Meeting convened at 7:00 on 1/22/2008
I. Chair’s Report
Williamson summarized discussions with Dr. Stocks regarding succession in
administrative roles at the University of Mississippi. The hope is that the
University will move away from the pattern
of using interim appointments rather than conducting formal searches when
positions become open.
Williamson also summarized discussions with Dr. Eftink regarding the Athletic
Department’s commitment to put $25,000 of Athletics money into the graduate
student budget. The Chancellor wants to increase this. Dr. Eftink is also
interested in non-traditional course review and wants to handle this with an
External Affairs Committee.
Finally Williamson emphasized that if any faculty are teaching courses that
make use of the upcoming Presidential Debates they should be sure to let Andy
Mullins and Noel Wilkins know. This could be a good way for faculty to get
good publicity.
II. Committee Reports
Governance: Jay Watson gave a summary discussion of Lawrence Gerber’s visit on
December 11th. Gerber, an AAUP vice-president made the following points:
1) Legitimacy of the governance process is validated by faculty’s ability to
choose their own representatives.
2) The nationwide rise in contingent faculty threatens a deprofessionalization
of teaching.
3) Growth areas on campus tend to be the areas were faculty influence and
oversight are weakest. On our campus indicators of this might be overuse of
interim appointments of administrators and outreach taking responsibility for
curricular matters.
4) Moving from principles to procedures is a political process. Faculty bodies
can have different roles in fostering shared governance. An activist AAUP
might complement a collaborative faculty senate with more direct approaches.
5) Faculty participation in governance should have rewards. Incentives for
participation in faculty evaluations could be helpful.
The Governance committee is moving towards bringing a resolution to vote in
February.
III. Agenda Items
Chatham Ewing presented a draft resolution in which the faculty senate would
endorse on-campus daycare in support of the efforts of the Chancellor’s
Commission on the Status of Women. After some discussion, the sense of the
Senate was that the resolution should be distributed to Senate members through
e-mail and come up for a vote at the next session.
Dr. Williamson established a special task force to investigate, examine, and
make
recommendations on environmental and/or ³green² concerns.
The committee will examine the student, staff, and
faculty awareness, recycling programs, planning of growth at the university
concerning effects on our campus ³green² areas, as well as plans to increase
such environments. Several senators expressed interest.
Anne Fisher-Wirth presented the idea of a new environmental studies major
which would be cross disciplinary and a potential draw for students. This
major would enable students to engage in new and exciting ways with current
environmental challenges facing the students, the University, and the world.
There was some discussion and commentary on how the program might benefit
students from different disciplines ranging from Engineering to English.
Several senators expressed interest in participating in the new program.
IV. Old Business
As the November minutes were not available at the beginning of the meeting,
they will be reviewed along with the January minutes.
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Document2 1/23/2008
V. New Business
There was some discussion on the sudden and, at times, inconvenient impact
that the push to ready for SACS accreditation has imposed.
Williamson mentioned the draft resolution he had recently circulated through
e-mail regarding linking University service to merit raises.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00.
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