UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SPRING FACULTY ASSEMBLY & FACULTY SENATE MINUTES – March 25, 2009

President Wells called the March 25, 2009 Spring Faculty Assembly and Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion of the M. D. Anderson Library at 12:15 p.m.

 MEMBERS PRESENT:  [40]

ARCH:    M. Sabatino
BUS:      W. Chin, R. Keller, C. Pirrong
CLASS:  A. Bencomo, M. Haun, M. Hernandez, J. Hutchinson, J. Kotarba, A. Kugler, D. Mazella, M. McHenry, H. Rodgers, F. Schiff, C. Spitzmüller, J. Sposato, S. Wallace
EDU:     M. Clarke, J. Freiberg, A. Warner
ENGR:    J. Charlson, A. Kamrani, R. Willson
HRM:    S. Barth
LAW:    S. Chandler, R. Palmer
LIB:      M. Bennett, D. Camille, S. Ferimer
NSM:    P. Copeland, A. Ignatiev, G. Johnson, T.R. Lee, M. Rea, J. Subhlok, D. Wells
OPT:    R. Manny
PHA:    T. Hussain, S. Sansgiry
TECH:  K. Greenwood

MEMBERS ABSENT:  [13]

BUS:      M. Ahearne, K. Newberry  
CLASS:  P. Howard, D. Phillips, J. Steinhoff
EDU:      C. Craig
ENGR:    S. Chellam, Y.L. Mo
GCSW:   A. Achenbaum (w/notice)
LAW:     M. Duncan
NSM:     E. Carrasquillo-Molina, K. Kadish, M. Ru

VISITORS: 

John Antel (UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost), Carl Carlucci (UHS Executive Vice Chancellor and UH Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance), Don Birx (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Research), Elaine Charlson (UHS Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and UH Executive Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs), David Bell (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President, Academic & Faculty Affairs), Dan Gardner (UH Assistant Vice Chancellor, Planning & Initiatives), Elizabeth Anderson Fletcher (UH Associate Vice President for Research Operations), Malcolm Davis (UH Assistant Vice President for Public Safety & Security and Chief of Police, UH Police), Agnes DeFranco (UH Assistant Vice President, Undergraduate Studies), Johanna Wolfe (UH Assistant Vice President for Development), Joe Pratt (Interim Dean, CLASS ), Stuart Long (Interim Dean, Honors College), Veronique Tran (Director, QEP Undergraduate Research), John Powell (Assistant to the Chancellor/President, Communications), Cathy Patterson (Associate Dean, CLASS, Associate Professor, History, and Chair of the Graduate & Professional Studies Council), Rigoberto Advincula (Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Research Council), Lawrence Williams (Instructional Assistant Professor of Biology-Biochemistry and Chair of the Undergraduate Council), Sandy Coltharp (Director, HR Training & Development, and President, Staff Council), Oscar Gutierrez (Assistant to the Vice Chancellor/Vice President for University Advancement), Lisa Holdeman (Executive Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations), David Criswell (Director, Space Operations), Diane Jerome (Program Manager, College of Education), Lawrence Curry (Professor Emeritus of History), Valentini Brady (Professor, Modern & Classical Languages), Lynn Maher (Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders), Heidar Malki (Professor, College of Technology), Richard Scamell (Professor, Decision & Information Sciences), Farouk Attia (Associate Professor, Engineering Technology), Dennis Adams (Associate Professor, Decision & Information Sciences), Leonard Bachman (Associate Professor, Architecture), Maria C. Gońzalez(Associate Professor, Department of English), Julie Grob (Associate Librarian), Tracy X. Karner (Associate Professor, Department of Sociology), Partha Krishnamurthy (Associate Professor, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship), Lilia Ruban (Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction), Rebecca Storrey (Associate Professor), Karl Titz (Faculty Associate Professor, Hotel & Restaurant Management), Rosalind Alexander (Assistant Librarian), Margaret Cheung (Assistant Professor, Physics), Holly Hutchins (Assistant Professor), Jamison Kovach (Assistant Professor, Information and Logistics Technology), Rachel Vacek (Assistant Librarian), William Foster (Research Professor, NSM/Physics), Jason Marsack (Research Assistant Professor), Kamel Salama (Research Professor, Mechanical Engineering), William Barnes (Clinical Instructor, Political Science), Aymara Boggia (Instructional Assistant Professor), Rachel Bush (Instructional Assistant Professor, School of Theatre and Dance), Rebecca Forrest (Instructional Assistant Professor, Physics), Hussan Moghaddam (Instructional Professor, Engineering Technology), Judith Radigan (Visiting Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology), Heather Anderson (Visiting Assistant Professor, Optometry), Diana de la Rosa-Pohl (Lecturer; MS Physics, University of Texas at Austin; ME Electrical Engineering, University of Houston), Sebastian Blankson (Student), Josephine Tittsworth (Student)   

MINUTES:  The minutes for the February 18, 2009 Senate meeting were approved.

PRESENTATION OF THE SLATE OF CANDIDATES FOR THE GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE

The Grievance Committee slate was presented by Katy Greenwood, Member of Committee on Committees.  The nominees are:  Larry Bell, ARCH; Maria Gonzalez, CLASS; Nancy Graves, HRM; Susan Robbins, GCSW; Ira Shepard, LAW; and John Snyder, CLASS.

No nominations were made from the floor.  Voting will be available online. 

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT:  Dan Wells

Pres. Wells extended Dr. Khator's apologies for missing the Assembly, but she was called to Austin.  Pres. Wells said to keep the meeting on time, he would post his report on the web.  The Spring Egg Hunt will be on Saturday, April 4 at Lynn Eusan Park.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE FACULTY SENATE CONSTITUTION:  Second Reading

Pres. Wells presented the second reading of the proposed amendments to the Faculty Senate Constitution.  The changes were adopted by unanimous vote.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UHS SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR AND UH SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND PROVOST:  John Antel

Provost Antel reported on the Higher Education Reforms Initiatives that has come down from the Governor to the Board of Regents.  The plan is based on the Seven Breakthrough Solutions that the Governor had presented at a meeting of the Governing Boards of Public University Systems in Texas. The aim is to increase the quality of instruction by providing greater transparency and accountability.  There are some incentives and rewards included in the process. The Provost said UH is going to be as responsive as possible to these initiatives. 

When asked if the Regents had voted to follow these reforms, Dr. Antel said, “No.  But there is a consensus.”  Among the items to be posted on the web were teaching evaluations by students, journal articles, faculty salaries, size of classes taught, number of As and Bs awarded.  One of the more problematic issues is the posting of syllabi for classes prior to registration.  That would be extremely difficult for Fall classes when registration begins in April.  Dr. Antel stated that he was working with a staff person in the Governor's Office on these initiatives.  The Provost suggested that UH maintain an archive of syllabi for the past two or three years so students can get an idea of what is generally taught.  The Governor's Office agreed.  Dr. Antel added that UH can use a lot of the material that was collected for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaffirmation of accreditation process.

Dr. Antel emphasized that he doesn't want to do anything too expensive or impractical.  He pointed out that the request wanted each department to post the information on its website.  The Governor's Office has agreed to let the data be managed centrally. Dr. Antel said Dan Gardner is working on this project with him. 

Part of the reform initiatives involve teaching awards based solely on student evaluations.  He has suggested that UH build on its current process for selecting Teach Excellence Awards and expand the offerings to include a separate Teaching award for junior faculty.  When asked if the Regents were aware that UH has a very rigorous process for evaluating teaching for awards, the Provost encouraged the Senate to tell the Regents about the current awards process. 

One of the problems the academy faces is that the people behind the reform initiatives want students to equal customers and clients, but for faculty students are also are trainees.  The job of faculty is to push students, to grow and to learn. 

It was suggested that the Higher Education Reform initiatives should not be enacted.  The legality of the process was questioned.  The Provost responded that he had consulted with the General Counsel who suggested the Governor could do this. 

An objection was made to having minimal student evaluation scores be part of the tenure process.  The Provost said, UH does that.  When Don Foss was Provost he had candidates assemble a dossier that included teaching evaluation forms.  Tenure is granted on the basis of teaching, research and service. 

When asked if the Governor had made any commitment to UH to provide additional resources to enact these reforms, the Provost responded that the Administration is fighting for Faculty and Staff raises. 

A faculty member asked, “What was broken with the higher education system that the Governor is trying to fix?"  It was pointed out that the data requested won't provide a complete picture of what faculty do.  The Provost agreed, asking how do you compare a statistics course to a science lab or a literature survey class or a dance class?

Dr. Antel said the public and the legislature want to know about cost.  At present the goal is to have this information posted on the web by June.  There is a chance that there will be a special session of the legislature this year, so UH won't know until June if there will be Faculty and Staff increases.

STRATEGIC ACTION GROUP INITIATIVES

A presentation was made by each of the Committees and information is available on the web via their link.  It was announced that there would be Town Hall meetings held by each subcommittee.

National Competitiveness Committee - Richard Willson

          http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/uhstrategic/draftreport/goal1national/

Student Success Committee – Sandy Coltharp

          http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/uhstrategic/draftreport/goal2student/

Community Advancement Committee – Lynn Maher

          http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/uhstrategic/draftreport/goal3community/

Athletic Competitiveness Committee – Richard Scamell

          http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/uhstrategic/draftreport/goal4athletic/

National, Local and Worldwide Recognition Committee – Richard Alderman

          http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/uhstrategic/draftreport/goal5recognition/

Resource Competitiveness Committee -

          http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/uhstrategic/draftreport/goal6resources/

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UHS VICE CHANCELLOR AND UH VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH:  Don Birx

Dr. Birx reported that (1) almost every federal agency has received funding from the stimulus package.  He added that if faculty were ever tempted to write grants, now would be the time.  There is more funding than grant proposals.  Contact Angela Clifton (maclifton@uh.edu) in the Research Office for more information on grants opportunities, many of which cut across disciplines.  Faculty members should put together a background sheet on their research and what they would like to do.  (2) While money is tight, the administration agrees that the SERC building needs to be finished.  (3) The $3 billion Texas Cancer Research fund program has been launched by the state.  $300 million per year will be available.  This is a big funding opportunity.  Dr. Birx urged faculty to join the Research List-serv. 

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION FROM THE UH CHIEF OF POLICE:  Malcolm Davis

Chief Davis reminded everyone that Hurricane Season begins June 1.  He encouraged everyone to update their contact information by going into PASS.  One of the easiest ways to get information out is a text message to a cell phone.  The police department will be checking on how to implement this within the PIER system.  Also, in the event of an emergency, messages will be sent out via public broadcasting.  Announcements will be made live, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  Chief Davis added that the Channel Eight telephone banks, used for its telethons, are land lines and will provide call-in ability.  

Following the recent death on campus, the Chief adjusted the work schedules of officers to provide more visibility.  UHPD is also in the process of hiring six more security officers.  This would bring the number of security officers to thirty-eight.  Approximately 30,000 service calls are made each year to the UH Police and of these about 10,000 are criminal related.  The crime rate for campus has not gone up.  There are about 500 cameras around campus and there is also a siren that can be heard throughout the campus.  The cameras are monitored around the clock. 

When asked about the killing, the Chief responded that it was the first homicide ever on campus.  Faculty expressed concern about suspected gang activity.  Chief Davis urged everyone to call UHPD when they find graffiti on campus.  UHPD will take pictures and give them to HPD's gang task force.

It was noted that the federal Stimulus Package provides funding for security.  It was suggested UHPD apply for a grant. 

In response to questions, Chief Davis said that there are five people per shift on weekends, including one sergeant, three officers, one dispatcher, and one camera watcher.  Escort service is on a priority basis.  Escorts can't be reserved in advance as emergency calls would take precedence.  If someone notices that a door is not secured or propped open, close it.  If the lock is broken, please report it to UHPD.  Call about any suspicious activity or unknown people and UHPD will investigate.

The meeting adjourned at 1:42 p.m.