ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING
May 18, 2005
PRESENT: Sheila Amin Gutierrez de Piñeres, Kert Beron, Gail Breen, Cy Cantrell, Juan Gonzalez, Gopal Gupta, Jennifer Holmes, Marilyn Kaplan, Robert Kieschnick, Sumit Majumdar, Homer Montgomery, Robert Nelsen, Shun Chen Niu, Simeon Ntafos, Tim Redman, Liz Salter, Richard Scotch, Gerald Soliday
ABSENT: James Bartlett, Tom Brikowski, Lawrence Cauller, R. Chandrasakaran, Kevin Curtin, G. R. Dattatreya, Gregg Dieckmann, Murray Leaf, Stephen Levene, Matthew Leybourne, Robert Marsh, Nirup Menon, R. Natarajan, Alice O’Toole, Joseph Picken, Thomas Riccio, S. Venkatesan, S. Q. Zheng
VISITORS: Priscilla Beadle, Brasheer Benhalim, Kamran Kiasaleh, Iris Kwong, Ivor Page, Sarah Spreada, Larry Terry, Hobson Wildenthal
1. CALL TO ORDER, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND QUESTIONS
Dr. Jenifer called the meeting to order. He commented that this would be his last meeting before retiring.
Dr. Jenifer brought the Senate members up to date on the Waterview housing situation. An SMU class ofstudents did that investigative reporting. Each year they pick a different topic each year, and this year they chose UTD. They did their report and they were able to get it published in the Observer. A team of individuals with impeccable credentials and skills relevant to the most pressing problems in the article is being put together to review the situation and come back to President Daniel by the end of June with a preliminary report. A complete report and recommendations is expected in early Fall.
A question was raised about the budget situation in Austin. Dr. Jenifer explained that it’s not so much what’s going on in Austin, but what’s the situation at UTD. After a brief review, it looks like we will have some prior year funds. It looks like we will be getting the excellence money back. We have a 3% increase built into the budget, but it hasn’t all been approved yet. It looks like it might be a tight year.
Dr. Terry will be assuming the Interim Vice President for Business Affairs slot June 1st until a replacement for Mr. Lovitt is found.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of April 20, 2005 as distributed. The motion carried.
3. SPEAKER’S REPORT
Dr. Nelsen reported that the ad hoc committee on the teaching schedule (chaired by Dr. Ntafos) has begun its work. Dr. Kratz and Dr. Ferraris are the two deans on the committee.
Dr. Nelsen indicated he met with Dr. Wildenthal who indicated he will work toward setting aside money for graduate student scholarships beyond the GSS already allotted. He has a desire to move the students as quickly as possible through the Ph.D. program so they will not get caught in the 100 hour problem. Dr. Nelsen is going to refer the matter to the Graduate Council.
Dr. Nelsen and Dr. Wildenthal also talked about the indirect cost money. When the indirect cost appropriation was distributed to PI’s , only 10% actually came back (rather than the additional amounts as designated by the new Indirect Costs policy). The extra funds are being held for Dr. Daniel’s arrival and the results of the overall budgets. Dr. Wildenthal is thinking that we need to rework the policy. Everything is currently on hold.
Thirty-two committees are working on the strategic plan – the theme is based on “IDEAS” which stands for innovation, discovery, entrepreneurship, agility and service. The branding phrase that the Writing Committee is putting forward is: “Creating Tomorrow’s Future Today.” All the committees are to turn in their reports in to the Writing Committee by June 1.
Eastfield Community College fired some of our Ph.D. students for not having the correct prefix for some of their courses on their transcripts; i.e., English, history, psychology, philosophy, etc. Eastfield is saying that SACS has forced their hand. A similar situation occurred recently with Austin Community College. This matter will be referred to the Graduate Council and must be given highest priority.
We continue to have problems with the book orders. Dr. Terry has initiated a new committee to work on this problem. A web site will be developed to give the information out in advance to all concerned parties. Until then, faculty should turn in their book order to the Campus Bookstore, the Off Campus bookstore, and the appropriate person in the Dean’s office.
Academic Council has a problem in that there is no representation from three schools. The Bylaws indicate that 10% of the Senate can be on the Council so after consultation with the Election Committee, the Speaker can be delegated the authority to add two more Council members. The next two individuals are Murray Leaf and Juan Gonzalez. This adds Social Sciences and Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Behavioral and Brain Sciences did not have anyone who ran for membership.
4. FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL REPORT
System is coming close to the “student database service” which is information on students at all U. T. System schools interested in graduate school so that the various institutions can recruit the students. System is also setting up another database with faculty information that faculty can use to find potential collaborators.
The Student Advisory Council (SAC) recommended that all materials for classes be automatically put on reserve before the semester starts.
SAC also recommended that all books for all courses be electronically available.
The Graduate Education Advisory Council of the Coordinating Board has met, and it is an interesting committee according to Dr. Nelsen. The Coordinating Board’s analysis seems to be that there are too many graduate programs. The Commissioner of Higher Education, Dr. Raymund Paredes, spoke at the most recent meeting and indicated that higher education is not doing a good job educating Hispanics. The Council’s structure is very formal. Guidelines for new doctoral programs and for reviewing established programs are being worked on, and Dr. Nelsen passed out the draft. Included in the draft is the recommendation to do evaluations to see if the various institutions are turning out enough graduates.
The Shapiro Bill which would eliminate some of the restrictions placed on UTD prior to taking on freshmen and sophomores is still in committee. We’re not sure if it will pass.
The Student Regent bill is going forward.
The bill limiting the core curriculum from 42-36 hours and charging out of state tuition for any student who exceeds SACS recommended hours toward a degree was defeated.
The 4% increase in salary bill excluded higher education.
5. STUDY ABROAD
The new Study Abroad program was discussed as presented by Dr. Sarah Spreda. This new program has been approved by CEP for placement in the catalogue. A motion was made and seconded to approve the new program. The motion passed.
6. UPWARD EVALUATION REPORT (REVIEW OF GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE DEANS
Dr. Wildenthal presented the results of the review of the graduate and undergraduate deans within the last year. There were a lot of positive comments on these reviews. Both deans are to be commended for the excellent work they have been doing.
7. SPECIAL FACULTY DEVELOPMENT ASSIGNMENTS
Dr. Terry reported on the special faculty development assignments. There are 18 faculty members who have been awarded the special development assignments. The University is proud of the faculty and what they are planning to do on their assignments. He encouraged the faculty to turn in their reports when they return.
8. CATALOG CHANGES: CORE CURRICULUM AND GRADUATION UNDER A PARTICULAR CATALOG.
Speaker Nelsen presented the changes in the core curriculum stating that normally this type of change would go forward in catalogue copy, but given the bills that are being presented in the Legislature, he thought it was important to look at the changes now. There is no actual change in the core; however, there is new wording that makes it clear that the courses can only count once - no double dipping. Schools have the right to specify what courses must be taken to meet degree requirements; these courses are independent of transfer legislation requiring that we accept the entire core if completed in another Texas institution. In other words, whereas we must give credit for the completion of the core to transferring students, we still may require them to take prerequisites for upper level courses – these prerequisites may (or may not) be part of our core.
A motion was made and seconded to approve this change. The motion passed.
9. TRIBUNAL APPOINTMENTS
The Tribunal pool is a twenty member pool that is available to the President in case of the firing of a faculty member. A motion was made and seconded to replace Stephen Rabe on this list from the Senate with Mihai Nadin. Dr. Rabe is going to be on a Special Faculty Development Assignment (SFDA) this fall.
The motion was passed.
10. PART-TIME WORKLOAD POLICY
An ad hoc committee has been meeting on the policies and procedures for faculty to be appointed part-time. The membership on this committee consisted of Andy Blanchard, Lakshman Tamil, Gail Breen, and Robert Nelsen (chair). The committee created a sliding scale system that involves negotiation of duties with the Dean and/or Department/Program Heads. Three examples of when the policy may be used are provided in the policy: grants, care of children or elderly, and retirement. The burden is on the faculty to show need. To be eligible, a faculty member must still do research and be past the third year review. No benefits are included for appointments below 50%. The proposal requires a list of agreed upon duties, which must be signed by the faculty, the Dean and (where appropriate) the Department or Program Head. The Provost will make the final decision.
A motion was made and seconded to approve this policy. The motion passed.
11. ADJOURNMENT
The business was concluded and the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sandra K. Goertzen
Academic Governance Secretary