101508 min

President Chin called the October 15, 2008 Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion of the M. D. Anderson Library at 12:15 p.m.

Jerald Strickland (Interim UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost), Carl Carlucci (UHS Executive Vice Chancellor and UH Executive Vice President for Administration and Finance), Elaine Charlson (UHS Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and UH Executive Associate Vice President for Academic and Faculty Affairs), Ed Hugetz (UHS Associate Vice Chancellor and UH Associate Vice President for Planning and University Outreach), David Bell (Assistant Vice Chancellor and Vice President, Academic & Faculty Affairs), Daniel Gardner (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor for Planning & Initiatives), Agnes DeFranco (UH Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Studies), Elizabeth Anderson-Fletcher (Associate Vice President, Operations), John Powell (Assistant to the Chancellor/President, Communications), Oscar Gutierrez (Assistant to the Vice Chancellor/Vice President for University Advancement), Sharon Carey (Researcher, LAS), Samuel Dike (President, Student Government Association), Jason Voth (Student Government Association), Alexander Obregon (Speaker, Student Government Association).

MINUTES: The minutes for the September 24, 2008 Senate meeting were approved.

REPORT ON FACULTY SENATE ENHANCEMENT ENDOWMENT: Al Warner, Executive Committee Member-at-large and Faculty Senate Past President

Sen. Warner reported on the Faculty Senate Enhancement Endowment. Pres. Chin started the fund and invitations to become founding members were extended to Executive Committee members and past presidents of the Faculty Senate. This endowment is to build for the future and is close to reaching the minimum funding to be endowed. Forms are available through the Faculty/Staff Annual Giving Campaign to make it easy to contribute. A minimum donation of $1000 is required to become founding member, but any amount is gratefully accepted. Each founding members will have his/her name on a plaque in the Senate’s new space in the MD Anderson Library. Some members of the Executive committee, at least one staff member and a few past presidents have contributed to the Founder’s Club. Sen. Warner thanked Wynne Chin for his leadership.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE INTERIM UHS SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR AND UH SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND PROVOST: Jerald Strickland

Dr. Strickland said he is happy to step into the role as Interim Provost again and enjoys working with the Faculty Senate. The Provost reported on: (1) Enrollment. There is a 4.2% increase in the number of students over this time last year and a 4.5% increase in student credit hours (SCHs). This semester counts toward the Base Year funding. (2) Searches. There are three searches for college deans at present. The search for a new dean for the Honors College will be complete by the end of the semester. A committee meeting will be held later this week to begin the search for a new dean for the College of Pharmacy to replace Sunny Ohia who stepped down on September 13. Joseph Mashburn has announced that he will be stepping down next August as the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture Dean. (3) The Board of Regents will be searching for a replacement for Max Castillo, President of UH-Downtown. (4) The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaffirmation of accreditation process will be over by December. (5) The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) will be ramping up soon. The Provost said that Undergraduate Research Day was a success with 58 posters and some verbal presentations. He thanked Stuart Long for his hard work on the event. (6) A university may seek membership in Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) once every three years, so efforts will begin soon to ready an application for November 1, 2009. A PBK Chapter has to be started and run by faculty and staff who are members of PBK. (7) The Investiture will take place on November 7 in the Cullen Performance Hall. Faculty, administration and guests will gather at the UH Hilton to robe, and then participate in the processional to the Cullen Performance Hall. There are also Academic Panels several days proceeding the Investiture and the November 17 Friedman lecture. (8) It was mentioned in a letter from the Governor that UH needs to “tighten our belts” and be mindful of travel expenditures. This message was relayed to the deans and to the leaders of the Faculty Senate. This is a movement that affects everyone. (9) President Khator was unable to attend today because she is meeting with Senator Zaffirini, who chairs the Texas Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education.

In response to questions, Dr. Strickland called on David Bell, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Vice President, Academic & Faculty Affairs, who said that the Provost search is going well with meetings being held weekly. It’s been narrowed down to eight candidates. Hopefully, finalists can be brought to campus before Thanksgiving. Dr. Strickland noted that the Deans want to sharpen the language of the Provost Faculty Travel Awards. The Provost added that he had signed letters for awards this past week. The committee is operating on guidelines from last year. It is money well used, even though it is not a lot of money.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UHS EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLOR AND UH EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT: Carl Carlucci

Dr. Carlucci reported that Metro is planning to bring one light rail line to campus; a southeast line will connect from the existing rail line, come down the UH side of Scott, and then go down Wheeler, where Metro has bought the houses across the University. There is a proposed second line that UH would like to support which would run from Scott to Cullen with a stop for the UH Arts District and continuing on to Metro’s Eastwood Station. These rails lines will have enhanced stops to serve athletics, student housing, and fine arts. The timeline is to have these connections completed by 2012. A resolution was passed by unanimous vote that “the Faculty Senate President should write a letter to Metro in support of the extension of rail lines to UH.”

Dr. Carlucci stated that he was asked to report on the idea of a Faculty Club. The issues that need to be addressed by the faculty are the model, location and costs associated with a club. What type of Club do faculty want – a room in which to socialize, to eat or to hold events? What extent of service do the faculty want – just coffee service or a cafeteria type setting? What type of membership would it require? Would members have to pay dues? Cost depends on the preferences of the faculty. Identifying a room that has existing food service would be cost effect, for example in the new End Zone Facility at Robertson Stadium. Other possible locations include the Campus Union model, once the UC is renovated, or a room near Oberholtzer Cafeteria. Dr. Carlucci mentioned that Rice University has a Faculty Club. He suggested a group visit it to get information on how it is subsidized. There is not going to be one perfect location for this club.

Dr. Carlucci said that as UH’s Chief Finance Officer, he was watching the Market. Also, he looked at the State Comptroller’s Forecast for 2007, 2008 and 2009, noting that the forecast for 2009 is slightly lower than that for 2008. He was waiting to see an update. He added that most states use the National Economy as a model, and then run their own numbers. There is a decline in the General Fund Revenue. He speculated that it will get worse. Dr. Carlucci also mentioned the letter from the Governor. He said that although the state outperforms the nation, Gov. Perry has asked UH to reduce travel and lower requests for the coming year. In response to a question, Dr. Carlucci said normally when the economy is bad, Higher Education enrollment goes up.

Pres. Chin reported that Dan Wells is now the Chair of the UCC. Pres. Chin presented slides outlining his report summarizing the work of the UCC for the past year. The UCC met five times and the group was impressed by the extent of documents being reviewed prior to submission to the Commission. While the UCC can continue as is, Pres. Chin recommended that the Commission should be a permanent university entity. For the detailed report, please visit http://www.uh.edu/ucc/documents/annual_reports/Annual_Rpt_2007_08.pdf

REPORT FROM EDUCATIONAL POLICIES & STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, Chair: David Mazella

The Committee met last week and received an update from Veronique Tran on the Progress of the QEP. The deadline for QEP proposals is November 7. For the next meeting, Dan Wells will update the EPSAC on the USD Task Force and its recommendations. Sen. Mazella suggested the final report be submitted to the Councils as well as the Senate for a Joint Resolution of Support. Sen. Wells added that the USDTF is trying to reduce the number of students with an undeclared major; 20% of undergraduate students are undeclared. Sen. Wells proposes UH be proactive in Advising and in providing alternate choices for students. The outcome should be increased retention and graduation rates.

Pres. Chin reported that Mark Clarke is the Senate’s official liaison to University Advancement. He will be working with Michael Rierson on highlighting Research Excellence in the campaign.