UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA
FACULTY SENATE
2006-2007

April 19, 2006

University Library, Rm. 110

Approved MINUTES

Chair Doug Haywick recognized a quorum and called the meeting to order at 3:07 p.m.

Present: Beverly, Amare, Britt, Brown, Crumb, Dardeau, DuPree, Farmer, Flynn, Haywick, Loomis, McCready, Hain, Lauderdale, Ficici, Hubbard, McIntosh, Sachs, Santoli, Engin, Guion, Li, Tate, Molokhia, Joseph, Prescott, Swofford, Rattie

Excused: Brick, Doran, Moore, Fresne, Khan, Prokhorov, Wright, Wilson, Sylvester, Costello, King, Pettyjohn, Williams

Unexcused: Douglass, Harrison, Burckhartt, Carnahan, Olden, Porter, Sherman, Morgan

Guest: Rebecca Ryan (Nursing)

The minutes of the March 22nd meeting were approved as submitted.

Doug welcomed new senators and invited all to look over committee final reports from last year. Thanks went to the executive committee and senate members for their help and accomplishments for the past year.

Elections

Doug presented the slate of nominees for the offices of Chair-Elect and Secretary as well as for Committee Chairs and asked for nominations from the floor. With no discussion, the senate unanimously voted for the following:

Vicki Tate Chair-Elect

Genevieve Dardeau Secretary

Committee chairs

Brenda Beverly Academic Development and Mentoring

Susan Santoli Environmental Quality

Tom Hain Evaluation

Susan McCready Fringe Benefits

Isabel Brown Handbook

Nicole Flynn Planning and Development

Kristy Britt Technology Utilization

Following elections, Doug turned the floor over to Irene McIntosh, incoming Chair.

Chair’s Report

Irene’s first action as Chair was to recognize the past year’s officers, chairs and caucus leaders by presenting each with a certificate of appreciation.

The Executive Committee met on April 12th with President Moulton and administrative officers. President Moulton noted that this was a good budget year for the University with increased funding. On the other hand, there are rising construction costs for new building and rising utility rates as well as ongoing issues of indigent care in hospital systems. In the meeting, Dr. Covey discussed the freshman experience course and ways faculty can promote academic success. Additional information discussed in the meeting was covered in the President’s meeting (April 13th) with University faculty.

Irene noted the good rapport of the Faculty Senate with both administration and the Foundation.

Her goals for the upcoming year are (1) to increase communication between the faculty senate and faculty (e.g., let faculty know about the dialogue between the faculty senate and the administration) and (2) educate faculty as to how they communicate concerns to the Faculty Senate.

The next Faculty Senate meeting date is June 21st. Meeting dates will be posted on the Faculty Senate web site. At the next meeting, a photographer will take photographs of the full senate and the new executive officers.

Old Business

 There was no old business.

 New Business

External Equity Adjustment Recommendations

Susan McCready presented external equity adjustment recommendations as developed by the Salary and Benefits committee. This document is part of our open dialogue with administration. Faculty senators were asked to review the document and discuss it with faculty colleagues before the next meeting.

Reports from Standing Committees

Academic Development & Mentoring (John Kovaleski): Over the past year, the committee worked on a reorganization plan for the purpose of restructuring the committee's name and structure and concluded that the committee's emphases should be placed on (a) supporting faculty development and mentoring and (b) influencing policy associated with faculty development and mentoring. After presentation of these recommendations in the March 2006 Faculty Senate meeting, senators unanimously approved both changes.

Academic Policy and Faculty Handbook (Donna Wooster): A few minor revisions were submitted for the final Faculty Handbook for the 2005-2006 academic year. Two changes approved by Faculty Senators in March 2006 included a name change for the Academic Development and Faculty Mentoring Program (see Final Report and March 2006 minutes) and a Faculty Senate meeting date change (see Final Report and March 2006 minutes). In addition, a recommended change was passed to the Faculty Senate Salary and Fringe Benefits Committee regarding tuition reimbursement and transcript waiver.

Environmental Quality (Barry Nowlin): The primary goal for the year involved education of students, faculty and administration to the unique ecologically diverse campus environment. To this end, the committee investigated and facilitated the establishment of a nature trail and worked with faculty and student organizations to make the trail a reality. The Nature Trail was featured in the Mobile Press (March 23rd) in the Suburban Section by Jeff Amy. In addition, Barry Nowlin and Amy Milan appeared on the Morning Show of WKRG to discuss the trail. Chris Bedwell intends to publish an article about the trail in the Vanguard.

Another initiative for the year included coordinating and facilitating efforts with Mobile United, the City of Mobile, USA Recreation and Brad Christensen to establish a Wellness Trail (bike/walking/jogging/nature). Dr. Philip Theodore, Recreation Director, will help to complete this project along with the Environmental Quality committee by the end of summer. The complete final report is archived in Faculty Senate records and is currently available on the web site.

Evaluation (Deborah Spake): The 18th Annual Faculty Survey went smoothly. The committee used Survey Monkey to administer the online survey. Response rate was 35%, the highest since moving from a paper ballot. The committee is still grappling with how to get more faculty participation. Open-ended comments are summarized for the Faculty Senate web site and raw data (in the form of non-edited comments) are presented to the administration. Raw data, housed in the Faculty Senate Office in the Main Library, are also available to faculty and administration if requested. Deborah thanked Tom Hain for his help in testing survey website services prior to choosing Survey Monkey.

Planning & Development (Nicole Flynn):

Salary & Fringe Benefits (Susan McCready): In Susan’s final report, she noted that during the past year the committee publicized the new University Health plan and proposed a Senate resolution in support of it. New dental coverage included in the plan has resulted in overwhelmingly positive support. The committee also communicated with the Vice President of Academic Affairs about faculty responses to the implementation of the large-scale External Salary Adjustment. After gathering faculty reactions, the committee presented a document that proposes suggestions for improvements (See New Business).

Technology Utilization (Jan Sauer): The committee worked with Academic Computing during the year to install software to provide an online communication forum for online faculty and staff. The two committees suggest that the University (a) coordinate and publicize technology-related workshops across campus, (b) centralize and publicize faculty development educational opportunities across campus, (c) sponsor technology training with faculty who teach eCollege classes to demonstrate what works and what does not, (d) offer guidelines for creating accessible webpages, and (e) explore the possibility of installing Student Response System hardware and software across the University to establish a unified system.

Caucus Leaders Reports

Allied Health (Bob Moore): Reporting for Bob Moore, Donna Wooster noted that faculty are waiting on their new building.

Arts & Sciences (Federico Perez Pineda): No report.

Computer & Information Sciences (Harold Pardue): No report.

Continuing Education (Elliot Lauderdale): Joyce Woodruff, Chair of the Department, is resigning. A Chair search will soon begin.

Education (Daphne Hubbard): Susan Santoli, reporting for Daphne, stated the COE has a current faculty search. In addition, there are ongoing renovations in the building.

Engineering (Martin Parker): No report.

Library (Dennis Guion): No report.

Medicine (Gary Carnahan): No report.

Mitchell College of Business (Jim Swofford): No report.

Nursing (Irene Rattie): No report.

Adjournment

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:03 p.m.

Next meeting: Wednesday, June 21st.