Two weeks ago all of the public institution Presidents, as well as the Council for Postsecondary Education, testified before the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee. Senator Glasser shared a copy of her testimony with the senators.

Senator Glasser discussed House Bill 395. This bill is entitled "Past Enrollment Growth Funding" and is a $5 million dollar initiative proposed by the Governor and earmarked for the Council on Postsecondary Education for distribution to those institutions that have maintained enrollment growth since the creation of House Bill I back in 1997-1998. Unfortunately, Eastern's enrollment did not begin to increase until two years ago. The proposed distribution model CPE has configured allots about $100,000 of the $5,000,000 to Eastern. Senator Glasser is requesting to have the model reconfigured using enrollment data from 2001 forward, because this is the time period when state cuts in appropriation started to take place. As of yet, CPE has not agreed to amend the proposed model.

The faculty salary equity letters for this year have been mailed. Senator Glasser expressed her continued commitment to address salary inequities and will continue to annually set funds aside to address the issue. She thanked Senator G. Yoder and the Welfare Committee for their hard work throughout the past year and for their recent letter to her regarding salary equity for the next year's budget.

Senator Glasser reported that one of the top priorities in building next year's budget will involve looking at academic staffing needs and initiatives needs.

All five candidates for the Dean of Arts and Sciences have been to campus. An appointment should be made soon.

All three candidates for the Associate Provost for Graduate Education and Research have been to campus. The search committee will meet on Friday to make recommendations, so an appointment is expected soon.

Last week Senator Glasser was a keynote speaker at the CASE Conference, in Atlanta. She also attended an alumni event while there. Next week she will travel to Columbus, Ohio and then to Orlando, Fort Myers, and Tampa for fund raising and alumni visits.

Senator Glasser mentioned several noteworthy academic highlights that have occurred recently:

Senator Johnson reported that the Executive Committee met on February 23, 2004. Betsy Bohanon and Judy Spain presented a report on academic integrity.

Senator Johnson discussed with the committee the idea of creating an ad hoc committee to study advising across campus. The Provost will be working with Senator Johnson on this issue.

The Executive Committee approved the Senate meeting dates for 2004-2005. Those dates will be distributed to the Senators at the May meeting.

Senator Johnson encouraged all eligible faculty to vote in the Faculty Regent election. The two nominees are Senators Gil Smith and Pam Schlomann. The ballots will be available online from Monday, March 1 to Friday, March 5 at 4:30 p.m.

Senator Johnson met with the Provost and the Ad Hoc Committee on Promotion and Tenure to condense the committee's report on Promotion and Tenure down to a set of recommendations. Once an electronic copy is received, the full report and the condensed version will be linked from the Senate's web site.

REPORT FROM THE REGENT: Senator Schlomann
The Board met on February 21. It was reported that the Wellness Building should be substantially completed by April 15, and the Corbin site will be substantially completed by April 1.

A report was given on EKU's electrical system. It was noted that the recent repairs made due to the electrical outages were originally scheduled in the next phase of repairs and therefore would not have to be re-done.

The Board received a report from Jim Conneely of a master plan for housing for the ten-year master plan.

There are no proposed changes in health insurance for the next year. The Board did approve a motion to change the provider for the flexible spending accounts. However, there is no expected change in cost and shouldn't be any changes on the user end.

Other items approved included the RTP's for next year and the Council on Academic Affairs programs, which came through the Senate earlier.

A report was given on the annual audit of the university's budget.

REPORT FROM THE PROVOST: Senator Cook

Senator Cook reviewed the process he and the Welfare Committee used to determine this year's salary equity adjustments. The first process was to create a scatter plot for each department on campus which included years in rank and current salaries. Senator Cook distributed a sample of the scatter plot used. This preliminary information was shared with the chairs and deans for verification and accuracy and for their input. The charts were then re-created based on the information received from the chairs and deans. There were 90 people identified to receive adjustments, 76 of those received a full adjustment and 14 received a half adjustment. This left a couple thousand to address any appeals. If there are no appeals, that money will be distributed back. The deadline for appeals has been extended to March 22. Senator Cook suggested that faculty be sent an e-mail noting the extended deadline and listing the Senate's approved appeal process.

Senator Cook distributed a summarized handout to the Senators of the Ad Hoc Committee on Promotion and Tenure Committee's final report. He noted that there may be upcoming motions in the near future based on the committee's final report.

REPORT FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT: Kristina O'Brien

Ms. O'Brien thanked the faculty for their support in allowing students to attend the rally in Frankfort last month.

Ms. O'Brien thanked to Senators M. Yoder and Johnson for their efforts to create an ad hoc committee to review the advising process.

On Tuesday and Thursday at 11:00, 12:30 and 2:00, a number of participants will be reading to children in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Seuss. Anyone interested in participating can contact the SGA office at 622-1724.

Toward the end of the month, the Director of Community Service will be working on a child abuse prevention campaign.

Ms. O'Brien distributed a handout of a postcard the SGA office will have printed and distribute to students to sign and send to senators or representatives in the Frankfort legislature. SGA will pay the postage to send those out. The postcards should be available the week after spring break. If you have students in a class or student organizations that would like to participate,contact the SGA office.

The Technology Fee Allocation deadline is March 5. The allocations will be made before the end of March.

The Declaration of Candidacy forms will be available for student government shortly after spring break The elections will not be held until April.

SGA is in the process of revising their constitution and bylaws.

1. Credit-by-Examination Policy Revision Proposal (information item only)
   
2. Change in Admission to Teacher Education Requirements (information item only)
   
3. Non-Degree Student Enrollment Policy (Information item only)
   
4. Applied Computing (MS): Bioinformatics Option
5. Applied Computing (MS): Statistical Computing Option
6. Geography/Teaching (BA)
7. Restructure of the Counseling and Educational Leadership Department

Senator A. Jones moved approval of item 6, seconded by Senator Siegel. The motion was approved by the Senate.

Senator Sexton moved approval of item 7, seconded by Senator Reed. The motion was approved by the Senate.

Informational items 1 and 3 will be on April's agenda so that a representative from Enrollment Management can be present to answer questions.