Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes for September 8th, 2003 Call to Order Kevin Kesler called the meeting to order at 3:00 pm. He welcomed the Faculty Senate to the new school year, and explained one minor change in the format of the agenda, which is to allow for discussion of items taken out of the consent agenda later on in the meeting. Minutes Stephanie Kukic made a motion to accept the minutes of the April 28th meeting. The motion, seconded by Carol Kochan, was passed. Announcements Joyce Kinkead gave a brief presentation on the incoming freshman class, including its high quality makeup, statistics, and a few short biographies of selected freshmen. Tom Kent then presented the general makeup, statistics and goals of graduate enrollment in this year's graduate program. Consent Agenda Janis Boettinger moved to accept the Consent Agenda. The motion, seconded by Kathy Piercy, passed. Key Issues and Action Items Approval of Parliamentarian Kevin Kesler proposed Jeff Walters to return as this year's Faculty Senate Parliamentarian. Dallas Holmes moved to accept Jeff Walters as Parliamentarian. The motion, seconded by Jeff Banks, was passed. Policy Changes for Faculty Senate Janis Boettinger took a few moments to explain changes in the Policy Code regarding membership in PRPC. Janis Boettinger moved to send Policy Changes concerning the membership of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to PRPC. The motion, seconded by Stephen Bialkowski, was passed. Honorary Degrees and Awards Nominations Marv Halling described the need for a new member to the Honorary Degrees and Awards Screening Committee. Three nominations were previously made, who were Jennifer McAdam, Jan Roush, and Barbara White. It was opened to the senate to make any more nominations, which none were made. Janis Boettinger moved that nominations ceased, which was seconded by Kathy Piercy. The three nominations will then be sent to President Hall for final selection. Proposed Changes to the Hiring Policy Sue Guenter-Schlesinger presented the proposed changes to the Hiring Policy. Five forms have been modified, which are the Request to Fill an Open Position form, the Request to Advertise form, the Applicant Selection/Nonselection form, the Employment Action Form, and the Request to Extend Preliminary Offer of Employment form, of which she discussed in detail the first three. The Personnel Services office is doing their best to return these forms back as quickly as possible to expedite the process. Janis Boettinger moved to endorse the changes in the Hiring Policy allowing for the need of language changes if needed in the future. The motion, seconded by Ronda Callister was passed. Senate Membership on the Banner Committee Kevin Kesler described the Banner Committee, and it's need for Faculty Senate representation. He asked for volunteers, and Gilberto Urroz was the only volunteer. Kevin then explained that any more volunteers could contact him after the meeting. University Business Provost Stan Albrecht gave the University Business. He discussed the following topics: The Regents moratorium on new programs, Selective Investment, including student-faculty ratio, and bottleneck courses initiatives, and the university is working on increasing doctoral enrollment, and filling the 22 new faculty positions made available with Tier 2 tuition dollars. Administration is filling a Selective Investment Committee to review top priority items for funding from selective investment funds. Ronda Callister mentioned USU's winning a $3 million/5 year NSF Advance Grant to improve the recruitment and retention of women faculty in Sciences and Engineering. The Provost then presented USU's Budget, including the needs for compensation increase for faculty, unfunded students, operating costs, and the Animal Science renovation. He then talked about the proposed creation of department head terms, and discussed the implementation of a 5 year term with a 5 year possible extension. Adjourn Kevin Kesler then called for adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm.