Call to Order
Janis Boettinger called the meeting to order at 3:05 pm. Janis introduced Tyler Riggs from the Herald Journal; Christina Palmer, new Faculty Senate assistant; President Kermit Hall and Provost Stan Albrecht, and Gary Straquadine, Associate Vice Provost.

Minutes
Doug Ramsey made a motion to accept the minutes of the April 21st meeting. The motion, seconded by Rhonda Callister, passed with a stipulation from Janis Boettinger that the appropriate language will be inserted in the BFW report.

Information Items
There are web pages on the Faculty Senate website for FS committees to post agendas, minutes, and calendar items. Contact Christina Palmer at 797-0945 or Christina.palmer@usu.edu if you would like items posted. Jeff Walters asked for clarification on posting the minutes. Draft version or final version can be posted.

University Business
President Hall talked about the upcoming election. One item of particular interest to USU is Amendment #2 – which permits Universities to hold equity in companies that they facilitate the start up. President Hall encouraged faculty members to vote.

There will be an office opening in the Wells Fargo Building in Salt Lake City. Thanks to Jonathan Bullen and Dell Loy Hansen, two USU graduates. This office will house the new Vice President for University Advancement, Scott Mietchen. There will also be space for Alumni and apparel and memorabilia. Salt Lake will see a presence that they haven’t seen before. The office will open October 1, 2004. Vice President Mietchen will start November 1, 2004.

Randy Spetman is the new Athletic Director. Randy comes from Airforce Academy where he served as the Athletic Director. President Hall suggested inviting Randy to an Executive Committee and maybe even the Faculty Senate. Provost Albrecht commented that these two new appointees, Scott Mietchen and Randy Spetman, understand that Utah State academics really do come first.

The search for a new Vice President for Information and Technology is underway. This position will no longer hold the title of Chief Information Officer. There will be Chief Information Officer position, but will be a subordinate to the Vice President for Information Technology. There will also be a VP for Information Technology Security. Barbara White accepted an Associate Provost position at University of Georgia. Ron Godfrey is chairing this search.

There are two dean searches underway. Gerry Giordano, Dean, College of Education and Human Services accepted a Provost position at North Florida. Gary Kiger is chairing this national search. Tom Kent, Dean of School of Graduate Studies accepted a Dean’s position at Western Michigan. Noelle Cockett is chairing this national search. The committee is developing the position announcement.

President Hall and Provost Albrecht will be making Budget Presentations. The process of developing the budget started with the Tuition Task Force, chaired by Glenn McEvoy. The task force developed a set of recommendations that were considered in light of other conditions of the Utah economy. The State’s financial position needs 4% growth to fund what it currently has in place. The State is going to be increasingly behind in revenues unless it changes it tax policy. Presentations are scheduled to be given to ASUSU, Executive Committee, and Colleges. President Hall offered to present the budget presentation to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and Faculty Senate. The future of Utah State that President Hall sees is a more and more private institution. There has been real progress in the Merrill Library, Living Learning Center, and the new Caine Recital Hall.

President Hall is starting to meet with legislators. There was a group of Regents here last week; they talked about Utah State’s capital facilities requests: 1) Peterson Agriculture Building and 2) moving Agriculture facilities from the north to the south to the Caine Dairy area. A presentation was made to the regents and will also be made to the State of Utah Building Board.

Provost Albrecht introduced Gary Straquadine, Associate Vice Provost. Gary will be heavily involved with Deans and Department Heads with the transition of Logan Campus academic activities from Continuing Education to the Provost’s Office.

President Hall is pleased with the preparedness and quality of incoming class. We have done a great job in recruiting the best class in history of Utah State.

Information Items
Items of business are carried forward from the FSEC consent agenda to the Faculty Senate. These include regular reports from the FS committees as well as Universities committees. These report that need to be considered, but do not need discussion are placed on the FS agenda as informational items for the full FS.

School of Graduate Studies
Larry Smith, Interim Dean of School of Graduate Studies introduced himself to the senate. Shelly Lindauer is serving as the Interim Associate Dean. Shelly comes from the FCHD department. Dianna Thimmes retired after 27 years. Pete Morris is the new Admissions Officer. Overall theme for Graduate School this year is “User Friendly Resource”. Focusing on two major things, 1) increase and improve communications with students and campus community and 2) update operations. Specifics include a new website and making better use of resources. Schedule forums with graduate students to find out what’s going on in the different programs. Increase number of opportunities for Graduate TA training. Draft a proposal to develop “Preparing Future Faculty” Program (PFF). The graduate office in the near future will be digitizing records. This will benefit students. Very optimistic that Banner will help Graduate office with online application procedure. Scraped together additional dollars to work with faculty members to be involved with the marketing efforts of Graduate students.

Enrollment and Curriculum Management
Joyce Kinkead presented the following information on enrollment. There is 2300 freshman enrolled for Fall 2004. The average ACT score is 24. There has been a notable increase in the Honors program; last year 270 students, this fall 350. There were 660 Presidential Scholarships (in state award) given out, 410 of those are enrolled. There are 1,000 new transfer students. Prestige Scholarship is now the Undergraduate Research Fellows (formerly Club Scholar). Presidential and national scholars were invited to apply for Undergraduate Research Fellows. There were 200 applicants, 50 fellows were awarded. They are given a guidebook to prepare them to work with their individual college for the next four years. In 2001 retention was 66%. The goal of 75% retention was met in three years instead of the projected five years.

Joyce introduced Gary Straquadine, Associate Vice Provost. Gary has been charged with managing curriculum and to oversee Evening and Summer School transition from Continuing Education to the Provost’s office. Gary has been at USU for 16 years. He was formerly the ASTE department head for 8 years. Evening School began in 1981 for non-traditional students, but found that 66% were traditional students. Summer school in the past has been taught in three different models (part of load, SWC, ES). The goal of the Provost’s office is to develop a plan to enhance the curriculum by eliminating bottleneck courses, general education process, graduation rate process, new program possibilities. The Provost’s office will work directly with Department Heads instead of individual faculty members for requests. There will be a proposal request process based on “guiding principles”.

Consent Agenda
Bruce Miller moved to accept the items on the consent agenda. The motion, seconded by Derek Mason, passed.

Key Issues and Action Items
Stephen Bialowski moved to approve Jeff Walters as the Parliamentarian for 2004- 2005 academic year. The approval, seconded by Kathy Piercy, passed.

Sydney Petersen talked briefly about the December Commencement which will be held on Saturday, December 18, 2004 at 10:30 am. The students will receive a certificate with their name on it rather than diplomas. There are 1, 987 students who are qualified to graduate in December 2004. They will combine the graduate and undergraduate ceremony together. The ceremony will be different from Spring Commencement. There will be a shorter procession. Heidi Beck mentioned that an email will be sent to those students who will have 120 credits announcing that they will waive the graduation fee for the December Commencement. The cost of the commencement will be significantly less than the Spring Commencement. Janis Boettinger suggested that faculty members could advertise in their classes of the event. Les Essig the students are very supportive of this idea. As far as the Spectrum goes, there is nothing scheduled during this week due to finals. The setup and take down for graduation is one week.

New Business
Faculty Forum is scheduled for November 1, 2004.

Athletic Council
There is a female faculty position (does not need to be a faculty senate member) on the Athletic Council that needs to be filled. If you are interested in serving on this committee, let Janis Boettinger know.

Students
Les Essig, ASUSU President presented the bill ECB 04-02 -Declaration to Faculty Senate. The bill is a resolution of working collaboratively with faculty and students.
Jan Anderson moved that the Faculty Senate Executive Committee draft the language of the resolution for Faculty Senate approval. The motion, seconded by Pat Lambert, passed.

Adjourn
Stephen Biolowski called for adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 4:40 pm.