UNIVERSITY HOUSTON FACULTY SENATE MINUTES – May 13, 2009

President Wells called the May 13, 2009 Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion of the M. D. Anderson Library at 12:15 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT:  [34]
     ARCH:  M. Sabatino
     BUS:     R. Keller, K. Newberry
     CLASS: A. Bencomo, M. Hernandez, P. Howard, J. Hutchinson, J. Kotarba, A. Kugler, D. Mazella, M. McHenry, H. Rodgers, F. Schiff, J. Sposato, S. Wallace
     EDU:    M. Clarke, C. Craig, J. Freiberg, A. Warner
     ENGR:  A. Kamrani, R. Willson
     LAW:    S. Chandler, M. Duncan, R. Palmer
     LIB:      M. Bennett, D. Camille, S. Ferimer
     NSM:    P. Copeland, T.R. Lee, M. Rea, D. Wells
     PHA:    T. Hussain, S. Sansgiry
     TECH:   K. Greenwoo 

MEMBERS ABSENT:  [19]
     BUS:    M. Ahearne, W. Chin (w/notice), C. Pirrong         
     CLASS:M. Haun, D. Phillips, C. Spitzmuller, J. Steinhoff
     ENGR:  J. Charlson, S. Chellam, Y.L. Mo
     HRM:    S. Barth
     GCSW: A. Achenbaum (w/notice)
     NSM:    E. Carasquillo-Molina, A. Ignatiev, G. Johnson (w/notice), K. Kadish, M. Ru, J. Subhlok
     OPT:     R. Manny (w/notice)

VISITORS: 

MINUTES:  The minutes for the April 15, 2009 Senate meeting were approved.

REPORTS FROM THE ACADEMIC COUNCILS:

Graduate and Professional Studies Council, Chair:  Cathy Patterson

            Dr. Patterson reported that it had been a busy year with five new degrees added and numerous policy changes made.  The study into graduate admissions has not been finalized yet nor has the issue of graduate tuition costed directly to grants been resolved.

            A joint Graduate & Professional Studies Council and Faculty Senate Task Force met for several months to examine the idea of a Graduate Faculty.  Its report has been received by the Council and will be on the agenda for discussion next academic year.  Pres. Wells added that the Faculty Affairs Committee would review the report for the Senate.

Research Council, Chair:  Rigoberto Advincula

            The final meeting of the semester was three weeks ago, although the Council plans to meet during the summer.  The Council will be looking to increase the number of research awards available to faculty, work on ways to incentivize the faculty and improve the GEAR Program.   

The Research Council has produced a white paper directed toward moving UH to Tier 1 status (available on-line at http://www.uh.edu/fs/Research_Council_Report_Tier_1_051309.pdf).  The Council also prepared a document outlining budget priorities needed to implement specific recommendations (available on-line at http://www.uh.edu/fs/Research_Council_Report_Tier_1_Budget.pdf).

Undergraduate Council, Chair:  Lawrence Williams – (Simon Bott reporting)

            The Undergraduate Council dealt with the usual changes to programs and courses.  Changes were made to the Drop Policy, including no longer requiring a faculty signature.  The process is done on-line and the system sends a note to the instructor.  The Council also approved the recommendations of the University Studies Division (USD) Task Force, which considered the issue of undeclared majors.    

REPORTS FROM FACULTY SENATE COMMITTEES:

Budget & Facilities Committee, Chair – Al Warner

            The committee provides a liaison to both the Campus Facilities Planning Committee and the Purchasing and Plant Operations Committee.  Classrooms were a major focus of the PPOC.  The BFC is working on an update to the 2007 salary data report that was done in 2007. 

Faculty Governance Committee, Chair – Wynne Chin (Katy Greenwood reporting)

             The Committee met four times this semester to discuss its goals and expanded charge and to work on filling 71 seats on UH standing committees for terms beginning in the Fall. The FGC plans to designate one person per committee as a key representative.  The intent is to improve communications by having the key reps share regular reports with the FGC.
            The Faculty Governance Committee also prepared the slate of candidates for the annual Grievance Committee election.  The slate was presented at the March 25, 2009 Spring Faculty Assembly.  No additional nominations were made from the floor, so the Committee proceeded to publicize the election, which was held on-line, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Sara McNeil in the College of Education.  Elected to the UH Faculty Grievance Committee were:

• Maria Gonzalez, CLASS;
• Ira Shepard, LAW;
• Susan Robbins, GCSW; and
• John Snyder   CLASS.

        In its deliberations, the FGC voted to expand the Athletics Advisory Committee by adding the Faculty Senate’s elected Delegate as a voting ex officio member.  It prepared a list of names to assist the Provost in updating his picks on the AAC.  The FGC is offering to take over making these appointments on a permanent basis. 

        The Faculty Governance Committee also approved the merging of the Fringe Benefits Committee, formerly a system-wide group, with the Human Resources Committee.  Dr. Sujit Sansgiry has been assigned by the FGC to oversee this effort.

Educational Policies and Student Affairs Committee, Chair – David Mazella

            The Committee had a number of productive discussions focusing on student success, including one last week with Dr. Antel. This summer  EPSAC will continue to follow up on plans from the Strategic Action Group (SAG.  Also this summer, the EPSAC Chair will be working with the Task Force on implementing the higher education reforms.  Mark Clarke will chair that Task Force. 

            The Center for Teaching Excellence committee will be having public discussions over the next year.  The scope and functions of these meeting are being worked on by the members of the committee, including Miranda Bennett, Michael Rea & Gordon Johnson. 

Faculty Affairs Committee, Chair – Jerome Freiberg (Monica McHenry, Vice Chair reporting)

The main issues the committee worked on were:  child care, FAC is developing a survey; faculty benefits, FAC is looking at benefits that are currently available and considering what items should be added; and faculty development, FAC will look at sabbaticals and course coverage.

Scholarship & Community Committee, Chair- Suzanne Ferimer

            The committee is currently working on a proposal for service awards for faculty and librarians.  The final document will be presented in the fall.  The Scholarship and Community Conference will be held November 13.  The theme will be energy.  We would like to bring in some big name speakers for this event.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM CHANCELLOR AND UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON PRESIDENT:  Renu Khator

Dr. Khator thanked everyone for a very productive academic year. UH is graduating 4,560 students this month.  The University has received an anonymous gift of $8 million and has completed a campus-wide dialogue on strategic priorities and actions.  In addition, research expenditures, degrees awarded, retention rates for freshmen and transfers, alumni giving, and average freshmen SAT scores are all up this year. Considering the economic downturn and corresponding decline in revenue, UH is faring very well. 

            The University could not have asked for a more supportive delegation in the Texas Legislature and certainly could not have found a stronger state and local agenda in favor of the University of Houston.  While the Office of Governmental Relations is tracking over 750 bills, the following two areas have taken up most of our energy:  (1) Tuition flexibility.   Most discussion has centered on the idea of limiting increases to five percent.  The Board of Regents is planning on a range of zero to five percent for a tuition increase based on the overall amount of funding the State provides.  (2) A constitutional amendment to support the creation of more Tier One universities in Texas is being proposed.  If adopted by the legislature and approved in a November referendum, it will create a pathway for all emerging research universities to compete and secure sustained funding.   At present, none of the emerging universities meets the necessary criteria to receive funding, but UH is close.

            Dr. Khator thanked the faculty involved in the months of deliberations and public dialogue that went into formulating the Strategic Action Group (SAG) reports. According to the external consultant, UH's plan is among the best in the nation because it addresses some very real challenges. Once the final draft is received, the next steps will be 

       1.     A Data Team will define the matrix using the national benchmarks suggested by SAG. 

 2.     Management responsibilities for each of the action items will be assigned to one or more Vice Presidents.
 
 3.     Vice Presidents will separate all action items into three categories: (1) Items that do not require additional funding; (2) Items that require modest additional funding;
       and (3) Items that require significant additional funding.  Action on items in the first category will begin over this summer, action on items in the second category
       will begin with this year's budget cycle, and action on items in the third category will begin as new funds become available from public or private sources. 
       Work will be tied to resources.  

4.     An annual reporting of revenue and investment actions will be made available.

This Strategic Action Plan is a blueprint for the future efforts and investments of the University. UH needs to be more strategic and efficient in its use of existing resources and more aggressive in the search for new resources.

            Dr. Khator said the Board of Regents will review the University's Progress Card in June.  All areas are up, except for graduation rates which take time to improve.

            Dr. Khator announced the formation of a blue-ribbon Task Force to review campus safety.  Members of the group will come from the city, county and neighborhood.  Several regents will also serve on this group.

            After serving as Athletics Director for seven years, Dave Maggard retired last week.  A search committee is being appointed.  Richard Scamell, the NCAA Faculty Representative, will serve on it.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR AND UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS & PROVOST:  John Antel

The Provost reported on:  (1) Faculty and staff raises.  Until the legislature completes its work and the Regents have approved the budget for next year, it is impossible to say if faculty and staff will receive raises.  (2) Dean Searches include:  (a)  the College of Pharmacy search is almost complete; (b) the College of Architecture search is conducting interviews; and (c) the CLASS dean search is being advertised nationally.  (3)  A Special Board of Regents meeting will be held in June.  The UH System needs a division of labor for the campuses.  UH-Downtown is looking at a name change.  It is part of creating separate branding for the campuses. (4) SAG initiatives need to be reviewed.  Over the summer the University needs to aggressively go after goals that can be accomplished at a low cost.  Plans need to be made for attaining higher priorities.  (5) The Lab School will be shutting down this summer.  The basic model does not fit the College of Education and there are finance and management issues.  Dean Wimpelberg will be speaking with parents tomorrow night.  The Provost has received mixed reviews about this action.  He added that there have been problems with accreditation.  Currently there are 41 students who attend there.  The administration is trying to find alternative arrangements for the current students enrolled.  These parents are going to be given time before the lab school closes.  There has been a commitment from the Child Care Center to accommodate as many kids from the lab school as they can.  The lab school was inherited from the College of Technology five years ago.  There are also concerns about the supervision of the children in the lab school and what will happen when the Metro-rail is put in along Wheeler.  The school will be closing on July 31. 

            A number of faculty objections were raised about the Lab School's proposed closing, including the timing of the decision, the strain that will be placed on the Child Care Center which has a long waiting list already, the quality of alternative offerings, and what will happen to the faculty and staff of the Lab School.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM VICE CHANCELLOR AND UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH:  Don Birx

            Dr. Birx presented a brief overview of research funding at the University and System-wide (slide is available on-line at http://www.uhsa.uh.edu/regents/board_meetings/documents/042109Board/ASS6.1.pdf). Research awards, expenditures and the number of faculty writing grants are up.  There will be a lot of activity going on through the summer, especially aimed at taking advantage of funding from the federal stimulus package.  Dr. Birx urged faculty to apply for grants, recommending NIH, NSF, and the Department of Defense as sites where stimulus money would be available.  He added that this activity helps the University in its ranking and graduate students are funded based on research grants received.   He suggested faculty include undergraduates in their grant proposals and become more involved with QEP projects.
            Dr. Birx provided an update on the SERC building, saying that half of the third & fifth floors are done.  The goal is to finish up these two floors, then build out the fourth floor.   

REPORT ON STUDENT SUCCESS INITIATIVES:  Dr. Bott

Dr. Bott discussed several initiatives on campus to promote student success and help students get involved in campus activities:  (1) Create a Personal Access Liaison (PAL), which serves kind of like a “friendly face on campus” for First Time in College (FTIC) students.  The PAL, a faculty or staff member, would contact their student/s to check on them about five times during the course of the semester.  This would likely be by email.  He requested faculty to volunteer to be a PAL.  (2)  ON stands for the Ombuds Network.  A student contacts his/her PAL with a question.  The PAL would contact ON to get the answer.  He noted 20% of the academic units are not represented on the Ombuds Network.  Faculty should consider volunteering for it, too.  (3) Buddies provide personal communication with every FTIC Applicant whose SAT Score is greater than 1200.  Buddies are current students who help newcomers adjust to life at UH.  (4) Profs with Pride (PWP) include faculty who tell students about events at UH and suggest ways for the student to get involved in campus activities.  (5) Cougar Rewards would offer tangible prizes, coupons, trading cards for points acquired by students taking part in UH events and activities.  This would require funding.  Dr. Bott urged faculty to get involved with one or more of these programs.    

 
The meeting adjourned at 2:05 p.m.