President Eichberg called the meeting to order in the Farish Hall Kiva at 12:15 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: [ 33]
ARCH:      B. Bollinger
BUS:         M. Parks
CLASS:     J. Antel, S. Craig, P. Gingiss, A. Jacobson, B. Johnson, J. Kotarba, B. Lange, J. Middents, G. San Miguel, T. Tillery
EDU:         J. Freiberg, S. McNeil, A. Warner, C. White
ENGR:      O. Ghazzaly, S. Kleis, R. Metcalfe, D. Shattuck
LAW:       S. Huber
LIB:         M. Jones, J. Myers
NSM:      G. Auchmuty, D. Blecher,  P. Copeland, J. Eichberg, K. Kadish, E. Leiss, D. Wells
OPT:       R. Manny
TECH:     C. Goodson, K. Greenwood
 
MEMBERS ABSENT: [ 19]
BUS:        W. Chin, S. Khumawala, D. Rude
CLASS:   V. Brady, B. Breitmeyer, K. Brown, D. Jacobs, G. Jowett, D. Judkins, R. Murray
EDU:       M. Connell,
ENGR:     T. Cleveland, G. Paskusz
LAW:      P. Linzer
NSM:      G. Etgen, A. Ignatiev
OPT:       S. Quintero
PHA:      C. Pedemonte :
GSSW:   H. Karger
 
MEMBERS AWAITING REPLACEMENT: [1]
 HRM:     J. Abbott
 
VISITORS:   Arthur Smith (UHS Chancellor and UH President), Edward Sheridan (UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost), Charles Shomper (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Information Technology), Art Vailas (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Research and Intellectual Property Management); Elwyn Lee (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Student Affairs); 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); Robert Herrington (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor and UH Assistant Vice President for Human Resources); Ed Hugetz (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor and UH Assistant Vice President for Planning & University Outreach); Ed Apodaca (Associate Vice President, Enrollment); Ian Evans (Associate Professor, NSM); William Fitzgibbon (Professor, MATH); Diane Murphy (Executive Director, VPSA Office); David Small (Assistant Vice President, Student Services); Andy Blank (Executive Director, Residential Housing); Kenneth Waldman (Director, Counseling & Psychology); Patrick Daniel (Director, Learning Assessment); Gail Hudson-Gillan (Director, Program, Wellness Center); Jeff Fuller (President, Staff Council); Jose Cantu (Manager, Admissions); Juanita Jackson (Assistant to the VPSA); Douglas teDuits (Manager, Staff Development and Training); Ken Fountain (Reporter, Daily Cougar)
 
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:  The January 30, 2002, minutes were approved.
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
       March 11 is the deadline to submit an application to the UH Committee on the Status of Women for Career Development Scholarships.  These scholarships are for benefits-eligible female staff  employed on the main campus of the University.  For more information, please contact Ann Christensen at 743-2972 or  Kristi Hildebrand at 743-8997.
       March 27 is the date of the Spring Faculty Assembly.  The slate for the UH Faculty Grievance Committee will be presented with nominations taken from the floor.  The event begins at noon in the Kiva of Farish Hall and will be followed by the Faculty Senate meeting at one p.m.
      Friday, April 5, is the annual UH Research and Scholarship Day with activities from 8:45 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.   There will be displays and demonstrations of current research and scholarly activity and an address by the 2001 Esther Farfel Award Recipient, Michael Olivas.  Professor Olivas, the William B. Bates Professor of Law and Director of the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance, will answer the question,  "Why Do Faculty Do the Things They Do?"   For more information, please visit the Research website at: www.research.uh.edu

KUDOS:
      The Faculty Senate would like to offer kudos to Lennart Johnsson, director of the Texas Learning and Computational Center (TLC²) Program on the grand unveiling of UH's new state-of-the-art computation, visualization and educational facility.   The center will connect UH researchers with scientists worldwide to aid environmental studies, biological and biomedical research, and the development of energy exploration technologies.
     The Senate also offers kudos to the Bauer College of Business on the launching of its new high-tech AIM Center for Investment Management.  MBA students, working with the center, will learn to manage funds and execute investment trades through registered brokers that partner with the college.
 The Senate wishes both programs continued success.

REPORT AND DISCUSSION FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE FACULTY SENATE:  Joseph Eichberg
     Pres. Eichberg said the February 15 Faculty Senate retreat was very successful with over 50% of the senators in attendance.  The post-retreat evaluation showed the response was quite favorable. Two-thirds favored continuing the custom of having retreats twice a year.  There was some lively discussion with President Smith and Provost Sheridan.  The Senate appreciates the time they took out of their schedules to come to the retreat.
     The priorities for this year, as judged by the group as a whole, were:  (1) To find a way for the Faculty Senators explain its role in the functioning of the University to faculty.  (2) To work out a mechanism within each college for senators, as representatives of the faculty, to communicate with deans on a continuing basis. (3) To expedite the preparation of climate survey to find the faculty’s point of view about life on campus.  This survey will be done periodically (approximately every three years) to track how faculty feel about various aspects of campus life. (4) To move ahead with writing a document that puts forth the principles of shared faculty governance.  Pres. Eichberg said he would appoint an ad hoc committee in the next few days to work on this document.  Once drafted it will come to the Senate for comment.  It is possible that this document will eventually serve as a preamble to the Senate Constitution.
     One recommendation of the retreat has already been implemented.  It was decided that once a month the Senate would put out a synopsis of its activities.  Senate Secretary Warner is managing this.
     Pres. Eichberg said last week there was a Board of Regents meeting.  Two actions taken at that meeting there were the approval of tuition and fees for the next academic year and approval of a new classroom building for the UH-CL campus.
 
ANNOUNCEMENT CONCERNING “THE TRAINING POST” (Mandatory Training):  Robert Herrington, UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor/UH Assistant Vice President for Human Resources and Douglas teDuits, Manager Staff Development and Training
     Dr. Herrington said the State of Texas requires all employees to receive training every two years on issues related to affirmative action, equal employment opportunities, and sexual harassment. Approximately two years ago UH started looking at opportunities that would keep this training updated and apply the requirements of the state legislature.  UH was able to join in with the University of Texas Health Science Center in their Training Post, a web-based training program that offers different modules to large numbers of employees without getting them together in a training meeting.  UH has tried to conduct training sessions throughout the campus on a number of occasions with a variance of response.  Sometimes classrooms were overflowing; other times only two or three employees would show up. The Training Post is an answer to this problem.
     Several days ago instructions on how to log into the Training Post were mailed to all benefits-eligible faculty and staff.  The flyer explained how to take the three modules of required training.  Douglas teDuits, the former HR Manager of Training, demonstrated one of the modules.  As a bonus, faculty and staff in attendance at this meeting were credited with completing the module in Sexual Harassment.
     Mr. teDuits noted the Training Post website is:  http://training.hr.uh.edu/.  There is no www for this URL.  Participants go to the first page and click on "Start on-line training."  They then log in individual information such as:  first name, last name, birthday(mm/dd/year), and create a password.  After logging in, participants press the "continue" button to reach the courses:  sexual harassment, equal employment opportunity, and hazard communications.  At the end of each section is a short quiz.  If a question is answered incorrectly, a review slide will appear.  After answering all of the questions correctly for a given module, the participant presses the certificate button and prints it out.
     Sen. Kadish asked what would happen if, at the end of two years, there is only a 30% or 40% compliance rate.  Dr. Herrington said UH is shooting for 100%.  Mr. teDuits said the state mandates training every two years, but doesn't give any more information than that.  However, UH is being audited by the Texas Commission on Human Rights in May so the hope is to have 100% compliance by April.  Mr. teDuits said the deadline is March 15 for everyone to complete the training.
     Sen. Auchmuty asked if the program was accessible from any computer.  Mr. teDuits said it is on campus servers which can be accessed using the internet.  Any computer on campus should be able to access the training system.
     Sen. Huber said as a service function to his faculty and staff colleagues in the Law School, he plans to make sure everyone has a copy of these training post documents and “gets after it” in the next month.  Mr. teDuits agreed that was a good idea for all the senators to do.  He added that he could generate reports to see how departments are doing and who has completed the training.  He offered to send that information to the Senate.
     Sen. Myers asked how people were notified that they have to take this.  Mr. teDuits said everyone was sent a letter and there will be a mass e-mail to all the employees letting them know that they have been scheduled.  All benefits eligible employees have been scheduled.  The Cabinet has already been trained, setting an example for the campus.
     Sen. Myers asked if it has been less than two years since an employee was trained must that person take this program now.  Mr. teDuits said UH is trying to get everyone on the same schedule so that every two years everyone knows it is time to train again.  On October 1, 2001 UH provided training for the new orientation program.  It is also state requirement that  new employees be trained within the first thirty days, so UH trains them on their first day.
     Sen. Jacobson asked what the statistics look like on how taking a course in this manner affects ones' behavior?  Mr. teDuits said he  has no idea.
     Sen. San Miguel asked what happens if some faculty don't want to take the test?  Dr. Herrington said reports will be sent to the appropriate administrative levels to let them know who has not taken the course.
     Sen. Warner thanked Dr. Herrington for putting this program together.  He found it very handy.  Sen. Warner said he completed the modules, printed out his certificates and stored them in his personnel file.  He was able to do it at his own leisure.  It was very convenient and he guessed that UH would have a much higher rate compliance than with scheduling classes and getting people to attend.  Mr. teDuits said he ran a report just before he came to the meeting today and 500 have completed the program.
 
UPDATE ON PEOPLESOFT:  Charles Shomper, UHS Vice Chancellor/UH Vice President for Information Technology
     Mr. Shomper discussed the e-mail that he sent out to a number of people at the University:

The original vision for the UHS PeopleSoft implementation, namely to engage in smarter use of technology and more efficiency in our systems and processes, remains our focus and aspiration. I wish to underscore the significant achievement of the PeopleSoft Project Team and university partners in launching three PeopleSoft modules:  finance, human resources, and student and academic administration (at UH Clear Lake).   As is the nature of software implementations of this magnitude, adjustments and refinements will continue for the short term.  After stabilizing the modules already deployed, our next major emphasis will be to implement the student and academic administration system at the remaining UHS universities.
 
One of our major short-term goals is to ensure the necessary minimum functionality is available as quickly as possible for all systems in production.  Members of the project team have been actively soliciting input during the past month. The functional leadership groups will prioritize the problems and the tasks to resolve them, and the status will be posted on the web.  Increased efforts are being made to communicate the status and issues using e-mail and the web.
 
The Financial System is operational and we continue to work through transitional issues with the campus users.  Currently we are making additional modifications, providing additional reports, enhancing communications, increasing classroom training and informal help sessions for the end users. All of this is being done to insure that the system achieves the minimum level of functionality in the next few months.
 
The system-wide Human Resources Management System includes three modules, all of which went live with the conversion over the 2001 Labor Day weekend.  We are making additional modifications, providing additional reports, enhancing communications, and increasing informal help sessions.  This effort is to make sure the system attains the minimum level of functionality in the next few months.
 
The student and academic administration system is operational at UH Clear Lake and was used for Spring 2002 registration.  The custom-developed reporting sub-system for the Coordinating Board of Higher Education and other official reporting will be completed and used for reporting in late February.   We are evaluating requested modifications and will focus on those that get the system to a minimum acceptable level.  With regard to the other universities, a planning process is underway that will determine how and when the student and academic administration system will be implemented.

• Assembling a team of outside reviewers to assist us in evaluating and enhancing our PeopleSoft systems.  The representatives will come from other universities with environments similar to ours who have successfully implemented PeopleSoft.

•  Meetings with senior PeopleSoft management are planned to better understand strategic directions and the future availability of additional functionality.

• Fit/gap sessions for the student and academic administration system implementation at UH, UH Downtown, and UH Victoria. This will result in an updated implementation plan that will be shared with the Chancellor in early July 2002.

• Particular focus on the budget management needs of the research components of the campuses.

• Education about, and training on, PeopleSoft or any new system is critical.  We are aware of low attendance rates at many of the classes and recognize some of the reasons for this.  We are tailoring the classes based on user feedback and designing custom sessions for individual colleges and divisions.  It is also important that the users be required to participate in the available training and invest the time it takes to learn the new system.  A status report of training in the colleges and divisions is being prepared and will be shared with the units.

• Service standards will be developed in conjunction with our customers to establish minimum acceptance levels and to measure system performance.

• Communication of information to our customers and obtaining timely feedback from them is essential.  We will make more use of e-mail and the web to enhance communications.  Requested and approved enhancements will be posted on the web and regular updates sent to the user community via e-mail.

REPORT ON STUDENT AFFAIRS:  Elwyn C. Lee, UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Student Affairs
     Mr. Lee said this presentation would essentially be comprised of two parts. The first part is to give an overview of Student Affairs.   The second part is to discuss enrollment management.  Notebooks were given to the senators to provide a comprehensive view of Student Affairs.  Mr. Lee said the mission is quite simply to develop good alumni and thus to assist students to achieve their academic and personal goals and have a great time doing it.  Student Affairs motto is "We Give Outrageous Service!"  What the division tries to do is  "Exceeding Expectations Every Day, in Every Way."  A good example of that would be the $1 million renovation of the Houston Room; it is probably one of the finest rooms for activities in a University Center anywhere in the country.
     Mr. Lee said Student Affairs is divided into seven subdivisions:  (1) Counseling and Psychological Services provides individual and group counseling, trains doctoral interns and doctoral and masters practicum students.  There is a lot of University outreach, giving workshops across campus over a variety of topics.  They have done some assessment for students who have learning disabilities and there are three other line programs that operate out of that particular area.  (2) Enrollment Management includes Student Outreach and Recruitment; Admissions which handles the paper work; Registration and Academic Records; and Scholarships and Financial Aid which is a huge area that processes over $100 million in financial aid every year.  (3) Student Health Center has a men's and women's clinic, offers psychiatric services and dermatology services.  Recently, the Center has offered faculty and staff services on a limited basis.  That has been very well received.  There is also have a pharmacy in the health center.  (4) Learning and Assessment Services includes the Measurement and Evaluation Center which grades and scores exams for a lot of faculty and helps faculty with the development of some exams and they help develop surveys.  With regard to testing there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000-50,000 persons on-campus and off-campus who take tests out that particular unit.  This area also provides campus-wide tutoring.  Of course, tutoring takes place in a lot of different programs across campus but SA tutoring is available and open for all students at different levels with several different levels of certification.  (5) Student Development is a very broad area.  The Dean of Students deals with discipline, traffic court, publishing of the Student Handbook, and oversees orientation.  Campus Activities has over 300 student organizations and is responsible for Frontier Fiesta and leadership development.  The Daily Cougar is run by students but has staff who work with them and staff who work with students in the publishing of the yearbook and Transitions. The Child Care Center is under this particular area as is the Cullen Performance Hall, the University Center and the University Satellite Center, which hopefully will be renovated in a few months.  (6) Student Services has the University Career Services, which is a national leader in the use of technology for career services.  This semester UH joined the Career Advisory Network which connects alumni electronically with students who would like to be mentored.  Messages can be exchanged by e-mail.  International Student and Scholar Services helps students and academic scholars with their visa issues.  The Center for Students with DisAbilities and Veterans Services are also under that division.  (7) Residential Life and Housing.  In August UH opened a new facility, Cullen Oaks, which has 530 beds.  Each student has his/her own bedroom.  Hopefully, today a request for proposal will go out for Greek Park housing, which will be along Calhoun just south of Wheeler Street.  Dr. Smith has charged Mr. Harris and Mr. Lee with the task of developing a 5-10 year housing plan.  This division also oversees the Religion Center where lots of marriages are performed.   Mr. Lee said those are essentially the units and a broad overview of what takes place in the Student Affairs.
     Mr. Lee said there are recent achievements listed in the notebook, but he wanted to mention the campus Recreation and Wellness Center, which is progressing well.  It should open January, 2003, although there may be one or two things not available at that time.  It will be 264,000 square feet.  It is going up on Calhoun.  Everybody will be invited to participate in the center, but under state law because student pay a fee for the facility, faculty and staff will have to be charged a membership fee.
     Mr. Lee then presented a series of slides dealing with enrollment management:

•  Slide 1:  Mr. Lee said there are four factors that impact UH's approach to enrollment.  First, is the fact that UH's budget from the state is tied to student credit hours which is mostly tied to headcount so there is always pressure to maintain and to increase enrollment to the extent this institution can handle students and maintain academic quality.  The second is the cap that Dr. Smith has imposed on first time in college freshmen of about 3,400..  A third thing is the desire to recruit more and better-qualified students.   Finally, is the state mandate that UH attract, enroll and retain students who reflect the population of the state.

•  Slide 2:  The high point in UH's enrollment was 1991 when there were 33,599 students.  He added at that time he was asked to participate on a committee whose charge was to figure out how to reduce that number.  Shortly after that enrollment dropped for three or four years.  In 1995 enrollment was transferred to Student Affairs.  The first year enrollment stabilized, then it dropped a bit and now enrollment is back up.

•  Slide 3:  Gives  a snapshot of total student enrollment profile, including  continuing students, transfer students and new freshman students.  This is the whole student body for 2001.

•  Slide 4:  Gives a breakdown ethnically of the entire student body from the Fall 2001.  UH has an extremely diverse student body.  The international figure is largely graduate students.

•  Slide 5:  Shows trends over time.  It is worth knowing that one trend is the decrease in post-bacs and graduate students.  Mr. Lee added the he understands Dean Mariotto has spoken on this and it appears to be part of a national trend  that in part may be affected by economy, so it may be going up.

•  Slide 6:  Shows the first time in college freshmen (FTIC) headcount in the Fall 2001 was 3,394.  The total of White students was 1,173 (34.6%) which is one of the highest totals in a number of years.

•  Slide 7:  Represents the overlapping of positions of SAT scores.  Students who take the test are asked to put down schools to which they want the scores sent.  In general they put down schools that they have at least some interest in attending whether not they ought to attend those schools.  UH overlaps with schools including UT, A&M, and Rice.

•  Slide 8:  Shows the rate of applications versus enrollment.  UH had 9,310 students apply and ended up enrolling about 56% of those who were admitted.  The transfer rate is higher.  1,134 completed files were referred to UHD which has open admissions.  Many of the referrals are accepted at UHD.  The Admission Review Committee is appointed by Provost Sheridan.  Dr. Cortina works with that committee which has seventeen people.  For Fall 2001 the committee reviewed 292 files and approved 45% of those, about 130.  These are students who did not meet UH's normal requirements for SAT and GPA.

•  Slide 9:  Shows UH's feeder pattern for high schools and transfers.

•  Slide 10:  Provides a profile of area school districts.  Although UH is geographically in HISD, this institution tries to recruit in many school districts in the surrounding area.  In HISD the ethnic breakdown of the students includes 11% White and 50% Hispanic.  This slide also shows the school districts’ average SAT scores, information is useful in developing recruitment strategies.

•  Slide 11 (top):  Gives information on the SAT profile of UH students, disaggregated by self-reported ethnicity.  With respect to all of the groups, except for Asian Americans, the UH SAT scores on average are higher than the statewide average.

•  Slide 11 (bottom):  Shows the members of the first time in college (FTIC) cohort who graduated in the top 10% of their high school class.  UH enrolled 623 for Fall 2001.

•  Slide 12:  Compares UH to other Texas universities in terms of students who graduated in the top 10% of their high school class.  Mr. Lee said he has been told that there are just over 10,000 students who graduated in the top ten percent who go to four year universities in the State of Texas.  Of those, roughly 6,000 go to UT and Texas A&M.  UH does very well in some categories, but this scenario is one in which UH needs to improve.  With respect to ethnic minorities, there is substantial competition.  The University of Texas recently announced the Long Horn Scholarship which targets high schools where traditionally a high number of students are of specific ethnic groups.  Texas A&M officials are considering selecting certain schools from which A&M would guarantee admission for people in the top 20 percent.

•  Slide 13:  Shows GPAs for freshmen at UH.  In historical perspective, for a number of years this information suggested that freshman performance was improving.  Lately, it seems that UH freshman GPAs have suffered.

•  Slide 14:  Shows the average cumulative GPA by class year and suggests that student performance improves in successive years.  Students  seem to do a little better each year as they move from their freshman year to their senior year.

•  Slide 15:  Describes UH's scholarship program.

•  Slide 16:  Shows that UH awarded just over 800 scholarships with an acceptance rate of about 43%.  This is an opportunity for UH to increase the number of highly qualified students it attracts.  UH seeks to recruit quality applications, then offers scholarships.  The question is whether the students will take the scholarships.  The University can intensify that effort.  The second phase that Mr. Lee would like to pursue with the Faculty Senate and the Provost's Office is to involve faculty in a more intensive effort to increase the student scholarship acceptance rate and, therefore, increase the number of highly qualified students.

REPORT FROM UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM CHANCELLOR AND UH PRESIDENT: Arthur K. Smith
     Noting there had been three administrative presentations already, Dr. Smith offered to respond to  questions rather than make another report.
     Sen. Copeland said he had been thinking about what the President had said about Athletics during the Senate Retreat.   In particular, that the maximum appropriate or desirable subsidy of Athletics was about $4 million.  Dr. Smith said the way he put it was that he would be much more comfortable with a deficit of $4 million.  His preference would be no deficit.
     Sen. Copeland asked why couldn’t the President just say to the Athletic Department here is $4 million, if more money is needed, get a paper route.  Dr. Smith said he was not giving Athletics a hard and fast budget.  He pointed out that the numbers being discussed are projections. Dr. Smith said he has just hired a new Athletics Director.  He did put performance criteria into the contract and the Athletics Director will be appropriately rewarded if he gets, among other things, the graduation rate up and the subsidy down.  However there are no penalties and no plan to give Athletics a hard and fast rule to reach a certain level at certain times within the fiscal year.  Sen. Copeland pointed out that academic departments have to manage their budgets.  Dr. Smith said the university has retained areas of fund balances which provide a certain flexibility.  In a given year each department or college is provided a budget and is supposed to stay within a certain expectation of revenue coming into the institution.  Dr. Smith said at the end of the year if departments or colleges don’t meet that revenue expectation, UH may have to dip into those fund balances in order to finish.  Dr. Smith said if UH has a surplus at the end of the year, then that money goes into a retainer as fund balances.  The administration is not cutting off academic departments after eleven months of the academic year because they've run out of money.
     Sen. Huber said Dr. Sheridan has a speech for this situation which he has presented it to the Senate on a number of occasions:  no more money, no supplemental, no, no, no.  Dr. Sheridan said he loves the fact that senators are listening.  Dr. Smith said he thinks Dr. Sheridan is referring to the time when academic departments or colleges used to get their TA budgets in August.  Dr. Smith said the administration now budgets the resources of the institution that are going to be available for the coming year and has tried to get people away from historical expectations that the administration really doesn’t mean it when they say that is all the money there is.  Dr. Smith said his administration has demonstrated that it puts the money out to the colleges, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some money in a department's fund balance.  Dr. Smith said his administration is attempting to have discipline in the institution and this includes the Athletics Department.  It is important that people try to manage within the budgets that have been approved for them.  Sen. Huber said make no mistake; the Senate supports that.  If the system can be gamed, everyone will try.  It is terrific that this administration has gotten rid of the games.

REPORT FROM UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR & UH SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS/PROVOST:  Edward P. Sheridan
     Dr. Sheridan said the President and he had just come from the opening of the AIM Investment Center in the Bauer College of Business.  He added that he saw a number of senators at yesterday's opening of the Texas Learning and Computation Center.  In both situations, UH has had extraordinary people from the community come here to see its striking new programs.  Present at the AIM Center opening were Lucile Melcher, one of the individuals for whom the Business School building is named; Ted Bauer, for whom the college is named; and leaders of AIM Investment who have contributed to the new Center.  Representatives from many, many corporations were also there.  It's unfortunate that everyone on campus couldn't attend these events and experience the tremendous excitement that is going on at this University.
     Sen. Jacobson asked what the future looks like in the area of funding for new positions.  Are cut-backs possible?  Dr. Sheridan said, as the President mentioned earlier, UH now plans its budget for two years, so the plans for new positions were put out last year.  Of course, because in all operations things are fluid, one of the things that the President has to be concerned about is holding back some funds to see what will happen with energy costs.  For the past couple of years energy costs have been running out of control.  The administration will look at funds again this Spring.  In terms of the next real budget cycle, which is the 2003-2005 budget cycle, one can't be optimistic going by today’s data.  There is the possibility that there will not be much in the way of new money available at that time.  For the present, if there are open positions, departments should continue their searches and plan to fill those positions.  Dr. Sheridan said that he has been very faithful about allowing departments to search again if they are not satisfied with the candidates.  It is important to find quality faculty members.

NEW BUSINESS:  None.
 
The meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.