FACULTY SENATE MEETING
January 25, 2011

 

1. Call to Order
Chair Overton called the eighth meeting of the fifty-seventh session of the NC State Faculty Senate to order at 3 p.m.

2. Welcome and Announcements
Chair Overton welcomed Senators and Guests.

Announcements

Chair Overton made the following announcements:

• Tom Ross, President of the UNC System is visiting the NC State campus today. 
• Chair Overton emphasized the importance of talking to faculty about the Faculty Senate elections. 
• The Governance Committee discussed the elections last fall and the suggestion was made to ask the candidates to submit three to five sentences stating why they would like to serve in the position. 
• NC State’s Faculty Assembly delegation includes 5 delegates and 3 alternates.  The delegates are elected by the Faculty Senate but the candidates do not have to be Senators; they can come from other areas of campus. 
• The Secretary of the Faculty is elected from the Senate body and he/she serves a two year term concurrent with the Chair of the Faculty.
• Chair Overton noted that the Senate needs better communication, so she has asked the body to think about that issue.
• The senate needs to elect two representatives to serve on the Athletics Council.

3. Approval of the Minutes, Meeting No. 7,  November 30, 2010
The minutes were approved as submitted

4. Comments from the Provost
Provost Arden reported on three major processes that are currently in progress.  They are strategic planning, annual budget process, and the process to look at reorganization.  

Provost Arden stated that the strategic planning process began six or seven months ago when the Chancellor came on board.  The Chancellor suggested that a long term plan was needed at this university, not just a plan to get us through this budget, but a five to eight year plan about who we are as an institution and how we are going to get there. 

Annual Budget Process - There are two budget processes, and one has to do with the current fiscal year.  Provost Arden stated that they have been allocating one time funds that are available in the current fiscal year; mostly this money went out to the academic units.  So far, there are more than twenty million dollars in one time funds and five million dollars in recurring funds in the current year.

Provost Arden reported that the last part of the process which relates to both strategic planning and budget reduction is what the Chancellor announced last week; the magnitude of this reduction is such that we really have to think clearly about the way in which we do business. The Chancellor has asked Provost Arden and Vice Chancellor Leffler to have a short-term process and to recommend some consolidations, eliminations, and increases in efficiencies that should be considered for the institution in the way we do business. 

5. 2008 COACHE Survey of Pre-Tenure Faculty
Dr. Nancy Whelchel, Assistant Director for Survey Research, University Planning and Analysis explained that the COACHE survey is for pre-tenured/tenure track faculty.   The survey allows us to compare ourselves to other universities. She noted that NC State’s response rates are pretty good. 

The result of the survey is available on the University Planning and Analysis website at:  http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/survey/reports/coache/COACHE.AY08_09

Vice Provost Brown commented on NC State’s relative strengths compared to the peer institutions and other universities. She also talked about how the university has changed since the first administration of the survey in 2005-06. 

The COACHE Survey presentation is available on the Faculty Senate website at: http://ncsu.edu/faculty_senate/items-interest/documents/2008COACHEPresentationFacSenate.pdf

6. Mediation Training
Senator Levy announced that mediation training will be offered three days during the spring semester and 15-20 faculty members are needed to serve as mediators.

7. Adjournment
A motion passed to adjourn the meeting at 5 p.m.