022008 min

UNIVERSITY HOUSTON FACULTY SENATE MINUTES – February 20, 2008

President Chin called the February 20, 2008 Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion of the M. D. Anderson Library at 12:15 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: [37]

ARCH: M. Sabatino
BUS: W. Chin, R. Keller, K. Newberry, C. Pirrong
CLASS: E. Brown-Guillory, M. Haun, W. Herendeen, M. Hernandez, J. Kotarba, D. Mazella, J. Middents, J. Sposato, F. Schiff, G. Trail
EDU: M. Clarke, C. Craig, J. Freiberg, A. Warner
ENGR: S. Chellam, A. Kamrani, K. Mohanty, R. Willson
GCSW: D. Alexander
LAW: S. Chandler
LIB: M. Bennett, D. Camille, S. Ferimer
NSM: P. Copeland, A. Ignatiev, G. Johnson, M. Rea, J. Subhlok, D. Wells
OPT: R. Manny, S. Quintero
PHA: S. Sansgiry

MEMBERS ABSENT: [15]

CLASS: A. Bencomo, A. Gordon, P. Howard, A. Kugler, M. McHenry (w/notice), D. Montoya
ENGR: Y.L. Mo
HRM: F. Hall Jackson (w/ notice)
LAW: M. Duncan (w/notice), P. Linzer
NSM: X. Gao, K. Kadish, T.R. Lee (w/ notice), M. Ru,
TECH: K. Greenwood

Grover Campbell (UHS Vice Chancellor and Vice President for Governmental Relations); Elaine Charlson (UHS Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and UH Executive Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs); Teri Longacre (UH Ombudsperson and Associate Professor, Management); Ed Hugetz (UHS Associate Vice Chancellor and UH Associate Vice President for Planning & University Outreach); Dan Gardner (UH Assistant Vice Chancellor for Planning & Initiatives); Agnes DeFranco (UH Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Studies); John Powell (Assistant to the Chancellor/President, Communications); Oscar Gutierrez (Assistant to the Vice Chancellor/Vice President for University Advancement); Steven W. Wallace (Director and Professor, School of Theatre & Dance);

Pres. Chin also reported on: (1) Making contact with his counterpart at the University of Northern Illinois due to the recent tragic events on that campus. A memorial ribbon has been placed on the UH Faculty Senate’s website. (2) The Faculty Senate Retreat will be held on Friday, February 22. The day will be centered on strategic planning. Dr. Khator and Dr. Foss will be present in the afternoon to discuss issues. The online survey sent to Senators has an 80% response rate. This information will be discussed at the retreat. Pres. Chin thanked the new Senators for their responses to his request for trivia. There will be a multiple choice trivia quiz about the new Senators at the Retreat. (3) The Southern Association of College and Schools (SACS) will visit campus on April 7-9, 2008. Part of the reaffirmation of accreditation process involves the adoption of a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). UH is proposing “Discovery-Based Learning: Transforming the Undergraduate Experience through Research.” The plan is to provide research-related skills training and expand undergraduate research opportunities with the goals of developing critical thinking, information literacy, research ethics and communication skills. Pres. Chin added that funding for the QEP is still in flux. The plan has to be approved by SACS and the Board of Regents. A QEP Office is being established, staff is being hired, a website is being launched and a database will be created. Fund criteria for programs will have to be developed, too. In response to a question about an Implementation Team, Dr. Charlson said the focus to date has been on getting the document ready to go to out. Veronique Tran has been heading the effort and will direct the new office. (4) Sen. Freiberg asked the administration to be careful in handling the QEP. He warned that resources should be used to avoid turning the Human Subjects Review Committee into a bottleneck. Pres. Chin added that this is the value of including faculty in all phases of planning as their experience can help to avoid problems. (5) Questions were raised about internal research grants. The first was with the lack of feedback to applicants who are turned down. Comments on how to improve future applications should be provided to encourage success. The second had to do with increasing the amounts of the small grants from $3000 to $5000 to keep up with demands, especially target new faculty for awards. Pres. Chin said he would bring the questions and concerns to the Chair of the Research Council. (6) Pres. Chin announced that a half day workshop is being planned for faculty who are interested in learning about or enhancing their skills for administrative duties. It is not a fast track to an administrative position, but for faculty interested in learning what is involved such jobs, they are encouraged to attend. No date has been set for the workshop yet.

The University Coordinating Commission (UCC) is an initiative of the Faculty Senate Commission on University Governance (FS-CoUG) to insure that all relevant parties had valuable input when new policies are put forth within the University. The UCC is not a decision-making group. Its job is to circulate any new policies to all parties involved for their comments. Once the vetting is complete, the UCC certifies the policy has been viewed (and includes comments made, if any) for the appropriate administration signature(s). Groups are creating or revising policies should send the document(s) to the UCC and include the names of other parties with which the information has already been shared.

Prof. Wallace pointed out that the entertainment industry is one of the largest exports and biggest money makers in any society. Theatre is more esoteric and reaches out across every discipline in the University. Graduate students become entrepreneurs. They have to know about their Intellectual Property rights; how to sell and market their work. The School of Theatre and Dance offers a number of fun courses. Prof. Wallace mentioned that he has taught acting to politicians, trial lawyers and business professionals. Currently “The Good Woman of Setzuan” by Berthold Brecht is on stage at the Wortham Theatre. Prof. Wallace urged the faculty to bring their students to the play, then discuss the relevance within their disciplines.

UH wants to achieve Tier 1 status. To become a Tier 1 institution requires more than one component. Theatre is part of a social structure and involves the community at large. On opening night of the Brecht play about 80% of the audience was foreign. In any major research institution there is a philosophy about the community. The School of Theatre and Dance needs the support of the rest of the University community and UH needs the School of Theatre and Dance.

Sen. Willson said he has had the privilege of leading the Budget & Facilities Committee at a time when projects begun under previous chairs have come to fruition. The BFC has hardworking people. One of the things the committee has worked on is the salary survey. Recommendations were made from this study. The Provost has acted on at least one of the recommendations. The first meeting of the semester will begin immediately following today’s meeting. Salary issues and budget hearings will be discussed. The goal is to be politely persistent. Sen. Willson also serves on the Purchasing & Plant Operations Committee as ex-officio member. Donna Kacmar is the Chair of the PPOC. The two groups are coordinating activities.

The committee is working on staffing the various UH standing committees. There are 33 committees on campus. The Annual Committee Preference Survey is on-line thanks to Sara McNeil. There is a link on the Faculty Senate homepage. The committee will also be reviewing the work of the committees through the annual reports. There was a meeting on February 18 to handle a few routine problems. The Grievance Committee slate will be presented at the Spring Faculty Assembly on March 26, 2008.