Faculty Affairs Committee

Chair: Subbi P. Mathur

Subbi P. Mathur presented the revised Faculty Tenure Policy as per the Faculty Affairs Committee. The Policy was favorably received by the members of the Faculty Senate. It was suggested that the Policy be forwarded to the Faculty Senate Legal Counsel for his/her input.

Motion passed: Establishing a proper Mechanism for Mentoring Junior Faculty Members towards Promotion and Tenure should be added to other criteria in the Chair Evaluation Form.

The Proceedings on the Workshop on Faculty Mentoring and Tenure are posted on the Faculty Senate website: http://www.musc.edu/facsen/subbi/tenure_workshop/tenure_workshop.htm

Academic Affairs Committee

Chair: Philippe Arnaud

Compensation: The Committee is awaiting access to obtaining data on compensation from the Office of the Provost with the help of the Senate Chair. The Committee will share the data with the Gender Equity Committee.

Eberhard Voit, Chair, Ad hoc subcommittee on Indirect costs, reported that his committee has scheduled a meeting with David Welch of Contracts and Grants Accounting Department to explore regulations regarding indirect costs.

University Affairs Committee

Chair: Mary P. Mauldin

The University Affairs Committee is developing a faculty survey designed to collect data on information technology issues. The survey is in the final stages of review and will be published online in August/September. Results of the survey will be summarized and presented to Faculty Senate. The committee and the Faculty Senate will work closely together to determine the most effective method for distributing the results to administration.

The Committee had also recommended an orientation for new Senators. The Executive Committee will plan this orientation and hold August/September. The committee had also recommended a change in the process for senators to volunteer for various committees and to elect a chair. The Executive Committee will finalize the process for committee assignments and chair election through due process.

Governance Committee

Chair: Francine R. Margolius

The Senate Chair reported on behalf of Francine R. Margolius. The highlights are:

Faculty Handbook: The Faculty Hand Book with the Board approved revisions duly inserted is finally ready to be mailed to the Board of Trustees by July 8. The Board of Trustees will discuss and vote to adopt the revisions, that incoroporate all the approved policies and cleaned up text and continuity. Then the Senate can continue to work on areas that need further revision and clarification. Senators expressed their appreciation to Francine R. Margolius, Adrian Reuben and Walker Coleman of the President's office for spending endless hours and effort in getting this document revised.

Elections: The Annual Faculty Senate Election has been completed, and new Senators will assume office in September. However, they are invited to attend Senate meetings as guests until then. The College of Health Professions will need a special election because of resignations of Janice Hundley, Rich Hernandez and Gail Pashek.

New Information

The Chair reported that concerns have been expressed regarding the policies on conflict of interest and outside activities previously approved by the Faculty Senate and that discussions are under way to resolve these concerns. The suggested revisions will go through the formal approval process in the Faculty Senate.

The Senate Chair presented Dr. Rosalie Crouch with a plaque on behalf of the Faculty Senate in appreciation of her support of the Faculty and the Faculty Senate during her term as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. She was applauded for these efforts.

President's Council

None reported.