REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Senator Siegel

The Executive Committee met on November 22 and will next meet on December 13.

Jim Conneely was in attendance to give an update on the bookstore and spring textbook orders. He also reported on the anticipated reopening of the Faculty Club in Keen Johnson.

Senator Chapman discussed the free speech issue and identified two free speech areas on campus: the west side of the Meditation Chapel next to the Powell Building and the Ravine. Plans are being developed for a campus-wide discussion on free speech in the near future.

The Ad Hoc Committee on a Senate Vice Chair will report its recommendations at the next Executive Committee meeting.

The Executive Committee should be reviewing reports from several committees at the January meeting. Those committees include: Rights & Responsibilities (P & T issue), Budget (Summer School Salaries), Elections (Restructuring the May Senate Elections), and Welfare (Tenure Clock).

The General Education and Intellectual Property Policy motions passed by the Senate in November have been transmitted to the President and will be on the Board of Regent's agenda in January.

The Provost and the President have initiated a review of the University's committee structure. The ultimate goal is to create a database of all committees, along with their missions and an active member's list. This information will be used to streamline University committees and ensure that faculty participation is more evenly distributed. Senator Siegel expressed her thanks to Senator Vance for compiling the Senate committees' information for this review.

The University Calendar Task Force has made recommendations for the fall and spring schedules for the next five years. Each semester will be consistent in length. A fall break is figured into the schedule, however, it will be scheduled so that Monday and Tuesday classes will not be penalized.

EKU's slogan has been expanded and now states "EKU Where Students and Learning Come First." President Glasser expanded the slogan to firmly acknowledge the strong commitment to EKU faculty, to students and learning.

The Faculty Welfare Committee has received a charge to consider a mentoring program for new faculty based on the model developed in the College of Arts and Sciences.

An initiative is underway to make all EKU Web pages compliant with W3C and ADA standards so that students with disabilities can access University pages, particularly for online classes.

An academic advising survey has been developed and will be administered via Banner when students review their fall grades. Faculty input was solicited for the development of the survey.

REPORT FROM COSFL: Senator Siegel reported for Senator Smith

COSFL met on Saturday, December 4, 2004.

Tom Layzell, CPE President, presented a comprehensive report on House Bill I. Data compiled by CPE shows that demographic trends for the eastern part of the state look grim and could be considered a disadvantage by the year 2020.

COSFL will meet next in either late January or early February after the legislature finishes.

REPORT FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION: Lance Melching

The Colonel Spirit Challenge during the fall season was very successful.

The President's Ball will be on Friday, February 25 in Keen Johnson.

There will be a forum on the temporarily suspended window posting policy on Wednesday, January 19 from 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. in Keen Johnson.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Rules Committee. Senator Yoder reported that the committee met before Thanksgiving and continued work on updating the Senate Rules.

Rights & Responsibilities Committee. Senator Kristofik reported that the committee continues to work on the Promotion and Tenure recommendations. The committee has contacted the Provost, deans, chairs, and faculty members for their comments on the overall report. Next they plan to isolate key concerns and get faculty input on those.

Faculty Welfare Committee. Senator Hubbard reported that the committee continues to work on the academic coordinators survey and the tenure clock issue. The committee has also received a new charge to consider a mentoring program for junior faculty.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Rules Committee Motions. Senator Siegel announced that the three rules committee motions will be postponed until the January 10, 2005 meeting.

NEW BUSINESS:

Council on Academic Affairs. Senator Taylor seconded approval of the motion listed below. The motion carried.

1. Minor in Dance Certification (Teaching) - new program
   

Report on the Bookstore. Jim Conneely was in attendance to give an update on the bookstore and the status of spring textbook orders. About 94% of spring textbook adoptions have been received and entered into the system and confirmations have been sent to the departments.

Buy back of used textbooks and the number of used textbooks available for students has increased.

The bookstore staff met with 27 departments to discuss any concerns as a way to alleviate problems. The bookstore staff personally met with those departments that experienced problems with the fall textbook orders.

An online book ordering system has been created for students and is accessible through EKU Direct. Students who pay for their books online have the option of having the books mailed to their home, residence hall, or they may pick them up at the bookstore. For those students that have prepaid and preordered textbooks, there will be four days before classes start that books may be picked up in the Powell Building. This is another avenue to help shorten lines at the bookstore during the beginning of the semester.

The faculty hotline will become operational one week prior to the start of classes and will continue two weeks after classes start. The hotline number is 622-1272.

Report on United Way. Jim Fisher was in attendance to report on the United Way Campaign. As of December 3, a sum of 147 donations has been received with an overall total of $16,579. Mr. Fisher encouraged everyone to contribute to the United Way Campaign.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER:

The topic of discussion this week was " Beyond EKUToday: Strategies to Improve Intra University Communication and Information Dissemination".

It was the consensus of the Senate that upper administration should communicate directly with the faculty on a regular basis. Some suggestions on ways to accomplish this included:

1. The Senate chair (and perhaps the President and the Provost) might try being available one hour prior to Senate meetings to openly discuss any concerns from senators and non-senators.
2. College online newsletters
3. President or Provost online academic newsletter
4. Informal coffee chats with selected topics for discussion. The re-opening of the Faculty Club was mentioned.
5. Evening social functions to encourage faculty to intermingle
6. A better index system on EKU's web site to allow for better use of materials currently available online.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Ault moved to adjourn at approximately 5:00 p.m.

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