February 1, 2023

In Attendance:

Alan Brinks, Beth Byers, Brielle Frost, Cengiz Sen, Clayton Jeffryes, Daryl Ann Borel, Eric McCluskey, Eujin Kwon, Ginger Gummelt, J.P. Nelson, James Armacost, James Slaydon, Jane Liu, Jennifer Fowler, Jennifer Thedford, Kelly Weeks, Lilian Felipe, Mark Broome, Mark Mengerink, Matt Hoch, Melissa Riley, Mien Jao, Pat Heintzelman, Poornima Gunasekaran, Raymond Doe, Sharon Joffe, Sujing Wang, Tom Harvey, Trina Nolen, Xenia Fedorchenko, Yasuko Sato, B. Garrick Harden

Approval of Minutes

November and December 2022 general meeting minutes approved – James Slaydon (motion), Garrick Harden (second)

President Taylor’s Minute

Dr. Taylor was unable to attend.

Guest Speaker

Theresa Hefner-Babb, Assistant Provost for Accreditation and Assessment

Discussion of SACS

-academic rigor now in compliance

-keeping close tab on grad rigor

-still not compliant with student learning outcomes

-have assessment reports and results, not doing anything with them

-asking that departments look at last year’s report, and look at results in there to see what we can fix

-Theresa and Jeremy willing to help departments tweak reports

-SACS wants formative assessment

Faculty Senate Committee Chair Reports

Melissa Riley – Academic Issues

Continue working on: Instructor rank and promotion

Honor code review form

We will meet on Teams Feb 15

Will look at time to report grades at the end of term

Emailed Provost Dann Brown about academic calendar, member wanted it posted at least 3 years in advance

Faculty Issues – Sujing Wang

Will meet next Wednesday

Main tasks: faculty grievance policies, want something ready and approved by faculty and provost office

Budget and Compensation – Jennifer Fowler

President, provost, and CFO (met this morning with CH Lin), concerned about salary inversion, will meet with them soon

Research & Creative Activity – Lilian Felipe

Last meeting November 16

Evaluating four proposals for FDL, sent to Provost Brown next day

Faculty Evaluation – CH Lin

Preparing for coming faculty climate survey, soliciting suggestions for questions

Faculty Handbook – Matt Hoch

Did not meet in December, new thing: office hours issues, asked to continue Jennifer’s previous work (MAPPs)

New handbook is policy-focused, and planned to link policies to procedures, SACS wants the format we are moving toward

Goal: get the handbook setup with links to MAPPs

Preamble from last spring

We will have 30 days to review new version of handbook before voting on it.

Kelly Weeks: Will the part of the beginning of the handbook that says it is advisory remain in the document?

Matt Hoch: Preamble has been tightened up; that part may be removed.

AD Hoc on HR: JP Nelson

The roster of administrative office personnel relevant within the university is more set now. JP will communicate with them soon. Member(s) looking at how other institutions handle grievances. JP said HR report will be impacted by changes to by-laws.

Faculty Senate President’s Report

Cheng-Hsien Lin

Elections – elections to replace UUCC vacancies

Problems of alignment of academic catalog with Degree Works, students confused, it is unclear who is in charge of alignments.

Questions from Education faculty – Why are we forbidding online attendance? Some faculty are online faculty, and they are not able to attend even though they have been elected to Faculty Senate.

Tom Harvey – was it in the by-laws, will virtual meeting be reconsidered in the future?

CH Lin: not in the by-laws

Slaydon – suggests to use Teams but do not record it

J.P. – the university would like to see more faculty back on campus, we discussed that in previous meeting

CH Lin – some faculty at a lot of on-campus service, they want more faculty back on campus to service and interact with students

Jennifer Fowler: point of procedure: could make a motion next time

Old Business

Kelly Weeks: Closed session to talk about issues in COB CH Lin: We can vote on a motion next time

New Business

Garrick Harden: Memo to instructors sent in English Department; not clear whether English is the only department; factually accurate, but the timing was bad

Slaydon: smacks of English hit list from five years ago

CH Lin: F2.08 evaluation process still subjective

Hoch: Concern about mass, blanket warning to instructors; thought individuals had to be notified they will not be renewed by deadline.

Harden: Motion is not ready.

Heintzelman: Dean said we have the expected budget because of surplus, and we don’t expect any cuts. Said instructors got letter 30 minutes before Fall semester grades were due. Asking faculty to support instructors’ concern on job security.

We lost quorum during discussion: J.P.

CH Lin: Garrick will make a motion next time on this issue.

Motion to adjourn: Garrick Harden

2nd by Lilian Felipe

Meeting adjourns at 5:20 pm