Faculty Senate met Oct. 18 to discuss marketing, faculty policies and generate new ideas for improving faculty life.
Dan Eggers, associate vice president of University Marketing, began a discussion between faculty and marketing about formally requesting to use the Texas State logo.
Requesting to use the Texas State logo is divided into commercial and non-commercial permission for usage. Once any person has been granted permission to use this logo, they are not required to ask in the future. Some faculty members brought to light that the website seems to be representing the logo as an athletic commodity rather than a representation of the university.
“We are putting every effort forward to take some responsibility for the brand,” Eggers said.
The faculty suggested that there be a universal password for faculty use of the logo instead of having to submit a request. Eggers will be taking this case forward with the permission of the Faculty Senate.
After weeks of discussions and revisions, a new faculty sick leave document was forged and introduced to the senate. This policy cut down the 37-page document to only one paragraph.
The new document requires that faculty record missing time, not missing events. It also respects that each faculty member has a unique workday. Faculty members were urged to start reporting their sick leave more accurately so that the audit is a representation of reality.
With minor edits to wording, there was a motion to move forward with finalizing this document.
One faculty member used the revision of the sick leave as a segway into implementing paid time off. Though ultimately that is a topic that must be brought up to the legislature, it was suggested that it be brought up in future senate meetings as well.
Alex White, chair of the Faculty Senate, reviewed their goal of strengthening the faculty community. By looking to find and improve spaces for faculty to meet informally and sponsoring events for faculty to gather and collaborate, the senate believes each faculty members experience at Texas State can be improved. The senate is always looking to the heads of faculty to suggest some areas of improvement.
“We ask you, as the Full Senate, what ideas you have for what those gatherings should look like,” White said.
The full senate was then asked to break out into their individual colleges to come up with one idea and one concern related to faulty. Some points that were brought up included meeting virtually, faculty becoming more connected to the university, and maintaining an emphasis on the quality of education as class sizes have increased.
Since enrollment is flat this year, the state has cut funding to the university. “The budget is lean until the next review is conducted,” White said. A result of this budget cut is the merit pool going from three percent to one percent.