UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON FACULTY SENATE MINUTES – November 16, 2005

President Warner called the November 16 Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Farish Hall Kiva at 12:15 p.m.

MEMBERS PRESENT: [36]                                                                   
ARCH:       D. Kacmar
BUS:        W. Chin, R. Keller, C. Pirrong
CLASS:    V. Brady, B. Byrnes, S. Craig, W. Herendeen, N. Houston, J. Kotarba, R. Matland, D. Mazella, J. Middents, D. Papell, F. Schiff, G. Trail
EDU:         J. Freiberg, S. McNeil, A. Warner
ENGR:      J. Richardson, R. Willson
HRM:        K. Titz
LAW:        S. Huber                      
LIB:          D. Camille, S. Ferimer, N. Linden
NSM:        D. Blecher, P. Copeland, J. Eichberg, G. Johnson, T. Lee, E. Leiss, D. Wells
OPT:        R. Manny,
TECH:      K. Greenwood
GSSW:    H. Karger                                                                                   
 
MEMBERS ABSENT:  [16]
BUS:        S. Kadipasaoglu
CLASS:   K. Brown, M. Haun (w/Notice), G. Jowett, T. Karner (w/Notice)                  
EDU:       M. Connell (w/Notice)                                        
ENGR:    W. Rixey, J. Williams, D. Zimmerman (w/Notice) 
LAW:      M. Duncan (w/Notice), P. Linzer                                                                                    
NSM:      T. Albright, D. Graur, A. Ignatiev 
OPT:      S. Quintero
PHA:      C. Pedemonte

VISITORS:  
Jay Gogue (UHS Chancellor and UH President), Donald Foss (UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs/Provost), Grover Campbell (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH VP for Governmental Relations), 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), Karl Sparks (UHS Assistant Vice Chancellor and UH Assistant Vice President for Human Resources), Dennis Fouty (Associate Vice President, Computing & Telecommunication Services and Interim Chief Information Officer), Agnes DeFranco (Interim Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Education), Tina Marie Macias (News Editor, Daily Cougar)

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:  The October 19, 2005 minutes were approved

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT: Allen Warner           
            Pres. Warner said since the last Senate meeting he has done several things representing the Faculty Senate.  (1) He was given the opportunity to make some comments at the Board of Regents Retreat in early November (a copy is available in the Senate office).  He pointed out that there is a sense on this campus among the faculty for becoming the research flagship campus envisioned in the Strategic Plan.  In looking at the two flagship institutions in the state, one finds that they are in the midst of significant faculty growth plans.  UT is adding some 300 new faculty positions over a period of 10 years and Texas A&M College Station is adding 447 new faculty positions over a five year period.  Dr. Warner encouraged the Board of Regents to look at broad ways of financing a substantial faculty growth plan for this University.  (2) He thanked everyone who participated in and who helped with the Scholarship and Community Conference:  Professors and Private Philanthropy on November 4.  It was extremely successful with about 200 people in attendance.  The number is impressive considering the event was for an internal audience.  The Senate has received very good comments about the conference. (3) He thanked the Scholarship and Community Committee again and Sen. Kotarba for their work on and Dr. Gogue for funding the Faculty Recognition Dinner last week for full-time, tenured faculty celebrating 20, 25 and 30 or more years of service.  It was the start of an annual event. (4) Everyone should have received reports from the Senate standing committees.  They are up and active and doing really interested things.  It is clear that the committees are extremely active and getting a great deal of work done.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM CHANCELLOR AND UH PRESIDENT: Jay Gogue           
        Dr. Gogue reported on: (1) The Scholarship & Community Conference:  Professors and Private Philanthropy.  He was impressed and learned a lot of things at the conference.  He was impressed with the turnout.  (2) The Faculty Recognition Dinner.  Dr. Gogue apologized, saying that he has never been at a university that doesn’t routinely hold such an event and he was disappointed that he didn’t notice sooner that this event was missing.  This should be an annual event.  Dr. Gogue said appreciates the faculty who have hit these milestones and who made time to attend the dinner.  He noted that several people could not attend because a major donor was in town. (3) The Board of Regents Retreat on Tuition & Fee Rationale and Philosophy.  Dr. Gogue said he has provided a copy of his notes from the Retreat to the Senate and invited faculty to review the document (available in the Senate Office).  A couple of points that he tried to make include: (a) Money to support teaching at a university is the combination of state money and the tuition and fee money that the institution gets.  At UH this combination is about 50% state money and 50% from the students.  There is a lot of variation in the combination of funding among different states.  Texas ranks in the middle in terms of what the state provides.  (b) A student from a low income family will receive enough free money for to cover tuition and fees, not the full cost of going to college, but at least enough to cover the tuition and fees.  It should be noted that roughly 50% of the students in Texas fall within that low income area.  That was an important message for the Board of Regents to hear.  It is related in part to the 20% set-aside.  The legislative intent was for that set-aside to be for those students who might be called middle class, those who are in the $50,000-$60,000 bracket of income.  It is likely these students will not receive Pell grants, Texas grants or financial aide. (c) If one looks at tuition at State universities over the past 100 years, the cost is has been steady to slightly declining based on per capita income. (d) The State Auditors’ Report shows that tuition at UH, compared to its peers, was extremely low.  (4) Two numbers worth remembering: (a)  When UH raises tuition by 1% it generates $485,000, and (b) When UH raises salaries by 1% for benefits eligible faculty and staff, it costs $2.27 million.  The administration is meeting later this week to begin to look at tuition.  The cost of energy is expected to increase $5 million, so that means a 10% increase to pay the energy bills.  The Board of Regents has to approve any increase by April to put the change into effect before students begin to register for next fall.

            Sen. Craig asked if any work was being done on a multi-year plan for tuition increases?  Dr. Gogue said there is; the Provost is working on a plan that will look at each of the colleges, consider additional faculty lines and project how much it will cost over a five to seven year period.

            Sen. Papell asked is UH thinking in terms of a one-time energy cost as opposed to paying for that out of tuition and fees?  Dr. Gogue said that is part of the discussion.  Would UH rather have a fee that is assigned for energy or would it rather have that fee rolled into tuition?  The expectation with the fee is that it is collected while energy costs are high but disappears when the energy costs come down.  If it is rolled into tuition, there will be the 20% additional set-aside for financial aid.

            Sen. Craig asked the President for a sense of the Board of Regents’ interest in the research quality of the campus.  Dr. Gogue said that compared to most Board of Regents with which he has worked, they are extremely interested because in their minds it relates to the Tier I.  That idea was discussed and sold long before he came to UH.  There is strong encouragement to see growth on the research side of the University. 

            Sen. Matland asked the President to give his impression on how the Board of Regents is looking at tuition.  Dr. Gogue said the Board listened to the 30 testimonies about tuition, about half of which had to do with differentiated designated tuition. The people, including faculty and students, who spoke about that didn’t said they were supportive of raising money that goes into their program and they see a difference, i.e., new faculty like the Business College.  They were not excited about differentiated tuition that goes into the University instead of a particular program.  The problem that the Provost and the President have with differentiated designated tuition is that it doesn’t pay the electrical bill, faculty and staff salaries increases or health care increases.  In all fairness, the Board of Regents probably left the retreat saying that tuition setting is a far more complex issue than originally thought.  Dr. Gogue said the administration didn’t go into the retreat with the idea of proposing various rates and steps or to try to get them to vote on increases.  There is not a lot of experience by boards in Texas for setting tuition.  This has only been done in this state for a couple of years.  In most states boards have been doing it for 100 years or more.  This was really more educational discussion about the factors that relate to tuition.  

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR AND UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS/PROVOST:  Donald Foss
         Dr. Foss said: (1) He was floored by the attendance at the conference.  It was terrific.  He appreciated the opportunity to say a few words.  It was an excellent event.  (2) He met with the EPSAC to talk about teaching evaluation issues.  They have told him that they are going to come back to him with some recommendations.  He has not discussed this with the Council of Deans yet, as the agenda has been loaded but that will be a topic of discussion at the next Council of Deans meeting.  (3) There was a frank and open discussion about the Textbook Policy and the Provost has agreed to meet with Sen. Greenwood, Sen. Wells, and Pres. Warner to continue that discussion.  (4) Ombudsperson.  The Provost now has a draft job description; he worked with Dona Hamilton, the General Counsel.  Basically the job description has three major components: (a) Someone who would be very processed oriented, someone who would understand the rules and regulations and processes of the institution so that he/she could help individuals, faculty or staff, work their way through the system. (b) Some mediation skills if the parties on each side were to agree to have an individual act as a mediator to keep things out of the grievance process. (c) That on a regular basis the person would look back at what he/she has been working on to make suggestions on how the policies and procedures of the institution might be improved.  Obviously, the person is not to be an advocate on either side of a dispute.  Dr. Foss said he expected to finalize this very soon and then to find a place on the campus for such an individual and put out the call for applicants.  This person will be sent for mediation training and for professional training with the ombuds person society. (5) The Provost will spend some time working on the Scholarship Report.  He expects in the next month to have a little time to move that forward more briskly.  (5)  The Provost mentioned a comment that he heard in the Council of Deans meeting from Ted Estess, Dean of the Honors College. Dean Estess said he thought that, when the change in the core courses occurred, the undergraduate curriculum got too full.  From his point of view, there was not enough room for students to sample courses, switch majors and still be able to graduate on time.  Dr. Foss said he wondered whether some time should be spent on a campus conversation about this matter and some other aspects of the undergraduate curriculum.  He added that he was not asking the Senate to do anything about this at the moment; he was just wondering about it.

            Sen. Wells asked for clarification of the undergraduate curriculum being overloaded?  Dr. Foss said he thought Dean Estess meant that is that a lot of disciplines filled in their requirements so that the amount of flexibility in a student’s schedule was taken up by requirements for the major.

            Sen. Leiss said the point is that the first year that there used to be a lot more freedom in requiring the number of hours.  Hours are basically capped at 120 and every major feels very strongly that every single hour in the major is absolutely crucial.  When a degree is reduced from 140, 135, to 120, obviously everything but the major is going to get chopped out.  Dr. Foss said he understands that but he is asking the faculty to reflect on whether this is really doing the students at the undergraduate level a disservice.

            Sen. Brady said many faculty feel that the requirements for the major are too restricted and there isn’t enough hours required to have a proper major.  Dr. Foss said that he was stunned to learn that there may be a difference of opinions.

            Sen. Leiss said he just described the situation.

            Sen. Willson said he would venture to suggest that faculty should look at the issue of students working while studying instead of using financial aid.  He said it was his perception that the majority of UH students are working.  Secondly, that UH students seem unusually adverse to pursuing grants and taking loans; choosing to work it off as they go through, which enhances stress and extends studies.

            Dr. Charlson said students are loan adverse.  There is a characteristic of UH students that they don’t want to build up big debt.  She added that she was not aware of their reluctance to seek grants.

            Sen. Willson said he has seen a student stop going to class to earn money instead of pursuing a degree.

            Dr. Foss said that a stop out is most likely a drop out.  In their mind they are stopping out and plan to return, but the likelihood is that people won’t come back.  The Provost said that is likely to be part of the reason part for UH’s low graduation rate.

            Dr. Charlson said that a student’s intent to be a full-time student is a predictor of a much higher graduation rate.  It is about double what UH’s average graduation rate may be.  UH should get students to think about going full time.

            Sen. Copeland said his department is having a discussion on how to improve graduation rates. Students in Geosciences are not looking at what the opportunity costs, they are worrying about making enough money to pay the rent.  They go part-time because they need to make some money.  They don’t see the opportunity to make money on campus.  The University needs to provide more opportunities for them to make the kind of money that they could off campus.  They are thinking short term and that is what UH has to compete with to make students consider pushing through to graduation.

            Dr. Foss said that is an excellent point.  It has been discussed in his office.  Keeping students on the campus keeps them engaged in multiple ways.

            Sen. Matland said it is not just unique to undergraduates.  It is a problem with the never finished Ph.D.s that end up taking teaching jobs.  It is worth distinguishing between those students who are just starting and take loans and those students who are so close to completing their degrees.  If they spent a year of intensive work and take a $10,000 loan, their salary one year down the line will be $20,000 higher and they may be able to pay that loan back very quickly.  Certainly for graduate students that is true but it may be true for the undergraduates, too.  UH should have numbers that could indicate to students what people start making with the degree compared that to what someone makes at a gas station or a restaurant.  It would show people who have a year left that it is worth taking a big loan to finish so they can get a real job.

            Dr. Foss said when the NRC report came out in 1995 it listed the average time to get degrees by discipline.  He said he was really shocked by it.  When he was a graduate student, people finished in four or five years; now the average time in most disciplines is eight, nine, or ten years.  People are now 35 years and older before they begin to have a job in which they can build a retirement for themselves.  This is not just occurring at UH; this is a real cultural issue.  Graduate advisors and faculty mentors need to work with students on this. 

            Sen. Kotarba said it is a complex issue.  Students are working part time jobs that pay quite a bit higher than just waiting tables or working in gas stations.  Some of them are making pretty good money in a City like Houston and doing jobs without a degree.  What is the motivation for them to give up their lucrative part-time job to get a degree?  Dr. Foss said when the solution is found let him know.

            Sen. Brady asked what lines of communication are open between the University and the students to communicate other than asking the mentor or advisors to talk to individual student.  Is there any mechanism where students are given that information?  Dr. Foss said there is an Enrollment Management Task Force that has been focusing on retention issues as much as recruiting issues this year.  This is the type of thing that group might discuss.

            Dr. Hugetz said the College of Business has put information on their website and flyers and is talking to students directly about opportunity costs and showing them what the trade offs are.  He added that it is great that the Senate is talking about this.  UH does need to get the advisors up to speed on this.  Advisors can begin to talk to students and really alert them. When a student leaves school, the data shows the person may come back for a semester but the likelihood of graduating is less than 5%.  UH needs to engage in conversations with students at all levels.

            Sen. Brady said advisors are usually overburdened.  Is there a way for the administration to give faculty a 1-page information sheet, a pamphlet or an e-mail that can be given to students.  That would be very helpful.  It would be nice if faculty had some facts.

            Sen. Huber said since the Dr. Foss wanted an answer, he has one.  In the Law School students are in either section A, B, or C.  They are told here are the books and here are the classes.  The teachers move so the students literally stay in the same classes.  All their classes are together so when one talks to LAW graduates 15 years later, they can say what section they were in the first year and who their friends were.  Put people together, get a package of 25 seats, ENGL 101, HIST 101, SPANISH 101 and counseling functions.  Take the basic requirements and put kids in the same classes Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:00-11:00 with an hour in between for each, Tuesday, Thursday from 9:00-11:00 or 10:00-12:00 and that will create an environment.

            Sen. Eichberg suggested making contact with student organizations in departments.

            Dr. Foss said in the meeting with the Executive Committee there were some issues about passwords and the voice mail so he asked Dennis Fouty, Associate Vice President for Computing and Telecommunication Services and Interim Chief Information Officer, to come to this meeting and say a word about it.

            Dr. Fouty said the voice mail system has been in place about a year and UH has suffered through many different issues relative to this system over that time.  Dr. Fouty said he was happy to report that the system for the most part has stabilized, but there are still some problems like message waiting lights not flashing or messages getting delayed from time to time.  Information Technology (IT) is not only in working with the vendor of the system to correct what is causing these problems, but is also working to respond to problems very quickly.  IT monitors this system and when it sees messages starting to back up, the technical staff jump in, free those messages and move them along to where they need to be.  Some folks say that they have experienced messages getting lost.  About a year ago some messages were lost.  From IT’s standpoint losing messages is the worst thing that can ever happen and everyone works very hard to not let that occur.  Sometime messages people think are lost are only delayed.  During Hurricane Rita there were a few folks who asked if UH lost messages because the university system was off-line during that time period.  The system was never off-line.  No technology was lost during Rita.

            Sen. Craig asked some messages are half-day delayed and that can be a pretty big pain in the neck.  How could this happen?

            Dr. Fouty said usually IT can identify within an hour if messages are backing up between these various modes.  The architecture and the systems of today are different from a few years ago and certainly they are different from the systems that this University implemented in the late 1980s with regard to the Rohm phone mail.  It is a very distributed environment so there are voice mail servers sitting all around the campus, very much like e-mail servers sitting all around campus.  As a matter of fact the voice-mail system is an e-mail system.  The messages get delayed when there are communication link failures between these nodes.  IT is making some changes and is bringing some of the nodes that had been distributed to various places back together so that they won’t have a communication link problem.  That is how messages are being delayed.  There is no delay in the leaving of the message; it is delayed in the delivery to the mail box.

            Sen. Freiberg said the previous e-mail system gave the date and time automatically.  Is there a way of installing that feature?

            Dr. Fouty said certainly some folks want to hear that date and time being played before the message is played and some folks are happy pressing five (for envelope information) but the fact is that it is not an option that IT controls.   UH has a change request in to the vendor to write a patch or basically change the software to allow UH to have a customize mail box.  That is still an outstanding issue.

            Pres. Warner said there is a question about passwords for access to secure systems on campus that involve so many digits including a capital letter and a number and have to be changed every three months and can’t be repeated. 

            Dr. Fouty said passwords are a very common way that people gain access to computer resources.  There are the programs that try to crack passwords so password complexity is one very effective way of stopping that from occurring.  The State of Texas mandates password complexity in the State.  The State of Texas changed password requirements this last year and those are the requirements that UH has to implement.  Not just on these central services such as the central IT reminding e-mail services but any account that exists within the University.  The new standards do have characteristics such as a minimum of eight characters, at least one has to be a letter, at least one has to be a capital, the same password can’t be used within four times. You have got to change it over a little bit.  It does have the requirement that every ninety days the password changes out. 

            Sen. Karger asked if faculty still have the ability to change their passwords on-line?  For example, if he is abroad and his password expires.  Before there was a link that he could access to change it.  Is that still going to be functional?  Dr. Fouty said yes, UH is in the process of rolling out the next version of that to make it a little bit more comprehensive and a little bit easier, especially with these new password requirements.  That tool will be available to everyone.  IT will make sure that before these new standards are implemented that everyone will be notified. 

            Pres. Warner said it would be very good if someone from the Senate participates in plans for the rollout to represent some faculty perspective on some of these developments.  It’s best if big changes occur during those few days when faculty don’t teach.  Dr. Fouty said IT has heard that loud and clear.  The changes won’t be implemented during the term.

            Sen. Chin said a few years ago faculty were under the impression that all their e-mail capacity was going to increase.  Was that ever been done?.

            Dr. Fouty said three quick responses to that.  One of the issues was the attachment size which was changed from 5MB to 15MB.  With regard to the quotas faculty can request an increase in their quota.  It is very simple to get have the quota bumped up because it is needed.  The next step with regard to that is changing it across the board.  IT has a plan in place right now.  It is a cost issue to buy more storage to address it across the board.  Faculty members can increase quotas very quickly.

            Pres. Warner said Dr. Fouty has been very responsive to e-mail request.  His e-mail is on the system and Senators who have a question can send him an e-mail.  Dr. Fouty said if Senators have any questions, call him.  He will come visit with the faculty member; e-mail, what ever they would like.

            Sen. Keller said the Website with UH mail has not been updated.  Will UH ever get to something like Yahoo or Hotmail which are a lot easier to use.  Dr. Fouty said the exchange side of the UH environment has been updated.  The units e-mail are in the process of being upgraded so faculty will see a new Website, new server sitting on the back end of that and that will be happening at the end of this next semester.

            Sen. Craig said the remote e-mail is really cumbersome; the Sun System.  Dr. Fouty said it is due for an upgrade and it is getting one.   

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE UH SYSTEM ASSISTANT VICE CHANCELLOR AND UH ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR HUMAN RESOURCES: Karl Sparks
            Mr. Sparks said he has been on board for a little over a year.  On his arrival his department put together a five year strategic plan for HR.  Part of the vision is to get rid of the desk phones and the desk computers because they are going to be out helping people.  HR is starting to do some of that. 

            Some of the accomplishments have been: (1) The introduction of the People Advantage Self Service (PASS).  ERS has been self service for some time and HR has been pushing more folks to do that.  The pay off for the individual is the protection of personal information.  The primary driver behind it is the increase of identity thief.  HR is trying to get information on-line in a secure environment rather than have it floating around campus. (2) PeopleAdmin applicant tracking is used primarily for staff.  UH did everything manually until this system was implemented.  HR is just beginning to partner with the Business School and Natural Science and Mathematics to use this tracking for faculty recruitment.  HR is willing to partner with colleges to use that tool.  For example the College of Technology that might be looking for CIS faculty and it just makes sense to look for them on-line.  This system has made life substantially easier.  HR was able to take out two positions in employment and redirect them into other areas. (3) For Training coordination HR looked around the campus to see who was doing training.  They found that UH was doing a lot of training but nobody knew it so HR formed a steering committee of all the providers of the training.  The group put the information in booklet form.  Now staff can go on-line, find courses, enroll, be automatically approved and when they completed their training it is automatically put into the record.  (4) HR has a Customer Service Center in operation so that UH employees don’t have to find the right person in HR particular anymore.  Call one place; that person is responsible for tracking down the individual’s issues, getting a resolution and getting back to person. (5) On-line training is required by the State.  This year HR had an opportunity to work with Affirmative Action on providing sexual harassment training on-line.  On-line courses provide easy access and training can be done anytime. (6) HR has redesigned its Website.  (7) There is an online newsletter.  Mr. Sparks has gotten compliments on the newsletter, but he is always looking for suggestions for improvement. (8) There is a new position in place to look at HR metrics; to look at all the data that HR has about UH faculty and staff and begin to delve into some issues that need to be looked and provide information back to HR’s constituent community. (9) HR has a big records review and archiving project. The official records are not in great shape so HR is re-engineering some processes.

            Some of the projects that HR is currently working on include: (1) Family friendly work place issues and (2) Work/life balance issues.  HR has been working with the Women’s Resource Center and some other groups on campus to find out what can be done.  In fact they just completed an on-line survey to find out what other Tier I universities offer.  Mr. Sparks said he shared that with Sen. McNeil and he is having a meeting with the Commission in a couple of weeks.  (3) HR is working on a total comp survey for staff and (4) Performance Management programs for staff.  This will affect faculty members who have classified staff reporting to them.  It is a new program.  HR did one training session with the GSSW and faculty members were half of the audience.  They appreciated the fact that UH is moving in a different direction with staff performance. (5) HR is working on a Leadership Developmental Program.  (6) HR puts out a Financial Planning and Retirement Seminars list.  HR went to UH’s ORP vendors and said that they needed to come in and provide some financial planning.  Both faculty and staff are asking for Retirement seminars.  The groups were told not to run commercials but provide full disclosure.  HR is there to monitor that but would appreciate faculty and staff to help with this monitoring.  This year there are 10-12 of those presentations and ORP vendors have been asked to provide lunch.  (7) Expanding Employee Relations (ER) to be more proactive. The two positions that were saved by the tracking system were moved over to ER.  HR is beginning to talk about rewards and recognition and how to do a better job of that on this campus.  (8) Increasing on-campus internships in HR and across the campus.  Mr. Sparks said he is really excited that faculty members want to partner and work with on-campus internships. (9) Behind the scenes HR is working on PeopleSoft functions.  One of these relates to faculty; it is a tenured faculty project that HR is trying to get ready for the accreditation visit in a couple of years.  Those visits always focus on the credentials of faculty.  UH wants to have the information all ready and one place for them so it looks organized when they walk in.

            Benefits improvement is an area on which HR is working.  Mr. Sparks said one thing he skipped over is Advisory Committees.  One of the things that he was very adamant about when he came to UH was that HR cannot work in a vacuum.  HR is a resource for faculty and staff.  The department put together some advisory committees.  The Senate came forward before he even asked and offered to put together an advisory committee, so Mr. Sparks jumped at the chance.  From January on the committees spent a phenomenal amount of time talking and working with one another.  One of the issues that came up is benefits improvement.  Now the System-wide Fringe Benefits Committee is looking at some things, including an Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) with toll-free telephone access, 24-hour/365 day access, in-person counseling assessments, emergency counseling, orientation materials, supervisory training manuals, newsletters, telephone managerial consultations, legal/financial planning discount, work/life cross referrals, child/eldercare resources and referrals, financial counseling, critical incidents stress debriefings, and website.  That request will be moving forward soon.  Other optional benefits being considered include: vision insurance, critical illness benefits, supplemental health benefits, and long term disability additional coverage above and beyond what UH currently has.  HR is looking at adding to the benefits package, at least insurance with optional coverage. HR would like to add vision. The consideration is from the standard point of what can be added, what makes sense, what do people want and then looking beyond.

            Sen. Karger said one concern for a number of faculty is the gap between what is covered by insurance and out of pocket costs.  Would the EAP address that?  He said he was thinking in terms of medicare gap insurance to cover 20%.  Is that going to be part of the EAP?  Mr. Sparks said no that is not part of the EAP, but it is going to be part of the optional benefits. 

            Sen. Kotarba said shouldn’t this be offered on a broad scale so that UH could contract the best rates?  Mr. Sparks said that is right.  Again, it is being done at a system-wide level so it is a huge coordination issue because this would be coming out of the pockets of the other campuses, too.  Trying to get as many system campuses to buy into this as possible would help a lot.  This has been reviewed from a system-wide level standpoint and quotes have been gotten for it which will be taken back to the committee.   

            Sen. Leiss said he thinks he can handle a deductible of $5,000 to $10,000, but he can’t handle 10% of $2 million.  He said he would like to see a movement toward catastrophic health insurance which is 100% coverage after a substantial deductible.  There may be people who have problems doing the first $5,000 but there are very few people who can handle 10% or 20% of a $1 million or $2 million.  He said he would like to see UH move away from the financing of doctor visits for every runny nose and deal with catastrophic health insurance.  Sen. Leiss said his second point has to do with the on-line training; some of the questions are embarrassingly bad.  He said he would like to be able to provide feedback.  There are several badly formulated questions.  Mr. Sparks said he will make sure these concerns are addressed.

            Sen. Craig asked if anyone is looking at the health benefit in a strategic way and trying to change UH’s insurance as the industry has been changing?  Mr. Sparks said he tried.  Way back when, and Mr. Sparks said he was not sure when, UH opted into the State plan, now he is told that decision can’t be revoked.  That is why he started to move in this direction of how can UH augment ERS.  If UH can’t get the State to move, and this University is small potatoes as far as the numbers are concerned, then what UH do to improve its employees’ lives.  That is why HR is looking at catastrophic illness insurance and GAP insurance. 

            Sen. Papell asked about supplemental health insurance for newly hired faculty, something to cover the three months before the State health insurance kicks in.  Secondly, are there plans to put faculty recruiting training on-line?  Mr. Sparks said no, but on-line faculty recruiting is good point.  Mr. Sparks said will look into that.  As for supplemental health insurance for newly hired faculty, HR has lined up some providers so that is an option for new employees.  Part of the discovery process in looking at additional benefits is that HR may have found some cheaper vendors, better vendors who will cost UH less.

            Sen. Leiss said so the faculty would have to pay.  Would it not be better if the University bargained for the insurance as it would have much more leverage.  This would be the pooling idea that is central to all insurance.  The University could be reimbursed by the faculty member, but it would be better cheaper for the faculty.  Mr. Sparks said he will take a look at that.

            Sen. Wells asked about leadership development?  Is that just for staff or is HR doing faculty leadership development, too?  Mr. Sparks said what HR has been putting together is a strategic plan.  A lot of management training is offered on campus, but not leadership training.  HR is putting together a plan for that now.  In fact this leadership management/performance management program follows that model.  It does stress the whole leadership concept and HR is coming out with a strategic plan that can be put into the budget cycle to begin next fall.  Sen. Wells asked is it just staff-oriented?  Mr. Sparks said it will be open to everybody.

            Dr. Foss said that is an issue for Academic Affairs and is something that is done in New Chairs Workshops.  Sen. Wells said he liked the idea and hoped it can be expanded.

            Sen. Ferimer asked what is the main telephone number faculty can dial to reach a human being.  Mr. Sparks was not sure.  Pres. Warner suggested that Mr. Sparks send the main number to the Senate staff who will that it gets disseminated.

            Sen. Schiff said recently when he called a number, he got a series of 15 messages.  He waited through all of that but he would rather speak to an individual.   Is there a phone number that will allow him to speak to an individual?  Mr. Sparks said HR does not have a tree.  Sen. Schiff said he always gets a machine.  Mr. Sparks said don’t call that number.  He added that if faculty don’t know the exact person to call, call Customer Service because they will answer the phone.

            Sen. Ferimer asked if Customer Service would be found on the Human Resources webpage.  Mr. Sparks said it is under Administration and Finance.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE RESOLUTION TO EXTEND DEADLINE FOR CLIMATE SURVEY:

That the deadline for the next Faculty Climate Survey be extended one year to December 2006 

            Pres. Warner said several years ago when this body accepted the report on the Climate Survey, included in that acceptance was a statement to the effect that the survey would be done every three years.  To be in compliance, the Senate must either complete a survey by December or vote to extend the deadline.  This is a recommendation of the Executive Committee to the body to extend the deadline by one year.

            Sen. Leiss said he is a little uncomfortable with extending the deadlines because it suggests that there are no problems right now.  He added that he doesn’t want to have the Climate Survey to become the big nuclear option that is rolled out every time something really goes wrong.  Maybe the Senate shouldn’t force the issue right now but he wanted to register his concern.

            Sen. Copeland asked for someone from the Executive Committee to explain why it is necessary to delay this action.   Pres. Warner said part of the discussion involved what should the survey be based on, which climates are to be surveyed. One suggestion was to look at colleges and departments.  One way to do that would be to use the criteria in the FS-CoUG Report for governance at college/departments levels except this body has yet to take action.

            Sen. Craig said that he fully expects that during the next year the Senate will do a climate survey.  The idea of the motion is that this body is committed to doing it.  He agreed with Sen. Leiss that the survey should be done on a regular basis.  UH has a new Provost and over the last year there have been some other structural changes.  The idea of this proposal shows the Senate wants to do it and will do it over this next year. 

            Sen. Leiss asked if it was necessary to wait until the end of the next calendar year or could the Senate decide to do it in the spring semester.  Pres. Warner said he would leave that up to the incoming Senate President.  It won’t be done by the time he hands over the baton.

            Sen. Mazella said he would feel more comfortable to extend.  What is the status of the FS-CoUG Report?

Pres. Warner said it has been received by the Senate and referred to the Executive Committee.  It has been shared with the UH Council Chairs.  There will be a presentation on the Report to the Research Council on Friday, November 18.  The Executive Committee is trying to sort out all of the pieces and decide where it ought go and when.  One of the first pieces is getting the academic councils involved in the discussion.

            Sen. Mazella asked when will the Senate hear more about it?  Pres. Warner said there should be an update on the report at the December meeting.  It is not going away.

            Sen. Copeland asked did the climate survey mandate that a new climate survey be done by the end of this year.  Pres. Warner said yes.

            Sen. Copeland said so the Senate is being asked to endorse an extension because it isn’t going to happen anyway.  Pres. Warner said the Executive Committee is recommending that the Senate not just let it die.  The survey needs to be done but it cannot be done [properly] by the deadline that was approved three years ago.  This resolution makes sure the Climate Survey stays on the table and gets done within the next year.

            Sen. Eichberg said FS-CoUG is really an off-spring of the climate survey original process.

            The resolution passed by majority vote (voice).

CANDIDATES FOR 2006 FACULTY SENATE OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES: Jerome Freiberg
            Sen. Freiberg presented the following slate of candidates for 2006 Faculty Senate officers and Committee on Committees.  

            President-elect: [2 candidates required]  
                    Joseph Kotarba      CLASS        Dan Wells                 ENGR  
 
            Secretary: [2 candidates required]
                    Peter Copeland     NSM             David Papell             CLASS

            Members-at-large:  [4 candidates required]
                    Meredith Duncan   LAW          Sara McNeil                 EDU
                    Joseph Eichberg    NSM          David Zimmerman       ENGR          

            Committee on Committees:  [8 candidates required]
                   Damon Camille      LIB              Stephen Huber               LAW
                   Jerome Freiberg    EDU            Howard Karger               GSSW
                   Katy Greenwood    TECH          Sukran Kadipasaoglu      BUS
                   Natalie Houston     CLASS        Ruth Manny                     OPT
 
Pres. Warner called for nominations from the floor, but none were made. 

            A Voter Guide will be sent to senators prior to the next meeting.  Also, an absentee voting process will be available again this year.  Eligible senators can go to the Faculty Senate Office in room 351 Cullen Performance Hall between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays beginning Wednesday, November 30, and ending Tuesday, December 6.

            Rules for absentee voting are on the Senate Webpage.  All ballots will be opened and read during the December 7, 2005 meeting.  No ballots will be mailed to senators and no ballots will be accepted after the official counting occurs on December 7.

This information is also available on the Senate's website.

CAMPAIGN SPEECHES BY 2006 PRESIDENT-ELECT CANDIDATES [5 minute each maximum]

  President-elect Candidate Joseph Kotarba said

I am Joe Kotarba, and I teach in the Department of Sociology.  I have served on the Faculty Senate for four years, and I have been a member of the Executive Committee for three years.  I have chaired the Scholarship and Community for those three years, and I am very proud of the hard work and accomplishments of my committee members.  I have also been fortunate to work closely with the Faculty Senate’s leadership, and I have come to see leadership as both vision and action.  I believe that effective Faculty Senate leadership should go in three directions:

First, leadership for the university

We often hear of the alleged conflict and competition (for resources) between research and undergraduate teaching.  I strongly believe we need BOTH to have a great university.  I am teaching a course for the honors college this semester, and I am personally witnessing the intellectual power good undergraduate teaching can have for the entire university.  

We often hear of the alleged conflict and competition (for resources) between science, engineering and technology on one hand and social science and humanities on the other.  I strongly believe we need BOTH intellectual traditions to have a great university.  My current funding is an NIH grant I received to study injury management among female professional athletes.  This is simply the most recent opportunity I’ve had to personally witness and appreciate the opportunities and hassles scientists and clinicians experience in funding and conducting their work, but I also see the great benefits federal funding can offer the social sciences and the humanities.  Regardless of the source, we need to increase funding for all our intellectual activities, beginning with more support for travel.           

In addition, the establishment of workable intellectual property management rules and regulations will be a high agenda item for me if I’m elected President.

We have a long tradition of intercollegiate athletics at the University of Houston.  Athletics are important to the functioning and image of a major research university, but I will work to ensure that athletics do not become an intellectual and fiscal burden of athletics on the rest of the university community.  I will strongly encourage the administration to continue to reduce the athletics department’s budget and its deficit spending.

I have served as Chair of the Athletics Advisory Committee for the past three years.  My major goal before stepping down is to complete the establishment of a scholarly network of C-USA faculty, similar to those in other major conferences.  A first step has been an invitation to Rice athletics committee leadership to attend a recent committee meeting.  They were great, and we learned that they experience many of the same problems we do here at UH.   

Finally, I will continue the Faculty Senate’s membership in the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics.  I worked hard to convince the Faculty Senate to join the Coalition, and I have worked hard to achieve a leadership position in the Coalition to make sure our interests are well represented.  The Coalition consists of Faculty Senate representatives from division I-A universities who are working to achieve a strong voice in establishing policy for intercollegiate athletics.  Our themes this year are the over-commercialization of athletics and maintaining academic standards.  As an aside, being Faculty Senate President would be a benefit to my role in the Coalition, since most faculty reps are former or present Faculty Senate presidents.

Second, leadership for the Faculty Senate

 My theme as President will be to show the university community that we are doers and not just talkers.

 For example, we need to enact the features of the FS-CoUG report relevant to the Senate, especially those provisions that increase the Faculty Senate’s governance responsibilities.

Third, leadership for the faculty and its partners, including librarians

Their needs and aspirations should come first 

For example, given changes in health care financing and the demographics of our faculty, we need to improve the faculty benefits program.

And, we need to continue to recognize faculty for their service to the university.  Our first faculty recognition dinner last week was a great success, and the administration has promised to continue this event.  My goal for next year is to include VMOE’s in this celebration of commitment to the University of Houston.  

 In conclusion, I see my leadership style as managerial

I like to activate the great range of talent faculty bring to the FS, two ways:

First, through faculty involvement:  My first job is to listen to senators, especially in committee meetings.  I believe this leadership style has been a major reason for the near perfect attendance we have had in my committee meetings.  I will do my best as President to involve all Faculty Senators in our important work.  

Second, through faculty ownership of issues:  Although we should continue to work with the very open and concerned administration we are fortunate to have in place at the University of Houston, we should never forget that the Faculty Senate’s agenda should first and foremost reflect the faculty’s priorities.

I am asking for the opportunity to express my leadership style and commitment to the University of Houston.  As we attempt to deal with the major issues facing all of us—issues such as expanding the number of faculty and improving the quality of university life and work for all faculty--I look forward to serving you. 

     President-elect Candidate Dan Wells said

            Rather than make a prepared speech I thought I would say a little bit about my background, show you where I am coming from and talk about a couple of things that I think are important.

            I have been at UH now for nineteen and a half years.  I started in the Department of Biology when it was separated from the Department of Biochemistry.  It seems like I have served on almost every committee at the department, college and university level; maybe not all, but I probably will before I leave UH.  Just before the merger of the Departments of Biology and Biochemistry, I served as the Chairman of the Biology Department.  Shortly after the merger I served another three-year term as Chairman of the joint Biology and Biochemistry Department.  I have a pretty well funded NIH research program dealing with genetics and I work with all kinds of organisms from frogs and humans; sometimes the frogs are easier to work with than humans.  I think I understand the research issues at UH.  The Department of Biology and Biochemistry is very well funded.  We publish a lot and we are research oriented in the department.  What some people forget is that we are also a very education/academic oriented department, too. We deal with over 2000 undergraduate majors.  A number of the faculty in our department, probably five or six, have won university teaching awards.  I think there is a growing number of people who are winning both research and teaching awards.

            I have been in the Faculty Senate about six years.  I have been on the Executive Committee for the last two years as chairman of the Educational Policies and Student Affairs Committee.  I am now considering taking on an even bigger task with the Faculty Senate.

            Let me just mention two things that I would like to see happen over the next few years.  I would really like to see a Center for Teaching Excellence be developed here.  I talked briefly with Dr. Foss about this and certainly there is interest in a small one at least and in developing some resources at the university level to help faculty in various ways with regard to teaching.  If you look at other great universities, there are teaching centers.  In our State, UT has six full-time staff people dedicated to their Center for Teaching Excellence and A&M has ten full-time staff people.  UH has none.  I think that is something that we should be moving toward.

            To make this broad move to Tier I, we have got to keep talking about getting better.  U. S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is on our side.  UH has to move up.  How will we get there?  We keep talking about it.  In my mind the only way we are going to get there is to increase our faculty levels.  If you look at National Council reports there is a direct correlation between the size of the faculty and the prestige of the university and the departments and units.  For example, in my department we have 32 faculty and we cover everything from x-ray crystalography to ecology.  Look at a similar department at the University of Texas where there are 125 faculty.  That department doesn’t even cover Biochemistry, which is in the Chemistry Department.  If you compare our national ranking in Biology to UT’s, where do you think we are going to be?  I think most other departments at UH are in the same boat.  UH has to get more faculty. A&M is adding 450 new faculty and UT is adding 300.  UH has to increase its faculty levels to get to where we want to be.     

 BUDGET & FACILITIES COMMITTEE, CHAIR – Karl Titz
            The committee met on October 26.  Libby Barlow discussed the preliminary data base and how the committee wanted the information formatted.  Based on the discussion Dr. Barlow will provide the committee a data base of tenure track faculty with: Gender-Age-Rank-Time in Position-Department-College Fields to evaluate salary compression in preparation for the next round of budget hearings in the Spring.  Dr. Barlow will also forward the material presented to the Board of Regents on the growth of the faculty compared to administrative growth.  Agenda items also included a preliminary review of the 2005 Facility Condition Report.  Based on committee interest, Vergel Gay, Executive Director for Facilities & Planning, will make a presentation at the next BFC meeting (Nov. 17 at 11:30 a.m. in room S250 of the UH Hilton) and answer questions.  

EDUCATIONAL POLICIES AND STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, CHAIR – Dan Wells

             EPSAC has met twice since the last Faculty Senate meeting.  The first meeting was on October 26.  In attendance were Dan Wells, Richard Matland, George Trail and David Zimmerman.  In this meeting the committee discussed the Provost's response to the Faculty Senate passed textbook policy, the Provost's request for common teaching evaluation questions and the status of the Enrollment Management Task Force progress.

            The second meeting was on November 7 in conjunction with the Faculty Affairs Committee.  In attendance from EPSAC were Dan Wells, Thomas Albright, Natalie Houston, Richard Matland, George Trail, Jeffery Williams and David Zimmerman.  Also attending this meeting was Provost Donald Foss.  The group discussed the Provost’s concerns about the proposed textbook policy and informed him on the faculty’s point of view.  Everyone agreed to continue to meet in order to come to a mutually satisfying solution.  The committees also discussed the Provost’s interest in revising Department and College teaching evaluation forms to include a common sub-set of questions regarding teaching effectiveness that can be aggregated for reporting purposes.  The ultimate goal would be two fold; first to provide hard data as to the quality of teaching at UH and second to identify faculty who need assistance and provide resources to those faculty.  EPSAC (along with Faculty Affairs) is currently developing a response to Dr. Foss' proposal and hopes to have a recommendation by the December Faculty Senate meeting.

            The next EPSAC meeting will be held November 21 in the Faculty Senate offices.

FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REPORT, CHAIR – Katy Greenwood

            One of the topics of interest to members of the Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC) during 2005 has been that of clarity in copyright policies at the University of Houston.  Faculty members at the University of Houston are essentially 75% employees on an annual basis, having contracts for nine out of the twelve months of an academic year.  Given this status, faculty members produce materials, books, and products during the summer months when they are not teaching or researching as well as during the academic year.   Due to the amount of time it takes to produce materials (usually above and beyond their normal duties), faculty have traditionally believed that they own the products that they produce.  It has been unclear to faculty how copyright policies currently in effect at the University of Houston might impinge on their ownership of the materials they create as well as royalties they might receive.

            The Faculty Affairs Committee met October 26 in room 353 of the Cullen Performance Hall.  The Committee’s special guest was Paul Janicke, Professor of Law and Director of the Intellectual Property and Information Law Program at the University of Houston Law Center.  Professor Janicke serves as a representative on the University of Houston System Committee on Intellectual Property.

            Committee members expressed to Professor Janicke their concern for clarity in the present copyright law.  They urged the establishment of a policy that simply states that any materials, books, or software products that they produce will be considered their own property, unless there is a prior written agreement with the University.  This simple statement, they felt, would encourage faculty productivity that would continue to bring prestige for the University, would help retain faculty at the University who are productive, and would help recruit additional productive faculty for the University. 

            Members also asked for clarity in the phraseology concerning “extraordinary support.”  Currently, the policy states that if the University provides extraordinary support for a given project, the results of that project belong to the University.  Members specifically asked Professor Janicke to support the tradition that Development Leave is “ordinary support” and not “extraordinary support” so that materials generated while on development leave would not fall under the “extraordinary support” clause.

            Professor Janicke pledged to communicate with the Faculty Senate, through its appropriate committees, as revisions evolve, especially in regard to copyright policies.  He thanked the committee for their input to his committee.

            Members in attendance:  K. Greenwood, V. Brady, B. Byrnes, M. Duncan, H. Karger, and D. Papell.  Guest: Lawrence Williams, Chair of Undergraduate Council

SCHOLARSHIP AND COMMUNITY COMMITTEE REPORT, CHAIR – Joseph Kotarba
            The committee met on October 24, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. in Faculty Senate Conference Room.  The following members were present:  Joseph Kotarba, Damon Camille, Wynne Chin, Sara McNeil, Suzanne Ferimer, J.T. Richardson, Alex Ignatiev and Fred Schiff.  The purpose of this meeting was twofold:  to complete plans for the Scholarship and Community Conference and to discuss the up-coming Faculty Recognition Dinner.  Dr. Al Warner, Faculty Senate President, was the guest.

            On November 4, the Scholarship and Community Conference was held at the University of Houston Hilton Hotel.  The S & C Committee provided breakout group leaders, registration assistance, homepage design, and so forth.     

            On November 15, the first Annual Faculty Recognition Dinner was held at the River Oaks Country Club.  A total of 240 faculty members, librarians, and their guests were invited.  Honorees received a leather portfolio and lapel pins recognizing their long service to the University of Houston.  Plans for next year include inviting VMOE (Voluntary Modification of Employment) faculty.  The S & C Committee helped with the design of the dinner, the distribution of gifts to honorees, design of the program, and so forth.            

NEW BUSINESS: None.

The meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m.