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Louisiana Tech University Senate – September Minutes

Monday, September 25 at 4:00-5:00 pm, Wyly Auditorium

  1. Call to Order – The September 25, 2023 meeting of the University Senate was called to order at 4:00 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 May 2023 Minutes – a motion to approve the minutes was made and seconded; all approved
  5. Officer Appointment – Kacie Mennie will be unable to serve as the Parliamentarian this year due to a scheduling conflict and has resigned the position
    1. A motion was made to close the nomination process and appoint Dustin Whitlock as the new officer; all approved
  1. University Senate Information on Moodle
    1. All senate members have been added to the Moodle page for informational access
      1. Senate meeting dates
      2. Previous meeting minutes
      3. Awards info
      4. Past AROS surveys
    2. Senate page may move to CANVAS next quarter
  2.  Updates
    1. APC
      1. Policy 2116 (Research Security Screening) has passed
        1. Tech’s response to ACT No. 106
        2. Requires additional screening
        3. Questions about policy may be directed to Dr. Ramu Ramachandran
        4. Tech is one of the first universities to respond
    2. Enrollment
      1. Increased by 500 – 600 students
    3. Renovations
      1. GTM
        1. Architect making plans
        2. Trying to determine what to do with displaced faculty
      2. CTH next
    4. President Search
      1. Louis Reis spoke with a few sources to get more information on the process
        1. Heath Tims – was senate president after Reneau – Guice transition (different senate structure then)
          1. Served as faculty/staff representative on the search committee
          2. Felt he had a voice on the committee
        2. Steve Rick – currently serving as the UNO senate president
          1. UNO just wrapped up their search for a new president
          2. Senate and faculty were given the same opportunity for input
          3. No endorsement from senate
          4. Wished for more involvement, but satisfied with results
        3. Jim Henderson – UL System President
          1. 7th search in 7 years within the system – each search is different and has a different timetable
          2. Whether or not an interim president will be appointed depends on how swiftly the search is conducted and finalized
          3. Politics may change things, gubernatorial election in LA this year
          4. Supportive of our senate conducting and delivering a climate survey so the candidates may address the results
      2. Search Committee – no additional word from Henderson or board about the start-up of search committee
  3. Budget Presentation – Jim Palmer
    1. Presented slides on things to consider
      1. Demographics – we are in a fairly rural area while other institutions in LA are homed in metro areas
      2. Several different budgets: unrestricted (salaries and scholarships) and restricted (grants and dorm costs)
      3. BOR data on how they will fund universities – Tech is $138M
      4. SREB Hierarchy: Tech is SREB2 – matters because it puts us where we are in formula funding
      5. State budget formula
      6. Viewed Expenditures
      7. Metrics
      8. Professor Salary – comparison with other universities from 2013-2022
      9. FTE per faculty
      10. State Funding/FTE Total (2013-2022) – the value from online courses is tuition generated; the state will not give $
      11. Self-generated Funding vs. Total FTE (tuition and fees)
      12. Total Budget per Total FTE
      13. Scholarship/Total Budget
    2. BOR may look at total $ and think we are fine but there is a different picture when it is broken down
  1. AROS Climate Survey
    1. APC and Dr. Guice were supportive of another survey being conducted
    2. The previous surveys were long and may have things on them that are not highly relevant at this time
      1. The EC talked about narrowing survey since it needs to be administered quickly
    3. Would like to involve student’s feedback since they had similar concerns on the last survey
    4. Marcia Dickerson has volunteered to put Qualtrics together so it could be done quickly
    5. Would like for the candidates to be able to read
    6. A motion was made for the senate to approve a committee to look through the previous survey and create our own; all approved. A committee will be formed.
  1. Adjournment
    1. A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 5:01 p.m.; all approved