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LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSTIY SENATE
 

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 5th.

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

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

                        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


Officers

President
Debra Blackman
College of Business
318-257-3859
blackman@latech.edu

Vice President
Ron Cathey
Specialized Services
318-257-2488
rcathey@latech.edu

Treasurer
Bill Stammerjohan
College of Business
318-257-3828
wstammer@latech.edu

Parliamentarian
Laurie Stoff
Liberal Arts
318-257-5480
lstoff@latech.edu

Secretary
Sandi Richardson
College of Business
318-257-3701
sandir@latech.edu

Representative
Jeff Hankins
Liberal Arts
318-257-3344
jhankins@latech.edu

Representative
Peter Gallagher
Applied and Natural Sciences
318-257-2412
pgall@latech.edu

Representative
Jay Wang
Engineering and Science
318-257-2934
xwang@coes.latech.edu

Representative
David Szymanski
Education
318-257-5462
dzyman@latech.edu

Representative
John Swart
College of Business
318-257-2543
jswart@latech.edu

Representative
Rebecca Brantley
Prescott Library
318-257-2992
brantley@library.latech.edu

Representative
Marilyn Robinson
Specialized Services
318-257-2924
mrobinso@gschool.latech.edu


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