[Approved November 20, 2006]

Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate

November 13, 2006

St. Mary’s 113 B; 10:00 AM

Present: J. Biddle, D. Biers (presiding), D. Courte, P. Johnson, W. Luckett, M. Morton, J.O’Gorman, R. Penno, M. Schmitz, A. Seielstad, R. Wells

J. Farrelly (Faculty Board)

Roll Call:

Eleven of the twelve members of the Committee were present.

Prayer:

D. Biers opened the meeting with a prayer by June Parker Huber.

Approval of Minutes:

November 6, 2006 approved.

Old Business:

The following reports were received:

· J. Biddle reported for the Academic Policies Committee of the Academic Senate. The standing committee was short one member for a quorum at the Nov. 9 meeting, but conducted a vote on the proposal from the Calendar Committee electronically. That recommendation will come to ECAS for the Nov. 20 meeting. They will elect a new chairperson for the Committee on Nov. 30. They are developing working groups in relationship to the “Habits of Inquiry” document.

· D. Biers reported for the Faculty Affairs Committee of the Academic Senate. They will meet on November 17. J. Untener has provided a final draft of the Faculty Background Check document. The document should be ready for Senate action at the December meeting.

· W. Luckett and D. Courte reported for the Student Academic Policies Committee of the Academic Senate. They will meet Nov. 17. They are working on the Honor Code statement of purpose. They have also been discussing the other documents assigned to them and will provide input to the other standing committees on these.

· R. Penno reported that the draft proposal for reconstituting a committee on committees is available on the Senate quickplace. He will do some revisions for consideration at the Nov. 20 meeting.

New Business:

• The Executive Committee discussed how to process DOC 06-09 in conjunction with a discussion of the general processes used by ECAS, especially in relationship to the processing of issues and documents. Members reviewed and discussed a proposal brought forward by J. Biddle and also reviewed the history of operational processes that have been used by the Academic Senate. J. Farrelly noted that he submitted, at the request of the Provost, a report on Senate processes. This was sent to the Faculty Affairs Committee which currently has it on its agenda. As a result of this discussion, three decisions were made:
• R. Penno will update the Senate Issues list and will begin keeping that list. It was noted that some method of linking working document to this list may need to be developed.
• Members of ECAS voted to re-label the “Action” line on DOC 06-09, 06-10, and 06-11 “To Be Determined: The document has been assigned to all standing committees with the XXX Committee taking primary responsibility for finalizing the document. Once this is completed, the action will be assigned.”
• D. Biers will begin a process for developing written procedural guidelines for the Academic Senate so that as transitions take place in the membership and officers the guidelines can be part of a smooth transition.
• D. Biers reported that J. Carter has asked for recommendations as to how the Academic Senate can be involved in discussions about changes in medical benefits beginning in 2008. It was decided that a first step would be to invite her to an ECAS meeting to share information and possible methods of consultation.

Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 11:20 AM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Patricia A. Johnson, Secretary