Auburn University Senate
November 15, 2016 3:30 pm
AGENDA
Attendance
Officers:
James Goldstein, Chair; Daniel Svyantek, Chair-Elect; Xing Ping Hu, Secretary; Donald Mulvaney, Secretary-Elect; Larry Teeter, Immediate-Past Chair
Administration
Paul Patterson, College of Agriculture; Vini Nathan, Dean, College of Architecture, Design & Const.
Ex-Officio
Althea Tate, Staff Council Chair; Lucretia Tripp, Steering Committee; Emily Myers, Steering Committee; Jared Russell, Steering Committee
Absent, sending substitute:
Eddie Orantes for Gretchen VanValkenburg, VP, Alumni Affairs; John Liu for John Mason, Research and Economic Development; Emmett Winn for Bobby Woodard, VP, Student Affairs; Elizabeth Devore for Tenchi Smith, GSC President;
Absent, not sending substitute:
Don Large, Executive VP; Jane Difolco Parker, VP, Development; Janaki Alavalapati, Dean, School of Forestry and Wildlife Science; June Henton, Dean, College of Human Sciences; Timothy Jones, A&P Assembly Chair; Timothy Boosinger, Provost; Bonnie MacEwan, Dean of Libraries; Jesse Westerhouse, SGA President; Lisa Kensler, Steering Committee
Senators, by Department:
Robert Cochran, Accountancy; Anwar Ahmed, Aerospace Engineering; Paul Brown, ACES; Kathryn Floyd, Art; Cliff Defee, Aviation Management & Logistics; Bob Locy, Biological Sciences; Doug Goodwin, Chemistry; Cliff Lange, Civil Engineering; Ed Youngblood, Communication and Journalism; David Umphress, Computer Science & Software Engineering; Charles Chen, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences; Melody Russell, Curriculum & Teaching; Jung Won Hur, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Technology; Michael Baginski (Electrical & Computer Engineering); 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; 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.; Vicky van Santen, Pathobiology; Spencer Durham, Pharmacy Practice; Michael Fogle, Physics; 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; Kristrina (Kriste) Shuler, Socio/Anthro/Social Work; Annette Smith, Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Adrienne Wilson (theatre)
Absent, sending substitute:
Justin Miller for Rebecca O'Neal-Dagg, Architecture; Puneet Srivastava for Mark Dougherty, Biosystems Engineering; W.R. Ashurst for Allan E. David, Chemical Engineering; Erin Reynolds-Peacock for Allison Plumb, Communication Disorders; Shari Park-Gates for Ann Beth Presley, Consumer & Design Sciences; Michael Stern for Liliana Stern, Economics; Craig Bertolet for James E. Ryan, English; Rajesh Sawant for Latif Kalin, Forestry & Wildlife Science; Chong Ma for Ming-kuo Lee, Geology & Geography; Adam Newby for Daniel Wells, Horticulture; Dylan Piper-Kaiser for Jerod Windham, Industrial Design; Amy Chitwood for Chippewa Thomas, Outreach; Howard Hewitt for Eric Marcus, Philosophy; Sweta Byahut for Cathleen Erwin, Political Science;
Absent, not sending substitute:
Michelle Worosz, Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology; Werner Bergen, Animal Science; Dean Schwartz, Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology; Mark Taylor, Building Sciences; Forest Smith, Drug Discovery and Development; Justin Benefield, Finance; Tom Smith, Human Development & Family Studies; Captain, Willie Billingslea, ROTC Naval
Minutes
At 3:30 PM Chair James Goldstein called the meeting to order, and asked the members of the senate to sign in in the back of the room and get a clicker. He announced the presence of 55 Senators, by clicker, of the total of 86 members of the Senate. A quorum requiring 44 senators was established. Last he reminded senators of the rules of attendance and the rules for speaking at Senate meetings and at the microphone.
The minutes of the October 18, 2016 Senate meeting were approved without modification.
Remarks and Announcements
Office of the Provost:
George Flowers, Dean of the Graduate School, presented AU post-graduate program updates.
Remark highlights included:
Question: None
University Senate Chair: James Goldstein made a few announcements: The board of trustees will be meeting later this week, one of the items will be the approval of an addition to the AU mission statement about diversity and inclusion; Calling for volunteers to run for senate officers.
Action Items
The motion to have Robert Boyd (Biological Sciences) as replacement for COSAM representative on the UCC was approved by 59 votes, presented by Xing Ping Hu, Senate Secretary
Information Items
The first information item was a report on Plus/minus grading system, presented by David Held, Academic Standards Committee (ASC). The Presentation (ppt) and the Academic Standard Committee Report (pdf) are posted to Senate Website. ASC surveyed both students and faculty, reviewed the education literature and what peer institutions are doing. Students were overwhelming against a change to +/- and the faculty vote was split right down the middle. The ASC unanimous recommended not change to +/- grading system at AU.
Mike Stern (Economics) asked about whether or not the graduate students were polled or included in student survey. The issue was that grad students have a smaller range of available grades. Undergraduates have a 5-pt scale, but grade students practically can only get an A or B. Having a +/- scale for graduate students allows for better resolution for grades without having students get into trouble.
Senator from Music (Matthew Hoch) asked about sharing the comments. David Held directed the question to the report and suggested senators to follow up with ASC if the report didn’t answer their questions.
The second information item was about Pharmacy Outreach Efforts, presented by Kimberly Braxton-Lloyd, Assistant Dean for Health Services and Associate Professor, Pharmacy Health Services. Her presentation was entitled “An overview of optional AU health and wellness benefits”. Health services and resources available for AU employees and their ensured ones through AU pharmacy health services consist of AU employee pharmacy, Student Pharmacy, State wellness center pharmacy and clinic in Montgomery. Others include TigerMeds program, and AUEP specialty medication program (all with low co-pay, 24-h on-call pharmacist, free delivery, and free parking, etc.); AUPCC health and wellness program consists of Healthy Tiger, Pack It Up, Be Immunized, Healthy Habit, etc.; Collaborative care and voluntary research, etc..
Question: none
Unfinished Business: James Goldstein, Senate Chair
NONE
New Business: James Goldstein, Senate Chair
NONE
Adjournment until January: James Goldstein, Senate Chair