General Faculty Meeting Minutes
October 23, 2018, 3:30 p.m.
238 Broun Hall
A full transcript is available for this meeting.
Senate and General Faculty Chair Michael Baginski, welcomed attendees and called the meeting to order promptly at 3:30 pm. He called for a vote to approve the minutes from the March 6, 2018, Spring General Faculty Meeting. The minutes had been posted on the University Senate Web site and were approved without comment via majority voice vote.
Michael Baginski, Chair made some brief remarks, which included an introduction of the Senate officers and reminders about procedures for making comments or asking questions at the meeting. Chair Baginski then moved into the five Information Items as outlined in the agenda.
Information Items
1. One Year in Mell/Engaged Active Student Learning (EASL)
Wiebke Kuhn, Learn Spaces/Faculty Development Coordinator, Biggio Center, discussed that Auburn now has 50 EASL classrooms with studies showing that students are less likely to fail in an EASL classroom. Forty-three percent of Auburn students now are learning in EASL spaces. Over 500 have participated in workshops to train in EASL methods. There have also been over 5000 events scheduled in Mell, including hosting of Critical Conversations speakers. There have been over 60,000 study room reservations.
2. Strategy for Faculty Exit Interviews (DRAFT)
Annette Kluck, Assistant Provost Women’s Initiatives, discussed that in preparing for a grant she realized that there was no exit interview strategy. Such a process would monitor why faculty are leaving. The Assistant Provost Women’s Initiatives as the only faculty member in the Office of Inclusion and Diversity would represent that unit. Michael Brown (Political Science) asked why this policy recommendation was restricted to tenure track. Annette indicated that it was a good question and something they should consider. Tony Moss, Biological Sciences, indicated that he had the same question.
3. Construction Update
Dan King, Associate Vice President, Facilities provided an update on various construction projects across campus. He discussed the project of a new classroom building and dining hall where Allison Laboratories and Parker Hall currently stand. He indicated that this new space would have lots of space for informal breakouts. He also mentioned new student housing designed to replace “The Hill.” He also mentioned new recreation fields and provided an update on the Gogue Performing Arts Center.
Although it is a third party project that the University is not managing, Mr. King provided some information on the childcare facility to be located in the research park. He also discussed the Brown Koppel Engineering Advancement Center that has between 40-45,000 square feet of lab space and the Leach Science Education Building (which is running behind schedule). He briefly described plans to relocate faculty currently housed in Parker and Allison. He mentioned that Allison would come down first with Parker Hall staying in place for most of the construction. He also updated the faculty on the South College parking deck.
Tony Moss, Biological Sciences, asked specifically where some faculty currently in Funchess Hall would move. Mr. King indicated that this is always the challenge with projects as there has to be space to relocate current residents temporarily.
Rick Hansen, Pharmacy, asked about the new housing and parking with respect to that would be. Stacey Hunt, Political Sciences, asked about projects to address traffic. Mr. King mentioned that they were exploring a traffic circle (roundabout) at the corner of Mell and Samford. He also discussed that they were looking at ways to slow down traffic on South Donahue due to concerns about nursing students that had to cross the street there.
Tony Moss, Biological Sciences, asked about parking for the two new buildings and Funchess replacement. Mr. King indicated that one possibility they were considering was expansion of the library deck that is majorly undersized given its location on campus.
Michael Stern, Economics, asked Mr. King about plans for Haley. Mr. King indicated that while there is a desire to address this, there is the problem of what to do with all the people in Haley – specifically Education and Liberal Arts, and they currently do not have a good solution.
4. Campus Safety
Kelvin King, Executive Director, Campus Safety & Security, introduced himself. He discussed briefly his background with the FBI for 27 years and 10 months, including 15 years in the Auburn/Opelika area. He talked about the 24 hour/7 day a week observation center and use of surveillance cameras across campus. He mentioned that if anyone was aware of a location that needed a camera to contact his office so they could evaluate it. Since the construction update ran long he deferred the remaining time to the parking and traffic update.
5. Parking and Traffic Management Update
Don Andrae, Director Transportation Services, mentioned that Transportation Services reflects the integration of Parking and Transit. He went over the gains and losses in parking spaces with current and projected capital projects. He mentioned that 136 spaces would be returned with the completion of the Graduate Business Building. He also indicated that the new deck on South College would add 239 A zone spaces. The first, fourth and fifth levels of the deck will be reserved for the hotel.
He indicated that the construction of the new Academic classrooms (at the Allison/Parker site) would lead to the loss of 94 spaces and the Rane Culinary Center will mean the permanent loss of 103 spaces. There are 300 spaces that will be available from parking at the Performing Arts Center, although this will require a transit bus to shuttle to the main areas of campus.
He talked about current enforcement issues and discussed ticket fees and ticket, towing, booting, and appeals statistics. He indicated that they take pictures with all tickets and that they have increased towing (because tickets and boots mean the space in not available for parking by authorized users). Tows have gone from costing $85 to $100 and that does not include the cost of the ticket that resulted in the tow.
He informed the group about the availability of an Employee Shuttle Service by calling 334-844-8600. The service is available Monday – Friday from 7-9 am and 11 am – 1 pm.
Tommy Brown, Library, asked about plans for better enforcement at the Library Deck. Mr. Andrae indicated that cameras on entry would probably be the best means there and discussed the problem of using an access gate at that location. Beth Schwartz, Biological Sciences, suggested that the ticket fines shown were not disincentive enough given the affluence of many Auburn students. Tony Moss, Biological Sciences, indicated that gated parking on other campuses does work. Mr. Andrae indicated that some issues with gates included the need for some method of egress, replacing gates that may be broken, etc. Brian Anderson, Civil Engineering, asked about the status of the Genelda Lot, which is not paved and there is core drilling going on.
After calling for any additional business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:46 pm.