Academic Senate Meeting
Friday, October 17, 2008
Minutes
I.
Call to Order – President Karen Fuss Sommer called the meeting to order at 1:07 p.m. at the SETB Third Floor
Conference Room.
Senate Members in Attendance
Abrego, Chuey(s) SOE
Arnim, Leslie(s) SHS
Benavides, Jude (s) CSMT
Benton, Steve(s) CSMT
Buckler, Kevin (s) CLA
Cantu, Ethel, Associate VPAA
Castillo, Hector Asst VPAA
Celaya, Pat(s) CATGS
Dameron, Charles VPAA
Davis, Bill(s) CLA
Del Rio, Eduardo(s) CLA
Escotet, Miguel A. Dean SOE
Fossen, Linda Associate VPEP
Fuentes, Angelica(s) CATGS
Fuss-Sommer, Karen*
Garrido Sanabria, Emilio(s) CSMT
Gawenda, Peter, Interim Dean CATGS/CSMT
Heimmermann, Daniel Dean CLA
Heise, Elizabeth*
Hollier, Gerald(s) SCOB
Jones, Irma*
Lackey, Charles Dean GS
Malki, Mostafa(s) SCOB
Martin, Jose Provost
Morgan, Bobbette*
Nelson, Eldon Dean SHS
Olbeter, Grant (s) SHS
Phelps, Cheryl(s) CLA
Smith, Patrick(s) SOE
Tiwana, Bashir(s) PS
Senate Members Absent
Arney, Janna Special Asst to VPAA
Ferrier, Doug, Dean IS
Gomez, Richard(s) SOE
Lacher, Joe(s) SHS
Lefler, Brett(s) CLA
Linder, Eric(s) CSMT
Shane, Martin Dean SCOB
Trevino, Annabel(s) PS
Guests
Fuentes-Martin, Mari Dean of Students
Price, Betsy
Chen, Steve, CIO
II.
Review and Approval of Minutes – There were two corrections to the minutes of September 26, 2008. The first was the spelling of
Sue Frensen Franzen. The second was under the Treasurer’s report: Will meet with Hector Castillo to check on funds for the Welfare
Committee Academic Senate. Bobbette Morgan moved to approve the minutes as corrected/Elizabeth Heise seconded the motion.
Motion passed.
III.
Presentation on QEP - Ethel Cantu
The QEP is called Power of Two and will be piloted in the spring 2009 semester. It will link Composition II and Biology II for nonscience majors. Ms. Cantu demonstrated the official webpage that describes the project to integrate course material that will help
build skills in reading, thinking and writing. There will be a block cohort taking these courses.
www.utb.edu/its/pages/PowerofTwo.aspx
IV.
Senate Presidents Report – Karen Fuss Sommer
Karen Sommer and Bobbette Morgan attended the FAC meeting in Austin. At the meeting, they met with interim Chancellor
Kenneth Shine; had a legislative update about UT System goals; and were informed of the Leadership Institute that begins in
November. Discussion about issues related to health campuses especially the continuing freeze of state funding. FACS will make a
concerted effort to change the UT Regents policy on clinical hours vs. lab hours. Good news! Colonoscopy is 100% covered by
insurance!
IV.
Committee Reports
a.
Welfare Committee Report - Steve Benton discussed the priorities of faculty concerns for the year and asked for data
before the Welfare Committee can begin its work.
b.
Treasurers Report - Elizabeth Heise indicated Academic Senate has $1,750 in M&O. A suggestion was made last semester
to place plaques on senator’s office doors so faculty would know where each senator was located.
c.
Dual Enrollment Task Force - Eddie Del Rio
Eduardo Del Rio will continue to be chair of the Dual Enrollment Task Force until the end of this academic year. The
committee is in the process of forming subcommittees to continue to look at all the different components of the dual
enrollment program. There are significant concerns one of which is the SAP policy. It was explained that SAP does apply
to Dual Enrollment students but that they receive a one-semester waiver in terms of the 70% completion requirement so
the student calculation will start once they graduate from high school. In their first term at UTB, students will not come in
with suspension but all terms apply after that first semester. Financial Aid will count against them. Message that this
policy tells students is that they should do well and study hard because their transcript will follow them always. Bill Davis
indicates that if a student has a low GPA, when they register for classes on campus, this GPA does not count but it will
count at the end of the first semester. The law states that only juniors and seniors may take dual enrollment courses.
Students that are not juniors and seniors can take courses but these are exceptions to the rules and these exceptions must
be extraordinary or exemplary and approved individually by the principals and superintendants. It was suggested that an
E-mail be sent to all faculty with these facts.
Another concern is that this policy was not added to the official SAP policy. A policy that is under the domain of the faculty
was totally ignored and left out of the SAP policy. President Karen Fuss Sommer is aghast that the policy was distributed to
administrators at the ISD’s yet the Senate did not know about it. The SAP policy should have come through the Senate
with that revision. Dr. Nelson asked if there are any other major policies in the system where this has occurred. Dr.
Dameron indicated that the point is well taken, but the policy was approved by Academic Senate. The six-drop rule came
from the State and since then the Coordinating Board has come back and said that the six-drop rule does not apply to high
school students who are taking dual or concurrent courses. The Senate is due the respect to look at all policies and our
administration should make sure that it happens.
Steve Benton indicated that in Math, dual courses are college algebra, calculus, statistics, and math for liberal arts. In his
opinion, he does not understand how a junior or a senior student can take all four. What percentage of students are less
than a junior or senior? About 2,000 students were exceptions and were less than juniors and seniors. We recommend
that the SAP policy come back with that inclusion.
A point of order was made that this was supposed to be a report and it has become a discussion of the topic. We can add
it to the next agenda as an item for discussion.
Two items of concern – The first concern is that the recommendation for Dean of Dual Enrollment that has now been
demoted to an Associate Dean for dual enrollment. There are faculty concerned with the demotion of the position to
associate dean along with the academic background and the value or importance of this position. Eddie Del Rio asks Dr.
Dameron to share with the Senate what the process or thinking was to demote the position. Dr. Dameron indicated that
the Provost has not taken action on any of the recommendations. However, Dr. Dameron is not sure it is critical for this
position to have a certain title but just that it have someone to provide oversight of the program. The second concern
was textbooks. Some courses still do not have textbooks that are used at the college level. Linda Fossen indicated that
this was important to her as well and was going to look into it. She has organized a team that will be meeting at the end of
the month with two people from UTB as well as two principals and two other contacts. It was suggested that she add two
faculty members from the task force to provide faculty input to her committee. She was receptive to that suggestion and
asked Eddie Del Rio to be one of them. Bill Davis voiced his opinion that the Senate has always been involved with dual
enrollment and the quality of the coursework. The textbook issue is really just one symptom of things Senate is concerned
about.
d.
II.
HOOP Policies
a.
VI.
Smoking resolution – Cheryl Phelps asked what the status of the smoking resolution is. Karen Fuss Sommer indicated that
it is at the UT System. All campuses are waiting to hear their response.
New Business
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III.
3.10 Accommodations for individuals with Disabilities (Second Reading) Mari Fuentes Martin. The HOOP ad hoc
subcommittee made up of Irma Jones, Bill Davis and Patrick Smith reviewed the policy. Limited concerns with an
amendment. Made suggestions to delete specific phone numbers and names. A recommendation was made on the last
section of the policy where it talks about “final determination”. Instead of using the word “final”, just put in
“determination.” On the section about “Responsibility with deans and students and the counselor of disability services”
the subcommittee recommends that the Senate amend that section to read that the request for accommodation be the
responsibility of the faculty member with the counsel of disability services person. The HOOP ad hoc subcommittee then
recommends passage of HOOP 3.10 as amended. Bill Davis moved to approve the amendment to the policy. Elizabeth
Heise seconded the motion. Motion passed. A recommendation was made to have all the corrections made in red for
final distribution. Pat Celaya moved to accept the amended policy as second read. Elizabeth Heise seconded the motion.
Motion passed second reading.
Old Business
a.
VII.
Business Affairs Partnership committee - Elizabeth Heise indicated that they have not met this year.
Parking Committee - Carol Collinsworth and Domingo Molina currently serve on it. One more member is needed for this
committee. Eric Linder was nominated for this committee.
Calendar Committee – Nominated for the Calendar Committee are Karen Rendon, Betsy Freeth, Bill Berg, and Tom Coyle.
Cheryl Phelps will nominate someone from CLA before the next meeting.
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee – Bea Castillo will serve as second term along with Zelma Mata. Matt Johnson replaces
Cheryl Phelps.
Strategic Planning Committee - Gerson Peltz is on sabbatical so we need to replace him on the Strategic Planning Committee.
Grievance Committee: Shamina Davis, Mary Curtis, Sessia Wyche, Celia Flores-Fiest, Lucy Willis, Jose Garza, and Pablo RhiPerez will serve a second term. Bill Davis moves to accept the slate with the intent to fill rest the openings. Bobbette Morgan
seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Irma Jones recommended sending out notice to all faculty that Senate go on record reminding faculty to do everything possible
to facilitate using the early voting facilities on campus and to repeatedly remind students that the voting facilities are there. Bill
Davis approved this motion. Bobbette Morgan seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Elizabeth Heise will be meeting on Monday with Doug Arney to discuss The Training Post and compliance training.
Someone asked who is in charge of appointing chairs of committees, whether departmental or at the college and school level.
Karen Fuss Sommer indicated that the committee members are in charge of identifying who will be the chair. The Deans and
Department Chairs do not appoint chairs of committees unless they are special committees formed by the department or
school.
Provost’s Report
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After much hard work since April to address the recommendations UTB received from the SACS On-Site Committee, we
submitted our response last Tuesday. Dr. Martin thanks the numerous faculty and staff who worked through the summer to
ensure the ability to provide detailed response to each recommendation, including a full expansion of our QEP. We believe that
we have satisfactorily addressed each of the On-Site Committee’s concerns. In December, at the annual SACS meeting, we will
receive a final evaluation of our report.
IV.
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Preliminary Report on Enrollment: We are meeting the budget projections, but we should remember that the budget was
based on drawing $3.1 Million from the reserves, which is not sustainable. We need to find ways to become more effective.
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Dr. Juan Iglesias and Dr. Andrea Schwartzberg submitted a proposal to facilitate the access of lower division students to
computer forensics and bioinformatics. We received notification of grant approval. Please congratulate Drs. Iglesias and
Schwartzberg if you see them.
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Four faculty members in the Department of Modern Languages have received their doctorates this semester: Drs. Maria Davila,
Elena Vega Sampayo, Dania Lopez Garcia, and Ignacio Rodrigues. In addition, two faculty in the School of Business received
their doctorates: Drs. Tom Coyle and Russell Adams. This is a great accomplishment for the individual colleagues and for the
departments. Please congratulate them if you see them.
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Be aware that there is a new legislative initiative, the so-called “Emerging Research Institutions” that would use state funding to
match federal and private funds for research—but only of a select group of “tier one” institutions.
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Twenty-eight nursing faculty (LVN, AND, BSN, & MSN) attended a four day National League of Nursing Summit in San Antonio,
Texas. In addition, Professor Leslie Arnim (ADN Faculty) passed the National League of Nursing Certified Nurse Educator Exam
this morning. She is the first nurse at UTB to accomplish this and one of only 40 in the state of Texas.
Adjournment – Meeting adjourned at 3:25 p.m.