Minutes
Senate Meeting: January 24, 2023
3:30 p.m. via Zoom Meeting
A Panopto recording for this meeting is available.
Please refer to recording for details not included in the minutes.
Presentations are available from the agenda for the meeting.
Attendance Record at the end of the minutes.
A quorum was established, with 51 Senators.
The Chair welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. The Chair gave attendees an overview of the basic procedures for the Zoom meeting format and then began the meeting. The members of the Senate Executive Committee and the Senate Steering Committee.
The chair asked for questions or clarifications of the minutes.
Prior to approval of the minutes Luke Oeding suggested instead of having a detailed written account of the meeting, that the secretary write basic facts, since more details can be found in the recording and transcripts. The chair asked Luke if he is making a motion. Luke said that it was not a motion but an objection. The objection was noted.
With no objections to the minutes for November 15, 2022, the minutes were approved with no corrections.
Action Items
Vote on the Motion to Form an Ad Hoc Committee to Develop Proposal for Rank Above Professor
Presenter: Mark Carpenter, Chair
The Chair reminded the senate members that there was a motion made by Zach Schulz and seconded by Anthony Moss to create an ad hoc committee for Rank above Professor.
Todd Stuey gave history about the motion being considered. After Todd spoke, the chair asked for senators to vote for the motion being presented. There were 41 yes, 22 no, and 3 abstain. The motion carried with 66 people voting.
Remarks and Announcements on University Matters
University Senate Chair: Mark Carpenter
President: Chris Roberts spoke on the university budget and his visits to various departments on campus. He shared information about the freshman enrollment for the Fall class of 2023. He shared that the BOT would meet February 3, 2023, at the Montgomery campus. The president made mention that the School Hospitality Management was named the HAUTS Schultz school of Hospitality Management, the approval of the Education Bldg. to move forward and hopefully to move forward later with the new STEM Building.
Interim-Provost: Vini Nathan spoke to senate on the following. The placement of the students in the College of nursing, a new proposal to be presented for a Bachelor of Science in Public Health which is being put forward by the college of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Nathan gave updates on Dean searchers – Pharmacy, Engineering, and Business.
Dr. Nathan made the following announcement: Dr. Robert Boyd will become Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness, Dr Emmett Winn will be Associate Vice President for Administrative Effectiveness, Dr. Norman Godwin Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, and Dr. Julie Huff Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiative and communications.
Information Items
Rules Committee Volunteers Process
Presenter: Octavia Tripp, Senate Secretary
Octavia Tripp provided information about the Committee Volunteer Process. The rules committee will look at the list of individuals volunteering and meet in the following week to start the beginning of the approval process.
Announcement of Senate Officer-Elect Nominees
Presenter: Don Mulvaney, Chair of the Senate Officer Nominations Committee and Senate Past Chair. In the following pdf, Officer-elect nominees (pdf) can be viewed.
Auburn Reaffirmation Update
Presenter: Dr. Mark DeGoti, SACSCOC Liaison presented a presentation on Auburn Reaffirmation Program from the listed PowerPoint, SACSCOC presentation (pdf). The presentation explained in full what Auburn Reaffirmation is and what to expect when SACSCOC visit. Further detailed information can be found the pdf presentation listed above.
Annual Report on the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics
Presenter: Beverly Marshall, Chair of Intercollegiate Athletics and FAR gave the final report on Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, CIA presentation (pdf).After the report Dr. Beverly Marshall received several questions by Dr. Michael Stern.
New Business:
Mark Carpenter, Senate Chair asked if there was any new business to address.
Dr. Brian Anderson asked questions concerning Chat GPT and writing issues on campus. To address the question regarding Chat GPT, Asim Ali shared guidelines on Chat GPT. The general advice to take a more constructive approach and that AI is going to be a growing part of our professional lives. Asim continued by saying one needs to help students to use it in a constructive way. It should be used as a tool. Engage experts on campus and have everyone to be part of the discussion of AI and Chat GPT. Several faculty expressed an interest in being part of a working committee to further address the topic.
Mark Carpenter, Senate Chair
With no further discussion of new business, the meeting adjourned at 5:05pm
Attendance Senate Mtg - January 24, 2023
Senate Officers
Mark Carpenter Chair
Lisa Kensler Chair-elect
Lucretia (Octavia) Tripp Secretary
Linda Gibson-Young Secretary-elect
Dan Svyantek Immediate Past-Chair
Administration
Kelli Shomaker VP for Bus & Fin & CFO
Arthur Appel sub for
Paul Patterson Dean, College of Agriculture
Bobby Woodard SVP for Student Affairs
Jared Russell sub for
Jeffrey Fairbrother Dean, College of Education
Todd Steury sub for
Janaki Alavalapati Dean, College of Forestry, Wildlife, and the Environment
Greg Newschwander Dean, College of Nursing
Calvin Johnson Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine
Absent without substitute:
George Flowers Dean, Graduate School
James Weyhenmeyer VP Research
Ex-Officio Members
Vini Nathan Interim Provost
Shali Zhang Dean of Libraries
Makeda Nurradin GSC President
Evelyn Hunter Steering Committee
Danilea Werner Steering Committee
Robert Cochran Steering Committee
Robert Norton Steering Committee
Absent without substitute:
Jake Haston SGA President
Ashley Reid Staff Council Chair
Clint Lovelace A&P Assembly Chair
Senators by Departments
Elizabeth (Lisa) Miller Accountancy
Roy Hartfield Aerospace Engineering
Valentina Hartarska Ag Economics & Rural Sociology [missed Sept. Oct. Nov.-explained in Jan]
Mary (Molly) Gregg ACES
Jacek Wower Animal Sciences
Vinicia Biancardi Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology
Kevin Moore Architecture
Lauren Woods Art
Anthony Moss Biological Sciences
David Blersch Biosystems Engineering
Mark Tatum Building Sciences
Regina Gramling Business Analytics and Information Systems
Bryan Beckingham Chemical Engineering
Wei Zhan Chemistry
J. Brian Anderson Civil Engineering
Kevin Smith Communication and Journalism
Peter Weber Consumer & Design Sciences
David Han Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences
Christine (Chris) Schnittka Curriculum & Teaching
Murali Dhanasekaran Drug Discovery and Development
Liliana Stern Economics
Andrew Pendola Educational Foundations, Leadership & Technology
Michael Baginski Electrical & Computer Engineering
Susan Youngblood sub for
Sunny Stalter-Pace English
Joseph Stover sub for
Damion McIntosh Finance
Zhaofei (Joseph) Fan Forestry, Wildlife, and the Environment
David King Geology & Geography
Kimberly Garza Health Outcomes Research and Policy
Zachary Schulz History
Elina Coneva Horticulture
Clark Danderson Hospitality Mgmt.
Diana Samek Human Development & Family Studies
Ben Bush Industrial Design
Rich Sesek Industrial and Systems Engineering
Kasia Leousis Library
Liesl Wesson Management and Entrepreneurship
Luke Oeding sub for
Hans Werner van Wyk Mathematics and Statistics
Sabit Adanur Mechanical Engineering
Chris Martin Nursing
Kevin Huggins Nutritional Sciences
David Mixson Outreach
Lena McDowell Pharmacy Practice
Jennifer Lockhart Philosophy
Luca Guazzotto Physics
Peter White Political Science
Alejandro A. Lazarte Psychology
Rebecca Curtis Special Ed. Rehab. Counseling/School Psych
Gregory Spray sub for
Laura Plexico Speech Language and Hearing Sciences
David Strickland Supply Chain Management (new)
LTC, Laura Fryar ROTC Army
Janice Clifford Socio/Anthro/Social Work
Adrienne Wilson Theatre
Robert Cole Veterinary Clinical Sciences
Zachary Zuwiyya World Lang & Literatures
Absent without substitute:
James Birdsong Aviation
Shehenaz Shaik Computer Science & Software Engineering
John Beckmann Entomology & Plant Pathology
Nathan Whelan Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture
Christopher (Brooks) Mobley Kinesiology
Jeremy Wolter Marketing
Lee Johnson Music
Peter Christopherson Pathobiology
Amit Morey Poultry Science
LTC, Michael Quinn ROTC Air Force
Captain, Matthew Roberts ROTC Naval