Address to the Board of Regents
February 21, 2008

Wynne Chin

Chairman Wilson, Vice-Chair Stephens, and other distinguished members of the Board,

My address to the board today is to say welcome to the new regents, to introduce both myself as the incoming President of the Faculty senate as well the President-elect, and to briefly tell you about our upcoming Senate retreat.  So let me introduce myself. My name is Wynne Chin. I am a professor in the Decision and Information Science dept in the Bauer College of Business. My research, among other things, involves how technology can be used to support individual and group decision making, specifically improving meeting processes as it impact decision outcomes. I currently consult with World Health Organization of how best to implement health systems in developing countries. I also develop statistical techniques that improve questions as they are used in surveys. Let me also introduce our Senate’s incoming President-elect Dan Wells who is a professor in the biology and biochemistry department. I believe Dan’s research involves understanding the molecular basis of human genetic diseases which include genes for hearing loss, blindness, bone and cartilage defects, and various forms of cancer. I think Dan and I make a good team and we hope to have additional opportunities to meet with each board member in the future.  In fact, our new regents may be interested in knowing that it is an annual tradition that began with one of our past senate presidents, Steve Craig, to invite each regent to meet with the Senate President, President Elect, and a few select faculty members, be it simply over coffee or tea or lunch, if for anything else than to get a better sense as to how faculty think, to understand their personalities.   If not sooner, we certainly hope each member will be available during this summer to meet.

The last time I addressed the board as President-elect about a year ago, I talked about the importance of good communication – that being continuing the open dialogue and shared understanding among faculty, administration, and students in order to continue the momentum of moving UH towards being a world class institution commensurate with the needs of the city of Houston and the state of Texas.  Certainly, based on this board’s own actions – the open communication with faculty has continued to improve over the past 5 years.  During Chancellor Gogue’s tenure, the Senate President was provided a regular spot under the Chancellor’s time slot.  Under Chairman Hermes, it was felt that we should have an official slot of our own to provide updates of Senate activities. Chairman Wilson has continued this tradition and the Senate views this very positively.

So let me provide you with a quick update.  First off, we are all excited with the enthusiasm and level of energy that Chancellor Khator has brought to U of H.  Rather than simply moving along with our existing initiatives, it was felt that we should compliment the Chancellor’s first 100 days outreach to all UH stakeholders with a survey of our own.  We began with what I’ve jokingly call our first 10 days with our Senate faculty.  Nine days ago, each senator was asked to fill an online survey primarily focusing on issues of importance to faculty.  We asked them what they perceive as the 3 most important issues facing faculty in their department.  Then we asked what are the top issues facing their college as a whole.  This was followed by what are the 3 most important issues our Senate should be working on for the next 2 years.  The final question dealt with what they felt was the three most important issues facing U of H administration.  I would like to thank Dan Gardner for suggesting inclusion of that last question. The response rate in less than a week was close to 80 percent.  All the comments are currently being clustered.

Tomorrow, the Senate will be having a retreat where we will look over the results, brainstorm more items, consolidate and prioritize the issues further.  I hope to share the results with you at a future meeting.  But I can share some initial demographic stats that we also collected from our senators.  As part of the survey, we asked each senator how long they’ve been at U of H, how many years as a professor (i.e., since completing their Ph.D.), and how long they’ve been a member of the Senate. The results are:

• Years at U of H - 15.8
• Years since completing Ph.D. - 22.6  
• Years as a Senator 5.0

I think these numbers show how our senators might well be considered the institutional memory, the knowledge or experience repository for U of H.  While each senator may have only been in their respective senate position for about 5 years, they’ve been part of U of H much longer. Students, many administrators, and dear I say Regents have a much shorter snapshot of U of H.   It says to me that one of my roles as Senate President if not also our administrators is to tap into this knowledge base as we collectively move U of H forward.  In speaking for the members of Faculty Senate, I want to state clearly and directly that we are available to help in any way you feel necessary or useful to this task.  We are ready to be involved at all stages of the planning process as we want to continue our commitment to working as a team, through shared governance, to grow our university community together.

What our past Senate President, Al Warner, in addressing the board in May of 2005 said is still true today. I paraphrase him as follows:

To pursue our common goals together, we need:

• Sound data;
• Policies that are consistent with the Strategic Plan;
• A continued atmosphere of openness, transparency and mutual trust; and
• Mutual confidence in one another as people of good will and common commitment to the University of Houston and to the University of Houston System.

            These are hallmarks of efforts we want to pursue jointly with you, with Drs. Khator and Foss, and with one another as partners in a common venture with a common cause:  to build the University of Houston and the UH System into a world-class resource for the people of Texas, and their children . . . and their children.

            Thank you again for this opportunity and for your dedication and continued support.  Our meetings of the Faculty Senate are open, and you are always welcome to join us.  I will be happy to respond to any questions.