UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON FACULTY SENATE MINUTES – August 31, 2005    

President Warner called the August 31 Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Farish Hall Kiva at 12:15 p.m.  

MEMBERS PRESENT:  [41]
ARCH:    D. Kacmar
BUS:      W. Chin, S. Kadipasaoglu, R. Keller
CLASS: V. Brady, K. Brown, B. Byrnes, S. Craig, M. Haun, W. Herendeen, N. Houston, T. Karner, J. Kotarba, D. Mazella,
                J. Middents, D. Papell, F. Schiff, G. Trail
EDU:      J. Freiberg, S. McNeil, A. Warner
ENGR:   J. Williams, D. Zimmerman
HRM:    K. Titz
LAW:   M. Duncan, S. Huber                  
LIB:       S. Ferimer, N. Linden
NSM:    T. Albright, D. Blecher, P. Copeland, J. Eichberg, D. Graur, A. Ignatiev, G. Johnson, E. Leiss, D. Wells
OPT:     R. Manny
PHA:     C. Pedemonte
TECH:  K. Greenwood
GSSW:  H. Karger                

MEMBERS ABSENT:  [8] 
CLASS: G. Jowett, R. Matland (w/Notice)             
EDU:     M. Connell
ENGR:   J. Richardson, W. Rixey (w/Notice)
LIB:       D. Camille         
NSM:    T. Lee (w/Notice)
OPT:     S. Quintero

MEMBERS RESIGNED:  [3]
BUS:     J. Berkowitz
ENGR:   O. Ghazzaly
LAW:    R. Schuwerk (w/Notice to be replaced for Fall)  

VISITORS:  
Jay Gogue (UHS Chancellor and UH President), Donald Foss (UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs/ Provost), John Rudley (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Administration & Finance), 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), 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), Elaine Charlson (UHS Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and UH Executive 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 and UH Assistant Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs), Steve Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer of the UH Houston Alumni Association), Agnes DeFranco (Interim Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Education), Craig Ness (Executive Director, Academic Budgets & Operations, SVP-AA), Brian McKinney (Director, Academic Program Management),  John Powell (Executive Speechwriter), Joe Papick (President, Staff Council), Charles Henry (President-elect, Staff Council) 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:  The May 11, 2005 minutes were approved. 

REPORT ON FACULTY SENATE ACTIVITIES:  Allen Warner
            Pres. Warner said the Faculty Senate Executive Committee has been meeting regularly all summer long.
            Within the last few days faculty and staff should have received a letter from Staff Council President Joseph Papick and Faculty Senate President Warner concerning the University’s annual fund.  Pres. Warner said he would highly encourage everyone’s participation. Gifts can be designated to one or several places.
            Within the past week the University lost a very good friend, George Magner, former Provost and Professor Emeriti of Social Work.  There is an endowed scholarship fund that has been started in his name in the Graduate School of Social Work.  It is more than half-way funded.  Pres. Warner challenged people who knew Dr. Magner to join him in contributing to that fund as part of the annual fund.  Questions may be directed to the senator from GSSW, Howard Karger, or the GSSW Dean Ira Colby.  That is one possibility for a gift to the annual campaign.  A reason to give to the annual fund is that, as UH moves into its comprehensive campaign, prospective donors often look at the percentage of participation of University employees.  Pres. Warner urged everyone to give.
            Pres. Warner called on President-elect Steven Craig to report on the work of his task force.  Sen. Craig said the Senate Task Force on Achieving Research Excellence met at the end of the spring semester and has been working together via e-mail.  Sen. Craig said he represented the Senate at the opening of the Ice Cream Parlor in the UC where he heard Dr. Gogue say ice cream is good for students.  Sen. Craig said the TFARE is developing a resolution that is going to be joint between the Graduate & Professional Studies Council, Research Council and Senate that encourages the University in an explicit way to do a Scholarship Report on research output.  This joint resolution will go to the Executive Committee and Council Chairs next week.  If the resolution is successful, he will e-mail it to the senators for comment before the September 21 meeting.  The resolution will be on the agenda for the next Senate meeting.
            Pres. Warner said welcome back!

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM CHANCELLOR AND UH PRESIDENT: Jay Gogue        
            Dr. Gogue reported on: (1) Construction on Campus.  UH opened a new Residence Hall – 360 or so beds opened in August on time.  It is completely full with a waiting list.  As mentioned in last spring a consulting group has been on campus to look at the demand and what the University of Houston could do to create a greater sense of community by more students living on campus.  The consultants reported at the August Board of Regents meeting that the demand for an additional 1,500-1,800 beds exists.  The administration is looking very carefully now in terms of locations, style, and preference.  Additional residence halls will be built over a period of about ten years and will include a complete revamp of Moody Towers.  The good news is the demand, the wish and the desire by students to be on campus is high and more students living on this campus creates a greater sense of the community.  Sen. Craig joked about the President saying that ice cream is good for students.  Dr. Gogue said what he actually said was “out of class experiences like sitting around the ice cream parlor and talking can help build the feeling of community.”   Wortham Theatre renovations are progressing thanks to a $20 million gift from the Mitchell Family.  There is an expansion of the Wortham Theatre entry area as well as practice rooms above that are scheduled to be competed in October.  Dr. Gogue said he walked through the Theatre and it is a beautiful facility.  He added that he has not seen the new classrooms in the Science and Engineering Research facility but he understands are being used this term.  The final construction project is the parking garage and Welcome Center for the institution.  This facility will provide one-stop shopping for students as they look at this institution.  There will be a place to park, a place to register, a place to be counseled and advised and tested or whatever is necessary will be included in that complex.  That is still scheduled to open in January 2006.  (2) The Ombuds person.  Dr. Gogue said this person would try to resolve issues and concerns informally rather than going in to an official grievance process.  The President said he wanted to applaud both the Senate and the Staff Council for their leadership in trying to work through some of the difficult issues without getting in to a formal process.  An ombuds person won’t solve all the problems, but the position may solve a few and that is important.  Dr. Gogue said he has made the Budget line available to the Provost and has asked the Provost to proceed with trying to organize and fill that particular position.  (3) Faculty recognition.  Sen. Kotarba and the Scholarship & Community Committee worked very hard last year on creating a faculty recognition dinner.  That was approved and money has been budgeted.  November 9 is the date.  It will meet all the criteria that came out of the Senate in terms of what UH should do for faculty recognition.  (4) Storm relief offer.  Dr. Gogue said he learned about a part of the history of UH this week from Philip Hoffman.  This story relates to what the President thinks UH ought to do relative to the storm on the Gulf coast.  Pres. Hoffman, who served as UH President from 1961-1979, said that in 1962 UH decided to admit some African American students.  On the Tuesday prior to classes starting, he brought together the Houston Post, Houston Chronicle, various TV station, and radio stations; it was about twelve individuals and told them that UH is going to integrate on Thursday and the University doesn’t want any press coverage.  UH does not want the situation that occurred in Mississippi or Alabama or various states.  When the students got to class, they looked around and said UH is integrated and it really was not a story.  UH was the first public university in the state of Texas to admit minority students.  Dr. Gogue added that he was awfully proud of the history.  Dr. Gogue said in regards to this devastating storm that has affected the Gulf coast region, he has suggested to the Texas Governor, who is to trying to work with the Governor of Louisiana, that UH is willing to allow its facilities to be used after hours by a Louisiana institution. He is suggesting that an institution can come to UH and bring its faculty and bring its students and continue its work here at UH, UHD, UHCL, and UHV.  It is going to take an urban area that has the capacity and the departments to be able to provide places for those students to continue their education.   That is one of the proposals that he will make.  The Legal Counsel is working through the Coordinating Board to accommodate students who wish to register at UH.  She added that she thought the CB will work with UH to allow the students to register and pay in-state tuition.  Dr. Gogue said he has asked Dr. Foss to begin the discussions to see what UH can do to help.  This approach is merely an offer.  Dr. Gogue said he didn’t know whether the offer would be accepted or not.  It would not just be for Tulane, but the offer would be for the University of New Orleans, Xavier, etc.  It would be best if their faculty came and presented and delivered their own curriculum and their own courses but at the same time UH has already been receiving calls for individual students who had plan to go to school in New Orleans and obviously can’t and so would like to come here for a term.  The Provost will have to be the key person in this.  Dr. Gogue asked everyone to be as compassionate as possible.  It is a really difficult time for those individuals.
            Sen. Kotarba said, regarding making UH facilities for service available to students from Louisiana, UH should focus on distance education courses which have the ability to absorb some numbers of students at this late date.  Dr. Gogue said that is a good idea.
            Sen. Haun said she told the academic advisor yesterday to go over quota on her classes for anybody that he could verify was a transfer student.  She said the administration should e-mail to the faculty and suggest that they do likewise.  Dr. Gogue said he is reluctant to encourage that.  Dr. Gogue said if he were sitting at Tulane and saw a university trying to take his students, it would not be viewed as an appropriate step.  Dr. Gogue said UH is trying to go through the Governor to get the offer to them. 
            Sen. Ignatiev said he applauds the President’s proposal.  Going back to construction, the classrooms in the Science and Engineering Building are wonderful but the research part of the building is empty.  What is the schedule on that?  Dr. Gogue said funds, between $10-$12 million, have been submitted to complete one floor.  Dr. Vailas said there are specialized facilities that are already paid for and are being installed.  Also all of the offices and infrastructure are being installed.  UH is setting aside 40-50% of the space for recruiting.  Sen. Craig asked are some of the labs on campus going to be moved to the new building.  Or is this all new lab space?  Dr. Vailas said it is both.  Some programs plan to move into the new facilities.  The deans of NSM and ENGR are working together to make those decisions.  Sen. Craig said he was asking because he hadn’t seen a plan to recycle any vacated space back in the general University.  Dr. Gogue said there are plans, but the University was hoping to get $60 million in Tuition Revenue Bonds (TRBs) to renovate three buildings.  The TRBs came up in the regular session and the two special sessions, were approved by the House and Senate, but didn’t make it out of committee.  Dr. Gogue said there is hope that there will be another special session during which the TRBs might be approved. 
            Sen. Leiss said the way UH formulates its offer will set the tone.  If UH offers students the possibility to take courses at UH, then ultimately it still is their decision to accept the courses.  Sen. Leiss said he is simply concerned about the ability of a student to complete a semester.  He said he didn’t see any body in the New Orleans area being able to go back to school in the fall semester.  As UH has been in a much, much milder situation (with Tropical Storm Allison), it should be the first one to make an offer.  It is an offer; it is not trying to steal students.  Sen. Leiss said it is much easier for students to come here and come to UH classes.  The UH faculty should try to be flexible.  The University should get the word out as quickly as possible.  We should try to be as unbureaucratic in admitting them.  UH has a category as transient which usually applies for the summer.  It could be used for a normal semester as well.  UH is helping out; it is not trying to steal students.  Dr. Gogue said he didn’t disagree.  He added that he would love to hear the presidents of their institution tell their students that any credit taken at UH will transfer to their original schools and be counted.  Dr. Gogue said the Provost is meeting with a group this afternoon to discuss what UH should do.
            Sen. Papell said trying to have their faculty come here to teach their students in UH facilities would be wonderful, but that happening has a low probability.  Instead of putting effort into a low probability of return, UH should put its efforts into helping students who live in Houston or who are here now and want to take classes.  Dr. Gogue said that is a good idea.  He added that the senator was probably correct, but if he were a Tulane faculty member, he would much prefer putting his students in temporary quarters and delivering his own curriculum.  They have to go somewhere else for three or four months.  Dr. Gogue said he has heard that there are probably 200 students in the Greater Houston area for Tulane.  He didn’t know about the other institutions.  Sen. Leiss said the issue is the faculty can probably do that individually; department by department will have to make arrangements for faculty but the students will have to take courses from different departments.  Sen. Leiss said this isn’t just a question of somebody doing something in one department.  Sen. Leiss said this requires an institutional response.
            Sen. Pedemonte asked about the life of the students here on campus.  There used to be some plans to improve the life of students; to bring some businesses and some restaurants to campus. What has happened to these plans?  Dr. Gogue said they are going on, but they are probably not going on as fast as anyone would like.  UH did open the new ice cream shop.  Dr. Gogue said last spring he sat with the Board of Regents and asked if they would be willing to take a narrow strip of UH owned land that abuts Scott Street and create a commercial zone so that hopefully the other side of Scott Street would begin to develop and begin to create a sense of community on that side of campus.  Dr. Gogue asked what would happen when the Metro Light Rail comes in?  The participated route is West Alabama to Scott Street to Wheeler Street.  Dr. Gogue said what if in that area right around Wheeler and Scott Street UH built a facility which would cost $25 million with about 100,000 square feet and within that particular facility a lot of commercial activities were concentrated?  Dr. Gogue said think about it.  UH has a Barber Shop and Beauty Parlor but the students would like to see the kind they find in a Mall.  UH has  ice cream shops and Pizza places, but a Chili’s is being discussed as part of the new parking garage.  A lot of universities have taken their Bookstores out of their Student Union and created a place with trade books as well as textbooks and supplies.  But UH needs to think about a three story facility enclosed with a police substation that may create a sense of community and security, parking, plus the additional Metro traffic that would also use that facility.  Dr. Gogue said campus life is a very high priority on the list.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR AND UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS/PROVOST:  Donald Foss
            Pres. Warner introduced Dr. Foss by saying that part of his duties in the search process for the Provost, he would contact the heads of the Senates at the home institutions of all of the finalists.  The warmest words he heard came from Florida State where Dr. Foss has been most recently serving as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with 420 faculty members.  Pres. Warner said at Florida State there were 18 deans; according to the Senate faculty there, of the 18 deans there was precisely one who voluntarily choose to come to Senate meetings, listened, paid attention and occasionally asked to speak and when he did speak, spoke with a sense of seriousness and a sense of speaking to colleagues.  That was Dr. Foss.  Pres. Warner said he is delighted that things worked out and Dr. Foss is now here.  Welcome to the University of Houston and its Faculty Senate!
            Dr. Foss said he is delighted to be here.  He wished everyone a Happy New Year.  He said he loves this time of year.  For him, being an academic all his life, this is the new year and exciting things are happening. 
            Dr. Foss said his heart goes out to the people on the Gulf Coast.  This afternoon the folks in his office are meeting with the dean of one of the affected universities from a professional school with the prospect of seeing what UH can do on a structural basis – not just an individual basis.  There are two strands that have been mentioned; one is what he would call, for lack of a better term, structural.  UH does have some of the infrastructure left over from Allison that could be used.  The secondary strand is that of admitting students individually.  UH has already received a number of calls from students and their parents; UH is being responsive to that.  Within the next day or two the UH Website will give directions to people who inquire about admission.  To the extent that students are being let into classes, it is challenging for them and this faculty should respond in as an appropriately humane way as possible.
            Dr. Foss said he is delighted to come to the University of Houston and to be back in Texas.  They left Texas exactly a decade ago, spent ten years at Florida State and they are delighted to back here and excited to be at UH.  Dr. Foss he said great things are going on and there will be great things in the future here. 
            Dr. Foss said he would, on another occasion if asked, say some words about the key components of the mission of the institution that he wants to focus on with the Senate’s help over the next few years.  His view in a nut shell is that the mission of this institution is to be a graduate and professional institution with the basis of undergraduate excellence.  If UH keeps both prongs in line, and he sees no reason why UH cannot keep both prongs in line, and have value systems and reward systems that appropriately address both parts of that mission so it can get better in every way at graduate and professional level as well as at the undergraduate level.
            Dr. Foss mentioned that in his first thirty days he had made what might be called a jogging tour of campus, visiting briefly with all the Deans.  He plans to visit with them again in depth.
            Dr. Foss made a PowerPoint presentation to report on the Budget for FY 2006.  There were new funds available to UH in the amount of approximately $24.2 million that came out of this session.  The funds came from State General Revenue ($12,326,134) including reinstated Tier 1 funding ($5,137,629), an increase for Special Items ($1,942,640), and Other General Revenue ($2,849,403).  Dr. Gogue told me that the tuition revenue bonds were not funded, but the new funding for TRBs is for debt service ($2,396,462).  This is new in one sense but it is not the big increase in TRBs that pick up the Science & Engineering building.  Finally, the other general revenue source is enrollment money or   Tuition ($7,016,00).  There was a plan to have about $3 million in tuition for the statutory and graduate premium tuition.  However, the enrollment expected now is not such to justify all of that tuition money so the expectation is that $1.8 million of that will not be collected.  That is presumably from the general designated tuition.  The differential designated tuition is by far the largest piece of the increase.  That money collected by the colleges that are charging the tuition.  There are other sources of income also designated to the colleges as Student Fees ($4,577,129). There is Other Revenue ($293,573).  These are the four sources of funds that add up to the $24.2 million that the institution got in way of new funds. 
            Dr. Foss then addressed the other side of the ledger.  He said the previous Provost, Jerald Strickland, and the deans and others built their priorities for spending the new money by following the Board of Regents strategic planning initiatives, including:  (1) Student Success ($6,085,799).  A lot of the tuition money, 20%, is restricted by law to be set aside for student scholarships.  There is some money that has been put in to enrollment services.  There has been an enrollment task force that is definitely a priority for the Provost Office to work on the numbers and the excellence of the students who are admitted to UH.  The investments were made in that program for about $900,000.  The student services center ($500,000) is in effect what Academic Affairs has to pay for the space in the parking garage to have the one-stop shopping for academic services there.  Dr. Foss said he walked through the classrooms in the new Science Engineering and Research buildings and they are gorgeous, especially the big 500 seat auditorium.  It makes a tremendous statement about what UH thinks about its students and faculty in terms of the places where they want to be working and the facilities that UH should provide for them.  Dr. Foss encouraged everyone to visit the facilities.  (2) Academic Excellence ($10,425,485) including faculty and academic support positions, most of which are new faculty lines.  Most of these positions are coming out of the differentiated designated tuition so the vast majority of them are going to the colleges that have instituted the designated tuition.  Another big item is the almost $4 million for the faculty salary increases.  Dr. Gogue had input from around campus and he decided that there should be an average 4% faculty salary increase.  That is a substantial amount of the money.  There is an increase in graduate assistant tuition fellowships.  (3) Campus Infrastructure ($3,808,697).  The biggest part of this expenditure is the utilities increase ($2,158,505), which may be an underestimate that will stress the institution because there is no big bonus of money any place in case the cost of utilities goes up more.  Dr. Foss said he wasn’t aware of the structure of the utilities contracts or how at risk UH is.  Ms. Hamilton said the contracts cover one more year.  Dr. Foss said planning for the future for utility cost is going to be a real stress.  He added that 10% of the whole increase is the utilities.  (4) Administrative Effectiveness ($3,892,855).  Another significant part of the expenditures has to do with the staff increases, 4% across the board which costs approximately $3 million.  Dr. Foss said these are the categories and they add up to the $24.2 million.  All of this is the new money. 
            Dr. Foss also showed slides on FY2006 HEAF and Indirect Cost Recovery ($32,330,380).  He pointed out that these are not new monies.  This is the total sum of that UH has from HEAF ($21,217,430) and Indirect Cost Recovery ($11,112,950) that the University can expend.  Where does it go -- for the same funding priorities as shown above.  These are just the total budgeted amount.  Many of these expenditures are ongoing, including $5 million to continue to improve the classroom infrastructure on campus.  A lot of this funding comes from Dr. Vailas and his shop, such as $10 million for lab renovations and science start-up packages for faculty.  There are full research operations running, a safety office and other such things that are on-going expenditures.  The facilities improvement has been a long term commitment for the University.  These are hard dollars to spend for the reason that there is always a call on these monies that seem for the moment to be of a higher priority, Dr. Foss said he thinks UH has a lot of discipline.  Technology is no longer a capital item really, these are expense items.  
            Sen. Ignatiev asked where does the Tier 1 money go?  Dr. Foss said out of the excellence money earlier there were some faculty lines committed that were not funded, so probably more than $2 million is going back to fund those lines.  With respect to the rest of the funding was spent within the categories shown for expenditures.  There is not $5 million sitting in the Provost’s Office or anybody else’s office where a faculty member could say here is an excellent idea and the Provost could give that person $5 million.  Sen. Ignatiev asked should there not be some portion of the Tier 1 money reserved for that purpose specifically?  Sen. Ignatiev said he would expect the Provost’s office and Dr. Vailas’ Office to have some funds available for excellence.  Excellence doesn’t happen today, it happens as a function of time and needs to be developed downstream.   Dr. Foss said he would like to think that he is aware of that.  He added that he would love to have walked into this job and had someone say to him here is $5 million recurring and uncommitted money.              Sen. Karger commented that the Senate appreciates the Provost going through the budget with it.  Transparency is important to the Senate.  Dr. Foss said that is the only way to go as far as he is concerned.  He has been around campuses all his life and he knows there are no secrets, so it is much better to allow everyone to have their say and for the Provost to have his say back.  Everyone might agree or disagree, but it is a process.  It is the University’s money toward the University’s priorities and that is how he hopes it will be in the future.  Dr. Foss said there won’t always be agreement but he will be happy to tell everyone what he thinks.
            Sen. Craig said it looks like UH is pretty tightly budgeted for this year and that makes one think about next year where legislatively nothing is going to change.  He asked how will UH increase its revenue streams?  Dr. Foss said there is no doubt there are people in this institution who are looking ahead, not just for next year but beyond.  Dr. Foss said the state didn’t fund the faculty salaries; that was a discretionary decision.  There won’t be an additional sum next year to cover a faculty salary increase, so if UH is going to have decent salary increases where is it going to get that money?  He said the Provost Office and the President are working with the Board of Regents in building a structure to look at that.
            Sen. Brady said she is concerned about the number of students in the classes.  This is something that the Senate has been talking about for years.  Sen. Brady said she has been here for 30 years and when she started teaching there was no minimum so there would be eight or ten students in a class; then it became a minimum of ten, then fifteen was a small class, then twenty, twenty-five, thirty and in some areas this makes the faculty’s job really impossible.  The quality of instruction is going down no matter how good the instructor is.  Sen. Brady said she is concerned about that and wanted the Provost to know.  Maybe the Provost can tell faculty how to cope.  Dr. Foss said he wished he could stand here and say that he has the solution; clearly the solution is to have more faculty and more instructors who are necessarily tenured or tenure track and the way to do that is to find other sources of income.  Dr. Foss said the state funds growth and UH has to really be careful about modeling that because if it says it is going to get more dollars by growing, then UH gets more students.  The University needs to decide what level the students are, etc.  Dr. Foss said the only thing he can say is that UH will try to model various sources of income and various implications for faculty/student ratio and will work over time to alleviate these problems.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM VICE CHANCELLOR AND UH VICE PRESIDENT FOR GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS:  Grover Campbell
            Pres. Warner said Grover S. Campbell is the Vice Chancellor/Vice President for Governmental Relations for the University of Houston System and the University of Houston.  He is responsible for working with university officials in ensuring effective communications between the University and federal, state, and local legislative bodies and agencies.  The office provides review and advice on any legislation which may affect higher education in general, and the system universities in particular.  He has held this position since October 1984.
            Mr. Campbell began working at the state Capitol in 1973.  From 1978 until 1984, Mr. Campbell was Special Assistant for Governmental Relations for The University of Texas System.  He was responsible for the administration of the office of Governmental Relations and represented the fourteen components of The University of Texas System before the Texas Legislature and the United States Congress.
            Originally from Dallas, he attended The University of Texas at Austin where he received a Bachelors of Journalism and a Masters of Business Administration.
            Mr. Campbell said he very much appreciates the invitation.  He never turns down an invitation to address the Faculty Senate.  Mr. Campbell said this has been a very strange year.  He said he would talk about what UH is going to do in the future.
            This legislative session by any definition has been just strange:  public school finance failed, the state budget passed and property tax reduction failed.  Workers comp reform was extraordinarily complex.  Despite what two articles in the Daily Cougar said last week, tuition revenue bonds failed.  One of the most interesting things about this session, when one tries to put it in context, has to do with the sunset process.  Besides the budget that has to pass and the major continuing issue of public school finance, the legislature failed to complete its sunset process for the Texas Education Agency, the Public Utility Commission, Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission and Texas Lottery Commission.  Fortunately, there is a safety net in every session; one of the last bills passed reauthorizes agencies for another two years. 
            What kind of session did UH have?  Despite the efforts of everyone working hard, Mr. Campbell said he understood that the budget finally came together with about 72 hours left in the session.  Overall, it was a good session.  Mr. Campbell reminded the Senate that the UH started this legislative session under the direction of the Legislative Budget Board and the Governor for a 5% reduction.  It ended up with a 6.8% increase in general revenue.  All of higher education, there are several different ways to count the outcome, but the Legislative Budget Board count it their way and overall the public universities got a 4.5% increase and UH exceeded that.  UT-Austin got an increase of about 4%, Texas A&M got about 5% and UH exceeded them.
            Critical Resources. A major issue for the UH System was restoration of debt service.  It doesn’t sound like it, but $4.8 million just for this campus was a huge issue.  For the first time in thirty-five years, the legislature did not fully fund debt service in the previous session.  The Higher Education Assistance Fund (HEAF) was increased.  UH proposed an increase for HEAF, which is currently worth $175 million a year.  HEAF was up for its ten year reauthorization.  UH put forward a case that it should at least match long term inflation which would have taken it to $225 million a year.  This is not an easy thing to do – increasing HEAF requires an affirmative vote of both houses by two-thirds.  The 10% growth wasn’t achieved, but Texas ends up with $262.5 million per year, an increase of $87.5 million.  The increase does not happen until the next biennium, but it is in law and by the Texas Constitution that cannot be reduced.  This campus is going to have a reduction of about $1.2 million for the next two years but the following biennium UH’s HEAF will go to $23.5 million a year and $35.3 million a year after that.  This will provide a two year planning opportunity.  What is the highest and best to use for those funds?  These are critical resources.  As mentioned, Tier 1 money is going up from $5.5 million to $10.2 million a year. 
            One of the things the President and Mr. Campbell have done is review what they did in this session and try to decide why it was a good session?  There are a couple of issues that Mr. Campbell has noticed.  One, UH had a focused agenda.  His office tried to track over 700 bills during the session.  Of those, 125 were actually passed and signed into law.  Not all were equal. 
            Leadership.  It is so easy.  Most universities sit back and let others provide the leadership, then they will come in and try to clean up.  This campus stepped up to the plate and provided leadership during this session on several issues.  The matrix in the formulas had a huge impact for this campus.  The original changes in the Coordinating Board recommended formulae were going to make a$6.5 million reduction for this campus.  UH kept working with it, even though system-wide, the UHS, was a winner under the new matrix.  The changes would reduce formula finding for teacher education, for engineering and for the nursing.  Through UH’s leadership, those new reductions were stopped.  The Tier 1 or Research Development Money was started on this campus.  The only reason that money is out there is because of the leadership was provided by this campus.
            HEAF.  It was amazing how people would ask him about why UH was falling on its sword over this issue?  If UH didn’t do it, nobody else would.  UH provided the leadership on HEAF.  Another very important reason for success was that UH continuously engaged the legislature.  The administration started planning for the next legislature with three weeks left in the existing legislative session.  It also was continuously engaged with a very broad based participation plan.  The Chancellor/President did everything that Mr. Campbell asked him to do in this session.  Dr. Gogue would receive a call on Tuesday night to be at a 9:00 a.m. meeting the next morning for a hearing.  The legislature just suspended the rules and posted a hearing.  Dr. Gogue was there.  There was more participation by the current Board of Regents than ever before.  It makes a huge difference – these people were unpaid, unsalaried members who carried tremendous impact on the legislative process.  There was the Greater Houston Partnership and other significant community leadership who not had in the past engaged in this process.  There was the Alumni.  It was very, very broad based support. 
            Next Legislative Session.  In the future UH needs to think about the formula funding.  The formulae matter and there is an increased legislative focus on the formulae now more than in the past twenty-plus years.  UH will still look for opportunities to promote special items, but formulae matter.  The matrix is a major example of that.  HEAF.  The only reason that UH is down $1.2 million per year for this biennium is because enrollment.  That is the way formulae are driven.
           How to get the Senate involved?  Mr. Campbell said he does hope the Senate wants to get involved.  He said he would very much encourage individual faculty and the Senate to take leadership and to get involved in the process.  Mr. Campbell offered some suggestions.   As UH has learned again, there has to be a focused agenda.  Mr. Campbell said he has watched groups spend enormous amount of time worrying about how to do something.  How to get people engaged.  What kinds of activities to do?  And not spend the time on what they are trying to accomplish.  It has been his experience that, once a decision is made on what a group is trying to accomplish, what is the highest priority, second priority, third priority, etc., then 90% of the how starts unfolding for the group.  Then take that what and size it down to a sound bite. The academy likes to do white papers, but a sound bite is what is needed:  this is what UH wants and more  importantly this is why it is important to Texas.  UH knew what it wanted out of Tier 1.  It wanted additional resources, some equity.  But UH didn’t’ go sell the legislature on what it wanted.  It sold Tier 1 on what was best for Texas.  How is Texas going to compete with California, NY, Asia or Europe?  The State has to have more comprehensive Tier 1 research universities and that is what Texas needed.   This is important to members of the legislature.  For a starting point for the Senate to get involved, Mr. Campbell suggested it start with the formulae and enrollment, the implications for enrollment.  What does this university want to become and why is that important to this community?  Why is it important to Texas?  Does UH want to continue to have a fixed freshman class?  Is 35,000 students the appropriate size for this campus?  Mr. Campbell said he didn’t know.  The Senate should tell him and he will find a way to sell it.  There are implications to be considered.  It has been noted that level enrollments get to be level appropriations unless than the size of the pie is increased.  Mr. Campbell said higher education will always be working to try and increase the size of the pie, but everyone has to understand enrollments, the implications for enrollments, undergraduate versus graduate and UH’s very decentralized graduate admission process.  UH can keep undergraduates at a base level but increase Masters and Ph.D.s and still receive additional funding.  UH graduate enrollment is spotty at best.  The Maters level is pretty well flat.  Dr. Hugetz said it is down 8%.  Mr. Campbell said these decisions aren’t made by the Provost.  These are decisions that are being made in each of the colleges and the implications for the campus as a whole are significant.  As a way of deciding what the faculty want, Mr. Campbell suggested that the Senate start looking at the formulae and the implications the formulae have, especially with enrollment management.  Secondly, he suggested the Senate keep appropriate respect.  UH is a state agency.  By law it doesn’t have to go through a sunset process like other state agencies.  UH is going to be around for the long term and the University’s goals should be put together from the perspective that this is long term, so how does UH go about achieving its goal based upon a long term, appropriate perspective.  Tier 1 is a perfect example.  The administration anticipated it would take three sessions.  During the first session the legislature said no and threatened an across the board reduction if the idea was raised again.  Second session there was a surprise when the legislative leadership decided that Tier 1 was their idea.  They wanted it.  And it passed the second session and got funded.  The Governor signed the bill on a Tuesday and vetoed the funding on Sunday.  Now it is the eighth year and Tier 1 has been passed, it has been funded, and it has been signed.  This is a recurring, ongoing funding.  That it is a long term perspective.  Consistency is important.  Members of the legislature have so many interests that they are trying to track and they would prefer more than anything else is to know that this is going to be a flash in the pan – that a group will make a request and if the legislature can just hold them off for one session the request will go away.  If the Senate is capable of making this part of the institutional culture for the faculty to be engaged in the process over and over and over again, that is where it will get the big dividend.  That is where UH gets the good payoff.  Now it is time to get engaged.  If the Senate wants to get engaged, encourage it, support it, Mr. Campbell said he will work with the Senate.   He said there is an old political axiom that all politics is local.  It has been his experience in Texas all politics is personal.  When the Senate starts trying to engage the legislature, if it tries to do this by dealing with 150 house members, 31 senators collectively it will fail.  If the Senate identifies individual members and tailors the message to those individual and works with those members consistently over a long term, if the Senate gets these individual members to be a part of the university and have them understand what university life is like -- what UH success is and understanding UH’s difficulties-- and gets them to start to understand and appreciate UH, then the University doesn’t have to be the top priority.  It can be one of the top five priorities and UH will reach its goals. 
            Engagement strategies.  Every member of the legislature would love to lecture to a class.  There are a host of opportunities.  Mr. Campbell has been talking with Dean Antel.  UH needs to get legislators to come to the beautiful opera house and all the cultural events.  Invite them to Athletic events, but not just football and basketball.  UH baseball is probably the best entertainment value in Harris County.  There are student events and research tours.  The stuff that UH is doing in its research labs, legislators would eat that stuff up.  There are a host of opportunities and things to do but the faculty have to want to be engaged.  If the Senate puts its efforts in the framework that he has suggested, it will pay huge dividends. 
            A couple of cautionary notes.  If faculty have these engagements and are visiting with members of the legislature but are doing it in isolation from the rest of the University, there may be a benefit, but it is not going to be maximized.  Let Mr. Campbell know what is being planned.  Also, be positive and be enthusiastic.  People don’t want to be associated with the problems in an institution.  They want to be associated with the people and programs that are going somewhere and have value added.  Legislators will respond to natural enthusiasm. 
            Finally, Mr. Campbell encouraged the faculty and Senate to sell the institution.  Everybody works with their own individual area.  Colleges and departments have their whole little worlds in here but if the faculty and Senate don’t put this together by selling the whole institution then UH will fail.  That means no personal agendas.  Mr. Campbell said he has an institutional agenda and that is what everyone has to sell, enthusiastically, positively, regularly over the long, long term.  Those are the things that will pay huge dividends to the university.
            Pres. Warner said a lot of faculty keep doing this on a regular basis.  He said he want to assure Mr. Campbell that the Senate will continue this dialog because it wants to make sure that it is a part of this process and it is trying to speak as much as possible with a constant voice over the long term.
            Sen. Craig asked the formulae haven’t changed much over a long period of time, have they?  They have changed in the dollar amount.  Mr. Campbell said conceptually that is correct but there has always been a differential between disciplines and between levels, undergraduate versus masters versus Ph.D.s within disciplines.  There have been two major, radical changes of formulae in the past 15 years.  One was done by Senator Bill Ratliff while he was Chair of the Senate Finance Committee.  Up to that point for 45 years of formula funding, the Coordinating Board recommended the formula.  Bill Ratliff changed the formula.  He took fourteen individual formulae and collapsed them into a huge matrix.  He was able to do it because there was “X” amount of money on the table.  This last legislative session was the second large change in the formulae.  They took the previous session and said the Coordinating Board should consider the formulae predicated on cost.   They did a national study trying to balance the cost.  Texas is not through with this cost study process.  There were some formulae that were headcount, primarily for FTE, starting with Freshman English and a one.  These changes are going to make a difference.
            Pres. Warner asked Mr. Campbell if he would ship the Senate office the current information on the formula structure.  The Senate committees will look at them, including Budget and Facilities and the Scholarship and Community Committee.
           Sen. Ignatiev asked if the formulae were fully funded.  Mr. Campbell said they were never fully funded prior to Bill Ratliff.  When the CB recommended the formula, it also recommended first trying to get Texas to a national average and then to the average of the top ten states.  It was never full funded.  Conceptually, the formulae haven’t changed, it depends on how the pie is divided and the size of the pie.  If it is based on cost, it depends on what rates are in there.  Mr. Campbell said he would still settle for a national average.  Texas is a lot closer than it used to be. 
            Sen. Leiss said the old formula was a distribution funding; there was never a funding clause.  Mr. Campbell said it is distribution.  It is not a budgeting formula.  From the legislative perspective, they are funding.  The appropriations bill during the early nineties was going make the formula performance based funding.  All of state government in Texas is funded from the performance base budget except higher education.  It is always an issue that is out there.
            Sen. Kotarba asked if it makes sense to compare how UH did with the legislature to the other universities in the other systems.  Mr. Campbell said he could do it but he didn’t know how useful such a comparison is.  UH did beat UT Austin and Texas A&M overall, but got less than Texas Tech.  UH received more than North Texas, but a lot less than UT-Pan American.  UH is way behind UHD, but that is a function of enrollments.  That is the best way to explain it.  There are institutional differences.  UH still receives more special items funding than other university in the State.  There is less of a legislative interest in special items today than there was.  Mr. Campbell said he pays a lot of attention to the agenda.  This is what UH said was its highest priority.  How did UH do on that?  That is more relevant now.

BUDGET & FACILITIES COMMITTEE, CHAIR – Karl Titz
            There is no written report from the BFC.  Members, who have not had a chance to complete the Time Availability Chart, please do so at their earliest convenience so the fall meeting schedule can be set.

COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES, CHAIR – Jerome Freiberg
            The Committee on Committees has spent the summer collecting Annual Reports from the UH Standing Committees and other University Governance bodies.  It appears that there are several inactive committees.  Three of the new UH System Committees created last year have not yet been convened.  Dr. Freiberg, Chair of COC, is contacting the officers or their designees responsible for these committees to work with them to ensure all committees are operational.  The COC is reviewing all the annual reports to see if there are any challenges or problems which require action by the Faculty Senate and/or its Committee on Committees.

FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REPORT, CHAIR – Katy Greenwood
            Members:  Blecher, David; Brady, Valentini; Byrnes, Brian; Duncan, Meredith; Mazella, David; Middents, Jonathan; Papell, David; Pedemonte, Carlos; Karger, Howard, Member at Large; Greenwood, Katy, Chair.  Two replacement members are expected from the College of Engineering.
            The Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC) met Tuesday, August 30, at 12:00-2:00 in 353, Cullen Performance Hall.  All members were present with the exception of Middents and Duncan who had class conflicts.
            The purpose of this meeting was to prioritize and focus the work of committee for Fall Semester, 2005.  Work in the next few weeks will be framed by the following questions:

1.  What is the status of the Ombudsman resolution that was proposed by this committee and passed by
      the Senate in May, 2005?

2.  Are the “Family Friendly” policies existing at the University of Houston commensurate with those at
     other major public research universities in Texas and the nation?

This committee proposed and the Senate passed an Interim Policy for Stopping the Tenure Clock when family emergencies or illnesses call for delays in the process.  The committee will review this policy along with other policies that will encourage the recruitment of top researchers who will look at support for family issues.

3.  What are the procedures in place that include faculty and staff concerns when University health plans
      are chosen?  What alternatives are possible?  How can this process be more transparent and open for
      discussion?

The FAC has heard from faculty who are very unhappy and concerned about the costs of co-pays and prescriptions within the present health care plan.  Are there options for insurance supplements or a better negotiated plan?

4.  How can the committee make sure that the policies and procedures for intellectual property and copyright
     have interpretation and input from a broad perspective of University groups, including faculty and staff? 
     Are the present policies commensurate or exceed those at other major public research universities in Texas
     and the nation?

Special guests at this meeting were Joseph Papick and Mitra Rahimi-Kiani, representing Staff Council and asking for joint collaboration in reviewing intellectual property policies and processes for maximum input and involvement.

SCHOLARSHIP AND COMMUNITY COMMITTEE REPORT, CHAIR – Joseph Kotarba
      The SCC did not meet as a full committee this summer.  Nevertheless, it was busy at work on several projects:

The President’s Medal.  Interim Senior Vice Chancellor/Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jerry Strickland requested that the SCC help design a medal that would represent the highest honor the President could bestow on a distinguished visitor or special friend of the university.  With the assistance of several vendors, administrators from three universities that have such a medal, and Gayle Mongan from the Office of Special Events, the committee designed a medal and accompanying text.  The design was approved by the executive committee on July 6th and forwarded to the President and Provost on July 25th.

Faculty Recognition.  Sara McNeil has taken the lead in designing both the elegant dinner itself and the recognition gifts to be given to guests that evening.  The Committee is working with the Office of Special Events to coordinate this event.  The dinner will be held on November 9th at La Colombe d’Or restaurant. 

The Scholarship and Community Conference.  Suzanne Ferimer has taken the lead in organizing the Committee’s support activities.  The Conference will be held on November 4th at the UH Hilton Hotel.  Over the summer, there have been meetings with Spencer Yantis, Interim Vice Chancellor/Vice President for University Advancement; Wendy Adair, Associate Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs; Johanna Wolfe, Executive Director for Major Gifts; and Eric Gerber, Associate Director for External Communication.

Dan Graur has been serving as the SCC representative to the Task Force on Achieving Research Excellence (Steve Craig, Chair). 

NEW BUSINESS:
            Sen. Leiss said he would like the Senate to endorse some language to the effect that the Faculty Senate wants to show its solidarity with the institutions that were hit by Hurricane Katrina and to offer UH as a haven for displaced students.   Pres. Warner asked if he was willing to include faculty in that?  Sen. Leiss said it can include faculty to the extent that it is feasible.  He added that he viewed students as a much easier demographic or issue than displaced faculty, but he was perfectly willing to put faculty in as well.
            Sen. Greenwood said she wanted Dr. Gogue to pave the way for this; let the Senate follow him; he is working on it.  Pres. Warner said it was his sense that this motion is to provide support for the kind of work that the President is doing.  Sen. Leiss said right.  He doesn’t want to be at cross-purpose with anything that the administration is pursuing, but the Faculty Senate should go on record as endorsing these efforts.  UH has had a little taste of that; it was very lucky that the problems here occurred at the beginning of the summer.  UH wasn’t wiped out for an entire semester.   This is a much more serious issue for those institutions as it is unlikely that any institution in New Orleans will recover for this fall semester.
            Sen. Huber said the medium is the message.  The Senate should not parse language; it is not a statue that can be done in any precise way.  It definitely is the right thing to do and he supports it.
            Sen. Brady asked in what form should this to go -- a letter or what?  Sen. Leiss said it is a sense of the Senate.
            Pres. Warner said it would be a statement of support from the Senate for the work that Dr. Gogue and Dr. Foss are trying to provide assistant to universities in Louisiana affected by Katrina.  Pres. Warner said when Dr. Gogue left he slipped him a note saying that he had to catch a conference call with the Mayor to talk about the situation in New Orleans and responding to it.  Pres. Warner said if this motion is successful, then it is the intent of the Senate to go on record in support of these relief efforts.
            The question was called and the motion passed by unanimous vote (voice).

The meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m.