Dr. Malone- Advising No report.
Dr. Schneller reported that the legislature is waiting for gubernatorial signatures or vetoes on bills. The governor has signed performance-based funding for universities, but has not yet acted on the state budget. Dr. Thompson at CPE says he likes the performance funding bill that has been signed. A guest asked if the metrics were the same as last year's. Dr. Schneller said that they were.
A senator asked about the status of Faculty Handbook updates and their approval by the Board. Dr. Schneller deferred to Senator Helen Smith, Faculty Senate President for 2019-2020 to answer about the status of changes from her term in office.
Dr. Smith said that Handbook changes made by the Senate and approved by President Brown should be actionable from the time of that approval. At the end of the academic year, the Faculty Senate President is supposed to revise the Handbook to reflect changes from approved Senate action items. This should happen over the summer. Dr. Smith acknowledged that she “dropped the ball” and did not get that done. She delivered the updated Faculty Handbook to the provost’s office on February 21, 2021.
On another matter, Senator Wang drew Dr. Schneller's attention to the fact that the Faculty Recognition Committee needs representatives appointed by administration in order to become reactivated. Dr. Schneller responded that last year the Board of Regents made changes regarding Faculty Recognition that have not been implemented.
In response to another question, Dr. Schneller affirmed that the Committee Book is an administration document, not a Faculty Senate document.
Dr. Emmanuel expressed frustration that, at midterm this semester, there were still problems with timely submission of grades. Grades must be submitted on time, she said.
A senator asked Dr. Emmanuel to address the rationale for the push for face-to-face instruction in the summer when summer has been almost all online for several years. Dr. Emmanuel said that this was not addressed in her report, and she couldn't answer the question.
A senator asked if tuition for summer term would be at the same reduced rate as last year, and Dr. Emmanuel answered that it would.
Dr. Yates congratulated faculty for their great work throughout the pandemic. However, he said, the experience for students online has not been what we wanted. The push for face-to-face instruction this summer is a presidential mandate. The model classrooms in the works will have sneeze guards around every desk. There will be 30 minutes between classes to allow for cleaning. The technology in the model classrooms is being updated with cameras and sound systems to allow remote participation.
A faculty member (not a senator) commented that if summer instruction is only face-to-face enrollments will suffer. Students who usually take summer courses online will not be able to get