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Louisiana Tech University Senate – October Minutes

Monday, October 23 at 4:00-5:00 pm, Wyly Auditorium

  1. Call to Order – The October 23, 2023 meeting of the University Senate was called to order at 4:02 p.m. in Wyly Auditorium by President, Louis Reis.
  2. Welcome – President, Louis Reis, COES
  3. Roll Call – Alicia Kimbell recorded attendance; a quorum was met
  4. Approval of September 2023 Minutes – a motion to approve the minutes was made by Matt Hartmann and seconded by Ann Clifton; all approved
  5. Louis Reis reached out to Elizabeth Pierre, Chair of the UL Board of Supervisors, and invited her to attend this meeting by Zoom; received no response
  6. Tom Hoover and Whitney Sivils-Sawyer –Updates on Canvas
    1. We are moving to Canvas as an institution
    2. 5-year contract
    3. Able to migrate 5,000 courses in the system
    4. UL System – six schools are moving to Canvas so far
      1. Opt in/out by April 1, 2024
      2. UL system paying for it for 3 years
    5. 645 classes were made live in Canvas in Fall Quarter
    6. Training
      1. Virtual training happening tomorrow, 10/24
      2. 11/7 and 11/8 will be in-person training
      3. Have already had 31 training sessions so far
      4. 371 faculty have registered for training
    7.  Benefits
      1. 24/7 support
      2. Instructional designers
      3. Portfolio product built in
      4. More advanced than Moodle
    8. Responses to senate member questions
      1. Will have to do the same migration this coming Spring, Summer, and Fall Quarters to make sure all of the courses are moved over
      2. Would like to turn Moodle off on 6/30/23
        1. Everything will be backed up with a local version available for access
        2. Students won’t have access
      3. Top Hat application for attendance (working on it)
        1. Integrated into Canvas
        2. Would like to do a pilot to see if it works since there is a cost
        3. Can do more things than the Poll Everywhere app
      4. New CIT website for training/resources; e-mail Whitney with questions at cit@latech.edu
  1. Meeting with Dr. Henderson on 10/19
    1. Some of the members of the senate executive committee met with Dr. Henderson prior to the Town Hall Meeting
      1. Gave a copy of the climate survey the EC sub-committee prepared; he read through it and is glad this is being done
        1. Hoping to launch the survey in November after IRB review
      2. The answers/statements he made in public at the Town Hall Meeting were very similar to those made in private with the EC
      3. Seemed knowledgeable of the challenges being faced
      4. Was emailed budget information and he sent a response
      5. Commitment to shared governance
      6. Exhibited poise through the hard-hitting questions
  1. NSU Resolution
    1. Is the Louisiana Tech senate interested?
      1. Memo suggesting the formation of a UL System Senate
        1. Would like a member of UL senate to be appointed to the board
        2. Currently no faculty/staff representative on the UL Board
        3. May have a formal vote for this in November
  2. Adjournment
    1. A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 4:59 p.m.; all approved