FACULTY SENATE MEETING
MINUTES
April 14, 2008
3:15 p.m., 601 Rudder Tower
http://facultysenate.tamu.edu
Present: Louise Abbott, Derya Akleman, Wendi Arant-Kaspar, Carisa Armstrong, Karl Aufderheide, Wolfgang Bangerth, Guy Battle, Michael Benedik, Tom Blasingame, Tahir Cagin, Richard Carlson, Gwendolyn Carroll, Antonio Cepeda-Benito, Ifte Choudhury, John Fackler, Richard Feldman, Holly Gaede, Kishore Gawande, Melinda Grant, Michael Greenwald, Mike Hanik, Paul Harms, James Heilman, Arthur Hobbs, Joe Jaros, Andrew Kirkendall, Andrew Klein, Thomas Linton, Carol Loopstra, Leon Luxemburg, Clinton Machann, Clint Magill, Robert McGeachin, Michael Messina, Tim Murphy, Ramona Paetzold, Frederic Pearl, David Peterson, Angie Hill Price, Sanjay Reddy, Roger Reese, Cynthia Riccio, Elisabeth Rich, Morgan Scott, Douglas Slack, Karen Snowden, Kathleen Speed, Susan Stabile, John Stallone, William Stein, Robert Stewart, Bob Strawser, Douglas Thornton, Tom Vogel, Nancy Volkman, Hank Walker, Robert Warden, Gwendolyn Webb-Johnson, William West, Matthew Whiteacre, Kirk Winemiller, Gary Wingenbach, Thomas Woodfin, Jim Woosley, Debra Zoran
Karan Watson (Dean of Faculties)
Absent: James Aune, Robert Bednarz, Charles Bollfrass, James Boyd, Keith Chaffin, Walter Daugherity, Rainer Fink, Richard Hise, Eluned Jones, Guido Kanschat, Larry Kelly, Ann Kenimer, Andre Landry, Robyn Lints, R.N. Mahapatra, Sam Mannan, Lanny Martindale, Peter McIntyre, Mary Meagher, Rosana Moreria, Khalid Qaraqe, Lynn Ruoff, Roger Schultz, Robert Shandley, Robin Smith, Winfred Teizer, Frank Thomas, Hamid Toliyat, Theodore Turocy, Jyotsna Vaid, Gary Varner, Jessica Wickersham
Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 by Speaker Angie Hill Price.
Speaker Comments:
Speaker Price opened the meeting by welcoming guests and Senators. Two senators from Galveston and one from Qatar were present via videoconferencing.
The speaker presented the Resolution for Eddie J. Davis to Dr. Davis. Then Speaker Price welcomed the first guest speaker, Jill Pollock, Associate Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer to come up and speak to the Faculty Senate. Jill Pollock presented information regarding wages for various staff positions in response to the Faculty Senate’s desire for all TAMU employees to earn a living wage above the poverty level. She also responded questions from senators.
Speaker Price then introduced the next guest speaker, Kevin McGinnis, Director of Risk Management. Kevin McGinnis presented information regarding recent changes to the ORP and responded to questions and comments. He indicated that recent changes made to the ORP were initiated by IRS mandated changes. He also indicated during the Q&A period that there were no faculty members involved in the decision process of ORP changes.
Speaker-elect Magill continued the meeting for Speaker Price. He mentioned the Aggie Spirit Award and the hat was passed around for donations. He then briefly talked about the Faculty Senate shirts that were being ordered for all of the Senators and reminded everyone to turn in their shirt sizes.
| The Feb. 11, 2008 Minutes were approved as submitted. | Motion Passed F.S.25.125 | |
| Attachment A | ||
| Consent Agenda | ||
| Executive Committee | ||
| Approval of candidates for degrees to be conferred May 9-10, 2008 | Motion Passed F.S.25.126 | |
| Attachment B | ||
| W-Courses | Motion Passed F.S.25.127 | |
| Courses Submitted for Certification: | Attachment C | |
| ANSC 491 | Undergraduate Research with Writing Credit | |
| ANTH 340 | Folklore and the Supernatural | |
| COMM/WMST 411 | Representations of Motherhood | |
| CVEN 424 | Civil Engineering Professional Practice | |
| ECON 436 | Environmental Economics | |
| FSTC/DASC 313 | Food Chemistry Laboratory | |
| HIST 367 | Colonization of North America | |
| MAST 425 | Thesis and Technical Writing | |
| NAUT 301 | Seamanship II | |
| NUTR 481 | Seminar | |
| OCEN 410 | Ocean Engineering Laboratory | |
| PHIL 381 | Ethical Theory | |
| POLS 481 | Senior Research Seminar | |
| RLEM 430 | Ecosystem Science and Management | |
| WFSC 403 | Animal Ecology | |
| Courses Submitted for Recertification: | ||
| AGR0 429 | Turfgrass Management Systems | |
| BESC 314 | Pathogens, the Environment, and Society | |
| COMM 440 | Political Communication | |
| COMM 443 | Communication and Conflict | |
| COMM 450 | Media Campaigns | |
| COSC 494 | Internship | |
| ENGR/PHIL 482 | Engineering Ethics | |
| MATH 220 | Fundamentals of Discrete Mathematics | |
Committee Reports |
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| Executive Committee | ||
| Revisions to Student Rules 57.1.1, 57.4, 1.18 | Motion Passed F.S.25.128 | |
| Attachment D | ||
| Revisions to Student Rules - Dean or Designee Language Change | Motion Passed F.S.25.129 | |
| Attachment E | ||
| Family Friendly Policies - 12.03.99.M1 | Motion Passed F.S.25.130 | |
| Attachment F | ||
| Revisions to Rule 31 - Racial and Ethnic Harassment | Motion Passed F.S.25.131 | |
| Attachment G | ||
| Qatar Catalog 130Q | Approval of the four engineering curricula for BS degrees in ECEN, CHEN, MEEN, and PETE | Motion Passed F.S.25.132 |
| Attachment H | ||
| Resolution - State-wide Common Course Numbering | Tabled | |
| Attachment I | ||
During the discussion period for Attachment I, Resolution – State-wide Course Numbering, Senator Hobbs expressed concern that once the university starts using the state-wide common course numbers for TAMU courses, we may give up some control for the course. This is especially worrisome since the state has established official course descriptions for the courses with the state-wide common course numbers. Senator Grant, Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, indicated that Dean Gunn will be presenting the request for using the common course numbers to the Academic Affairs Committee and therefore asked that the motion be tabled. The move to table the motion was seconded and passed. |
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| Research Committee | ||
| Resolution - Shared Governance and Faculty Participation in Decision-Making | Motion Passed F.S.25.133 | |
| Attachment J | ||
Old Business |
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New Business |
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Committee of the Whole |
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Speaker-elect Magill began the Committee of the Whole by inviting comments regarding a possible effort to change the method of computing undergraduate grade point ratios. Currently, when a course is taken more than once, all grades received are used for the grade point ratio. There has been a suggestion that only the most recent grade received would be used in determining the undergraduate grade point ratio. In response, it was pointed out that one effect of such a change would be an increase in the number of times a course is taken, thus putting increased demand on limited resources. |
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Several senators mentioned difficulties with filling empty Faculty Senate positions with faculty members willing to run for election. It was suggested that the previously defeated constitutional amended to eliminate term limits should be reconsidered. It was also mentioned that this time of year is not a good time to be asking faculty to take on another commitment. Speaker-elect Magill indicated that the nomination period would remain open for open positions until 5PM Thursday, April 17. |
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There was much discussion regarding the new System Policy 33.99.14. The lack of shared governance at the System level was part of the discussion and it was not clear how to approach this lack. There was also support for the suggestion to hold an open forum to obtain input from all faculty regarding the new policy. During the discussion, it was emphasized that the system ignored concerns expressed by the university regarding 33.99.14. |
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Senator Carlson indicated that he had heard that there was a possibility that TIAA-CREF was not necessarily being forced to follow system policies that other ORP providers were required to follow and asked that P&W look into the matter. |
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Former Speaker Slack suggested that a task force be formed to look into how to increase shared governance at the system level. |
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| Adjourn | ||