Minutes of the Auburn University Senate Meeting
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
238 Broun Hall
3:30 P.M.
A full transcript is available for this meeting.

Attendance
Senate Officers:
Daniel Svyantek, Chair; Don Mulvaney, Secretary; Beverly Marshall, Secretary-Elect; James Goldstein, Immediate-Past Chair
Absent: Michael Baginski, Chair-Elect
Gretchen Van Valkenburg, VP
Administration: Jim Witte for Betty Lou Whitford, Dean College of Education; Paul Patterson, College of Agriculture;  Scott Enebak for Janaki Alavalapati, Dean, School of Forestry and Wildlife Science; Paul Jungnickel for Richard Hansen, Dean Harrison School of Pharmacy;
Ex-Officio
Timothy Boosinger, Provost; a substitute for Bonnie MacEwan, Dean of Libraries; Lucretia Tripp, Steering Committee; Jared Russell, Steering Committee; Michael Tillson, Steering Committee

Absent, not sending substitute: 
Taffye Clayton, VP & Assoc. Provost of Inclusion and Diversity; Royrickers Cook, VP Outreach and Associate Provost; Kelli Shomaker, VP Business and Finance and CFO; George Flowers, Dean of the Graduate School; Lisa Kensler, Steering Committee; Tenchi Smith, GSC President; Charlene Thomas, Staff Council Chair; Lawrence Hamberlin, A&P Assembly Chair; Jacqueline Keck, SGA President; Bobby Woodard, VP for Student Affairs

Senators, by Department: 
Lisa Miller, Accountancy; Molly Gregg for Paul Brown, ACES; Kevin Moore for Rebecca O'Neal-Dagg, Architecture; Stephen Nichols for Anwar Ahmed, Aerospace Engineering; Michelle Worosz, Ag Economics and Rural Sociology; Chad Faradori, Anatomy Physiology and Pharmacology; Rebecca O’Neal-Dagg, Architecture; Kathryn Floyd, Art; Cliff Defee, Aviation Management; Anthony Moss, Biological Sciences; Yi Yang, Biosystems Engineering; Bryan Bechingham, Chemical Engineering; Doug Goodwin, Chemistry; Cliff Lange, Civil Engineering; Ed Youngblood, Communication and Journalism; Allison Plumb, Communication Disorders; David Umphress, Computer Science and Software Engineering; Charles Chen, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences; Melody Russell, Curriculum & Teaching; Michael Stern for Liliana Stern, Economics; Jung Won Hur, Educational Foundations, Leadership; Jitendra Tugnalt, Electrical & Computer Engineering; James E. Ryan, English; Lee Colquit, Finance; Ash Bullard, Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture; Zachary Zuwiyya, Foreign Lang & Literatures; Latif Kalin, Forestry & Wildlife Science; Ming-kuoo Lee, Geology & Geography; Kimberly Garza, Health Outcomes and Research Policy; Monique Laney, History; Daniel Wells, Horticulture; Andreas Kavazis, Kinesiology; Greg Schmidt, Library; Alan Walker, Management; Dora Bock, Marketing; Dmitry Glotov, Mathematics and Statistics; Daniel Mackowski, Mechanical Engineering; David Crumbley, Nursing; Michael Greene, Nutrition, Dietetics, & Hospitality Mgmt.; Pete Christopherson for Vicky van Santen, Pathobiology; Spencer Durham, Pharmacy Practice; Eric Marcus, Philosophy; Michael Fogle, Physics; Cathleen Erwin, Political Science; Wendy Gray forTracy Witte, Psychology; Malti Tuttle, Special Ed. Rehabilitation Counseling/School Psych.; Captain Willie Billingslea, ROTC Navy; Arianne Gaetano, Socio/Anthro/Social Work; Robin Jaffe, Theatre; Annette Smith, Veterinary Clinical Sciences.                                           

Absent, sending substitute: 
Stephen Nichols for Anwar Ahmed (Aerospace Engineering); Molly Gregg for Paul Brown (ACES); Kevin Moore for Rebcca O’Neal-Dagg, Architecture; Michael Stern for Liliana Stern, Economics;  Wendy Gray for Tracy Witte, Psychology;

Absent, not sending substitute: 
Werner Bergen, Animal Sciences; Mark Tatum, Building Science; Ann Beth Presley, Consumer & Design Sciences; Forest Smith, Drug Discovery and Development; David Held, Entomology and Plant Pathology; Jatunn Gibson, Human Development & Family Studies; Mark Schall, Industrial and Systems Engineering; Greg Schmidt, Library; Alan Walker, Management; Matthew Hoch, Music; Chippewa Thomas, Outreach; Jeff Welborn, Lieutenant Colonel, ROTC Air Force; Lieutenant Colonel Roshun Steele, ROTC Army;

Minutes
At 3:30 PM, Chair Dan Svyantek called the meeting to order and reminded the members of the senate or substitute for a senator to sign in in the back of the room and get a clicker; and substitutes to sign in by printing his/her name on the 2nd column by the senator. He also reminded the Senator rules about speaking at Senate meetings. A quorum requiring 44 senators was established with 58 senators present. Due to a malfunction of the wifi system, the clickers were not usable for the meeting.

The minutes of the September 19, 2017 Senate meeting were approved without modification.

Remarks and Announcements
Office of the Provost Dr. Tim Boosinger
President Leath was out of town and administration was represented by Provost Boosinger.  He made comment about the Critical Conversations speaker series that has 3 more speakers this semester. It was noted that Derald Wing Sue will speak on microagressions in everyday life on Thursday afternoon 10/19/2017 at 5 p.m. in the Mell Classroom Building.
Provost Boosinger announced the upcoming ribbon cutting planned for the new Nursing Building which represents an improved quality learning environment.  He also applauded AU Outreach for hosting a national consortium meeting in Birmingham over the summer involving about 700 scholars from around the country.
Questions:  None

University Senate Chair, Daniel Svyantek
Chair Svyantek introduced the Senate officers, administrative assistant Laura Kloberg and Jim Witte as parliamentarian. 

• Announced Dr. Henry Kinnucan’s (College of Agriculture) as 2017–18 Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lecturer, Wednesday, Oct. 18, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Sciences Center Auditorium.

• A parking survey of the need for after-hours parking by faculty and staff is being readied. Participation by faculty and staff is essential to provide data for addressing this issue.

• He encouraged all to attend meetings with all three candidates for provost and stressed the importance of providing input toward the decision for the future of Auburn.

• He closed remarks with a quote “May you live in interesting times” from a 1936 speech given in England by Austen Chamberlain and a lead in to a comment about a recent AAUP and the NCAA agreement based on a prior AU decision. He reemphasized the importance of shared governance.  AAUP’s statement on the role of the faculty in the governance of college athletics asserts the primacy of faculty responsibility for the athlete’s educational experience.

Questions:
Michael Stern, Economics inquired about the status of the Faculty Athletics Representative and Chairman Svyantek indicated no decision has been made.

Action Items

1. Senate Vote on Members of Senate Committees. Secretary Mulvaney noted a few lingering vacancies and a vote on a slate of nominated members for voting as posted on the web: Academic Standards: Lawrence Molt, Communication Disorders - 2018; Core Curriculum and General Education: Tim Sundell, Philosophy -2020; Curriculum Committee: Paul Haris, Honors College-2020; Retention Committee: Michelle Williams, Nursing -2020. Since approved by the Rules Committee and the Steering Committee, it needed no second. The motion passed by unanimous voice vote and no opposed

Questions: none

2. Constance Relihan presented the motion for A Proposed change to Core Curriculum and General Education Committee as initially discussed at the September 19, 2017 meeting of the Senate detailing a revision of Student Learning Outcomes. Slides from the presentation are posted online. Changes include a reduced number of SLO’s, implementation of new assessment strategies and improved opportunity for analytics. The motion passed with a unanimous voice vote and none opposed. 

Questions: none

Information Items

• Octavia Tripp, Curriculum and Teaching, made a presentation of her process, experience, advice and beneficial outcomes of taking a Professional Improvement Leave (PIL). Anyone seeking more information about PIL’s was encouraged to contact Amanda Malone.

Questions: None

Unfinished Business:
Dan Svyantek, Senate Chair
None

New Business: 
Dan Svyantek, Senate Chair 
None

Dan Svyantek, Senate Chair, announced adjournment of the meeting at 3:53 pm.