AU Senate
March 19, 2024
Minutes


Meeting called to order by AU Senate Chair, Dr. Lisa Kinsler at 3:30 p.m.
All senators in attendance reminded to participate in Canvas quorum poll (this is equivalent to the sign-in sheet during in-person meetings).

Establish a Quorum
Vote1 to identify quorum. A quorum was established with 49 respondents.
Approval of the Senate Meeting Minutes from February 2024 approved by unanimous consent.

Remarks and Announcements
University Senate Chair: Lisa Kensler
University Senate Secretary: Linda Gibson-Young addressed plans for AU Senate Elections for Chair-Elect and Secretary-Elect. Starting March 21 and closes March 26 at 0745. All faculty encouraged to vote.

President: Chris Roberts. Currently vetting four firms to evaluate faculty salaries. New hiring for Title IX. Undergraduate enrollment is holding strong. FAFSA May 15, 2024, deadline. Board of Trustees April 2024 being held in Huntsville. Reviewed agenda. SB 129 highlighted with impact discussed for AU. Will hold discussions across AU.

Provost: Vini Nathan. Final candidates for Phi Beta Kappa highlighted with 20th celebration planned. Academic Affairs items for BOT addressed.

Correction from above paragraph: Final candidates for Deans highlighted with 20th celebration planned. Academic Affairs items for BOT addressed.

Action Items

Vote on Motion re: Accept report and recommendation from AU RISE (ad hoc Senate committee for Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability, and Engagement)

Presented in February by Hollie Cost, Eve Brantley
Slide Presentation (pdf) White Paper (pdf) Proposed committee structure (pdf)
Motion passes with 60 Yes votes/ 10 No votes/ 4 abstained.

Vote re: Rules Committee Nominees  Presenter: Linda Gibson-Young

Rules Committee nominees (html) Three candidates presented and voted on: Dr. Birdsong received 61 votes, Dr. Miller 54 votes, and Dr. Werner 55 votes. Kasia Leousis received 69 yes, 1 no. Three approved to fill 2-year Rules Committee positions. One approved to fill the 1-year replacement position.

Vote re: Senate Committee Membership (Nominations from Rules Committee) Presenter: Linda Gibson-Young

Senate Committees replacement membership (pdf) To fill the 22 committees, Rules Committee presented a slate of candidates for one vote. One name (Ralph Kingston) was removed from the list prior to the vote. All names pass with 61 Yes, 1 No, and 2 Abstentions.

Committee Reports
Salary Study from Faculty Salaries & Welfare Committee Presenters: Duha Tore Altindag, Joseph Majdalani, Michael Stern

(Report follows motion passed in November 2023: The Senate Requests that the Faculty Salary & Welfare Committee broadly investigate the raises and increases in compensation for administrators and staff versus the faculty compensation overall and present at a future Senate Meeting.) Report (pdf) Slide presentation (pdf) 15 minute presentation using slides presented.

Vote to Suspend the Rules for this meeting allowing non-senators to discuss the Motion. 37 Yes votes, 21 No votes, and 4 abstained.

Vote on the Motion: 46 Yes votes, 5 No votes, and 1 abstained.

Faculty Handbook Presenter: Ralph Kingston for Mitchell Brown, chair Handbook Committee,  proposed FHB changes re: Hiring Guidlines (pdf), proposed FHB changes re: College P&T-committee guidelines (pdf)

Information Item
AU Student Counseling & Psychological Services, Presenter: Joeleen Cooper-Bhatia, Associate Director, slide presentation (pdf). This item was tabled for a future meeting.

New Business
Motion made by Roy Hartfield, Senator from Aerospace Engineering and received 2nd.
Whereas salary disparities are compounded when not corrected, the Senate hereby requests that the administration and Board of Trustees reconsider the 2-year calendar proposed by the president to conduct a study before correcting the salary imbalances of especially the past two raise cycles.

Adjournment
Lisa Kensler, Senate Chair, adjourned the meeting at 5:00 p.m.


Senate Meeting Attendance – March 19, 2024
Senate Officers
Lisa Kensler                                      Chair
Lori Eckhardt                                    Chair-elect
Linda Gibson-Young                          Secretary
Jaena Alabi                                       Secretary-elect
Mark Carpenter                                  Immediate Past-Chair

Administration
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                                        SGA President
Kimberly McCadden                         Staff Council Chair
Evelyn Hunter                                   Steering Committee
Robert Cochran                                Steering Committee
Octavia Tripp                                    Steering Committee

Senators by Departments
Xu (Joyce) Cheng                              Accountancy
Roy Hartfield                                    Aerospace Engineering
Emily Nichols sub for
Mary (Molly) Gregg                  ACES
Valentina Hartarska                 Ag Economics & Rural Sociology
Vinicia Biancardi                        Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology
Kevin Moore                             Architecture
Lauren Woods                                  Art
James Birdsong                                Aviation
Tony Moss sub for
Rebecca Riggs                                  Biological Sciences
David Blersch                                   Biosystems Engineering
Jeff Kim                                            Building Sciences
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
Nathan Whelan                         Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture
Robert Gitzen                                   Forestry, Wildlife, and the Environment
David King                                        Geosciences
Jan Kavookjian                                  Health Outcomes Research and Policy
Zachary Schulz                                  History
Elina Coneva                                     Horticulture
Clark Danderson                               Hospitality Mgmt.
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
David Mixson                            Outreach
Peter Christopherson              Pathobiology
Lena McDowell                                Pharmacy Practice
David Miller                                      Philosophy
Luca Guazzotto                          Physics
Jonathan (Jon) Fisk                           Political 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
LTC, Laura Fryar                               ROTC Army
Captain, Michael Witherspoon           ROTC Naval
Danilea Werner                                Socio/Anthro/Social Work
Adrienne Wilson                               Theatre and Dance
Kerri Munoz                                     World Lang & Literatures

Absent without substitute:
Kelli Shomaker                                  VP for Bus & Fin & CFO
Soolim Jeong                                    GSC President
Josh Henderson                                A&P Assembly Chair
J Brian Anderson                              Steering Committee
Jacek Wower                            Animal Sciences
Joel Hayworth                                  Civil Engineering
Ann Presley                                      Consumer & Design Sciences
Lee Johnson                                      Music
Kevin Huggins                                   Nutritional Sciences
Amit Morey                                      Poultry Science
Robert Cole                               Veterinary Clinical Sciences