SENATORS: Tom Acker, Sheri Arosteguy, Barbara Borst, Jim Buckley, Judy Goodhart (for Cindy Thomas), Phil Kavanagh, Steve, Murray, Doug O'Roark, Russ Walker, Carrie McVean Waring, Mary Zimmerer.

GUESTS: Matt Dahl, Duane Hrncir, Gary Looft, Ann Sanders

Senate President Doug O'Roark opened the meeting at 3:30 pm.

I. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Doug updated the Senate on the actions of the transition team that is guiding the draft legislation for a new, independent governing board for MSC. The team decided to have an eleven member board that included one faculty member and one non-voting student, with no requirement for the other members to come from any specific geographic area. It was felt that a board of this size would provide greater opportunity to include people who could help the college in some way. The team decided that the faculty representative would be a voting member of the board except on personnel decisions. However, Representative Gayle Berry declined to include the faculty vote in her legislation (HB 1093) because of opposition from the governor.

The Colorado Commission on Higher Education is still supporting its proposal to increase the base funding for the state colleges. Efforts are being made to have the state colleges return just 2.46% of this year's budget to the state, instead of the 6% return that has been requested.

Concerns have been raised as to how appropriate it is for Duane Hrncir to retain some of his duties as dean while serving as the interim Vice President of Academic Affairs. Duane noted that Steve Werman (Chair of Biology) will be covering the day-to-day duties of the dean. Doug stated that the Senate should be made aware of any problems that arise with Duane's dual role.

Doug asked if senators had heard a rumor that the MSC administration was going to begin appointing department chairs without input from faculty. He said that this idea has come up from time to time, but no change is underway. (The current practice is for department faculty to hold an election to recommend a chair to the dean. There have been occasions when the winner of the election was not appointed as chair.)

According to the usual practice of having Senate meetings on the first and third Thursdays of each month, the next meeting would be on February 6. However, the Trustees are meeting on that date, so the Senate will meet on January 30 instead.

Russ Walker announced that he will likely miss the first Senate meetings in March and April, and asked for a volunteer to act as Senate secretary for those meetings. Nobody volunteered. Yet.

II. MEETING MINUTES

A motion was made to approve the October 24 Curriculum Committee minutes (Zimmerer/Buckley). The motion passed.

A motion was made to approve the October 22 Graduate Council minutes (Zimmerer/Waring). The motion passed.

A motion was made to receive the November 12 Graduate Council minutes (Kavanagh/Waring). The motion passed. Included with these minutes is a section on graduate policies proposed for the MSC catalog.

A motion was made to approve the November 21 Faculty Senate minutes (Zimmerer/Kavanagh). The motion passed.

III. UPCOMING TOPICS FOR SENATE DISCUSSION

Doug reminded the senators to be prepared to discuss several pending issues at the next meeting. These issues include the distinguished faculty awards, the ombud proposal, class sizes, pass/fail and plus/minus grading options, and comments on the current drafts of Chapters 1 and 2 of the self-study for MSC's reaccreditation.

Doug stated that this year's distinguished faculty awards would not be covered by any new policies and procedures that the Senate approves this semester.

A motion was made at 4:05 to adjourn. The motion passed.