Duffy
Patricia Duffy first introduced the Senate Executive Committee and the Administrative Assistant Laura Kloberg. Bill Sauser subsituted for Connor Bailey as the Parliamentarian. She emphasized that voting for the new Officers started this morning and then introduced the candidates for Chair-elect and Secretary-elect. She apologized for issues people were having with the voting site earlier which, however, now seems to have been fixed. She introduced the agenda for this meeting and explained the reasoning behind the second Action Item which is concerned with including language into the Bulletin for compliance with Alabama Act 2013-350 and which has to go to the Board of Trustees. The Act is concerned with credit earned in the military. The Act requires that the Board of each university specifically adopts a policy regarding the credits. Because the BOT has to vote on this policy, it deemed appropriate to pass the Resolution through the Senate first and the Senate can see what the language in the Bulletin will be. The resolution comes from the Steering Committee. She further pointed out that Spring Faculty meeting is coming up on March 10 as well as the specially called Senate meeting on March 31 for the presentation of the report by the ad-hoc Strategic Budgeting Committee. Lastly, she regretted that the new SGA President, Walker Byrd, could not be present at this meeting, but will be introduced at the April meeting. His term started yesterday.

Questions: none

Action Items

1. Vote on the 2015-2017 Rules Committee Members; Presenter: Gisela Buschle-Diller, University Senate Secretary
There are three nominees for three openings on the Rules Committee (Evert Duin, Jada Kohlmeier, Dan Mackowski). Their bios had been posted on the Senate website for some time. The Steering Committee recommended that the entire slate is voted on together unless there is an objection. Since there was no objection, Gisela Buschle-Diller called for a vote. This comes from Steering, no second is needed. All three candidates were accepted. Their term will start in August 2015.

2. Resolution in Support of Including Language in the University Bulletin for Compliance with Alabama Act 2013-350; Presenter: Larry Teeter, Chair-Elect
Larry Teeter thanked Drew Clark for helping with the wording of the Resolution and read the Resolution which is required (Resolution (word)). He then showed the actual language as it will appear in the Bulletin (Bulletin Language (word)).

Questions: none.
He then asked for a vote (no second needed). The Resolution passed.

3. Vote on changes to the 2015-2016 Academic Calendar; Presenter: Robin Jaffe, Chair of Calendar and Schedules Committee
Robin Jaffe presented the changes brought forward by the Calendar Committee to the previously approved Calendar of 2015-16 (this Calendar was approved a year ago). He first introduced the Calendar Committee members and explained the general guidelines that guide the academic calendar. The proposed changes to the academic summer calendar are that the first mini-semester will start on the 19th of May going to the 22nd of June; the second mini-semester will start on the 27th of June and going to the 29th of July. Two reading days were placed back into the summer semester and the Registrar’s Office days will be increased between the spring and the summer semester to 10. (calendar changes (pdf))

Questions: none
Robin Jaffe made the motion that these changes were accepted. The motion passed.

4. Vote on the 2017-2018 Academic Calendar; Presenter: Robin Jaffe, Chair of Calendar and Schedules Committee
Robin Jaffe then introduced the proposal for the 2017--2018 Academic Calendar (calendar (pdf)
written calendar (pdf); Presentation (ppt)) which will start on August 18th to December 16th (Graduation). By moving the calendar forward into the semester, a week was actually gained which will make two full weeks after Thanksgiving break. It will be a 13 week schedule instead of 12 weeks as before and preserve Fall break. In January classes will start on the 10th with Graduation on May 5th and 6th. Spring break will be consistent with Auburn City schools. There will be 10 days for the Registrar’s Office and summer semester will start on the 13th. The second mini-semester will start on the 25th of June and go through to 27th of July with Graduation on August, 4th.This will make 73 days in fall, 72 days in the Spring and 48 days for summer.

Questions: none
Robin Jaffe made the motion to accept the proposed 2017-2018 calendar. The motion passed.

Pending Action Items
1. Make-up Day Policy; Presenter: Robin Jaffe, Chair of Calendar and Schedules Committee
Next, Robin Jaffe presented a proposal for policy change for make-up days to compensate for class cancelations due to any kind of emergency as was suggested a year ago by Michael Stern (Senator, Economics). (Make-up Days Policy (pdf)). He explained the basic idea behind the policy and showed on the calendar when the days would have to be made up. There will be no make-up days for May or December. Fall is difficult and the question about Football Saturdays remained open.
Questions:

Ed Youngblood (Senator, Communications & Journalism) asked if any thought was given to religious obligations on make-up Saturdays and whether something should be included in the policy since attendance on make-up days is usually required. It might not affect very many students but it might be important.

Robin Jaffe responded that Graduation is also on Saturdays.

Ed Youngblood (Senator, Communications & Journalism) said that attendance at Graduation is not required, but it might be on make-up days. Some language might be needed in the policy.

Patricia Duffy remarked that missing a class due to religious obligations is one of the official and accepted University excuses and just needs to be in writing.

Ed Youngblood (Senator, Communications & Journalism) repeated his request since at other universities, not at Auburn, faculty had been less accommodating.

Andrew Sinclair (Senator, Aerospace Engineering) asked whether reading days can be converted into make-up days.

Robin Jaffe replied that they have in the past and his hope was to not to assign make-up days on a reading day, but it may happen.
[Clarification: Reading Days are not to be used as Make-up Days, if at all possible]

Michael Stern (Senator, Economics) emphasized that a make-up day that falls on a home game Saturday would cause major problems with opening facilities, etc.

Robin Jaffe replied that this is a big question. Faculty might just have to find a solution.

Constance Relihan (not a Senator) added that no one has to use a make-up day just because there is a policy and Robin Jaffe concurred.

Hilary Wyss (Senator, English) want to know if the usual classroom and class time would simply transfer to a Saturday and Robin Jaffe confirmed.


2. Revision to Faculty Handbook section 3.7.1-3.7.2; Presenter: James Goldstein, Chair of Handbook Committee
James Goldstein explained the history and background of the proposed revision to the Faculty Handbook 3.7.1-3.7.2 which deals with the annual and 3rd Year reviews and the participation of tenured faculty in the review (Presentation (ppt); Final Draft (word))

Michael Stern (Senator, Economics) remarked that there are standard annual review guidelines together with 3rd year review guidelines, but some process or policy might be needed for termination of faculty prior to tenure and not related to the 3rd year review.

James Goldstein replied this might not be relevant to this particular proposal but that the Committee is currently charged to looking into this very issue and evaluating whether the process is clear enough in the Handbook.

Information Items
"This is Research 2015"; Presenters: Jennifer Kerpelman and Lorraine Wolf, with introduction from John Liu
John Liu briefly introduced “This is Research” and its connection to the previous “Research Week” that had taken place for the past 3 years. Last fall he was asked to assess the process and a committee looked into how to increase its effectiveness and efficiency.

Jennifer Kerpelman and Lorraine Wolf presented this year’s plan to hold a one-day combined Graduate and Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 13th in the Student Center with an award ceremony on the 20th, separate from a Faculty Symposium with keynote and reception on September 30th in the Hotel & Conference Center. The keynote will possibly be on cyber since it is the topic of Auburn Speaks this year. A total of 320 abstracts from undergraduate and graduate students have been submitted for poster and oral presentations. A mentor reception and recognition will be added. Interested industries and sponsors will be invited as well (presentation (ppt)). Both speakers encouraged faculty to make room in their syllabi and allow students to attend the symposia. More information can be found on the “This is Research” website.

Questions:
Jerod Windham (Senator, Industrial Graphical Design) remarked that a biannual event might be too little frequency for students and that it might be better to have a symposium every year.

Jennifer Kerpelman clarified that the biannual event is only the event for the faculty showcase. The students will have the symposium every year.

Information Items
New Business: Patricia Duffy, Senate Chair
None
Unfinished Business: Patricia Duffy, Senate Chair
None
Adjournment: Patricia Duffy, Senate Chair at 4:35 P.M.