July 5, 2002 UNT Inhouse publication: Faculty Senate meets for the last time during 2001-02 year

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Faculty Senate meets for the last time during 2001-02 year

The UNT Faculty Senate heard a series of committee reports and administrative presentations during the group's final meeting of the 2001-02 academic year on June 12.

The senate approved items including:

A report from the Faculty Senate Committee on Committees presented by Clarice Luce, committee chair, regarding nominations to fill vacancies on five committees.
A written report from the committee on the status of women, prepared by committee chair Pamiela Hight, about hiring and retention of female faculty members. The report states that gathering and examining accurate data to track hiring, salaries and tenure-track status of female faculty members is daunting. The committee suggests hiring a gender equity officer within the provost's office to deal specifically with questions about gender, hiring and compensation.
A report from the Faculty Handbook committee, including proposed handbook revisions, presented by John Todd, committee member. Todd explained that the changes to the handbook were relatively minor and editorial in nature, and that the committee made the changes in an effort to remove items in the book that are outdated and to ensure that what appears in the handbook matches university policy and federal requirements.
A written report from the faculty research committee, prepared by Art Goven, committee chair. The report explained the application process for faculty research grants, the small grants program and junior faculty summer research fellowships.
A report from the university elections committee, presented by Martha Tarlton, committee chair. Most of the report centered on the effectiveness and efficiency of electronic balloting. Following a return to the use of paper ballots for faculty-related elections during the fall due to problems with the WebCT system, electronic balloting resumed for the spring semester with several improvements made to the process.
A report from an ad hoc committee formed to examine the process of investigating sexual harassment and sexual discrimination complaints, presented by Cassandra Berry, committee member. Berry said that the most significant change to the policy is that at the same time that a person accused of a complaint is notified of that complaint, investigators will contact witnesses who have firsthand knowledge of the alleged incident. That way, Berry said, when investigators meet with the accused, the information supplied by witnesses can be included in the allegations.

In other business, the senate:

Heard a brief report presented by Suzanne LaBrecque, vice provost and associate vice president for academic affairs, about summer class enrollments and the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund grant
Read the written report prepared by Jeffrey Oxford, vice chair, regarding the meeting of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee with UNT administrators.
Presented Juliet Getty, chair, with a certificate of appreciation for her service as senate chair. Getty also presented certificates of appreciation to senators who were completing one and two years of service in the senate.