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January 28, 2019 – Minutes

  1. Call to Order – The January 28, 2019 meeting of the University Senate was called to order at 4:08 pm in COBB, Room 101, by President Michael Swanbom.
  2. Roll Call – Alicia Kimbell called roll; a quorum was met
  3. Approval of December 2018 Minutes – a motion was made by Judith Roberts/Laura Gentry and was approved by the Senate body
  4. Announcements/Updates
    1. President Swanbom updated the Senate regarding his meeting with Dr. Guice on 1/17/2019
      1. The letter initiated by the Senate concerning the need for regular salary adjustments received the following responses from Dr. Guice:
        1. The governor wants to reinvest in higher education and make salaries a top priority
        2. The university must balance new positions against salary adjustments
        3. As tuition increases net revenue does not because of state cutbacks
        4. Mandated costs (e.g. retirement) go up every year and the difference has to be made up by the operating budget
        5. The university is looking for private money for scholarships
        6. Promised to keep the Senate informed of any new information regarding salaries
      2. The UNIV 289A course will need to be revamped soon as some of the material in the course is becoming outdated. There may also be future plans to work on a gradual phase-out of this administration method.
      3. There was a brief discussion regarding summer salaries and Dr. Guice expressed openness to making potential edits to the policies
    2. Revised Office Hour Initiative
      1. President Swanbom led a discussion on the proposal drafted by the Provost
        1. APC has requested that the Senate come up with verbiage to edit certain areas of the policy language for further improvement
        2. Senate members expressed their concerns regarding the proposed revision to Policy 2207 – Faculty Advising/Counseling
        3. President Swanbom asked the subcommittee responsible for this initiative to collect feedback from their colleges regarding the proposed changes
    3. Summer Salary Proposal
      1. President Swanbom presented a Summer Salary Cap Rationale to the Senate which included a spreadsheet outlining examples of breakdown categories for 9-month salary compensations
      2. Policy 1419 – Overload Policy was also reviewed along with two proposed options to increase the percentage of the 9-month salary rate along with an increase in the overload cap
  1. Adjourn to Committees – was postponed until the February meeting
  2. Adjournment
    1. The meeting was adjourned at 5:07 p.m.