Minutes of the Auburn University Senate Meeting
February 14, 2017 3:30 pm

238 Broun Hall

A complete transcript is available for this meeting.

Attendance

Officers:
James Goldstein, Chair; Daniel Svyantek, Chair-Elect; Xing Ping Hu, Secretary; Donald Mulvaney, Secretary-Elect; Larry Teeter, Immediate-Past Chair

Administration
Don Large, Executive VP; Gretchen VanValkenburg, VP, Alumni Affairs; Jane Difolco Parker, VP, Development; John Mason, Research and Economic Development; Paul Patterson, College of Agriculture; Vini Nathan, Dean, College of Architecture, Design & Const.; Janaki Alavalapati, Dean, School of Forestry and Wildlife Science; June Henton, Dean, College of Human Sciences; Bobby Woodard, VP, Student Affairs

Ex-Officio
Timothy Boosinger, Provost; Althea Tate, Staff Council Chair; Timothy Jones, A&P Assembly Chair; Lucretia Tripp, Steering Committee; Emily Myers, Steering Committee; Jared Russell, Steering Committee; Lisa Kensler, Steering Committee

Absent, sending substitute:
Jesse Westerhouse, SGA President; Tenchi Smith, GSC President

Absent, not sending substitute:
Bonnie MacEwan, Dean of Libraries

Senators, by Department:
Anwar Ahmed, Aerospace Engineering; Michelle Worosz, Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology; Paul Brown, ACES; Dean Schwartz, Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology; Werner Bergen, Animal Science; Rebecca O'Neal-Dagg, Architecture; Kathryn Floyd, Art; Mark Dougherty, Biosystems Engineering; Allan E. David, Chemical Engineering; Doug Goodwin, Chemistry; Cliff Lange, Civil Engineering; Ed Youngblood, Communication and Journalism; Allison Plumb, Communication Disorders; Charles Chen, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences; Melody Russell, Curriculum & Teaching; Forest Smith, Drug Discovery and Development; Jung Won Hur, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Technology; Michael Baginski (Electrical & Computer Engineering), James E. Ryan, English; David Held, Entomology and Plant Pathology; Rusty Wright, Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture; Traci O'Brian, Foreign Lang & Literatures; Brent Fox, Health Outcomes and Research Policy; Monique Laney, History; Daniel Wells, Horticulture; Tom Smith, Human Development & Family Studies; Jerod Windham, Industrial Design; Mark Schall, Industrial and Systems Engineering; Andreas Kavazis, Kinesiology; Gregg Schmidt, Library; Alan Walker, Management; Dora Bock, Marketing; Dmitry Glotov, Mathematics and Statistics; Daniel Mackowski, Mechanical Engineering; Matthew Hoch, Music; David Crumbley, Nursing; Michael Greene, Nutrition, Dietetics, & Hospitality Mgmt.; Chippewa Thomas, Outreach; Vicky van Santen, Pathobiology; Michael Fogle, Physics; Cathleen Erwin, Political Science; Ken Macklin, Poultry Science; Tracy Witte, Psychology; Marilyn Cornish, Special Ed. Rehabilitation Counseling/School Psych; Jeff Welborn, Lieutenant Colonel, ROTC Air Force; Roshun Steele, Maj., ROTC Army; Captain, Willie Billingslea, ROTC Naval; Kristrina (Kriste) Shuler, Socio/Anthro/Social Work; Adrienne Wilson, theatre; Annette Smith, Veterinary Clinical Sciences,                                         

Absent, sending substitute:
Rafay Ishfaq for Cliff Defee, Aviation Management & Logistics; Mark Tatum for Mark Taylor, Building Sciences; Jacqueline Hundley for David Umphress, Computer Science & Software Engineering; Michael Stern for Liliana Stern, Economics; Lee Colquitt for Justin Benefield, Finance; Chong Ma for Ming-kuo Lee, Geology & Geography; Wesley Lindsey for Spencer Durham, Pharmacy Practice; Arata Hamawaki for Eric Marcus, Philosophy; Robin Jaffe for Adrienne Wilson, theatre

Absent, not sending substitute:
Robert Cochran, Accountancy; Bob Locy, Biological Sciences; Ann Beth Presley, Consumer & Design Sciences; Latif Kalin, Forestry & Wildlife Science; Willie Billingslea, ROTC Naval; Annette Smith, Veterinary Clinical Sciences

Minutes

At 3:30 PM Chair James Goldstein called the meeting to order, asked the Senators to sign in in the back of the room and pick up a clicker, and substitute to initial in the 2nd column by the name of the senator. He reminded senators of the rules of attendance and the rules for speaking at the microphone. A quorum requiring 44 senators was established. The chair also announced that enough senators (62) were present to pass a constitutional amendment by the required 2/3 majority (57 votes).

The minutes for Senate meeting of January 17, 2017 were approved without modifications.

Remarks and Announcements

Office of the Provost: Timothy Boosinger, Provost

• AU has initiated the process for constructing an on campus, accredited Child-Care Center proposed by the Senate. After a broad and deep review of all possible approaches, the Advisory Board of 47 members approves this project would be a public/private partnership.
• The University P&T Committee has completed its work; letters to Deans went out yesterday and to the candidates today.  Those decisions will not be made public until after any appeals have been resolved.
• There is a continued concern on potential impact of the Executive Order on Immigration by President Trump. One or more groups on campus have expressed an interest to declare the university a sanctuary campus. Provost Boosinger referenced the statement made by administration following the Executive order and indicated that general legal counsel for the University is advising against a sanctuary campus policy.  The administration will respond to the individuals who wrote to us, review all the concerns carefully, and extend discussion to more groups to assure the success of our students and university.

Questions:

• Tom Smith from Human Development and Family Studies: Halleluiah to the decision on Child-Care Center. His department is very interested in providing expertise and serving on the advisory committee.  Provost responded that everything is tentative at present and this announcement is to engage and welcome discussions and comments from Senators and the entire campus.
• Elizabeth Devore from the Graduate Student Council: Very happy to hear the initiative on a Child-Care Center. We (GSC) have created a new service called Tiger Sitter. This service is to provide graduate student families with 30-40 h of sitter service per semester.

University Senate Chair, James Goldstein

• Dr. Goldstein first called for a moment to remember the respected Dr. Kent Fields, a former chair of the University Senate (1995-96), who passed away recently and expressed sincerely condolences to family and friends.
• Dr. Goldstein announced the 2017 call for proposals for the Departmental Award for Excellence in Education. Proposals are due March 9. 
• He then mentioned a letter from a former student outlining 10 specific actions that the undersigned group (approx. 100 students) would like the University to take in response to the Executive Order on Immigration by President Trump. The letter has been posted on Senate website and any feedback is welcome to share with the Senate leadership. Dr. Goldstein pointed out the general rule that in cases where the University General Counsel advises the President that any particular action would likely be held to be in violation of Alabama statutes, the administration, mindful of its fiduciary responsibilities as managers of a public institution dependent on State appropriations, would refrain from such actions.
• March 7 is the spring general faculty meeting. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.
• Finally, Dr. Goldstein clarified some basic rules about parliamentary order and the need to follow them during University Senate meetings. For details, refer to the transcript of this meeting.

Questions: None

Action Items

1. Revisions to University Senate Constitution

Three amendments to the language of the Faculty Constitution were presented by Dr. Ralph Kingston, the Chair of Faculty Handbook Review Committee.

• The first amendment proposed language clarification of definitions of academic schools and unites for Senate Composition (Article 2 Section 3) and for Senate Standing Committees (Article 4 Section 1);
• The 2nd amendment proposed a modification of the duties of Senate Officers (Article 3 Section 3) and changes of Standing Senate Committees (Article 4);
• The last revision recommended a merge the inactive Library Appeals Committee with the standing Library Committee.

The link to the Resolution is on Senate’s website with the agenda for this meeting.

The motion was carried by a vote of 70 in favor and 2 opposed.

2. Academic Calendar

Presenter: Robin Jaffe, Chair, Calendar and Schedules Committee

• Proposed changes to the 2017-18 Academic Calendar. The changes are to help students and families overall enabling housing more time.
• Proposed change of adding a third graduation day to the 2018-19 Academic Calendar.
• The third is an approval of the 2019-2020 Academic Calendar.

The link to the presentation (pdf) is on Senate’s website with the agenda for this meeting.

The motion was passed by a vote of 71 in favor and 2 opposed.

A delightful valentine animation appeared on the screen.

Pending Action Items

1. Xing Ping Hu, Senate Secretary, called for Nominations for Rules Committee Members from the floor. Brief biographies of the nominees will be posted on Senate Website for review, and they will be voted on at March Senate Meeting (March 21, 2017). Their appointment shall become effective the following August.

Jung Won Hur (Department of Educational Foundation, College of Ed) nominated by Lisa Kensler
Ming-kwo Lee (Geosciences, COSAM) nominated by Dan Svyantek
Anwar Ahmed (College of Engineering) nominated by Larry Teeter

2. Resolution on Schedule for Promotion and Tenure Candidates

Dr. William Ashurst, Chair, Faculty Research Committee, reviewed the background and process of this resolution, which was proposed in the ADR report, researched and deliberated to arrive at the proposed resolution by FRC, presented to URC and Senate Steering Committee before being presented to the Senate today. The proposed change is to increase the normal time from current timeline of 4 years to 5 years in service for tenure and promotion from Assistant to Associate, but not change the language relative to the Assoc. to full Professor promotion. This means after 5 years of service, in the 6th year of appointment, faculty to go for promotion under the new rule; exceptionally well-qualified candidates would still be able to up early. All persons already in the promotion pipeline should be grandfathered, subject to the rules at the time of their hire.  
The link to the resolution (Word), presentation (PowerPoint), Peer data (Excel) and ADR Report (pdf) is on Senate’s website with the agenda for this meeting.

Questions

• Michael Stern, a substitute for senator of Economics suggested that departmental guidelines may need to change/recalculation to move from the conceptual 4-y window to a5-y window for faculty to pursue promotion.
• Dr. Vicky Santen, senator of Pathology, asked if this change will affect faculty who might need to pursue tenure and promotion twice?  The chair answered that the change would not prevent a candidate from going up for tenure a second time, during the 7th year. He explained that the AAUP has made it clear that the proposed change will conform to their guidelines as long as the letter issued in the 6th year to the unsuccessful candidate for tenure provides clear notice of termination at the end of the 7th unless a favorable tenure decision is reached during the 7th year.

Information Items

1. Ad Hoc Committee on Competency-Based Education (CBE), Final Report

Presented by Constance Relihan, Associate Provost of Undergraduate Studies.
Dr. Relihan briefed on what is CBE, CBE models, pros and cons. The committee of 11 members concluded to not recommend that AU pursue a pure form of CBE at this time because it found no demonstrated interest in or need for such programs on AU campus. However, programs interested in pursuing them may later decide to develop CBE-type teaching programs or hybrid programs.
The link to the report (ppt) and Competency Based Ed Report (pdf) is on Senate’s website with the agenda for this meeting.

 No question was asked.

2. Engagement Scholarship Conference, presented by Chippewa Thomas, Director Faculty Engagement, Office of University Outreach.

Engagement involves the best practices in community-engaged scholarship. The next conference will be hosted by Auburn University with the ESC Southern Region in Birmingham, AL, on September 26-27, 2017. A series of pre-conference events will be in place before the conference, and 5 Competitive Outreach Scholarship Grant proposals are rewarded this year.
The link to the presentation (ppt) is is on Senate’s website with the agenda for this meeting.

No question was asked.

3. Announcement of Slate of Candidates for 2017-18 Senate Officers

Presenter: Xing Ping Hu, Senate Secretary
Candidates for Chair-elect: Anthony Moss (COSAM), Michael Baginski (College of Engineering)
Candidates for secretary-elect: Michael Tillson (College of Vet), Beverly Marshall (College of Business)
The biographical formation and statements by the candidates are posted on the Senate website for review. Online voting will be available from March 2nd through March 6th.  All eligible faculty should receive an e-mail from the Senate Secretary.

Unfinished Business:James Goldstein, Senate Chair
None
New Business: James Goldstein, Senate Chair
None
Dr. James Goldstein, Senate Chair, adjourned the meeting at 5:00 pm