Auburn University Steering Committee
Minutes
Thursday, September 18, 2014
206 Samford Hall

Present: Patricia Duffy (Chair), Larry Teeter (Chair-Elect), Gisela Buschle-Diller (Secretary), Laura Plexico (Secretary-elect), Sara Wolf, Emily Myers, Keven Yost, Mike Baginski, Nanette Chadwick, Lisa Kensler, Constance Relihan, Emmett Winn

Absent: Larry Crowley (Immediate-Past Chair)

The minutes of the Steering Committee meeting from September 4, 2014, were approved with the correction of Dr. Gilmore’s affiliation.

After a brief reflection on the September 16 Senate meeting, the draft agenda for the next Senate meeting on October 7 was discussed. Three Pending Action Items are currently proposed, two of which come from the Academic Standards Committee. The first item is concerned with “exploratory” student status. Many students do not know which major or specific area they want to study in their first year at college. At many other universities freshmen do not need to declare a major in their freshman year. It is proposed to allow those students to enroll at exploratory student status for a limited timeframe with extensive advising and career counseling before they have to declare at least a College. This strategy would help retention and graduation rates.

The second item brought forward by the Academic Standards Committee is focused on conditional admittance of students who normally should be excluded based on their high school scores or inadequate ACT or SAT scores, but who have potential to be successful in college. These students could be enrolled in the “bridge” program. This policy would help with student recruitment. It would simplify the current seamless admission process through AUM.

The third item comes from the University Curriculum Committee (UCC). It is proposed to add a permanent ex officio member of the University Libraries to the UCC on a three-year rotating term.

As Information Item, Nanette Chadwick will give an update on the Academic Sustainability Program, including trends in the number of students enrolled and courses offered in the Sustainability Minor, but also opportunities for faculty to get involved.

The next item on the agenda was the preliminary agenda for the General Faculty meeting on October 28. So far three Information Items were proposed: an update on the Strategic Plan, presented by the Provost; an overview of Counseling Services for Students available on Campus; and an update of the Internal Grants Program (IGP).

Patricia Duffy briefly talked about the charges of several Senate Committees, such as the Teaching Effectiveness Committee and the Faculty Grievance Committee, and the draft guidelines for the GPA requirements for Study Abroad students. The current GPA required is 2.25. Exceptions will have to be appealed and approval will have to come from the student’s Associate Dean, the Faculty in charge of organizing the specific study abroad program and finally, the Office of Undergraduate Studies.  Patricia Duffy will send the proposed guidelines to Assistant Provost Andy Gilliespie to see if this is something he wishes to implement. 

Other items were briefly discussed, such as the possible involvement of the Academic Computing Committee and the Teaching Effectiveness Committee in reviewing the current copy right procedures, especially in regard to teaching materials. Discussion of changes proposed by the Faculty Handbook Committee as well as scheduling of upcoming Senate meetings were postponed due to time constraints. 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:20 P.M.