Auburn University Senate Minutes for
April 18, 2023
3:30
 p.m.
Via Zoom

Minutes

The meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m.
The chair reminded senators that the attendance record will be based on the canvas quorum polls. He also reminded senators to place and S in front of their names noting that they are a senator in order be recognized during questions or discussion.
All senators in attendance must participate in the canvas quorum poll (this is equivalent to the sign-in sheet during in-person meetings). Attendance records will be based on this poll

Establish a Quorum
A quorum was established with 64 senators responding.

Approval of minutes for the Senate meeting of March 14, 2023
The minutes were approved without objections.

Action Items
Action I
Vote on Senate Committee Rotations/Replacement Nominees.
Presenter: Octavia Tripp, Senate Secretary and Rules Committee Chair, introduced the nominees that were approved by rules to fill replacements and vacancies.
Senate Committees nominees for new rotations and replacement of vacancies (pdf) The nominees were shared and senators had an opportunity to review names before the vole. Senators were asked to vote for replacement and vacancies as a slate The vote was opened by the Chair and the results were as follows. 63 Senators voted. There were 62 yes and 1 abstain vote. Therefore, the slate was approved and the nominates will replace or fill vacancies starting in August.

Action Item II
Vote on changes to the Faculty Handbook (Proposed in March Senate Meeting). There are four substantive changes (presented during the March Senate Meeting) to be voted on during this meeting (see link to proposed changes). A two-thirds majority on the retention committee membership vote of the whole Senate is required for each proposal to pass. Therefore, attendance at the April meeting is required. The other three items only require a majority vote.
Presenter: Mitchell Brown, Chair, Senate Faculty Handbook Review Committee
Proposed changes-Retention Committee (pdf)  was introduced and Brown reviewed concern one of which you may view from the above attached pdf.

The chair opened the vote for Faculty Handbook Concern relating to the Retention Committee and the results were 61 voted yes, 3 voted no and 2 abstained. The total was 66 senators voting. The change in the handbook has been adopted with a majority of the vote showing yes.

More proposed changes to the P & T section of the Faculty HandbookThere are 3 additional items to review, each can pass with majority vote, but will require approval of the university leadership and the Board of Trustees to make the changes in the handbook.
Presenter: Mitchell Brown, Chair, Senate Faculty Handbook Review Committee
Proposed changes to P&T section of FHB (pdf). Mitchell Brown introduced Concern two, three,  and four of which you may view from the above attached pdf. The chair asked for questions.  Counsel Jamie Hammer gave a review and summary about the concern about guidelines and policy. The chair opened the vote for the following concerns. The results for concern 2, 3, and 4 are noted below.
Concern 2 vote - 12 votes yes, 46 vote no and 5 abstain. This change fails.
Concern 3 vote – 42 votes yes, 15 vote no and 11 abstain. This change passes.
Concern 4 vote – 35 votes yes, 15 vote no, and 13 abstain. This change passes.

Information Item(s)

Senate Committee Report: Non-Tenure Track Faculty (NTTF)  
Presenter: Ash Curtiss, NTTF Committee Chair and Senior Lecturer in Chemistry/Biochemistry.
Presentation (pdf) Ash Curtis gave a detailed committee report that addressed what the committee has been working on during the past year. He shared several suggestions that the committee felt was important to support NTTF; pay increase, job security, and promotion. He also shared what Auburn was doing well to support NTTF.  Overall, the committee presented information that was a major concern of NTTF.

Public access to Senate Committee Reports.
Presenter: Mark Carpenter 
This point of information was made during Spring 2023 Faculty meeting. The chair mentioned that it looks as though we do not have the reports. The reports are archived on a share drive and Laura Kloberg, the administrative assistant can provide you assess to them. The Senate leadership has access directly to that share drive.
Consideration is being given to putting the Annual Reports onto the Senate Canvas site.

Presenter: Lisa Kensler, Chair-elect provided information about the Solicitation of a Parliamentarian for the 2023/2024 school year. You may contact Lisa Kensler regarding your interest in serving by May 1, 2023. This position carries a $6000 stipend/academic year from the Provost’s Office.

Pending Items
Presenter: Mitchell Brown, Chair, Senate Faculty Handbook Review Committee
Proposed changes to P&T section of FHB (pdf). Mitchell Brown presented Concerns 5 and 6 of which you can view from the above link proposed changes to P&T section of the faculty handbook. The changes were presented but they were not voted on at this time. They will be voted on at the next Senate meeting.

Remarks and Announcements on University Matters
University Senate Chair. Mark Carpenter. The chair made mention to keep in mind the tragedy that happened in Dadeville as we have students who may have had connections with the community.    

President: Christopher Roberts was introduced and made the following comments.
He shared the good news that the enrollment looks very good for the fall and Camp War eagle numbers look very good,

Graduate enrollment is increasing.

Auburn has it biggest incoming cohort of international graduate students from Iran, followed by Nigeria, India and China.

President Roberts thanked everyone who participated and helped with the installation last week.

He mentioned that interviews for the Senior Vice President for Research and Economic Development had started on campus and there are four finalists for that position. Also, campus interviews for Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs had started on campus.

And yesterday, the on-campus interviews for Provost and Senior Vice President for academic affairs had begun on campus,

Interim-Provost: Vini Nathan. Dr. Nathan was absent, and Norman Godwin presented information in her absence.

Dr. Mario Eden has been named the Dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.

There are two searches that are ongoing, the Harrison College of Pharmacy and the Harbert College of Business.

Those finalists have come to campus, and Deans will be named in the coming weeks.

The BOT approved two academic items; A bachelor's of science in drug and biopharmaceutical science.

New Business
Mark Carpenter, Senate Chair
Tracy Witte requested that a survey on Childcare Crisis be sent out the university faculty. An email had be previously circulated in the past. The secretary was asked to resend the email on Childcare Crisis.

Adjournment
Mark Carpenter, Senate Chair
The. Meeting was adjourned at 5:10 pm

Attendance for April 18, 2023
Senate Mtg - April 18, 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
Bobby Woodard                               SVP for Student Affairs
Jeffrey Fairbrother                           Dean, College of Education
Calvin Johnson                                  Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine

Absent without substitute:
George Flowers                                Dean, Graduate School
Janaki Alavalapati                             Dean, College of Forestry, Wildlife, and the Environment
James Weyhenmeyer                      VP Research
Greg Newschwander                        Dean, College of Nursing

Ex-Officio Members
Vini Nathan                                       Interim Provost
Shali Zhang                                       Dean of Libraries
Julianne Lozano [jal0095] sub for
John David Jones                              SGA President
Soolim Jeong                                    GSC President
Clint Lovelace                                   A&P Assembly Chair
Evelyn Hunter                                   Steering Committee
Danilea Werner                                Steering Committee
Robert Cochran                                Steering Committee
Robert Norton                                  Steering Committee

Absent without substitute:
Ashley Reid                                       Staff Council 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
James Birdsong                                Aviation
Anthony Moss                                  Biological Sciences
David Blersch                                   Biosystems Engineering
Mark Tatum                                     Building Sciences
Regina Gramling                               Business Analytics and Information Systems
Elizabeth Libke [eal0003] sub for
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
Jayachandra Ramapuram [ramapjb] sub for
Murali Dhanasekaran                       Drug Discovery and Development
Duha Altindag [dza0013] sub for
Liliana Stern                                     Economics
Andrew Pendola                               Educational Foundations, Leadership & Technology
Michael Baginski                               Electrical & Computer Engineering
Sunny Stalter-Pace                           English
Joseph Stover [jstover] sub for
Damion McIntosh                            Finance
Nathan Whelan                                Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture
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
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
Rebecca Curtis                                 Special Ed. Rehab. Counseling/School Psych
Laura Plexico                                    Speech Language and Hearing Sciences     G. Spray
David Strickland                                Supply Chain Management (new)
Janice Clifford                                   Socio/Anthro/Social Work
Abdul-Khalig Murtadha [akm0011] sub for
Adrienne Wilson                               Theatre
Robert Cole                                      Veterinary Clinical Sciences
Zachary Zuwiyya                               World Lang & Literatures

Absent without substitute:
Shehenaz Shaik                                 Computer Science & Software Engineering
John Beckmann                                Entomology & Plant Pathology
Zhaofei (Joseph) Fan                        Forestry, Wildlife, and the Environment
Rich Sesek                                        Industrial and Systems Engineering
Lee Johnson                                      Music
LTC, Michael Quinn                          ROTC Air Force
LTC, Laura Fryar                               ROTC Army
Captain, Matthew Roberts               ROTC Naval