AU Senate Minutes

Senate Meeting

03/19/2024 | Via Zoom | 3:30 PM

Meeting was called to order by Senate Chair, Lisa Kensler, at 3:30 pm.

Establish a Quorum

  • All senators in attendance reminded to participate in Canvas quorum poll (this is equivalent to the sign-in sheet during in-person meetings).

    • Vote to identify quorum. A quorum was established with 49 respondents.

  • Approval of the Senate meeting minutes from February 2024. Minutes approved with no corrections and unanimous consent.

Remarks and Announcements

 

University Senate Secretary: Linda Gibson-Young

  • Addressed plans for AU Senate Elections for Chair-Elect and Secretary-Elect. Starting March 21 and closes March 26 at 0745. All faculty encouraged to vote.

President: Christopher B. Roberts

  • Currently vetting four firms to evaluate faculty salaries.

  • New hiring for Title IX.

  • Undergraduate enrollment is holding strong. FAFSA May 15, 2024, deadline.

  • Board of Trustees April 2024 being held in Huntsville.

  • Reviewed agenda. SB 129 highlighted with impact discussed for AU. Will hold discussions across AU.

Provost: Vini Nathan

  • Final candidates for Deans highlighted with 20th celebration planned. Academic Affairs items for BOT addressed.

Information Items

AU Student Counseling & Psychological Services

Presentation by Joeleen Cooper-Bhatia (Associate Director) was tabled for a future meeting.

Action Items

Vote on Motion re: Accept report and recommendation from AU RISE (ad hoc Senate committee for Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability, and Engagement)

Presented in February by Hollie Cost, Eve Brantley

Vote re: Rules Committee Nominees

Presented by Linda Gibson-Young

  • Three candidates presented and voted on: 

    • Dr. Birdsong received 61 votes

    • Dr. Miller 54 votes

    • Dr. Werner 55 votes

    • Kasia Leousis received 69 (yes), 1 (no). 

    • Three approved to fill 2-year Rules Committee positions. One approved to fill the 1-year replacement position.

Vote re: Senate Committee Membership (Nominations from Rules Committee) 

Presented by Linda Gibson-Young

Committee Reports

Salary Study from Faculty Salaries & Welfare Committee 

Presented by Duha Tore Altindag, Joseph Majdalani, Michael Stern.

  • (Report follows motion passed in November 2023: The Senate Requests that the Faculty Salary & Welfare Committee broadly investigate the raises and increases in compensation for administrators and staff versus the faculty compensation overall and present at a future Senate Meeting.) 

  • Vote to Suspend the Rules for this meeting allowing non-senators to discuss the Motion. 37 (yes) votes, 21 (no) votes, and 4 (abstained).

  • Vote on the Motion: 46 (yes) votes, 5 (no) votes, and 1 (abstained).

Faculty Handbook 

Presented by Ralph Kingston for Mitchell Brown, Chair Handbook Committee

New Business

Motion made by Roy Hartfield, Senator from Aerospace Engineering and received 2nd.

  • Whereas salary disparities are compounded when not corrected, the Senate hereby requests that the administration and Board of Trustees reconsider the 2-year calendar proposed by the president to conduct a study before correcting the salary imbalances of especially the past two raise cycles.

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m. by Senate Chair, Lisa Kensler.

Attendance

Senate Officers

Name

Department/Title

Lisa Kensler

Chair

Lori Eckhardt

Chair-elect

Linda Gibson-Young

Secretary

Jaena Alabi

Secretary-elect

Mark Carpenter

Immediate Past-Chair

Administration

Name

Department/Title

Paul Patterson

Dean, College of Agriculture

George Flowers

Dean, Graduate School

Bobby Woodard

SVP for Student Affairs

Jason Hicks

Dean, College of Liberal Arts

Mario Eden

Dean, College of Engineering

Ed Thomas

Dean, COSAM

Joffrey Gaymon

VP Enrollment Mgmt.

Calvin Johnson

Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine

Ex-Officio Members

Name

Department/Title

Vini Nathan

Interim Provost

Shali Zhang

Dean of Libraries

Jack Hilton

SGA President

Kimberly McCadden

Staff Council Chair

Evelyn Hunter

Steering Committee

Robert Cochran

Steering Committee

Octavia Tripp

Steering Committee

Senators by Department

Name

Department/Title

Xu (Joyce) Cheng

Accountancy

Roy Hartfield

Aerospace Engineering

Emily Nichols sub for

Mary (Molly) Gregg

Valentina Hartarska

Ag Economics & Rural Sociology

Vinicia Biancardi

Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology

Kevin Moore

Architecture

Lauren Woods

Art

James Birdsong

Aviation

Tony Moss sub for

Rebecca Riggs

David Blersch

Biosystems Engineering

Jeff Kim

Building Sciences

Regina Gramling

Business Analytics and Information Systems

Elizabeth Lipke

Chemical Engineering

Wei Zhan

Chemistry

Kevin Smith

Communication and Journalism

Sanjeev Baskiyar

Computer Science & Software Engineering

David Han

Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences

Christine (Chris) Schnittka

Curriculum & Teaching

Murali Dhanasekaran

Drug Discovery and Development

Liliana Stern

Economics

Andrew Pendola

Educational Foundations, Leadership & Technology

Michael Baginski

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Sunny Stalter-Pace

English

John Beckmann

Entomology & Plant Pathology

David Cicero

Finance

Nathan Whelan

Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture

Robert Gitzen

Forestry, Wildlife, and the Environment

David King

Geosciences

Jan Kavookjian

Health Outcomes Research and Policy

Zachary Schulz

History

Elina Coneva

Horticulture

Clark Danderson

Hospitality Mgmt.

Diana Samek

Human Development & Family Studies

David Smith

Industrial Design

Rich Sesek

Industrial and Systems Engineering

Christopher (Brooks) Mobley

Kinesiology

Kasia Leousis

Libraries

Liesl Wesson

Management and Entrepreneurship

Jeremy Wolter

Marketing

Hans Werner van Wyk

Mathematics and Statistics

Sabit Adanur

Mechanical Engineering

Chris Martin

Nursing

David Mixson

Outreach

Peter Christopherson

Pathobiology

Lena McDowell

Pharmacy Practice

David Miller

Philosophy

Luca Guazzotto

Physics

Jonathan (Jon) Fisk

Political Science

Alejandro A. Lazarte

Psychology

Latifat Cabirou

Special Ed. Rehab. Counseling/School Psych

Gregory Spray

Speech Language and Hearing Sciences

David Strickland

Supply Chain Management (new)

LTC, Michael Quinn

ROTC Air Force

LTC, Laura Fryar

ROTC Army

Captain, Michael Witherspoon

ROTC Naval

Danilea Werner

Socio/Anthro/Social Work

Adrienne Wilson

Theatre and Dance

Kerri Munoz

World Lang & Literatures

Absent without substitute

Name

Department/Title

Kelli Shomaker

VP for Bus & Fin & CFO

Soolim Jeong

GSC President

Josh Henderson

A&P Assembly Chair

J Brian Anderson

Steering Committee

Jacek Wower

Animal Sciences

Joel Hayworth

Civil Engineering

Ann Presley

Consumer & Design Sciences

Lee Johnson

Music

Kevin Huggins

Nutritional Sciences

Amit Morey

Poultry Science

Robert Cole

Veterinary Clinical Sciences