Executive Committee Minutes

The Kickoff Luncheon began at approximately 11:30 a.m. and lasted for approximately an hour with everyone enjoying an excellent spread of food courtesy of Chartwells. The Executive Committee meeting was called to order at 12:35 p.m. by FA Vice-President, Jeffrey Harrison.

Members Present:	Patrick Plumlee, Jeffrey Harrison, Melissa Bush, Candice Carter, Diane Tanner, Peter Magyari, Lynn Jones, Mina Baliamoune, Cynthia Jordan, Lauren Newton, Elinor Scheirer, Adel Boules, Lian An, Guy Yehuda, Caroline Guardino, Chris Brown, Alan Harris, Michael Kucsak, Pingying Zhang

Members Absent:	Ronald Lukens-Bull, Susan Syverud, Katherine Robinson, Judy Solano

Ex-Officio Staff:	Cindy Chin, Dorothy Tieu, Elias Okumbe

Guests:	Pierre Allaire, Mark Workman, John Delaney, Shari Shuman, Marianne Jaffee, Megan Kuehner, Dan Richard, Rachelle Gottlieb, Deborah Kaye, Bobby Waldrup, Dan Richard, Karen Stone, Newton Jackson, Imeh Ebong, Paul Gambon, Matt Brockelman


I.	Introductory Remarks/Announcements
	Faculty Association President, Patrick Plumlee, welcomed everyone to the Kickoff Luncheon. He also thanked Cindy Chin for setting up the luncheon and Chartwells for sponsoring the catering. Patrick thanked the outgoing officers and chairpersons for their service and support. He invited President John Delaney and Provost Mark Workman to make a few comments on behalf of the Administration.

	Vice President, Jeffrey Harrison, explained the role of the Faculty Association Executive Committee and reminded new committee chairs to be sure to forward their committee minutes and their annual reports to the Faculty Association Executive Secretary, Cindy Chin. He also urged the chairs to notify Patrick Plumlee of any vacancies on their committee.

II.	Approval of Minutes
	A motion to approve the August 16, 2011 minutes (as posted on the web) was made by Adel Boules. The minutes were approved

III.	New Business

	STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

	Executive Committee- Jeffrey Harrison
	The Committee has one agenda item today which is a copy of the proposed 2012-2013 University Matriculation Calendar. Megan Kuehner from the Registrar’s office was available for any questions concerning this item. It was confirmed that there would not be any Monday-Wednesday switch days in this calendar due to the amount of confusion it created last year. Ellie asked for the number of weeks in each semester to confirm that we were SACS compliant. Megan indicated that there have been no compliance issues in the past or anticipated ones for the future and emphasized the importance of having faculty representation on the Calendar Committee.

	Academic Programs Committee – Candice Carter
	The Committee has three agenda items today. The first item from CCB (graduate) is a proposed termination of a degree major of an existing program. The second item from CCEC (Graduate) is a proposed change to an existing course, the addition of two new courses, and a change to a degree major concentration. Candice received a call just before this meeting with regards to one of the new course additions (Log # 201008-76, Course Addition: Advanced Research Methods for Engineers). The School of Engineering/Civil Engineering wanted to modify which students can take the course. Due to the possibility that other department units may be affected by this new modification, it was decided that this item would not appear on the consent agenda in order to allow for appropriate department representatives to present the item on the floor at the next FA meeting. The third agenda item is the first reading of a proposed FA bylaws amendment regarding APC membership changes. The amendment proposes an increase in committee membership from 14 to 15 members to accommodate 2 representatives from CCEC rather than just 1 since it has become a much larger college now. The Committee still desires to remove the requirement of the three SGA selected student representatives because their attendance has not been occurring. However, the APC Chair is still awaiting a response from Student Government who in September requested more time to consider this proposed change. At this time, the amendment still shows a committee make-up including the three student representatives.

	Academic Standards Committee – Diane Tanner
	The Committee last met on August 26^th and September 16^th. The next meeting will take place either October 10^th or 14^th TBD. They have one agenda item today regarding a proposed change to the Academic Misconduct Policy and Form. The primary changes clarify the process that the Academic Misconduct Reporting form must go through and make it known that the form is available online for students to access and will be exchanged between the faculty member and student via the University email system. One additional statement that will be added to this form just below the faculty member signature line is: “Electronic signatures are acceptable through official University email”. This automated form transfer will allow Academic Affairs keep a log to track repeat offenders.

	Adjunct Affairs Committee – Peter Magyari
	The Committee has not yet met this semester. Peter Magyari has verbally agreed to serve as chair but the committee has not yet formally voted. He discussed the major issues that the committee addressed last year as reported in their Annual Report. Further recommendations and actions should be forthcoming with regards to the issue of adjunct salaries.

	Budget Advisory Committee – Mina Baliamoune for Kathy Robinson
	The Committee met on August 31^st where they elected Kathy Robinson to serve as chair. They have not decided on their next meeting date.

	Campus Technology Committee – Lauren Newton
	The Committee met September 14^th and is undecided of their next meeting date.

	Faculty Affairs Committee – Elinor Scheirer
	The Committee met September 14^th and will continue meeting on the Thursdays following the FA meeting but have changed the meeting time to 12:30 p.m. to accommodate teaching schedules.

	Faculty Enhancement Committee –Adel Boules
	The Committee met September 15^th to discuss the organization of the summer teaching grant applications. The next meeting is October 20^th.

	Nominations & Elections Committee –Lian An/Guy Yehuda
	The next meeting will be Friday, September 30^th to discuss the revision of the bylaws with regards to the online voting system and to discuss the faculty suggestions that have been made about it. They have an information item announcing that nominees are being accepted for service on the Nominations & Elections committee for a calendar 2-year term. Nominations will be accepted through Thursday, October 27^th at 5:00 p.m.

	Research Committee – Caroline Guardino
	The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 23rd to discuss having two rounds of proposals for funding; however, they anticipate that this will be declined for financial reasons. If this is the case, they will resort to virtual meetings until after the first proposal is due (early November) in which they will convene again.

	Strategic Planning Advisory Committee –Chris Brown
	The Committee met September 7^th where Chris was nominated to serve again as co-chair. Pingying Zhang was also voted in as co-chair. Their next meeting will be October 12th which is an annual meeting with President Delaney and Provost Workman to obtain feedback on the key issues to look at for this year. Jeffrey Harrison requested the committee to report on key metrics such as graduation rates. Chris agreed.

	Support Services Committee – Alan Harris
	The Committee last met on September 8^th. Alan is the only returning committee member and will be serving as chair. Their next meeting is October 11^th where they have invited Dan Richard from Faculty Enhancement to come speak.

IV.	Association President---Patrick Plumlee
	Patrick explained the roles of the Executive Committee in Faculty Association proceedings. He also stressed the importance of committee attendance. If faculty members miss three meetings they can be replaced. This is very important in order for the Association to have functional committees.

	The proposed Constitutional Amendment for implementing a term limit and faculty retention vote which was presented last spring was deferred back to the Executive Committee pending further action. Patrick proposed a motion to defer consideration of this amendment to the next Executive Committee meeting. The motion was approved. Candice suggested that the details of this amendment be distributed amongst the Executive Committee members to discuss with colleagues. Patrick agreed to do that.

	There will be an all-day retreat in October with the new BOT group. Patrick plans to closely interact with the new trustees.

	This year the Nominations & Elections Committee will be holding elections for President, Vice President, and Secretary a month earlier than the other committee elections.

	In speaking with President Delaney about the new space for the Faculty Association, there is currently a hold-up with the funds but eventually discussions will be forthcoming on the space arrangement, so be prepared for that. Hopefully, there will be sufficient time allotted to plan appropriately.

	Other Announcements:
		-Wine & Refreshments Party for New Faculty and P&T will be on Friday October 14^th from 3:00-5:30 p.m.
		-APC Deadline for 2012-2013 is October 18^th
		-Nominations for 2011-2012 Outstanding Undergraduate & Graduate Teaching Awards will be accepted beginning on Monday, October 3^rd and will continue through Friday, October 14^th at 5 p.m.
		-The computerized Campus Climate Survey should be forthcoming.

V.	Adjournment & Next Meeting
		Meeting adjourned at 1:17 p.m.

		Association Meeting:
		Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 12:15 p.m. @Schultz Hall 9/1421

		Next Executive Committee Meeting:
		Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 12:15 p.m. @Faculty Commons – 10/1102



Respectfully Submitted:

Melissa Bush, FA Secretary