MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
OF THE FACULTY SENATE

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2007

MASON HALL, room D5; 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Present: Jim Bennett, Lorraine Brown, Rick Coffinberger, Jim Sanford, Suzanne Slayden, Peter Stearns, Cliff Sutton.

Approval of Minutes: The minutes of November 20, 2006 were approved as distributed.

Discussion: Proposal to create two new university policies and have them written, approved, and published before the end of Spring, 2007:

1. Faculty Partner Accommodation Policy (This policy would establish rules and procedures for hiring partners of faculty. There are many such policies found on the web. One such policy for consideration during the recruitment phase was distributed (University of Kansas: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Guidelines on Domestic Partner Accommodations (revised December 2001).

· Statement in present Faculty Handbook “Simultaneous Employment of Family Members” is not current with Virginia law, and may go beyond it.

· Can be used as a recruiting tool.

· Does not speak to future commitments made by faculty who are already employed here; chain of command issues.

· Although a Handbook issue, policy is needed right away; no reason to wait.

2. Revision in procedures for “direct hire” without term to include a mandatory second-level review. (Since there is no procedure yet in the Faculty Handbook concerning direct hires, this would not be a revision of the Handbook but an extension of existing procedure.)

· Need for flexible scheduling, tenure committees’ availability. Not to meet just every three months. In the past some second tier committees refused to act out-of-season. Must communicate this need to Deans. Time frame potentially could be within a week, sometimes at greater leisure. Handbook notes faculty supposed to be available during summer/between terms re email, phone.

Other Discussion Topics:

· Monday-Wednesday-Friday class schedule: why are we returning to it? The Provost noted this is already in place for next year (07-08). In some freshmen/sophmore classes, there are huge pedagogical advantages, as well as better utilization of space. The Provost also clarified there is not a Wednesday-Friday schedule. As class levels ascend, students may resist this schedule change. The Academic Policies Committee volunteered to look at this question.

· Double-Dipping: Student one-paper submission in multiple courses (to be assigned to committee in lieu of O&O. Cliff assigned topic to Dan Joyce.) There may be more interest in this topic – at least to publicize in Senate minutes.

· Scheduling of Faculty Representatives to BOV Committees at Executive Committee meetings? Need for Executive Committee to know what’s going on – information sharing is crucial. New system of faculty representatives replaced old system of Faculty Senate liaison(s). As non-voting members, BOV representatives may not receive the same degree of information sent by administration to voting members. Also need to begin tradition amongst faculty representatives of talking with each other to enhance effectiveness. To contact BOV Faculty Representatives to request a group meeting with the EXC to discuss ways to formalize relationship with each other.

Agenda for Faculty Senate Meeting – January 24, 2007

• New Senator Dimitrios Ioannou from IT&E
• Report from faculty attending Higher Education Advocacy Day in Richmond.
• Susan Crate and Dave Kuebrich nominated as faculty representatives to Environmental Task Force.
• Budget and Resources report on special needs salary adjustments during the Fall 2006 salary adjustment period.
• Academic Policies motion on use of pass/fail grades towards minors and certificates; catalog does not say anything on this. Pending results of email vote among Academic Policies Committee members.
• Faculty Matters – no action items, but discussion of upcoming Faculty Evaluation of Administrators Survey.

Respectfully submitted,

Meg Caniano

Clerk, Faculty Senate