Minutes
Senate Meeting: June 14, 2022
3:30 p.m. via Zoom meeting
A video recording of this meeting will be available.
Please refer to the recording for details not included in the minutes.
Presentations are available from the agenda for the meeting.
Attendance Record is at the end of the minutes.
Todd Steury, Senate Chair, called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm. The Chair noted the rules that would be used during the meeting. He introduced the officers of the Senate, the Senate administrative assistant, and the members of the Senate Steering committee who approved the meeting’s agenda.
A quorum was established when 46 senators responded to the quorum poll via canvas. In all, 65 senators attended the meeting.
Approval of the minutes from the Senate Meeting of May 17, 2022
Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved by unanimous consent.
Remarks and Announcements on University Matters
University Senate Chair Todd Steury remarks
Chair Steury noted that this was his last senate meeting as Chair. Mark Carpenter will take over chair next year. He thanked his predecessor as Senate Chair, Don Mulvaney, for his considerable service to the Senate. He also thanked the out-going Senate Secretary, Ralph Kingston. He advised senators that the Senate executive committee would be producing an annual report of its accomplishments during the year. He noted however, that the executive does not operate in isolation. It is not its role to make decisions for the faculty, but to facilitate and organize discussions in senate and in senate committees. He thanked everyone involved.
He then shared a brief update on the issue of social media screening of prospective new employees. As of May 17, 9 out of 374 background checks had been flagged. As of one week ago, there had been 14 flagged out 420, which means that about 3.25% have been flagged. None of those flagged were ultimately denied employment. No new faculty hires have been flagged.
There were no questions. Chair Steury called on Interim-Provost Nathan.
Interim-Provost Vini Nathan remarks
Interim Provost Nathan began by thanking the senate executive committee for its work. She then shared a list of items of academic interest on the agenda of the Board-of-Trustees meeting later in the week. The Board will be asked to approve a proposal from the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics, and Hospitality Management that the department should be reformed into a School of Hospitality Management and a Department of Nutritional Sciences. It will also hear information items out of the Department of Education regarding the renaming of a program option from the School of Kinesiology, the closure of another option, and the renaming of the graduate certificate in Adult Education to Workforce Education, Training, and Development. From the College of Engineering, the Board would be informed about the conversion of a Masters in Industrial and Systems Engineering to a non-thesis degree and the creation of an undergraduate certificate in cybersecurity. The Board would also be considering a posthumous degree for a graduate student who recently passed away.
President Chris Roberts remarks
President Roberts began by thanking Todd Steury and officers of the senate for their service. He then moved on to another proposal which the trustees would hear later in the week. In its previous meeting, the Board approved a 3% tuition increase. That is allowing the administration to bring forward a budget proposal to help faculty, staff, and administrators.
President Roberts also noted that he is getting ready to start visiting departments and colleges on campus. One of the first colleges he will visit is the College of Nursing. He is looking forward to meeting everyone and hearing their thoughts about Auburn’s future.
President Roberts concluded his remarks by mentioning that, at a recent meeting of the SEC Conference, he had heard, in conversation with the other 13 university presidents, unanimous concern about mental health and mental health services for students, faculty, and staff. He is looking forward to having conversations about how to fully leverage our opportunities to provide support.
He also invited input from shared governance groups, including the University Senate, in terms of moving forward filling open leadership roles on campus.
Roy Hartfield (senator, Aerospace Engineering) shared his concern that interim deans do not currently enjoy enough power to effect personnel changes in their offices to prepare them for a positive start for a permanent successor. He noted that had already met with the Interim Provost to discuss this. He then shared a passage which he said had been written by a member of the Provost’s office in an email sent to a faculty member who had been accused of unethical conduct when writing blind reviews. The email, he said, was sent at a moment when efforts were being made to immediately suspend the faculty member. The text read: “it won’t happen unless you do something crazy. . . if you do something crazy . . . let me help you out. I want to help you out. I want to do you a big favor. If you do something crazy, I will remove you, how about that? Because I told Chris and Brian not to do anything else. Because if you do anything crazy, I will remove you, Joe. And when I do it, I will come to your office, I will get your keys, and I will escort you out of the building, how about that? How about that for a deal? So now you don’t worry about Chris Roberts, you don’t worry about Brian Thurow, you don’t worry about the Provost, Boosinger, you don’t worry about the three people on that committee, you got one guy to worry about…” Hartfield said that this email was “bullying” and it had no place in the administration in Auburn. He asked that interims might be given the ability to do something.
President Roberts responded that the interim deans and provosts were empowered to do their jobs.
Hartfield asked for confirmation that interim administrators could make decisions regarding personnel. President Roberts answered that interim appointees were certainly expected to advance their colleges and units.
Scott Ketring (senator, HDFS) asked about a timeframe on the process of consultation on the issue of improving mental health provisions. Roberts said that he would include Scott Ketring and other specialists on campus when developing plans to deal with the issue.
Action Items
Senate Committee Nominations
Presenter: Ralph Kingston, Chair of Rules Committee
Ralph Kingston presented the names of nominees to senate committees for three-year terms starting in August 2022, as well as to the Senate Steering Committee for 2022-2024. He thanked Cheryl Seals and Don Mulvaney who are departing the Steering Committee. He also thanked the members of the Rules committee, the majority of whom are senators elected by senators, for their work on putting the nominations together, and, in particular, Valentina Hartarska, J. Brian Anderson, and George Stachokas, who are completing their two-year terms.
There were no comments or questions. Chair Steury noted that the plan was to vote on all the nominations together, but that senators were able to make a motion to consider them individually if they wished. Senators proceeded to vote on all the nominees together.
VOTE RESULTS: 50 total in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstaining. The nominations were approved by Senate.
Information Items
Potential Solution to Finals/Graduation conflict
Presenter: Karen Battye, Registrar
Karen Battye presented a potential change to Auburn’s final exam schedule. Her office was tasked at finding a solution to the recent overlap between Friday-night final exams and Friday-night commencement ceremonies.
In order to look at the problem, the Registrar’s office surveyed what other institutions were doing in terms of the total time of exam days, exam lengths, time between exams, and the end time of the last exam each day. On average, Auburn runs longer exams with longer breaks between exam times. We largely resemble other institutions in terms of number of exam days, but Auburn’s exams run slightly later into the evening.
This survey has led the Registrar’s office to propose a new exam schedule with two-hour exam times with 30 minutes in between exams (with a one-hour break for lunch). Exams will finish earlier in the day. Exams will finish by 3.30 on the last day, solving the issue of the overlap with Commencement.
She noted that they had discussed this proposal with the SGA and the Senate Calendar and Schedules Committee. It would not be implemented this summer.
Rachel Prado (not a senator, Chemistry and Biochemistry) shared her concern about the practicality of a more limited time slot for common exam periods, noting the time needed to distribute papers in exams like CHEM1030/1040 and the fact that the exam created by the American Chemical Society is 110 minutes long. She asked if those exams might be given an additional 30 minutes.
Luca Guazotto (senator, Physics) asked if the proposal changed the regulation on the maximum number of exams a student can sit in a day. Karen Battye confirmed it would not. He then asked whether students thought 30 minutes was enough time between exams. Karen Battye responded that the Provost’s office had consulted the SGA, and Jake Haston, the SGA President, had said he would feedback in early fall.
Chair Steury asked how faculty might best offer their feedback. Karen Battye suggested that they should email her directly.
Evert Duin (senator, Chemistry and Biochemistry) offered that it might be a better idea to spread out the exams over a longer period and hold the graduation later rather than trying to squeeze even more into a short exam period.
Update on Academic Sustainability
Presenter: Rebecca Retzlaff, Director, Academic Sustainability
Rebecca Retszlaff shared a presentation on the role of academic sustainability in the university. The mission of the academic sustainability program is to oversee the minor in sustainability studies, to support the inclusion of sustainability in curricula and classes, to support interdisciplinary research in sustainability, and to encourage the use of sustainable campus operations to support teaching and research.
In the previous senate meeting, Michael Kensler explained the STARS assessment system, a means to grade the achievements of universities in terms of sustainability. Rebecca Retzlaff noted that academics makes up a sizeable proportion of Auburn’s point score. 34% of Auburn’s STARS points come from sustainability in Academic Curriculum and Research. The campus-wide minor in Sustainability Studies has consistently had about 100 students in the past few years. It has grown to this level since starting out with just a couple of students in 2012. In the SEC, Auburn is currently second only to UGA in terms of sustainability or sustainability adjacent classes offered.
She argued that Auburn can increase its score – and more importantly its commitment to sustainability – by expanding course offerings (particularly in departments and colleges which currently do not have a lot of sustainability classes), adding a required sustainability component to the core curriculum, and providing additional support for sustainability teaching and research.
She noted again that one of the goals of Academic Sustainability is to encourage faculty to work with facilities to use campus as a laboratory for sustainability in teaching and research. The program does this in their own capstone class, SUST5000, by having students work on a project. Recent projects have included a wayfinding project at the Forest Preserve, working with facilities to propose new parks on campus, and working with faculty on “green labs” (projects to increase sustainability in individual labs.) In the past semester, students also collaborated with campus dining to implement a new plant-based menu.
There were no comments or questions.
New Business
Incoming Chair Mark Carpenter thanked Todd Steury for his leadership during the year.
Adjournment
Hearing no objections, the meeting was adjourned at 4:18 by unanimous consent.
Respectfully Submitted,
Ralph Kingston
Attendance Record – May 17, 2022
Senate Officers
Present:
Todd Steury, Chair;
Mark Carpenter, Chair-Elect;
Ralph Kingston, Secretary;
Don Mulvaney, Immediate Past-Chair;
L. Octavia Tripp, Secretary-Elect.
Administration
Present:
Jeffrey Fairbrother, Dean, College of Education;
Susan Hubbard, Dean, College of Human Sciences;
Joe Hanna, Interim Dean, Harbert College of Business;
Steven Taylor, Interim Dean, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering;
Royrickers Cook, Associate Provost and VP, University Outreach;
Gretchen Van Valkenburg, Vice President, Alumni Affair.
Absent:
Janaji Alavalapati, Dean, Forestry and Wildlife Sciences;
James Weyhenmeyer, Vice President for Research and Economic Development;
Ana Franco-Watkins, Interim Dean, College of Liberal Arts.
Ex-Officio Members:
Present
Vini Nathan, Interim Provost;
Shali Zhang, Dean of Libraries;
Jake Haston, SGA President;
Oluchi Oyekwe, GSC President;
Robert Norton, Steering Committee;
Cheryl Seals, Steering Committee.
Absent:
Robert Cochran, Steering Committee;
Danilea Werner, Steering Committee;
Clint Lovelace, A&P Assembly Chair;
Ashley Reid, Staff Council Chair.
Senators:
Present:
Lisa Miller, Accountancy;
Roy Hartfield, Aerospace Engineering;
Valentina Hartarska, Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology;
Molly Gregg, ACES;
Vinicia Biancardi, Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology;
Jacek Wower, Animal Sciences;
Kevin Moore, Architecture;
Kathryn Floyd, Art and Art History;
David Blersch, Biosystems Engineering;
Bryan Beckingham, Chemical Engineering;
Evert Duin, substitute for Wei Zhan, Chemistry and Biochemistry;
J. Brian Anderson, Civil Engineering;
Kevin Smith, Communication and Journalism;
Peter Weber, Consumer & Design Sciences;
David Han, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences;
Chris Schnittka, Curriculum & Teaching;
Liliana Stern, Economics;
Andrew Pendola, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Tech;
Michael Baginski, Electrical & Computer Engineering;
Sunny Stalter-Pace, English;
John Beckmann, Entomology & Plant Pathology;
Damion McIntosh, Finance;
Stephanie Shepherd, substitute for David King, Geology & Geography;
Kimberly Garza, Health Outcomes Research and Policy;
Zachary Schulz, History;
Scott Ketring, Human Development & Family Studies;
Richard Sesek, Industrial and Systems Engineering;
Ben Bush, Industrial Design;
Andreas Kavazis, Kinesiology;
Kasia Leousis, Libraries;
Jeremy Wolter, Marketing;
Hans-Werner Van Wyk, Mathematics and Statistics;
Sabit Adanur, Mechanical Engineering;
Chris Martin, Nursing;
Clark Danderson, Nutrition, Dietetics, & Hospitality Management;
David Mixson, Outreach;
Peter Christopherson, Pathobiology;
Lena Mcdowell, Pharmacy Practice;
Thomas Lockhart, substitute for Jennifer Lockhart, Philosophy
Luca Guazzotto, Physics;
Peter White, Political Science
Ken Macklin, Poultry Science;
Joe Bardeen, Psychological Sciences;
Janice Clifford, Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work;
David Strickland, Supply Chain Management;
Laura Fryar, Lieutenant Colonel, ROTC Army;
Adrienne Wilson, Theatre;
Zachary Zuwiyya, World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.
Absent:
James Birdsong, Aviation;
Anthony Moss, Biological Sciences;
Mark Tatum, Building Sciences;
Nancy Haak, Communication Disorders;
Shenenaz Shaik, Computer Science and Software Engineering;
Feng Li, Drug Discovery and Development;
Nathan Whelan, Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture;
Zhaofei (Joseph) Fan, Forestry & Wildlife Science;
Daniel Wells, Horticulture;
Alan Walker, Management;
Virginia Broffitt Kunzer, Music;
Rebecca Curtis, Special Ed. Rehab. Counseling/School Psychology;
Amit Mitra, Systems and Technology;
Charles McMullen, Lieutenant Colonel, ROTC, Air Force;
Matthew Roberts, Captain, ROTC, Naval;
Robert Cole, Veterinary Clinical Sciences.