The Executive Committee met on January 23.

Senator Siegel gave a brief update on the upcoming administrative review of the President. The Executive Committee instructed the Chair to contact The Oliver Group to determine if they are willing to assist with the faculty survey. The Chair will also meet with EKU Institutional Research to solicit their help getting preliminary information together. Once the faculty surveys are completed, the Oliver Group will send the raw data to the Executive Committee. The Committee will evaluate the data and prepare a summary to present to the President and the Board Chair. Both the faculty administrative review and Penson review should be completed before the end of March, per the Board's request.

Senator Flanagan announced that a Smoking Ban survey is currently being distributed to all Arlington members.

Senator Konkel graciously agreed to serve as the Senate's liaison on the QEP Committee.

The Executive Committee were in agreement that Senator Siegel should continue discussions on the use and possible renovation of the Faculty Dining Room with Vice President Conneely.

The next coffee chat with President Glasser is February 23 from 8-9 in the Faculty Club Lounge.

REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Schlomann
The Institutional Advancement and Honors Committee met on January 13. J. Foster, Interim Vice President for University Advancement, gave a report highlighting the accomplishments of advancement work at the University during the last five years. The Committee discussed recommendations to make to the Board about the Board’s involvement in the Capital Campaign and took action on recommendations for honorary degrees.

The Finance and Planning Committee also met on January 13. A very positive audit report was reviewed and a financial update for the current year was presented by D. Newsom, Vice Present of Financial Affairs. Action was taken to recommend a site for the new science building.

The Board had a retreat on January 16. John Moore, from Penson Associates, met with the Board for development purposes and to discuss the process for the President’s evaluation. He will tentatively be returning to campus in late February to conduct interviews for the evaluation.

Senator Schlomann noted that it should be understood that the Board is responsible for doing the President's evaluation; the Senate is not directly involved in that process. The Board will be taking the information compiled from the Senate survey and will consider that in their total evaluation.

On January 18th, the Board went to Frankfort to participate in Centennial activities honoring EKU and WKU.

On January 24, the Internal Affairs Committee met. Criteria for the mandatory meal plan for freshmen were discussed and an assessment of Aramark was requested in preparation for discussion about the renewal of its contract. A report was given about status of the University’s emergency preparedness plan. Action was taken to recommend that J. Allgier be granted staff emeritus status.

The full Board met on January 30 for its regular quarterly meeting. Motions---lecturer, clinical faculty, electronic syllabus--requested by the Faculty Senate were approved.

REPORT FROM COSFL: Senator Ware
COSFL met in December and the big item of discussion was the December 7th Council on Postsecondary Education meeting regarding tuition policies.

There is a joint AAUP/COSFL meeting on April 22 with a $7.50 box lunch being served. The speaker will be Commissioner Deborah Clayton of the Kentucky Department of Commercialization and Innovation.

COSFL is considering having a faculty advocate in Frankfort. Please share your thoughts on this issue with Senator Ware.

COSFL is still reviewing the issue of KTRS and the retirement system.

REPORT FROM THE PROVOST: Senator Chapman
Senator J. Chapman stated that there are three important issues which should be focused on: 1) Strategic plan, 2) SACS, and 3) the hiring and retaining of good people.

The Strategic Plan has been approved by the Board. However, the difficult task now begins--putting in place an action agenda to achieve the objectives. Within the next month, a team will be assembled to develop strategies within Academic Affairs to set specific objectives for all of the units. A means of assessment will also be developed.

Progress continues on the preparation of the report for the SACS visit. The report is due to the President for her review by July 1. A significant component of this process is the Quality Enhancement Plan. On February 6 and 7 there will be meetings from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the Faculty Lounge in Keen Johnson to discuss the development of proposals. This is an opportunity for faculty to propose programs that they think will effectively improve student learning on campus.

The search committees to fill around 70 faculty positions are proceeding with their work. The selection of new faculty is key to our future growth and to the continuation of the contributions that EKU has made over its 100 years.

There are also four major administrative searches underway in Academic Affairs: Director for ITDS, Dean of Libraries, Dean of Education, and the Registrar.

REPORT FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT: Kyle Moon
This year's "Rally for Higher Education" will be on March 8. Students will be bused to the Capitol to meet with their representatives and then attend the rally in the rotunda.

“Listen Up Legislators” is scheduled for March 1st. Computers and phones will be set up to provide students with an opportunity to contact their representatives. SGA has contacted all department chairs and asked that they encourage their faculty to either assign or offer as extra credit to students the task of writing a letter to their representatives encouraging them to fund higher education.

SGA is trying to schedule a meeting with the city on improving campus and community relations. As a result of this meeting, SGA hopes to establish a program that will allow students to ride along with the Richmond police in order to understand problems from their prospective.

The Student Activities Council has arranged to bring MTV’s campus invasion tour to EKU in April.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Budget Committee. Senator Eakin stated that the committee continues to work on the class pattern survey. Information should be forthcoming on that soon. Senator Eakin stated that the March "For the Good of the Order" topic will be "Alternative Strategies for Class Schedule Patterns".

Rules Committee. Senator Johnson reported that the Rules Committee will be meeting soon to continue work on the Faculty Senate section of the Faculty Handbook.

Rights & Responsibilities Committee. Senator Robles reported that the committee discussed the issue of faculty selling complementary textbooks received from publishers. There was Senate discussion on the issue about 17 years ago (give or take 2 years). The committee is researching the issue by visiting with other faculty, looking at benchmarks’ policies, and talking with University Counsel regarding the issue.

The Academic Integrity Policy will be discussed at the Senate meeting February 6.

There has been ongoing discussion regarding the P&T proposal that is on the Senate Floor.

Committee on Committees. Senator Vance reported that the committee is working on the information for self-nominations for vacancies on next year's University committees.

Elections Committee. Senator Randles reported that the committee is attempting to improve the elections process for electing the Chair and Co-chair of the Faculty Senate as well as the representatives to the various Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate.

Faculty Welfare Committee. Senator Johnson reported that the committee met with the University Benefits Committee on January 26th, 2006.

The Benefits Committee is presently working on Health Insurance Benefits for the year 2006-2007. At this present time the national average for rising health care costs is approximately 12% to 15%. Anthem has notified EKU that the health plan should experience a 10% increase in claims and administrative fees for next year. Currently the university is paying 66.3% of the total cost of the health plan while employee premiums cover the remaining (33.6%) of the required premiums. However, the Benefits Committee goal is to take appropriate action to minimize the impact of increasing cost while maintaining current plan design.

On January 26th the Benefits Committee met and voted to ask three health insurance venders; Anthem, Humana, and FiServ, to present their proposals for administering EKU’s health insurance benefits for next year. On February 9th the Benefits Committee will meet from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM to hear the proposals. The Benefits Committee is also looking at ways to create savings for the university and its employees in the prescription drug area through pharmacy discounts as well.

Ad Hoc Senate Centennial Committee. Senator Hensley reported that the Ad Hoc Centennial Committee has scheduled two upcoming events.

The first event, a Faculty Emeritus Tea, will take place in Walnut Hall of the Keen Johnson Building on Monday, March 20, 2006. The Faculty Senate, represented by the ad hoc committee, will host two afternoon sittings (1 PM and 3 PM) with a ceremonial Tea Service to honor retired and emeritus faculty.

The second event, slated for Friday, April 28, 2006, will be the official Rededication of the Keen Johnson Building with the completely renovated Faculty Lounge. Senator Siegel stated that all faculty are encouraged to wear their academic regalia on that day.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER:

The topic of discussion was "Strategies for Improving the Senate Election Process".

Senator Dieckmann suggested an online election to be held in early fall after the New Senator orientation in order to give new senators time to learn more about each of the Senate committees.

Senator Johnson spoke against online elections because it does not allow Senators an opportunity to get nominated for other committees if they are not elected to their committee of choice.

Senator May suggested having the online voting process available to the Senate in a lab situation so it could all be handled at a designated time. Senator Yoder suggested the library as a possibility where 50 computers are available for use.

Senator Randles suggested having the chair and vice-chair vote at the May meeting and holding the other committee elections in early fall. Perhaps the process could be started at the Senate get-together prior to the first Senate meeting. Additional nominations could be made at the first Senate meeting, before the actual vote is taken. However, the paper ballots would be sufficient.

Senator Dieckmann suggested that first year Senators should not be considered for membership on the Rules Committee.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Chapman moved to adjourn at approximately 5:30 p.m.