REPORTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON FACULTY SENATE COMMITTEES:  March 21, 2007

BUDGET AND FACILITIES COMMITTEE, Chair:  Richard Willson

Second 2007 meeting: February 28, 2007.

Present:  Willson (Chair), Copeland, Herendeen, Johnson, Keller, Kadipasaoglu, Titz, Warner.
Absent:  Lee (ill, excused), Kamrani, Karner, Quintero.
Visiting:  Chin (President-elect).

The meeting began by discussing the recently-completed Provost's budget hearings.  Appreciation to the administration for allowing members to observe these hearings was expressed, and it was generally observed that the meetings were well-run, and that the Provost is a very good listener, an attribute not always associated with high administrators in other universities.  A few ideas which might be generally useful were derived from these meetings:

One college helps provide faculty for teaching in relevant community college courses.  This greatly promotes the visibility of UH among those students, creating a near inevitability that they will transfer to UH once they finish their associate’s degrees.

Several departments across multiple colleges have programs of instruction in countries ranging from China to Mexico to Brazil.  Some of these offerings constitute an entire master's degree program, delivered on site by UH faculty who visit for short periods of time. Several of these programs are substantial sources of income to the departments and colleges which sponsor them.

It was noted that in some departments turnover at the assistant and associate professor level is much lower than at others.  There was some speculation as to non-wage issues which could help explain this variation.

Some colleges have been extremely proactive in developing plans for new and improved facilities, and for raising funds for these new facilities.

Several colleges are collaborating with the Honors College to establish instructors who are designated to offer Honors Sections of important classes. 

The data presented at the hearings was much appreciated for its completeness and level of the detail.  One suggestion which was offered was to lay out a single sheet containing current expenditures, a description of the increases or decreases proposed for each category, and a brief explanation of each difference. 

For example, a college which is completing construction of new facilities would expect to have its capital expenditures budget decrease as construction is completed, but its maintenance budget should increase in the following years.  It was also suggested that it would be most informative to look at past budgeted amounts in comparison to the amounts actually spent during those budget periods on different categories. 

The majority of the meeting was devoted to an initial discussion of Dr. Kadipasaoglu's analysis of the improved salary data.  This will be a primary topic of discussion for the next several BFC meetings, with conclusions to emerge as they become more solid.

COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES, Chair:  Katy Greenwood

The committee has met several times to make recommendations on faculty to serve on the 33 UH Standing Committees.  The recommendations are due by June 1 with service beginning on September 1, 2007. 

The COC has also assembled a slate of candidates for the UH Faculty Grievance Committee, including (shown alphabetically):  Christopher Chung, ENGR; George Gamble, BUS; Richard Guajardo, LIB; Stephen Huang, NSM; Basheer Khumawala, BUS; David Zimmerman, ENGR; and Yali Zou, EDU.  (Please note nominations will be taken from the floor of the Spring Faculty Assembly on March 21, 2007.)  The election will take place on-line from Monday, March 26, through Friday, April 6.  The results will be announced at the April 18 Faculty Senate meeting. 

The committee appreciates the assistance from Senate members in encouraging their respective faculties to send in their responses to the preference survey.  The first mailing generated 85 responses and the second mailing generated an additional 34. 

The committee will meet again on March 28 with a special guest regarding the Information Technology & Computing Committee, and on April 5, with special guest Dave Irvin to discuss the Purchasing & Plant Operations Committee. 

EDUCATIONAL POLICIES & STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, Chair:  David Mazella

The committee will meet on Friday, March 30, at 12:00 p.m. in the 4th floor conference in Ezekiel Cullen.

The committee agreed that each College Senate delegation should acquire the requested information from the relevant source (i.e. Faculty Affairs Committee, Dean’s Office, etc.) within their respective Colleges and that College bylaws (rather than Departmental bylaws) should be the initial focus of this information gathering task.  Once an initial assessment of the status of each College’s bylaws has been made (by way of completion of the FS-COUG check-list – see Appendix) the committee will reconvene to discuss their findings.

ACTION ITEM: The committee agreed that this check-list process should be completed by March 28th 2007 for discussion at the next FAC meeting.

AGENDA ITEM #3:  Proposed Resolution Supporting the Formation of a GLBT Resource Center

ACTION: The Chair briefed the committee on a request by Maria Gonzalez on behalf of the Gay/Lesbian/Bi-sexual/Trans-sexual (GLBT) University community for a resolution from the Faculty Senate to support the formation of a GLBT Resource Center on the UH Main Campus. Dr. Gonzalez had forwarded a proposal to the committee that was originally presented to Elwyn Lee, Student Affairs (see attachment for GLBT Resource Center proposal overview document and proposed Senate resolution supplied by Dr. Gonzalez).

Committee discussion centered on the possible implications/precedents associated with the Senate supporting, by way of a resolution, a specific initiative requesting central administration funding for what could be perceived as a special interest group rather than the UH faculty as a whole.  In order to better understand the proposal and the proposed Senate Resolution the committee decided a review of the documentation was required prior to deciding whether or not the FAC would recommend bringing the proposed resolution to the Senate as a whole.  The FAC also requested that Dr. Gonzalez formally make a presentation to the committee sometime after the proposal had been reviewed by the committee.

ACTION ITEM: The committee agreed to review the GLBT Resource Center Proposal by March 28th 2007 for discussion at the next FAC meeting.

New Business:

AGENDA ITEM 4: Increasing the Number of Faculty Senators from Specific Colleges

ACTION:  A committee discussion concerning the possibility of increasing the number of Faculty Senators from those Colleges that have large numbers of students and Clinical/Research faculty. This item will be raised in the FEC committee at a later date.

SCHOLARSHIP & COMMUNITY COMMITTEE, Chair:  Suzanne Ferimer

Michael Rierson, UH System Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for University Advancement met with the SCC on March 8th.  He presented a PowerPoint showing the four areas for which the University Administration, Deans, and Department Chairs agreed funding should be used.  The areas include:  1) Endowed Chairs, 2) Scholarships & Fellowships, 3) Program Support; and 4) New Construction/Renovation.

Mr. Rierson said UH is not in a Capital Campaign at this time because he needs more fundraisers, more support staff and more space and that all of these are needed to plan and carry out a successful campaign.  He also said that the level of support needs to continue after the Capital Campaign meets its goal.  After the last Capital Campaign Development lost most of its fund raisers and support, which is why it is taking so long to get everything up to speed for the next campaign.

He told the committee that UH needs an active volunteer leadership team to work with his office.  He is now trying to put together such a team.  Mr. Rierson also said UH must demonstrate progress and success in its fund raising to be able to convince donors to make large gifts.  He asked that faculty help by getting to know the Development Officers in each of the Colleges and to let these officers know of any potential donors.  He said that when asked about what they remember about their experiences at the University of Houston, most people respond with the name of a faculty member.  He said that is one of the ways faculty help with development, giving that potential donor a positive memory.