University Council Minutes

04/22/2015 03:30 PM - Tate Theater, Tate Student Center

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The University Council met on April 22, 2015 in the Tate Theatre. A quorum being present, the meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by President Jere Morehead.

As the first item of business, the minutes of the March 25, 2015 meeting were approved as distributed.

The President then delivered his report to the Council:

• On April 1, three University of Georgia Honors students received 2015 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships. As well, a record number of UGA students and alumni, 16 in total, have been selected as recipients of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. Additionally, another student has received the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, and two other students have received the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation Scholarship and the James Madison Graduate Fellowship. The President congratulated all of these students and commended the faculty who have served as mentors to these students.
• Honor's Week was held last week on campus and was a tremendous success. The President stated that UGA had many successes and achievements in the past academic year, including completing the best fundraising year in University history. The University is currently on track to beat that record in fundraising this year. Also in the past academic year, the most academically-qualified class in UGA history was enrolled and over 22,300 applications were received for Fall 2015, the largest pool of applicants in University history.
• Numerous prestigious faculty excellence awards have recently been awarded in research and teaching . Many external grants have also come to the University. A new hiring initiative is currently underway to recruit grant-active, tenured faculty members. Three new Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholars have been recruited this year, a remarkable accomplishment for a single year. Other research academic faculty were recruited outside of the GRA framework as well.
• The President stated that during this past year the University continued to push its mission as the land-grant institution of the state. A survey provided by the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach estimated that the annual impact of UGA on the state of Georgia at $4 billion.
• The Women's Leadership Initiative was launched last month, and there are on-going efforts to foster diversity and inclusion on campus, efforts that have led to UGA receiving the INSIGHT into Diversity Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award.
• Summing up these successes from the past year, the President stated that there are very good things happening on the campus of UGA.
• Looking to the future, the President stated that new ground has been broken on such new sites as the Science Learning Center, a new Food Technology Center at the Griffin campus, and a new Baldwin Hall Annex. In the past year, UGA dedicated such buildings as the Bolton Hall, the Veterinary Medicine Center, the renovated Foley Field, Delta Hall in Washington D.C., and a new home for the Wilson Center. Construction is underway on the first phase of the Terry College of Business Learning Community. The General Assembly has approved $43 million in state funds to the second phase of this project. The General Assembly also approved $17 million to build a new facility for the Center for Molecular Medicine that will be combined with non-state funds.
• The President expressed his gratitude to Governor Deal, Chancellor Huckaby, the General Assembly, and the Board of Regents for supporting a salary pool to be used for merit-based pay raises for faculty and staff in the coming years. The President stated that these funds are critically needed to recruit and retain the best and brightest faculty and staff.
• The President stated that none of what was accomplished at UGA during the past year could have been accomplished without the dedicated work and support of the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the University. The President thanked everyone who works to support UGA at its numerous campuses and locations around the world for their hard work and support.
• The President announced to the Council two new administrative appointments. First, Dr. Leslie Petch Lee has been named interim campus dean of the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership. The President stated that he believes that Dr. Lee will provide outstanding leadership in this role, which will begin in May, as a national search for a new dean commences. The President recognized and thanked Dr. Barbara Schuster for her leadership as the dean of the Medical Partnership. A new dean for The Graduate School has been named; Dr. Suzanne Barbour, a former graduate program director at Virginia Commonwealth University and currently a National Science Foundation program director, will begin in this role on July 13. The President thanked the Provost and Dean Craig Kennedy for their efforts in leading the search committee for this selection.
• Staff Appreciation Week will be held May 11-15, culminating with a Staff Appreciation Celebration event held at the intramural fields on College Station Road. The President thanked all of the individuals involved in the planning of this inaugural event.
• Before concluding his report, the President asked Council members, due to the size of the meeting's agenda, to state their positions clearly and succinctly during discussion on the agenda's action items. The President then asked Parliamentarian Professor Usha Rodrigues to explain and remind members of the nuances regarding discussion found in Robert's Rules of Order. Professor Rodrigues explained that regarding debate no member can speak more than twice to any particular question on the same day and that no member should speak twice until every member has been allowed to speak once.

The floor was then opened for the following standing committee and association reports.

• Executive Committee, presented by chair David Shipley
• University Curriculum Committee, presented by chair William Vencill
• Educational Affairs Committee, presented by Dr. Roxanne Eberle, substituting for chair Rodney Mauricio
• Committee on Statutes, Bylaws, and Committees, presented by chair Silvia Giraudo
• Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, presented by Professor David Shipley, substituting for chair Luke Naeher
• Committee on Facilities, presented by chair William Tollner
• Staff Council, presented by chair Michael Lewis
• Student Government Association, presented by president Johnelle Simpson
• Graduate Student Association, presented by president Peyton Bell

The following Action and Information Items were presented to the Council:

• William Vencill, chair of the University Curriculum Committee, presented the following proposals:
  • Proposal to continue offering the existing Master of Avian Health and Medicine (M.A.H.M., Online) without collaboration with the University of Melbourne.
  • Proposal to continue offering the existing Graduate Certificate in Avian Health (Online) without collaboration with the University of Melbourne. Dr. Vencill recommended that the two above proposals be considered as a single vote given how similar the items are to each other. Hearing no objections, a vote was called and both proposals were approved.
  • Proposal to change the name of the major in Research and Evaluation Methodologies (Ph.D.) to Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methodologies (Ph.D.). A vote was called and the proposal was approved.
  • Proposal to offer a new dual degrees in the following majors in Engineering and German: Agricultural Engineering (B.S.A.E.) and German (A.B.); Biological Engineering (B.S.B.E.) and German (A.B.); Civil Engineering (B.S.C.E.) and German (A.B.); Computer Systems Engineering (B.S.C.S.E.) and German (A.B.); Electrical and Electronics Engineering (B.S.E.E.) and German (A.B.);
    Mechanical Engineering (B.S.M.E.) and German (A.B.). A vote was called and the proposal was approved.
  • Proposal for a new university-wide Experiential Learning Requirement. A discussion occurred regarding the process of how the requirement would be implemented among the various schools and colleges as well as how experiential and hands-on learning might be defined in terms of the requirement. Following discussion, a vote was called and the proposal was approved.
• Roxanne Eberle, substituting for chair Rodney Mauricio of the Educational Affairs Committee, presented the following proposals and information item:
  • Proposal for the 2016-2017 Academic Calendar. A discussion did occur regarding how the proposed calendar begins the Fall and Spring semesters on Thursday instead of Monday. Following this discussion, a vote was called and the proposal was approved.
  • Proposal to revise the Academic Dismissal Policy. A vote was called and the proposal was approved.
  • Proposal to revise the Presidential Scholar and Dean's List Policy. A vote was called and the proposal was approved.
  • Information Item: 2013-2014 Academic Honesty Report.
• Silvia Giraudo, chair of the Committee on Statutes, Bylaws, and Committees, presented the following proposal:
  • Second Reading: Proposal for amendments to the University Council Bylaws and the University Statutes. A vote was called and both changes comprising the proposal were approved.
• Peyton Bell, president of the Graduate Student Association, presented the following proposal:
  • Second Reading: Proposal to amend the University Council Bylaws to allocate specific University Council seats for graduate students and undergraduate students. A discussion occurred among the Council regarding this change to the Bylaws. Mr. Bell stated that this proposal to increase the number of graduate students on Council was modest in its impact on Council membership, reducing the faculty percentage of the Council body by 3.3% (chart 1). He stated that this still ensured a faculty majority on Council while allowing more graduate student membership. Concerns were raised regarding the proposal from the floor, including that the increase in graduate student membership would not be in proportion with undergraduate membership in terms of enrollment and that the increase might affect achieving quorum at each meeting. Mr. Bell responded to these concerns stating that the SGA unanimously supported the proposed increase and did not fear any diminishing of their voice by having more graduate students on Council. He also stated that any issues regarding quorum should be handled separately from this issue. Discussion concluding, a vote was called on the proposal. A division of the vote revealed that the proposal was voted down by the Council, with 55 voting in favor of the proposal and 67 voting against.

There being no old or new business, the Council adjourned for the 2014-2015 term at 4:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Dr. Jan Hathcote, Registrar
Secretary to University Council

University Council Roster
Aderibigbe, Ibigbolade	Grantham, Tarek	Nesbit, Ryan
Arabnia, Hamid	Grey, Timothy	O'Kelley, Kip
Atkinson, Eric	Grossman, Barbara	O'Neill, Peter
Ayers, Benjamin	Hall, Jori	Owsiak, Andy
Bailey, Deryl	Hannings, Ashley	Pagnattaro, Marisa
Bell, Peyton	Hathcote, Jan	Pendergrass, Jan
Bierema, Laura	Hazinski, David	Peterson, Thomas
Bliss, Thomas	Heiss, Christian	Poland, Mary
Brown, Tifara	Henry, Arlana	Popik, Vladimir
Buda, Nate	Hernandez, Sonia	Rathbun, Stephen
Cahoon, Lynn	Holladay, Steven	Reidenbaugh, Patrick
Cameron, Kristen	Hollander, Barry	Reyes De Corcuera, Jose
Carswell, Andy	Hughes, Linda	Rhicard, Laura
Casey, Ashley	Iyengar, Sujata	Roberts, Susan
Cauthen, T.W.	James, Jennifer	Roman, Paul
Chapman, Sue	Jones, Betty	Rosemond, Amy
Coffield, Julie	Jutras, Peter	Rossbacher, Brigitte
Coker, Vickie	Kaplan, Holly	Samp, Jennifer
Dahlen, Joseph	Keadle, Tim	Santesso, Esra
Darbisi, Caorlina	Keen, Brenda	Sharma, Suraj
Dennis, Carla	Kisaalita, William	Shipley, David
Dorfman, Jeff	Lee, David	Shrivastav, Rahul
Dorsey, Alan	Lee, Jung Sun	Spivey, Julie
Dotts, Brian	Lee, Kyunghwa	Spooner, David
Dove, Robert	Lewis, Michael	Starai, Vincent
Fox, Linda	Lindstrom, Jennifer	Stooksbury, David
Freeman, Melissa	Madden, Marguerite	Thomas, Paul
Frick, Janet	Malone, Barrett	Toews, Mike
Frum, Jennifer	Mativo, John	Tollner, William
Gandhi, Kamal	Matthews, Paul	Vencill, William
Gibney, Angela	McDuff, Nancy	Weigle, Chloe
Giraudo, Silvia	McEwen, Dee Dee	Whitten, Pamela
Gittleman, Joe	McNulty, Tom	Wilde, Susan
Glass, Anne	Medine, Carolyn	Wilder, Shannon
Goodhue, Dale	Miller, Carey	Williams, Brian
Gordon, Leslie	Moore, Allen	Williams, Phillip
Gordon, Robert	Morehead, Jere	Wilson, Victor
Graff, Jennifer	Morse, Jack	Øie, Svein

Represented by Proxy

Allen, Sheila

Angle, J. Scott

Azadi, Parastoo

Brush, Ryan

Gragson, Ted

Graham, Toby

Greene, Dale

Griffin, Michele

Jacoby, Drew

Kerner, Kelly

Mason, Charlotte

Mauricio, Rodney

Moore, Mary

Naeher, Luke

Ojo, Akinloye

Rutledge, Peter B. "Bo"

Sarmiento, Fausto

Schuster, Barbara

Sellers, Holly

Thompson, Jim

Tricksey, Lauren