FS Committees Reports 101806

SENATE COMMITTEE REPORTS
October 18, 2006

BUDGET & FACILITIES COMMITTEE, CHAIR: Karl Titz

NEXT MEETING – Wednesday October 25, 2006 – 12:00 p.m. CNH S250

    Agenda 10/25/06
        Expense Reports
        Discussion of ongoing review of Faculty Salary Data

The BFC met on September 27. In attendance were M. Haun, S. Kadipasaoglu, R. Willson, B. Byrnes, T. R. Lee, S. Quintero, W. Herendeen, K. Titz

Agenda: 9/27/06
Libby Barlow and Maureen Croft – Salary Data
Dave Irvin and Dilip Anketell – Classroom Capacity Utilization
Karl Titz – Draft Resolution in Support of the UH Framework Plan

Salary Data

Currently two College Business Offices have not responded to the request for salary data verification. Libby Barlow is in contact with these offices. Dr. Barlow reported there were relatively fewer variances than anticipated. The committee expressed concern about the amount of time the process has taken. Dr. Barlow expressed frustration with the moving target and committee turnover. However, the process has allowed for the administration to evaluate systemic problems with faculty data input and coding. Dr. Barlow shared the committee’s concern with the amount of time the process is taking and felt the systemic approach will reduce future reporting time and variance. The committee felt strongly – we should continue with the salary data in the form as originally requested. This is the data reported by the administration to the University of Houston Board of Regents, the Texas State Legislature, and outside reporting agencies. To address the frustrations expressed by the Faculty Senate Budget Committee and Institution Research over the length of the process and turnover on the Committee – it was agreed a mechanism for a periodic review and report is in order. Dr. Barlow will present the salary data at the November BFC meeting. We will examine mechanisms for a periodic reporting process to reduce the problems encountered and insure faculty and administration have reliable information upon which to base salary decisions.

Classroom Capacity Utilization

The Committee began a conversation on classroom capacity utilization and management. Dave Irvin and Dilip Anketell presented an analysis done by the Coordinating Board on capacity utilization and policies and procedures for classroom scheduling. UH ranked 14th out of 34 institutions in the 2004 report. The Coordinating Board established 38 average weekly hours of use (AWHU) as the guideline during the 2004 reporting cycle. UH AWHU for UH was 33.9. Six out of thirty-four institutions met the guideline. The current calculations do not take into account the number of students in the scheduled class. However, the Coordinating Board is in discussion to include this variable in future reports. The committee is planning further discussion.

Framework Resolution

The committee considered a Resolution in support of the University Framework Plan. The resolution was circulated by email and a majority of the committee voted to send the Resolution to the full Senate.

COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES, CHAIR: Allen Warner
The COC met briefly to begin formulating a slate of 2007 Faculty Senate officers, Committee on Committees candidates, and the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (CoIA) Delegate and Alternate. The slate will be finalized at the next meeting on Monday, November 6, at 12:00 p.m. in room 353 Cullen Performance Hall.
The Committee also approved having the Senate Office poll Senators for nominations of faculty to serve on Deans Review Committees. At its November 17, 2004 meeting, the Senate approved:

“Nominations of faculty for each review committee shall come from Faculty Senators only. (The nominee must be a tenured faculty member not in the college of the Dean and with no "conflict of interest").

The President of the Faculty Senate with the advice and consent of the Executive Committee selects from these nominations, two names to be forwarded to the Provost.”

Four Deans are going to be reviewed, including John Bear, NSM, Ted Estess, HONS, Sunny Ohia, PHA, and Arthur Warga, BUS. These nominations will be due back to the Senate Office by Thursday, November 2.

EDUCATIONAL POLICIES AND STUDENT AFFAIRS, CHAIR: Dan Wells
EPSAC met on September 31. The discussion was centered on the textbook policy proposed by Provost Don Foss. Several concerns were addressed from committee members and from non-EPSAC Senators (through emails and personal discussions), as well as in discussions with the FS Executive Committee. There was a strong consensus that a textbook policy of some type was needed to address egregious cases. Some of the major concerns about the proposal are summarized below.

1. There was concern by many of the committee members about the final sentence of paragraph C, which reads, "In all other cases, including the case where educational materials are produced by departments or other instructional units, educational materials shall be selected such that they are available to students at a reasonable price consistent with national norms." Most of the committee felt that this sentence should be deleted since departments or other instructional units should not be treated differently than individual faculty, and that if these units were allowed to profit at the expense of the student that it would be equivalent to a "hidden fee" on the students.

2. The non-exemption of widely distributed and nationally used textbooks from the policy covered in paragraph D remains a concern for many. However, the majority of the EPSAC wanted to leave essence of paragraph D intact (allowing mandatory review for any textbooks or materials in which faculty would receive any profit by requiring the materials for their own classes) but soften the wording slightly as to not assume most faculty were guilty of unethical behavior.

3. There was discussion among EPSAC members and outside Faculty Senators concerning the make up on the "Textbook Review Committee". Should students be added? Should administrators be added? Should the Faculty Senate appoint the majority of the members? Should this be handled at the Department and College level? In the end the committee's recommendation was to keep the committee at the University level but add 2 students, and reduce the Provost’s appointments from 3 to 2 members.

4. Some also felt strongly that a description of the criteria that the Textbook Review Committee would use in determining if Faculty members and Departments could receive royalties on materials assigned to their own classes should be included. In the end, EPSAC declined to include any specifics about this in the policy, although the consensus was that decisions should not be made on content of the material, but only on conflict of interest issues.

5. Some felt that, at minimum, Sections A-C should be passed immediately but additional consideration should be given to Section D. No recommendation on this issue.

6. Some felt that an appeal process should be added to the policy. No recommendation on this issue.

EPSAC forwarded its recommendations to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee which is continuing to consider the modified proposal.

FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, CHAIR: David Papell
Editor notes: The FAC met on September 28 to discuss the Copyrights in Works of Authorship with Paul Janicke, a member of the Intellectual Property Committee. The Committee voted to recommend the adoption of the copyright policy to the Senate.
After the meeting, Prof. Janicke, HIPLA Professor of Law and Director of the Intellectual Property and Information Law Program at the University of Houston Law Center, provided a written explanation of the proposed policy to the Senate.

SCHOLARSHIP & COMMUNITY COMMITTEE, CHAIR: Suzanne Ferimer
The Scholarship and Community Committee met on September 22 in the FS Offices. The Committee drafted a new Mission Statement for the University. This was informally shared with the administration. Provost Foss then made some suggested changes. The committee reviewed the two documents by e-mail and did some further editing. With a total of four different versions being discussed, the SCC membership was asked to vote. Below is the statement we put forth for your consideration.
The Committee discussed the Faculty Recognition Dinner to be held on November 7, 2006 at the River Oaks Country Club. Invitations have been mailed. The dinner is being hosted by President and Mrs. Gogue to honor faculty members who have served the University for 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 plus years. Also this year Emeriti Faculty and VMOE Faculty are being recognized.