Minutes of the Auburn University Senate Meeting
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
113a Lowder
3:30 P.M.

A full 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 Van Valkenburg, VP, Alumni Affairs; Jane Difolco Parker, VP, Development; Paul Patterson, College of Agriculture; 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; Bonnie MacEwan, Dean of Libraries; Althea Tate, Staff Council Chair; Timothy Jones, A&P Assembly Chair; Lucretia Tripp, Steering Committee; Jared Russell, Steering Committee; Lisa Kensler, Steering Committee

Absent, sending substitute:
John Liu for John Mason (Research and Economic Development); Ben Farrow for Vini Nathan, (Dean, College of Architecture, Design & Const.)

Absent, not sending substitute:
Emily Myers, Steering Committee; Jacqueline Keck SGA President; Tenchi Smith, GSC President

Senators, by Department:
Robert Cochran, Accountancy; Paul Brown, ACES; Rebecca O'Neal-Dagg, Architecture; Kathryn Floyd, Art; Bob Locy, Biological Sciences; Mark Dougherty, Biosystems Engineering; Allan E. David, Chemical Engineering; Doug Goodwin, Chemistry; Cliff Lange, Civil Engineering; Charles Chen, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences; Melody Russell, Curriculum & Teaching; Forest Smith, Drug Discovery and Development; Michael Baginski (Electrical & Computer Engineering), James E. Ryan, English; Justin Benefield, Finance; Brent Fox, Health Outcomes and Research Policy; Monique Laney, History; Mark Schall, Industrial and Systems Engineering; Andreas Kavazis, Kinesiology; 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.; Vicky van Santen, Pathobiology; Spencer Durham, Pharmacy Practice; Cathleen Erwin, Political Science; Marilyn Cornish, Special Ed. Rehabilitation Counseling/School Psych; Jeff Welborn, Lieutenant Colonel, ROTC Air Force; Roshun Steele, Maj., ROTC Army; Kristrina (Kriste) Shuler, Socio/Anthro/Social Work; Adrienne Wilson, theatre.                                           

Absent, sending substitute:
Stephen Nichols for Anwar Ahmed (Aerospace Engineering); Rob Agne for Ed Youngblood, (Communication and Journalism); Alan Seals for Liliana Stern (Economics); Pedro Cebollero for Traci O'Brian (Foreign Lang & Literatures); Amy Chitwood for Chippewa Thomas (Outreach); Cindy Bowling for Ken Macklin (Poultry Science); Joseph Bardeen for Tracy Witte (Psychology).

Absent, not sending substitute:
Michelle Worosz, Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology; Dean Schwartz, Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology; Werner Bergen, Animal Science; Cliff Defee, Aviation Management & Logistics; Mark Taylor, Building Sciences; Allison Plumb, Communication Disorders; David Umphress, Computer Science & Software Engineering; Ann Beth Presley, Consumer & Design Sciences; Jung Won Hur, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Technology; David Held, Entomology and Plant Pathology; Rusty Wright, Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture; Latif Kalin, Forestry & Wildlife Science; Ming-kuo Lee, Geology & Geography; Daniel Wells, Horticulture; Tom Smith, Human Development & Family Studies; Jerod Windham, Industrial Design; Gregg Schmidt, Library; Eric Marcus, Philosophy; Michael Fogle, Physics; Captain, Willie Billingslea, ROTC Naval; Annette Smith, Veterinary Clinical Sciences.

Minutes

At 3:35 PM, Chair James Goldstein called the meeting to order and reminded the members of the senate or substitute for a senator to sign in in the back of the room and get a clicker; and substitutes to sign in by printing his/her name on the 2nd column by the senator. He also reminded the Senator rules about speaking at Senate meetings. A quorum requiring 44 senators was established.

The minutes of the May 16, 2017 Senate meeting were approved without modifications.

Remarks and Announcements

Office of the President, Jay Gogue, President

The Board of Trustees met last week, approved several academic items and the guidelines for budget including a pay increase next year. He praised Senate leadership and expressed appreciation to the faculty for the interest in shared governance and the accomplishment achieved during his presidency years at AU.

Questions: None

Office of the Provost: Timothy Boosinger

Shared updates on summer enrollment and student ratio of in-state vs out-of-state, all are close to predicted and consistent with our model; approval of the new department of aviation by ACHE and the new construction of aviation education center; a coming ground breaking for the Auburn Education Center on June 30 in Baldwin county; two buildings (Mell Classroom Building and a Pharmacy Research Building) are to be completed this summer; recent discussions with Senate officers on a policy related to fixed price contracts; and summer graduation and convocations. Appreciation to all for helping make AU a great institution and a public Thank You to Dr. Gogue.

Question: none

University Senate Chair, James Goldstein

Chair Goldstein provided a summary reflection on the mutually respectful shared governance of this administration and faculty during the last decade, the unique role of faculty in that joint endeavor, and the importance of academic freedom.  

Questions: None

Action Items

• The first item was a vote on a slate of nominated members for four Senate Committees, brought forward by Xing Ping Hu from the Rules Committee.  There was no question and discussion, a vote was called. The motion carried by Senate voting (48:1), and 98% in favor of the nominees.

• The next item was a vote on a proposal for eligibility of certain non-tenure-track faculty for emeritus status, presented by Barbara Brumbaugh, Chair of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Committee. There was no question and the Senate Chair called for a vote. The motion passed by senate voting (45:5) and 90% in favor.

Questions: None

Information Items

• The first item was an update of recent activities by Faculty Research Committee (FRC) presented by FRC Chair, W. Robert Ashurst. The presentation included updates from sub-committees on broader topics (research metrics and scholarship incentivization) and focused topics (tenure and promotion time line resolution, tuition remission policy revision, and fixed-price residual policy).

Questions: None

• The second item was a report by transformational leadership faculty fellow by Allen Furr. The report included the goals of this position and the accomplishments that have been achieved to meet the needs of transformational leadership and those interesting in being an administrator.

Questions: None
Unfinished Business:
James Goldstein, Senate Chair
None

New Business: James Goldstein, Senate Chair
Lisa Kensler brought forward a resolution of the Auburn University Senate offering it heartfelt gratitude in recognition and honor of the Dr. Jay Gogue.
Chair Dr. Goldstein called for a vote by voice; the resolution was passed unanimously; a copy of the presentation was presented to Dr. Gogue.

Before adjourning the meeting, Chair Goldstein passed the gavel onto Dan Svyantek, who will be officially the presiding officer of the Senate on July 1, 2017.
Dan Svyantek, chair-elect, announced adjournment of the meeting at 4:15 pm.