LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY SENATE

Volume 17                   October 2007                    Number 2

1.  Call to Order – Aziz Saber

            The October 15, 2007, meeting of the University Senate was called to order at 4:00 p.m. in the Ropp Center, Room 105, by President Aziz Saber.

2.  Roll Call:  Marie Pipes

            Senators absent from the meeting:  Sally Thigpen, Jay Wang, Ron Cathey, Chester Wilson, Mark Shoemaker, and James Webb.

3.  Adoption of Agenda:

            A motion was made to accept the agenda.  The motion was seconded and approved.

4.  Adoption of Minutes – May 14, 2007:

            A motion was made to accept the May 14, 2007 and September 17, 2007 minutes.  The motion was seconded and approved. 

5.  United Way Campaign at Tech – Ryan Richard

            Mr. Ryan Richard, Director of Alumni Relations, and Ms. Kathleen Richard, Lincoln Parish United Way Representative, made a presentation to the University Senate regarding the upcoming fund drive for the United Way.   This year, members of the United Way will be present at key locations across campus to take enrollment forms from faculty and staff wishing to give to the United Way and provide break refreshments of popcorn and soft drinks.  Mr. Richard explained that gifts can be made through payroll deduction or with a personal check or credit card.  This year all participants will entered into a drawing for various prizes.  The Ropp Center is providing one free meal for every $50.00 given.  The Bookstore is providing a 25% off coupon for anyone who gives over $100.00.

            Ms. Richard stated that all monies collected stay within the parish for use in such program as Community Action, Wheels-on-Meals, and DART.  She encouraged colleagues to stop by one of the break sites and participate in this year’s drive.

6.  Announcements:

            ●  Administrative and Planning Council –

                        a.  Sessions will be held soon for a mandatory Faculty and Staff training.  Each faculty and staff member must attend this training every three years.  Department Heads will be sent a list of their faculty and staff who are need of viewing this video.  If you miss one of the sessions, the tape will be available in the CITDL for viewing.  Everyone must have attended a session or viewed the tape individually by December 5^th.

                        b.  The university is involved in a lawsuit regarding Title IX.

                        c.  Dr. Debra Blackman will attend the Faculty Advisory Committee meeting in Baton Rouge on October 26^th.

                        d.  Last year summer advising was included with spring advising and it appears that this increased summer enrollment. The same will be done this year.

                        e.  There was discussion as to whether paper racing forms are needed.  Mr. Bob Vento is pushing towards electronic racing forms.  The faculty prefer a paper copy.  The students are fine with only using an electronic format.  Mr. Vento’s reasons for switching to electronic forms are printing cost too high, many left over copies at the end of the quarter, and the printed version is out-of-date by the time advising actually takes place due to changes.  A decision needs to be made this year as the current printing contract expires in Fall, 2008.  Senate members discussed possibly just reducing the number of printed copies or if the electronic format is in pdf, then the departments could print out a copy for each faculty and absorb the cost of the printed copy.

                        f.  A University Senate representative is needed for the Parking/Traffic Committee.  Dr. Saber asked for someone to volunteer and let him know. 

                        g.  Senate members discussed the need for a web master that had an Omni account number.  Apparently, there are no more numbers available, so the Senate needs to find someone among their membership who either has a number or a department head who would be willing to grant use of his or her number.  After discussion, Brian Etheridge offered to try his account number and see if it would work.

7.  Treasurer’s Report:  Ron Cathey

            The budget for September 2007 was adopted as presented.

8.  Unfinished Business:

            a.  Turnitin -  Aziz stated that each department should have a “come to” person for faculty to contact with questions concerning this software.  Each faculty should have received an e-mail indicating that access has been granted to this software.  Aziz encouraged senate members to use this program.  The number of users and frequency of use will be monitored by the administration to determine the continued need of this tool for next year.

9.  New Business:

            a.  Building Maintenance in GTM -  one senator expressed concern over the lack of maintenance to this building, which is one the most heavily used buildings on campus.  Some problems are: lack of IT personnel to make computer updates for smart carts, lack of IT personnel for computer and software problems (faculty cannot access computers because they do not have administrative access), general lack of cleanliness of building and windows.  The senate recognizes there is a severe shortage of Information Technology personnel.  Projectors were ordered this summer for GTM classrooms and still are not installed.  The Associate Dean for Liberal Arts is now trying to handle some of the IT problems but this is not his job.  One senator stated that since faculty do not have administrative access, they can’t install any software to their computers without having an IT person.  This is a concern since it is keeping faculty from performing their jobs.  Aziz stated that he would contact Roy Waters and try to gather some more information regarding these concerns.

10.  Voluntary Remarks: none

The meeting adjourned at 4:55 p.m.

Marie Pipes, Recording Secretary