TO:                  University of Houston Faculty and Librarians

FROM:            Lewis T. Wheeler, President of the Faculty Senate

DATE:             November 1, 2000

SUBJECT:      SURVEY OF FACULTY CONCERNS,
                        RESULTS OF 2000 FACULTY CONCERNS SURVEY
                        REPORT ON 1999'S SURVEY AND
                        REPORT OF SENATE ACTIVITY

 Please respond by mail to FS-2173, by fax to 713/743-9184 or by e-mail to: MBBrantley@central.uh.edu
 [Responses may be given at any time, but it would be most helpful if received by Friday, November  17.]

The mission of the Faculty Senate is to improve shared governance at the University of Houston.  This annual survey is intended to gather the concerns and issues of the faculty, which the Senate will attempt to address.  Your participation is appreciated.  You may write in the space below, use a separate page or e-mail your concerns to the Faculty Senate Office (e-mail to:  MBBrantley@central.uh.edu).  If you would like a response to your questions, please include your name and address.  The Faculty Senate President will follow-up these requests.  Names are not shared with the administration.

The Faculty Senate is the faculty organization best situated to bring faculty concerns to bear on general university policy.  The Senate consists of 52 senators elected by the colleges to constitute the official representative body of the faculty.  It operates on the calendar instead of the academic year.  The president of the Faculty Senate is a member of the University of Houston President's Cabinet that meets weekly and attends Board of Regents subcommittee and full meetings.  The president and president-elect of the Senate meet monthly with faculty representatives from the other UH System campuses and the Chancellor (UFEC).

The Faculty Senate maintains a homepage at http://www.uh.edu/fs/ with meeting schedules, minutes, current agenda and rosters.  There are also links to the Faculty Handbook, Student Handbook and the S.A.M.s and M.A.P.P.s on this page.

A report on what the Faculty Senate has done since January is attached.

YOUR CONCERNS:

A list of your concerns may be mailed to the Faculty Senate Office at FS - 2173 or you may e-mail your concerns in care of the Senate's Staff Associate.

REPORT ON LAST YEAR'S SURVEY:

Concerns were collected by the Faculty Senate Office last November, redrafted as an anonymous list and shared with those individuals who were most appropriate to address them.  Among the issues raised were:

FINANCIAL:

Concern was expressed about a lack of open accounting, in particular where does all the money go?

The budget is presented annually to the Board of Regents at its August meeting.  Budget books are printed and distributed in the Fall (time approximate:  mid-November), copies of which are located in the Library and the Faculty Senate Office.
 
Randy J. Harris, Vice President for Administration and Finance,  has agreed to work with the Faculty Senate's Budget & Facilities Committee to produce a booklet that explains how the budget works.

 What is the purpose of the Plant Extension Committee?

 The committee exists to priorities capital projects for the University.  Problems may be discussed with John U. Martin, Associate Vice Chancellor for Administration or Mr. Harris.

Concern was expressed about deferred maintenance on buildings, decreased lawn maintenance and the lack of signage for buildings on campus.

 This year the administration designated $500,000 for the refurbishment and equipment modernization for large classrooms.  A committee chaired by John Butler has been trying to identify/address problems with classrooms.  New signage that included building numbers was put outside many of the University's buildings just prior to the start of the Fall 2000 semester.  New signs are also being placed on the perimeter of campus.

Why don't faculty get appointment/salary letters at the beginning of the academic year?

 The Provost pointed out that the Board of Regents approves the budget at its August meeting (generally the Thursday before school starts) and the letters  cannot be sent in advance of that approval.

Concern was raised about the lack of specific terms of service for deans and department chairs.  Does this change in policy require the approval of the Board of Regents?

 Administrative hiring decisions are made by the Board of Regents based on recommendations of the Chancellor.  The Provost and President have determined that Deans serve at will and so no terms are specified.

Working conditions at UH have eroded, including outdated computers, scarce computer support and faculty salaries.

Both Art Vailas, UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Research, and Charles Shomper, UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Information Technology, have tried to increase funding for the University's research infrastructure.  Dr. Vailas has increased funding available for internal grants and Mr. Shomper has been working on upgrading the campus network and increasing support personnel, many of whom are assigned to work within the colleges.

The Senate's Faculty Affairs Committee produced a report on Salary Compression at UH (on-line at http://www.uh.edu/fs/Salary_Compression_Report.html ) and for the past two years the administration has put aside a portion of the raise pool for equity adjustments.

 What is UH doing to enhance the quality of life of graduate students?

 The President and Provost designated funds for tuition fellowships that include an increased stipend and cover tuition for TAs.

The campus needs to discuss expanding how a faculty member makes contributions to the University, including other forms of scholarship, teaching, etc.

 This was the topic of the first Scholarship & Community Conference held in 1991.  It is an on-going discussion with UH faculty.  The Provost has stated repeatedly that all UH faculty must be productive in research, teaching and service to receive tenure.  Post-tenure review was enacted by the Texas Legislature in 1998 as an accountability measure.

The maternity, parental or family leave policies are inadequate as they cannot be used for adoption, by newly hired faculty who have not accrued enough sick leave and does not address the tenure clock.

The Provost agreed to refer this question to the Deans Council to see if the wording in present policies could be clarified.  He did point out the leave policies "extend" the tenure clock, not stop it.

A specific college was cited as lacking minorities and/or women in positions of authority and lacking faculty governance.  Concern was raised about faculty being required to teach off-campus without travel/mileage reimbursement and having to teach overloads for extra pay.

 This college now has a new dean in place.  These concerns will be shared with that individual.

Congratulations to the Dean of Social Work for beautifying the first floor foyer.

Thanks to the Faculty Senators for their hard work through the year.

Thanks for the continuous research funds available for faculty.

     Since January 2000 some changes have occurred at the University of Houston requiring the attention of the Faculty Senate and its committees plus the formation of an ad hoc committee and a task force to study issues over the summer.  As much of the work of the Faculty Senate is accomplished through its committees, a brief summary of their work is included in this report.
     In March, the Budget & Facilities Committee unveiled its draft Report on Facilities (available on the Faculty Senate website:  http://www.uh.edu/fs/) and called for additional suggestions.  The report, intended only to stimulate discussion of priorities, identified the following areas of concern:   the Library, wet labs, Computer Science facilities, Information Technology and classrooms.  During the spring semester, the committee also met with Dana Rooks, Dean of the UH M.D. Anderson Libraries, to discuss the Library construction plan and the on-going finance campaign and with Brian McKinney, Director of Academic Program Management in the SVP Academic Affairs office, to discuss the PeopleSoft project.
     Spring 2000 was a busy time for the Legislative & Community Relations Committee, too.  It met with Vergel Gay, the Executive Director of Facilities and Planning, to discuss the architectural conceptualization for the UH campus, including future housing plans, business development and parking.  Other guests included  Steve Hall, Executive Vice-President of the Houston Alumni Organization, who discussed the drive for Tier I funding, Cougar Advocates for Texas (CATS) and UH Legislative Day; and Beth Morian, former chair of the UHS Board of Regents, who talked about the Friends of UH Political Action Committee.  Carolyn Meanley, Chair of the LCRC, also helped to organize faculty participation for the April 8 trip to Austin to celebrate Texas Senator Rodney Ellis becoming Governor for a Day.
     The other committees also continued their work with the Committee on Committees performing its annual duty of filling faculty vacancies on the University standing committees.  It also performed the Constitutional mandated reapportionment of Senate seats, which is done every four years.  After careful review of the full-time faculty at the University, it was determined that the Law Center would lose one of its three seats at the end of this year while the Cullen College of Engineering would gain one seat beginning in January 2001.
     The Faculty Senate's Executive Committee meets monthly with the University of Houston President, Provost and Chief Financial Officer.  Drs. Smith and Sheridan also attend the monthly meetings with the Senate to give reports and answer questions from the audience.  The administration updated the Senate on Deans Searches, the UH System's common calendar, University Housing Plans and problems with 403B Plan Contributions.
     In April, the Provost announced his decision to merge the Colleges of Humanities, Fine Arts and Communications and Social Sciences.  The Faculty Senate formed a Task Force with representatives of both colleges and the central administration.  At the same meeting concerns were raised about the future of the Computer Science department.  The Senate formed a small ad hoc committee to review the situation.  Both of these special bodies reported back to the May 10 meeting (both report are included in the May 10, 2000 Faculty Senate Minutes available on-line at: http://www.uh.edu/fs/minutes/051000_min.html).
     Over the summer, the Executive Committee and UH Council Chairs continued to meet with the administration on a monthly basis.  The Senate held a meeting on August 30 to discuss what had happened over the summer.  Ms. Rosemary Grimmet, Director of Research Policies, Compliance & Committees, reported on the availability of Web-based Training for NIH Certification.  She told the Senate that anyone receiving awards from or submitting proposals to the National Institute of Health after October 1, 2000, would have to take the mandatory certification program on Human Subjects.  The certification program may be found on-line at: http://www.research.uh.edu/  At the same meeting, Dr. W. Andrew Achenbaum, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, updated the Senate on progress with the merger.
     Arthur K. Smith, University of Houston System Chancellor and University of Houston President, presented his State of the University Address at the September 20 Fall Faculty Assembly.  That morning Dr. Smith had delivered the University's Legislative Allocation Request.  Top priorities for the University include Tier I Excellence funding, continuing the step formula for tuition increases, and tuition revenue bonds to finance a new academic building, tentatively called the Science-Engineering-Research-Classroom Building and another building to house Mexican American Studies and Student Services.  Dr. Smith also talked about the hiring of 54 new faculty members, including 14 new line hires, plans to expand the Scholars Community, construction plans for the new Student Recreation and Wellness Center, a new home for the Center for Students with DisAbilities, a women's soccer field and a 534 bed student housing project.  He announced plans to form a Presidential Task Force on Student Friendliness.  Dr. Smith also warned faculty of declining enrollment and challenged them to find ways to increase both graduate enrollment and overall enrollment.
     At its September 27 meeting, the Senate received reports from Marco Mariotto, Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies on the success of the Graduate Fellowships Program, the concern about declining graduate enrollment and plans for implementing graduate program reviews; from Grover Campbell, UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Governmental Relations, on the upcoming Texas Legislative session; and from Steve Hall, Executive Vice President for the Houston Alumni Organization, on the Cougars Advocates for Texas (CATs).

     More detailed information on the Faculty Senate, including membership rosters, annual calendar, and minutes archive, is available on the Web at:  http://www.uh.edu/fs/

END NOTE:

Due to the rising costs of producing it, the Scholarship & Community Conference has been changed to a biennial event.  The next conference is tentatively set for October 3, 2001.