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K-State Today

October 11, 2013

Highlights of the Oct. 8 Faculty Senate meeting

Submitted by Faculty Senate

Highlights of the Oct. 8 Faculty Senate meeting:

Guests:

• Jennifer Gehrt, Gary Leitnaker and Provost April Mason were present to discuss the Affordable Care Act and how this will impact unclassified professionals, faculty, and graduate research assistants. A handout was distributed prior to the meeting as background information.

Consent agenda:

• The spring 2013 graduation list, as submitted by the registrar’s office, as well as several graduation list corrections/additions, and posthumous degree requests were approved.

Standing committee and Student Senate reports:

• Academic Affairs: Senator Andy Bennett noted there were no action items; however, next month the revisions to the current certificate policy will be brought forward for action as well as some course and curriculum changes for approval.
• Faculty Affairs: Senator Betsy Cauble updated senators on the several items on Faculty Affairs docket for this year.
• FSCOT: Senator Don Crawford once again updated senators about transition to Microsoft Office 365 email system. More than 22,000 total accounts have been migrated. From Oct. 4-6 ITS staff migrated; on Oct. 18 Library staff will migrate and before the end of fall 2013 the rest of campus will migrate. The communication channels with campus are: Office 365 website, IT News blog, K-State Today, Twitter, Knowledge base, and the Office 365 Yammer group.
• FSCOUP: Senator Barbara Anderson reported that FSCOUP met with Cindy Bontrager to discuss the university budget hot topics. They also met with Ryan Swanson, the new associate vice president of planning and facilities management and got an overview of his goals and objectives.
• Student Senate: Senator Kyle Nuss reported Student Senate has been busy. They will be making an appointment to the newly formed FS Professional Staff Affairs committee. They are also continuing work on the smoking policy changes.

Announcements:

• President Keen reported that Faculty Senate will have representation on the newly formed University Budget Committee.

New business

• The proposed academic calendar from fall 2016 to spring 2019 was presented to senate and was passed. This calendar is worked on by the University Calendar committee and submitted to the Board of Regents for final approval after Faculty Senate and the provost have signed off on it. Revisions can be made if necessary, as has happened in the past.

For the good of the university:

• President Keen informed senators the State of the University Address was presented in Manhattan and Salina and will also be given at the Olathe campus at 3 p.m. Oct. 15. These events were announced in K-State Today.
• Senator Crawford requested 1-3 more faculty members to serve on the email steering committee. Specifically they are non-technical faculty to give their perspective and input to this process.

Julia Keen, P.E., HBDP, PhD
Faculty Senate President
Associate Professor
Architectural Engineering and Construction Science
Kansas State University
248 Seaton Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-3575