Present:  Wayne Schumacher, Cody Bustamante, Curt Whittaker, Sib Farrell, Dan Rubenson, Marny Rivera, Wilkins-O'Riley Zinn, Kevin Talbert, Peter Wu, Jean Maxwell, Terry Longshore, Jon Harbaugh, Lee Ayers, Mark Siders, Etsuko Fujimoto, Mara Affre, Elena Ruggerio, Dale Vidmar, Connie Anderson, Diana Maltz, Laura O’Bryon, Earl Potter.o:p>

Guests: Barbara Scott, Ken Kempner, Diane Brimmer, Carl Moody, Sarah Ann Hones, Cynthia Beckwith, Ron Bolstad, Mike Corcoran, Phil Pifer, Ed Battistella, Elisabeth Zinser.

I.          Approved Minutes of December 1, 2003

            Motion by Dale Vidmar, Second by Zinn with no changes.

II.         Announcements

A.     Laura O'Bryon will be sending out a Survey to the Faculty Senate Members for anonymous input on the Faculty Senate process and experience thus far this year. Responses will be considered confidential and will be compiled as a generic report for review by the Advisory Council.

III.       Remarks from the Provost

A.     Chancellor Jarvis will be visiting SOU on Tuesday January 14^th to discuss retention issues and details about our student population. SOU's strengths and challenges will be reviewed and the results of the discussion will be shared with the Senate.

B.     The deadline for submission of the SOU Strategic Initiative Proposals is st1:date Year="2004" Day="16" Month="1">January 16^th, 2004.

IV.       Remarks from the President

A.     The Oregon Campus Compact has designated an individual grant for the Konoway Nika Tillicum Native American youth program and an institutional grant has been received for $5,000 for this year, to be used for development of a drafted plan to support University programs, with the recommendation to apply for additional grants of $10,000 for each of the next two years.

B.     A list of the current and appointed Oregon State Board of Higher Education members waiting for Senate Confirmation include:

1.  New: Neil Goldschmidt (former Governor of Oregon), Kirby Dyess (recently retired from Intel Corporation), John E. von Schlegell (Managing Principal of Endeavor Capital), Donald W. Blair (Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Nike, Inc.), Timothy J. Nesbitt (President of Oregon AFL-CIO), Howard F. Sohn (Chairman of the Board of Lone Rock Timber Company, Roseburg), Dr. Gretchen S. Schuette (President of Chemeketa Community College).

                  2.  Reappointed: Dr. Geraldine L. Richmond (Professor of Chemistry, UO).

3.  Note that current members Henry Lorenzen (lawyer in Pendleton), Bridget Burns (student at OSU), and Rachel Pilliod (student at UO) are continuing (no need for Senate confirmation.

C.     The President invited Cynthia Beckwith to discuss the decrease in PERS and ORP contribution rates. Currently, whatever happens in PERS allocations, occurs for ORP as they are linked by legislative action. However, PERS has defined benefits programs (life and health insurance benefits after retirement) and ORP does not offer these benefits. The recent rate reduction for ORP is currently being reviewed and contested with the potential of “de-coupling” PERS and ORP.

D.     The President invited Ron Bolstad to discuss the shift in job assignments and responsibilities for Bruce Moats and Craig Morris. Bruce Moats is now the Director of Facilities Planning and Construction. This recognizes the extraordinary amount of facilities and campus master planning work underway at this time and into the foreseeable future. Craig Morris is now the Interim Director of Plant Services and is still the Director of Business Services.

E.      SOU’s recent formal application for membership in the Frontier Conference is underway, through a number of steps under the Conference’s normal process.

F.      The SOU Foundation Fund Drive is getting underway. Formal letters of appeal will be going out to the community.

V.        Advisory Council Report from the Faculty Senate Vice Chair: Jon Harbaugh

            A.  Areas discussed at the Advisory Council Meeting on December 8th included:

1.      The Academic Policies Committee will be asked to review the grade grievance process and to bring recommended changes forward to the Provost and the Senate.

2.      Teaching and scholarship issues are under discussion.

3.      The Medford Chamber Forum luncheons held once per month hold significant regional interest and have SOU representation at each meeting.

4.      The Advisory Council will be putting forward a SKID Survey and is looking at the revision of the AC meeting process.

VI.       Remarks from the Student Senate Representative: Angela Galvan

A.  Email attachment covers the remarks.

VII.      Reports

A.     Interinstitutional Faculty Senate (IFS) – Marny Rivera reported on the IFS meeting. Email attachment covers the remarks.

VIII. Discussion Items

A.     Academic Policies Committee Grade Change Proposal – discussion covered the reasoning behind the proposed use of an M for when a grade isn't recorded and an NC as a "no-credit" designation. Senate vote will be held for this proposal at February 2nd meeting.

B.     Provost Potter shared that the American Language Academy went bankrupt in late fall and a new contract was signed with English Language Studies (ELS), a subsidiary of Berlitz, International.  There was no loss of students during this transition.

XI.    Reports- No reports

XII.  Adjourned approximately 5:10 pm.                                              Minutes submitted by Laura O’Bryon