UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON FACULTY SENATE MINUTES – December 7, 2005   

 President Warner called the December 7 Faculty Senate meeting to order in the Farish Hall Kiva at 12:15 p.m.  

 MEMBERS PRESENT:  [32]                                                              
ARCH:   D. Kacmar
BUS:     W. Chin, R. Keller
CLASS:  V. Brady, 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. Richardson, J. Williams
HRM:     K. Titz
LAW:    M. Duncan, S. Huber              
LIB:       D. Camille, S. Ferimer, N. Linden
NSM:    J. Eichberg, A. Ignatiev, G. Johnson                 
TECH:   K. Greenwood
GSSW:  H. Karger                                                                                  

MEMBERS ABSENT:  [20]                                                                                                    
BUS:      S. Kadipasaoglu (w/Notice), C. Pirrong (w/Notice)
CLASS:  K. Brown, G. Jowett, R. Matland (w/Notice)                           
EDU:     M. Connell                                                      
ENGR:   W. Rixey (w/Notice), R. Willson (w/Notice), D. Zimmerman (w/Notice)          
LAW:     P. Linzer                                                                                             
NSM:    T. Albright, D. Blecher, P. Copeland (w/Notice), D. Graur, T. Lee, E. Leiss (w/Notice), D. Wells (w/Notice)    
OPT:     R. Manny (w/Notice), S. Quintero
PHA:     C. Pedemonte

VISITORS:  
Donald Foss (UHS Senior Vice Chancellor and UH Senior Vice President for Academic), John Rudley (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Administration & Finance), Elwyn Lee (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President for Student 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), Agnes DeFranco (Interim Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Education)

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:  The November 16, 2005 minutes were approved.

REPORT FROM AND DISCUSSION WITH THE FACULTY SENATE PRESIDENT:  Allen Warner
            Pres. Warner said Dr. Gogue has been kind enough since May to cede some of the time in his report to the Board of Regents to the President of the Senate to offer comments.  These comments have been made orally, but were also distributed in writing, and they have been shared with senators to give them a sense of what is being said on their behalf.

            Pres. Warner said there was a very nice news item about the Faculty Recognition Dinner held November 9.  There was a slight misstatement in it that said all faculty with over 20 years of service were invited.  That celebration was for faculty celebrating 20, 25, 30 +.   If anyone is questioned by colleagues, the proper invitation list was for just those milestone anniversaries. A correction has since been made.

            The meeting with the Provost to discuss the textbook policy was postponed due to a planned participant’s illness.  That meeting is being rescheduled.

            Pres. Warner said the Senate Executive Committee has spent quite a bit of time on discussing the 36 recommendations in the FS-CoUG Final Report.  A special meeting has been called for Dec. 15, 2005 where it will be the single agenda item.  In addition, Sen. Freiberg and he met with the Research Council and Sen. Freiberg and Sen. Eichberg met with the President’s Cabinet about the FS-CoUG report.  On January 24, 2006 Sen. Freiberg will meet with the Deans’ Council. 

Polls Open:
            Pres. Warner declared the polls open.  He announced that the polls would close around 1:15 p.m. at which time Sen. Titz, Budget & Facilities Committee Chair, and Mary Brantley, Staff Associate, will count the ballots.

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 reported on: (1) Draft Ombudsperson responsibility.  The Provost said he welcome comments on this draft job description for the Ombudsperson.   He plans to post this description at the start of the semester. 

            (2) Honorary Degree Recipients.  Last year no honorary degrees were given at UH.  The process was started late and so the Provost wants to start this process in a timely fashion.  A call for nominations has been sent to the University Community.  Dr. Foss cautioned people not to inform the person that he/she is being nominated because it might be awkward if that person is not chosen.  He requested faculty send nomination letters to him.  Supplementary materials may be included.  A committee will look at these and make recommendations to the President this Spring.

            Sen. Ferimer asked if the ombudsperson was a permanent position.  Dr. Foss said he plans a time appointment with the possibility renewal if the person is interested and is doing a good job.  The Provost said he has spoken to a person at UT who has this role.  UT adopted a very similar model using a very active faculty member.  This person is in his second year, and this spring, is going to discuss renewing it with the President and Provost.  Dr. Foss said that struck him as a good model for UH as well.

            (3) Academic Affairs Budget process.  The budget process was set up a little over a month ago by the Chancellor/President with help with the Board of Regents.  Pres. Warner was there and addressed the Board of Regents at that time.  Dr. Foss said that Dr. Gogue mentioned the budget, but he would like to give everyone some context about where UH is.  The two big facts about the budget for this coming year are (a) there is no new money from the state for the second part of the biennium, so any new money will come from the students via tuition increases; and (b) there is a very substantial amount of cost to continue as is.  Dr. Gogue mentioned the cost of energy at the last Senate meeting.  It is a very significant number; Dr. Rudley estimates it in the neighborhood of $6 million.  Of course every state agency has this issue; colleagues at other big universities have this issue and are addressing it in various ways.  UT Austin has an interim proposal to impose a $150 per semester surcharge for energy per student.  There are other sources of big cost, including benefits for people who are on the UH payroll.  Health costs go up.  Finally, enrollments will affect the budget, especially if UH’s graduate enrollments do not come up to the predicted amounts.  Universities are funded by formula and the State provides more money for graduate students than for undergraduate students.  If UH loses enrollment, it loses state dollars that are already budgeted because of the expectation of what enrollments would be and, if UH loses them at the master degree level, those hits are very significant.  At the moment those numbers are probably in the $3-$4 million range, making the cost of continuing at the same level $12-$14 million.  The Provost said he wanted to focus on the enrollment issue for a moment because every college, especially at the graduate level, student recruitment is definitely as decentralized as it is possibly can be.  Graduate recruiting usually depends on the efforts of individual faculty members.  It is really important to get those numbers up and soon if UH is to staunch this flow of dollars.  To the extent that those monies are lost, UH has to make that sum up.  There are only two ways to do it; reallocate inside the institution or increase tuition.  Increasing tuition to stay exactly where UH is, makes it harder to recruit students.  Dr. Foss said there is no doubt in his mind that recommendations will be made to the Board of Regents to increase tuition.  He added that UH does not want to continue this decline in enrollment at the graduate level.  It is true at the undergraduate level, too, but that is not so much a faculty driven phenomenon except to the extent that UH is losing students by virtue of them stopping out.  That is where a faculty member can have a positive impact.

            Sen. Papell asked if enrollment as a whole were dropping or is there just a drop in enrollment from predicted enrollment?  Dr. Foss said overall at the graduate level there is a drop in enrollment; overall the whole university has almost the same enrollment.

            Dr. Hugetz said one of problems last year was a predicted 1% increase in enrollment, but UH was just short of that. It actually dropped so the University was $6.5 million short.  This year lower numbers were projected but in the fall semester UH was 1.6% below what was projected. 

            Sen. Papell asked on the graduate enrollment, is it Ph.D. enrollment or Masters school versus Professional school masters enrollment.  Dr. Hugetz said it is principally masters. Ph.D. enrollment is flat and the masters in the fall was down almost 8%.

            Sen. Mazella asked is UH competitive in terms of the support for graduate students?

            Dr. Foss said it varies a lot with some disciplines more competitive than others in terms of offering stipends.  One talks about the whole package, which is very hard to gauge.  Private institutions will offer a tuition waiver that’s worth $5,000 while UH can give tuition waivers worth a fraction of that, so students can be affected by that type of presentation.  Dr. Foss said he believes the worth of stipends is not as important as the quality of program and the quality of the recruiting by the individual faculty member paying attention to the student.

            Sen. Mazella said what about retaining graduate students who interrupt their training to work.  Dr. Foss said that he mentioned at the last meeting the shock he felt in 1995 when he saw the NRC report about the length of time it takes now to complete graduate school.  That has a lot to do with retention.  Once again faculty could educate students about the opportunity cost they are incurring by stopping out.  On the average people are better off taking out loans than they are by getting a job and not taking the loan because of the lost income and lost retirement accounts.  In the long run it costs them money, but changing that mind set can best happen between a faculty mentor and a graduate student.

            Sen. Craig asked if the drop in enrollment was headcount or semester credit hours (SCH).  Dr. Foss said SCH, but both are important. 

            Sen. Karger asked if there is going to be a stronger relationship between increased tuition and fewer graduate students.  He wondered if there was a correlation that could help to predict the future in terms of the number graduate students UH accepts.  Dr. Foss said he didn’t know.  He added that he didn’t think UH’s tuition is as high or in many cases increasing as fast as some of UH’s competitors.  If the number of students goes down, it is going to be a national phenomenon.  A lot depends on the discipline and the extent to which they can provide tuition waivers; etc.  That is a complex issue.

            Sen. Eichberg said faculty don’t fully understand why this drop has occurred, so it might be beneficial to survey graduate students and masters students.  Students could be asked why they choose the program they are in and what are the pressures on them to stop out.  Dr. Foss said he would ask the deans to take the lead in this.  He emphasized again that recruitment at the graduate level is decentralized.

            Sen. Byrnes asked if there is a way to think about the effective use of recruiting funds that faculty have or would it be helpful to have an increase of those funds in order to be able to attract students?  Dr. Foss said absolutely.  Once again this conversation he is about to have with the deans, looking at their resources.  Again, it is not going to be a one size fits all situation but there are some disciplines by which it may be very important to pay a student to come to visit or to help pay for that visit.  In other disciplines that is not going to make it.  The Provost said he agrees, UH needs to spend the money well.

            Sen. Schiff said a lot of corporations use exit interviews for people who are leaving their companies.  UH could do exit interviews for people who have dropped out without finishing their degrees.  Their departments should have pretty good contact information.  Perhaps, UH could target a group of people to interview.

            Sen. Freiberg said he has seen that cohorts tend to have a lower stop out or drop out rate compared to individuals coming into a good program.  It seems UH might want to look at a variety of designs of masters programs to find what is the best model for a particular college or content area that would tend to build a relationship within that group rather than having individuals go through it.  Sen. Freiberg said it would be useful to look at those parts of the campus that have a very low stop or drop rate and try and find out why.

            Dr. Foss said he asked Institutional Research to tell him about the people graduating last spring, in particular undergraduates.  How long did it take them?  UH’s six year graduation rate is poor and puts UH low in the national rankings, 38%.  Last spring something like 968 students, who had entered here as first time in college students, graduated.  How long did it take them?   One-third (31%) of the students graduated in four years; two-thirds graduated in five years, and 80% graduated within six years.  Then there was the student who had started in 1942.  Dr. Foss said he found it to be a very interesting set of data because it shows that the students are trying to get out of here in due time.  It is important to talk folks out of stopping out.

            Sen. Ignatiev said at the graduate level he is sure there is a direct correlation between the amount of fellowships, funds available and the number of masters and Ph.D. students.  From his recollection in the past the Ph.D. student fellowships were assistantships or teaching assistantships or whatever.  The funds extended for assistantships are much less than the dollars coming in from the state so wouldn’t it make sense to allocate additional funds for assistantships.

            Dr. Foss said this brings him to his point which is, UH has a $12-$13 million shortfall, but suppose the University wants to continue to work on the strategic plan, what portion should it be?  Dr. Foss said he has heard a lot of comments in this room and out of this room that the number of faculty is too small.  There is a lot of data to bolster that, too.  The Provost said to his mind it is the number one priority that Academic Affairs should be working on in the next few years.  One of the problems with that is it is not clear that there will be a number two, number three and number four priority.  Given the major fixed costs facing the University, which translate into a percentage increase in tuition just to continue, how can progress be made?  Last year the Board of Regents allowed a 5% tuition increase so UH is faced with a very stark situation in terms of planning and in terms of working on the strategic initiatives.  The administration is streamlining the planning process and is not going to have a separate fee committee because given the problems, it is not worth going through all of the motions of asking people about fees, etc.  Dr. Foss said he is going to ask the deans to roll fees into their requests and needs into a single document at the budget hearings and to cover the energy cost he is going to suggest an increase in tuition revenue fees.  The Provost said he imagines that there are very few strategic initiatives that the university and Academic Affairs can work on given this stark reality of the cost to continue.  He added that the faculty need to embrace their role in enrollment, especially the graduate enrollment process.  Dr. Foss has asked the deans about new positions.  What he wants to do is to propose to the President and the Board of Regents a five year plan to grow faculty by a certain amount.  He hasn’t completely decided upon that amount yet.  Sen. Craig gave him a piece of data that suggested it would take 180 new faculty to move up one tier in the NRC rankings.  That is a soft figure but it is a rationale one based on analysis.  He added that he may propose to start trying to do it now.  None of that is guaranteed.  Dr. Foss said he just wanted everyone to understand from the Provost’s perspective what the environment feels like in terms as of a more serious planning process.

            Sen. Ignatiev said UH’s student faculty ratio is higher compared to a number of other schools in the state but its tuition is also lower; more than 2% lower.  It is double digit lower compared to percentages; the Board of Regents ought to be educating people about this difference.  Dr. Foss asked does this University honestly know what it is relative to others?  Are people honestly reporting that?  Mr. Hugetz said there are some colleges that are.  UT is now starting at 7,400; UH is on average 6,400; A&M is lower than UH at 6,200. 

            Pres. Warner asked is this a base period?  Mr. Hugetz said the base period begins this summer.  Pres. Warner said so this coming summer, the following fall, the following spring, that 12-month period will be crucial for UH.  Pres. Warner said so there is time to light a fire but it is only for the spring.  Pres. Warner said that is an important for timing as the SCH because in the simplified Ratcliff formula everything is basically driven by SCH.  Texas used to have something like seven formulas but now it has the Ratcliff formula appointed two years ago by the legislature.

            Sen. Papell pointed out the importance of the Cullen Funds in making graduate stipends more competitive.  He said it has made a real difference in the Economics department over the last four or five years.   In terms of the overall shortfall, it seems that unless UH institutes a temporary energy surcharge there isn’t much hope for UH to do anything.   Dr. Foss said the President sees that as a tactical decision.

            Sen. Schiff said he had read two different items in the last three or four months that A&M and UT are increasing their faculty by 300 and 450 faculty members respectively.  He added that he didn’t know if that was for one campus or for the entire system, but if UH is only projecting one-half or one-third of that it is still behind the eight ball.  Sen. Schiff said that in conversation with some of his undergraduates they say they feel pressured by increased fees and tuition.  It may be one of the primary reasons for the lower enrollment numbers.  If UH continues to go down that road, it may in fact begin to cut SCHs for students who are unable to enroll.  Sen. Schiff said he has thought for a long time that the PUF is like some kind of 900 pound gorilla, and he would like to know if the senior administration has even considered launching a lawsuit against both of those systems on the basis of the equality that UH and its students are being denied because of the inequitable distribution of what could be arguably state-wide funds.

            Sen. Craig said HEAF is the shortest answer.  Dr. Foss said there is an alternative fund.  Sen. Schiff said yes, but obviously it doesn’t compensate for the inequality of funds.

            Sen. Huber said the Texas Constitution is another answer.

            Sen. Schiff said it seems like somebody ought to consider the possibility of a major lawsuit along these lines. Dr. Foss said in my opinion that is a lawyer welfare program conjecture.  Sen. Huber said that is why you need to give more funds to the Law School.

            Dr. Foss said if one reads what the leaders of those institutions say, they are as troubled by the base funding situation as UH is.  He added that he wanted to be careful not to take those two places as touchstones.  They are wonderful universities; he devoted a lot of his professional career at one of them and he respects the institutions, but they are not UH’s competition.  Wisconsin, Indiana, Georgia, Arizona and Louisville are competition. There are times to compete with them and there are probably times to try to join in with them in things that could affect positive change for all.  And frankly, if the change affected them in a slightly more positive way than UH, the Provost would invite that change, but in the end UH is in competitive with UC Davis, Berkley,  Illinois, etc.  So that is a battle Dr. Foss would be very reluctant to start, not just because he would lose it, and UH would lose, and not just because of the very powerful enemies that UH would make along the way, and it would, but because this institution would be arguing about a pie and what everyone needs to do is to think about new ways to get more pies.  They can help with that.  On December 20 Dr. Foss will be visiting with Vice Chancellor from UT Austin and increasing pies will part of the conversation.

            Pres. Warner said the deadline for nominations for the honorary degree is December 9.  He asked the Provost if recommendations should be sent directly to him.  Dr. Foss said that would be great.  He added that the current number of nominations is “thin.”

Polls Close:
            Pres. Warner called for all remaining ballots to be turned in, then closed the polls. 

             Pres. Warner complimented the Senate staff for their hard work and gave them a very nice, tangible expression of the Senate’s thanks.  Pres. Warner announced the refreshments were provided by the Senate Staff.

THINKING AHEAD – Faculty Senate President-elect:  Steven Craig
            Sen. Craig said in January Senators will be asked to express their preference for service on a Senate standing committee for 2006.  He said he thought it was worthwhile to talk a little bit about what he sees as part of the agenda and what he plans to ask committees to work on, so that Senators will know which committee to choose.  His overall perspective is that the Senate needs to be the faculty voice for setting policy in the University.  He added that a lot of progress has been made toward achieving that policy voice.  Sen. Craig said he would like to see Senate committees become more regularized and develop activities to monitor and think about long range policies.  There are a lot of committees on campus.  The faculty spend a lot of service time, most of which is being spent on day to day kinds of stuff.  It is the Senate that needs to take a long term perspective and set the policy agenda for the University as a whole. 

            For example: Budget and Facilities Committee started on this process but it needs to push a lot further on getting useable expenditure reports out of the University.  The University spends a lot of time talking about budgeting, which is a planning topic.  In the budget hearings that BFC representatives went to last year there was no expenditure history included in those budget hearings.  Sen. Craig said he thinks the Senate needs to push the University to produce expenditure reports in categories such as by college, by department and by faculty, non-faculty personnel.  The other thing that this committee needs to think about is facility rotation.  As UH builds new facilities it needs to think about how to utilize the existing space and that process seems to be going too slow.  Educational Policies and Student Affairs Committee should be much more engaged in the admission process.  Faculty are all very interested in their students.  In some sense students are the ultimate indication of how UH is doing as an institution.  This body has not paid very much attention to student quality.  Changes have started.  Admissions was moved in to Academic Affairs and that seems helpful, but the Senate needs to get much more involved in that.  Clearly, when the faculty get involved in admissions issues, they start thinking about tuition issues.  As an institution UH is just learning how to think about tuition and the committee needs to be on top of that.  Finally, we need to begin to think consistently about long term planning, and this committee should begin to facilitate that, perhaps in concert with Faculty Affairs.  Faculty Affairs Committee has a long current list of issues including textbook policy, student evaluations and like that.  Sen. Craig said he thought that a long range planning item that FAC is not in control of is thinking about health benefits.  UH is in this ERS system as an institution but that doesn’t have to be the only thing.  Since the health industry has changed so much and people’s health insurance, tied to their employment, is so important, the Senate needs to develop some expertise.  Sen. Craig said he doesn’t think there is much expertise on health benefits in the Senate right now, so that needs to be developed.  Finally, the Senate will need to respond to the Scholarship Report to be produced by the Provost at the end of the Spring term, and both this and the EPSAC committee will want to be involved.  Scholarship and Community Committee should follow-up on the conference held this semester.  Pres. Warner and the conference were really successful in terms of engaging the faculty in the upcoming capital campaign.  As the University tries to institutionalize the campaign as a continuous activity, the Senate needs to be heavily involved to make sure the faculty is involved.  Listening to Michael Rierson (UHS Vice Chancellor and UH Vice President, University Advancement) talk at the conference warmed the cockles of Sen. Craig’s heart, as he talked about not just raising money but raising the right money.  Sen. Craig said Mr. Rierson can be a powerful ally and the Senate needs to be engaged with him, his people and what they are doing.  These are the kinds of things that he sees the Senate and its committees trying to do. There will be other things on the agenda as things always happen.

             Sen. Mazella said one of the things that the Senate has been talking about is sharing information as part of the whole planning process..  Without that sharing of information, the Senate ends up in a procedural process where people tend to ratify the decisions that were already made elsewhere.  How does the Faculty Senate begin to get the information shared so the people can be involved in actually planning long term?  What kinds of strategies should the Senate think about?

            Sen. Craig said this process is already going on and rapidly.  He credited Dr. Gogue for opening up the administration to listening to what faculty have to say.  He is sharing information, which is clearly an important part.  He said he thinks the Senate committees should be monitoring certain segments of the University that are really important to the faculty to develop information flows.  For example, Sen. Craig has been very interested in data over the past several years, which is core information, so he has pushed to expand these reports in order for faculty to know what is going on.  Is a college is rising or falling relative to other colleges and/or universities?

            Sen. Eichberg asked so how does the faculty get the leverage to poll this information?  Sen. Craig said the faculty won’t be in charge of gathering the information.  The administration should be implementing these things.  UH having the ability to raise it’s own revenue, that is tuition, means the administration and faculty all have an interest in this being a better university.  A better university means a more expensive university for the students, but it will only work if that means more value for the students.  The students aren’t UH’s only constituents, all the research sponsors are also constituents.  Faculty need to spend time on that as well. The Senate will need to be engaged with the Scholarship Report that it will get at the end of the Spring term. 

            Sen. Kotarba said faculty are more involved when there are important issues to be handled and there are more important things to be discussing than ownership of policies.  If the Senate gets bogged down in tiny details then it will lose momentum.

            Pres. Warner said over the past few years the Senate has gotten more and better data.  Remember the first time Dr. Foss made a presentation?  He laid out budget figures in a way that not many faculty had seen before.

It is that kind of openness that the Senate needs to promote, to continue and to work with responsibly.  Look at how this Senate has worked on shared governance over the past few years.  Pres. Warner said he feels that shared governance means a lot more to UH faculty than it does to faculty at brother/sister institutions.  That’s a good thing and the Senate needs to keep that momentum going.  The voice of the faculty has been listened to more in the past couple of years than it had for a very long time.  There is a better voice now.

BUDGET & FACILITIES COMMITTEE, CHAIR – Karl Titz

            On November 17 the BFC met with Dave Irvin, the Associate Vice Chancellor/Associate Vice President of Plant Operations, and Vergel Gay, Executive Director of Facilities Planning and Construction, who briefed the committee on the 2005 Facility Condition Report.  The report assesses maintenance priorities for the campus and proposes $95,571,000.00 in expenditures over the next 10 years.  94% of campus facilities are over 20 years old, which is considered the normal life span of a facility.  The plan details projects in areas of:

Architectural issues
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
Safety
Plumbing
Electrical
Other
Legislative Mandates

A discussion on energy efficiency planning ensued.  The BFC and the University Purchasing and Plant Operations Committee will be working together to evaluate General Purpose Classrooms and Laboratories during the Spring Semester.

            The next meeting of the BFC will be on Friday, January 27, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. in S250 of the UH Hilton.

 COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES, CHAIR – Jerome Freiberg
            The Committee on Committees met on November 28.  Present were J. Freiberg (Chair), S. Huber, S. Khumawala, S. Kleis, A. Warner and R. Weldon.  J. Eichberg and C. Pedemonte were absent.

            The COC met with UH Police Chief, Malcolm Davis, to discuss the Safety and Security Committee.  Chief Davis reported that the group had met 3 times during the Fall semester.  He added that he intended for the committee to meet at least three times each semester.  He praised the faculty representatives, saying they were making positive contributions to the process.

            In a discussion of campus safety issues, the question was raised about including external community members on the committee.  Doing so would make the advisory committee a two-way process for both input and feedback to the community.  A counter-point was made that community input might be more appropriate at a high level of review, but the Chief said he would raise the point with the Vice President for Administration & Finance to whom the committee ultimately reports.

            Chief Davis reported that the Walk in the Dark Program had around 40 participants this semester.  The program, which unfortunately fell on the same night as the Faculty Recognition Dinner, will be held again next semester.  It was suggested that the program be held on alternate nights to prevent excluding faculty who might teach on the night it is usually held.

            It was mentioned that eventually the new lighting, which directs light at the ground, will replace the old light poles.  The new “Code Blue” call boxes will eventually replace the older models, too.  Security cameras are working well with more to be added.  The Chief said that he would work with departments and colleges to install cameras.  Interested units can pay for the cameras and UHPD will handle the rest.

            Chief Davis said UHPD would be taking over security notification, the Flash fax.  He wanted to move the system to e-mail so that if any threat exists, information can get out to the campus fast.  He also plans to put information on the website.

            In other business, the COC discussed replacements for several UH standing committees, including the Grievance Committee and the Promotion & Tenure Committee.  The COC also proposed that the Senate Executive Committee be asked to look into changing the name of the University’s Enron Teaching Excellence Award.

            The COC also continued its discussion of the Annual Committee Reports and the review of the Information Technology & Computing Committee.  The group agreed to meet again on January 23, 2006.  Its guests will be Karl Sparks, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, to discuss the UH Faculty Advisory Committee on Human Resources and the UH System Committee on Fringe Benefits; and Dennis Fouty, Associate Vice President for Computing and Telecommunication Services and Interim Chief Information Officer, to discuss the ITCC.

EDUCATIONAL POLICIES & STUDENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, CHAIR –Dan Wells
            The last EPSAC meeting was held on November 21.  In attendance at the is meeting were Dan Wells, Richard Matland, Jeffery Williams, George Trail, Thomas Albright, Natalie Houston, and David Zimmerman.  n this meeting the Committee continued its discussion of significant concerns with the Provost's response to the Faculty Senate passed Textbook Policy.  The Committee considered possible ways in which members would be willing to compromise with the Provost’s position and which will be discussed at a meeting currently scheduled with the Provost for December 7

              EPSAC also discussed the Provost's interest in revising Department and College teaching evaluation forms so as to include a common subset of questions regarding teaching effectiveness that can be aggregated for reporting purposes.   Although the Committee agrees with the Provost's concept, concerns were aired about how the data would be used.  In the end the Committee developed a draft resolution supporting the Provost's concept.  This proposal was sent to the Faculty Affairs Committee for discussion and revision.  It is hoped that a joint resolution can be presented to the full Faculty Senate by January.  

COALITION ON INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS REPORT – UH Delegate:  Joe Kotarba
            On December 1-3, Dr. Kotarba attended the annual meting of the Coalition for Intercollegiate Athletics at WashingtonState University in Pullman.  As a member of the COIA Executive Committee, he chaired the Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility.  Overall, the group assembled a report to the NCAA and it’s Presidents’ Task Force that covers reform issues such as:

• Eliminating bonus clauses for coaches who improve the academic performance of their athletes (the focus on academics should be inherent in the role of a coach);
• Making the entire athletics department budget process as visible as possible at all levels;
•  Increasing the distribution of funds from tournaments and football bowl games to all conferences (including C-USA of which UH is a member), not just the BCS conferences; and
•  Restoring a “collegiate” model of sports and eliminating the “professional” model that seems to be overtaking college sports.

      A detailed summary of the COIA reports will be submitted for the next Faculty Senate Meeting.         

FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, CHAIR – Katy Greenwood
      The Faculty Affairs Committee met November 21.  Members in attendance were David Blecher, Valentini Brady, Brian Byrnes, David Mazella, Jonathan Middents and Katy Greenwood; those who had conflicts and could not attend were Howard Karger, Meredith Duncan, David Papell, Carlos Pedemonte, William Rixey and Richard Willson.

The committee discussed two items:

Special guest was Patrick Daniel, Director, Office of Learning and Assessment Services.  He brought samples of existing faculty evaluation instruments and discussed how such a system might be implemented

The Faculty Affairs Committee met again on December 5, to finalize their recommendations for a textbook policy and for aggregating teacher effectiveness data at the University level.   Members in attendance were Valentini Brady, David Blecher, Meredith Duncan, Brian Byrnes and Katy Greenwood.  Unable to attend were Howard Karger, David Mazella, Jonathan Middents, David Papell, Carlos Pedemonte, William Rixey and Richard Willson.

  A.   University-Level Teacher Effectiveness Data

     After meeting with Patrick Daniel, the committee saw no insurmountable problems in aggregating teacher effectiveness data at the University level. 

     The committee endorsed the concept that the Provost should initiate a system of aggregating data for university-level means on teaching effectiveness.  Several advantages in having such data were mentioned.   It was felt that to construct such a University wide evaluation system, processes and parameters should be identified both for the gathering and for the use of such data.

     The committee is concerned about potential low response rates if teacher evaluations are required to be conducted on-line.

     The committee as a whole endorses and emphasizes the concept that teacher evaluations are a small piece of cumulative data regarding the contributions of a single faculty member in each department.  The committee wants to emphasize that course evaluations are viewed in the context of total contribution.

      The committee as a whole endorses the concept that teacher evaluations are faculty initiated, faculty designed and central to faculty governance processes.  The faculty takes pride in their teaching and have designed systems, instruments and processes for their own self-improvement and for peer review.  Faculty will want to take leadership in changing or redesigning a university-level system of data gathering.

  B.  Textbook Policy

     The committee felt that to prevent appearances of impropriety and potential conflicts of interest, instructors of record at the University of Houston who assign their own texts or other income producing materials should be required to notify their departments in writing.

    The committee feels strongly that any committee established at the University of Houston for reviewing textbooks and royalty practices should have a majority of faculty members involved. 

     In principle, the committee endorses the AAUP statement “On Professors Assigning Their Own Texts to Students”, approved by the Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics in November, 2004, and urge that the University of Houston textbook policy not exceed or go beyond the principles in this statement. (Statement attached)

The Faculty Affairs Committee referred faculty to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) statement, "On Professors Assigning Their Own Texts to Students," available on-line at:   http://www.aaup.org/statements/REPORTS/05owntext.htm.

New Business:  Announcement of 2006 Officers & Committee on Committees

            The results of the election of 2006 Faculty Senate officers are:

PRESIDENT-ELECT:  Joseph Kotarba (CLASS)
SECRETARY:  Peter Copeland (NSM)
MEMBERS-AT-LARGE:  Joseph Eichberg (NSM) and Sara McNeil (EDU) 
COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES:  Jerome Freiberg (EDU), Katy Greenwood (TECH), Natalie Houston (CLASS), Stephen Huber (LAW), Sukran Kadipasaoglu (BUS) and Howard Karger (GSSW)

There were ten absentee ballots cast.  Pres. Warner thanked the senators who agreed to stand for office.

The meeting adjourned at 1:40 p.m.