Executive Committee Report given at the August 27, 2007 University Senate Meeting

Steering Committee of the University Senate and Faculty Advisory Committee to the University President

Members:  President Leland, Vice President Gormly, Doug Goings (SoB),  Bill Richards (Library)

Officers:  Secretary: Chris Greer (SoE), Vice-Chair: Kendra Russell (SoHS), Chair: Craig Turner (SoLAS)

SUMMARY (an approximation to what was shared orally at the August 27 University Senate meeting)

• Since the April 25, 2007 organizational meeting of the 2007-08 University Senate, ECUS has had two meetings of the full committee (May 1, Aug 16) and three elected faculty workshops (July 18, Aug 1, Aug 23). 
• Our standing weekly meeting time is Thursday from 9:30-10:45.
• Organizationally:
  • elected committee officers (Kendra Russell – Vice-Chair, Chris Greer – Secretary)
  • adopted a set of committee operating procedures for ECUS for the 2007-08 academic year,
  • assigned elected faculty members as point people for annually recurring tasks of ECUS such as governance calendar preparation (Chris), elections oversight (Doug), standing committee officer orientation (Kendra), governance retreat planning (Bill), and apportionment and university senate bylaws including any proposed revisions (Craig),
  • selected a graduate assistant (Donna Fuller) to serve the 2007-08 University Senate
    • One of her responsibilities is to research and locate information that could advance and support committee deliberation on an issue.
  • named Ken Farr to continue as University Senate Parliamentarian for 2007-08, and
  • named Craig Turner to continue as University Senate webmaster for 2007-08.
• Operationally:
  • reviewed drafts of a summary of parliamentary procedure (aka a Robert’s Rules “cheat sheet”),
  • finalized the agenda for the August 27, 2007 University Senate meeting
  • considering and exploring the implementation of electronic communication tools (webpages, myCATS tab) that would provide a means by which the university community could access the business of the university senate at a glance as well as submit suggestions, anonymously if preferred, regarding any facet of the University Senate (essentially an electronic suggestion box),
  • exploring options for intra-committee communication for consideration by each committee, and
  • drafted guidance documents for each standing committee to provide a menu of policy relevant to the respective committee scope at the institutional and Board of Regents levels.
    • APC (Kendra), CAPC (Chris), FAPC (Craig), RPIPC (Doug), SAPC (Bill)
• Steering:
  • steered a Scholarly Misconduct Policy and Procedure document prepared by an information gathering group from the 2006-07 academic governance committee for review and consideration by the Resources Planning and Institutional Policy Committee (RPIPC)
• The next meeting of the Executive Committee is scheduled for Th, August 30, 2007 from 9:30-10:45 in the President’s Conference Room and is a joint meeting with the Standing Committee Chairs to share information and coordinate agendas for the standing committee meetings scheduled for 12:30-1:45 on Friday September 7, 2007.
• It is now my pleasure to introduce your parliamentarian, Dr. Ken Farr, who will provide a parliamentary procedure workshop designed to increase our familiarity with Robert’s Rules of Order.

DETAILS  (providing more comprehensive information for each of the individual committee meetings)

1. Since the last University Senate meeting (April 25, 2007), the Executive Committee met as a committee of the whole on May 1, 2007 and August 16, 2007.  In addition, the elected faculty members of the Executive Committee met on July 18, 2007, August 1, 2007 and August 23, 2007
2. Throughout, the following acronyms will be used.
   1. Academic Policy Committee (APC)
   2. Curriculum and Assessment Policy Committee (CAPC)
   3. Executive Committee of the University Senate (ECUS)
   4. Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC)
   5. Resources, Planning, and Institutional Policy Committee (RPIPC)
   6. Student Affairs Policy Committee (SAPC)
   7. University Senate (US)
3. On May 1, 2007, the Executive Committee (ECUS) held its organizational meeting at which it
   1. elected officers: Secretary: Chris Greer, Vice-Chair: Kendra Russell.
   2. designated 9:30-10:45 Thursdays as a standing weekly ECUS meeting time for Fall 2007
   3. proposed a plan by which to draft committee operating procedures,
   4. discussed possible committee (ECUS) visions for 2007-2008
4. On July 18, 2007, the elected faculty of the Executive Committee met and
   1. reviewed ECUS checklists, calendar, committee scope, relevant bylaws, recurring annual tasks
   2. reviewed the first draft of the myCATS University Senate tab
   3. clarified the level of detail at which ECUS minutes would be taken
   4. reviewed the first draft of the “cheat sheet” of parliamentary procedure
   5. clarified and assigned to members the preparation of committee guidance documents (menu of policy for committee review including references to relevant polices at university and BoR levels)

                                                         i.       APC (Kendra), CAPC (Chris), FAPC (Craig), RPIPC (Doug), SAPC (Bill)

5. On August 1, 2007, the elected faculty of the Executive Committee met and
   1. drafted committee operating procedures for 2007-2008 for consideration on August 16
   2. discussed possible methods for intra-committee communication (email list, Web CT Vista, Blog)
   3. reviewed the second draft of the myCATS University Senate tab
   4. nominated Ken Farr as University Senate Parliamentarian for 2007-2008
   5. nominated elected committee chairs to facilitate organizational meeting of respective committees APC (Jan Clark), CAPC (Deborah Vess), FAPC (Todd Shiver), RPIPC (Doug Oetter), SAPC (Jennifer Hammack)
   6. reviewed the second draft of the “cheat sheet” of parliamentary procedure
   7. agreed that a brief parliamentary procedure workshop should be part of the Aug 27 US meeting
   8. reviewed drafts of the committee guidance documents for APC, CAPC, and FAPC
   9. discussed the candidate and selection process for the Graduate Assistant of University Senate
   10. heard a report on the status of the scholarly misconduct policy and procedure document in preparation by an information gathering group of 2006-2007 Academic Governance Committee.
6. On August 16, 2007, the Executive Committee
   1. met Donna Fuller, the Graduate Assistant for the 2007-2008 University Senate and received a working draft of her responsibilities for the academic year.
   2. reviewed the third draft of the myCATS University Senate tab
   3. reviewed the first draft of an electronic suggestion box, an electronic form for members of the University Community to submit suggestions (anonymously if preferred), relative to any facet of the  University Senate (i.e. an issue for consideration, a concern, some information, a critique, etc)
   4. named elected committee chairs to facilitate organizational meeting of respective committees

APC (Jan Clark), CAPC (Deborah Vess), FAPC (Todd Shiver), RPIPC (Doug Oetter), SAPC (Jennifer Hammack)

5. named Ken Farr to continue as University Senate Parliamentarian for 2007-08
6. named Craig Turner to continue as University Senate webmaster for 2007-08
7. finalized the agenda of the University Senate meeting scheduled for Mon Aug 27, 2007
8. adopted a set of committee (ECUS) operating procedures for the 2007-08 academic year.
9. reviewed the third (and final) draft of the “cheat sheet” of parliamentary procedure
10. discussed standing committee guidance documents and allowed each elected faculty member to seek feedback on his/her draft: APC (Kendra), CAPC (Chris), FAPC (Craig), RPIPC (Doug), SAPC (Bill)
11. received a report from Vice President Gormly regarding the GCSU Academic Affairs Handbook (AAH) noting that attempts were made to consider reducing in the AAH, as appropriate, the duplication of information found in other sources such as catalogs (remove the links to the catalog that simply note that an academic policy can be found there), websites (e.g. job descriptions for administrative positions), Board of Regents policy (rather than quote the policy, reference it), etc. as well as improve readability by using a new template format for sections containing policy and procedure.    
12. reminded of the university senate taglines for 2007-08 developed at the May 10, 2007 governance retreat and the draft vision of ECUS from its May 1, 2007 organizational meeting
13. steered the scholarly misconduct policy and procedure document prepared by an information gathering group of 2006-2007 Academic Governance Committee to RPIPC.
6. On August 23, 2007, the elected faculty of the Executive Committee
   1. discussed standing committee guidance documents and allowed each elected faculty member to seek feedback on his/her draft: APC (Kendra), CAPC (Chris), FAPC (Craig), RPIPC (Doug), SAPC (Bill)
   2. discussed a first draft of meeting etiquette and agreed there was need to refine the draft prior to sharing it with the University Senate for consideration,
   3. identified individual faculty members as point people for annually recurring tasks of ECUS

                                                         i.      Doug Goings: University Senator Elections oversight (faculty, staff, student, at-large) and to serve as Chair the Subcommittee on Nominations (slate of nominees for 2008-09 committees)

                                                       ii.      Chris Greer:  Governance Calendar for 2008-09

                                                      iii.      Bill Richards:  Governance Retreat Planning Committee

                                                     iv.      Kendra Russell: Standing Committee Officer Orientation (Fri Sep 14)

                                                       v.      Craig Turner:  Apportionment and University Senate Bylaws including proposed revisions

4. reviewed a draft of a summary of university senate activity for 2006-07 agreeing that further review was necessary before it was ready for wider distribution.
5. reviewed the ECUS parking lots, a set of committee to-do lists.
7. The next meeting of the Executive Committee is scheduled for Th, August 30, 2007 from 9:30-10:45 in the President’s Conference Room and is a joint meeting with the Standing Committee Chairs to share information and coordinate agendas for the standing committee meetings scheduled for 12:30-1:45 on Friday September 7, 2007.