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Minutes for December 11, 2015
Members present: Saeed Ahmad, Cathy Blackman, Krystal Brue, Shaun Calix, Maureen DuRant,
Loree Gaines, Bayard Godsave, James Heflin, Dana Hilbert, Dwight Hite, Hardy Jones, Gary
Kowaluk, Hong Li, Jeff Metzger, Dejan Mraovic, Deidre Onishi, Holly Rice, Lynda Robinson,
Derick Steyn, Andrew Stonerock, Matt Van Sant, Ronna Vanderslice, Keith Vitense.
Dr. Lynda Robinson called the meeting to order.
The minutes from the last meeting on November 13, 2015 were brought up for approval. Before any motion was made to approve the minutes, Dwight Hite and VP Ronna Vanderslice stated that they were at last month’s meeting, but their names were not listed in the minutes. Cathy
Blackman made a motion to approve the minutes with the amendments, and Shaun Calix seconded the motion.
Committee Reports: Rules Committee : Dr. Keith Vitense explained that Dr. Ann Nally has been asked to serve on the Faculty Committee. Dr. Nally was one of the faculty members who had been part of the tie in the election. Dr. Vitense asked that Dr. Nally be allowed to serve the remainder of the academic year.
Old Business:Dr. Jim Heflin said that the changes to the Handbook regarding “Excused student absence and makeup examination policy” and “Excused student absence policy for religious holidays” were approved by the Board of Regents.
Q & A with VPAA Vanderslice: At the President’s meeting with Faculty and Staff on January 5,
2015, President MacArthur will discuss the possible money saving proposals for the budget. The proposals will be on handouts that will distributed at the meeting; Cameron will collect feedback and the goal is to make decisions by the end of January concerning which money saving proposals to implement.
Quality Matters Workshops for CU online classes: 29 participants for December 18, the day after offices close. Congratulations for such a strong number of participants!
How can CU ensure that students attend classes before receiving their financial aid? The idea is to have an automated system that faculty can enter and check a box saying if the student has been to class in the first three days of the semester. This idea will be discussed at the department level.
If the idea is accepted and enacted, a campaign will need to be implemented to inform the students.
New Business: Dr. Lynda Robinson explained that the final Faculty Senate meeting in Spring
2016 is May 6, which is the day of graduation. To remedy this, the Senators voted to move the
April 8 to April 29, and thereby the April 29 th meeting will cover April and May.

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Discussion: Promotions for Instructors? Drs. Lynda Robinson and Jim Heflin wondered how many Instructors on campus this would affect? Would the promotion include money? Would it be in name only?
Flex Load: Dr. Lynda Robinson informally surveyed some of the Senators as to what their departments thought about Flex Load. Most Senators reported that their departments were against the idea. Dr. Lynda Robinson said that Dr. Jim Heflin will have a proposal on Flex Load for Faculty Senate to vote on at next month’s meeting (January 2016).
Dr. Lynda Robinson adjourned the meeting.