LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY SENATE

Volume 17                   March 2008                   Number 7

1,  Call to Order -  Aziz Saber

            The March 17, 2008 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: Jon Pratt, Peter Gallagher, Kathleen Heiden, Randy Parker, Amy Vessel, Jay Wang,
            Chester Wilson, Galen Turner, Marie Bukowski, and Richard Hutchinson.

3.  Adoption of Agenda:

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

4.  Adoption of Minutes - February 18, 2008:

            A motion was made to approve the minutes.  The motion was seconded and the minutes approved.

5.  Announcements:

• Administrative and Planning Council - will meet this Wednesday, March 19^th. Discussions at the February meeting centered on the
  hiring freeze. There is a certain process that has to be followed to request to fill a vacant position.
• Faculty Advisory Council - Ms. Blackman reported on several topics
• - Southeastern is in the process of trying to obtain approval to reduce the number of courses a student may drop. This would be
    determined by on a graduated scale.
• - There is an air of uncertainty with Sally Clausen moving to the position of Commissioner of Higher Education.
• - The Board approved renaming the baseball stadium to J C Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.
• - Mike DiCarlo was promoted to Director of the Library.
• - Since the hiring freeze there have been 900 requests to fill positions. 830 of these requests have been approved, 0 rejected, and
     the other 70 positions are working through the pipeline. The system office wanted all school administrators to know that they
     were willing to assist in obtaining permission to fill position requests.
• Conferences of Louisiana Colleges and Universities (CLCU)

Those attending from Louisiana Tech were Dr. Ed Jacobs, Dr. Karen Jacobs, Dr. Ken Rea, Dr. Aziz Saber, and Ms. Debra Blackman.

Dr. Savoie, current Commission of Higher Education stated that the actual numbers for school enrollment are worse than projected.  The
enrollment numbers are declining everywhere in light of Hurricane Katrina.

• Louisiana Higher Education Master Plan - Research Subgroup

A group put in place last May, of higher education representatives met to discuss the Master Plan for the University Research Workgroup.
The objective of the Research Subgroup is to discuss and determine how to stimulate research in higher education.  Then how to take this
research and convert it into Economic Development for the state.  An overview of the groups work may be viewed on the University
Senate web page.

• Focus on Russia Series - Laurie Stoff

This is the topic of the Distinguished Lecture Series scheduled through the spring.  The first will be held at 10:15 a.m. in Howard
Auditorium and is entitled "Why Russia Matters - History, Culture, and Identity in the 21^st Century".  The three other lectures in this series are:

Please encourage your students to participate.

6.  Nominations for:

• University Senate Chair Award - A letter will be sent to all full-time faculty, by college, requesting nominations for this award. Final
  voting by the Senate will take place at the May meeting.
• Virgil Orr Junior Faculty Award - A letter will be sent to all full-time faculty, by college, requesting nominations for this award. Final
  voting by the Senate will take place at the May meeting.
• F.J. Taylor Undergraduate Teaching Award - nominations were taken from the floor for this award. Nominees will be contacted and
  asked to submit a packet of information to be placed on the University Senate web page by April 7, 2008 for review prior to
  elections at the April meeting.

Past recipients may not be nominated for these awards.  Guidelines and a list of past recipients are available for viewing on the University
Senate web page.

7.  Treasurer's Report - Ron Cathey

            A motion was made and seconded to approve the treasurer's report.

8.  Unfinished Business:

            a. Turnitin - Brian Etheridge and Derek Lowe

                        A presentation was made on how to use Turnitin and the benefits of its use.   Students are given the class name and an
identification number to use when submitting items to Turnitin.  The instructor must create an assignment.  The student is then responsiblefor uploading the assignment to Turnitin.  Hopefully, requiring the student to submit their work through Turnitin will serve as a deterrent from plagiarizing from web sites or from other student who have submitted their papers on Turnitin. Turnitin will then produce a report for theinstructor indicating a color-coded percentage of word matches.  Red indicated a high percentage of word matches, light green a low percentage, and yellow is medium percentage.  Dr. Etheridge and Dr. Lowe both felt that this software can be used as a useful took in teaching the student how to properly quote and paraphrase.

                        Margaret Alexander had informed Dr. Saber that in the fall there were 34 faculty registered to use this software and now there are 99.  A sub-committee has been formed, headed by Ms. Debra Blackman, to review Turnitin and decide whether to continue this or switch to a Blackboard version.

• b. Blackboard Upgrades: Conversion went very smoothly.

• c. Registration of Athletes - there are rumors that athletes do not have to registrar themselves for courses. Dr. Saber will check with Registrar's Office.

9.  Voluntary Remarks: none

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Marie Pipes, Recording Secretary