President Kotarba called the February 21, 2007 Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Rockwell Pavilion of the MD Anderson Library at 12:15 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT:  [40]
  ARCH:    M. Sabatino            
  BUS:      R. Keller, W. Chin, C. Pirrong
  CLASS:  V. Brady, S. Craig, A. Gordon, M. Haun, W. Herendeen, N. Houston, J. Kotarba, D. Mazella, M. McHenry, J. Middents, D. Montoya, F. Schiff, G. Trail   
  EDU:     M. Clarke, J. Freiberg, S. McNeil, A. Warner
  ENGR:   A. Kamrani, Y.L. Mo, J. Richardson, J. Williams, R. Willson           
  GCSW: H. Karger                
  HRM:    K. Titz
  LAW:    M. Duncan, S. Huber, P. Linzer
  LIB:      D. Camille, D. Bruxvoort, S. Ferimer
  NSM:    P. Copeland, J. Eichberg, G. Johnson, D. Wells
  PHA:    S. Sansgiry
  TECH:   K. Greenwood

MEMBERS ABSENT:  [12]  
  BUS:      S. Kadipasaoglu                                   
  CLASS:  E. Brown-Guillory, T. Karner, A. Kugler   
  NSM:      X. Gao, A. Ignatiev, K. Kadish, T. R. Lee (w/ notice), M. Ru, J. Subhlok
  OPT:      R. Manny (w/ notice), S. Quintero

VISITORS:   
Don Foss (UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost), Donald Birx (UHS Vice Chancellor and Uh Vice President for Research), Elwyn Lee (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Student Affairs), Teri Longacre (UH Ombudsperson and Associate Professor, Management), Elaine Charlson (UHS Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and UH Executive Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs), Ed Hugetz (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor and UH Assistant Vice President for Planning & University Outreach), Marco Mariotto (Dean, Graduate & Professional Studies), ), John Powell (Assistant to the Chancellor/President, Communications), Oscar Gutierrez (Assistant to the Vice Chancellor/Vice President for University Advancement), Miranda Bennett (Assistant Librarian, University Libraries),Evelyn Brass (Associate Librarian, University Libraries), Joe Papick (Director, Child Welfare Education Project), Mike Emery (Writer/Editor2, Internal Communications)

MINUTES:  The minutes for the January 24, 2007 Senate meeting were approved.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT:  Joseph Kotarba
            Pres. Kotarba reported on:  (1) The Executive Committee had the climate survey data, but a small committee would be formed to draft a report.  The target completion date is currently set for late April.  (2) Committees are assigning liaisons to Steven Craig’s Ad Hoc Committee on Planning.  (3) Pres. Kotarba has asked John Rudley, UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Administration & Finance about making paycheck stubs/statements more user friendly.  (4) The Senate adopted the Fs-CoUG Report recommendation to have the senators review their college bylaws and meet with their Dean about the bylaws.  The Faculty Affairs Committee has been asked to facilitate setting up the meetings between deans & senators.  It was suggested that these meetings would help to develop better communication within the colleges. (5) UH System Day in Austin was a great success.  It consisted of students, alumni and faculty who traveled to Austin to represent the University of Houston.  Pres. Kotarba encouraged faculty to get more involved with the next UH System Day in Austin.  (6) Pres. Kotarba is working on setting up more lunch meetings with Regents.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR AND UH SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS/PROVOST:  Don Foss
        The Provost reported:  (1) UH is the middle of its budget process.  College budget hearings have concluded with requests for $25 – 30 million dollars for new initiatives and another $10 million for one time costs.  There are requests for 25 new tenure-track faculty and a large set of clinical faculty.  Meanwhile enrollment is flat compared to one year ago and down compared to the last biennium.   A committee is working on how to best meet these challenges.  (2)  In the year that just ended, UH hired 41 new faculty, including 27% Asian, 10% Hispanic, and 5% African-American.  There are approximately 65 searches in progress.  (3) The revised UH Mission Statement was approved at the last Board of Regents meeting.  The statement will now go to the Coordinating Board.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH UH SYSTEM VICE CHANCELLOR AND UH VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH:  Donald Birx
      Dr. Birx presented an overview of research for the University of Houston, saying it will take more funding to become a Tier One Research University.  When asked by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson about what it would take for UH to become Tier One, Dr. Birx replied, “$25 million per year.”  Citing consultants, he said that the number one recommendation is to bring in $100 million in sponsored research annually.  The second recommendation is to hire 350 new faculty. 
      Dr. Birx stated that sponsored research at UH stands around $50 million per year.  NIH (National Institute of Health) has been the primary source of grants for UH faculty, but there are other targets of opportunity that need to be tapped.  His plan to build UH’s research calls for the development of Core Facilities, costing of $3-5 million; funding for start-up packages, some of which exceed $1/2 million in the sciences; and the development of Clusters, costing $4-6 million from HEAF. 
      Dr. Birx said that Research and the central administration have created a challenge fund with $150,000 from Indirect Cost Recovery, $150,000 from the administration, so that a college or department that puts up $50,000 can receive a two-for-one match.  Dr. Birx also shared a copy of the “FY 2008 Federal Agenda” and a copy of “Research at the University of Houston Influencing Biomedical Advancement.”  Dr. Birx said research is everywhere at UH.  He pointed out that this is a very diverse campus and he is working on how to best encourage growth and invest resources for the best return.
      Dr. Birx invited faculty and the university community to attend the Research Seminar Series that takes place most Mondays from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the Rockwell Pavilion.  The series features speakers whose expertise can help UH faculty think about different ways to pursue research. 

REPORTS FROM THE FACULTY SENATE COMMITTEES are available on-line at:  http://www.uh.edu/fs/FS_Cms_Reports_022107.htm 

NEW BUSINESS:  None

The meeting adjourned at 1:45 p.m.