I. The Moderator made brief opening remarks, most pertinent of which was instructing the faculty in the appropriate rules of order in discussion of and voting on the agenda items to follow.
 
 

II. A motion was made, seconded and carried to incorporate two (2) separately distributed corrections into the Statutes recommended to the General Faculty by the Faculty Senate. A motion was then made, seconded and carried to approve the minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting held November 26, 2002. These minutes include Statutes recommended to the General Faculty by the Faculty Senate, which approval constitutes General Faculty approval of the statutes to be voted upon.
 
 

III. A formal vote was then carried out by paper ballot on the statutes recommended to the General Faculty by the Faculty Senate. Ballots were distributed, returned and counted. By a large majority the statutes were approved by the General Faculty. They will go to the President who will send them downtown for Board of Regents’ approval as soon as possible.
 
 

IV. In Dr. Rossbacher’s absence Dr. Koger outlined a transition plan for Academic Affairs due to Dr. Pfeiffer’s pending retirement.

· An interim appointment will be made, the interim VPAA not to be a candidate

for the permanent position. This may be someone from off-campus;

· A search committee will be appointed to handle advertisements and network

contacts for the position, in order to generate the largest, most diverse appli-

cant pool possible and also to generate additional name and academic recog-

nition for Southern Polytechnic. Interviews are planned for early fall, with a

start date for the new VPAA projected for January 1, 2004.

Dr. Pfeiffer made the following remarks:

· Initial feedback from the Board of Regents indicates that MATH 1109 may be offered without a formal Learning Support office or department in place on campus;

· The Bachelor’s in Information Technology, offered at/through Floyd, has been approved;

· Proposed reorganization adjustments will be placed on the Board of Regent’s March calendar. An internal search will commence to fill department chair positions. Initial proposals include a five-course load per academic year for the chairs, plus a $500 per month additional stipend;

· Now that the Statutes have been approved, work is to commence on the P&P’s, with promotion and tenure P&P’s to receive first attention;

· ATET proposals to convert to a program in Apparel Design and Management, while retaining the separate Textile Engineering Technology program, are outstanding with potential faculty position and other program support to come from industry;

· The first priority in difficult budget times is and will be to preserve faculty positions. New position requests should be able to be preserved;

· The Masters in Systems Engineering will be ready to begin Fall semester, 2003. Accreditation reviews are in good shape, with some legitimate requests for a year’s delay being initiated.

· SIS announced a Tibetan program to take place on February 6, 2003, and an invitation to an EWeek luncheon extended with RSVP to Annette Gillespie if interested.
 
 

V. A motion was made, seconded and carried to adjourn.
 
 
 
 

Respectfully submitted,
 
 
 
 

/s/______________________________ /s/______________________________

Thomas R. Currin W. Sanborn Pfeiffer

Moderator and President, Vice President, Academic Affairs

Faculty Senate