PRELIMINARY MINUTES FOR THE

Faculty Senate Meeting

September August 14, 2008, 11:00 am - 12:45 p.m.

Rudolph Jones Student Dining Center

ITEM #1Call to Order

 Meeting was called to order by J. Mattox, Chair of the Faculty Senate.

ITEM #2 Adoption of Agenda

Adoption of the Agenda: Motion to approve by Heather Griffiths, Second by Diane White-Oyler.  Call to the membership to approve. Motion carried.

ITEM #3 Approval of the minutes of the 4/17/08 meeting

Approval of the minutes Motion to approve the minutes by Soni Martin. Second by Heather Griffiths. Call to the membership to approve the minutes. Motion carried.

ITEM #4 Senate Committees. The senate executive committee is putting forward the motion that senate committees include ex-officio one (or possibly two) administration members. Discussion by the membership centered around the idea of better communication and building relationships with Administration through representation of ex-officio committee members. S. Martin asked clarification between ex-officio vs. visitor roles. D. Hilton asked if there was a majority of the Senate present. A quorum count found a majority present. Mattox responded that an ex-officio member is expected to attend all meetings.  D. White-Oyler suggested that we request mandatory attendance.  L. Barlow, asked about the selection process to nominate members.  The suggestion was made to have the Vice Chancellors serve because of their knowledge and decision making roles.  Provost Blackshire-Belay offered that coming from Sonoma State, she believed in shared governance.  As Vice-Provost there, she served as ex-officio of all senate committees.  Mattox calls on the Senate to wrap up discussion.  Discussion continued from the floor regarding clarification. M. Mongkuo restated the motion: To include an appropriate administrator as an ex-officio member of each senate committee that has concerns with university policy. Call to the membership to approve the motion. Majority of senate voted in favor and one abstention. Motion carried.

ITEM #5. The senate executive committee is putting forward the motion that the Senate shall cooperate with administration in the formation of a new committee to be called the FSU Shared Governance Committee. The proposal was presented by Mattox to the Senate.  Discussion began with defining what the difference between the Governance vs. Shared Governance Committee.  Mattox explained that this committee comprises five faculty members and an equal number of administrators. This committee will be tasked with the review of FSU policy, and the drafting of new policy and/or policy revisions as required. The committee will report jointly to the Chancellor and the Faculty Senate. It is expected that many of the members of the Senate Governance Committee will also be members of the Shared Governance Committee.

Chancellor Anderson stated that the administration is searching for faculty participation in FSU governance. D. Hilton successfully moved to call the question. Chair Mattox explained that in response to a successful motion to call the question, his policy as chair is to allow reasonable time for the completion of the exposition of arguments against the position of the senator moving to call the question before voting. S. Martin commented on the Chancellor’s statement. The motion was approved unaminously.

ITEM #6. Senate Committee Composition. The chair of each senate committee was asked to speak briefly on the opportunities for service on his/her committee.

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS. Ex-Chair, D. White-Oyler introduced M. Darnell as the new Chair. Dr. Oyler states the charge of the committee and its role in reviewing all academic proposals.  Mattox stated that our governance documents specify that the senate committee on committee was to have determined the make up and chairpersonship of each committee last spring, but that we our historically out of compliance with our governance documents. J. Breitzer added that the bylaws regarding governance and Robert’s rules need to be respected. B. Radford-Curry, V. Chair, added that the Committee on Committee may play a role to revise a selection process. She also suggested  that this be addressed at the next meeting. D. Oyler stated that at the end of the last academic year, she had no volunteers to take on the chair position of the academic affairs committee.  M. Darnell volunteered.  M. Mongkuo stated that as Chair, D. Oyler had contacted all members about becoming chair; after this proved unsuccessful, the Executive Committee approved Dianne’s suggestion that Michelle become chair.

GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE. Mongkuo, Chair, Offered a description and charge of the committee.

STUDENT AFFAIRS. S. Hernandez-Hinek, Chair. Offered a description and charge of the committee.

FACULTY ..Development & Evaluation Maria Orban, Chair…

FACULTY WELFARE. J. Peacock, Chair.  This committee took on a formal request to look at phased-retirement, benefits, etc.

ITTS. CHET Dilday, Chair. This committee reviews new computer initiatives.

BUDGET. T. Williams, Chair.

COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES. B. Radford-Curry, Chair.  Our Governance Document specifies that this committee is to be elected by the Senate.

ITEM #7 Faculty Appointments to Chancellor's Installation Committee.  Senate is requested to submit names. Meetings scheduled to gear up in approximately two weeks. Two are to be elected, one to the executive committee, one to the steering committee. Nominations from the floor: J. Mattox nominates self for the exec committee.  Gloria Elliott nominates self for the steering committee. With no further nominations from the floor, nominations were closed.  Unanimous approval of the candidates.

ITEM #8 Report from the Governance Committee on a 2008 revision of the Senate Governance Document and Bylaws. J. Breitzer, past Parliamentarian, reviewed changes as a process of governance.  Issue regarding state compliance, abundance of details regarding committees and policy.  A complete report will occur at the 9/18 meeting.

ITEM #9 Report from the Governance Committee on reviving the Faculty Handbook. Mattox stated that the handbook is embarrassingly out of date.  Three members of the Senate Governance Committee (Mongkuo, Breitzer, and Radford Curry) were each paid $1318 by the Senate last summer to work on revising our governance documents and handbook. They will report to the senate at a later meeting.

ITEM #10. Report from the Task Force on Revising Comprehensive Faculty Evaluation. S. Martin, Chair provided an update on the process. They have officially finished the pilot evaluation, but analysis of the results is incomplete. The new evaluation system will not go into effect this year.

ITEM #11 Report from the senate chair on the BB&T grant to the business school.

The Chair reported that faculty members in the FSU Business School had successfully proposed a program to BB&T. Their proposal specified:

The course on the philosophy, history, and theory of capitalism (the exact title still to be determined) will be offered to all undergraduate business majors and first year MBA students. The course will adopt Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged as a required text. 

There was brief discussion prior to adjournment with VC Radford Curry presiding.

 Adjournment. B. Radford-Curry, Vice President, motioned to adjourn. 

 Submitted: S. Hernandez-Hinek,

                    Secretary