Minutes of the Steering Committee Meeting
5 November 2008
3:00 p.m.208 Samford Hall
Submitted
Sue Barry

Attended by: Bob Locy, Kathryn Flynn, Dennis DeVries, Sue Barry, David Cicci, John Heilman, Joe Molnar, Claire Crutchley, Ruth Crocker, Bill Hames, Yassar Gowayed, (non-voting)
Absent:  no one

--The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m. and the minutes of 29 September, 2008 were approved.

Chair’s Remarks:
--Bob Locy  asked John Heilman to give the President’s remark since Dr. Gogue could not attend.

Action Items:
--The resolution commending Dr. Heilman on the occasion of his retirement was approved as the first action item to be presented by the Chair, Bob Locy.
--Bob reported that Rules had voted to submit a Constitutional Amendment to the Senate for the creation of a Faculty Research Senate Committee.  This comes as a request from the VP for Research, John Mason.  Steering accepted the Rules Committee’s recommendation and voted to present the amendment as an action item.
--The Welfare Committee submitted a revised version of the Consulting Policy for Steering  to consider for the November Senate meeting.  There was a long discussion concerning internal and external consulting.  Due to the concerns brought up during this discussion, it was decided to send the policy back to Welfare for further revisions and to consider it again for the January meeting.  Part two of the policy concerning conflicts of Interest did not seem to present serious problems but it was determined that this part should be sent to the VP for Research before sending it as a separate item to the Senate.
--Bob reported that Rules had voted to present a resolution to the Senate concerning the establishment of an Interdisciplinary Degree Program. The idea was to ask the Senate to accept the concept of this new degree but not to make changes in the wording or structure of the degree program.  Steering decided that Kathryn Flynn, (Chair-Elect) would present this action item.

Information Items:
--Bob suggested that we have Patricia Duffy give a short explanation of the Interdisciplinary Degree Program to give senators an opportunity to ask more questions about the program since all the details were not available at the October meeting.
--Yassar Gowayed (Chair, Academic Program Review Committee) reported details to the Steering  Committee concerning the 2008-09 document to be used for this year’s academic program review process.  He reported that the previous document had not been used and that although the process should have some fluidity, it also needs some permanent language that makes it adhere to the policy approved by the Senate.  Therefore, Steering asked Yasser to give a short 5 minute synpopsis to the Senate and to ask for suggestions before finalizing the new document.
--John Heilman felt that the Provost’s office with the advice of the Deans and Department Heads should have the power to eliminate programs.  He believes that the policy should be long-term but the procedures should be fluid.  At the moment the document contains policy and procedures.
--Steering decided to have Yassar report on the document so that senators would be informed as to where the committee was with their work.
--Bob also reported that he would also ask for a report on Learning Communities at the November meeting.

Future items:
--Bob reported that a future topic for Steering to consider would be the Enrollment Cap.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.