Executive Committee Minutes

03/10/2011 03:30 PM - Peabody Board Room - Administration Building
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The University Council Executive Committee met on March 10, 2011 in the Peabody Board Room of the Administration Building. Jeff Dorfman, chair, called the meeting to order at 3:30pm. Standing Committee Chairs in attendance were Irwin Bernstein, Strategic Planning Committee, Adrian Childs, Committee on Statutes, Bylaws and Committees, Marisa Pagnattaro, Educational Affairs Committee, David Shipley, University Curriculum Committee, Thiab Taha, Faculty Affairs Committee, and Steven Gibson of the Human Resources Committee was represented by proxy by Brenda Keen. Visitors included Meg Amstutz, David Berle, Jenna Brown, Cham Dallas, Wells Ellenburg, Mariana Heredia, Kathryn Ingall, Laura Jolly, Maggie Kerins, Fiona Liken, Erin Lipp, Libby Morris, and Jayne Smith.

The minutes of the February 3, 2011 Executive Committee meeting were approved as distributed (attachment a).

  1. Action Items:
    1. Proposals from the University Curriculum Committee:
      1. Proposal for a new major in Environmental Health Science (Ph.D.). A vote was taken and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
      2. Proposal for a new Undergraduate Certificate in Local Food Systems. Following a brief discussion, a vote was taken and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
      3. Proposal for a new Graduate Certificate in International Agriculture. A vote was taken and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
      4. Proposal for a new Graduate Certificate in Disaster Management. A vote was taken and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
      5. Proposal for the following name changes within the recently renamed Department of Communication Studies: From Speech Communication (A.B., M.A., Ph.D.) to Communication Studies (A.B., M.A., Ph.D.) and From Minor in Speech Communication to Minor in Communication Studies. Following a brief discussion, a vote was taken and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
      6. Proposal to terminate the Academic Affairs Policy Statement #12, Competence in Oral Communication and Basic Use of Computers. Following a discussion on the proposal, a vote was taken and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
    2. Proposal from the Educational Affairs Committee:
      1. Proposal to revise the Withdrawal Policy. Following a lengthy discussion during which the Educational Affairs Committee was asked to consider the possibility of a grade of "W" for university administrative withdrawals, a vote was taken and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
    3. Proposals from the Faculty Affairs Committee:
      1. Proposal for revisions to the Guidelines for Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure. Following an extensive discussion, a friendly amendment to change the wording on item number four from "may request" to "may add" and remove the phrase "be added" was agreed to by the committee. Discussion over item number one of the proposal prompted a recommendation to return the proposal back to the Faculty Affairs Committee. A two-thirds vote is required in the bylaws to send a proposal back to a committee and not be placed on a University Council agenda. A vote was called with 7 votes in favor of sending the proposal to University Council and 11 votes against it. Lacking a two-thirds majority, the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
      2. Proposal for revisions to the Academic Affairs Policy Manual, Section 1.02- Teaching Faculty Ranks. Following a brief discussion, a vote was taken and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
    4. Proposal from the Committee on Statutes, Bylaws, and Committees:
      1. First Reading: Proposal for amendments to the University Council Bylaws. Following an extensive discussion on the changes to the bylaws, a vote was taken and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 24th, 2011 University Council agenda.
    5. Proposal presented by Executive Committee chair, Jeff Dorfman:
      1. Proposal for revisions to the USG Faculty Council Bylaws. A non-binding vote was taken and the committee voted in favor of the Executive Committee chair supporting the proposed changes to the USG Faculty Council Bylaws.
  2. New Business:
    1. Jerry Daniel, president of Staff Council, informed Executive Committee members of the need for Staff Council to obtain a statement of endorsement required by the Board of Regents to have representation on the USG Staff Council, which serves as an official advisory group to the Board of Regents. Lacking an endorsement from President Adams, he plans to bring the issue up at the next University Council meeting in hopes of acquiring an endorsement from that body.
    2. Executive Committee chair Jeff Dorfman reminded Executive Committee members that their next meeting would involve the election of a new chair-elect for next year's term.
    3. Provost Morehead thanked Executive Committee members, as well as UGA faculty, staff, and students, for their involvement with the SACS re-accreditation process during the first week of March. The provost informed the committee that the process and visit went extremely well. The provost singled out Dr. Laura Jolly and Professor Bob Boehmer for their hard work during this process.
    4. Lauren Moret, proxy for Graduate Student representative Jason O'Rouke, invited members to the 2011 GSA Interdisciplinary Conference being held on April 2 at the Miller Learning Center.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:00pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Rebecca L.  Macon, Registrar
Secretary to University Council


Executive Committee Attendance                                    Represented by Proxy
Michael Bamber                                                                 Jason O'Rouke (Lauren Moret)
Irwin Bernstein
David Bradford
Adrian Childs
Jerry Daniel
Joshua Delaney
Jeff Dorfman
Deborah Elder
Silvia Giraudo
Travis Glenn
Joe Hermanowicz
Rebecca Macon
Jere Morehead
Joe Nairn
Branson Ritchie
Margaret Robinson
Jennifer Samp
Scott Shamp
David Spooner