1. Call to order by Dr. Floyd
   Present: Dr. Manley Blackwell, Dr. Joy Cauthron, Mr. Donnie Cobb, Dr. Richard Collison, Dr. Betty Cowan, Dr. R.T. Floyd, Mr. Luther Gremmels, Ms. Tina Jones, Dr. Gene May, Dr. Alex Mechitov, Mrs. Donna Miller, Dr. Helen Moshkovich, Mr. Micky Smith, Mrs. Patricia Taylor, Mrs. Shannon White
2. Approval of September 19, 2000 minutes
   Mrs. Tina Jones moved and Dr. Richard Collison seconded the motion that the minutes of September 19, 2000 be approved. The motion passed.
3. Approval of September 26, 2000 minutes
   Mrs. Tina Jones moved and Dr. Richard Collison seconded the motion that the minutes of September 26, 2000 be approved. The motion passed.
4. Old Business
   1. VALIC Feedback
      Today was the last regularly scheduled day for the VALIC representatives to be on campus. As of their last visit (10/12/00) to campus 40 employees had enrolled. There are quite a few additional employees who have expressed interest and indicated their desire to sign up, but have yet not done so. In order to have payroll deduction we need to have approximately 50 employees enroll. If there is an indicated need we can certainly have the VALIC reps return to campus for another enrollment day in late October or early November. We are working with the administration to determine if we can change the effective date of the VALIC payroll deduction from January 1, 2001 to November 1, 2000. Some administrative process changes would be required in the Business Office and Information Systems, but VALIC has personnel & software to assist in these changes. This would provide our personnel an immediate benefit of being able to reduce their taxable income this tax year. An example would be placing the amount of the recent salary increase into the VALIC funds or a lump sum to catch up. If we are able to move the payroll deduction up, the faculty & staff will be notified accordingly.
   2. e-Campus update
      1. Stickney & Sisk now have everything installed for the wireless technology except the electrical power, which should be done very soon.
      2. The Campus Pipeline patch to repair the problem with multiple students sharing the same last name in a class was installed yesterday and this problem has now been corrected. The email time-out problem will be repaired with another patch to be released 10/20/00.
      3. Information Systems has begun dispensing the HealthSouth laptops to the various departments. Two laptops will be provided to each academic department as a priority.
      4. Faculty, staff and students can now use the new UWA Proxy Server to access databases from any Internet Service Provider. Users only need to enter their Campus Pipeline username & password when prompted to gain access to most indexes and full-text databases found on the library’s homepage. The UWA Proxy Server enables current faculty, staff and students to access the database resources from any Internet connection including SumterNet, AOL, Mindspring, etc. Those users continuing to dial-in to the UWA network will not need to use the proxy server since they are already authenticated as being "on-campus." For more information on the Proxy Server and accessing databases from off campus see the following URL: http://www.uwa.edu/lrc/DBs/Off_Campus_Access.htm If you have any questions regarding the new Proxy Server and accessing databases please contact Shannon White at 652-3615 or sdw@uwa.edu.
      5. Additional tutorials have been added to the Library tutorial web page at http://www.uwa.edu/lrc/online_tutorials.htm
   3. Committee updates
      Faculty Information - The following charge have been issued to the Faculty Information Committee:
      1. Meet and elect a chair from among your membership.
      2. Review the feedback collected last year by Dr. David Bowen regarding preferences for information and establish goals and a plan to address each this year.
      3. Review our new relative position in the state and region regarding faculty salaries since the implementation of the 90/12 plan and recent pay increase. In realizing that we may still be below the state average, etc. please also determine if we are substantially lower (or higher) in the amount of disparity in one rank versus the other ranks (assistant vs. associate vs. full professor). In carrying out this charge please develop tables for faculty loads, faculty compensation, faculty benefits, university programs, and other data to compare UWA with other state regional institutions. This charge may need some modifications as we get into the process. Please provide a preliminary report at the March meeting with a final report due at the April 2001 Faculty Senate Meeting.

      Faculty/Staff Liaison - The membership of the this committee has been completed and is as follows:
      Mr. Danny Buckalew, Chair
      Dr. R.T. Floyd
      Ms. Shannon White
      Ms. Tina Jones
      Dr. Janis Beaird
      Mr. Miles Hester
      Mr. John Crawford
      Mr. Jeff Hood
      Ms. Becky Amato

      Financial Affairs - The membership of the this committee has been completed and is as follows:
      Shannon White, Chair
      Mr. Truel Hicks, College of Business
      Dr. Johan van der Jagt, College of Education
      Dr. Nancy Kudlawiec, College of Liberal Arts
      Dr. Mike Reekie, College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics
      Mrs. Ann Ketcham, Division of Nursing
      Mr. Bill Lenning
      Dr. Don Salter
      Mr. Bob Holycross
      Mr. Kurt Behrhorst

4. Flexible Spending Plans - BenefitElect - The Insurance Committee will meet very soon and hopefully provide approval on the initiation of the flexible spending plans by BenefitElect as previously approved by the President's Council. Following this, BenefitElect will develop educational/enrollment brochures and set up some dates to come on campus to begin enrollment. Hopefully all of this will be done in November & December in order for the program and payroll deduction to begin January 1, 2001. As soon as we finalize the details on this you will be notified of the enrollment meetings. There are basically four aspects to the Flexible Spending Plans, all of which allow the employee to reduce his/her amount of taxable income by the amounts elected, which in turn will reduce the employee's taxes. These plans will additionally reduce the University's tax expenditure: (1) The Institution Sponsored Insurance Plan which allows the employee to have the amount currently deducted from his/her payroll for individual & medical, dental, group life (up to $50,000.00), disability, and AD& D insurance premiums placed in the University Flexible Spending Plan account. The University currently has approximately 140 employees that could take advantage of this particular component with no risk of income loss. (2) The Dependent Care Savings Plan allows contributions to an account that can then be used to reimburse for all allowable expenses related to caring for dependents so that the employee may work. (3) The Un-reimbursed Medical Savings Plan allows contributions to an account that can then be used to reimburse for all allowable deductibles and other expenses not covered by medical insurance which includes all co-pays, prescriptions not covered by insurance, eyeglasses, medical aids, etc. (covered items are included on a list). (4) The Medical Insurance Savings Plan allows contributions to an account that can be used to pay for additional medical insurance policies.

5. Faculty Senate History Committee – No report offered. Dr. Schellhammer not present.
6. University Board of Trustees Meeting
   Mr. Paul Hamrick, the Governor's Chief of Staff, was appointed to the Board. The Board, with all members present except one, met on October 2 and approved the budget as proposed without changes. After a lengthy executive session the Board voted to enter into a contract with Dr. Roach through February 2002.
7. Dr. Roach could not attend this meeting, but sent word via Dr. Floyd that he appreciates the open faculty senate support of the University.

5. New Business
1. Faculty Development Technology Workshops
   Mrs. Tina Jones provided a Page Maker 6.5 Workshop. Dr. Helen Moshkovich provided an Excel Workshop on Charts, Formulas, and Functions. Dr. Floyd provided a Blackboard Workshop and Dr. Alex Mechitov provided a Basic Access 2000 Database Management Workshop. Mr. Charlie Cook has 1 hour software application workshops scheduled in Wallace Hall 219 from 3:30-4:30 everyday for the rest of the semester. He is announcing these by email daily and the topics include Windows, Word, PowerPoint, Campus Pipeline, & FrontPage. The schedule for the remainder of the semester is posted at http://www.uwa.edu/infosys/documents/training.htm. Notice of these workshops will continue to be posted on the Faculty Senate home page. We still expect to have a few additional workshops such as FrontPage Basic & Intermediate, Access, Database, Blackboard, etc. later this semester. Please encourage your department members to notify us of their needs regarding faculty development.
2. Academic Advising Spreadsheet Checklists
   Dr. Floyd has developed Academic Advising Spreadsheet Checklists in Excel for every major. He demonstrated how to download and use the spreadsheets. The advisor/student only has to input the semester taken, grade, & hours for courses taken. It calculates QPA, as well as totals taken, totals needed for basics (including by area), major, minor, overall. It also determines placement in basic, compensatory, or honors classes based upon ACT/SAT scores when entered. Most Spreadsheet Checklists have been developed where selecting and adding a minor or second major is as simple as copying & pasting. These are in the process of being reviewed and modified as necessary. R.T. Floyd has begun posting these on the Forms, etc. download page http://www.uwa.edu/forms. An entire web page organized by college has been setup for this. The individual files for the College of Liberal Arts have already been posted. He expects to have all departments posted by the end of the week. In some cases, there may be more than one version for a particular major (different versions may be provided simply to address formatting preferences, not program differences). R.T. will be conducting brief workshops on the implementation and use of these as requested by departments and colleges. A discussion ensued, and R.T. says he is open to making the spreadsheets more user friendly and welcomes suggestions from the faculty. Please contact him for any questions or concerns.
3. e-Campus Suggestions/Concerns/Recommendations
   The e-Campus Task Force will meet soon to address remaining and new issues related to advancing our e-Campus. Some initial topics include student computer labs, student minimal competence levels, next level of faculty competencies, integrated networked student printing in labs & the Library, faculty/staff/student workshops, general access networked computer in major building hallways. Please encourage any and all feedback to your e-Campus Task Force representative or directly to Paul Stewart or R.T. Floyd.
4. Provost's Report - Dr. David Taylor
   1.  LRC Name Change
   1. The Julia Tutwiler ‘Learning Resources Center’ was named such at the suggestion of a consultant (brought in by Dr. Hines) several years ago. In addition to the LRC staff’s not particularly liking this designation, it causes problems when people call and it has to be explained that the Library is part of the LRC.
   2. Recently, the facade of the Library was redone and the Physical Plant ordered the letters for ‘Library’ rather than ‘Learning Resources Center,’ so Dr. Snider felt that this was an auspicious time to change the name back to ‘Library.’ Also Mrs. Shannon White will begin to revamp the web page soon.
   3. Dr. Snider made his recommendation to the Deans’ Council in the October meeting, and it passed unanimously. Dr. Taylor will carry it to the President’s Council for approval and official word will be sent out when the change is formally made.

   2. Commencement
   Commencement has been scheduled for December 16. There are about 200 graduates expected. There will be a reception before, and the Cafeteria will serve lunch afterwards if enough people buy a meal ticket in advance.

   3. Transfer Credit for Ds in Freshman Composition
   Part of AGSC policy was that no "D" would be given in freshman composition courses in Alabama public colleges and universities. There was a question regarding acceptance of a "D" transfer in composition from an out-of-state institution. Deans’ Council agreed that the policy would apply to all transfer students. If a student transfers here with all four English courses complete, but made a "D" in EH 101, that course will have to be repeated.

   4. Operation Jump
   We have tried over recent years to strengthen our ties with local and area public schools, and the College of Education has several very successful initiatives underway.
   The Sumter County School System has received a three-year, three million-dollar grant from US Department of Education designed to enrich the before-school, after-school and summer-school experience of public school children. It focuses on academic enrichment, safety (drug and violence free), and on cultural and recreational activities.
   Dr. Taylor and a group of faculty and administrators will meet with Marilyn Armistead, Director of Community Outreach, and Operation Jump Director, Annie Walker, to discuss how UWA can serve as a resource for this grant program (NS/M summer program, Fine Arts, etc.). Dr. Taylor will welcome any ideas.

   5. Intellectual Property Policy
   Dr. Taylor has asked Patricia Pratt to develop a draft for consideration. She has used AAUP template and compares it with policies from other universities.The question is, should distance learning courses (on-line course and materials) be included or have a separate policy? The Deans’ Council asked Mrs. Pratt to take this matter to the Research Oversight Committee for consideration. The policy draft or drafts will be brought to the Senate for input before being adopted.

   6.  University Research Grant Fund
   Five grants were awarded and all were in Liberal Arts (four in H/SS and one in L/L). There are some monies remaining in this fund. The Deans’ Council has recommended that another call for proposals be sent. Dr. Taylor will do this at the first of the year, probably in January.

7. Will Rogers Follies
This is a great musical. Performance will be in Bibb Graves Auditorium on October 17 and is sponsored by the Sumter County Fine Arts Council.

8. The Handbook for Faculty and Professional Staff is in effect at this time. It is a collection of policies and does not require action by the Board of Trustees.

9. Distance Learning  In spring of this year we will start to import classes in areas of need such as the sciences and math. Later we will export classes such as graduate education courses.

10. Questions Mrs. Taylor asked if there was someone on campus who would help the faculty to write grants. Dr. Taylor replied that we have a contract with Letta Gorman who will help us. He said to bring any concrete grant ideas to his attention.

5. Community Workshops
   We are in the process of determining the feasibility of meeting public demand for technology workshops. The idea is to offer these as non-credit workshops whereby UWA faculty with interest and expertise may offer workshops to the general public for a fee with the faculty member receiving a significant portion of the fee. The Office of Institutional Advancement & Alumni Affairs will publicize & coordinate enrollment. Remaining available seats will be open to UWA faculty & staff at no charge. Please provide concerns, suggestions, etc.
6. Higher Education Partnership
   The web page promoting Alabama’s Universities established by Dr. David Bronner in conjunction with the HEP is impressive and located at http://www.thinkalabama.org/. The Partnership has significantly increased membership benefits which include vision care discounts, hotel & motel savings, and car rental savings & upgrades. UWA has a Higher Education web page located at http://www.uwa.edu/alumni/HEP/hephome.htm. Our membership year begins in October so please remind your department members to renew and/or initiate their membership so as to increase our voice in Legislative matters.
7. Admissions Report
   The previously requested report from Admissions was scheduled for today but was rescheduled for the November 28 Faculty Senate Meeting due to schedule conflicts.
8. Faculty Staff Picture Day
   Pictures for faculty & staff are scheduled for 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon on Tuesday, Oct. 31 and 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 1 in Club Luie of the SUB. Please make arrangements so all faculty & staff photos can be included in the yearbook.
9. Curriculum Changes
   Templates for Proposed Curriculum Changes for the fall are due to University Academic Council Chair on Oct. 27, 2000.

5. Adjournment
   Dr. Blackwell moved and Mr. Smith seconded that the Senate adjourn. The motion passed and the meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m. Because of the upcoming holiday we will meet on the fourth Tuesday in November, the 28^th.