Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
November 15, 2016, 11:00 AM
Byrd Hall Auditorium
FACULTY SENATE MEETING PARTICIPANTS LIST - 11/15/2016
Academic Unit
Type
Name of Senator
Chair, Faculty Senate
Elected
Joelle Neulander
Provost & Administration (non-voting)
Provost
Ex. Officio
Connie Book
Assoc Prov - Academic Affairs
Ex. Officio
Mark Bebensee
Assoc Prov - Plan, Assess, & Eval Ex. Officio
Tara Hornor
Registrar
Ex. Officio
Sylvia Nesmith
School of Business
Business
Appointed
Al Lovvorn
Business
Elected
Mike Barth
Business
Elected
Ron Green
Business
Elected
Bill Woolsey
School of Engineering
Civil/Environmental Engr
Appointed
Kevin Bower
Civil/Environmental Engr
Elected
Jeff Davis
Electrical/Computer Engr
Appointed
Bob Barsanti
Electrical/Computer Engr
Elected
Jason Skinner
Engr Ldrship/Prgrm Mgmt
Appointed
Chuck Skipper
Engr Ldrship/Prgrm Mgmt
Elected
Keith Plemmons
Mechanical Engineering
Appointed
Rob Rabb
Mechanical Engineering
Elected
Monica Bubacz
School of Humanities & Social Sciences
Criminal Justice
Appointed
Sean Griffin
Criminal Justice
Elected
Carl Jensen
English
Appointed
David Allen
English
Elected
Kate Pilhuj
English
Elected
Tom Thompson
History
Appointed
Kathy Grenier
History
Elected
Keith Knapp
History
Elected
Kurt Boughan
Modern Languages/Lit/Culture
Appointed
Guy Toubiana
Modern Languages/Lit/Culture
Elected
Juan Bahk
Modern Languages/Lit/Culture
Elected
Zane Segle
Political Science
Appointed
Dubose Kapeluck
Political Science
Elected
Jack Porter
Psychology
Appointed
Steve Nida
Psychology
Elected
Tim Hanchon
Psychology
Elected
Lloyd "Chip" Taylor
Initials
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
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X
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X
X
X
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Academic Unit
Type
Name of Senator
School of Science & Mathematics
Biology
Appointed
Joel Gramling
Biology
Elected
Danny Gustafson
Chemistry
Appointed
Holly Bevsek
Chemistry
Elected
Lisa Zuraw
Chemistry
Elected
Suzanne Mabrouk
Health, Exercise, and Sport Sci
Appointed
Harry Davakos
Health, Exercise, and Sport Sci
Elected
Tim Bott
Math/Computer Science
Appointed
Mei Chen
Math/Computer Science
Elected
John Moore
Math/Computer Science
Elected
Dave Trautman
Physics
Appointed
Joel Berlinghieri
Physics
Elected
Pat Briggs
Physics
Elected
Scott Yost
Zucker Family School of Education
Education
Appointed
George Williams
Education
Elected
Tammy Graham
Education
Elected
Renee Jefferson
Independent Academic Units
Leadership Studies
Appointed
Ben Dean
Leadership Studies
Elected
Elizabeth Connor
Library
Appointed
David Goble
Library
Elected
Kirstin Steele
Military Science
Appointed
Mark Raschke
Naval Science
Appointed
Neil Schuehle
Aerospace Studies
Appointed
Clay Hall
Visitors (non-voting)
Lori Hicklin (HESS)
John Weinstein (Science & Mathematics)
Initials
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Call to Order
Chair Neulander called the meeting to order at 11:00am.
Joelle Neulander
Curriculum Matters
Joelle Neulander
Two courses in the Nursing program, NURS 200 and 203, were presented for approval. During
the discussion, in a response to a question raised about syllabi, it was pointed out that the courses
in question had been approved and forwarded by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
(UCC), and that each department had representatives on that committee to review syllabi. The
Senate looks at the curriculum from a higher level. There was a question raised about whether
the introductory courses should be numbered in the 100s, but there are numerous instances on
campus where introductory courses are numbered in the 200s. The courses were adopted by a
majority voice vote.
Discussion of Financial Issues
Joelle Neulander
In a broad discussion of the financial issues that affect the academic programs at The Citadel, a
number of key points were raised:

In many senates, the faculty vote on some initiatives that they consider important and
make recommendations about priorities for budget spending. We should lay out our ideas
and refer them to our Financial Affairs Committee regarding the academic budgets and
take a more active role in providing input on the budget..

The Financial Affairs Committee should have good overall look at budget and know what
resources are available from all areas. By gathering that information and communicating
it to the Senate, we will have a better idea of how many resources are being directed to
which projects. We need to be cognizant of the overall budget as well as some of the
detail as it pertains to academic programs. Additionally, while data is often provided, it is
frequently not provided in terms that laymen can understand.

Some specific examples of budget questions were raised about Auxiliary services and
Athletics. How does the money come in and how does it get spent. It was pointed out that
the faculty had been told in the past that Athletics were supposed to be weaned off of
reliance on the fees and auxiliaries, but we do not know whether that has happened.

The faculty were promised transparency, but we didn't really get it. We have been
deluged with minutiae data, but we have not been given the analysis.

In the Faculty Senate brownbag from two weeks ago, VP of Finance Joe Garcia said that
the trend in spending is unsustainable. We don't know what that means or what the
impact is going to be. Perhaps we should be flattening the organization.

With respect to fundraising, it always seems to be about new or improved facilities, but
never about academics.

The Nursing program was cited as an example of a lack of transparency about costs. The
Faculty Senate members are approving something blind without knowing what the cost
is, or what the tradeoffs are. We simply don't know what the various existing academic
programs cost, nor do we have sufficient information to evaluate the cost (and therefore
the tradeoffs) for new programs. We end up approving things without having a clear
understanding of the financial impact of those decisions. We need an open, public budget.
We need to know where the money goes so that we can make choices that work best for
all of us collectively. It is hard to prioritize when we don't really know the cost of the
tradeoffs between initiatives.

The Library needs to have a better idea of the costs and needs because the budget is a
zero-sum game, and we need to be able to follow the money.

When we start talking about the budgets for academic programs, we need to look at both
the revenues and the expenses. A sustainable business case for the various programs is a
start. Everyone has vested interests, but we need to understand the tradeoffs because there
are a finite amount of resources to go around, and our programs need to be sustainable.

With respect to sustainability, we should have a better understanding of how big we want
to be. We have grown significantly in the past several years, and there have been negative
consequences with respect to parking, class size, faculty load, etc. Bigger is not
necessarily better.

We can find money for new buildings, but we can't find money to bring our salaries in
line with our peer institutions?

Class size affects teaching environment. Our DFW rates go up with class size, which
affects overall costs. This might be something that the Financial Affairs Committee could
be asked to look at. We want the Financial Affairs Committee to be more proactive going
forward.

We have revenue streams that are not elastic. Although donors may give money to build
new buildings, the maintenance on those buildings comes out of operating funds. When
the Citadel went to the five schools model, deans were promoted as one solution because
they would be rain-makers that would be raising money for the academic programs. That
has not happened across the boards.

The reduction in state support was discussed. We have gone from being state supported
to state assisted to state located to state tolerated.

We have programs that will never make money, but we provide them as a public service.
We may prefer to tolerate loss leaders that provide a public good, and we may need to be
rolling back tuition to support some programs. Some of our programs may end up being
priced out of the range of the people that need them.

With respect to the online initiatives, we are going to fully online, but that may not be
where the market is actually going. The programs are just being handed to us, but we
don't really know whether that makes good sense financially.
Items of Interest from the Provost
Connie Book
Provost Book solicited feedback from the faculty on several items, including:


The revised calendar for the hurricane. While there were and continue to be some issues,
the overall consensus was that it was as good as could be hoped for.
The new advisement model. We plan to continue requiring students to meet with their
adviser to get the advising hold released. There was a suggestion to extend the deadline
for closing registration and redeploying/closing low enrollment classes until after grades
are out. Some students are waiting until grades are out to determine whether they need to
take classes. It was pointed out that three hundred students had not yet registered, and the


lack of a registration deadline allows them to delay registering, which creates problems
for the faculty in aligning resources with class needs.
Faculty wear of the ACU uniform. There has been a proposal to allow faculty to wear the
non-dress field uniform. The faculty were generally positive about having the option to
wear the ACUs on Mondays and Thursdays.
There will be a faculty meeting on November 29 at 11:00 location to be announced.
Other Business
Joelle Neulander
Senators were asked to let the Senate Executive Committee know the names of any new senators
by December 6, 2016. That will help expedite the assignment process for the upcoming years.
There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 12:00pm.