Auburn University Senate Meeting Minutes
April 18, 2017 3:30 pm
238 Broun Hall
A full transcript is available for this meeting.
Attendance
Officers:
James Goldstein, Chair; Xing Ping Hu, Secretary; Donald Mulvaney, Secretary-Elect; Daniel Svyantek, Chair-Elect; Larry Teeter, Immediate-Past Chair
Administration
Gretchen VanValkenburg, VP, Alumni Affairs; Paul Patterson, College of Agriculture; Janaki Alavalapati, Dean, School of Forestry and Wildlife Science; Bobby Woodard, VP, Student Affairs
Ex-Officio
Timothy Boosinger, Provost; Althea Tate, Staff Council Chair; Don Large, Executive VP; Timothy Jones, A&P Assembly Chair; Lucretia Tripp, Steering Committee; Jared Russell, Steering Committee; Emily Myers, Steering Committee; Lisa Kensler, Steering Committee
Absent, sending substitute:
Elizabeth Devore for Tenchi Smith, GSC President; Martha Taylor for John Mason, Research and Economic Development;
Absent, not sending substitute:
Bonnie MacEwan, Dean of Libraries; Jacqueline Keck, SGA President; Vini Nathan, Dean, College of Architecture, Design & Const.; Jane Difolco Parker, VP, Development; June Henton, Dean, College of Human Sciences.
Senators, by Department:
Robert Cochran, Accountancy; Anwar Ahmed, Aerospace Engineering; Michelle Worosz, Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology; Paul Brown, ACES; Dean Schwartz, Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology; Rebecca O'Neal-Dagg, Architecture; Kathryn Floyd, Art; Cliff Defee, Aviation Management & Logistics; Bob Locy, Biological Sciences; Mark Dougherty, Biosystems Engineering; Ed Youngblood, Communication and Journalism; Allison Plumb, Communication Disorders; David Umphress, Computer Science & Software Engineering; Charles Chen, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences; Melody Russell, Curriculum & Teaching; Forest Smith, Drug Discovery and Development; Liliana Stern, Economics; Jung Won Hur, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Technology; Michael Baginski, Electrical & Computer Engineering; James E. Ryan, English; Rusty Wright, Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture; Traci O'Brian, Foreign Lang & Literatures; Brent Fox, Health Outcomes and Research Policy; Monique Laney, History; Jerod Windham, Industrial Design; Mark Schall, Industrial and Systems Engineering; Andreas Kavazis, Kinesiology; Gregg Schmidt, Library; Alan Walker, Management; Dora Bock, Marketing; Daniel Mackowski, Mechanical Engineering; Dmitry Glotov, Mathematics and Statistics; David Crumbley, Nursing; Michael Greene, Nutrition, Dietetics, & Hospitality Mgmt.; Vicky van Santen, Pathobiology; Spencer Durham, Pharmacy Practice; Michael Fogle, Physics; Cathleen Erwin, Political Science; Ken Macklin, Poultry Science; Tracy Witte, Psychology; Chippewa Thomas, Outreach; Marilyn Cornish, Special Ed. Rehabilitation Counseling/School Psych; Roshun Steele, Maj., ROTC Army; Kristrina (Kriste) Shuler, Socio/Anthro/Social Work; Annette Smith, Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Jeff Welborn, Lieutenant Colonel, ROTC Air Force; Captain, Willie Billingslea, ROTC Naval; Annette Smith, Wet Med.
Absent, sending substitute:
Bob Ashurst for Allan E. David, Chemical Engineering; Mandy Harrelson for Justin Benefield, Finance; Anne Duraski for Matthew Hoch, Music; Tom Lockhart for Eric Marcus, Philosophy;
Absent, not sending substitute:
Werner Bergen, Animal Science; Mark Taylor, Building Sciences; Doug Goodwin, Chemistry; Cliff Lange, Civil Engineering; Ann Beth Presley, Consumer & Design Sciences; David Held, Entomology and Plant Pathology; Latif Kalin, Forestry & Wildlife Science; Ming-kuo Lee, Geology & Geography; Daniel Wells, Horticulture; Tom Smith, Human Development & Family Studies; Adrienne Wilson (theatre).
Minutes
At 3:30 pm, Senate Chair, James Goldstein, called the meeting to order, reminded the Senators and substitutes to sign-in in the 1st and 2nd column, respectively, in the back of the room and pick up a clicker, and established a Quorum that requires 44 senators in present. He further stated the need of 2/3 of the total number of senators to approve amendment of the Senate Constitution, and reiterated the Senate rules He then reminded the location change of next Senate meeting to Lowder 113a.
The minutes for meeting of March 21, 2017 were approved without modifications.
The chair then asked for unanimous consent for a special rule of the day to limit speakers to five minutes; there were no objections.
Remarks and Announcements
Office of the President: Jay Gogue, President.
President Gogue announced that the BOT has approved three new facilities and several academic programs; briefed progress on facilities under construction; approved tuition increase and compensation increase. He also observed that there is a new Chair of BOT [the new governor].
Office of the Provost: Timothy Boosinger, Provost
Invited all faculty to attend the coming commencement ceremonies on May 6 through 8, 2017; reiterated AU’s value of inclusion and diversity, and commitment to the safety and wellbeing of our campus and everyone who unit our academic community at challenging times.
Lee Armstrong, General Counsel, shared the judicial order on Spencer speaking tonight and ensured that additional security measures are being taken to uphold the safety of our community.
University Senate Chair: James Goldstein
Addressed the administration’s decision and called for remaining mindful of national attention on the university and the need to voice disagreements in a mutually respectful manner at this challenging time; announced progress on volunteers for BERT, and announced the Senate approved copyright policy has been updated online.
Action Items
Dr. Michael Tillson was approved with a vote of 53 to 2.
The motion to add two voting members from Honors College and University College to Curriculum Committee was not passed with a vote of 57 to 3, since at least 58 votes (2/3 of the total number of senators) are required to approve any amendment of the Senate Constitution. Senate Chair, James Goldstein announced that this proposal will be brought back for voting again.
Pending Action Items
The purpose of the proposed change is to clarify information students need in order to use the process and to simplify the process.
Information Items
The presentation of PowerPoint and the pdf (study on faculty salaries) are posted with the Senate Agenda for this meeting.
Dr. Clark talked about the reasons for this study, the methodology of data collection, advantages of a multilevel approach, model selections, and the findings. The take away message is that using hierarchical linear modeling, a study of Fall 2015 salary records for all full‐time instructional faculty and librarians at Auburn University found no evidence of salary inequity by gender after controlling for individual and department‐level characteristics.
Q: none
Dr. Kuhn addressed on the importance of the Mell building, presented the features inside and outside, and how the students and faculty will be prepared and trained.
Unfinished Business: James Goldstein, Senate Chair: none
New Business: James Goldstein, Senate Chair: none
James Goldstein, Senate Chair announced adjournment at 4:25 p.m.