Dr. Anne Albrect — President
Dr. Mark Shipman — Past President , ex-officio
Dr. Don Beach – President-Elect
Dr. Rebekah MillerLevy – Sec/Treasurer
Dr. Reggie Hall - Parliamentarian
Faculty Senate Minutes
Date: 10-6-2014
PRESENT:
Tanter, Alex, Shockey, Manon, Pfau, Russell for Nelson, Allen, Rodriguez, Brittany, Miller-Levy, Rebekah,
Beach, Don, Willey, Richard, Shipman, Mark, Pursell, Anthony, Sadler, Wendell, Wilterding, Cathy, Hall,
Reggie, Emmert, Keith, Dubansky, Brooke, Winton, Mary, Albrecht, Anne, Hallgarth, Matt
Pratt, Francine.
ABSENT:
Roisere, Randy, Dearing, Art, Agapie, Mircea, McKeehan, Paula, Garcia, Jimmy,
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order by Dr. Albrecht at 3:04pm
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Beach moved to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Pratt seconded. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Current balance is $5622.41.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Civil Rights Day – October 14
UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES:
Reports/Committee assignments
Academic Assessment (Nelson)
No report
Academic Council (Albrecht)
Discussion about changing the undeclared majors to undecided by college and what affects that will have on
individual colleges. Dr. Taylor discussed the impending SACs five year review and asked that any substantive
change in programs be communicated to her. Tony Edwards and Mike Haynes discussed distance education.
Academic Council Management Team (Albrecht)
Mike Haynes presented institutional research on student achievement. Discussion about defining major GPA.
How will major GPA be defined? What courses will be considered in the major GPA? No decisions made.
Academic Standards (Crawford)
Discussion on whether to accept transfer grades of D or not. Committee will recommend TSU not accept Ds.
Access Equity and Diversity Committee (Pratt)
No report
Budget Advisory Council (Tanter)
No report
Campus Ethics, Compliance, and Enterprise Risk Management (Winton)
No report
CII Advisory Council (Wilterding)
No report
Dr. Anne Albrect — President
Dr. Mark Shipman — Past President , ex-officio
Dr. Don Beach – President-Elect
Dr. Rebekah MillerLevy – Sec/Treasurer
Dr. Reggie Hall - Parliamentarian
Commencement & Convocation (Beach)
Concern that faculty hooding Master’s candidates were not recognized.
Curriculum Committee (Hallgarth)
No report
Developmental Education Advisory Council (McKeehan)
No report
Employee Benefits Committee (Shipman)
No report
Faculty Handbook Committee (Shipman)
By the end of the semester, all chapters of the Faculty Handbook with the exception of four will be finished
and available online. Chapter 4 is Tenure and Promotion and is going through the individual colleges.
SEMEC (Albrecht)
Working on the Campus plan but need more time.
University Calendar Committee (Pursell)
Revising schedule so diplomas can be awarded at graduation. Will necessitate grades being turned in the
Thursday before graduation rather than the Monday after. Finals will need to be finished by Wednesday.
Several options are being considered, including Saturday exams, elimination of Dead Day, or starting exams a
day earlier. No decision has been made. No discussion of Summer School schedule.
University Discipline Appeals (Miller-Levy)
No report
University Planning Council (Shipman)
Met in July. There is a plan moving forward. Making progress. Will have more to report soon.
University Project Management Committee (Albrecht)
OLD BUSINESS
A. Faculty Luncheon – Room is reserved. Academic Affairs is co-sponsoring the events.
B. Shared Governance – Dr. Shipman has sent out preliminary documents to the people who volunteered.
Committee is not complete. Still need a College of Education rep and two at-large members. Dr. Taylor will
represent Academic Affairs.
C. College Tenure & Promotion – Dr. Murray agreed to separate Tenure and Promotion from Post Tenure
Review into two documents. There is still discussion about Post-Tenure review and the need for clarification
on this process.
D. Parking – Matt Welch, new police chief, reports to duty today. Dr. Albrecht will present the Faculty Senate
resolution to have tickets for parking in visitor’s spots waived. The University has put together a committee to
look into the parking issue. Dr. Shipman will represent Faculty Senate.
E. Applied Learning Experience – Dr. Murray is aware that there are many concerns about ALE and how it will
work. The REAL Council is working on a plan and will present when finished.
Guest: David Weissenburger, Chief of Staff
A. He requested the opportunity to address Faculty Senate to facilitate communication between the President’s
office and the Senate.
B. Chief of Staff’s role is to serve as a member of the Executive Committee and as a liaison to the A & M
System, make sure items are completed, and stands in for the President when necessary.
C. Committees – The committee structure is in the process of being removed from the President’s Office and
overhauled to facilitate shared governance. Discussion about term limitations on committees, representation
by group, revising committee descriptions, and considering Share Point to post minutes and call meetings.
The President and his executive committee will still review appointments.
D. Parking – There is a plan. Parking garages are not a TSU decision; they are a system decision and it takes a
LONG time to go through the process but it has been started. Some of the cost of parking garages will be
passed onto the users. A committee has formed to recommend a user-friendly plan. No decisions made.
E. Outsourcing of services – Discussion of the System’s future plans to outsource services. Faculty Senate
expressed concerns about the decline in service since custodial outsourcing. This is not a TSU decision. The
A&M System will communicate future outsourcing plans, as they are available. At this point, no decisions
made.
Dr. Anne Albrect — President
Dr. Mark Shipman — Past President , ex-officio
Dr. Don Beach – President-Elect
Dr. Rebekah MillerLevy – Sec/Treasurer
Dr. Reggie Hall - Parliamentarian
NEW BUSINESS
A. Summary of Executive Board’s Meeting with Academic Affairs Leadership
B. Piper Committee
C. Faculty Handbook Revision
Winton motioned to table new business until next meeting. Anderson seconded. Motion passed.
ADJOURNMENT:
Pratt moved to adjourn. Anderson seconded. Motion carried and the meeting was adjourned at 4:xx p.m.