GEORGIA
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
MINUTES
Meeting of
Held in the Poole Board Room of the
Members Present:
Agrawal (ChE); Allen (Arch); Boyd (Stu. Servcs); Clough (President); Hall* (Bio);
Horton (GTRI); Jayaraman (Mgt); Kahn (CEE); Mark (CoC); Swank (GTRI); Telotte
(LCC); Uzer (Phys.); Wardi* (ECE); Warren (EDI); Welch* (GTRI); Alexander
(Staff Rep); Michaels (G. Stu); Massey (U. Stu); Abdel-Khalik (SoF). [* Outgoing 2001-2002 Board members]
Members Absent: Chameau (Provost); Evans (GTRI); Marr (Psy);
Henry (OSP); Peterson (ECE)
Visitors: May (Pres. Office); McMath (Provost Office);
Rary (Legal)
a.
Excellent incoming freshman class with average SAT
of 1366 and GPA of 3.8; size of freshman class is on target; however,
enrollment has increased because of enhanced retention in upper classes and
increased graduate admissions. [Bob McMath is examining the data to understand
the reasons for increased enrollment]
b.
GT (entire university system) has been asked to
“hold back” 2% of current year’s budget for non-instructional programs;
effective budget cut (<2%) may be absorbed without impacting the various
units. Another budget cut is possible
because of uncertainty in the State’s budget; hopefully, it will be handled
without impacting personnel or slowing down our momentum.
c.
Research revenues continue to be strong; significant
increases in NIH budget; NSF budget may double; GT is well positioned in areas
of increased funding such as homeland security.
d.
President, together with Dr. Gary May and Grad
student body president Alan Michaels, will participate in a National Academy
study on “Engineer of 2020.”
e.
Facilities construction on schedule; stadium will
open on time -- additional renovation to increase capacity to 55,000 will be
done before 2003-04 season; construction of new Computing building on Ferst
Drive will begin next year; graduate family housing (Callaway and Burge; oldest
part of our infrastructure) will be addressed next year; Callaway will be
replaced by a new 400 unit complex.
Students have been notified; Hemphill unit used for graduate housing
will be converted to undergraduate housing as soon as new grad housing is
brought on line.
The President was asked if the incoming freshman class average scores
referenced above pertain to “admitted” or “attending” students. He indicated
that they are for the attending students; they are among the highest for public
institutions – only two other schools in that range: UC-Berkeley and William
and Mary.
2.
The Chair asked for approval of the minutes of the
July 23rd, 2002 meeting of the Executive Board; minutes were
approved without dissent. (Attachment #1)
3.
The Chair called on Ms. Sissie Rary of the Legal
Department to present an overview of “Export Controls” in light of the
Provost’s memorandum dated July 22 (Attachment #2). Ms. Rary defined the various terms and
processes involved in export controls.
She indicated that the Provost’s memorandum was motivated by the
definition of the term “deemed export,” which implies that an export of technology
or source code is “deemed” to take place when released to a foreign national
within the U.S. This may impact students from “restricted” countries
(identified in the Provost’s memo). The Registrar’s office has prepared a list
which identifies students by country of origin, and major. The intent is not to discriminate based on
nationality, but to make people aware of the export law requirements. Copies
of the slides used in the presentation are attached (# 3).
May asked if the deemed export definition, which exempts public domain information, applies to graduate students performing research. Rary responded that there may be issues, if the student is working on research not yet published. Agrawal asked how to handle “entities” which may be covertly formed by restricted countries. Rary indicated that this is beyond the scope of what we are required to do. Telotte asked if units should be given a list of restricted items in their respective discipline to track rather than tracking students or colleagues. Rary indicated that the list is available on the web. Clough asked if any University has been “caught up” in this rule during the past ten years. Rary indicated that she is not aware of any and that, except for a handful, the majority of schools ignore these rules. Welch asked if the purpose is to simply increase awareness of this issue; Rary responded affirmatively and re-iterated that we should not overreact. Ms. Rary encouraged the faculty to call the Office of Legal Affairs with any questions they may have relating to an export issue. The Chair thanked Ms. Rary and indicated that this item will be placed on the agenda for the October 8th, 2002 meeting of the General Faculty.
4. Welch
called on Dr. McMath to present a proposed change in the Faculty handbook
section dealing with “Extra Compensation” for continuing education
activities. Instead of the salary-based
formula described in the current handbook, the following statement is
proposed: “The compensation rates for instructional hours of continuing and
executive education programs are established by the unit chair or director to
be appropriate and competitive with the market.
These rates require yearly approval from the Provost’s office.”
Agrawal asked if the intent of dropping the salary-based formula is to
allow higher compensation. McMath
responded by stating that the intent is to allow competitive rates to encourage
faculty to participate in such activities within the GT continuing education
program, rather than through consulting.
Mark asked if the State imposes an upper limit on such rates of
compensation; McMath indicated that no such limits are imposed. Horton indicated that the proposed wording is
limited to continuing education activities and that there are ongoing
discussions at GTRI in which extra compensation may be offered for other
research-related activities. McMath
suggested that Horton discuss this matter with GTRI management and put forth
recommended wording changes incorporating such activities for consideration by
the Provost.
5.
The Chair called on Bob McMath to discuss the
backlog of cases under consideration by the Student Honor Committee. McMath indicated that upon the recommendation
of the current Committee chair (Vito, ME), the committee will be expanded by
establishing additional subcommittees and/or appointing alternates to the
current members. The aim is to work
through the backlog of cases before the end of the current fall term. Once the backlog is cleared, time limits for
the review process will be established in accordance with the recommendations
of the Academic Misconduct Review Committee; McMath indicated that the chair of
that committee (Cheryl Contant) has agreed to serve as chair of the Student
Honor Committee. Efforts are underway to
recruit members to serve on the subcommittees; McMath expects to have a roster
of additional faculty and student members within a week. He requested expeditious consideration and
approval of the proposed members by the Executive Board; it was proposed that
this be done by an E-Mail ballot upon receipt of the proposed list. This was agreed to without dissent.
In response to a question by Massey, McMath re-iterated the goal of
working through the backlog of cases before the end of the current fall
term. Welch inquired about the
difficulties faced in the past with the quorum requirements. McMath indicated that the
committee/subcommittees will have enough members and alternates to assure a
quorum at all meetings; there may be one or two alternates for each committee
member.
6.
The Chair presented the proposed agenda for the
joint meeting of the Academic Senate and General Faculty Assembly to be held on
September 17, 2002 (Attachment 4).
She pointed out that there will two main items on the agenda, namely
reports by the Institute Post-Tenure Review Oversight Committee, and the
Academic Misconduct Review Committee. The proposed agenda was approved
without dissent.
7.
The Chair discussed the procedure for electing the
2002-03 Chair and Vice-Chair for the Board.
She indicated that, preferably, the nominees should have completed at
least one year of service on the Board, and requested that nominations,
including self-nominations, be E-Mailed to the Secretary of the Faculty no
later than Tuesday August 27, 2002. The
Secretary will conduct an E-Mail ballot to elect the Chair and Vice-Chair. The results will be reported at the September
24th meeting. The
procedure was agreed to without dissent.
8.
The Chair called on Abdel-Khalik to discuss the
Committee Liaison assignments for next year.
It was requested that members complete the assignment preferences form
distributed at the meeting. The
assignments will be made based on these preferences and will be reported before
the next meeting.
9.
The Chair requested approval of a request submitted
the Institute Graduate Committee and the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum
Committee for the following faculty members to be re-appointed to serve on the
Study Abroad Subcommittee:
Carole Moore, History, Technology
and Society
Yves Berthelot, Mechanical Engineering
The request
was approved without dissent. It
was pointed out that approval for a third subcommittee member will be requested
as soon as a suitable candidate is identified by the GC and the UCC.
10. The
Chair called on Abdel-Khalik, who stated that based on the procedure previously
established by the Board, it is recommended that Dr. Minami Yoda (ME) be
appointed to fill the un-expired term [2002-04] of Dr. Andrew Peterson on the
Institute Graduate Committee. Dr.
Peterson has been elected to the Executive Board and is, therefore, ineligible
to continue on the Graduate Committee.
The appointment was approved without dissent.
11. The
Chair called for any other business.
a.
The President stated that a search committee chaired
by Chuck Donbaugh is nearing completion of its search for candidates for the
newly-created position of “Director of Campus Security,” who would be reporting
directly to the President. The search
has been narrowed to five candidates, who will be invited for interviews. Additionally, a new position for “Director of
Emergency Preparedness,” who will be reporting to the Director of Campus
Security will be filled after the Director of Campus Security is
appointed.
b.
Bob McMath indicated that the Institute Post-Tenure
Review Oversight Committee is still working out some minor details for the
proposed changes to the PTR process which will be presented at the September 17
meeting of the Academic Senate. In
response to a question as to whether or not these changes will be implemented
during this year’s review, McMath indicated that the Deans prefer to do so. However, that will depend on the timing of
the process since some departments have already started the process based on
the current procedure.
12. The
Chair closed the meeting at 4:10 PM; the group moved to the Aderhold room for
an informal reception for incoming, continuing, and departing members from lat
year’s Board.
Respectfully
submitted,
Said
Abdel-Khalik
Secretary
of the Faculty
August
21, 2002; Corrected
Attachments
(Distributed at the meeting and to be attached to the archival copy of the
minutes)