MINUTES OF THE UT MARTIN SENATE MEETING

April 23, 1996

CALL TO ORDER
The final meeting of the 1996 Spring Semester was called to order at 3:15 p.m. by President Charles Harding in the Room 206 University Center. Present were 33 Senators, 1 substitute, and 8 visitors. Also in attendance were several of the incoming faculty senators for the next academic year.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Items sent to Chancellor from the last senate meeting were all approved. There were no additions or corrections to the minutes of March 19, 1996. Minutes stand approved as distributed.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Chancellor Perry gave a report on the proposed engineering program, which we had hoped would be considered by THEC this spring. At the last meeting, a motion was made that the freeze on new programs be lifted and that material presented after August of this coming year would be considered in a different way with new criteria. They voted to lift the freeze, but deferred action on creating the new criteria, making it possible for our program to come up for consideration at the July meeting of the Commission. A question was raised about what kind of provision had been made for students who would be registering in the fall if this program is approved in July. It was noted that a statement had been added to the catalog about the new program up for approval and should it be approved, there is a plan available for students in the fall. Perry also reminded the senate that we would be phasing out Engineering Technology, and would still have students in Engineering Technology.

Ernie Blythe brought a report regarding NCAA self-study. There is a steering committee composed of 24 members from faculty, students, administration, alumni, and trustees. There are four subcommittees with 10 members each, with those members not necessarily members on the steering committee. The subcommittees are as follows, with the chairperson shown.

Academic integrity subcommittee chaired by Mike Gibson
Governance & Rules Compliance subcommittee chaired by Phil Miller
Fiscal integrity subcommittee chaired by Phil Dane
Committment to Equity subcommittee by Carol Tripp

The senate can participate in the self study by reviewing copies of the self-study document which will be placed on reserve in library very soon and will be accessible on the UTM Web page. Any faculty who review the report and want to make suggestions and have input, should contact the subcommittee chairs or committee members or Ernie Blythe.

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES
Executive Committee

Harding gave a partial report of the April 9 meeting of the Executive Committee and said that Stan Sieber would give a report after reports from the other committee chairs. The list of committee assignments has been revised and the revised copy is included in the senate packets. Harding noted that Faculty Relations Committee and Library Committee are not assigned by the senate. Library Committee members are elected from the departments, and the Faculty Relations Committee are elected by faculty. The new Faculty Relations Committee members are Glover, Gullett, F.Black, Alexander, and H. Wenz, with the chair for next year being Richard Chesteen. (NOTE: 9/13/96 - Chesteen is not eligible to be chair, and a new chair was elected from the outgoing members of the committee. Jimmy Trentham will be chair of this committee for 96-97.)

The recommendation of senate committee assignments comes as a seconded motion from Executive Committee. Motion carried. Committee assignments are approved as distributed.

Budget and Economic Concerns
Mary Ruth Gibbons sent word to Harding that there was no report to come before the Senate at this time.

Undergraduate Council
Doug Cook presented and moved approval for the curriculum changes as approved by the council at their April 2 meeting, with the entire packet coming from the committee as a motion and second. Motion carried.

Cook reported that the Undergraduate Council had voted to defer action on the following requests until the first regular Undergraduate Council meeting of Fall semester -- Comp Sci 360, revision of program requirements (core courses) for Comp Sci major, and the entire Bus Adm package concerning a revision of the Adm Data Sys Concentration in Mgt and creation of a Certification in End-User Computing. An ad hoc committee is being formed and will be looking at the possible duplication of courses. The make-up of this committee will be three individuals from the School of Business Administration , three from Mathematics and Computer Science, Troy Henson, and Doug Cook.

Graduate Council
Robert Erk presented and moved approval for the curriculum changes as approved in their April 4 meeting, with the packet coming as a motion and second. After discussion on non-standard course format Spec Ed 690, a friendly amendment was offered to revise "Deviation from minimal requirements:" as follows:

(1) One week of instruction for each credit hour offered and (2) student preparation time.

Motion carried.

Instruction Committee
Nell Gullett stated that there were no items to come before the Senate at this time. One item from the last meeting is being sent to the personnel policies committee (evaluation of faculty advisors).

Library Committee
There was no report from the Library Committee.

Personnel Policies
Sandra Gossum stated that there were no items to come before the Senate at this time. Some items will be carried forward to next year. Frank Black was elected chair for next year.

Harding reminded the senate members that the list of committee assignments do have chairs noted.

Harding mentioned being absent during this semester due to emergencies in the chemistry department and thanked Stan Sieber and Dan Pigg for covering senate responsibilities for him.

NEW BUSINESS
Harding recognized Sue Byrd, who asked permission to bring a report before the senate regarding Freshman Studies. As part of the Systems Improvement, changes have been suggested to streamline the process for Freshman Studies. Proposed changes in process are as follows: 1) Make an effort to identify faculty counselors before the end of spring semester, which would help faculty plan schedules. Faculty may be asked in the next week or two if they want to participate. 2) Provide a three hour block of training in fall for all facilitators (Aug 9 from 9 a.m. -12 noon). There will be sessions on group dynamics; growth and development; looking at text, syllabi, and things that will improve what we are doing in Freshman Studies. 3) Work more with PEP leaders in training, to help them learn more about transitioning of students and to get them to look at some of the activities and purposes of activities they are doing with students. 4) Based on faculty concerns, a proposal has been made to change the grading system for Freshman Studies from Pass/Fail to a letter grade. The Systems Improvement Committee intended to ask for emergency approval for one year to try grading Freshman Studies on a letter grade basis, with the premise being that with letter grades there would be more control over the students and whether or not they fulfilled the requirements. There was discussion regarding disparity in what was expected from the students from group to group; minimum requirements should be set and clearly stated.

A motion was made and seconded for this report to be put on the agenda for today's senate meeting. Vote taken. In favor - 19; against - 13. Motion carried.

During further discussion, K. Paul Jones reminded the senators that requirements should not be imposed on students before said requirements show up in the catalog.

Motion and second that freshman studies remain pass/fail. Call for the question. Vote taken on closing debate. Debate is closed. Vote on motion. Motion carried.

Harding turned the meeting over to Sieber. Sieber presented a plaque to Daniel Pigg in appreciation for his work as secretary of faculty senate this year. Pigg commended Kristy Crocker for her work with the senate this year, also. Sieber presented a plaque to Harding in appreciation of his work as senate president this year.

Sieber also thanked the outgoing senate members for all that has been accomplished this year. He asked the senate members for the next academic year to ask around in their departments about things that their faculty would like to see done next year, and send an e-mail message to him with suggestions. Suggestions already received are: 1) evaluation of administrators; 2) review of current tenure policy for both faculty and administrations; 3) possibility of a core curriculum for all students; 4) looking at program review process; 5) review of travel money policies (do administrators pay part of their way?); and 6) do we need to have a new committee on technology?

The executive committee will be going to a retreat May 22-23 to talk about long-range planning for UTM. A schedule of senate committee meetings for next year is included in the packet for today's meeting. The opening faculty meeting for Fall 1996 is being changed. A draft copy of the agenda for fall senate and faculty meetings on August 16 is also included in the packet.

ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn was made and seconded; the meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Charles Harding, President

Daniel F. Pigg, Secretary