UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON FACULTY SENATE MINUTES:  April 16, 2008

Pres. Chin convened the meeting in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion at 12:15 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT:  [36]

MEMBERS ABSENT:  [16]

VISITORS:   

Welcome Wilson (University of Houston System Board of Regents Chairman), Renu Khator (UHS Chancellor and UH President), Don Foss ((UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost), Grover Campbell (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH 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 (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor for Planning & Initiatives), Marco Mariotto (Dean, Graduate & Professional Studies), 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), Veronique Tran (Director, QEP Undergraduate Research), Leonard Bachman (Associate Professor, ARCH), Evelyn Brass (Associate Librarian, UH Libraries), David Small (UH Associate Vice President, Student Services), Patti Gras (Senior Producer/Host, HoustonPBS), Mike Espinoza (Alumni), Eric Llobet (Reporter, Daily Cougar)

MINUTES:  The minutes for the March 26, 2008 Spring Faculty Assembly and Faculty Senate meeting were approved.

Pres. Chin opened the meeting, noting that he was again posting the Rules of Decorum for the meeting.  He introduced Welcome W. Wilson, Chairman of the University of Houston System Board of Regents.

ADDRESS BY AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM BOARD OF REGENTS CHAIR:  Welcome W. Wilson

Chairman Wilson, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, talked about his days as student at UH.  In 1946, he attended UH with a number of other ex-GIs.  He lived on campus, where Melcher Hall stands today, in a house trailer that had bunks at each end.  The latrine was one and half blocks away.  He noted the students had a lot of enthusiasm to be at UH. 

Chairman Wilson said Renu Khator is the perfect person to take UH to the next level.  Her motto of “Student Success” is one with which he agrees.  For himself, Mr. Wilson stated that he has three main objectives for the University of Houston:  (1) Tier 1 Status, (2) Tier 1 Status, and (3)  Tier 1 Status.  He added that “we can do it by all working together.” 

Chairman Wilson said there are about 60 items counted toward Tier 1 status and UH has half of them done; for the rest the University is well on its way.  He noted that alumni giving is one of the criteria that needs to improve.  He plans to attend several convocation ceremonies and urge the graduates to join the Houston Alumni Organization and give to their University.

Another Top Tier measure is Federal Research Funding.  UH needs $100 million to meet this criterion, which means doubling the current amount of research funding.  Chairman Wilson urged faculty to think big.  Instead of writing proposals for $500,000, ask for $5 million.  He added that he and Dr. Khator have visited with ten Congressmen and Texas’ two Senators in Washington, D.C.  They are working on specific requests for the University.  Chairman Wilson asked if the faculty know their legislators.  If not, he suggested the faculty start building one-on-one relationships with them.  The HAO is working on a database of alumni based on the legislative districts in which they live.  The faculty should work on a similar database. 

In response to questions, Chairman Wilson said (1) The Board of Regents needs facts and figures from the faculty to help tell UH’s story to the legislators and others.  Faculty who win awards should let the Board know about their achievements.  (2) The faculty should organize by legislative districts and get to know their legislators.  (3)  The UH System needs better branding of its Universities, so everyone can differentiate between them.  He added that some universities have deans and faculty involved in local organizations like the Chamber of Commerce or Kiwanis.  Faculty need to become more involve in the community and be advocates and ambassadors for UH.  There is an ad campaign underway, showcasing the 100 Days.  (4)  W. W. Kemmerer, UH President from 1952-53, once told Chairman Wilson that as a young man he had read that a person with an undergraduate degree earned X, a person with a master’s degree earned Y (more) and a person with a Ph.D. earned Z (most), so it was worth borrowing money to complete his education.  The same is true today.  Chairman Wilson said UH needs more programs to help good student get through with their studies.

Chairman Wilson noted that it was the first anniversary of the tragedy at Virginia Tech.  He invited Dr. Khator to brief the Senate on security at UH.  Dr. Khator said that based on institutional reports this campus is as safe as anywhere in the city of Houston.  UH has taken a number of measures to improve safety, including employing 72 police officers and security guards, who are trained to meet national standards, 85% of the buildings on campus have a working intercom system, there are 426 security cameras spread across campus and the Public Information and Emergency Response (PIER) system provides a means to send cell phone alerts.  A siren system is scheduled to be installed next month.  Dr. Khator said the University is working to prevent problems.  It is also working on ways to alert the campus should an incident occur.  It is never enough, but the administration is working with the city to keep UH safe. 

Chairman Wilson stated that, while the faculty is an intellectual group and busy reading Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Plato, Norman Mailer or William F. Buckley (he’s read them, too), he wanted to quote a philosopher of his generation, Frank Sinatra, saying for UH, “The best is yet to come.”

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM VICE CHANCELLOR AND UH SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS:  Don Foss   

Dr. Foss provided an overview of the anticipated renovation of the science buildings.  He showed slides related to plans prepared by the consultant group, Lord, Aeck and Sargent.  Dr. Foss stated that a Task Force, composed of Deans and Department Chairs from the areas involved with the renovations, will be formed to oversee this project.  Phase I centers on the Fleming building, the old Science Building & the SR 1 Building and will include building an addition to Fleming to provide swing space for the renovations.  The addition will eventually house some laboratories on a permanent basis.  $57.6 million of the Tuition Revenue Bonds has been allocated for Phase I.  The Provost outlined some issues to be dealt with in each of the buildings to renovated, including improving teaching facilities and upgrading buildings for fire codes and egresses.  The plan will go to the Board of Regents for approval, then to the Coordinating Board and the Bond Board.

REPORT ON ACCREDITATION:  Elaine Charlson, UHS Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and UH Executive Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs

Dr. Charlson thanked everyone for their cooperation with the preparation for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) visit.   The Quality Enhancement Plan on undergraduate research took months of work.  The teams of people involved in this process put hundreds of hours into this plan.  The documents were prepared and sent off-site in November for review.  There were some compliance issues and there was a recommendation to develop a detailed budget for the QEP.  A member of the SACS team was overhead saying that this was the best QEP they had ever seen.  The next step is for UH to respond to the SACS report.  It has five months.  Chairman Wilson said the SACs team questioned him about the QEP.  Thanks to Dr. Charlson and her team, he was well informed about the plan.  He promised that every Regent would be informed of this process. 

REPORT ON THE QUALITY ENHANCEMENT PLAN:  Veronique Tran, Director QEP Undergraduate Research

Dr. Tran gave an overview of Discovery-Based Learning:  Transforming the Undergraduate Experience through Research.  This program will attract high achieving students and develop a set of student learning outcomes, including critical thinking, information literacy and the ability to communicate.  Students learn life-long skills that are important in any field of work.  The Office of Undergraduate Discovery Programs is working in collaboration with the Writing and Communication Skills Center, the Library, Undergraduate Research and others.  

The faculty will be involved in implementing the plan, which is set to begin in September 2008 and will expand over the course of five years.  There will be three levels of funding for individual faculty, faculty teams and departments/colleges.  Faculty can receive funds for course release time, part-time summer salary or TA/RA support.  The report is available at www.uh.edu/discovery 

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT:   Wynne Chin

Pres. Chin reported on:  (1) Watch for an end of term newsletter from Faculty Senate that will feature summaries of work done by Senate Committees this semester.  The newsletter will be sent to all faculty.  (2)  The revised proposal for the Information Technology governance group will be reviewed by the Committee on Committees soon.  (3)  There is talk of a new website for the Faculty Senate by the end of the year with a potential area for blogs.  (4)  The Executive Committee will have a Retreat on May 12 to prioritize and plan for the remainder of the year.  (5) The Senators from Education produced a great summary of the work the Senate has been doing.  They sent it to their constituents.  Pres. Chin invited other Senators to borrow the document, revise it and send it to their colleagues in their colleges.

REPORT FROM THE UNIVERSITY COORDINATING COMMISSION (UCC), Chair:  Dr. Chin

The meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.