Minutes
Senate Meeting: February 14, 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.

The Chair called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.

A quorum was established with 46 Senators and 51 Senators eventually indicated they were present.  
The minutes from the January 24, 2023 Senate meeting were approved by unanimous consent.

At 3:38 p.m.: the Rules Committee chair, Octavia Tripp, was introduced and she took nominations, from the floor for the Rules committee member replacement for partial term of the seat vacated by Dr. Ken Macklin.  A vote was taken and a total of 46 senators voted. The nominees and their percentage of the vote were Roy Hartfield - Aerospace Engineering (26%), Anthony Moss - Biological Sciences (52%), Murali Dhanasekaran - Drug Recovery and Development (20%) and Abstain (2%).  Senator Tony Moss was selected as to fill the seat.

At 3:45:29 p.m.: Octavia Tripp announced three openings on Rules committee to be filled next term. Then she took nominations from the floor. Five Senators were nominated.  The nominees were instructed to provide bios for Senate review before the vote to be held in the March Senate meeting.

At 3:53 p.m.: President Roberts began his update Auburn University, such as, department visits, enrollment, the hiring of the new Chief Communications Officer, capital projects and renovations, and the upcoming SACSOC visit.

At 3:57 p.m.: Interim-Provost Vini Nathan began her remarks wherein she gave updates on the Board of Trustees, on-line program rankings, Promotion and Tenure Committee, and the ongoing dean searches. 
Duha Altindag, Kim Garzas, Gregory Spray and Michael Stern each asked a question of President Roberts and Dr. Roberts replied to each.

At 5:15 p.m.: Christopher Basgier, Director of University Writing, Office of the Provost, provided an update on ChatGPT.

Alejandro Lazarte asked a question of about Chat-GPT’s R-programming abilities.

Asim Ali added his perspective on Chat-GPT and the resources available from Biggio Center, as follows:

Biggio Center has the following support for navigating AI in education across all disciplines and all types of learning:

  1. Self-paced, asynchronous Canvas course curated with relevant topics for faculty, GTA and post-docs: https://aub.ie/aicoursereg
  2. Speaker series and to elevate the academic community’s understanding of the technology and issues, and identify opportunities. First speaker planned for April 5 - info coming soon. This is being done in partnership with the AI@AU initiative.
  3. Seed grants starting this fall to utilize or navigate around implications of AI in your class. Thanks to the Office of the Provost for the funds to provide the funding for this opportunity. Information will be provided in Fall, and structure will be similar to the AUX program for AR/VR grants. 

Faculty interested in planning for AI in their courses can reach out to Asim Ali, asim@auburn.edu.
More info on the Teaching with AI at Auburn course:
Canvas course developed & curated by Biggio Center. The course is asynchronous and self-paced. Modules will open every Thursday over the next 8 weeks. The course covers 8 modules through various lenses of technical, pedagogical, theoretical, and ethical. Those participating will be invited to future AI-themed discussions. Sign up today: https://aub.ie/aicoursereg 

At 4:36 p.m.: Martha Taylor, Asst VP Research, gave an update on the new Electronic Research Administration System.

Senator Tony Moss asked a follow-up question regarding stages of implementation of the ERA system.

4:55 p.m.: the Chair adjourned the meeting.

 

Attendance – Senate Mtg - February 21, 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
George Flowers                                Dean, Graduate School
Jeffrey Fairbrother                           Dean, College of Education
Greg Newschwander                        Dean, College of Nursing
Calvin Johnson                                  Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine
Absent without substitute:
Bobby Woodard                               SVP for Student Affairs
Janaki Alavalapati                             Dean, College of Forestry, Wildlife, and the Environment
James Weyhenmeyer                      VP Research

Ex-Officio Members
Vini Nathan                                       Interim Provost
Shali Zhang                                       Dean of Libraries
Danilea Werner                                Steering Committee
Absent without substitute:
Jake Haston                                      SGA President
Makeda Nurradin                             GSC President (apparently different SGA pres. was assigned w/o notification to Senate.)
Ashley Reid                                       Staff Council Chair
Clint Lovelace                                   A&P Assembly Chair
Evelyn Hunter                                   Steering Committee
Robert Cochran                                Steering Committee
Robert Norton                                  Steering Committee

Senators by Departments
Roy Hartfield                                    Aerospace Engineering
Valentina Hartarska                          Ag Economics & Rural Sociology [missed Sept. Oct. Nov.-explained in Jan]
Kristine Griffet sub for
Vinicia Biancardi                               Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology
Kevin Moore                                     Architecture
Lauren Woods                                  Art
James Birdsong                                Aviation
Anthony Moss                                  Biological Sciences
David Blersch                                   Biosystems Engineering
Mark Tatum                                     Building Sciences
Regina Gramling                               Business Analytics and Information Systems
Tae-Sik Oh sub for
Bryan Beckingham                           Chemical Engineering
Wei Zhan                                          Chemistry
J. Brian Anderson                             Civil Engineering
Kevin Smith                                      Communication and Journalism
Peter Weber                                    Consumer & Design 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
Sunny Stalter-Pace                           English
John Beckmann                                Entomology & Plant Pathology
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
Diana Samek                                    Human Development & Family Studies
Christopher (Brooks) Mobley           Kinesiology
Kasia Leousis                                    Library
Hans Werner van Wyk                                Mathematics and Statistics
Sabit Adanur                                                Mechanical Engineering
Lee Johnson                                      Music
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 for
Laura Plexico                                    Speech Language and Hearing Sciences
David Strickland                                Supply Chain Management (new)
Janice Clifford                                   Socio/Anthro/Social Work
Adrienne Wilson                               Theatre
Absent without substitute:
Elizabeth (Lisa) Miller                       Accountancy
Mary (Molly) Gregg                          ACES
Jacek Wower                                    Animal Sciences
Shehenaz Shaik                                 Computer Science & Software Engineering
David Han                                         Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences
Nathan Whelan                                Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture
Clark Danderson                               Hospitality Mgmt.
Ben Bush                                          Industrial Design
Rich Sesek                                        Industrial and Systems Engineering
Liesl Wesson                                    Management and Entrepreneurship
Jeremy Wolter                                 Marketing
Chris Martin                                     Nursing
Peter Christopherson                       Pathobiology
Amit Morey                                      Poultry Science
LTC, Michael Quinn                          ROTC Air Force
LTC, Laura Fryar                               ROTC Army
Captain, Matthew Roberts               ROTC Naval
Robert Cole                                      Veterinary Clinical Sciences
Zachary Zuwiyya                               World Lang & Literatures