April 10, 2026

Faculty Senate Minutes

President called the meeting to order at 1:07 p.m.

12 senators were present.

Call to order
Procedural Items
1. Only items on the agenda will be discussed in the meeting
2. Public Comment time is available for members of the public attending in person. Those wishing to sign up for public comment must arrive and sign up at least 5 minutes before the scheduled start time. Public comment is limited to 3 minutes per person. Comments will not be discussed at the meeting when they are raised but may be added as agenda items for future meetings.
3. Roll Call
President’s Report
1. New policy for work hours added to administrative policies. Wording changed from “encouraged” to “expected” and time changed from 8-4 to 8-5.
  1. Need to verify constituency have been informed.
  2. Will discuss in next meeting.
2. Buc Books update
  1. Pressure from bookstore to switch to one modality only and limit number of resources provided to students.
  2. Instructors should do what is best for the students and disregard profit motives of the bookstore.
3. Convocation Committee
  1. Update that convocation will have zoom options as the main format. Some sessions may have space in person to attend where the presenter is located, but not all sessions will have this option.
  2. Request faculty attend at their home campus to help ensure food offerings are sufficient at all campuses.
4. Board of Trustees
  1. Tuition is frozen. One percent increase in housing and dining.
  2. Three individuals retired.
  3. Waller campus is on schedule to open as planned.
Old Business
1. Minutes from March 6, 2026 meeting approved as delivered.
2. Attendance at graduation/pinning ceremonies/student events
  1. Administration is considering adding back into service points
  2. If it is not, then this attendance time would be considered part of the time for the work week with schedule allowance.
3. Committee service hours
  1. Dr. Gurley will provide a link to view committees available and the chairs
  2. Suggested that faculty approach division leadership to ask to be recommended to committees.
  3. Chairs will also approach Faculty Senate officers to request recommendations for members. Faculty can let their senator representatives know if they are interested in serving on these committees.
4. Divisional Townhall meetings
  1. Humanities held a meeting with input from faculty and attendance from faculty who did not have a specific concern at that point but wanted to participate and stay informed.
  2. Other divisions have not yet held a meeting but several have planned to.
5. ADA, Title II compliance
  1. Federal deadline to update online resources compliance is April 24, 2026.
  2. Only those offered from April 24 to end of term need to be full compliance as of April 24.
  3. Department/Division leadership may request an earlier update date to allow time for review and confirmation before the federal deadline.
New Business
1. Improving service to students
  1. Postponed until next meeting
2. AI Ethical use
  1. Current FutureWorks project suggestion addresses this. Will provide additional updates after review of the project and its approval status
3. New (elected) Division Senators for AY 2026-2028
  1. Humanities: Seon-Myung Yoo (English, Bryan)
  2. Social Science: Nathan Giesenschlag (Government, RELLIS)
  3. MBET: Mark Matthison (Math, RELLIS)
  4. Workforce and Technology – moved to the odd year election cycle
    1. This is still in compliance with law and bylaws.
4. Appointed Division Senators
  1. Dr. Gurley will be stepping down and has provided the chancellor with names of those who ran for election and are willing to serve.
  2. Update on appointments and officers will be provided when the Chancellor makes these appointments.
5. Requested input for informational session in/after convocation
6. Upcoming Meeting Schedule
  1. May 1, 2026
Adjourn

Meeting adjourned at 2:10 p.m.

Contact:

Margaret Joseph Turner

Faculty Senate President

Email: margaret.josephturner@blinn.edu