• Senate Roll Call & Quorum Check --- (Norm Stein)
• Approval/Correction of February Minutes --- (Norm Stein) --- [e-mailed]
• President's Report --- (Rob Ingram)
• Election of Vice President
• Faculty Handbook
• Current and Future Activities [Attachment]
• Vice President's Report
• Secretary's Report --- (Norm Stein)
• Circulate list of names and email addresses
• Reports from Senate Committees:
• Academic Affairs --- (Marvin Johnson & Marion Paris)
• Financial Affairs --- (Robert McLeod & David Arnold)
• Planning and Operations --- (Philip Johnson & Jerry Webster)
• Research and Service --- (Bing Blewitt & Betty Bryce)
• Student Affairs --- (Bob Sigler & Mike Miller)
• Senate Operations --- (Bill Andreen & Nick Stinnett)
• Reports from Senators on University Standing Committees
• Reports from other Committees
• Legislative Agenda Commitee --- (Scott Bridges)
• OLD Business
• NEW Business
• Confirmation of Parliamentarian
• Selection of Committee Co-Chairs
• Announcements
• Pending
• Merger document revision - update --- (Ray White)
• Shared Governance document -- Senate Operations

President’s Report (April 20, 1999)

Higher Education Day was April 8 in Montgomery.  UA was represented by approximately 30 faculty and students.  The budget passed by the House of Representatives is favorable to higher education and restores the two to one split in new funding between K-12 and higher education.  We will need to continue to monitor the legislation as it is considered in the Senate.

The revised Faculty Handbook is now in print.  Faculty who want copies can obtain them from the Faculty Senate office, 461 Alston, or from the Office of Academic Affairs in Rose.  Copies will be available in each department and in the library.  The Handbook will be on the Faculty Senate web page in the near future.

The Faculty Senate has been asked to select four faculty members to serve on the Quality Council.  Faculty interested in service on the Council are asked to contact Rob Ingram.  The Council meets periodically to identify activities in the University that can be improved, to identify teams to examine these issues, and to receive responses from these teams.

The Senate will have a number of issues for consideration in the coming year:

•  The Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) is planning to develop a faculty workload database as required by an Act of the Legislature in 1995.  It is not clear what specific information ACHE will want to include in the database or what use will be made of this information.  The Provost has asked the Senate to take a leadership role in determining what information we believe should be provided.  The law requires ACHE to collect data for each faculty member.
• Concerns have been raised about companies with which the University contracts and the labor practices of those companies.  The University is considering policies that might affect these relationships.  The Senate should be aware of these activities and provide input about those issues it considers important.
• The University has examined summer school enrollments and offerings in an attempt to find ways to increase summer enrollment.  Faculty remain concerned about the pay rate for summer courses (7.5% per course).  The Senate may be interested in examining these issues and seeing if it can help with these matters.
• Program viability remains an issue for consideration.  Decisions on program status are likely to occur during the summer or fall of 2000.  The Senate should monitor what is being done to bring programs to standard and to deal with viability problems.
• The Senate has prepared a shared governance document that has been on hold while the Faculty Handbook has been completed.  It is time to renew efforts to bring closure to this project and get agreement with the administration about involvement of faculty in the University’s governance process.
• The Senate By-Laws need to be revised to add descriptions of committees and resolve minor conflicts in wording.
• The recent vote on plus/minus grading brought to light the fact that the University does not have a formal policy about voting procedures and the who should vote in faculty referenda.  We need to develop these policies.