{"id":2609,"date":"2024-09-09T14:11:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T20:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/?p=2609"},"modified":"2024-09-09T14:11:35","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T20:11:35","slug":"april-2024-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/2024\/09\/09\/april-2024-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"April 2024 Minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Minutes of the Faculty Senate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Regular meeting in Blanchard 204<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>April 18, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Present: Senators Wise, Valenzuela, Logan, Faucett, Pfannenstiel, Oden, Lowther, Djiguimde, Al-Shami, White, Tucker, Filburn, Greathouse, Nelson, Fanning, Samples<\/p>\n<p>Ex-officio and guests: David Lanoue, Sheryl Edwards, Donna Allen, Shawana Reed, Robin Sronce, Kim Bloss, Abdel Bachri, Connie Wilson, Marisa Grippo, Gerald Plumlee, Brian Logan, Karen Landry, Vilma Espinoza, John Schneiderwind, Lashonda Ivory, Deborah Wilson, Mohammed Islam<\/p>\n<p>Call to order: 3:40 pm<\/p>\n<p>Reading of Proxies: Samples for McLelland, Lowther for Coppersmith<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Approval of Minutes<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Minutes from March 14, 2024, were approved (motion \u2013 Tucker, second \u2013 Logan)<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Comments from Dr. David Lanoue, Provost and VPAA<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The ADHE had a meeting to review their program review process to streamline the process and make it more efficient. The spring faculty meeting is tomorrow at 3:30. Teacher education had a visit from the state and was said to be above expectations. Science and engineering had student presentations yesterday showcasing the skills they learned. The recent musical performances from the Dempsey College of Liberal and Performing Arts were great. The Rankin College of Business will host the SOAR conference next Wednesday. The numbers for the Graduate school are looking good.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Dr. Lanoue concluded by expressing his gratitude to the Faculty Senate for everything they\u2019ve done for the university and students. Trust among faculty has meant a lot.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>Questions for the Administration<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Dr. Lanoue answered questions for the administration.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>To be consistent with the NCAA Student Athlete notes regarding class absences brought forth at the March 2024 faculty senate meeting, and to clarify Policy 2.10.1 in the SAU Student Handbook, can the statement regarding practices not being considered excused absences be specifically added to the handbook?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Athletic practices have never been considered excused absences, so the situation seems okay for now.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>When will the evaluations of the chairs and deans by faculty open and close this semester?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Evaluations will be open no later than April 29<sup>th<\/sup>. They\u2019ll end two weeks after they open.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>The SAU Faculty Handbook identifies the teaching load of a non-tenure track Instructor as 15 hours or the equivalent. Are the 15 hours consistently assigned across all departments? If not, what are the exceptions that may achieve \u201cor the equivalent?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>It differs among the departments due to situations like labs and clinicals. What constitutes 15 hours is negotiated between departments, chairs, and deans, and can include special projects or temporary assignments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Does the University have a planning process in place for catastrophic events such as floods, tornados, active shooters, ice storms, extended power outages, cyberattacks, etc., or is the basic idea just to improvise?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>There is a process. VPC is our first-line crisis team and communicates with the FS president. The first priority is safety and the second is continuing classes. Weather-related crises are idiosyncratic and require adjustments and the university police has plans in place for active shooters. The response to the cyberattack was a victory of planning as there were better outcomes than those at other universities in similar circumstances.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>The University Budget Committee recently learned that during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, spending on scholarships exceeded the budgeted amount by approximately $850,000, and that this same level is expected for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. How did this happen, does it limit our ability to fund other priorities, and what plans does the University have for addressing this issue?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Scholarships include every tuition discount offered by the university. This issue arose because competition to recruit potential students in Arkansas is tough. Emphasizing high school GPA in addition to ACT scores lead to more scholarships being paid out. A 1-year lag before learning the results of a policy will cause another year of excessive scholarships. There is a reduction in collected revenues, but that has to be balanced with more students potentially attending SAU because of the scholarships. Next year\u2019s recruiting class will require both high GPAs and SAT\/ACT scores to earn a scholarship, and recruiters are doing a great job with the scholarships provided.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>Did SAU administration voice any concerns to the Governor about losing the only minority (African-American) member of the SAU Board of Trustees? At a public university that is over third black, and nearly two-thirds female, does administration believe that representation of these groups on the BOD is important?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>SAU does care about having a representative body. However, the governor makes the final decisions on this issue, and conversations with her are confidential.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong>Reports of Committees<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><u>Report from the Faculty Senate Budget Committee (Senator Oden)<\/u><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The faculty senate budget committee has been put on the university budget committee. Proposals for one-time funding have been put forth, with more scheduled next week.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><u>Report from the Faculty Senate Parking, Building, and Grounds Committee (Senator Nelson<\/u><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">An appeal was presented to the committee, with an agreement made between the department and adjunct member.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><u>Report from the Faculty Senate Handbook Committee<\/u><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Everyone who served on the AI committee was recognized. The senate voted unanimously to adopt the AI policy which would be read at the general faculty meeting. The senate had already voted to approve the change to the student course survey language, and there will be two votes for the faculty through email to adopt these policies.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><strong>New Business<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">President Tucker thanked the faculty senate officers and the administration. As his last act, President Tucker proposed a resolution for adoption thanking Dr. Lanoue for his outstanding service, unwavering commitment, and transformative leadership serving as provost and VPAA. President Tucker then handed the gavel over to President-Elect Nelson.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">President Nelson thanked everyone for their confidence and the opportunity to serve as faculty senate president. She plans to revisit the budget and AI and investigate increasing pay for adjuncts and faculty. New senators Lashonda Ivory, Deborah Wilson, Mohammed Islam were seated, Senators Karim, Nelson, and Valenzuela were congratulated on their re-elections, and Senators White, Coppersmith, and Pfannenstiel were thanked for their service. Senator Nelson nominated Senator Valenzuela as Vice President, Senator Tucker as Parliamentarian, and Senator Faucett as Secretary-Treasurer. Senator Oden motioned for a vote supporting the nominations and Senator Logan seconded. The vote passed unanimously.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li><strong>Additional Comments<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Adjournment at 4:38 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minutes of the Faculty Senate Regular meeting in Blanchard 204 April 18, 2024 Present: Senators Wise, Valenzuela, Logan, Faucett, Pfannenstiel, Oden, Lowther, Djiguimde, Al-Shami, White, Tucker, Filburn, Greathouse, Nelson, Fanning, Samples Ex-officio and guests: David Lanoue, Sheryl Edwards, Donna Allen, Shawana Reed, Robin Sronce, Kim Bloss, Abdel Bachri, Connie Wilson, Marisa Grippo, Gerald Plumlee, Brian&#8230; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/2024\/09\/09\/april-2024-minutes\/\"> Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8422],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-minutes","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2610,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions\/2610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/faculty-staff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}