UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA

FACULTY SENATE

2002-2003

 

Feb. 19, 2003

Humanities Bldg., Rm. 150

3:00 p.m.

Approved

MINUTES

 

 

1.  Call to Order—3:05 p.m.

 

The agenda for the meeting was approved.

 

 

2.  Roll Call

 

Present:  Aldes, Aronson, Barik, Bowers, Broughton, I. Brown, R. Brown, Cohen, Dagenais, Donovan, Ellis, Foster, Gamble, Godfrey, Gray, Hill, Longenecker, Moreau-Johnson, Mozur, Pardue, Perkins, Peters, Pillen, Roberson, Rodning, Sanders, Slagel, Sylvester, Tate, and Temple,

 

Absent (Excused):  Bailey, Dickens, Hanks, Haywick, Jefferson, Kimball, Lemcool, Morris, Rowe, Teplick, Wheeler, and Wilson.

 

Absent (Unexcused):  Figarola, Garmon, Kwiatkowski, and Quinn.

 

 

3.  Approval of Minutes of the Jan. 15, 2003, meeting

 

Minutes adopted as written.

 

 

4.  Chair’s Report

 

There was no meeting with Pres. Moulton his month so there was nothing to report.   A reminder that the next faculty senate meeting will be the 2nd week in March, rather than the 3rd week, which is spring break.

 

Chair Brown will be sending a letter to the Board of Trustees regarding their resolution in 1998 that suspended the search for University President and asked them to “revisit” the issue, as stated in their resolution.

 

Joe Busta has a master plan for fund raising and would he like to present it to the faculty senate.  Chair Brown will try to set up a time later in the school year.  Dale Adams would like to talk about the NCAA review of the self-study by Athletics Program.  Also, Tim Beard, new Dean of Students, wanted to talk to the faculty senate about his ideas to engage students in the life of University.

 

Campus Facility Master Plan Committee will be looking at the issue of space, or the lack thereof, for current and future programs.  The current interim Dean for Arts & Sciences has announced that there are 30 ongoing searches that are expected to be filled in the near future. 

 

There has been some concern about student organization raffling off faculty/staff parking decals, so the practice has been stopped.

 

The final report of the Student Evaluation of Teaching Committee has been made and will be sent to the Policy and Handbook Committee.  The results of their research include:

a.  Student ratings of instructional effectiveness should not be published (decided by an

     unanimous vote).

b.  Teaching effectiveness should be measured for all classes taught.

c.  A standard instrument should be used that is easily tabulated and for which records can be

     kept over the years for comparison.

 

The Executive Committee has been working with the Faculty representative to the USA Foundation, Allen Tucker, about the status of the “quasi-endowment” accounts (overhead money from grants) that was put into Foundation accounts several years ago to allow for investment opportunities.  There has been a request to retrieve this money from the Foundation so that it can be used as it was originally intended.  It is the hope of the faculty that by relinquishing these funds, the Foundation may be able to re-establish a relationship of trust.  However, the lawyers for the Foundation believe they found a Foundation policy that allows the Foundation to keep all the money.

 

Other issues the Executive Committee is looking at include:  the possibility of pre-tenure sabbaticals, complaints about new-faculty orientation day-long workshop on teaching, and problem with new faculty orientation handbook not agreeing with the University Faculty handbook.

 

Elections for the new session of the Faculty Senate are coming up.  The Executive Committee will address the problem of the ratio of 1/3 of the positions coming up for election each year.

 

 

5.  Standing Committees’ Reports

 

Evaluation—There was poor attendance for the last committee meeting, but those that attended worked for 1½ hours.  There was also further discussion in a follow-up meeting of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.  There will be one more meeting of the Evaluation Committee to finalize changes.  A discussion ensued regarding the advantages of a random sample through polling versus a census, as we have been doing.

 

Policy and Handbook—no report

 

Planning and Development—The outgoing Chair is getting the committee ready to hand over reigns to the new committee chair

 

Salary and Fringe Benefits—The policy for long-term care insurance, that was presented in November, is currently in the talking stage between university administration and representatives of insurance companies.  The committee is currently looking at the Faculty Sick Leave policy whereby a faculty member accrues one day per month of employment, which can be used when the faculty retires.  A problem has occurred with new full-time faculty having long-term sick needs, but not enough sick leave having accrued.  The committee hopes to develop a modification in the Sick Leave policy for new hires.  In a related matter, the question of Donated Sick Leave Policy was brought up.  The Committed is unsure of its status, though it was presented to the university administration.

 

 

6.  Caucus Leaders’ Reports

 

Allied Health—Senator Lemcool reported that there were 30 applications for the Dean’s position.

 

Engineering—Senator Sylvester reported that the search for the new Dean has failed, so they are hiring a search firm to assist in the search.

 

Art & Sciences—The Dean’s search received 63 applications, and they are beginning the process of narrowing the field.  All sabbatical requests were approved.

 

Education—Senator Broughton reported that the Dean’s search is beginning the interview stage of the search

 

Library—The Dedication for the new addition of the library is scheduled for March 5th, with Open House to follow on the next two days.

 

Nursing—Senator Peters announced that they are working on a program for first responders for bioterrorism attacks.

 

 

7.  Old Business

 

i.  Proposed Constitutional Amendment Regarding Changes in the Structure of the Senate Executive Committee

 

After minor wording changes (“non-voting” was added to ex-officio member for former Chair), the proposed amendments was adopted by a show of hands:  28 aye votes, 0 nay, and 0 abstentions.

 

Proposed Constitutional Amendment Regarding the Addition of Standing Committees

 

ii.  After minor wording changes (“and other technological” was added to the wording for the Technology Utilization Committee), the proposed amendment was adopted by a show of hands:  28 aye votes, 0 nay, and 0 abstentions.

 

Amendments to the Constitution are required to carry by a three-fifths vote of the senate membership.  Current membership of the faculty senate is 45, so both proposals were passed by the Faculty Senate.  They will be sent on to the faculty membership at large for voting in March.

 

 

8.  New Business

 

There was no new business.

 

 

9.  Adjournment

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.