Faculty Senate
February 8, 2000
SC 117
3:00 - 4:40 p.m.

ATTENDANCE

Present: Grant Richards, President Romesburg, Lucille Stoddard, Ron Hammond, Sandy Vogel, Nate Oldham, John Balden, Cameron John, Karin Davidson, Christopher G. Jones, Damon Bahr, Max Christofferson, Kirk Rasmussen, Laurie Wood, Bryan Eldridge, Lori Richards, Doug Miller, Brian Birch, Elaine Byrd,, K.D. Taylor, Forrest Williams, Lynn Turnquist, David Brandt, Denza Bruss, Kathie Debenham, Keith Snedegar, Paul Bean, Eldon Greenhalgh, David Manning, Tom Perkins, Louis Arzola , Gary Noll, Malcom Crawford, Renee Van Buren, Lowell Glenn, George Hickman, Gary Griffin, Nolan Lickey.

Absent: James Callison

Excused: Larry Holt, Jill Jasperson,

Guests: Roger De Bry, Ben Mc Adams, Karl Worthington

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

January 25, 2000 - No corrections or additions were made to the minutes for this meeting. Laurie Wood moved to accept the minutes, and was seconded by Luis Arzola. All votes were in favor.

January 11, 2000 - A few word corrections and a name change were suggested by senators. Denza Bruss asked if everything was to be included in the minutes, and Grant Richards replied that all moves and major points were to be in the minutes, but the minutes were not intended to be a word-for-word transcript. Forrest Williams moved to accept the minutes with the mentioned changes, and Paul Bean seconded it. The motion carried.

November 23, 1999 - George Hickman read portions of the minutes which he felt were inaccurate and recommended the wording he felt was best. Kathie Debenham said she was not comfortable with having someone else summarize the things which were said at the November 23^rd meeting. Paul Bean suggested the senators vote on the proposed change by George Hickman so the senate could move on to other issues. Renee Van Buren moved to have a word-for-word transcript of that meeting for each senator to review; the minutes were tabled until the transcript has been produced. Chris Jones seconded the move. Votes were in the affirmative. November 23, 1999 Transcript

INFORMATION ITEMS

Welcome Sandy Vogel - Laurie Wood introduced Sandy Vogel as the new Faculty Senate Secretary. She is from the LEC English department, is very student-centered, and has been nominated repeatedly for Teacher of the Year.

Political Action Update and Higher Ed Day at the Capitol - Senators were reminded of the rally to be held on the steps of the capitol on February 16^th at 12:00. Grant said it will be an organized and peaceful rally. Students and faculty were invited to sign up for free transportation the morning of the 16^th. A training session will be held on Monday, February 14^th at 2:00 in SC213c.

Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night - Senators were reminded to attend the appreciation night basketball homecoming game. Free food and game vouchers are available on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (February 14-16th) in the hallway outside SC101. All were encouraged to attend.

Safety Committee - Nolan Lickey explained the purpose behind the Safety Committee, which has been formed. The committee has taken time to review all disasters which could possibly occur on campus, as well as all policies and procedures which correlate with them, to make sure they are up-to-date. To date, much time has been focused on natural disasters. Currently, violence in the workplace and bomb threat policies are under consideration. If anyone has ideas, suggestions, or comments, they can contact Nolan. Keith Snedegar expressed concern for the "zero tolerance" section in the gun control policy. He felt it needed to be carefully defined. Nolan Lickey said these policies will be reviewed by many people before they become a final written policy.

Campus Computer Committee - Roger DeBry said their committee has met two times this month to discuss the problems UVSC is experiencing with the computer network. Apparently, there are too many computers connected to the campus network backbone; they hope to move some to sub units. A computer hacker from the Netherlands has done a lot of damage to our system, and it has resulted in a flood of calls to the computer help desk.

He also mentioned UVSC will soon be purchasing a Power Quest program. There will be a $5.00 charge per computer to cover the cost for this program, which is only IBM compatible. A license for Web CT will also be purchased for teachers to create courseware for their classes.

Fall Senate Training - Ron Hammond distributed a sample agenda for the training meeting that he is proposing for August 14^th. He asked for senator input. Laurie Wood strongly recommended the agenda be greatly cut down- to possibly a 3 hour maximum. It was also suggested not to have the meeting before faculty are expected to return. Chris Jones requested a better understanding of the Senate Constitution and policies. Forrest Williams asked what issues were appropriate for the senate setting, and he asked for suggestions about organizing and presenting senate topics to their respective departments. It was recommended to keep the initial training meeting short, and then continue to train senators for the first few minutes of each senate meeting.

Ron asked if senators wanted copies of Roberts Rules of Order or a more concise photocopied summary of the rules. Most senators wanted a summary sheet rather than the book. KD Taylor moved to have the Faculty Senate Executive Committee provide copies of the handouts and have senators purchase copies of the book, at their own expense, if they desired one. Dave Manning seconded the move. The motion carried. A few copies of the book will be kept for reference in the Faculty Senate Office (AD211) for senators.

A sign up sheet was passed around the room requesting volunteers to help plan this fall training session.

Service Project Update - Renee Van Buren reported February 26^th as the day to remove trees from the designated swamp land area. She invited anyone with chainsawing experience to arrive at 8:00 a.m. to help with the project. All other volunteers are asked to arrive at 12:00pm to help with removal of smaller growth. Waterproof boots and waders were recommended. Food will be provided.

Constitution Committee - Ron Hammond, Constitution Committee Chair, told senators Ernie Carey would take his place in the coming year as chair. This will allow Ron to focus on his responsibilities as Faculty Senate President. Jill Jasperson will be added to the committee. Chris Jones moved to give approval of removing Ron Hammond from the committee and adding Jill Jasperson, and naming Ernie Cared as chair. John Balden seconded. The move carried. Keith Snedegar moved to have the committee make regular reports at senate meetings. Paul Bean seconded. The move carried.

Mission Statement - President Romesburg said no changes have been made to the UVSC mission statement. If any changes do take place, they will not happen for at least a year. Brad Winn and Mark Spencer are gathering data for this purpose.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Jill Jasperson was absent at the last meeting, but the proposed policy changes to Student Rights and Responsibilities will be posted on the web before the next meeting for review by senators.

Academic Standards - Dave Manning addressed three problems their committee is concerned with: (1) students auditing classes late into the semester, (2) students being purged due to financial aid problems, and (3) students who want to get a grade when they are not officially enrolled in the class due to being purged. The committee is constantly faced with petitions and is trying to satisfy the needs of all those involved in these types of problems.

Budget - Keith Snedegar said their committee would be meeting on Friday morning to review about six insurance policies. He will report their findings next meeting.

Curriculum - Chris Jones reported there are many secondary education programs which are having their programs accepted.

Tenure - Kirk Rasmussen reminded senators of the tenure workshop which will be held February 23 from 3:00 to 4:00.

Faculty Development - Forrest Williams just returned from a national conference where he learned adjunct faculty are a strong and organized group on other campuses. He wants our adjunct to have more involvement in curriculum and other issues. He feels we need to look at their needs and get them more involved. He also talked about the fall in service workshops. Their committee is open to suggestions regarding the faculty development day as well as ideas for allowing faculty to have sufficient time to prepare for their classes.

Faculty Merit - Doug Miller reminded senators the deadline for turning in applications for faculty evaluations is February 8, 2000.

Personnel and Elections - The deadline to submit names of replacement senators to Laurie Wood is Feb.22. Nomination names for other committees should also be to Laurie Wood by Feb. 22^nd. This will allow time to prepare voting ballots for the first senate meeting in March. A balanced representation on committees from all schools on campus was highly recommended.

ADJOURNMENT

The move was made by Kathie Debenham to adjourn and was seconded by Renee Van Buren. Voting was unanimous, and the meeting was adjourned at 4:40pm.