Minutes 

AU Senate Meeting: March 14, 2023 3:30 p.m. Via Zoom 

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 Senate Chair, Mark Carpenter, called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. 

After the chair reminded senators that the attendance record will be based on the canvas quorum polls, a quorum was established with 66 senators indicating present on the poll.  

The minutes for the Senate meeting of February 21, 2023 were approved by unanimous consent. 

At 3:42pm, the Senate Chair introduced President Christopher Roberts who then gave updates on Auburn University.  

At 3:51pm, after President Roberts concluded his remarks, the Senate Chair introduced Interim-Provost Nathan to give her remarks.  

At 3:52pm, the Senate Chair asked the assembly if there were any questions for the President and/or the Interim-Provost.  Senator Hartfield asked a question about whether Senate leadership was consulted or informed about the parameters of the Internal Provost Search that had recently been announced. Both the Chair and the President indicated that Senate Leadership was informed of the administrative decisions related to the Provost Search. Following this exchange Dr. Michael Stern requested permission to make a statement concerning the Provost search and he was granted permission to do so. Following Dr. Stern’s statement, Dr. Duha Altindag asked a question of President Roberts about the Administrator to Faculty ratio on the provost search committee and President Roberts replied.  Following Dr. Althindag’s question, Dr. James (Jim) Witte made a statement against the guidance on Interims being disallowed to run for the subsequent permanent position. Senator Calvin Johnson concurred with Dr. Witte’s opinion.  


At 4:05pm, Senate Secretary Tripp presided over the vote on four Rules Committee Nominations to replace the three senators rotating off the Rules Committee. The poll was conducted and 64 Senators voted in the poll. The names of the nominees and the percentage of the 64 votes each received are as follows, Murali Dhanasekaren (73%), Roy Hartfield (47%), Andrew Pendola (78%), and Laura Plexico (91%).  The Senate Chair then announced the winners as Senators Dhanasekaren, Pendola, and Plexico. 


At 4:16pm, the Senate Chair called on Dr. Mitchell Brown, Chair of the Senate Faculty Handbook Review Committee, to introduce the pending action items related to the proposed Faculty Handbook changes (pdf). There were four changes proposed and these changes will be voted on by the senate in the April Senate meeting. One of the votes will require a full two-thirds majority of the whole Senate to pass (not just two-thirds of the vote of the senators present, but two-thirds of the whole Senate).  

At 4:51pm, the chair adjourned the meeting. 

Respectfully submitted,
L. Octavia Tripp
Senate Secretary

Attendance
Senate Mtg - March 14, 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
Paul Patterson                                  Dean, College of Agriculture
George Flowers                                Dean, Graduate School
Bobby Woodard                               SVP for Student Affairs
Jeffrey Fairbrother                           Dean, College of Education
Greg Newschwander                        Dean, College of Nursing
Calvin Johnson                                  Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine
Absent without substitute:
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
John Davin Jones                              SGA President
Soolin Jeong                                     GSC President
Danilea Werner                                Steering Committee
Robert Cochran                                Steering Committee
Absent without substitute:
Ashley Reid                                       Staff Council Chair
Clint Lovelace                                   A&P Assembly Chair
Evelyn Hunter                                   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]
Mary (Molly) Gregg                          ACES
Jacek Wower                                    Animal Sciences
Vinicia Biancardi                               Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology
Kevin Moore                                     Architecture
Lauren Woods                                  Art
James Birdsong                                Aviation
Anthony Moss                                  Biological Sciences
David Blersch                                   Biosystems Engineering
Bryan Beckingham                           Chemical Engineering
Wei Zhan                                          Chemistry
J. Brian Anderson                             Civil Engineering
Kevin Smith                                      Communication and Journalism
Shehenaz Shaik                                 Computer Science & Software Engineering
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
Sunny Stalter-Pace                           English
John Beckmann                                Entomology & Plant Pathology
Nathan Whelan                                Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture
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
Christopher (Brooks) Mobley           Kinesiology
Kasia Leousis                                    Library
Liesl Wesson                                    Management and Entrepreneurship
Jeremy Wolter                                 Marketing
Hans Werner van Wyk                                                     Mathematics and Statistics
Sabit Adanur                                                        Mechanical Engineering
Lee Johnson                                      Music
Chris Martin                                     Nursing
Kevin Huggins                                   Nutritional Sciences
David Mixson                                    Outreach
Peter Christopherson                       Pathobiology
Lena McDowell                                Pharmacy Practice
Jennifer Lockhart                              Philosophy
Luca Guazzotto                                Physics
Peter White                                      Political Science
Amit Morey                                      Poultry Science
Alejandro A. Lazarte                         Psychology
Laura Plexico                                    Speech Language and Hearing Sciences     G. Spray
David Strickland                                Supply Chain Management (new)
LTC, Laura Fryar                               ROTC Army
Captain, Matthew Roberts               ROTC Naval
Janice Clifford                                   Socio/Anthro/Social Work
Adrienne Wilson                               Theatre
Zachary Zuwiyya                               World Lang & Literatures
Absent without substitute:
Elizabeth (Lisa) Miller                       Accountancy
Mark Tatum                                     Building Sciences
Regina Gramling                               Business Analytics and Information Systems
Damion McIntosh                            Finance
Rich Sesek                                        Industrial and Systems Engineering
Rebecca Curtis                                 Special Ed. Rehab. Counseling/School Psych
LTC, Michael Quinn                          ROTC Air Force
Robert Cole                                      Veterinary Clinical Sciences