Vicki L. Tate
USA Faculty Senate Chair’s Report
For Jan. 16, 2008 Faculty Senate Meeting

Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Nov. 29, 2007
At the request of the Faculty Senate, the Executive Committee met to write a letter outlining the concerns the Senate had regarding the process that the administration has taken in determining whether football should be added to the athletic program at USA.  The letter was presented to President Moulton on Dec. 3rd by Chair Tate and Chair-elect Sachs.  A copy of the letter is available at:  http://www.usouthal.edu/fsenate/records/reports/footballletter.html

Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Dec. 5, 2007
The Executive Committee met to discuss suggestions for challenges for the university, as requested by the university administration.  The president’s office will be updating the five-year progress report “Achieving a Collective Vision” that was issued in 2003.  Many of the suggestions dealt with expanding the international profile of the University.

USA Board of Trustees, Dec. 6, 2007
The USA Board of Trustees unanimously adopted the resolution for adding NCAA-sanctioned football to the athletic program and for adding a marching band program to the academic programs.  A copy of the resolution is available at: http://www.southalabama.edu/footballproposal/resolution.html
In other news, 8 faculty members (Axsmith, Holm, Langhinirichsen-Rohling, Monheit, Mulekar, Shamback, Swofford, and Davidson-Shivers) have been granted sabbaticals for 2008/09 term; and 4 faculty members (Lomangino, Sebastian, Fornaro, and Harrison) have been appointed professors emeriti.  The “Strategic Plan for Racial and Ethnic Diversity” was adopted.  It was announced that Dr. Roma Hanks has been appointed to serve as chair of the department of sociology, anthropology and social work and that Dr. Sue Brannan Walker, chair of the department of English has been named the Stokes Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at USA.  The board also welcomed their newest member, Arlene Mitchell, and honored her predecessor, Mayer Mitchell. 

Faculty Football Survey
A five-question web survey about the football issue was conducted from Dec. 3rd - 14th.  The initial results from the first 3 days of the survey, with responses from 939 participants, were presented to the USA Board of Trustees at their meeting.  The final results of the survey, with 993 participants, along with 15 pages of comments, are available at:  http://www.usouthal.edu/fsenate/records/reports/Football_Final_Results.pdf

Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Jan. 9, 2008
Susan Santoli, current chair of the Environmental Quality committee has had to resign her position due to personal reason.  A member of the committee will act as an interim chair until the new term starts in April.  Steve Morris (AD&M) reported that his committee will be sending questionnaires to new faculty regarding their evaluation of new faculty orientation.  Tom Johnsten (Eval) reported that the Faculty Survey is almost ready to go and he will be sharing the final questions with the Executive Committee before they are posted on the web.

Academic Affairs Policy Committee, Jan. 15, 2008
AAPC discussed the “Resolution Endorsing a Modification to the Late Course Withdrawal Policy”.  The discussion centered mainly on the problems involved with implementing the proposed policy.  There has been strong objection from the Registrar’s Office for the policy and there was concern that the benefits for having this policy may be outweighed by the cost of implementation.  The group is looking at a compromise which could move the withdrawal deadline up to the end of the 10th week of classes, as well as increase communication regarding the consequences of withdrawing from a course.

University of South Alabama  -  Faculty Senate -  Mobile, AL 36688-0002
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Last date changed: January 28 , 2007
URL: http://www.usouthal.edu/usa/fsenate/records/reports/ChairReport_112807.html