President Jacobson called the meeting to order in the Farish Hall Kiva at 12:15 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: [28]       
BUS:        W. Chin, S. Khumawala, M. Parks
CLASS:   V. Brady, S. Craig, W. Herendeen, A. Jacobson, B. Johnsen, B. Lange, R. Weldon         
EDU:        S. McNeil, A. Warner, C. White
ENGR:      O. Ghazzaly, S. Kleis, R. Metcalfe, G. Paskusz 
HRM:        K. Titz     
LIB:          S. Ferimer, J. Myers
NSM:        G. Auchmuty, D. Blecher, P. Copeland, K. Kadish, E. Leiss     
PHA:        C. Pedemonte                   
TECH:      K. Greenwood
GSSW:    H. Karger

MEMBERS ABSENT:  [23]                                                                                                                                   
ARCH:     B. Price   
BUS:        D. Rude
CLASS:   K. Brown, P. Gingiss, D. Jacobs, G. Jowett, J. Kotarba, J. Middents, R. Murray, G. San Miguel, T. Tillery
EDU:        M. Connell   
ENGR:      T. Cleveland, D. Shattuck                                                                 
LAW:       S. Huber, P. Linzer
NSM:        J. Eichberg, G. Etgen, A. Ignatiev, D. Wells
OPT:        R. Manny, S. Quintero                             
TECH:      C. Goodson
              

ON-LEAVE:  B. Breitmeyer

VISITORS:   Arthur Smith (UHS Chancellor and UH President), Edward Sheridan (UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost), Charles Shomper (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Information Technology), 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), Ed Hugetz (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor and UH Assistant Vice President for Planning & University Outreach), David Bell (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs), John Antel (Interim Dean, CLASS), Craig Ness (Executive Director, Academic Budgets & Operations, SVP-AA), Brian McKinney (Director, Academic Program Management), Karleen Koen (Collegium)

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:  The April 16, 2003, minutes were approved, pending further editing on Dr. Rudley’s report on the budget to ensure accuracy.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

            The 69th General Commencement of the University of Houston will be held on Friday, May 9, 2003, in Hofheinz Pavilion beginning at 9:00 a.m.  At this ceremony, President Smith will officially confer degrees on all those who graduated in August and December 2002 and are candidates for graduation this month.  The following individuals will receive the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters:  Guy V. Lewis, the legendary UH Basketball coach who guided the UH Cougars for 30 seasons; Neal Amundson, the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Mathematics; Loretta Divine, a 1971 UH Graduate, an actress and singer whose credits include “Hair”, “Boston Public,” and Waiting to Exhale,” and Eduardo Aguirre, Jr., who served as chairman of the UH System Board of Regents from 1996 to 1998 and who has recently been appointed acting director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service.  Mr. Aguirre will give the commencement address.  All graduates receiving a bachelor's degree with honors and attending the ceremony will receive individual recognition.  They also have been invited to have a UH faculty or staff mentor accompany them throughout the ceremony.   ALL FACULTY ARE URGED TO ATTEND in academic regalia.  Any questions should be directed to the office of the dean of a specific college or to the Office of Special Events at extension 3-8160.

KUDOS:

            The Faculty Senate offers special kudos to this year's Esther Farfel Award winner Arnold Eskin, Professor of Biology. Dr. Eskin is also this year's winner of the John and Rebecca Moores Scholars Award.

            Kudos also go to this year's Enron Teaching Excellence Award recipients:  Ioannis Kakadiaris, Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Susan Martinis, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry; Lee Mountain, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction; and Sandra Guerra Thompson, Professor of Law.

            Kudos to the Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award winners:  Vemuri Balakotaiah, Professor of Chemical Engineering; Karolos Grigoriadis, the Bill D. Cook Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering; and Austin Roorda, Assistant Professor of Optometry

            Kudos to the winners of the El Paso Faculty Achievement Awards:  James Pratt, Price Waterhouse Coopers Professor of Accountancy and Taxation; and Faculty Senators Dave Shattuck, Associate Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering, and Osman Ghazzaly, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

            Kudos to this year's recipients of Provost's Core Teaching Excellence Awards: Noe Marmolejo, Associate Professor of Music, and Faculty Senator Garret Etgen, Professor of Mathematics.

            Kudos to the Distance Education Teaching Excellence Awardee:  Karen Stokes, Associate Professor of Theatre.

            Finally, special kudos to Faculty Senator Karl Kadish, who recently learned that he has been selected to receive a Docteur Honoris Causa degree (honorary doctorate) from the l'Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, France to be awarded at the beginning of the next academic year.  These awards are given every five years to a group of outstanding individuals in the areas of science, medicine, law, politics and the arts.   Honorees from the last two ceremonies (1998 and 1993) include Dr. Paul J. Crutzen, 1995 Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Eudora Welty, Pulitzer Prize winning author.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION FROM THE FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT:   Anne Jacobson
            Pres. Jacobson said she met with the Council of Deans.  The focus of the discussion was on the chain of communication linking the faculty to the administration and back, where chairs are the vital links.  In too many instances these links are not effective.  The idea she wanted to convey was a positive image version.  The negative version is that too many faculty feel disenfranchised, lacking in knowledge and input without much sense that the people making the decisions are accountable.  The positive aspect is that there is a lot of energy and creativity that faculty can bring to a partnership in the colleges and the University.  She stressed at the meeting that problems may be found at a number of different points within one college, while another college may be relatively trouble free.  Hence, she tried not to arrive at any specific diagnosis.  Pres. Jacobson said she has heard from some of the deans and has discussed this situation with them but the idea is that deans and faculty in individual colleges should meet.  The Senate Executive Committee also feels that the general approach should be bottom up from the senators as the Senate is interested in the empowerment of individuals.  The Senate has an obligation to try to improve these communication links.  A significant number of faculty have expressed their opinion that the link between them and the upper administration is broken.  The Senate can’t just identify a problem and do nothing to resolve it. 

            Pres. Jacobson said that in the coming weeks she will be e-mailing individual senators with e-mail addresses for the members in their college.  She urged these Senators to contact their dean and set up meetings. College Senators may want to think about whether to include someone from another college, for example a member or two from the Executive Committee, to serve as an outside facilitator or observer.  She added that she would let the Senators know if she has been in contact with their dean and what, if any, some of the various problems are that have been identified within their colleges.  Senators from one college have already requested that their Dean be exempted from these meetings as internal communications within the college are working well.

            Senators have been given a handout with a Web address for an interesting report from the University of Southern California.  The handout also includes some talking points that might be used in discussions with the deans.  These talking points are drawn from the report.

            Pres. Jacobson said she was asked to check on the Office of Planning and Policy Analysis (OPPA).  There is an on-going search for a director.  They are looking for someone who is not just a number-cruncher but who also can be a researcher.

            At the Board of Regents meeting a number of issues were raised.  She added that she has asked Dr. Sheridan to discuss several of them while she briefly covers two items that fall outside of the Provost’s purview.   One is interesting news about external funding.  Art Vailas, Vice Chancellor/Vice President for Research, presented a table that shows external funding to include grants, gifts, donations and contracts.  On that table UH has less than one-third of the external funding that either UT Austin or Texas A&M has.  But otherwise UH leads the pack.  Texas Tech is fourth with roughly 60% of what UH has.    A second item from the Board meeting was a conjecture by a Regent who suggested that PeopleSoft is going to control the whole world in the near future and that no one would be able to do anything without getting an upgrade from them.  In the immediate future the University is hampered by budget cuts and it will take considerable administrative effort to keep UH on track.  UH needs to be able to deport parts of PeopleSoft system to other areas so that the problems can be worked out in a more manageable environment.

            Pres. Jacobson said last Friday she spoke to the University Faculties Executive Council (UFEC) about women in science.  Then on Tuesday there was an article in the New York Times that also addressed this subject.  The article was somewhat more optimistic, mentioning some recent appointments of women to various prestigious positions.  But it did point out the danger that people may feel all the problems faced by women in science have been solved and stop working to address issues.  There is still a problem of retaining women faculty in universities.  In this context Pres. Jacobson said that the Faculty Senate’s role in the creation of the University Commission on Women now seems to have come to an end.  The bylaws have been given to Dr. Smith.

BUDGET & FACILITIES COMMITTEE REPORT:  Peter Copeland, Chair
           On April 23, the committee met with Ileana Trevino and Spencer Yantis regarding the activities of the UH Development Office.  This was an informative meeting in which the practices and current projects of that office were outlined.

            Following up on the March 26 meeting of the BFC, Helen Stout has offered the following information about the Cougar 1Card:  (1) Changes are being made to the web site to make the process of enrolling in the Cougar 1Card program clearer.  (2) Problems with the use of the new card at the library have not been completely sorted out.  (3) New faculty will receive a card with "FACULTY ID CARD" prominently featured on the front of the card to help differentiate the card from a credit card.

COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES REPORT:  Joseph Eichberg, Chair
            The election to the UH Faculty Grievance Committee has been completed.  Congratulations to the following faculty members:  Leslie Griffin, LAW; Howard Karger, GSSW; Robert Keller, BUS; and Guadalupe San Miguel, CLASS.  The Faculty Senate and Committee on Committees express its appreciation to all faculty who participated in this process.

            The Committee on Committees has held several meetings to conduct its annual business of filling upcoming vacancies on University of Houston standing committees.  This nomination process is constitutionally mandated to be completed by June 1 for those committee seats with terms beginning on September 1.  Individual members of the COC are in the process of calling prospective committee members to determine their willingness and availability to serve.  The COC will be nominating 74 faculty members to fill 68 vacancies on 33 committees.

            The Committee met with University of Houston System Vice Chancellor and University of Houston Vice President for Administration and Finance John Rudley on April 21 and University of Houston System Vice Chancellor and University of Houston Vice President for Student Affairs Elwyn Lee on April 28 to discuss the operation of the respective standing committees that report to them.  The COC discussed with these appointing officers how they view their committees and asked if there were any challenges or problems with which the Faculty Senate or the COC could be of assistance.  Several suggestions were made to each officer, including the idea that the VP should convene all committees reporting to him early in the Fall semester and, if possible, meet briefly with each committee to discuss its charge and plans for carrying out its work during the year; that each committee chair be asked to submit an annual report on the committee’s activities to the VP with distribution to key groups including the Faculty Senate, Staff Council and Student Government Association; and that there  should be a central point in the VP’s Office to track committees, collect membership rosters and provide staff contacts for committees.

            The Committee on Committees will continue to meet over the summer and invite chairs to discuss the operation of their UH standing committees.  These meetings, intended to improve communication within the shared governance structure, were begun last year and have been very helpful to both the Senate and the standing committees.

EDUCATIONAL POLICIES & STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REPORT:  Sara McNeil, Chair
            The committee met before the Senate meeting and will be looking at three issues that will continue into the fall:  (1) Academic honesty – the Dean of Students and the University General Counsel will be asked to meet with the committee to start forming a knowledge base about how the academic honesty policy is handled university-wide.  It seems that it differs from college to college.  There is a possibility that there could be Symposium this fall on academic honesty sponsored by Distance Education, the College of Education and the committee.  (2) At the end of this month, Sen. Paskusz is going to attend a conference on graduate admissions and he will report back to the committee.  (3) The committee will look at the Faculty Handbook and talk with Sen. Eichberg, Chair of the Revision Committee, about grade changes.

FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REPORT:  Katy Greenwood, Chair
         The committee will met on May 14.

            Pres. Jacobson said one issue she would like the FAC to examine is the success of women during evaluations, particularly the University’s tenure and promotion process.  She added that she would like the new Commission on Women to work with the FAC to address this concern.

NEW BUSINESS:  None.            

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH CULLEN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DEAN:  Raymond W. Flumerfelt
          Dr. Flumerfelt said he was once a member of the Faculty Senate and it was a great learning experience.  He didn’t get to change the University that way he had planned, but it did have an effect on his future administrative roles.

            Engineering is a moderate sized college, probably a little bit smaller than the average in the country.  It has five departments: Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.  There are additional academic programs in Engineering like a Petroleum Engineering Masters; a Biomedical Engineering Masters; a materials program and masters at PhD levels and a program in Aerospace Engineering.  There are 85 faculty.  Engineering is in transition to a younger faculty.  There have been a number of retirements in the past two or three years, so there are 17 open positions.  That includes four Tier I positions.  These are mostly replacement positions, which will be research intensive.  Engineering has and always has had a high quality faculty.  There are seven national academy members in the college.  That is very good.  Only the University of Texas can boost more than that on a per FTE basis.  That may be about as many as Texas A&M has.  The College has strength with the new junior faculty.  They have the capabilities and potential of also eventually becoming national academy members.  The College has a growing student body with about 1,750 undergraduates.  In the next few years, Engineering is projected to have about 2100 or 2200 undergraduates so it will be a bigger program with more faculty.  There are 500 graduate students of which about 200 are PhD candidates. 

            Dr. Flumerfelt said he was not going to give a lot of data today, but the college is getting stronger and that is reflected in research expenditures and research awards.  Everything on the research side looks good.  Engineering has almost doubled the number of graduate students since Fall 1998.  The BS program is healthy, but the College is putting emphasis on Tier I in the graduate program.  It will continue to grow proportional to its research funding.  That is why research is so important.  It is the way Engineering will grow.  In the future some of the faculty growth in the College will be through research supported “soft” positions. The state is not likely to provide adequate funding for such growth; the College will have to generate its own resources in most cases.

            Dr. Flumerfelt highlighted several components, beginning with Energy Research, which is very high on the College’s priorities now.  Dr. Flumerfelt said he has always worked in energy to some extent.  It has been only over the past couple of years that he has started to see the relationship of energy, the environment and economic growth.  And energy is the main challenge for this growth in the future.  Rick Smalley, Rice University, in his recent presentations about energy, lists all the things that are important to mankind and then makes an argument why energy should at the top because of its impacts on the rest.  Energy is also a large commodity, $1.7 Trillion world-wide on an annual basis, and $400 Billion in the US.  There is increasing global energy demand with associated environmental impact (CO2, other problems) if one goes down the conventional path of fossil fuels.  There is a technological challenge if one goes down the clean energy path, and with respect to Texas, this is critical.  Energy is still 50% of Houston economy and this city has global leadership that it wants to maintain.  Recently Austin has become very tuned into energy and they are talking about becoming the clean energy capitol of Texas.  Houston needs to be the clean energy capitol.  Houston needs to clean up its environment and keep its leadership in energy. 

            About a year ago, in connection with trying to bring a lead faculty member/researcher to UH as well as some fuel cell technology companies to Houston, Dr. Flumerfelt started working with economic development groups in the region.  This eventually led to the creation of the Texas Energy Center in Fort Bend.  Modeled along the lines of the Texas Medical Center, the Texas Energy Center will foster cooperative efforts between industry, universities, research centers, as well as the government to increase the energy supply, promote energy independence, realize cleaner energy sources and contribute to the next generation workforce.  In the latter connection, the numbers of physical science and engineering graduates in the U.S. are in decline.  Yet these are the people needed to address the technical challenges associated with growing energy demand and related environmental problems.  If the U.S. doesn’t do something soon, it will not govern the energy world.  Rick Smalley feels that this is an opportunity for Texas and the country to set a national agenda to excite students to these challenges and to meet these challenges with a new and expanded generation of scientists, engineers, and others.

        With respect to the Texas Energy Center, Dr. Flumerfelt indicated the current focus is increased oil and gas production from ultra-deep water environments (Gulf of Mexico, other locations).  There is a $300 million government program that the Texas Energy Center is interested in managing for the Department of Energy, which is in the current Energy Bill before Congress.

            How can the College and UH benefit from such a program?  Engineering has a major Composite Engineering and Application Center led by Su Su Wang.  His research currently focuses on new polymer based composites for applications in deep offshore drilling.  Also, there are many problems in efficient design and construction of offshore platforms and systems which the College and its faculty can address using the high intensity design methods of the aerospace industry.  There are also many structural, mechanical, operational, and production issues in the deep water environment which provide interesting research challenges and problems for our faculty and involvement with the Texas Energy Center will enhance the research opportunities in this important area. 

            Although the conventional energy industry including deep water production can be important to the University in niche areas, it it’s the clean energy areas, which will offer the most research opportunities for faculty in the future.  For example, fuel cell companies such as Plug Power are operating at annual deficits of $40-60 million because of their research and development costs.  Such companies want to interface with universities to achieve cost effective research and technology development.  The technical challenges are diverse including the development of new electrocatalysts, new configurations, higher efficiencies, lower cost manufacturing processes, etc.  This is an important area for the future and the College is working with Art Vailas and others to obtain major joint industry/university funding in this area. 

            Engineering also has research in solar energy and is developing a major project in wind energy.  As a clean energy source, wind is very important and cost effective, and could provide up to 10% of our future energy needs.  Also, the College is very active in energy related environmental work, including advanced sensor technologies, NOx reduction, and other projects.  While NSM has a major focus on air quality modeling, Engineering is focused on pollution reduction and prevention at the source (in the reactors, combustors, etc.).  In this vein, Mike Harold, head of Chemical Engineering, is setting up a $4 million diesel emission research center with funding from the State and the City.  This should become one of the major centers for such activity in the country, and this research will be critical to Houston in meeting federal mandates relating to NOx reduction.  Other faculty in the College are working with Ford Motor and other companies to produce the next generation high efficiency, low pollution internal combustion engines and fuels. 

            Nano materials and device engineering is led by the work of Jack Wolfe and Paul Ruchhoeft.  In micro-electronics the big challenge is size.  The smaller the size, the better.  Presently the team’s nanolithography research is reaching levels below 20 nanometers using novel ion emission technologies.  What they have is a way to do nanolevel lithography on a material surfaces using emission ions, atoms and neutral particles.

            In the area of optoelectronics, Steven Pei and Han Lee lead a multimillion dollar research program to develop new omaterials and lasers for applications in remote  sensing and measurement.  In addition to various optical chemical sensors, they are also working on next generation biochemical sensors.  In the latter connection, they are developing instrumentation to operate in the mid infrared zone where the sensitivities are the highest.  Work in this area has many applications in the commercial, defense, and security sectors and is critically important to many homeland security issues.

            In the area of polymer nanocomposites, Ramanan Krishnamurty is also doing some outstanding work.  Nanopolymer composites are composed base polymers, inorganic nanoplatelets (generally clay particles), as well as possibly carbon nanotubes.  Because of the charged inorganic particles, the nanotubes are often dispersed and aligned to give very unique material properties to these materials.  Also, even without the nanotubes, the inorganic platelets provide diffusion barriers that are important in polymer films and packaging used for food storage.  For instance, with films that protect food the big problem is oxygen.  Dr. Krishnamurty is a relatively young faculty member and has been here only six year; however, he is already a leader in this emerging field and is currently writing a book in this area.

            The College also has various faculty members working on non-porous inorganic membranes to make high temperature filters, as well as nano materials, biomaterials and structures.  Recently, the College led University efforts to obtain a 5-year, $15 million program with NASA in nano-biomaterials, structures and systems. 

            Our biomedical researchers are working with the Texas Heart Institute in detection and diagnosis of vulnerable plaque buildup in the coronary arteries.  Many people die each year from the rupture and release of this plaque from the artery wall.   Engineering and THI researchers are using superconducting MRI systems and other methods (cantilever and other sensors) to identify plaque buildup and the conditions leading to cell rupture. 

            Peter Vekilov is a new faculty member and researcher in Chemical Engineering.  He is doing some leading edge work in understanding the crystallization processes that occur in sickle cells.  When a cell crystallizes, it stops functioning.  This involves a phase change and Dr. Vekilov’s work is aimed at understanding and controlling such transitions.

            Adam Capitano is another new faculty member in Chemical Engineering.  He is using liver cells as chemical and toxin biosensors and the work is important to the rapid detection of harmful biohazards.  He is also working on using biopolymers as scaffolds for tissue engineering and is working closely with Rice in this important area.

            Also, in the bioengineering area, I should mention our work in neuro-engineering that is being led by several faculty members in our Electrical and Computer Department.  This work is in collaboration with various groups on and off campus and involves brain-wave analysis and brain function, particularly as related to schizophrenia and other mental illnesses as well visual response and perception.  One specific area of application is in developing advanced signal analysis methods and instrumentation for determining seizures of neonates. 

            In the homeland security area, Engineering also has a joint project with Visteon, a multi-million dollar company, working on mobile information command centers in police, emergency, and other vehicles.  In addition to the electronics, the computer and communication systems, the project also involves work on digital systems with electronics sensors, vibration damping, etc. Such mobile command centers are important in dealing with various security, emergency, first response, as well as traffic control.

            The College also has many outreach activities with the Houston industrial community.  We currently run a $1.8 million Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center to help small manufacturing companies increase their productivity and competitiveness.  This program is led by our Industrial Engineering Department and represents one of the most active assistance centers across the state.

            Finally, in addition these more classical research activities, the College is placing added emphasis on education innovation and research to improve and advance the educational processes, curricula, and disciplines within engineering.  Stuart Long has led these efforts in Engineering and we have recently received over $2 million in different projects from NSF, the Department of Education, and others.  These activities are important to our educational mission and ensure that we stay at the forefront of educational developments in our disciplines.

         Sen. Myers asked the Dean if he sees any shifts in the proportion of enrollments by U.S. students as opposed to foreign graduate students?  Dr. Flumerfelt said Engineering programs in the U.S. graduate about 60,000 students a year, but fifteen years ago it was 80,000.  Fewer U.S. students are choosing Engineering.  Asia and Europe produce over 800,000 PhDs.  Where is the U.S. going to get its next generation of engineers?   Currently, foreign born nationals are providing this important pool, but will this continue in the future?  This is a critical problem for the country, and one that is core to federal programs to enhance interest in math, science, engineering, and technology.  At the graduate level, the U.S. still produces the highest numbers of PhDs in physical science and Engineering, but a majority of these graduates received their BS education outside the country.

            Pres. Jacobson asked how does the University promote more interdisciplinary work across the Colleges?  Dr. Flumerfelt said he thought UH was one of the most interdisciplinary universities at which he has worked.  Engineering works well with NSM, BUS, LAW, CLASS, and ARCH.  To increase the number of opportunities for such interactions, the University could start with task groups focused around specific areas and aimed at specific funding opportunities.  Engineering has done this recently in the clean energy area, and it has worked well.  The University Research Council could also play an important role in stimulating such interactions.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM CHANCELLOR & UH PRESIDENT:  
Arthur K. Smith
            Dr. Smith noted the legislature goes out of session on June 2.  The Senate and House passed appropriation bills that are somewhat different.  The House version assumes the budget shortfall projected by the Comptroller in January of a 12.5% reduction in general revenue and applies it to the higher education funding formula and special items.  That means a 12.5% cut from the current biennium general revenue appropriation.  The Senate is looking at a 10.1% reduction and makes use of devices to postpone expenditures into the next biennium.  The Lt. Governor has appointed five senators and the Speaker of the House has appointed five representatives to the Conference Committee.  Teel Bivins, chair of Senate Finance, and Talmadge Heflin, chair of House Appropriations, are the co-chairs of the Conference Committee.  They have today announced their projected schedule for meetings and expect to close by May 18 to recommend out an appropriations bill that will then be considered by both houses.  They are planning to discuss Article 3 (higher education) on Saturday starting at 7:00 a.m.  There are two System commencements on Saturday (UH-Victoria in the morning and UH-Downtown in the afternoon) so Dr. Smith was not sure whether he would be in Austin or at the commencements. 

            There are other bills moving forward.  UH’s tuition revenue bond request for reparations for Tropical Storm Allison continues to make progress.  This is important because at this time of year most bills die.  The tuition flexibility issue is still percolating.  The Senate Finance Committee passed a bill, but the full Senate has not yet acted on it, and it has to go through the House Higher Education Committee and the House for approval.  The House bill provides for latitude to increase designated tuition by $23 next year.  As a practical matter, UH can’t raise tuition in the Fall because students are already registering.  Conceivably, a designated tuition increase could take effect in January with the approval of the Board of Regents if the legislature allows universities the flexibility.  The Senate Bill for next year would be less than that but it provides an increase in statutory tuition from $46 to $52 and the latitude to increase designated tuition with the approval of the Regents by the same level.  If tuition flexibility is granted and falls somewhere between those two, it may help absorb the budget cut that is coming in general revenue appropriation.  There are some concerns about debt service and bonds.  UH will have to make up any cuts in bonds/debt service. 

            Sen. Leiss asked about the tactical aspects of having a budget that generates a great deal more in the second semester than in the first semester.  Dr. Smith said the administration would manage.  It is fiscal year money whenever it comes in so UH can plan to start spending it at the beginning of the fiscal year as long as it knows it is going to get it at some point.  Sen. Leiss said there is a very short lead time for the colleges and at this point they have to plan as if there wasn’t any additional money.  Dr. Smith responded that the administration is still taking numerous risks with next year’s budget, continuing to hire tenured and tenure-track faculty members; funding graduate student stipends and authorizing offers to GAs and TAs; and funding the graduate tuition fellowship program.  Dr. Smith said all of these are financial challenges but those decisions have to be made at this time of the year.  Deans have been told to go slowly in terms of offers to part-time adjunct lecturers for the fall.  Most colleges can hire part-time adjunct lecturers on relatively short notice.  The budget being prepared to go the Board of Regents in August depends in part on Board approval of an additional designated tuition increase to be effective in January.  Hopefully, it will all come together in August.  There was a time, not so many years ago, that colleges got their budgets in August, so timelines are now more accommodative of college and departmental needs. 

            The Governor’s veto period begins after the legislature adjourns.  How important that will be depends upon on the bill pattern that the conference committee provides for the structure of an appropriations bill.  The Tier I bill, HB 1839, which UH has sought to rewrite in this session, is on track.  That would change the two funds into one fund with one set of criteria.  However, funds UH might receive next year from the Excellence Bill will be down by one-third from what it got this year and that is because the Excellence Bill is tied by law to the earnings on the HEAF endowment, which has suffered in the same way that all other endowments have suffered.

            Sen. Warner requested that the administration send out to the campus a quick listing of the kinds of positions that, should individuals as private citizens choose to contact their legislators on plain paper, etc., would help the University.  Dr. Smith said the house bill has what some people have perceived as a poison pill because after the next biennium it provides for a complete deregulation of tuition.  It gives the Regents complete freedom to set tuition revenue, but for only one year, and after that one year tuition would be frozen in place from wherever it is until the legislature takes further action.  The speculation is that the House bill will halt when it gets to the Senate.  What universities want right now is flexibility to generate the revenue that will enable them to sustain excellence.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR & UH SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS/PROVOST:  Edward P. Sheridan
            Dr. Sheridan reported to the Board of Regents that UH is very actively trying to develop a relationship with Prairie View A&M University in order to expand distance education in the northwest corridor of the city.  The reason for this partnership goes back over 20 years when the Coordinating Board designated certain areas of Houston for certain universities.  The CB gave priority in the area north of Highway 10 and west of Highway 45 to Prairie View.  If UH wants to offer programs there, Prairie View has to agree to it.  Looking at the demographics, there are nearly 2,500 UH-D students from that area and between 6,000-7,000 who attend UH.  There is a huge, and growing, population out there.  In addition to that the northwest school districts are growing at the rate of 5% annually, the fourth fastest growth in the State.  The area’s community college, North Harris, is growing at the rate of 15% a year and it is the fastest growing Texas community college.  UH is developing a joint relationship with North Harris Community College and Prairie View in order to offer degrees of high interest in the region.  Things are going very smoothly.  Elaine Charlson and Ed Hugetz have been working with Dr. Sheridan on this.  Dr. Hugetz has been working especially hard, as he did in developing the programs at Cinco Ranch and Fort Bend.  In the next academic year the Senate will be hearing much more about these efforts to make certain that UH is perceived as the university that serves that area.

            Also, yesterday Dr. Charlson reported follow-up efforts on the Friendliness Committee and what has happened since the original report was made to the Board.  She pointed out that the success of the Scholars Community, which allows freshmen in many ways to feel they are part of a smaller university, has led to significant increases in retention.  In turn, this has driven up the retention rate for the whole University to 80% in returning first time in college freshmen to their second year here.  For an urban research university that is a very competitive record.  It appears this will help UH show a better graduation rate over six years.  The data show that all the growth in the University is from retention.  It is expected that the graduation rate will be close to 40%, perhaps over 40% very soon.

            In the past few years UH has hired 42 new faculty, including 21 minority faculty and 21 Caucasian faculty.  UH has hired seven African American faculty, seven Hispanic faculty, and seven Asian American faculty.  Most of the Hispanic faculty are Mexican American, which has been very important to the Hispanic community here.  UH has also been getting close to 50% hiring for women.  If one looks at the demographics of this University before Dr. Smith came here, there has been a significant increase in minority and female faculty.  Of course, that is absolutely necessary when one considers the number of minority students at UH and that there are more women students in the University than men.  These data indicate that the University is attempting to reflect the diversity of its students in the faculty.

            Some people have asked Dr. Sheridan what he will do when Dr. Smith leaves office.  When he first took the position as Provost, Dr. Sheridan told Dr. Smith that he would be willing to stay for five years but if the President chose to leave before five years were over, he would leave at that time.  They have now exceeded five years so when the President announced that he was going to step down, Dr. Sheridan told him that the beginning of June would be a good time for him to step down as Provost.  Dr. Smith pointed out that June would not the best of timing because it was doubtful that UH would have a budget by then and asked Dr. Sheridan stay until September 2.  Dr. Sheridan agreed to do that.  As of September 2, Dr. Sheridan said he would become a University Professor, a title that allows him to teach in any college if the college would like to have him teaching there.  He plans to start by teaching a psychology course, Theories of Personality, in Summer IV as a televised course.  This is a course that he has taught at the undergraduate level, at the doctoral level, and on television.  The same course will be offered in the fall and spring.  Dr. Sheridan will spend the rest of the time getting back to a life of being a scholar.  As Provost in the five years that he has been at UH, Dr. Sheridan published seven refereed journal articles and made seven invited presentations to national meetings so he has continued to be academically involved, but the opportunity to be a University Professor is very appealing.  Dr. Sheridan mentioned that his colleagues in HRM offered him the opportunity to have an office in their college, which he eagerly accepted, so that is where he can be found after September 2.

The meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.