President
Auchmuty called the meeting to order in the Farish Hall Kiva at 12:15
p.m.
MEMBERS
PRESENT: [34]
BUS:
W. Chin,
S. Khumawala, D. Rude
CLASS: V. Brady, S. Craig, W.
Herendeen,
A. Jacobson, J. Kotarba, B. Lange, J. Middents, D.
Papell, G. San Miguel,
F. Schiff, G. Trail, R. Weldon
EDU: S.
McNeil, A. Warner
ENGR: O. Ghazzaly, T.
Helwig, S.
Kleis, G. Paskusz, D. Zimmerman
LAW: S. Huber
LIB:
S.
Ferimer, M. Thomson
NSM: G.
Auchmuty, P. Copeland, J.
Eichberg, G. Etgen, D. Wells
OPT: R. Manny, S. Quintero
TECH: K.
Greenwood
GSSW: H. Karger
MEMBERS
ABSENT: [18]
ARCH: D. Kacmar
BUS: M.
Parks
CLASS: K. Brown, B. Byrnes, P.
Gingiss, R.
Murray, J. Rushing
EDU: M.
Connell, C. White
ENGR: T.
Cleveland
HRM: K.
Titz
LAW: P. Linzer
NSM: D.
Blecher, A. Ignatiev, K. Kadish, E.
Leiss
PHA:
C. Pedemonte
TECH: C.
Goodson(w/E)
VISITORS:
Jay Gogue (UHS
Chancellor and UH President), Jerald Strickland (Interim UHS Senior
Vice Chancellor and UH
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs/ Provost), John Rudley (UHS
Vice
Chancellor and UH Vice President for Administration & Finance), Grover
Campbell (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH VP for Governmental Relations), Charles
Shomper (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Information
Technology),
Elwyn Lee (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Student
Affairs),
Illena Trevino (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH VP for University
Advancement), James Anderson
(Executive Associate
to UHS Chancellor and UH President), Elaine Charlson (UHS
Associate
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and UH Associate Vice President
for
Academic and Faculty Affairs), Marco Mariotto (Dean of Graduate &
Professional Studies), David
Irvin (UHS Associate Vice Chancellor and UH Associate Vice President
for Plant
Operations),
Ed Hugetz (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor and UH Assistant Vice
President for Planning & University Outreach), Ed Apodaca
(Associate Vice
President Enrollment Management and Admissions), Craig Ness (Executive
Director, Academic Budgets & Operations, SVP-AA), John Powell (Executive
Speechwriter), Amy Leggio (Director of Annual Giving/Stewardship)
APPROVAL
OF THE MINUTES:
The January 28, 2004, minutes were approved.
NOTE:
Ruth Manny was present at this meeting. The
official print and Web minutes have been
corrected to reflect this.
Pres.
Auchmuty said a theme for today is updating the Faculty Senate Website
and
using the Website to communicate with faculty.
The Faculty Senate operates through committees and the Committee
on
Committees selects many of the faculty representatives who serve on
University
standing committees. To choose these
members the COC uses the faculty Committee Preference Survey. This year, Sen. McNeil, Secretary of the
Faculty Senate, has put this survey on-line.
Sen. McNeil said a notice will be sent to faculty via the
Faculty
List-serv about how to access the survey.
There will be a link from the Senate’s homepage and printed
copies of
the survey can be obtained from the Senate office.
Faculty are urged to participate in this easy
“push button” survey that will put their names into the pool of
candidates to
serve on their favorite UH standing committees.
Sen. McNeil demonstrated the procedure.
Pres. Auchmuty said the Faculty Senate
Website is at: www.uh.edu/fs/. One plan for the Senate homepage is to add a
calendar of events that are of interest to faculty to give them a
source to go
to for upcoming events. The Faculty
Senate Website has lots of links to all sorts of things around the
University. Pres. Auchmuty encouraged
people to bookmark the site or use it as a homepage, so they will know
what is
going on around the University. He added
that there is a list of all senators and links to their websites. He encouraged senators to update their
homepages. If people want to sent e-mail
to the Faculty Senate, they may use: FSenate@uh.edu for the attention of
the
Faculty Senate office or FSPres@uh.edu
for
the Senate President. The idea for these
e-mail addresses, particularly the last one, is that they will rotate
with the
presidency so that next year when Sen. Warner is President, he will
have all
the e-mail that was sent to this site this year.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Faculty
Senators are encouraged to visit the Faculty Senate
Website and let the Senate
staff know if they see anything in need of correction.
It would also be helpful if senators would
provide current URLs for their homepages.
The
The
Faculty Senate Retreat will be February 27 from
8:30-3:00 p.m. at the Melcher
Board room of the Athletic/Alumni Center.
All senators are encouraged to attend.
Elwyn
Lee, Vice President for Student Affairs, and his Office
are organizing teams for the Texas
Roundup. This is a state-wide
initiative
to encourage all Texans to become more physical active.
It is being promoted by Gov. Rick Perry. People
interested in participating should
contact Juanita Jackson (x3-5385 or
JJackson@uh.edu)
who is coordinating this event. The
first meeting for captains is February 23.
The
Faculty Senate will host its 2004 Spring
Faculty Assembly on Wednesday, March
24, beginning at noon in the Kiva.
President Gogue is slated to speak.
The candidates' slate for the Grievance Committee will be
presented with
nominations also taken from the floor.
Friday,
April 2, is the Annual Research and Scholarship Day
at the
KUDOS:
Kudos to Dana Rooks, Dean of Libraries,
for successfully
raising more than 20 million dollars in private donations to be used in
the
expansion and renovation of the
Kudos to John Hansen,
Chair and Associate Professor of Information and Logistics Technology,
who will
be recognized as a Distinguished Technology Educator at the
International
Technology Education Association conference on March 19 in Albuquerque,
New
Mexico. The ITEA represents more than
40,000 technology educators in the
Kudos to Martin Golubitsky of the
Department of
Mathematics who has been voted President-elect of the Society for
Industrial
and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). This is
the main organization for applied mathematics in the world. He will become President of the society
starting in January 2005.
Special Kudos to
Senator Anne Jacobson, who has
been appointed to a three-year term on the American Philosophical
Association’s
Committee on the Status and Future of the Profession, starting July.
Pres. Auchmuty said
that, as was mentioned
in Sen. Jacobson’s presentation last month, the Faculty Senate is
setting up a
Commission on University Governance (FS-CoUG).
It is
charged
with reviewing current University governance and the involvement of
faculty in
academic, administrative and budgetary decision-making.
Pres. Auchmuty called for nominations to the
Commission, which will consist of three officers: a
chair, who will be a past president of the
Faculty Senate, a vice-chair and a secretary.
Other members of the commission include four tenured faculty of
the
Pres. Auchmuty
said that, after a very long
revision process that was chaired
by Sen. Eichberg, the Faculty Handbook now seems to be in an
agreed upon
form. Over the next few weeks, Mary
Brantley will begin putting it up on the Senate Website.
[Editor’s
note:
According to the handbook’s revision policy, a limited number of
copies
will be distributed to accessible places like the offices of the Deans,
Vice
Presidents and the Library. Two copies
will be on file in the Faculty Senate Office.]
John Rudley, Vice
President
for Administration and Finance, has formed the Committee on the Use of
New
Designated Tuition Funds. The two Senate
representatives are Saleha Khumawala, Chair of the Budget and
Facilities
Committee, and Allen Warner, President-elect of the Senate. Also, there are five student members of that
committee. The group is meeting on a
regular basis.
If anybody has a topic
that
should be addressed at the Faculty Senate Retreat, February 27, please
e-mail
it to: FSPres@uh.edu.
Sen. Eichberg
commented that in
reference to the Faculty Handbook he would like to thank the
members of
the ad hoc committee who worked on the revision for over a year. He also thanked Elaine Charlson, Associate
Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs and other members of
the Provost
office and other offices for their cooperation.
This is a much lengthened work from previous editions which
should be a more useful source of
information for the faculty.
Sen. Eichberg made a
brief
presentation. He said that just over a
year ago, when he retired as Faculty Senate President, incoming Senate
President Jacobson gave him a particular gift [Editor’s note: the gift looked like a fur covered hat with
two horns]. Sen. Eichberg said some
people have commented that it is reminiscent
of a Viking helmet. In talking
it over with Sen. Jacobson and Pres. Auchmuty, he decided that this
should
be a symbol that can be passed on from one ex-president to the next. In that spirit, he presented it to Sen.
Jacobson for her courageous presidency.
Sen. Jacobson accepted the item, saying the thought behind the
gift to
Sen. Eichberg was that as President he listened so carefully to people,
the
item was meant as a power switch.
COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES,
CHAIR: Anne Jacobson
Sen. Jacobson said the
committee will meet
on February 25 with Russell Barnes, Director of Affirmative Action, and
Shirley
Redwine, former General Counsel, both from
Ms. Leggio reported
that UH
had a very successful first and second faculty/staff campaign in the
past two
years. This year Pres. Auchmuty and
Staff Council President Angie Shortt have been invited to be co-chairs
for this
year’s campaign. UH has always had an
interest in the Library and in scholarships.
The faculty have an overwhelming interest in academic support. The Development Office wants to determine
where the next campaign should head.
Pres. Auchmuty has suggested that faculty be offered a huge
cafeteria of
options in the academic support arena, i.e., choose a program, choose a
department or choose a college.
Sen. Warner said a
number of
faculty contribute now to various things on campus.
Is there a record of how many faculty or what
percentage of the faculty contribute on fairly regular basis? Ms. Leggio said faculty do not participate in
very large numbers but the gifts are more generous whereas the staff
participate in larger numbers but the individual gift is smaller so it
is a
balance.
Sen. Chin suggested
collecting
more information in terms of baselines.
It would be nice to look at participation but add other factors
that are
critical in understanding why people give or help determine the extent
or
spread of giving, like awareness. Sen.
Chin said that Pres. Auchmuty has suggested this cafeteria of options
be put
on-line so that people are aware of the options available and that
might spark greater
participation. Sen. Chin suggested the
issue
may be more than whether faculty will give to a campaign, it may be
more an
issue of whether they are even aware
that there is a campaign. The fund
raising done for the Library needs a lot more publicity, so people are
much
more aware of the campaign and its results.
In general whenever there is a campaign, UH might want to
benchmark it
in terms of a statistical sense.
Ms. Leggio said so the
question is not so much whether or not people are participating in a
campaign
as whether or not the message is reaching the people.
Sen. Chin said people should sit down and
think about what it takes to make a better campaign.
The end result is the participation and
amount given, but why is not clear.
Sen. Craig said it is
silly
for the University to spend resources to try to get voluntary salary
reduction
from employees. When people ask
Development who is contributing, he said he hoped the answer was all of
the
faculty and staff on campus are contributing.
Most UH employees are paying a lot of money for the privilege of
being
in academe and some are paying extra for being at UH.
Ms. Leggio said
faculty have
made the choice of putting their intellectual capital here which is the
most
important decision; more than financial capital. Faculty
are academics, very educated people
who spend a lot of time getting to where they are.
And the fact that they have chosen to be here
is very important. UH needs to do all it
can to get outside funding to support that decision.
One of the things outside funders look at is
internal support. Sen. Craig replied it
is 100% or people wouldn't be working here.
Sen. Jacobson said
Sen. Craig
is raising a really important point.
Generally faculty morale is an extraordinarily important
component. Most faculty feel that they are
giving extra
to UH.
Sen. Chin said the
point is to
build a good model to understand the decisions that faculty and staff
face
towards giving, including issues like morale, communication and
perceptions
about who is already giving.
Sen. Eichberg said
faculty who
chose to give like to know that they are making a difference in giving. One idea is if the Senate were to choose a
particular project faculty might pay more attention.
Sen. Huber said Sen.
Craig and
he both have children at the same school that also does fundraising. He has told them that a lot of his peers are
well off in financial capital while he has a lot of intellectual
capital that
he would be delighted to contribute.
Ms. Leggio said that
is why
she is asking for Senate participation.
UH has a campaign that will be launched after spring break so
the
Development Office needs to get a sense of direction from the Faculty
Senate
for the next campaign. What is the mood
of the faculty? What is a good message
for now? The cafeteria plan is fine, but
is there something that is a little more focused?
Sen. Warner said the
Senate
has had earlier discussions about forming a faculty advisory group for
Development. An advisory group could
help focus, not just on faculty giving, but also on the many contacts
that the
faculty have, like alumni who may or may not be involved in the Alumni
Association but who may consider giving to the University in a very
significant
way. This will be especially important
as UH moves toward a capital campaign.
Ms. Leggio said she
believed
forming an advisory committee was in the works.
Pres. Auchmuty said
when he
was originally asked about co-chairing the campaign, he asked what the
alternative gift choices were, in particular scholarship funds. He said a number of faculty would give to
scholarship funds in their colleges and/or departments.
He asked Ms. Leggio to have her office
develop a data base that listed all the options. He
thought the various colleges and the
departments could put the list on their website, which in turn would
provide
information to students who were looking for a scholarship as well as
potential
donors. He added that he didn't think
that the Faculty Senate was in a position to adopt a single project at
this
time, but the information would helpful.
Sen. Craig said these
questions usually go through a committee.
Shouldn't this be referred to a committee?
Pres.
Auchmuty said he was proposing to discuss it at the Faculty Senate
Retreat, but it could be given to a committee as well.
Ms. Trevino said
perhaps it
would be helpful if her office prepared a report for the Faculty Senate
that
broke out current faculty giving by participation, by colleges, and by
scholarship programs. She added that she
could a report ready for the next meeting.
Ms. Leggio said they could have it ready for the Retreat.
Sen. Brady said it was
her
sense that faculty are less likely to give for enhancement of students
services, would be more interested in contributing towards scholarships
for
underprivileged students.
Sen. Weldon said the
point
about numbers of internal participation counting is always a very good
argument. She added that it might be
helpful to see some of the specifics of that and to see where these
numbers
have actually affected fundraising. Sen.
Weldon said she understands that UH needs to move from the Library to
its next
goal, but having information about what dollars have been brought in
might be
an additional incentive.
Ms. Trevino said her
office
can do that. She said it sounds like her
office needs do a development presentation for the Faculty Senate. She offered to do that at the Retreat or the
next meeting.
Sen. Khumawala said
the
Sen. Herendeen said
one of the
ways in which faculty could be reassured that their contributions are
making a
difference would be to offer an option with continuity; something
faculty could
donate to year after year. Ms. Leggio
said that is what Information Technology (IT) does.
They have a scholarship endowment set up and
every year their staff, who participate in the faculty/staff campaign,
give to
that endowment.
Pres. Auchmuty said
this
discussion will continue at the Faculty Senate Retreat.
REPORT ON
UH SYSTEM STRATEGIC PLANNING INITIATIVE:
Edward Hugetz, UH System Assistant Vice Chancellor and UH Assistant
Vice
President for Planning and Outreach
Dr.
Hugetz said the strategic planning effort is going to be conducted at
the
system level, not at the university level.
Seven years ago UH System (UHS) was collapsed into the
Sen. Kotarba said, in looking over the
list of items on the strategic plan, it
appears that the only campus where specific items, activities or goals
are
addressed is UH. There is nothing
for
the other three campuses. Dr. Hugetz
said first of all, that list is just a series of notes of conversations
that
went on between the Chancellor and the Regents in discussing issues
that might
or might not be raised in this process.
It is a starting point for things to be discussed.
There is a lot of attention to things that
are on this campus because those issues remain her, like the issue of
Tier 1
Research Institution is still there.
There are issues beyond that.
Think about the issues facing this campus in its efforts to move
toward
being a premier research institution.
There is a real challenge about expanding at the rate that UH
has been
expanding in enrollment, particularly at the undergraduate level. With its “Closing the Gaps” model, the state
has a plan that would add 50% more students in the State of
UH needs to find a way to partner with its
sister institutes to work, not through a system administration, but
through
four institutions each of which have a unique mission.
The mission of each university is different.
UH is a research university with full ranked
bachelors, masters and Ph.Ds. UH-D is an
open
admissions institution. They have a
great story. They are growing and they
are getting attention from the city that they will serve.
UH-V and UH-CL are upper level
institutions. They don’t offer the first
two years of undergraduate education. They
deal primary with a
segment of the market where the average age is 32.
If everyone can forget the history, UHS can
enter into a partnership that is in everyone’s best interest.
Since 1996 Dr. Hugetz has work at UHS and
Sugar Land, which is a cooperative effort of the four universities. He has learned to respect the differences
between the institutes. Working with the
four institutions has created the word, “co-opetition”.
It is a combination of competition and
cooperation in which competitors partner and they cooperated. These kind of partnerships in the environment
that
There
is a steering committee for the strategic planning process that is made
up of
the Presidents, the Provosts, the CFOs and the Presidents of Faculty
Senates. There is a Student Regent on it
as well as a Staff Council Representative.
Dr. Hugetz will staff it. The
committee will visit each campus once this spring.
At the campus it will hear from the major
internal stakeholders. The
administration will make a presentation.
The Faculty Senate will make a presentation about what is most
urgent
for them. The students will make a
presentation. The staff will make a
presentation and then there will be a limited number of external
stakeholders. If there are some
selective partnerships that have real potential the committee will
identify
those. April 18 and April 19 the
committee will take 10 or 15 strategic principles to the Board of
Regents. At this point, there will only be
principles,
not goals, objectives, etc. This
presentation wouldn't be the end of it.
The UHS will continue talking about lines of system
partnerships,
developing and nurturing them to the extent that they mean something.
Sen. Huber said first, Dr. Hugetz is a
good guy. He started out as a faculty
member at UH-CL. Sen. Huber met him when
Dr. Hugetz was President of the Faculty Senate there and he was
president of
the Senate here. Sen. Huber said let me
comment on this listing of things. It
says top tier, which likely means generically top tier, say Tier 1. The document uses radio station and television
station, using business places is probably
enough. It doesn't mention distance
learning which is so fundamental it might be in there somewhere. Dr. Hugetz said this is a starting
point. UH needs to look at
partnerships. There are things that the
UHS institutes could do together that could leverage each other.
Sen. Huber said in general persistence,
there are two rational ways to do things.
One is the
Sen.
Trail said he has difficulty reconciling what Dr. Hugetz is saying
about the
bullet items in the priority list and the language in which they are
presented. The title states, “Strategic
Planning for the UH System will take place under the following
assumptions.” Now in some cases,
like the medical center
university, it has “will consider.” This
is an inconsistency. In other cases, it
states “faculty governance will be an integral part of the planning
endeavor.” Then two bullets later, it
states “the UH will continue to have a Division I athletics program.” These are not starting points for discussion.
This is a fiat. Dr. Hugetz said there
are no fiats here and the whole thing is in the conditional form. These are only items for consideration at this
point.
Sen.
Chin asked what expertise has been used already beyond Dr. Hugetz and
the
people in his group? Have other faculty
members at UH or the other campuses who have actually taught areas of
strategic
planning, been consulted to figure out how to go about setting up a
projected
planning process? Dr. Hugetz said he has
talked to people. He talked to Art
Vargas about different models that could be pursued.
For the environment scan, which is not a
process structure but it is an element that is definitely going to be
involved
in the planning, he worked with UH’s Center for Public Policy. Their expertise is invaluable to find out
what UH may be looking at in terms of population, demographic issues,
jobs, and
a whole wealth of data.
Sen.
San Miguel commented that in the Guidelines for Presentation under
Issues for
Consideration in the National and State Policy Issues there is a
statement
concerning academic and research excellence and ethic diversity and
college
affordability, but under the strategic planning list, ethnic diversity
was
excluded. Dr. Hugetz said that it is so
embedded in everyone’s way of thinking of access and excellence that everything the campuses do involve diversity
that obviously it is going to be put in there.
It needs to be explicit as does reaching out.
Sen. San Miguel said it should be stated.
Sen. Jacobson seconded that.
Dr. Hugetz said the document will state
that.
Pres. Auchmuty said Dr. Hugetz will also
be at the Faculty Senate Retreat on
February 27 and this will be an item.
Sen. Kotarba said this is a very long list
of assumptions. His concern is that some
of these are much more important and critical than others.
Good ideas may be lost. The most
important priority listed here is
the Medical Center university idea. That
could be UH’s best, if not only, chance to move into Tier I status as
it could
elevate the rest of the University's departments to Ph.D status.
Dr. Hugetz said he is asking the Senate to
make a presentation to the steering committee on Friday, March 26. The Senate should focus on what is most
important to the faculty..
Pres. Auchmuty thanked Dr. Hugetz. He
added that this discussion will continue.
REPORT
FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM CHANCELLOR
AND UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON PRESIDENT: Jay Gogue
Dr. Gogue said that as the new guy here, he
had a lot of questions. What was UH and
UH System going to do? Are there plans
to expand out in more MITSIs? There are
a million people out at Beltway 8, Beltway 6, out on the western side
of town,
so is UH going to open new sites? What
about the
Dr. Gogue suggested that the senators not
fuss too much at Dr. Hugetz about the beginning assumptions. Those came from an hour long discussion with
the Board of Regents. They are just a
laundry list of ideas. Some are far more
important than others. Absolutely. Are they in stone? No.
They were just sort of assumptions that were thrown out in an
open
discussion. It is time to move forward
and pick a few of those things that are really important and make sure
that UH
and the System are successful in those things.
When Dr. Gogue met with staff back in the
fall, one of the issues that they asked
him to work on was to try to figure out a way to give some relief to
staff in
terms of tuition. Dr. Rudley has figured
out a way to try to provide tuition remission, if that is the correct
word, for
staff. The reason the President wanted
to share that announcement with the Faculty Senate is because he has
been very
impressed throughout his short time here that when he talks in the
Senate, staff
issues come up. There has been a
tremendous increase in activity for UH to do more for its staff, so he
was excited
when Dr. Rudley told him this yesterday.
In
terms of the private fund raising area, Dr. Gogue said he appreciated
the
comments he heard earlier. He said it is
awfully tough to ask individuals to make large contributions when
salaries are
not at the level they should be. He
understands that completely. UH has
signed a contract that will allow the feasibility study to look at the
campus
to see what is possible. How can the
resources of this campus be used to be successful in a major
comprehensive
campaign. Someone raised the comment
that it is always said that UH needs to show a high internal
participation
rate. It would be nice to see that kind
of promotion and how that actually relates to the rewards that others
make.
Last
week Dr. Gogue was in Washington, D.C. with Grover Campbell, the Vice
President
for Governmental Relations; Art Vailas, the Vice President for
Research, and
several Regents. They visited with
probably eight or ten members of Congress, both members of both the
Senate and
House, to talk with them about federal priorities for this institution. They carried about 35 or 36 ideas to the
legislators that came from a variety of places.
That is different from what UH has done in the past. It normally took one or two priorities and to
be very honest, had success with those one or two priorities. It was important for us to carry a larger
list of priorities to show the kinds of areas that have some expertise
on this
campus. Dr. Gogue said he didn't
anticipate being successful in all 37 priorities, but it is important
to tell
UH’s story in Washington and to let them know
that UH has needs in a variety of areas, not just one or two. Time will tell if that is a good strategy or
not. Dr. Gogue said he felt comfortable
about the approach and felt that in general the priorities were well
received.
There have been hearings held on tuition
increases. They were held in
Requests for funding for new initiatives
for next fall came to the Provost Office on February 5.
The Provost went through that with the
President and Dr. Rudley. They tried to
figure out what it would cost to meet all the requests.
A committee was formed to determine what the
designated tuition should be and how to use the money to meet these new
requests. Dr. Gogue said he expects to
get the final recommendations from that committee on February 24 or
February
25. At that point, the open public
hearings on campus need to occur on any proposed tuition increase. Another twist is that the legislators have
asked that UH have interactions with them during this process. All of these discussions lead up to April 1
when the Board of Regents will determine what tuition will be for the
fall of
next year.
Dr.
Gogue said everyone should be very proud that, out of 19% increase of
its
designated tuition last year, UH chose to set aside 30% of the money
collected
for additional student aide. The
regulatory rate that the state wanted was 20%, but UH set aside 30% to
try to
support students. That is one of the
positive parts of UH’s presentation during legislative testimony about
the
increases.
Sen. Craig said, knowing that the
President is worried about UH’s tuition enrollment, would he speak
generally
about high price, high quality institutions compared to low price, low
quality
institutions.
Dr. Gogue said UH’s tuition is about the
seventh highest in the state. UH is
cheaper than
Sen.
Copeland said he was trying to sort out some problems with his research
budget. His department’s business
manager she said that a person, who was supposed to be paid from his
research
account, did not show up on his report.
Sen. Copeland asked where the money to pay the person came from
and she
said look in the suspense report. He
asked what is a suspense report? She
said that is what they call it when people are getting paid and they
don’t know
where the money is coming from. Sen. Copeland said it was a perfectly
good
answer but a very bad thing when an institution has a name for it. Dr. Rudley said suspense accounts are used in
insurance companies. All premiums are
paid coming from suspense account.
Suspense accounts are used as holding accounts until the
expenses can be
matched to the right account. Suspense
accounts are always cleared at the end of the year.
There is a control that matches those
accounts. Suspense accounts are like
service
accounts. UH has a bunch of people who
are paid under the facilities budget.
Pres.
Auchmuty said Dr. Gogue will be at the Faculty Senate Retreat.
REPORT
FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM INTERIM SENIOR VICE
CHANCELLOR AND UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
Dr. Strickland said in discussing tuition
and fees, the administration is focusing on promoting and protecting
quality,
promoting and protecting access and controlling cost. These things are
important. Another thing that is
important about this planning process is the greater opportunity to
have
synergy between the faculty and the deans.
The deans of all the campuses are meeting for the first time
later this
month. Folks are beginning to talk to
each other to address issues that are of state and national concern. Things like access, like cost, like
diversity. These issues need to be
addressed as a team and as a system.
Dr. Strickland said to follow up on the
issues that the President raised regarding designated tuition and the
fee
system, there are separate processes to determine setting designated
tuition
and fees. The committee to look at
designated tuition has both faculty and students on it.
It has met twice and will meet again next
Monday. Recommendations will go to the
President shortly thereafter. The
Committee is trying to fund new initiatives from the colleges while
being
reasonable and sensitive to cost as well as the quality.
Dr. Strickland said he wanted to do
something at the last meeting but had to leave before the marathon
meeting was
over. He added that he wanted to thank
Madam Past President of the Faculty Senate on behalf of the vice
presidents. Dr. Strickland said Pres.
Auchmuty is just learning that there are a lot of meetings, sometimes
twice a
week and sometimes the meetings go on and on.
There is a lot of communication with President of the Faculty
Senate. There are the expectations of
the Faculty Senate President that many people don’t realize are there. Over the past five months, Dr. Strickland
said he has had the opportunity to spend time with the President’s
Cabinet and
the vice presidents and they wanted to thank the immediate Past
President for
all that she has done. Dr. Strickland
presented Sen. Jacobson with a gift.
PRESENTATION
ON PARKING GARAGES (Continued from January 28, 2004 meeting): John Rudley, UHS
Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Administration & Finance,
and
David Irvin, UHS Associate Vice Chancellor and UH Associate Vice
President for
Plant Operations
Dr.
Rudley gave a brief summary of what was discussed at the January 28,
2004
meeting. He mentioned the study that was
performed by Walker Parking Consultants (available on the Web at: address).
He mentioned that he and Mr. Irvin had a discussion with
students as
well as other groups. There seems to be
an agreement that a parking garage is needed.
It was also agreed that rather raise parking rates
across-the-board to
subsidize a garage, one would be built with retail options. The garage would add 1700 new spaces. The study indicated that UH needs at least
two parking garages, possibly four. The
study also points that the University will have a major problem with
traffic
and the rail system coming through
Having been around universities,
one of
the things that they try to plan for is an internal part of the campus
that is
free of traffic. One of the long term
solutions has been to be move cars from
the middle of the campus to the exteriors of the campus.
The
University of Pennsylvania is located in Philadelphia
has just completed a parking garage; a very beautiful structure that is
six
stories tall and has a movie theatre, grocery store and retail stores
at the
ground level. Universities will use this
concept in the future because it helps pay for the garage.
UH is looking for an external site for the
parking garage that will be able to have retail space.
After the first garage is built, UH will have
to immediately start planning the second parking garage.
Dr. Rudley said, in his opinion, the first
garage should be on the west side of campus; the next one should be on
the east
side of campus.
Dr. Rudley said
he and James Anderson, the Executive Associate to UH President, serve
on the
Scott Street Coalition and the Third Ward Redevelopment Council. The meetings of these groups include county
executives, city managers, Metro, Rev. Bill Lawson, TSU President
Priscilla
Slade, Ed Wolfe and a host of other people.
One of the things that they want UH to do is join them in coming
up with
a project that would help in terms of improving the
Mr. Irvin said a
lot of this information was shared with the Senate at its last meeting. The presentation is on the Web on the Plant
Operations page. In general, the
A number of
locations were looked at across campus.
Since the last meeting he has received a number of e-mails from
senators
and their colleagues. Dr. Rudley shared
there seems to be a consensus that that is a need for parking garage
and that
the plan include retail options and just a 4% increase across-the-board
parking
per year was the most reasonable way to go.
That means basically a difference of about $8 per year through
Fall
2006. The discussion of the light rail
and where the garage should be had the greatest difference of opinion.
Obviously the
ultimate decision belongs to Dr. Gogue and the Board of Regents but the
locations being considered have included looking at the issues of where
the
parking shortages occur, how a garage might affect pedestrian and
vehicle
traffic and how to leverage this fairly significant structure building
for
additional community development. A
determination
of the final location has not been made yet.
The Board asked Dr. Rudley to come back to them at the May board
meeting
with some specifics.
Sen. Craig asked
what the overall student enrollment numbers are? Mr.
Irvin said the garage plans are based on
a slight increase in enrollment with numbers from Ed Apodaca’s office. It is based on an enrollment projection of
39,000 by 2010, which is substantially less than what the “Closing the
Gaps”
model proposes UH should have in terms of students.
Mr. Irvin said it also anticipates that there
will be a need to increase faculty for those additional students.
Sen. Craig asked
what kind of faculty numbers are being suggested. Mr.
Irvin said he didn’t know off the top of
his head but it was based on a similar ratio used for the strategy
planning
assumptions. Mr. Irvin said there will
be a slight decrease in supply as it is anticipated UH will lose some
lots as
it adds additional internal housing.
That is one of the goals that has been suggested and Parking is
working
with Student Affairs to develop some areas for that.
Sen. Huber said
how does demand figure in the location of the garage?
Such as who is willing to pay? UT
built a parking garage next to the
Pres. Auchmuty
said he would like this topic to be taken up by the Senate’s Budget and
Facilities Committee. Also it will be
discussed at the Faculty Senate Retreat.
NEW
BUSINESS: None.
The meeting adjourned at 2:10 p.m.
