FACULTY & STAFF
Louisiana Tech University Senate – January Minutes
Monday, January 23rd at 4:00-5:00 pm, Wyly Auditorium
- Call to Order – The January 23, 2023 meeting of the University Senate was called to order at 4:01 p.m. in Wyly Auditorium by President, Louis Reis.
- Welcome – President, Louis Reis, COES
- Roll Call – Alicia Kimbell recorded attendance; a quorum was met
- Approval of December 2022 Minutes – a motion to approve the minutes was made by Joseph Williams and seconded by Dustin Whitlock; all approved
- Updates
- Reminder to senate members to check Moodle regularly for information/updates
- State Tenure Taskforce – no new updates
- Deficiency Exam Committee Recommendations
- Posted on the University Senate Moodle page for members to review
- Will discuss at next senate meeting
- Shelcie Menard-Harvey stated that this document covers the committee’s process, findings, and recommendations
- Senate members can post comments in the forum
- A more formal write-up will be available at the next meeting
- If approved, will be sent to CADS
3. The committee could always use more members
- Posted on the University Senate Moodle page for members to review
- SGA
- Met with Galen Turner IV, SGA Senator
- Wants to have a joint meeting between University Senate and SGA (maybe twice a year)
- Possibly have a student rep sit in on senate meetings and have a senate rep sit in on SGA meetings (they meet every week)
- Have an open line of communication
- Met with Galen Turner IV, SGA Senator
- QEP – dialogue team leaders are scheduled to meet on 2/7
- IESB Shooting
- Suspect identified and caught
- Concerns of campus safety from a faculty/staff standpoint
- Bill Davis recommended using the Safe Dog app
- Upcoming Meetings
- 2/7 – APC
- 2/9 – Dr. Guice
- 3/26 – 3/28 – ULS For Our Future Conference (Lake Charles)
- Policy Revisions
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- Review the revisions on Moodle (Policy Revisions 2023 Folder) and send comments to Louis by 1/25
- Poll vote concludes on 1/27
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- Future Speakers
- February – Donna Thomas, Tom Hoover, Jerona Washington (Tech Online launch)
- March – Dr. Guice (university report)
- April – ??
- May – Senate officer elections
- Awards Committee
- Nomination forms will go out in early March as a Google Form link to the university (active for 2 weeks)
- Senate will vote on finalists; rank choice voting
- 1 person per college will need to chosen for faculty awards; need help from senate in the vetting process
- Finalists will be contacted in April; packets to be submitted at the beginning of May
- Winners announced at Fall convocation
- New Business – none
- Adjournment – Meeting was adjourned at 4:22 p.m.; a motion was made by Patsy Hughey and seconded by Becki Clark; all approved
- Guest Speaker – Sam Wallace, Associate Vice President for Administration and Facilities and Melissa Hughes, Director of Purchasing
- Purchasing is one of the areas managed
- Comply with state law
- Follow procurement code/policy
- Obtain the best price
- Ensure legal and ethical access to the public to do business
- Does not handle travel reimbursements or conference registrations
- Compared to other institutions to see what we could be doing better in the reimbursement process
- Issues:
- Delay of processing
- Use of reimbursements to avoid policy
- Use of reimbursements to avoid bid law
- Avoid cost of sales tax
- Issues:
- Last year – non-travel reimbursements were $532,000
- Reached out to schools within the UL system to look at their reimbursement policies; found that we are out of line with other schools
- The intent was to implement the change on January 23rd but this has not been done yet as some things are still being worked on
- Allowable purchase codes that the state needs to change first
- Encourage the use of P-Card (rebates are given by its use)
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- Quick payments
- Very reliable by state (can pick up unusual patterns)
- Have to be careful that taxes are not attached to purchase
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- Improve training classes from the state
- New state Director of Purchasing – anticipate some improvements
- The intent was to implement the change on January 23rd but this has not been done yet as some things are still being worked on
- What we will be implementing:
- Reimbursement will not include travel or professorships
- Cannot exceed $500 without prior approval
- Cannot exceed $1,000 in fiscal year
- Must be initiated within 30 days of expenditure (w/o prior approval)
- Departmental cards – not allowed; cannot be shared
- International purchases – in many cases there are exceptions, options available
- Conference registrations – are part of travel
- Amazon Business Account – used for P-Card only
- E-mail Melissa Hughes to request an account be set up
- Tax free account
- Have to be careful with procurement rules
- Will reimbursement apply to food purchases for an event on campus?
- Currently waiting on MCC code to be changed
- Can work with Melissa and Nicole to get a one-time bump of limit
- Has to have prior approval, food form must be attached from Aramark
- Every purchase is reviewed regardless of method
- Journal Fees
- Can exceed $500
- No tax attached
- Talk to Purchasing ahead of time regarding the $500 limit/$1,000 cap
- Who can get a P-Card?
- As long as you are full-time faculty/staff
- Certain positions cannot have one if they are part of the direct review process
- Cannot buy on a personal credit card and not be taxed; must have a P-Card to receive tax exemption
- Can have multiple accounts under a P-Card
- Grants will have a totally different P-Card
- Hope to have a response back from the state this week
- Some areas have already started implementing the new reimbursement process
- Purchasing is one of the areas managed