UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON FACULTY SENATE SPRING
ASSEMBLY/MINUTES – March 24, 2004
MEMBERS
PRESENT: [38]
ARCH: D. Kacmar
BUS: W.
Chin, S. Khumawala, D. Rude
CLASS: V. Brady, S. Craig, W.
Herendeen,
A. Jacobson, J. Kotarba, B. Lange, J. Middents, D. Papell, J. Rushing,
F.
Schiff, G. Trail, R. Weldon
EDU:
M. Connell, S. McNeil, A. Warner, C. White
ENGR: S. Kleis, G. Paskusz,
D.
Zimmerman
HRM:
K.
Titz
LAW: S.
Huber
LIB: S.
Ferimer, M. Thomson
NSM: G.
Auchmuty, D. Blecher, P. Copeland, J.
Eichberg, K. Kadish, D. Wells
OPT:
R.
Manny
PHA: C. Pedemonte
TECH: K. Greenwood, C. Goodson
GSSW:
H. Karger
MEMBERS ABSENT: [14]
BUS: M.
Parks
CLASS: K. Brown, B. Byrnes, P.
Gingiss, R. Murray,
G. San Miguel(w/E)
ENGR: T. Cleveland, O.
Ghazzaly, T. Helwig
LAW:
P.
Linzer
NSM:
G.
Etgen, A. Ignatiev(w/E), E. Leiss
OPT:
S.
Quintero
VISITORS:
Jay
Gogue (UHS Chancellor and UH President), Jerry Strickland (Interim UHS
Senior
Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs/
Provost), Grover
Campbell (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH VP for Governmental Relations),
Dona
Hamilton (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Legal Affairs
and
General Counsel), 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), Ileana
Trevino (UHS
Vice Chancellor and UH VP for University Advancement), 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), Wendy Adair (UHS Associate Vice Chancellor and
UH
Associate Vice President for University Relations), Ed Hugetz (UHS Assistant Vice
Chancellor and UH Assistant Vice President
for Planning & University Outreach), David Bell (UHS Assistant Vice
Chancellor
for Academic Affairs), Robert Herrington (UHS
Assistant Vice
Chancellor and UH Assistant Vice President for Human Resources), Ed Apodaca (Associate Vice
President for Enrollment Management and
Admissions), Craig
Ness (Executive Director, Academic Budgets & Operations, SVP-AA),
Brian
McKinney (Director, Academic Program Management), John Powell (Executive
Speechwriter)
REPORT
ON FACULTY SENATE ACTIVITIES: Giles
Auchmuty
The main focus of the Faculty
Senate
since last September has been on developing a positive working
relationship
with Dr. Gogue and Dr. Strickland. The
effort is progressing well. Last
semester in preparation for a national search for a permanent Provost,
the
Senate had extended discussions about the most important criteria to be
sought
in a Provost. And this resulted in three
drafts of documents, starting with “Principles of Progress,” which
became the
“Principles and Goals” and then “Achieving Excellence:
Principles and Strategies.” The
interest and attitudes of the faculty
have been represented on the Provost Search Committee by the two Senate
representatives: Anne Jacobson, 2003
President of the Faculty Senate, and Garret Etgen, Senator from the
The Faculty Senate experienced
its
annual change of leadership on January 28, 2004. Giles
Auchmuty, 2004 Faculty Senate
President, gave his inaugural address after being passed the gavel by
Anne
Jacobson. Committees provided their
end-of-year reports and the Senate bid farewell to a long-time member,
Judy
Myers, who shared some parting thoughts.
Perhaps
the other topic that engaged the Senate’s attention most was the
setting up of
FS-CoUG, the Faculty Senate Commission on University Governance. This was originally conceived in the
recommendations of the 2002 Faculty Climate Survey Report, and was
strongly
supported by the November 6, 2002 Shared Governance Symposium and by
Jay Gogue,
“reviewing
current university governance and the involvement of faculty in
academic,
administrative and budgetary decision-making.
The
commission is particularly charged with describing sound processes that
include
significant faculty participation for planning in departments, colleges
and the
university as a whole.
The commission
should investigate possible ways for encouraging faculty input, faculty
review
and the use of faculty expertise throughout university processes and
activities.
The commission is further
charged with proposing
means to strengthen connections between
ifferent university groups and to
improve accountability, collegiality and community at the
University
can enhance faculty excellence.”
Hopefully
the outcome of this commission will
encourage collegiality at UH and greatly help improve faculty morale.
Pres.
Auchmuty has been particularly interested in bringing Faculty Senate
communications into the new millennium.
Its Web page will be improved.
E-mail will be used to poll people formally and get a quick read
on
things that need to be done. Faculty are
encouraged to visit the Senate’s Web page at http://www.uh.edu/fs/ for
information of interest to faculty at UH.
Faculty might want to use it as a homepage.
Faculty may also send comments and concerns
to the Senate via two new e-mail addresses:
FSenate@uh.edu and FSPres@uh.edu.
During Senate meetings
President
Gogue and Interim Provost Strickland have made regular reports. Other topics discussed at Senate meetings
include: the focus of the upcoming
Faculty/Staff
Fundraising Campaign; the UH System Strategic Planning initiatives; the
proposed parking garage and problems/issues regarding virus and spam on
the
e-mail system.
Each of the Senate’s
committees are
working on substantial agendas. The
chairs report on their committees’ progress at each meeting.
Pres. Auchmuty reminded
everyone
that there is an opening meeting for the
PRESENTATION
OF THE GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE SLATE: Anne
Jacobson
The
The
Grievance Committee is the only committee elected by the faculty on a
university-wide basis. Currently there
are five positions open for election in 2004.
Four seats carry full three-year terms and one carries a term of
one
year. Terms are decided by the final
vote count.
The
following are candidates for election to the
Sen.
Jacobson remind everyone about the qualifications to be a candidate for
the
Grievance Committee, then opened the floor for nominations. There were none.
This
year’s balloting will be conducted on-line.
Instructions will sent to the faculty via the Faculty List-serv.
UH SYSTEM CHANCELLOR AND UH PRESIDENT’S
STATE OF
Jay Gogue
Dr.
Gogue said he wanted to talk about some items and then make two
announcements
that faculty will appreciate:
(1)
The Fall Tuition Plan will be
presented to the Board of Regents on April 1. There
has been a lot of input from the
campus, from students and from parents of students.
An effort was made this time to sit down with
the students and go over all of the plans to make sure that they
understand
what is happening. Roughly, there is a
$10 increase that brings the designated tuition up to about $75 per
hour. There are some exemptions which have
created
interest and excitement. There is an
exemption of the increase for the
(2)
Application Rates continue to increase.
UH has 1,700 more applications in the first week of March than
it had a
year ago. It represents an increase of
about 15%. If UH retains its cap of
3,400 for freshman admits, the University should see the quality of
students
continue to increase. Dr. Gogue said he
would not be surprised to see the application numbers at the 20% level
this
year.
(3)
Commencement. Dr. Gogue said he has been told that UH’s
central Commencement in Hofheinz Pavilion has had rather sparse
attendance
while the colleges have had well attended Commencement exercises. This led to a recommendation to abolish the
central Commencement in Hofheinz Pavilion.
As a trial, UH is will forego the general commencement this
year, but
will be looking for feedback. All
Commencement exercises will be done at the college level.
The Board of Regents and administration will
participate. Afterward, the University
will consider if this is a better model or whether it should go back to
a
single Commencement.
(4)
In Research
there have been some marvelous increases in the past several years. External funding is at $82.9 million. UH ranks third in the State in terms of
dollars and in terms of research expenditures.
That is a 60% increase between 1999 and the year 2002, and a 35%
increase over previous years. These are
remarkable numbers.
(5)
The PeopleSoft initiative has had a change. About a month ago the academic component
of
the PeopleSoft initiative was changed from the IT area to the Provost
office. It seems to make sense that to
deal with policy decisions, particularly on the academic side, that the
technical skills should reside in the area of the Provost.
(6)
Construction Projects totaling
about $185 million is underway or will begin this
summer. One of the issues raised as
units move into the new Science and Engineering facility is what
happens to the
offices, labs, and facilities in other facilities?
Dr. Gogue said $5 million has been identified
to renovate the vacated facilities. That
is not enough to do the job completely but it is a step and a
commitment to
move in the right direction.
(7)
The Library. Everyone is very proud of the Library and the
(8)
Parking Garage. It is important to attack the parking problem
and figure out how to address it. UH
may need several parking garages. Ways
have to been found to open this campus up, not only for faculty and
staff to be
able to come and go, but for the students, visitors and guests.
(9)
Lecture Halls.
Dr. Gogue complimented the Physical
Plant personnel. Forty classrooms and
lecture halls were renovated in the past year.
The President said he had been through several of them and was
very
impressed.
(10)
Cameras
have been installed in parking lots and in some areas to beef up
security on
the campus. There have been several
incidents with autos. There was an
incident in the last month or so involving the student body president. That has to be a concern to everyone. UH is looking at every way possible to make
this a more secure campus.
(11)
University Advancement is undergoing a feasibility
study to determine how
comprehensive a campaign UH can mount.
The first stage will be completed by June 1.
The Senate has raised the question about
certain areas of the University needing some advisement by faculty and
others
as a part of the entire advancement process.
Dr. Gogue said it is his understanding that committees have been
formed
to look at how to better market the University, how to improve
communications
and how to improve private fund raising that involve faculty on the
campus. The
President said he was encouraged by that.
(12)
Provost Search. UH
had two additional candidates this
week. Dr. Gogue said he was hopeful that
the search and screening committee would give him its final report
later this
week and that UH could reach closure soon by filling that position.
Dr. Gogue said it is unfair
for
faculty or staff to travel and then have to wait thirty plus days to
get
reimbursed. He announced that starting
in the Fall travelers will get paid in five days. If
not, Dr. Gogue wants faculty and staff to
tell him. That will allow him to become
engaged in trying to figure out how to do this.
There is no reason for UH to take 30-45 days to reimburse people
when
they travel. Dr. Gogue said that UH’s
business, finance and payroll offices will figure it out.
At another institution he was at, Dr. Gogue
asked for five days and after six months they came back and said they
could do
it in twenty-four hours.
Secondly, UH has about 75
chaired
professorships on this campus for roughly 300 full professors. The goal for UH is to add 75 chairs. UH ought to have at
least 50% of its full professors in
chaired professorships. Dr. Gogue said
funds have been secured to create 20 new professorships.
The criteria for the positions will be
announced this fall. The President will
seek the Senate’s and faculty input about the selection process and
whether the
seats will be reviewed after four or five years. He
added that as a comprehensive capital
campaign takes shape, UH has to figure out how to go from 95 to 150
plus
chaired professorships that it needs as an institution.
This will do a couple of things for the
University. As these seats will be
based on payouts of $25,000, it will help in terms of salary
compression. It is important to help UH
retain its best
faculty.
Dr. Gogue said that the six
months
he has been in
Questions and Answers:
Dr. Curry asked if Dr. Gogue
had
said that the number of entering freshman would be retained at 3,400
which
would result in improved quality of students admitted without requiring
changes
in UH’s current admission standards or policies? Dr.
Gogue said he might ask Elwyn Lee, Vice
President for Student Affairs, to comment on this, but it was his
understanding
that Dr. Smith and the previous administration had set the limit on
entering
freshmen at 3,400 and it has been at that number for the past three
years. Dr. Lee said that is correct. Dr. Gogue said that with an increasing demand
for admittance, by leaving that number at 3,400, over a period of years
UH will
probably be more selective, thereby increasing the quality.
Dr. Curry asked does that mean
the
requirement for admission will be raised?
Dr. Lee said UH has been making the deadline for application
earlier and
earlier. As better students usually
apply earlier, in an unofficial way it does have that effect.
Dr. Curry asked what effect
does it
have on the demographics of the entering freshman, first time in
college
students? Dr. Lee said it hasn’t had a
major effect in terms of changing the demographics; the figures he got
today
showed a slightly lower number of African American applicants. Dr. Lee said he thought UH was seeing better
candidates. Dr. Gogue said it is a
really important topic because Dr. Lee’s group told him last week that
UH was
getting some very good students that could push this number to 3,500 or
3,600
or maybe even as high as 3,700. They are
really high quality students, so the question was does UH open the gate
and
admit them or keep admissions restricted to 3,400.
Dr. Gogue added that to his mind, this is
part of the entire strategic planning discussion that is on-going
Sen. Huber said the
expenditure of
money in various ways was part of an e-mail discussion this morning. On his way to the Senate, Sen. Huber stopped
by the Deans office and suggested that a travel related item be added
to LAW
faculty meeting agenda on Friday. In
particular, the main problem is not that the reimbursement isn’t fast
enough,
it’s booking the trip in the first place.
Sen. Huber said to go
Sen.
Copeland raised a point about duplication of faculty effort. He asked if there is a state law that
requires him to ask for money from NSF; the VP for Research and the
President
sign off on it, it goes to NSF and he gets the money back for
international
travel and then he has to get permission again to take the trip, even
though
the President and Vice President already have said it is a good idea. Dr. Gogue asked is there a state law that
deals with international travel? Ms.
Hamilton said yes, there is. She added
that at the moment she couldn’t tell them exactly what that law is. Sen. Copeland asked isn’t the permission to
travel already granted when the administration endorsed getting money
for
it? Ms. Hamilton said, without having
the document in front of her and without having his documentation, she
couldn’t
give a definitive answer. She said she
is assuming that the process that UH has follows state law. She said there are provisions in state laws
that govern international travel. Ms.
Hamilton said grants are under different rules and regulations for each
different kind of money. Sen. Copeland
said it seems like faculty are having to get permission for exactly the
same
thing, two times. Dr. Gogue said it may
not be possible to sort through this matter right now, but as a federal
employee thirty years ago, he got a one-year travel authorization to go
anywhere
in the US and he would still argue that going through the authorization
process
can be a meaningless exercise. The real
control is whether or not they will reimburse the individual for the
travel. UH needs to work on the
efficiencies that faculty feel are important.
For a start, UH can try to get faculty reimbursed on time, then
it can
work on streamlining processes.
Dr. Gonzalez said she applauds
more
endowed chairs and would hope some day to compete for one of them. Her challenge is that she is an associate
professor in English and there are limited resources for research
dollars. What about infrastructure
research dollars
specific to the University and maybe even specific to CLASS. Dr. Gogue said he didn’t know the answer to
that. He said that the VP for Research
has pools of dollars, but he didn’t know whether they were all focused
on very
precise areas. He added that it was a
fair comment. Dr. Gonzalez said that is
the point. She said she assumes it is
the university-wide research committee that hands out infrastructure
dollars. She said a transparent process
with goals
needs to be set up so that all faculty can compete for these dollars. Dr. Gogue suggested that he and Dr. Gonzalez
discuss the problem and see what they could find out in the research
center. Dr. Vailas said the internal
advance programs are on the Web and they are peer reviewed. Dr. Gonzalez asked if there are
representatives from CLASS on that research committee.
Dr. Vailas said that is correct, there is
CLASS representation, and there is also discretion within the colleges
and
departments for the rewards systems. Dr.
Vailas said there are ways that deserve support and it is not always
the
responsibility of the central administration, accountability occurs in
the department. Dr. Gogue asked how much
money is
available? Dr. Vailas said something
like a half million dollars available for the internal grants.
Sen. Papell said going back to
the
subject of how faculty time is spent, can the President explain why UH
has a
phone mail system that now takes longer?
Dr. Gogue said he couldn’t explain that.
Sen. Brady said she asked the same question of the people who
giving her
technical support and the answer was that after the flood, the previous
system
was damaged and several areas of the university were having problems
and so
instead of trying to repair it was easier to replace it with a new
system.
Sen. Jacobson said as a point
of
information that the internal grant program tends to be oriented
towards
bringing in more money. Part of the
requirement to get a GEAR grant is to target a grant program. Many faculty find that difficult to do.
Librarian Myers said the phone
mail
changes are an example of something that was badly implemented. Faculty
weren’t
told why UH had to change systems.
Various e-mail were sent about numbers to punch in, but there
was no
effort put in to letting people know how the new system compares to the
old
system or how to do the things that everyone used to be able to do. Looking forward to other changes that might
be made across the institution, this is an example of something that UH
could
study. Dr. Gogue agreed, saying that is
a fair comment.
Sen. Brady said if UH is going
to
have a bigger pool of freshmen wanting to come here, she didn’t see how
the
University can avoid officially and openly and transparently changing
the
admission criteria. Who is going to
decide whether this particular student, who has exactly the same
qualification
as another one, deserves to be admitted where the other is left out. It seems UH may just have to raise its
admission procedures. Dr. Gogue said he
didn’t disagree with that, but there are processes.
A lot of universities set an application
deadline and there are no decisions made until after that deadline
passes. Once it does, they go through the
applications and rank them, picking the top 3,400 or whatever the limit
is.
Sen. Craig said he knows the
President is working on faculty retention plans, but is there a plan to
address
just the faculty size? Dr. Gogue said he
might ask the Provost to comment on that, but certainly looking at the
numbers
from the 1990’s to present there is an increase of about 40% students
and a 25%
decrease in full-time, tenure track faculty.
Dr. Gogue said he used some similar number when he talked to
legislature
about the efficiency of each university, but because of the economy at
the
time, the number of part-time faculty has gone up dramatically. Dr. Gogue said he has seen numbers around 500
for part-time faculty. Dr. Gogue asked
Dr. Strickland if he had any comments.
Dr. Strickland said UH has 65 faculty searches going on at
present. Many of those are being filled. Dr. Strickland said there is a request for 28
full-time equivalent faculty through the designated tuition increase
and these
positions are being recruited for next year.
Dr. Strickland said it is a problem; it’s not just a number for
the
entire university, the student-faculty ratio is embarrassing,
especially when
one starts talking about individual colleges and individual departments. Dr. Strickland said the ratio was pointed out
to him at the very first meeting he attended, the Senate Retreat. Dr. Strickland said the administration is
trying to put together some type of comprehensive plan by adding
faculty based
upon regular tuition. Dr. Strickland
said it may well take three or four years to reach an acceptable
number; that
is up to Dr. Gogue.
Sen. Craig asked if there was
a plan
to distribute the tuition increases. Dr.
Gogue said the money goes into three categories, of which 20% goes in
scholarships. Dr. Gogue said the largest
piece is for
faculty recruitment and retention. The
third part of it is academic support services.
Dr. Gonzalez said another
challenge
is that now CLASS has been merged into a mega college, it has less
representation. When it was two separate
colleges, each one
had two separate representatives on all university-wide committees,
like
research committees, now that representation has been cut in half. The parity question is problematic as CLASS
has the most programs and the most of everything and yet is treated
like just
another college. That is not
appropriate. Dr. Gogue said he
understood. Dr. Gonzalez said CLASS also
needs more research dollars. Dr. Gogue
said it is a fair question about representation on committees and it is
something that he would ask each of the administrators to think about
because
it is a legitimate point.
APPROVAL OF
THE MINUTES: The February 18, 2004, minutes were approved.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
On Friday,
March 26, the
April
2, is the Annual Research and Scholarship Day at the
April
2 is also the deadline for nominations for the 14th annual George
Magner Award
for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising.
This award is for excellence in student advising and
contributions to
the improvement of the quality of academic advising.
For forms or more information, contact Debbie
Long in the Office of the Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate
Studies at
extension 3-9102.
KUDOS:
Extra Special
kudos and a great deal of thanks go to UH’s Interim Provost, Jerald Strickland,
for providing the funds for a new -- and working – copier for the
Faculty
Senate Office. The machine is now in
place and as you can all see – you can read the agenda.
The Senate also wants to say thanks for two
new computers that Dr. Strickland is giving to the Senate Office and
which are
expected to be installed this week.
Thank you!
Special kudos
to Basheer Khumawala, Professor of
Decision and Information Science, John &
Rebecca Moores Professor, and Bauer Faculty Fellow, in honor the City
of
Houston proclaiming February 24, 2004, Dr. Basheer Khumawala Day.
Kudos
to the newly elected members of the honor society, Phi Kappa Phi: Faculty Senator, Joseph Kotarba, Professor of
Sociology; Former Faculty Senate President, Judy Myers, Professor of Library
Sciences and Librarian; Stuart Ostrow, Cynthia Woods
Mitchell Distinguished
Professor of Theatre; Howard Pollock, Professor of
Music; Gael Stack, John and
Rebecca Moores Distingished Professor of Art; and Jerald Strickland, Interim
Provost and Professor of Optometry.
Kudos
to Faculty Senator, Donna Kacmar, Assistant
Professor of Architecture, for
receiving the national American Institute of Architects’
2004 Young Architect Award.
And
a Special Mention for senior graphic designer Doris Huang for
receiving a
District IV CASE design Award for her entry: Scholarship and Community
Conference 2003 "Bring Science to Life."
CURRENT FACULTY SENATE AFFAIRS: Giles
Auchmuty
Pres.
Auchmuty said after extensive negotiations at the last Senate Retreat
there
were 21 nominees for membership in the Faculty Senate Commission on
University
Governance (FS-CoUG), which was described earlier.
It was a very distinguished group, which made
it hard to select the seven faculty representatives to this group. The person who agreed to chair the FS-CoUG is
Jerome Freiberg from Education. He was
the president of the Faculty Senate three years ago.
The vice chair is Sen. Joseph Eichberg from
NSM. The five other Faculty Senate
appointees are Roger Boltz (OPT), George Gamble (BUS), Maria Gonzalez
(CLASS),
Laura Oren (LAW) and Andrew Szilagyi (BUS).
Pres. Auchmuty said the secretary of the commission will be
elected by
the group. He added that the Senate
Executive Committee tried to make this Commission represent a lot of
the
diversity in the University which is hard to do with just seven
positions.
Dr.
Freiberg thanked the Senate for asking him to serve as Chair of this
Commission. There is also going to be
administrative participation on the Commission by four nominations that
will be
made by Dr. Gogue. Dr. Freiberg said he
hoped to have the first meeting in the next couple of weeks. Dr. Freiberg said the key to this is building
a process. One of the things that the
Senate has not done very well is start things and continue them. He said he thought this was the beginning of
something important. The Senate spent a
great deal of time surveying the faculty about what their needs are and
what
the issues are. One of the proposals was
that there be a Commission that would then look at the whole issue of
shared
governance regarding this University, at the department, college and
university
level. This is the next step in that
entire process. Any faculty
organization, to be responsive to the faculty, has to have
sustainability. Dr. Freiberg said he looks
forward to working
with the Commission members. He added that
the group is going to need the expertise of individuals outside of this
institution to help and guide the Commission in this process. Dr. Freiberg said he doesn’t want the group
to be a committee; this is really a Commission.
The group will look to see what other peoples’ ideas are. It needs colleges to see what the ideas of
UH’s colleagues are.
Sen.
Jacobson said the Commission was the product of a lot of work and
discussion
last fall. it is not just a commission
on shared governance. She said that when
Sen. Eichberg and she had discussed the idea with Dr. Gogue, the plan
was to
look at the whole University structure and make recommendations to strengthen
connections between different university groups and to improve
accountability,
collegiality and community at the
Dr.
Freiberg said Pres. Auchmuty will give the Commission its charge and so
he was
sure that point will be reinforced. He
added that he didn’t see any boundaries in this. The
Commission will start at one place and
just kind of build where we need to go.
Sen.
Jacobson said she thought it was in the formal charge given, although
it had
not been emphasized in recent discussions.
She added that it really does need to be emphasized given the
amount of
work that went into developing this Commission.
Sen.
Ferimer asked is there a time limit? Dr.
Freiberg said the original intent would be some time in January, 2005
but that
may need to be pushed back a little bit since the Commission is
starting behind
schedule. He added that he hoped to wrap
everything up in a twelve month period.
Pres.
Auchmuty thanked Dr. Freiberg for agreeing to chair the Commission. Pres. Auchmuty urged everyone to make
suggestions to the members of the Commission.
Pres.
Auchmuty said there was a question raised earlier about the new voice
mail
system and spam and viruses in UH computer systems.
Sen. McNeil and he are trying to collect comments
which will be given in aggregate to the IT people to try to improve
things. He added that one of the
response is that any time a voice mail system is set up there should be
a
system of default responses that very quickly gives the individual
current
voice mail. Pres. Auchmuty said
apparently there are lots of ways to modify or customize the system. He said they will work on trying to make the
new voicemail system a simple operation, more like it used to be.
Sen.
Karger asked how does one delete a message without having to sit
through the
whole thing? Sen. McNeil said punch the
number 3-3 which takes the listener to the end of the message; punch
number 7
to delete/erase, then number 9 which confirms the deletion and then
punch *-*
and hang up. Sen. McNeil said senators
should have received an e-mail requesting comments.
If anyone thought it was spam and deleted it,
there are printed copies (available in the Senate office).
Sen.
Chin pointed out that cheat sheets could make life a little bit better
with the
voice mail system. Sen. Chin said this
might be a great case study for the FS-CoUG.
He suggested the Commission look at the process to make
suggestions on
how to make changes in a better manner in the future.
Sen.
McNeil said, having something implemented in the middle of the
semester,
clearly demonstrates that no one is taking into account the academic
calendar. Sen.
Copeland disagreed, saying if it had worked well, it could have been
implemented on any day of the year. That
is not the issue here. The issue is
that, even when it works as it is intended, it is not as good as the
old
system. Sen. McNeil said that is
true.
Sen.
Zimmerman said he wasn’t sure how people can say that they were not
informed.
He said he received five e-mails and eight different mailings warning
him that
this was going to happen. He was getting
tired of being inundated with the same information in fifteen different
ways. Sen. Zimmerman said he learned
from a conversation that UH actually had to dry blow the old answering
system
after the flood and that there were just some components that kept
having
random failures. He said that was the
reason for making the change in the middle of the semester.
COALITION ON INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS
RESOLUTIONS: Joseph Kotarba
Pres.
Auchmuty said at the Faculty Senate Retreat a great deal of time was
spent
talking about the Coaliton on Intercollegiate Athletics.
As result of what happened at the retreat the
Senate Executive Committee has decided to forward three resolutions to
the
Faculty Senate to vote on today.
Sen.
Kotarba said the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (CoIA) was
established
in 2002 by faculty members at a number of mainstream, established
universities. The agenda for the CoIA is
to give faculty members some input into policies related to
intercollegiate
athletics. The CoIA was originally
formed by representatives of Faculty Senates from the major
bowl-eligible
universities. They have since extended
an invitation to include all of universities that have athletic
programs at a
Division I-A level. The objective of the
CoIA is reflected in a series of objectives that are in the handout.
The CoIA
seeks comprehensive reform that would affect five broad categories of
intercollegiate athletics activities.
They are: (1) Academics. This
includes issues
of initial and continuing eligibility; admissions and student-athlete
academic
standards, etc. (2) Student Welfare. This
includes issues of scholarship policies; academic advising and other
forms of
student support; equity concerning matters such as gender and race;
athletics
scheduling; training expectations and time limits; athletes’ engagement
in
campus life, etc. (3) Finances and Scale. This points towards issues related to the
athletics “arms race,” and includes the cost structure of athletics
departments
and revenue/non-revenue programs; financial planning, reporting, and
monitoring; competitive equity within conferences and divisions; the
relationship between winning programs and solvency; the constraints of
anti-trust law, etc. (4) Commercialization. This concerns responses to financial
imperatives that may lead to dependency on corporate and media funding,
requiring various forms of commercial behavior that may conflict with
academic
missions or values, including corporate sponsorship contracts and
branding
control; media contracts and scheduling/marketing control; high-stakes
dependency on revenue streams influenced by factors outside
institutional
control and not related to institutional priorities, etc. (5)
Governance. This includes
the
shared governance roles among faculty, presidents, athletics
administrators and
trustees on individual campuses over such matters as academic standards
and
support for student-athletes, athletics personnel decisions,
supervision of
financial planning and performance of athletics auxiliaries,
programmatic
athletics department decisions, etc.
UH has been invited to join
the CoIA. To become a member, the Faculty
Senate has to
pass a resolution that accepts the charter of the CoIA.
The activities
of membership include what has been described to talking to a number of
representatives from other universities, including a lot of e-mail
discussions
about things like formulating resolutions and policy statements. They have had one annual meeting a year that
will require a travel for the faculty representative.
The meeting last year was held in
Sen. Paskusz said he agreed
with
Sen. Huber’s e-mailed suggestion for staggered 2-year appointments
would be
better. Sen. Kotarba said he also agreed
with that suggestion because one of the issues that came up in
conversations
with the leadership of the CoIA is that they are anxious to get a
representative from a school, like UH, to nurture along into the
organization. This could be facilitated if
someone did this
for two years.
Sen. Warner proposed that the
Senate
move to action on the resolutions one at a time. When
it gets to the third resolution, an
amendment that would provide a staggered two year term could be
proposed. Pres. Auchmuty said the first
resolution is
on the floor for discussion:
Resolution
to Join
The
UH Faculty Senate accepts the invitation to become a member of the
Coalition on
Intercollegiate Athletics (CoIA).
Resolution
passed unanimously.
Pres.
Auchmuty put the second resolution forward for discussion:
Resolution to Request Budget for Participation
The
UH Faculty Senate requests that the UH administration cover the costs
of
becoming
a member of the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics (CoIA) in the
annual appropriation
to the Faculty Senate.
Resolution
passed unanimously.
Pres.
Auchmuty said the third resolution is on the floor with the friendly
amendment:
The
delegate to, and an alternate for, the Coalition on Intercollegiate
Athletics
(CoIA) will be
elected by the UH Faculty Senate for two-year terms.
The elections will be held as necessary
at
the same meeting as the other officers each year. The
delegate and alternate must be members
of
the Faculty Senate at the time of their election. In
the event that neither can attend a
meeting
of CoIA, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee may appoint another
Faculty Senate member
as the UH representative for that meeting. The
first year's delegate and alternate will
be elected
at the first UH Faculty Senate meeting after membership in CoIA is
accepted and they will hold
office until the next induction of new officers of
the Faculty Senate.
Resolution
passed unanimously.
CENTER FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH PROPOSAL:
Howard Karger
Pres. Auchmuty said this item
is
also a result of the Faculty Senate Retreat.
In the discussion with Dr. Gogue the idea of putting together a
Center
for Social Science Research was suggested.
Sen. Karger volunteered to spearhead this effort.
Sen. Karger said the purpose
of the
center would have a dual focus; one purpose being applied
research and the second community
development. Sen. Karger said he is
really excited about this idea; the potential is great.
He pointed out that many urban universities
have such a center. It is something that
would fit in with the University’s urban mission. It
would serve as a magnet for faculty,
spread out across campus in various colleges and departments, to come
together
as academic intellectuals and as researchers.
Sen. Karger said there will be
a
luncheon meeting on April 2 after UH Research Day at the UH Hilton
Hotel. Any people who are interested in
this project
are welcome to attend. Anyone who is
interested but cannot attend, may e-mail Sen. Karger at hkarger@uh.edu
or call
him at extension 38135. The more people
to get involved in this center, the better its chances are for success. Sen. Karger said every center that he knows
of is managing, not only to pay for itself, but to be a positive
revenue
generator.
Sen. Brady asked for some
examples
of what would belong in this center.
Sen. Karger said, for example, in some of the centers they
undertake
basic applied research. Some centers
have training programs in which they bring in elected officials and
train them
in budgeting and management, and the same is done for directors of
community
organizations and people involved in community development. There could be certificate programs for such
training. Sen. Karger said it is a way
to tie the University more closely into the community and to really
marshal the
tremendous intellectual talent and ability that UH has and to help the
surrounding community and communities beyond.
Sen. Copeland said that is a
goal,
not a method. How does the center make
community relationships better? How will
the center to do that in a way that UH is not already doing it? Sen. Greenwood said that is an unfair
question for Sen. Karger. UH could look
at proposals and models used in other agencies.
Sen. Copeland said what is new
about
this idea that is not part of what the University is already doing? Sen. Karger said, first of all, it would put
faculty together in a single place rather than one researcher working
here and
one researcher working there. It is also
a concentration of resources. In this
center faculty can literally package an idea, including the clerical
work that
one requires.
Sen. Khumawala said when with
this idea
was proposed, she thought this would be an excellent to have a program
in
certification for non-profit management; a program that could train
people in
managing and budgeting, etc. Or do the
same thing for newly elected city officials.
Pres. Auchmuty said the main
point
that Sen. Karger’s announcement is that there will be a meeting of all
parties
interested in putting together such a center and putting together such
a
proposal. It is a luncheon meeting on
Friday, April 2, at 12:30 p.m. Pres.
Auchmuty requested Sen. Karger send the Senate staff an e-mail message
that
could go out to all the senators and to the faculty list-serv.
BUDGET & FACILITIES COMMITTEE, CHAIR –
Saleha
Khumawala
Minutes of the regular
meeting,
February, 25 2004, 12 noon in the AIM Center Conference Room, Bauer
College of
Business. Members present:
Steve Craig, Karl Kadish, Stan Kleis, Ernst
Leiss, Mary Beth Thomas, Karl Titz, Al Warner, and Saleha Khumawala
(chair). Invited Guest:
Mr. Jim McShan, Associate Vice Chancellor/Associate
Vice President for Finance. Topic: Designated Tuition
Mr. Jim McShan presented three
proposed plans for an increase in designated tuition for Fall ’04. These plans were developed by the
administration and had been discussed by the subcommittee on designated
tuition
which consisted of representatives from various student bodies, faculty
and
administration.
Provost Jerald Strickland
emphasized
the need to promote quality while being sensitive to cost.
Bearing this in mind, the increase in
designated tuition across the board is proposed to be under $10. However, an increase in differentiated
tuition in different colleges will bring in the additional needed
resources. 20% of every dollar will go
to financial aid.
On March 8th and 9th,
this recommended increase will be presented to the students in campus
wide
forums.
The next meeting of the
Faculty
Senate Budget and Facilities Committee is scheduled for March 31st
at 12:00 noon in the
COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES, CHAIR - Anne
Jacobson
The committee
has met twice since the last report; 2/25 and 3/10.
Topics addressed:
a.
Possible ombuds position at UH.
b.
Membership in committees, particularly the slate for the
Grievance
Committee.
c.
Procedures for forming new standing committees.
Ombuds: An
ombuds person can help to resolve disputes
among employees of the University in informal and non-adversarial ways. Such a position would enhance the University’s
climate in a number of ways, including increasing the productivity of
faculty
and staff. The COC will recommend to the
Executive Committee that it formulate a proposal for such a position in
conjunction with the Commission on Women and the Staff Council. A central issue the COC did not resolve
concerns whether the Ombuds person should be principally a facilitator
or in
addition be able to mediate disputes.
Guests to the meetings were
Russell
Barnes, Director of Affirmative Action, and Shirley
Redwine, former General Counsel, both from Rice University; Abel Garza,
UH
Executive Director of Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office, and
Bianca
Springer, AA/EO Officer.
Slate for the Grievance Committee
was also developed and is to be presented at the Spring Faculty
Assembly
(3/24).
Forming new committees:
The chair of the COC has recommended
guidelines to the effect that proposals for new standing committees can
be
brought to the COC by any senator; they should have the endorsement of
the relevant
senior administrator; and they should be reviewed by the COC and the EC
before
they come before the Senate for a final approval. A
template for a proposal is also being
developed. The COC has not yet acted
on
the chair’s recommendation.
EDUCATIONAL POLICIES & STUDENT AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE, CHAIR – Dan Wells
The first committee meeting
was held
February 25th. In attendance were Dan
Wells, Carole Goodson, Sara McNeil,
1.
Text book policies regarding selection, custom text books, royalties,
rising
prices, resale values,
and information dispersal.
(The committee has spoken with bookstore
representatives on this
issue and Sen. McNeil and Sen. Wells have met
with
Elaine Charlson to discuss this issue).
2. Ensuring
the University Academic Honesty
Policy is clear and widely understood.
(Sen. Wells has been in contact with Brian McKinney
on this issue, and
he has invited input
from EPSAC.)
3.
The Faculty Senate policy regarding increasing entrance and graduation
standards.
(This was discussed at the
first meeting and in a series of subsequent cyber dialogs.
The committee is interested
in pursing a
policy that will hold enrollment levels close to
current levels, and thereby
increasing entrance standards. Details
are yet to be determined.)
4. Review
the organization and structure of
administrative offices relevant to Educational Polices
and Student Affairs
(including Graduate and Undergraduate admissions and make suggestions
for
improvements.)
5.
Review advising policies of the University, Colleges and Departments. (It has been suggested
that retention rates
could be increased if students sought and received more advising on a
regular
basis.)
In addition, at the first
meeting
EPSAC heard from UH Bookstore Store Manager Mary C. McFather and
Textbook
Manager John Louis Bolch and discussed bookstore policies regarding
textbook
pricing and resale. Also, ways to inform
the faculty of the need to report the next semester’s textbook usage
early was
discuss.
FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, CHAIR – Howard
Karger
The FAC met twice since
January 2004
focusing on two issues: UH maternity
leave and a review of various college bylaws (a request from President
Auchmuty). Senators Brady and Blecher
have agreed to develop a proposed leave policy and present it the FAC
for a
vote. This proposed leave policy would then be presented to the Faculty
Senate
for a vote in the April 2004 meeting.
On March 22, 2004 the FAC met
with
Provost Strickland to discuss the question of college bylaws. During the meeting the FAC agreed that
individual college bylaws should be reviewed to ascertain whether they
are in
compliance with the new Faculty Handbook.
It was proposed that Senators from each college should review their
college
bylaws to make certain they are consistent with the Faculty
Handbook. The FAC also discussed the possibility that they
would be responsible for amassing that information and forwarding it to
the
Senate and the Provost’s Office.
Lastly, the FAC discussed
whether
the proposal for the Institute for Social Research would be an
appropriate item
for the FAC.
SCHOLARSHIP & COMMUNITY COMMITTEE,
CHAIR -
Joseph Kotarba
The
Scholarship and Community Committee met on February 25, 2004. Committee members present were Joe Kotarba,
Wynne Chin, Rose Lange, Ruth Manny, Jackson Rushing, and Fred Schiff. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee asked
the committee to discuss the Research and Scholarship survey proposed
by the
Research Council and supported by the Graduate and Professional Council. The SCC also reviewed the draft of the survey
instrument prepared by Scott Perry, Chair of the Research Council. Sen. Chin and Sen. Kotarba amended/edited Dr.
Perry's draft, and additional suggestions were made at the meeting. The committee recommended that the Faculty
Senate participate in this survey. It also agreed that the
committee
would be willing to help edit the survey instrument and advise on
sampling
strategies, etc.
The Executive Committee
received the
SCC recommendation, but voted to table the discussion of the survey
until Dr.
Perry could address several issues regarding the survey.
The Scholarship and Community
Committee will invite a representative of the
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY & COMPUTING COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVE REQUEST:
Sara McNeil
The ITCC is
interested in faculty’s comments on two technology issues at UH: the new voice-mail system and the
university's approach to email spam and viruses.
Some
faculty have expressed concerns about the new Voice-mail system that
has just
been activated. Sen. McNeil said she
would like to collect some comments and suggestions for possible
improvements
of the system. The primary criticisms
appear to be that the new system is much slower and less convenient
than the
old one in retrieving voice messages - and that no summary
documentation was
provided.
Anyone
with specific suggestions that the folks responsible for the new
voice-mail
system should address, please send them to fscomms@uh.edu.
If anyone is knowledgeable about voice-mail
systems and is willing to discuss these issues with the people who are
responsible for the installation, that assistance would be appreciated.
The
IT advisory committee has recently been discussing the possibility of
more UH
action to intercept spam and viruses.
Responses to, or comments about, the following questions would
also be
appreciated:
How concerned are you about
spam?
How concerned are you about email viruses?
To what degree has your work been interrupted/compromised by spam?
To what degree has your work been interrupted/compromised by viruses?
What do you think the university should do about spam/viruses?
Feel
free to forward this information to colleagues along with the fscomms@uh.edu address.
Their responses will be appreciated. This
secure address has been specially
established for these topics.
REPORT
FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE
Dr.
Strickland said the planning process so far has been in the sunshine Pres. Auchmuty and he have attended all
the
campus meetings and they have been quite refreshing.
He encouraged the senators to come on Friday,
March 26, at 8:30 a.m. for the open strategic planning meeting.
Dr.
Strickland said the recommendations for designated and differential
designated
tuition were decided by a special committee that was established by
John
Rudley, UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Administration
and
Finance. The committee was made up of
faculty, staff, students and administrators.
The way the decision was shared with the students also has been
in the
sunshine. The group met with student
leaders
first. The second meeting was with the
day students and the third meeting was with the afternoon-evening
students. The group met with the
legislative delegation a week ago, but only three representatives
showed
up. A letter is going out to all the
legislators in the area. The whole
process is occurring because the administration would like to make sure
it has
communicated the information well before it goes to the Board of
Regents with
the request. This is probably a new way
of doing business.
Shortly
after April 1 information regarding the budgets will be made available
the
individual colleges. The new dollar
budgets are coming from designated and differentiated tuition. Plans for new funding are expected to be
intergrated into the budget presentations that will occur during the
week of
April 12. Deans will bring the budget
presentations to the Provost Office and spend an hour or an hour and a
half
with each dean, associate dean, etc. Dr.
Strickland encouraged faculty and has been encouraging deans to include
as much
faculty input as possible. He has been
doing that since last fall. He added he
has been partially successful. He will
find out in the budget preparations because there will be a question
about what
process was used to determine the proposals.
Dr.
Strickland said he met with the deans yesterday and told them exactly
what was
discussed by the Faculty Affairs Committee regarding the college bylaws. He asked the deans to make sure that the
faculty look into their bylaws. Faculty should also look at the new
Faculty
Handbook that is going to be on-line soon and make comparisons. The new Faculty Handbook, thanks to many
people in this room, is codified. It is
as complete as can be done by a small committee of fine minds. Dr. Strickland said the bylaws and
definitions are updated, the faculty can pass them through the dean to
the
Provost to be signed off on it. Then
colleges will have an official, updated, approved set of bylaws. Dr. Strickland said he hoped that would occur
sometime before fall.
Dr.
Strickland said he has determined that 3,400 first time in college
students
will be target for this year. He added
that he would not yell or scream if it is 3410 or 3450 but the target
is to
keep right around 3400 which has been the number for the past three
years. The number of applications is up. The number of folks who qualify for
scholarships is up. It is up substantially
and so that is a measure of the quality of folks who have applied to UH.
Sen.
Craig asked about transfer students and the admissions process. Dr. Strickland said he was concerned about
transfer students, too. Of particular
concern are students who transfer and are still taking freshman courses. The Provost said he would like to have input
on that. He added that he didn’t know
about the quality of these students.
Sen.
Jacobson said if she were to ask the people in this room how many of
them have
actually heard from their deans about the budget, she didn’t think
there would
be many hands up. She said that is
slightly connected to the bylaws. If the
colleges are going to be looking at their bylaws, it would be a chance
to
institutionalize more consultation with faculty. A
lot of colleges, but not all, have some
consulting committee, but they could have a more important consultation
committee if they add to the bylaws that the budget has to be
discussed.
Dr.
Strickland said he depends upon the faculty to review the bylaws and
the
faculty to pass the bylaws and to submit them to the deans, then
negotiate with
the deans. That is done at the college
level and with the faculty. It seems
logical that the faculty should begin the process.
The Faculty Senate should take the lead on
this effort. He said that is exactly
what he told the deans yesterday.
Sen.
Lange asked if the CLASS bylaws have been approved now?
Dr. Strickland said that was a question
discussed with the Senate Faculty Affairs Committee.
Dr. Strickland said, yes, those have been
reviewed by General Counsel and CLASS does have bylaws.
There were some edits that needed to be made
which had nothing to do with substance, but with English.
They are going to work that out; all the
intent is there. The Provost has signed
off on that.
Sen.
Brady asked if the handbook is going to be on-line?
Dr. Strickland said there are going to be
several hundred copies. The Senate Staff
Associate quickly pointed out that she is responsible for getting about
20
copies out. Dr. Strickland said the
Provost Office is going to make about 300 to 500 copies.
Dr. Strickland said the handbook is going up
on-line. The Senate Staff Associate said
it is being worked on as fast possible.
Sen. Brady asked how many
pages is the handbook
going to be? Dr. Strickland said it is a
major publication. Dr. Strickland said
someone in each college needs to read the whole thing.
Sen.
Herendeen asked about the format for UH’s strategic planning meeting. Is there an agenda? Dr.
Strickland said yes, there are
presenters. Dr. Strickland said the
steering committee is made of the Presidents, the Provosts, the CFOs
and the
Presidents of the Faculty Senates of the four UHs, one student
representative
and one staff representative. The format
will be much like what has done at the other universities.
There will be presentations that will last
about 15-minutes. Dr. Strickland said
the agenda for Friday includes presentations from himself as Interim UH
SVP for
Academic Affairs/Provost, Pres. Auchmuty, the Deans, external
presenters from
the Energy Sector, the Greater Houston Partnership and the
Sen.
Jacobson said some of the documents from earlier planning sessions on
line. She said it would be wonderful to
get as much as possible on-line. For
example, she will be out of town and can’t go, but would like to see
some of
the presentations.
Dr.
Strickland said there are no minutes that are taken, but there are
summaries of
what happened. In mid-April, this
committee will sit down, go through what it has heard at the four
institutions
and come forward with some suggestions for the Board of Regents to
consider. He emphasized that the process
goes to the Regents, adding that everybody at the end of this
conversation
should be using the same verbs and nouns and understanding what the
system can
do and what it can’t do. Dr. Strickland
said he would chair the meeting and there will be a time at the end
when there
is an open microphone and an opportunity for anybody to say anything
they
want. The Committee has had very good
conversations with folks who just came and wanted to add something. The open mic time is very encouraging.
NEW BUSINESS:
Sen. Jacobson said UH has an
open
forum with a provost candidate at 4:00 p.m. today.
Apparently, the last one was not well
attended, so she encouraged all faculty who can to attend.