UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON FACULTY SENATE COMMITTEES:  January 23, 2008

REPORTS:

   COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES, Chair:  Katy Greenwood

The Committee on Committee met January 22 to complete committee appointments and replacements.  The COC also continued to finalize its review and assessment of the effectiveness of the various committees that served the University during the 2006-2007 year.  The COC is going through the annual reports that have been submitted throughout the summer and fall semester.  A report on the findings will be given during the February Senate meeting.

END OF YEAR REPORTS:

   BUDGET & FACILITIES COMMITTEE, Chair:  Richard Willson

Sen. Willson thanked Karl Titz, his predecessor as Chair of the BFC, for beginning the work on the Salary Analysis Report (available on-line at:  http://www.uh.edu/fs/2007_UH_Salary_Analysis_Report_Coverpage.html).  He also thanked the Provost’s Office for their help in acquiring the data used in making the report.  Sen. Willson praised the administration for their collaboration and cooperation.  He thanked his committee members for their hard work during the year, noting that the BFC also staffed all the College Budget Hearings.  The Chair also participated in meetings of the Purchasing & Plant Operations Committee, which is reviewing classrooms and other space on campus.

   EDUCATIONAL POLICIES & STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, Chair:  David Mazella

The committee dealt with a number of issues during the year.  One dominant issue was the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) for the reaffirmation of accreditation process for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).   Sen. Mazella urged all faculty to review the QEP document and provide feedback.  He noted that some things the University does is for compliance and some things it does for the future.  The QEP is a compliance item, but it can be so much more.  Undergraduate Research is not just training, but a form of engaging the student.  Sen. Mazella said he would like to see benchmarks developed to track how this affects the curriculum.  He asked if this is the plan that will take UH forward.

Sen. Mazella said that enrollment issues, especially the impact that PeopleSoft will have on it, will continue to be an issue for the committee in the coming year.

   FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, Chair:  Mark Clarke

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Drs. Clarke (Chair), Eichberg, Houston, Kadish, Kugler, Linzer, Manny, Middents, Sansgiry, Schiff, Subhlok and Williams.

The Faculty Affairs Committee of the UH Faculty Senate met a total of seven times during 2007 with no committee meetings being held during the summer break. The committee dealt with a number of specific issues brought forward by both the UH Senate Faculty Executive Committee and individual members of the Faculty Affairs Committee.

The following specific items were discussed and acted upon by the Faculty Affairs Committee during 2007 and written responses were provided to the UH Faculty Senate (via either the Faculty Executive Committee or directly to the Senate) and where appropriate to the University Administration. 

ITEM: Review of College By-Laws Relative to FS-COUG Recommendations
ACTION: The Faculty Affairs Committee was tasked by the Faculty Executive Committee to carry out a university-wide review of the state of individual college by-laws, including direct contact with individual College Deans through individual Senators in the respective colleges. The purpose of this review was to assess progress in implementing the recommendations codified in the FS-COUG report. This review was completed by April 2007 with a determination that all colleges had either completed or were in the process of up-dating their College by-laws relative to the FS-COUG guidelines formulated by the UH Faculty Senate. The committee recommended that links to each colleges by-laws be placed on the Faculty Senate web-site.

ITEM: Resolution Supporting the Formation of a GLBT Resource Center
ACTION: The committee was tasked by the Faculty Executive Committee to explore the possibility of supporting the establishment of a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center at UH. After reviewing a proposal for such a center and after several meeting with concerned faculty members the FAC forwarded their findings to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee indicating that a resolution supporting the formation of a GBLT Resource Center should be considered by the Senate as a whole. Subsequent to this activity, a resolution supporting GBLT Students, Faculty and Staff was passed by the UH Faculty Senate in the Spring of 2007.

ITEM:  Providing Information to UH Faculty on Retirement Benefits
ACTION:   After discussion concerning the options available to UH faculty members with regard to optional retirement benefits and the limited formal information provided to new faculty during the hiring process, the committee recommended to the UH Faculty Senate that an ad hoc committee be formed under the leader-ship of Dr. Dale Rude. This committee would formulate and implement a series of mechanisms to inform faculty of their choices and options concerning retirement benefits at the University of Houston. As a part of this effort, Dr. Rude and his committee (under the auspices of the Faculty Senate) provided both informational seminars and on-line information concerning faculty retirement benefit options to all new faculty hires during the Fall 2007 period.  

ITEM:  Conference-USA Faculty Travel Program
ACTION: The committee provided feedback to Dr. Kotarba, Faculty Senate President, on the establish and potential format of a Conference-USA faculty travel program designed to foster professional interactions between faculty members located at different schools within the C-USA organization.

ITEM:  Development of Format and Agenda for Faculty Senate Fall 2007 Retreat
ACTION:  The committee was tasked by the Faculty Executive Committee to develop a detailed agenda for the FS Fall retreat with local legislators and to interact with the University administration (Governmental Relations Office) to obtain feedback on the agenda items to be covered.

ITEM:  Feed-back from FAC to UCC on Net Income Distribution Policy Concerning Intellectual Property Commercialization (Ref: UCC Document 0035 07F).
ACTION:  The committee provided written feedback to the UCC concerning the net income distribution policy with several recommendations designed to clarify specific items/proposed changes in the new policy document relative to existing system-wide policies.

ITEM:  Proposed Guidelines for Provost’s Faculty Travel Awards
ACTION:  The committee was tasked by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to develop a set of guidelines for awarding Provost Faculty Travel Awards (as per a request from the Provost to the Senate EC for input on potential models for administration of this program).  The committee developed a detailed set of guidelines that was forwarded to the Executive Committee for discussion in early October which was subsequently modified and presented to the Provost in late October. The committee provided the following commentary with its proposed guidelines; Committee Commentary – the Faculty Affairs Committee of the Faculty Senate endorses the concept that the Provost’s Travel Award should forward the Tier I/Flagship research agenda of the University of Houston. Professional travel supported by this award should serve to elevate the status and visibility of the University by assisting faculty to present their work at academic meetings and work-shops that have national and international reputations within the faculty member’s specific discipline.

ONGOING COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES

ITEM:  Sub-Committee on Faculty Benefits – Dr. Sansgiry
ACTION:  The committee has established a sub-committee (Chaired by Dr. Sansgiry and populated with Senators, faculty members and HR staff) that has under-taken an ongoing task to review the benefits package provided to UH faculty members. This sub-committee has provided a number of written interim reports to the committee that will form the basis of regular reports to the Faculty Senate on these issues.

   SCHOLARSHIP & COMMUNITY COMMITTEE, Chair:  Suzanne Ferimer

The Scholarship and Community Committee had a busy year, holding meetings with the following people:   Michael Rierson—talking about the changes taking place in University Development and how faculty can become more involved; Jeff Fuller from the Admissions Office, talking about the types of students being recruited and how faculty could work with Admissions to get outstanding students to choose the University of Houston; and Agnes DeFranco about transfer students and how to help them succeed at the University of Houston.

The Committee reviewed the Revised Net Income Proposal and sent it forward to the UCC.

The Committee acted as an advisor on the Scholarship and Community Conference with the Chair serving on the planning committee.  Music Across Borders was a very successful conference which gained support from both the University & Houston Communities.

The Committee Chair sat on the UH Homecoming Committee as the faculty representative and the Chair was also the Senate’s representative in the planning of the Third Annual Faculty Recognition Dinner, which was held at the Houstonian.