In Attendance (In-person)

College of Arts and Sciences: 

Mark Broome, Jennifer Fowler, Ian Lian, Pat Heintzelman, Jiangjiang (Jane) Lin, Tina Kibbe, Sujing Wang, Cengiz Sen, Wen Liu, Emma Morris, Sommer Shackelford, Elia Hatfield, Melissa Riley, Raymond Doe, Cheng-Hsien Lin, and B. Garrick Harden

College of Education and Human Development:

Shelly Allen, Daryl Ann Borel, Eunjin Kwon, Donna Fong, and Daniel R.Chilek

College of Business:

Vivek Natarajan, Kelly Weeks, Tim McCoy, and James Slaydon

College of Fine Arts and Communication:

Andre Favors, Paul Eric McCluskey, Paul Hemenway, Brielle Frost, and Xenia Fedorchenko

College of Engineering:

Xuejun Fan and John Gossage, Xing Wu

Library: Penny Clark

In Attendance (Online)

College of Arts and Sciences: Brian Williams, James Armacost, Permalreddy Chandrasekaran

College of Education and Huma Development: 

College of Business: Xiao "Jerry" Zhang and Minkyum Kim

College of Fine Arts and Communication: Alan Brincks, Millicent Musyoka, and Lilian Felipe

College of Engineering: Gleb Tcheslavski

Library: Poornima Gunasekaran

Absent:

College of Arts and Sciences: Matt Hoch, Mark Mengerink, and Raouth Kostandy

College of Education and Human Development: Mohamad Hamza, Katherine Sprott, and James Laub

College of Business: Ashraf El-Houbi and Gevorg Sargsyan

College of Fine Arts and Communication: Chelsea Lyles

College of Engineering: Xian Chang Li and Maryam Hamidi

Library:

Call to order

3:32 P.M.

President  Taylor's Minute

• President Taylor said he would give us a copy of the policy that the system attorney interprets to say resolutions like a vote of no confidence have to come from the majority of the eligible membership of the faculty senate as opposed to the actual senate membership. Not all faculty have to vote, but, according to this interpretation, a majority of the eligible faculty for senate membership voting in the affirmative is required for the no-confidence vote to be valid. Kelly Weeks disagreed with that interpretation, saying we are elected representatives of the faculty. Dr. Taylor said to contact Nellie with related questions.
• We had the largest turnout at university convocation in a long time.
• In terms freshman enrollment, we are at almost 1550, up from 1400 last year. The place where we lose most students is from freshman to sophomore year. The university is working on improving retention efforts in that area.
• Dr. Taylor said concerns about the instructor adjustment criteria could be directed to the CFO.

Remarks by Dr. Jobi John, Dean of College of Business

• Dr. Jobi John extended an invitation for us to call him if ever the CoB can be of help.
• He has some ideas on how we might collaborate across colleges. Please contact him if interested.

Remarks by Kyle Boudreaux/ Johnny Jarrell

• Discussed Watermark and Student Eval updates
• In spring, faculty will use Watermark to submit their f.208s.
• Faculty will use Watermark for promotion and tenure packets. Promotion for full professor and two and four-year tenure track reviews will be brought on next year.
• Both virtual and face to face training to use Watermark will begin September 25, 2024. Most training's will run about 30 minutes.
• Student evaluations from the past will be stored in Watermark. Contact Johnny Jarrell if you need yours for promotion or tenure packets, and he will package and send to you.
• Dr. Jater is putting together a committee to look at existing student eval questions. They will look at streaming those questions and setting up a review schedule to periodically review questions.

Remarks by Ashley Dockens

• Dr. Dockens discussed new AI tools available at Lamar.

Approval of Minutes

• Daryl Ann Borel motioned to approve the minutes from the May 1, 2024, Faculty Senate General Meeting.
• Jennifer Fowler seconded the motion.
• Before the vote, Dr. James Slaydon voiced concern about the minutes from the distant-past meetings and cautioned senators to read the minutes carefully before voting. He reviewed the minutes from the last 8.5 years and found that the minutes do not reflect that the 2019 Faculty Handbook was voted on or that the latest senate by laws were voted on. Her referred to Roberts Rules and emphasized that if the information is not in the minutes, then the vote did not happen. He discussed the problems this information now poses for the senate: the 2019 Handbook is not in effect and Dr. Lin cannot serve as president for a second term under the by-laws the minutes reflect to be in effect.
• The minutes were approved with an affirmative vote by 25 in person and 5 online. Six in-person senators voted against the motion.
• Pat Heintzelman requested a new vote because the discussion of the minutes was confusing and she wanted clarity.
• Dr. Lin did not accept the request.

Faculty Senate President's Report

• Regarding the Equity Adjustment for instructors, we have asked the administration to share the criteria used for the adjustment and to determine if it could be further adjusted to align with instructors' years of service.
• Large course stipends will be extended to on campus courses. The policy will be the same as the policy used in the online courses. This change may start in Spring 2025.
• Several MAPPs have been distributed to various FS committees. Please have your committee comments ready before the given deadlines.
• University Committee/ Councils are being reviewed for their necessity. Some of them have not met in years and will be removed.
• Senate Orientation was a success. More than 30 senators attended, and several suggested the senate continue hosting such an event in the future.
• CoE grievance from ME department is considered closed.
• CoE Dean's Review will be presented to CoE faculty within weeks.
• College/Department's T/P policies should have faculty's review and input. If not, faculty may email Dr. Lin and /or Dr. Theodori for completing the process.
• Every FS committee has a long list of charges to be achieved this academic year. Senator's active participation in the committee discussion is critical for the committee's completion of these charges.
• The FS office keeps FS meeting attendance records. They could be requested by your department for faculty performance  reviews. In the coming year, attendance reports will be kept on the website.
• Dean of COAS is coming up for review.
• We will have open faculty forum for all faculty in the October General Meeting (registration required).
• Faculty Senate Open House will be in the senate office on October 30, 2024, from 12 P.M. to 2 P.M.

Faculty Senate Committee Chair Reports

• Budget and Compensation- Andre Favors, Chair Committee tasks
  • Work on MAPP regarding faculty merit plans
  • Address Instructor salary adjustment plan
  • Address budget transparency at Department level
  • Work on renaming Budget Development Committee to University Budget Committee and review charge and committee membership of the committee
• Faculty Affairs - Dr. Melissa Riley, Chair Nothing to report
• Academic Issues - Dr. Sujing Wang, Chair Nothing to report
• Research and Creative Activity - Dr. Xuejun Fan, Chair Committee Tasks
  • Review on MAPP FDL draft
  • Review on FDL application document before live on Competition Space
  • Set up Administrator account for FDL application on Competition Space
  • Set up meeting with Research Office for Internal Grant Review Policy
  • Set up meeting with Research Office for External Grant Incentive Policy
• Faculty Evaluation - Dr. Daryl Ann Borel, Chair Committee Tasks
  • Student Evaluations
  • F2.08 Policy Revisions
  • Workload Policies
  • Faculty Climate Survey
• Faculty Handbook - Dr. Jennifer Fowler, Chair                                                                                                    Dr. Fowler presented slides on the Story of Three Handbooks. The slides detailed the differences between the 2017, 2019, and the New Generation Handbook. She also asserted that past Senate Minutes do not reflect that the 2019 Handbook was ever voted on by the Senate.                                                                               The Provost's Office is creating multiple new ad hoc committees: Faculty Authority in Shared Governance, Workload, Post Tenure Review, and Syllabus Content.

Old Business

• The full faculty climate survey is yet available because the former committee chair, Dr. Milicent Musyoka is on development leave this semester. We are waiting for her to submit the data from the full survey.

New Business

• Pat Heintzelman reported that the Senate Higher Education Committee will meet on September 24, 2024, to take testimony on the Lieutenant Governor's Mid-term Charge.

Vivek Natarajan motioned to adjourn. Sujing Wang seconded the motion. Motion unanimously passed to adjourn at 5:00 p.m.