Executive Committee of the University Senate

1.    Ken McGill called the meeting to order at 11:00

2.    Approve Agenda: Approved

3.    Approve November 12 Minutes: Approved as amended.

4.    Committee Reports:

·         Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC): Craig Turner circulated a committee summary handout (see attached). The topics included: academic year faculty availability in the summer, student opinion surveys (average rating calculation discrepancy concern), faculty awards, summer pay tax withholdings concern/extra compensation, student opinion surveys (participation rate concern), faculty evaluation / triggering reviews of department chairs, post-tenure review, and desk copies.

a.    FAPC requested a recommendation from ECUS whether the motion to recommend that Student Opinion Surveys be administered to ALL classes with ten or more students to ECUS needed to go to the Provost or to ECUS for steering. After much discussion it was decided that this motion is more a procedural matter and ECUS recommended that FAPC apply its advisory function to offer advice to the Provost on this matter. There was an additional recommendation that the language in the GCSU academic Affairs Handbook regarding the use of Student Opinion Surveys for faculty evaluation be reviewed by FAPC for accuracy to current practice given the on-line administration of these surveys. Finally there was a lengthy conversation with no consensus on how soon this motion might be implemented. One observation offered was that the practice of administering Student Opinion Surveys to (essentially) ALL classes would be administratively simpler. Another observation was a recommendation that the practice of administering Student Opinion Surveys to ALL classes might be delayed until the current review by the Council of Department Chairs of the current survey instrument concludes.

b.    Provost Jordan asked for guidance regarding the implementation of the new format for increasing student participation rate in student opinion surveys.

c.    An issue arose concerning the academic faculty pay during the summer which is capped by BoR policy at 33 1/3 percent of the base pay of the faculty member. The Provost will research this issue.

d.    All meeting attendees were informed that desk copies cannot be sold for profit.

·         Resource Planning and Institutional Policy Committee (RPIPC): Judy Malachowski reported for RPIPC. RPIPC vetted the department budget requests and discussed move the needle money with President Leland at the December meeting.  RPIPC had no meeting 14 Jan 2010 as there were no matters requiring committee attention and RPIPC does not presently have agenda items for its 4 Feb 2010 meeting.

·         Student Affairs Policy Committee(SAPC): Macon McGinley reported two  SAPC motions will be coming for vote before the University Senate. One motion is the Greek Expansion policy and the other is the attendance policy for religious observances. Macon requested input from meeting attendees on how to solve the issue of low attendance [noting that just enough for quorum have been present at recent meetings] for SAPC committee meetings. All agreed that the individual committee’s operating procedures could address the issue of attendance. One suggestion is for the chair of the committee to inform the chair of the department or the chair of staff council concerning attendance issues. There was discussion concerning whether the current university senate bylaws should be modified to address meeting attendance.  

·         Academic Policy Committee (APC): Amy Pinney reported that the plus/minus fora will be held on January 24, 2011 at 12:30 pm and 5:00 pm in Arts and Sciences 2-72 and that faculty and students are encouraged to attend either of the sessions. APC shared the charge of student email addresses with Student Government Association (SGA) and a best practices list was developed. APC is also beginning to look into the study abroad policy. The Provost requested a recommendation from the committee on how to deal with faculty who do not follow the policy concerning study abroad.  

·         Curriculum and Assessment Policy Committee (CAPC): Barbara Roquemore provided copies of letters, from the Interim Dean of the College of Business to Provost Jordan, for the approval of a new concentration in small business management, the discontinuation of the BCOM minor, and deactivation of the General Business Major which will come before senate as CAPC motions.

5.    New Business: January 31, 2011 Senate Agenda: Ken McGill projected a draft of the senate agenda on the screen so that all could see it. There were minor adjustments made to the agenda and all present approved the January 31, 2011 senate agenda as amended with the understanding that Ken McGill would add the appropriate language for the aforementioned committee motions that will be presented for consideration by the university senate.

6.    As time for the meeting had nearly run out, the remaining items on the agenda were postponed to the next Executive Committee meeting.  There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made, seconded, and approved.  The meeting adjourned at 12:25.