Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Attendance: Jane Evans (Chair), Lois Millner (Vice Chair), Dan O’Hara (Past Chair), Bob Aiken (CST), Sally Harrison (Tyler), Diane Maleson (Law), Jeffrey Solow (BCM), Alan Stark (Dent), Karen Turner (SCT), Judy Goode (CLA), Maxine Chisholm (Coord).
1. Call to Order:
The meeting began at 12:50PM.
2. Approval of Minutes:
Minutes of May 3, 2005 approved as amended.
3. President's Report:
a) President Evans reported on the latest General Education Program developments and asked O’Hara to elaborate on his written summary posted to the FSSC. The President asked O'Hara to provide a revised written summary, in light of the discussion, for posting to the Senate Listserv. Turner, the other FSSC member on the GEEC, contributed to this discussion.
b) President Evans reported on the widespread perception among faculty that the General Education Program process of implementation was not transparent. President Evans suggested strongly that the GEEC, two members of which (Turner and O'Hara) are on the FSSC, mount a sustained and comprehensive communication effort, something for which the GEEC has just made plans.
c) The issue of graduate faculty was addressed with respect to faculty in-put into this process of decision-making. President Adamany, President Evans reported, at the May Board of Trustees meeting, announced that he would have a plan for deciding on who were to be granted graduate faculty status and that this plan would be presented to the Board for its approval sometime in the fall. The larger structural anomaly of the Graduate Board having sole responsibility for this and other graduate issues also was discussed.
d) President Evans led a discussion about representation at Board of Trustees meetings, those of the full Board and of its major sub-committees, such as Academic Affairs and Budget. She asked for volunteers to attend upcoming meetings and they were forthcoming.
4. Vice-President's Report:
a) We really need a Faculty Senate Secretary.
b) I will post the need for two elections to be held as soon as possible. I will wait until Jane has a meeting about the Tenure and Promotion Committee on Thursday. These Committees were established in the TAUP agreement of October, 2004. The University Tenure and Promotion Advisory Committee requires at least eight faculty "selected by the faculty senate." We are getting CV's and letters of interest from the interested faculty. They must be Full Professors. No more than two faculty members from "any one college or school may serve at any one time." The University Study Leave Committee requires five faculty "elected by the faculty senate." We are requesting that interested faculty submit a brief biographical statement. No more than one faculty member per school or college can serve at one time.
c) I will contact the committees in need of volunteers as well as post a message to the list serve if needed, including CATA, the UDC, International Programs, Status of Women, Lectures and Forums, and RPPC.
d) I will contact Alex Holzman the editor of Temple Press. He agreed to meet with the two committees that have been involved with the press to interview members and select one committee to serve.
e) The Steering Committee agreed that we still need a Summer Leave and Grant-In-Aid Committee, and we will use the 13 people left from the old Research and Study Leaves Committee which has been changed by the new TAUP contract.
f) The Budget Review Committee was completed as well as was the Library Committee. The EPPC, University Honors and Personnel Committees are also in good shape.
