AGENDA

FACULTY SENATE SPECIAL MEETING

October 15, 2008

Robinson Hall B113, 3:00 – 4:15 p.m.

 

 

 

Note: Only business included in the agenda can be transacted at the Special Meeting.

 

 

I.       Call to Order

II.      New Business

 Motion:

That the Faculty Senate approve the Faculty Handbook 2009 (draft dated 10/15/2008) with no further revisions at this time other than those necessary to correct typographical and grammatical errors.

 

Since late 2005 the Faculty Handbook revision committee has worked in a highly collegial and diligent fashion, meeting more than 60 times (including posting of minutes of these meetings on the Faculty Senate web site). Nine faculty forums (three at each campus) were held to insure that all faculty had opportunities to ask questions and offer suggestions.

The product of this collective effort is a document that both the faculty and administration can rely on to promote sound, shared governance. To achieve this goal, the committee carefully scrutinized every sentence in the 1994 edition of the Handbook to insure that all inaccurate information was corrected and all existing policies and procedures were stated with clarity and precision. In addition, the Handbook has been updated to include all of the relevant policies and procedures adopted since 1994 and carefully edited. In several key places the committee also inserted clarifying language and additional procedures and procedural safeguards designed to insure that the Handbook would be - and would be regarded as - a truly useful and meaningful document by all parties governed by its contents.

The 2009 Handbook as submitted to the Faculty Senate has been carefully reviewed by the AAUP, University Counsel, the Provost, and other members of the central administration. In addition, the document has been fully endorsed by the central administration despite the fact that particular individuals might have preferred somewhat different wording in some sections of the revised Handbook.

In that spirit, we are also asking the Faculty Senate to approve the 2009 Handbook in its current form without further revision. Such approval does not mean that future changes cannot be considered from time to time as needed. With modern technology and using the procedures described in the revised Handbook, it is now possible to treat the Handbook as a living, evolving document that can be updated and improved with relative ease on an ongoing basis.

 

Suggestions for substantive changes made at this meeting will be noted and referred to the Faculty Senate for consideration as possible agenda items after the Board of Visitors has approved the current version of the 2009 Faculty Handbook.

 

 

Faculty Handbook Revision Committee

Kevin Avruch

Lorraine Brown (Senator, CHSS)

Rick Coffinberger (Chair, Senator, SOM)

Martin Ford

Dave Harr

Suzanne Slayden (Senator, COS)

 

III.    Adjournment

 

 

Revision of the Faculty Handbook, from

Preface to the 2009 Edition (in part)

Proposals to revise the Handbook originating from the Faculty Senate or University administrators will be considered by a joint committee of the faculty and the central administration consisting of three faculty appointed by the Faculty Senate, at least one of whom must be a Faculty Senator, and two administrators appointed by the Provost. Arrangements must assure an expeditious meeting in cases of urgency. The chair of the Faculty Senate appoints the committee chair from the three faculty members. It is not necessary to convene a committee for the following cases:

•Revisions proposed and approved by the Faculty Senate, and approved by the Provost;

•Revisions proposed by the central administration, and submitted to and approved by the Faculty Senate.

All revisions require the formal approval of the Board of Visitors….