PRESIDING OFFICER: Paul Panayotatos, Chairperson

CALL TO ORDER AND DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM: Chairperson Panayotatos called the first meeting of the 2012-2013 Rutgers University Senate to order at 1:15 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room, Rutgers Student Center, 126 College Avenue, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick. He introduced himself, and welcomed new and returning Senators. Panayotatos said that Senators should feel free to ask, utilizing "point of information," if they do not understand any portion of the proceedings.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY - Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary of the University Senate

• Agenda: The meeting's agenda was approved as distributed by the secretary.
• Committee Preferences:  Secretary Swalagin directed the Senate to online resources to guide Senators' choices of standing-committee membership preferences, including the committees' standing charges, pending charges, and a committee-preference form, and reminded everyone to send him their preferences.
• Schedule of 2012-2013 Senate and Executive Committee Meetings: Swalagin asked the Senate to add to their calendars the dates of next year's Senate meetings.

PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR: Privilege of the floor was granted to Nominating Panel Chairperson Victor Greenhut, a member of the 2011-12 and 2012-13 Senates.
 
REPORT OF THE NOMINATING PANEL: Nominating Panel Chairperson Victor Greenhut presented the report of the Nominating Panel.
 
Senator Greenhut gave a brief overview of the nominating and election process, as well as the runoff procedure for at-large faculty Executive Committee member elections. He said that candidates for positions which are uncontested are not required to make statements in support of their candidacies, but may do so if they wish.
 
Senator Greenhut then announced candidates for all positions, calling for nominations from the floor in each category.
 
The nominations completed, the resultant slate of candidates was:
 
Chairperson (who serves ex officio as Representative to the Board of Governors): Paul Panayotatos, Graduate School-New Brunswick (Faculty)
Vice Chairperson: Ann Gould, SEBS (Faculty)
Faculty Members of the Executive Committee, Camden: Daniel Bubb, At-Large Camden (F)
Faculty Members of the Executive Committee, Newark: Natalie Borisovets, Libraries, Newark (F); Robert Puhak, FAS-N (F)
Faculty Members of the Executive Committee, New Brunswick: Robert Boikess, SAS-NB (F); Peter Gillett, RBS:N/NB (F); Kenneth McKeever, At-Large NB (F)
Part-Time Lecturer/Annual Appointee Faculty Member of the Executive Committee: Karen Thompson, PTL-NB
Camden Student Member of the Executive Committee: Prentiss Dantzler, GS-C (S)
Newark Student Member of the Executive Committee: [No nominee. Election to be held September or October 2012.]
New Brunswick Student Member of the Executive Committee: Samuel Berman, SAS-NB (S)
Alumnus Member of the Executive Committee: Robert Barraco, Alumni Association
Staff Senator Member of the Executive Committee: Jonathan Muse, Staff-Camden; Jon Oliver, Staff-New Brunswick
Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors: Samuel Rabinowitz, SB-C (F)
Student Representative to the Board of Governors: Joseph Cashin, SAS-NB (S); Laura Norkute, Engineering (S); Daniel Rosario, NCAS (S)
Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees: Martha Cotter, Graduate School-NB (F); Menahem Spiegel, RBS-N/NB (F)
Undergraduate Student Representative to the Board of Trustees: Vetri Velan, Engineering (S); Katherine Yabut, SAS-NB (S)
Graduate Student Representative to the Board of Trustees: [No nominee. Election to be held September or October 2012.]

A runoff election was conducted for all full-time faculty members of the Executive Committee based on the above slate so that those nominees who did not prevail in the contested New Brunswick and Newark Faculty EC categories could be placed in the at-large category.
 
Candidates who wished to do so were given time to make statements, and some candidates responded to questions posed by Senators.
 
VOTING AND COLLECTION OF BALLOTS:  Voting was done on paper ballots prepared by the Secretary and distributed at sign-in only to voting members of the 2012-13 Senate.  Linda Mickelsen of the Senate Office collected and tabulated the ballots.
 
[Secretary’s Note: Election results were announced during the subsequent Senate regular meeting, and posted on the Senate website that evening, as follows:]
 
 
ADJOURNMENT: Chairperson Panayotatos adjourned the Organizational Meeting at 2:47 p.m.
 
Minutes Written and Submitted by:
Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary of the University Senate