Vicki L. Tate
Faculty Senate Chair’s Report
For June 20, 2007 Faculty Senate Meeting
USA Fringe Benefits Committee meeting, May 1, 2007
Jeffrey Tolbert, President of Air Medical Services, gave a presentation about an air transport
medical services that could be utilized by university employees, if approved by Pres. Moulton.
The service would be available to any USA Health Plan member that required treatment of a
doctor or hospital over 150 miles from home, or it can be used if the patient is away from home
and needs transport back to here and is too sick to be transported on a commercial airline. The
coverage also covers out of country transport back to the United States. The cost of the service
would be absorbed by the Employer’s (USA) rate. The FBC voted to propose give the request
for adding this benefit to Pres. Moulton, in hopes of fast-tracking the adoption of it.
Gerald Gattis (Human Resources) presented an Experience Report on the USA Health &
Dental Plan. It showed that the USA Plan in doing well
Pam Henderson (Human Resources) proposed a modification in the way USA enforces a
provision of Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regarding the amount of leave time available to
an employee. Currently employees may have up to 16 weeks, or 120 days, of family medical
leave within a calendar year. The change would be to 12 weeks, or 90 days, using a rolling year.
This would bring us inline with the way the University of Alabama and UAB does their
allowances. The FBC voted to adopt this change, and it will be passed on to Pres. Moulton.
Meeting with Dr. Covey, May 3, 2007
The university-wide Task Force on Promotion and Tenure Review will be constituted in the
fall. The focus should be on language clarification, continuance of external reviews, and
updating of procedural manuals within the various colleges. Dr. Covey’s office will be
developing institution-wide workshops for all chairs and deans which will focus on matters
relating to annual evaluation and with promotion and tenure. It is her hope that these workshops
will be on-going when there are new appointments for chairs and deans.
USA Foundation Board of Trustees meeting, May 17, 2007
USA Foundation Board president, Asa Green, distributed three checks to the University: the
semiannual contribution of $2,101,363 for scholarships, faculty support and other programs, plus
additional checks for $750,000 for the Mitchell Cancer Center and $500,000 for the College of
Medicine Simulation Program. This brings the total support from the Foundation to the
University to over $100 million in contributions to USA since 1990.
The board adopted a resolution recognizing Aubrey Green, who passed away in March, for
his over 25 years of service to the USA Foundation. There was a special presentation ceremony
for his wife and family. In addition, there was a resolution honoring Mylan Engel, who resigned
recently due to ill health, for his years of service as a board member. The Board then voted on
filling the recent vacancies. Ellen Green, widow of Aubrey Green, will fill the remainder of his
term. Gregory Luce, businessman and resident of Mobile, will fill Mr. Engel’s position. Both
terms will end in 2011.
Mr. Jack Stallworth, upon his death, gave assets in stock and property, valued at over $6.3
million, to the Foundation to support two scholarships in Southern History. The property is to be
renovated for use of the Foundation, while the dividends of the stock will fund the scholarship
program.
There were also reports on the status of the Foundation’s investment in stocks and the
progress on the timber sales and planting.
Student Academic Conduct Policy
There are some minor changes in the Policy regarding the appeal process. The written
request for appeal is to be first filed with the dean’s office rather than the Senior Vice President
for Academic Affairs. The dean will be responsible for forwarding the appeal to the SVPAA.
This change will be reflected in the new edition of the Lowdown.
USA Budget Committee meeting, June 7, 2007
The University’s state appropriations for FY2008 increased by 14.77% from last year’s
appropriations. USA will receive $18.528 million dollars from the state, which is about 20% of
the university’s budget. The University will be seeking a $7 per credit hour increase for
undergraduates and $9 per credit hour increase for graduates, as well as an increase in the
Student Health Center Fee ($10 increase) and Building Fee ($100 increase). Overall, this
amounts to a 7.1% increase for tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates and 6.9% increase for
in-state graduate students. This compares to a 7-8% increase for most higher education
institution across the state. (Auburn is seeking a 5-7% increase, while Alabama is looking at an
8% increase). The College of Medicine is proposing an overall increase of 11%, compared to a
12% increase at UAB. The request for changes in tuition/fees will go before the USA Board of
Trustees at their June meeting. The decision of what to do with the increase of the state
appropriations will be decided at the Board’s September meeting.
USA Board of Trustees meetings, June 13 & 14, 2007
This was the first board meeting for the 2007/08 term. Both of the new Vice Presidents, Dr.
Ronald Franks, V.P. for Health Sciences, and Dr. Russ Lea, V.P. for Research, were in
attendance, though they do not officially start their contracts until July. Pres. Moulton gave a
run-down of some new statistics pertaining to the University. By the December commencements
the University will have issued over 60,000 degrees. Our enrollment should be up this fall, with
a record number of entering students with ACT scores over 30. The list of faculty that received
promotion and tenure were approved and the letters went out last week fourteen faculty members
received tenure. The USA Faculty/Staff Annual Fund Campaign raised over $343,000, with over
60% participation from employees. The Mitchell Cancer Institute is progressing well. The
target completion date for the building is January-February 2008. The Board of Trustees passed
the Mitchell Cancer Institute “Guidelines and Policies for Faculty Appointments, Promotion and
Tenure” in anticipation of the influx of new faculty members that will be associated with MCI.
The new Health Science building, which will house the Nursing and the Allied Health colleges,
has been put out for bid. The estimated cost will be over $40 million. The Board also adopted a
resolution to lease more land to the developers of the Grove apartment complex so that Phase II
can proceed. The apartments are 100% leased for the fall, with a long waiting list. Finally, the
Board passed a resolution to increase tuition & fees for the College of Medicine by 10% and also
passed another resolution to raise the undergraduate and graduate tuition & fees by 6.2-7.1%
The Board also held elections for new officers. The new Chair is Dr. Steven Stokes, who was
formerly Vice Chair. The new Vice Chair is James Yance (newly appointed in 2006). Bettye
Maye was re-elected as Secretary. All terms are for three years.
Executive Committee meeting with Pres. Moulton, June 18,2007
In April, we received a copy of a letter from Paul MGowan, of Comrades of Courage, to Dean
Johnson regarding the “constant breakdowns of the North Humanities Tower elevator.” The
Executive Committee wanted to lend their support in Comrades of Courage’s efforts in rectifying
the problem. Pres. Moulton reassured us that the elevators have received extensive repairs and
has been thoroughly inspected and should be in proper working order. Also the elevator in the
Instructional Laboratory Building (ILB) has been replaced and should be up and running in the
next few weeks. Also the issue of non-compliance of ADA requirements for the University
website that was raised a couple of years ago was brought up. Pres. Moulton indicated that he
was not clear on the specifics of the issue so the University Administration was unable to pursue
it. The issue will be brought back to the FS Technology Utilization committee, where it
originated, so that more specific guidelines can be given to the administration.
Pres. Moulton was asked about the use of the TracDat data and whether the information is
being utilized, and how much of this is mandated by SACS. We were reassured by Moulton and
Covey that the information acquired through TracData is being used in the yearly assessment of
programs. Though TracDat itself was not required by SACS, only that there be electronic
reporting of data, it has proven to be an effective management tool. The problem is the
assessments once formulated by the chairs and deans are not being shared with the faculty.
Other issues that were discussed: I requested that the names of faculty representatives on
University committees, since the information is hard to find and the listings on the university
web pages for standing committees are out-of-date. Dr. Covey will check into this and share the
information with the Senate. The University JagTran system is being reviewed and changes are
being done on an as-needed-basis. The new University Recreation Center is scheduled to be
built near the intersection of Old Shell Road and Stadium Blvd. The plans for the new building
have not been completed yet, but the bids are scheduled to go out after the beginning of 2008.
The change in the Librarian Time-in-Rank promotion policy that was adopted by the Faculty
Senate in February will be going before the Dean’s Council for their approval. [Approval of the
change was given at their 6/19/07 meeting.]