Minutes
Steering Committee Meeting
February 9, 2021 3:30 p.m.
Zoom Meeting
Present: Don Mulvaney (Chair), Greg Schmidt (Secretary), Nedret Billor (Immediate Past Chair), Todd Steury (Chair elect), Ralph Kingston (Secretary elect) Bob Norton, Emmett Winn, Michael Tillson, Bill Hardgrave
Absent: Bob Cochran
Chair Mulvaney called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
Approval of Steering Committee Minutes, 1/05/2021: Deferred until March Steering meeting
Chair Remarks: On the agenda for discussion today are Senate action items (Kamden Strunk - Handbook revisions) (Greg Schmidt – Committee replacement) and Pending Action items (Greg Schmidt - Rules Committee call for nominations) (Michael Baginski – Officer Nominations).
Discussion of the formation of a Senate Diversity Committee will be deferred until March Steering meeting.
Opening remarks in addition to the chair will be President Gogue, Executive VP Ron Burgess, Medical Director Fred Kam, Provost Hardgrave.
Steering Committee moved remarks by University Ombudsman, Kevin Coonrod to an Information Item.
Steering Discussion of Proposed Action Items
Vote on Curriculum Committee replacement:
Presenter: Greg Schmidt, Secretary
Schmidt noted that the only committee replacement to vote upon is for the Curriculum Committee - Amal Kaddoumi, Harrison School of Pharmacy, 2021.
Faculty Handbook Committee Presentation
Presenter: Dr. Kamden Strunk
This follows the presentation of the pending action item by Dr. Strunk in January.
Steering Discussion of Pending Action Items
Rules Committee Member NominationsSchmidt will present the process of Rules Committee member replacements and open the floor to nominations for 2-year terms on the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee is currently identifying three nominations to make from the floor.
Steering Discussion of Information Items
Comment from University OmbudsSteering Discussion on Spring Semester Townhalls
The Steering Committee discussed handing off organization and hosting of town hall meetings to other university groups. The Provost’s Office and senior faculty leadership have been in charge of running the “faculty town hall” meetings in the past, but meetings going forward are open to all university groups and employees.
Steering decided to maintain organizational leadership by the executive committee but invite participation by leaders of A&P and Staff leadership in planning and publicizing the townhalls. The Provost will no longer be the central host of the townhall. Rather a panel will be constituted to field questions and comments from attendees. Steering proposed panel representatives from Facilities, COVID Ops, AU Medical Clinic, Sentinel Testing program, among others. Don Mulvaney will lead the hosting at the next meeting.
The Date for the next townhall was set for February 18, 2021 at 3:30pm. March 25, 2021 will be the date for the following townhall.
New Business - none
Approval of Agenda for 2/23/2021 Senate Meeting
A motion was made to approve the agenda as amended and the motion was seconded. The Steering Committee unanimously approved the senate agenda.
Adjournment
Following Steering Committee approval of the senate meeting agenda, a motion was made to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded and approved. Chair Mulvaney adjourned the meeting at 5:00 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Greg Schmidt
Secretary, University Senate