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Senate reports on legal fund, handbook  The January minutes were approved. Guest Speaker: Donald Johnson, M.D., chair, MUSC and MUHA Board of Trustees, spoke to the senate, and shared from his 10 years experience with the board. He described the way board members are elected, and the duties of the members. Johnson spoke of the way that the board functions and invited the senate to attend committee meetings, including the joint conference committee, on Thursday of each session.  Additionally, all members are invited to the full board meeting on Friday morning of each session. Johnson is a Charleston physician, but devotes a significant amount of time to serving in his capacity as chair of both the MUSC and MUHA boards.  University Affairs Committee, Mary Mauldin, chair: The results of the information support survey were distributed. Additionally, Bill Rust, director, Client Services, CCIT, spoke with senators about the status of information technology support, and the plans for new software/infrastructure implementation. Plans call for a spring implementation. Governance Committee, Elaine Amella, chair: She reviewed the charge of the committee, which was to review and make suggestions for changes to the bylaws. This has not been done since they were created, and is a very important activity. The committee is optimistic that a report will be submitted by June. Chair’s Report:  Legal fund: The fund, created from faculty contributions to obtain legal counsel reviewing policies that affect faculty best interests, has a healthy balance, primarily because legal services have been provided to date pro bono by our two counselors, Martha Upshur and Philip Sprinkle. However, if they make special presentations to the faculty in the future, faculty senate will pay their expenses to visit MUSC. Faculty Handbook: Walker Coleman, Mauldin, Jenny Stone and Anne Kilpatrick met to discuss how to make the working document available to senators involved in possible changes and revisions, as well as continuously updated. A report should be forthcoming on this topic. Dean’s Council: Faculty senate chair Anne Kilpatrick attended the dean’s council meetings in December and January. Senators have been asked to meet with their deans to discuss concerns they may have with the tenure policy. Written comments after being consolidated by the provost’s office will be given to the faculty affairs committee for review and further action.  Gender Equity Committee, Tara Hulsey, chair: The committee was charged by then-Provost Ray Greenberg with assessing the status of women and minority faculty over time. It has been a difficult task to determine compensation data, as it is retained in different formats and data bases, by different offices. It has been a quest to identify where to obtain the most complete data, but meetings are being held with the Office of the Associate Provost to possibly obtain the needed information. A report is anticipated by the end of the year from this committee.  The next Faculty Senate meeting will be held at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, March 4. Faculty Senate Web site http://www.musc.edu/facsen/ Senators present Basic Sciences: Philippe Arnaud, Debra Hazen-Martin, Lucille London, Eberhard Voit Clinical Sciences: Gary Gilkeson, Paul Gold, Barry Hainer, George Johnson, Dana King, Shailesh Patel, Dean Schuyler, Thomas Steele, Aljoeson Walker, Michael Zile Dental Medicine: Richard J. Albenesius, Peter Kobes, Stephen Malley, Alberto Santos Health Professions: Libby Dismuke, Jennifer Horner, Anne Kilpatrick, Andrea White Library Science and Informatics: Geoff Freeman, Mary Mauldin, Nancy McKeehan Nursing: Elaine Amella, Julia Ball, Tara Hulsey, John Welton Pharmacy: Katherine Chessman, Joli Fermo, Marc LaPointe     Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.