Auburn University Steering Committee
Minutes
Thursday, September 17, 2015, 3:30 p.m.
206 Samford Hall

Present: Larry Teeter (Chair), Patricia Duffy (Immediate-Past Chair), James Goldstein (Chair-Elect), Laura Plexico (Secretary), Keven Yost, Lisa Kensler, Timothy Boosinger, Emmett Winn, Emily Myers, Rusty Weldon, Beth Guertal, Allen Furr
Absent: Xing Ping Hu (Secretary-Elect)

The first item of business was approval of the August 20, 2015 minutes.

Beth Guertal reviewed her presentation on female faculty satisfaction at Auburn University. A committee was created to explore why female faculty are less satisfied and what barriers are contributing to the decreased satisfaction when compared to male faculty. The committee explored available data and conducted focus groups. They evaluated time differences for promotion to Associate or Full Professor. Eighteen percent of female faculty participated in the focus groups. The focus groups revealed that female faculty feel they are being asked to teach more and to serve on more committees and have concerns over lack of child care, over lack of spousal hiring and over pay differences. They also found interest in mentoring and indications that there is not understanding of the promotion process. Some recommendations from the committee include looking at teaching loads, spousal hiring, and salary data analysis. Beth will present this information to the Senate for the September 22, 2015 meeting as an information item.

Next item discussed was faculty textbook ordering by Rusty Weldon. The bookstore has experienced significant growth over the past several years. They strive to have course materials available earlier to meet student and parental demand. The percent of late requests or no response by faculty has risen over the past several years. The bookstore would like to increase the early response rates of faculty and is seeking guidance on how to increase their faculty response rates. Students will be able to charge course materials to their E-bill starting late Fall. Rusty will do his presentation at the general faculty meeting on October 6, 2015.

Following the bookstore discussion, possible senator volunteers for the administrative reviews was discussed. Following that discussion, steering discussed the needs for staffing unfilled University and Senate committees.

The tentative agenda for the September 22 Senate meeting was reviewed and it was decided that P&T handbook changes will be presented at a later senate meeting.
Lisa Kensler discussed readiness of the Academic Standards committee to present a policy to allow undergraduate certificates.  Certificates vs minors serve different purposes. A student has to have a major to have a minor but you can get a certificate without a major. This would also allow for interdisciplinary certificates. Lisa Kensler will present the policy to steering and to the senate in October.

The parking request from steering was on the agenda but discussion was deferred to another meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00.