AU Senate Meeting
February 20, 2023
Via Zoom
Minutes

Faculty Meeting called to order at 3:30 p.m.

AU Faculty Chair: Lisa Kensler
Opening remarks regarding expectations of meeting.

Establish a Quorum
Approval of the Senate Meeting Minutes from January 23, 2024. Minutes approved with no corrections and unanimous consent.

Remarks and Announcements
University Senate Chair: Lisa Kensler. SGA President, Jack Hilton introduced. Appreciation to John David Jones, outgoing SGA President.

University Senate Secretary: Linda Gibson-Young defined membership for University Faculty voting privileges for University Faculty Officers. Voting will open March 21 at 0745 and closes March 26, 2024 at 0745.

President: Chris Roberts. Remarks from February 2024 Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting 1) recommended conducting studies on faculty compensation, workload, and productivity. Four consulting firms identified with expectation of outcomes in 18-24 months. 2) BOT membership described with 4 seats in transition.

Provost: Vini Nathan. Remarks on 1) AU book selection, 2) PIL proposals reviewed 17 of 31 filled, 3) Three AU Dean searches in progress, and 4) Library survey open and all encouraged to complete.  

Action Items

  1. Vote completed on Motion re: Accept Childcare Report (Time for discussion and debate, Vote) Motion passes with 59 YES votes/2 NO votes /1 abstained. Childcare Presentation (pdf)

  2. Motion re: Accept Faculty Salaries Welfare report/recommendations related to raising the $1650 match for 403(b) contributions (Time for discussion and debate, Vote) Motion passes with 51 YES votes/9 NO votes /1 abstained. FSW Presentation (pdf) Analysis of Auburn University Matching of Employee 403(b) Contributions (pdf)

  3. Motion re: Accept COSAM letter related to non-tenure track faculty (Time for discussion and debate, Vote) Motion passes with 49 YES votes/5 NO votes /1 abstained. COSAM Letter (pdf)

  4. Nominations from the floor for Rules Committee members Presenter: Linda Gibson-Young. Four positions open for Rules Committee (3 positions for two-year term and 1 for one-year term- Vote planned at March meeting). Floor nominations included: J. Brian Anderson nominated Kasia Leosis; Evelyn Hunter nominated Danilea Warner; Bob Cochran nominated James Birdsong; and Andrew Pendola nominated David Miller.

Committee Reports

1. Nominating Committee Presenter: Dan Svyantek. Shared PPT with overview of nomination process for Chair-elect and Secretary-elect. Officer Nominees (pdf)

For Chair-elect: Luke Oeding, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Sciences and Mathematics and Virginia A. Davis, Daniel F. and Josephine Breeden Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. One petition received for Chair-elect, Michael Stern, Associate Professor Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts.

For Secretary-elect: David N. Lucsko, Professor, Department of History, College of Liberal Arts and J. Rachel Prado, Senior Lecturer Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Sciences and Mathematics

Petition opportunity remains open for other candidates.

2. AU RISE (ad hoc Senate committee for Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability, and Engagement) Presenters: Hollie Cost, Eve Brantley. Upon completion of presentation, Motion made “We move that the Senate accept this report and approve the creation of a permanent Senate committee for Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability, and Engagement following the detailed committee description provided”. Slide Presentation (pdf) White Paper (pdf)Proposed committee structure (pdf)

Information Item
Strategic Plan Update Presenters: Vini Nathan, Kerry Inger, Hari Narayanan. Overview of Strategic Plan and plans. Strategic Plan slides (pdf)

New Business
Linda Gibson-Young, Senate Secretary identified how to volunteer for Senate committees and University committees.

Adjournment Lisa Kensler, Senate Chair
Lisa Kensler, Senate Chair, adjourned the meeting at 4:40 p.m.


Senate Meeting Attendance – February 20, 2024
Senate Officers
Lisa Kensler                Chair
Lori Eckhardt              Chair-elect
Linda Gibson-Young  Secretary
Jaena Alabi                 Secretary-elect
Mark Carpenter          Immediate Past-Chair

Administration
Kelli Shomaker                      VP for Bus & Fin & CFO
Paul Patterson                        Dean, College of Agriculture
George Flowers                      Dean, Graduate School
Bobby Woodard                     SVP for Student Affairs
Jason Hicks                            Dean, College of Liberal Arts
Mario Eden                            Dean, College of Engineering
Ed Thomas                             Dean, COSAM
Joffrey Gaymon                     VP Enrollment Mgmt.
Calvin Johnson                       Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine

Ex-Officio Members
Vini Nathan                            Interim Provost
Shali Zhang                            Dean of Libraries
Jack Hilton sub for
John David Jones                   SGA President
Kimberly McCadden              Staff Council Chair
Josh Henderson                      A&P Assembly Chair
Evelyn Hunter                        Steering Committee
Robert Cochran                      Steering Committee
J Brian Anderson                    Steering Committee

Senators by Departments
Xu (Joyce) Cheng                  Accountancy
Roy Hartfield                         Aerospace Engineering
Mary (Molly) Gregg              ACES
Jacek Wower                          Animal Sciences
Valentina Hartarska               Ag Economics & Rural Sociology
Vinicia Biancardi                   Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology
Kevin Moore                          Architecture
Lauren Woods                        Art
Rebecca Baughman sub for
James Birdsong                    Aviation
Rebecca Riggs                        Biological Sciences
David Blersch                        Biosystems Engineering
Regina Gramling                    Business Analytics and Information Systems
Elizabeth Lipke                      Chemical Engineering
Wei Zhan                                Chemistry
Kevin Smith                           Communication and Journalism
Sanjeev Baskiyar                    Computer Science & Software Engineering
David Han                              Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences
Christine (Chris) Schnittka    Curriculum & Teaching
Murali Dhanasekaran             Drug Discovery and Development
Liliana Stern                           Economics
Andrew Pendola                     Educational Foundations, Leadership & Technology
Michael Baginski                   Electrical & Computer Engineering
Sunny Stalter-Pace                 English
John Beckmann                      Entomology & Plant Pathology
David Cicero                          Finance
Robert Gitzen                         Forestry, Wildlife, and the Environment
David King                             Geosciences
Jan Kavookjian                      Health Outcomes Research and Policy
Zachary Schulz                       History
Diana Samek                          Human Development & Family Studies
David Smith                           Industrial Design
Rich Sesek                              Industrial and Systems Engineering
Christopher (Brooks) Mobley                                                Kinesiology
Kasia Leousis                         Libraries
Liesl Wesson                          Management and Entrepreneurship
Jeremy Wolter                        Marketing
Hans Werner van Wyk                                         Mathematics and Statistics
Sabit Adanur                                           Mechanical Engineering
Chris Martin                           Nursing
Kevin Huggins                       Nutritional Sciences
David Mixson                         Outreach
Peter Christopherson              Pathobiology
Lena McDowell                     Pharmacy Practice
David Miller                           Philosophy
Luca Guazzotto                      Physics
Jonathan (Jon) Fisk                 Political Science
Amit Morey                            Poultry Science
Alejandro A. Lazarte              Psychology
Latifat Cabirou                       Special Ed. Rehab. Counseling/School Psych
Gregory Spray                        Speech Language and Hearing Sciences    
David Strickland                    Supply Chain Management (new)
LTC, Michael Quinn              ROTC Air Force
Captain, Michael Witherspoon                           ROTC Naval
Danilea Werner                      Socio/Anthro/Social Work
Adrienne Wilson                    Theatre and Dance
Kerri Munoz                           World Lang & Literatures

Absent without substitute:
Soolim Jeong                          GSC President
Octavia Tripp                         Steering Committee
Jeff Kim                                 Building Sciences
Joel Hayworth                        Civil Engineering
Ann Presley                            Consumer & Design Sciences
Nathan Whelan                      Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture
Elina Coneva                          Horticulture
Clark Danderson                    Hospitality Mgmt.
Lee Johnson                           Music
LTC, Laura Fryar                   ROTC Army
Robert Cole                            Veterinary Clinical Sciences