1. Senate President’s information sharing

2. Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Revision of Faculty Senate By-Laws and Constitution. (John Hamilton, Chair).

          John Hamilton’s committee was given the task of investigating several issues concerning the Senate regarding such issues as representation nursing, membership criteria, term limits for Executive Committee members, and election of Executive Committee President.

Issues and Actions:

Membership on the Senate
There was little discussion of this issue because the Senate seemed unanimous in liking the membership criteria as they are.
A motion was made to keep the Senate an assembly of tenure and tenure track faculty. (Moved by Jane Hastings/Seconded by Carr Winn).
The motion passed unanimously

Representation of nursing faculty on the Senate Executive Committee
         The nurses have only two faculty members eligible to be on the Senate. At least one new member should be hired shortly. However, this still leaves Nursing substantially smaller than other divisions, which have from six to eleven members. These divisions are also hiring new faculty. The issue is further complicated by the growth in the number of programs at the University. Solving the Nursing representation issue is important, but several other programs are starting in the near future, and fair representation will continue to be an issue.

A motion was made to have Nursing represented on the Senate executive Committee.
(Moved by Denise Neill/Seconded by Carr Winn)
Following further discussion, a motion was made to table this motion.
(Moved by Joan Brumm/ Seconded by Carr Winn)
The motion to table passed unanimously.

Term Limits for Senate Executive Committee Officers
         Dr. Johnson had suggested that the Senate might want to consider term limits for Executive Committee officers. In the discussion, various members pointed out the many advantages of having no term limits. The two main reasons voiced were 1), the faculty should have the right to elect whomever they want to elect, and 2), Members new to the Executive Committee would take some time to become familiar with the office, and one term is not enough. No one spoke in favor of limiting the number of terms for Executive Committee officers.

A motion was made to keep the current rule allowing unlimited terms for Executive Committee members. (Moved by Rosanne Stripling/ Seconded by Carr Winn).
The motion passed unanimously.

Election of Executive Committee President
         The Executive Committee President is, in effect, the President of the Senate. Dr. Hamilton’s committee proposed an alternative to the current system, under which the Executive Committee members elect a President from among themselves. This option specifies that the Executive Committee will nominate at least two members of that body to the general faculty. Faculty eligible for Senate membership) will then elect the Executive Committee President.

A motion was made as follows: The Executive Committee will nominate at least two members of that body for the office of President. The general faculty eligible for Senate membership will then elect the Executive Committee President from the nominations submitted by the Executive Committee. (Moved by Charles Mohundro/Seconded by Rosanne Stripling).
The motion passed unanimously.

3. Approval of research grant requests

         Two Senate research grant requests have been approved for funding by the Senate. Dr. George Parangamalil (Sociology) will do a study involving ethnic identity issues, and Dr. Chris McAlister (Biology) will do a survey of the millipedes of the ArkLaTex.


4. General education requirements

         The Senate discussed the many areas of confusion regarding this issue, but because Dr. Johnson was coming later to discuss the matter with the Senate , no action was taken.


5. Texas TRS Social Security offset legislation (Hastings)

          Jane Hastings reported on U.S. Congressional legislation to change the current situation involving employees who pay both Social Security taxes and make Texas ORP contributions. These employees have paid full Social Security taxes, but they can only draw one-half of the normal SS benefits. Concerned parties should contact their legislator. More information is available at the Texas State Teachers Association web site (www. tsta.org).

6. General education requirements

         The Senate discussed the many areas of confusion regarding this issue, but because Dr. Johnson was coming later to discuss the matter with the Senate , no action was taken.

7. University Calendar for 2002-2003

         The calendar was discussed. No action was taken.

8. Course Evaluations

         This discussion was quite involved, with many members of the Senate from almost all areas expressing strong displeasure with the way evaluations are now being conducted. Among the complaints were the following:

All the courses of a faculty member are lumped together in reporting the results. This makes it impossible to determine which courses were rated highly and which were not. Therefore, the results are useless in any serious attempt to improve the quality of instruction.
The results are used to justify downgrading a faculty member’s performance review.

9. VPAA John Johnson was invited to discuss two issues with the Senate:
         1.  Upper-Level General Education/Core Requirements
         2.  Status of Partnership Agreement with Texarkana College