The meeting was called to order at 12:22 pm by Chip Klostermeyer.

A motion to approve the minutes was made by Chris Rasche.
The minutes were approved.

The deadline for Distinguished Professor, Outstanding Scholarship, and Outstanding Service Awards nominations is Thursday, January 17 at 5:00 pm. The preferred method is to nominate online or hand deliver to Cindy Chin in the Faculty Association office.

Nominations for Faculty Association officer positions will be taken from the floor at the February meeting. The descriptions of the roles of the three officers appear in today’s packet.

Mark Workman introduced Professor Courtney Hackney, the new director Coastal Biology Flagship program direction.

The last meeting was held in December. The committee has several items on today’s agenda.

The Committee will meet Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10:00 AM to discuss the new policy to online coursework and testing. The item was referred to the Committee by Chip Klostermeyer given the cheating situation that occurred at FSU this year.

The Committee will meet on Friday, January 18.

The last meeting was November 14 with Shari Shuman as the guest. The meeting was depressing given the current budget situation. The budget reduction at UNF ended up to be about $1.1 million or 1.3% of gross revenue. The situation is not looking better over the next 18 months. Joann Campbell will attend the Committee’s next meeting on January 23 and will talk about the Academic Affairs budget.

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The Committee met December 10. The Committee also discussed the new features on Blackboard. The Committee has met with Rick Buck to discuss the Copyright Fair Use Act. A second meeting is scheduled to continue the discussion with Rick this month. Dial-in access to campus servers has been terminated. A lock down browser that allows for online testing is being piloted on campus this semester. Vista and Office 2007 will roll out in the summer. The Committee urges faculty to educate themselves before summer arrives. The Committee meets on the fourth Monday in the Faculty Association meeting room at 11:00 AM, with the next meeting set for January 28.

The Committee met on December 6 to discuss three faculty academic misconduct cases. The first case had been referred to a special panel evaluated the case and issued a report stated the case did not meet the standard for the finding of misconduct under the current policy. The Committee reviewed the report from the special panel and agreed that the panel did due diligence. The other two cases were somewhat related to the first case. The informal investigation of both latter cases suggested that while the behavior was imprudent and unwise, but, under the current definition, they did not rise to the level of academic misconduct. Letters are being sent to the parties involved.

The increase in the number of misconduct cases over the last few years is probably due to two things. There seems to be a change in perception and awareness of misconduct, and many faculty are not aware that such a policy exists. The current policy was created a number of years ago to satisfy the Federal government in order to receive funding. The Committee believes that the policy is outdated and no longer adequate and needs to be revised. Some former practices of appropriating student work in order to enhance faculty scholarship and self plagiarism which involves recycling one’s own work will be discussed as well. The current definition of plagiarism in the Graduate Student handbook seems a better definition than the definition in the Faculty Handbook. The Committee will meet with Marc Snow at its next meeting on January 11 to discuss what needs to be done to update the current policy and procedures relating to how cases of faculty academic misconduct are handled.

Question from Tayeb Giuma:
Can you help us understand what you mean by imprudent and unwise?

Chris Rasche stated she did not choose to define the terms. Chris believes the precise definition of the terminology is where the mine fields lie.

The Committee met December 10 to review the Committee’s review process of evaluating the summer teaching grants and to determine if the results of the current process are effective. The Committee is also preparing recommendations for those receiving summer teaching grants as to how the final reports should be prepared. The Committee is acting as the search committee for a new Faculty Enhancement director. One phone interview with one candidate was conducted. The Committee will have a campus visit from the candidate on January 15, which is also the date of the next meeting. The Committee will meet with the newly-appointed interim FE director Dan Richard as well.

No report.

The Committee met in December and forwarded the recommendations for the summer research grants.

The Committee met December 7 worked on revising its bylaws to better reflect what the committee actually does. One item on today’s agenda is the first reading of the Committee’s proposal to revise the bylaws for this committee. The next meeting is scheduled for January 18.

The Committee met with a representative from Human Resources who addressed several issues. January 23 is next meeting.

Executive Committee - Katherine Robinson

The Committee met to set the agenda for today’s Faculty Association meeting.

Legislative Liaison Report - Janet Owen
In Tallahassee. No report.

President John Delaney
The formal ground breaking of the COEHS was held this morning. This is fourth major project underway. The Brooks College of Health is scheduled to open this fall. The other three are on schedule to open next year.

There is more bad news concerning the budget. An approximate three percent budget callback was made last year. The word is that another 3% budget cut will occur during the next 60 days or so, and another 3% cut next fiscal year. However, tuition did increase this semester to offset some of the cut. The high priority is to keep the cuts from impacting the academic side of UNF if possible. Next year’s budget is projected to be less than this year’s budget. The budget problems are projected to continue to 2009.

Question from Kathy Robinson: What is the significance of the Graham suit being tossed out of court?

Response from President Delaney: There are two sets of plaintiffs—Bob Graham and the BOG. The court ruled that the plaintiff’s did not have cause to enter into the suit. The BOG will be allowed to replead by stating what it was that the BOG wanted to do that it wasn’t able to do. The BOG may go ahead and increase tuition beyond what the legislature would like and force a suit against them. The ruling delays the amount of authority that the BOG has. There is strong consensus in Tallahassee that tuition authority lies with the BOG. The Chancellor wants to increase tuition to national average and is working to get parties to agree to this. This will likely be introduced over the next 30 days. Some other University’s have talked about laying off faculty to address budget cuts.

United Faculty of Florida – Henry Thomas
Bylaws: All departments that submitted bylaws have heard from the administration/UFF review team. He is hoping to have all finalized and in place by March 1. UFF just concluded bargaining session and is planning on having a ratification vote in early February. The document will be on UFF’s website next week UFF plans to meet with faculty in mid to late January to discuss.
The budget situation is poor. UFF has taken a very strong position on Amendment 1 to be on the ballot. UFF will likely join the lawsuit again the Legislature for tuition setting power. UFF also filed a suit against to BOG with regard to the travel ban on non-state funded and due process issues. The Union has continuing concerns with fiscal matters with securities in the State retirement fund. This issue will be on its next agenda.

Promotion and Tenure Committee - Katherine Robinson
The P&T committee met late in December and received the charge from the Provost. The committee is reviewing 34 dossiers and will be starting its first marathon session Friday, January 11, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.

Agenda Item# 1 - FA 08-01: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee
College of Arts and Sciences
Undergraduate – Art & Design (APC 2 & 3 – 7 items)
Moved by Arturo Sάnchez-Ruỉz.
The item passed.

Agenda Item# 2 - FA 08-02: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee
College of Computing , Engineering, & Construction
Undergraduate – Construction Management (APC 2 – 1 item)
Moved by Arturo Sάnchez-Ruỉz.
The item passed.

Agenda Item# 3 - FA 08-03: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee
College of Education and Human Services
Graduate – Exceptional Student & Deaf Education (APC 1 & 3 – 10 items)
Undergraduate – Leadership, Counseling, & Instructional Technology (APC 3 – 1 item)
Moved by Arturo Sάnchez-Ruỉz.

Question from Jeffrey Harrison: It came up as a budget issue. Does anyone know if there will be any resources required?
Response from Len Roberson:
The courses in the new concentration are cross-listed with other courses. They don’t w faculty or resources.
Arturo Sάnchez-Ruỉz added that the APC process does not challenge issues related to resources and that chairpersons are aware of this. There are two parts to all new degree programs. The first step is the program goes to the BOT to ask for approval, and in this step all resources needed should be requested. When the approval comes back thru the APC process, resource questions should already be answered.
The item passed.

Agenda Item# 4 - FA 08-04: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee
Brooks College of Health
Graduate – Athletic Training & Physical Therapy (APC 2 & 3 – 23 items)
Moved by Arturo Sάnchez-Ruỉz.
The item passed.

Agenda Item# 5 - FA 08-05: Submitted by the Academic Standards Committee
Graduation – Associate in Arts Degree: Minimum of the Required Credit Hours
Item withdrawn by the Committee.

Agenda Item# 6 - FA 08-06: Submitted by the Academic Standards Committee
Graduation – Baccalaureate Degree: Minimum of the Required Residence Hours
Moved by Marcia Lamkin.
The item passed.

Agenda Item# 7 - FA 08-07: Submitted by the Strategic Planning Committee
1st Reading: By-Laws Revision and Committee Name Change Proposal.
This is the first reading. The item will be voted on next meeting.

 Nomination forms for faculty awards.

Chip Klostermeyer adjourned the meeting at 1:07pm.

Respectfully submitted,

_________________________
Diane Tanner , Acting Secretary