Call to Order
Janis Boettinger called the meeting to order at 3:02 pm.

Minutes
Janice Hall moved to approve the minutes of September 7, 2004. The motion, seconded by Richard Sherlock, passed.

Announcements
There is new Banner Training sessions available. For more information on which classes are available, time, and location, visit the Banner website at www.usu.edu/banner.

University Business
President Kermit Hall and Provost Stan Albrecht answered questions regarding the budget presentation and the proposed tuition increase. Utah State is the sixth most efficient university in the nation. There was concern that raising tuition would discourage students who are qualified to attend Utah State, but cannot afford it. Historically, USU have been driven by Tier I tuition, low tuition, and low financial aid. Utah State under performs financial aid. We need to be proactive in 1) getting the students to fill out the form and 2) helping parents realize they need help. It is important that Utah State raise scholarship dollars. The Pell Grant program has grown, but has two problems 1) never fully funded and 2) maximum amount of grant has not gone up. Utah State needs to find the neediest students and maximize Pell grants. President Hall talked briefly about some of the risks involved with the tuition increase. If we raise tuition, who will come? Expectations will go up with increased cost. Economy will be more demanding. President Hall stressed that we are not alone, virtually every institutions in Utah is in the same boat. The state of Utah has significant problems.

President Hall and Provost Albrecht will be visiting the colleges. There will be a public tuition hearing in February. The proposal will go to Board of Trustees and Board of Regents.

There was some talk about Amendment #2. President Hall feels that it will pass. He encourages faculty to vote for this amendment.

Information Items
EPC
There are no action items from EPC. The January EPC meeting is the deadline for curriculum decision to be printed in the fall schedule bulletin. Please submit items to the EPC by December 16 for the January meeting.

Journal Subscriptions
Betty Rozum, Associate Director for Technical Services encouraged faculty to be involved in the evaluation of journals. During October/November they will be working with faculty to determine the best way to spend the journal money. Steven Harris, the new Collection Development and Management Librarian, joins Utah State. Steven comes from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Betty expressed appreciation of the cooperation with departments.

Syllabus Resources
There is a syllabus resources website http://www.usu.edu/aia/academic/syllabusres.cfm. Faculty members are encouraged to use this site as a template and to copy and paste topics ie Grievance Process.

Domestic Partners Benefit Proposal
The Domestic Partners Benefit proposal has been forwarded to the BFW committee. The BFW will review the proposal and make recommendations to the FSEC by the end of the semester.

December Commencement
The December Commencement will be held on December 18 at 10:30 am. There will be updated information on the Commencement webpage within the next couple of weeks.

ASUSU Update
Les Essig talked briefly about how they are education students about the proposed 43% tuition increase. There is a state convention scheduled on October 20th at UVSC. Michael Moore will be speaking. They have doubled the amount of registered voters. Les asked that faculty encourage their students to register to vote by October 13. They are working on a M-Thur class schedule proposal.

AJ Rounds is looking for faculty volunteers to participate in a Graduate Student Forum panel discussion. If interested, email Christina Palmer, Christina.palmer@usu.edu.

Consent Agenda
Shawn Olsen moved to accept the items on the consent agenda, the motion seconded by Bruce Miller, passed.

David Lancy, Director of the Honors Program, introduced Christy Fox, the new Program Coordinator for the Honors Program.

Key Issues and Action Items
Betty Dance and Kathy Piercy volunteered to serve on the Athletic Council. Rhonda Callister moved to approve these volunteers to serve on the Athletic Council. The motion, seconded by Lynn Dudley, passed.

Calendar Committee
Sydney Peterson presented the academic and employee holiday calendars for 2006-2007. Dallas Holmes motioned to accept the calendars. The motion, seconded by Tom Schroeder, passed.

New Business
The Faculty Forum will be held on Monday, November 1, 2004 at 3:00 in Eccles Conference Center 215. If you have any suggestions for topics please email Christina Palmer.

Adjournment
Janis Boettinger called for adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 4:28 pm