Faculty Senate Meeting
Minutes
February 9, 2006
Senators Present:
Senators Absent:
Meeting was called to order at 1:53
Approval of Minutes:
Minutes from the December were approved and posted on the faculty senate web site.
Guest:
Cheri Dalton, Media Relations & Public Relations Director. Cheri requested input from the Senate for marketing ideas. It is possible that we will have a “focus on faculty” piece in the OA in which a different faculty member is highlighted each time. As for selecting the faculty member, applications will be solicited and then randomly drawn for each time we do this.
President’s report:
1. President Martin met with Dr. Alred regarding OC staff access to instructor Blackboard course sites. In the fall announcements about on – line student evaluations were posted under course announcement pages and “pushed” instructor announcements further down the page, making it difficult for students to see these. Dr. Alred said he would give the matter his full attention. Dr. Alred said that VP Chisum is the direct supervisor of that department and he would discuss this situation with her.
2. President asked about faculty luncheons. These were not well attended in the fall. Senate discussed meeting in the WiFi Café instead.
3. President requested input regarding Dr. Gipson’s teaching a class. The Senate agreed this is not a Senate issue.
Committee Reports:
1. Student Recognition – Senator Graves announced date of May 4. Faculty is encouraged to attend.
2.
Evaluation – Senator
3. Tenure – President advised that the committee has 3 applicants.
Old Business:
1. Rotation of senators. An election will be held in April to fill one vacancy resulting from a resignation and for those who are rotating off. Senators should invite constituents to consider running in the election.
2. Salary increases. Senator Jordon continues to gather data on this issue and will email all faculty with the status of his efforts.
New Business:
1. Faculty Senate and institutional governance. In the fall meeting of the executive meeting and Dr. Thallemer, he urged the Senate to take a stronger role here. Senators would like to invite him to the next meeting to further discuss this.
2. Communications model – Dr. Thallemer asked Senator Hellinghausen to encourage the Senate to create a communications model for OC. Again, for clarify, Dr. Thallemer will be invited to attend the next meeting.
3. Occasionally class size changes have been made without the consent or knowledge of the department chair. The Senate agreed this is not a Senate issue, and that when it occurred, the chair should go to her/his dean.
4. IT policies regarding annual computer lab cleanup. In some labs software has been removed without consent or knowledge of instructor. President Martin and Senator Jordan will address IT policies with D. Carson.
5. Additional course information put on student schedule upon registration. Specific information for some courses is needed on the student registration card. This issue will be taken up with Dr. Alred.
6. The OC catalog indicates that the Fall 2006 semester is 17 weeks long. President will report this to Dr. Alred.
7. President will arrange a meeting with the Executive committee and Dr. Alred to discuss above issues.
Meeting Adjourned: 2:55 pm
Submitted by:
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Jane Hellinghausen