Budget & Academic Support:
Chair Rye reported BASC did not meet. They delayed the scheduled meeting until later in the week in hopes of receiving the budget information for a more productive meeting. However, it is yet to be made available. She emailed Special Assistant to the President, Greg Rush, and he said they are still working on the position and salary list.
She is concerned that course lab fees have not been deposited into unit accounts and will inquire about this. BASC possibly needs to resubmit an action item on the timely deposit of those fees for use each semester.
It was reported to her through the Divisional Chair that administration has initiated a hiring freeze. It is unclear if this is only for faculty positions or includes administrative and staff hires as well. There continues to be new administrative positions/hires this year.
Faculty Regent Report:
Faculty Regent McFayden emailed President Hampton he was not able to attend and report on the most recent Board of Regent's meeting.
President Hampton and Secretary Rye both said they had extensive notes from the meeting and they could possibly report on those to Senate, but did not have them in hand for the meeting today.
Faculty Ombudsman Report:
Ombudsman Reilly was not present. Several present said his title is Faculty Ombudsman instead of University Ombudsman. Secretary Rye said she would note the approved minutes of February 19, 2018 stated “University” and are therefore inaccurate.
Other:
Vice-President Smith inquired about administrative evaluations by faculty. It was generally agreed they were last conducted under the Sias administration.
Chair Andries inquired about progress on the funded faculty line list. President Hampton explained we need an official list for University-wide and Senate elections in order to determine the allocated number of Senator positions per Division, as well as distribution of positions on university-wide committees. Dr. Broady was present and said she would send it to Senate.
Secretary Rye reported Provost Thomas was unable to attend the meeting she (Thomas) scheduled with the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate, Ombudsman Reilly and Deputy Provost Sipes. She hopes to meet monthly with Senate leadership. Since all others were present they discussed issues to bring to the attention of Provost Thomas. Most of those items are recorded in President Hampton’s report above. Additionally, procedure/policy/rights of applicants for Tenure and Promotion were discussed. Since there are often new faculty and a constant turnover of administrators, those rights need to be delineated annually to each group of applicants, as well as administrators overseeing the process below the Provost. It was reported that such detailed information had subsequently been disseminated to the candidates.