UNIVERSITY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes

August 22, 2006

Present: President Carl Patton, Provost Ron Henry, Paul Alberto, Siva Nathan,

Debbie Rupp, Dabney Dixon, Don Reitzes, Dean Dabney

The minutes from the last meeting were reviewed and approved.

The President reported that:

Ø He had been visiting with Legislators throughout the state.

Ø The BOR reestablished the priority list of capital projects. There is no guarantee that the Humanities building will be funded in the expected time frame. He had spoken to Dean Adamson about Deans and senior faculty raising money for the Humanities building, similar to what was done for the Science Teaching Lab.

Ø The goal is to receive $50M from the State to fund the project, so it’s very important to keep this before the legislators and the governor.

The Provost reported that Dr. Douglass Covey had been selected as the VP for Student Services and will start no later than October 1. There will be four candidates interviewing this fall for the Dean of Policy Studies. Roy Bahl will continue as Dean until a successor is found, which could be next June.

The Regents approved three more Regents’ Professors. They are Don Edwards,

Arun Rai, and Roy Bahl.

Summer enrollment was better than anticipated. Fall enrollment is up over 308,000 credit hours which was the target. The numbers will fluctuate in the first two weeks based on late registration, and students re-registering after being dropped. The number of transfers was up and the number of freshmen was down slightly. A more accurate number can be determined by mid-September with respect to paid credit hours and numbers.

2005 Racial Climate Survey

The Committee received the Climate Survey report prepared by a subcommittee of the Cultural Diversity Committee. The report was prepared by Drs. Ancis, Gallant, Burgess and Presley. The data gathered indicated a high level of satisfaction by all groups of undergraduate students. The committee agreed that the University has an issue of getting certain segments of the student population engaged in activities for more multicultural representation. Dr. Alberto will work with the subcommittee to finalize a list of recommendations to be presented to the Senate.

Motions Regarding GPA for Graduation

The Committee agreed to pass the motion submitted by the Committee on Admissions and Standards concerning the calculation of GPA for graduation of undergraduate students during the first three terms of the trial period of plus and minus grading.

Graduation requirement for graduate degrees

The Committee agreed to pass the motion received from the Deans Council concerning the calculation of GPA for graduation of graduate students during the first three terms of the trial period of plus and minus grading with minor revisions. The revision was to delete the word HOPE and remove the last set of parentheses. The paragraph now reads as follows:

“In order to earn any Georgia State University graduate degree, a student must have at least a 3.00 cumulative grade point average. In light of the transition to plus-minus grading, for students graduating in Fall 2006, Spring 2007, and Summer 2007, the 3.00 requirement may be met with the higher of the regular GPA (computed with pluses and minuses) or the GPA computed stripping off pluses and minuses.”

The committee agreed to postpone the President’s triennial evaluation for one year, as the Chancellor will be instituting a new annual evaluation of system presidents this year.

Upcoming Senate Executive meetings are scheduled for Thursday, September 14, at 4:00, and Monday, November 20, at 2:00.

The Senate Retreat will be Friday, October 20, 9:00 – 12:00. A few topics mentioned for the agenda are: Engaging the Students, the new Vice President for Student Services, and Compensation,

The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.