Corrections to Minutes Made at December 2008 Meeting
Academic Senate Meeting
Friday, November 21, 2008
SETB Third Floor Conference Room
Minutes
I.
Call to Order - President Karen Fuss Sommer called the meeting to order at 1:07 pm at SETB
Senate Members in Attendance
Leslie Arnim (s) SHS
Janna Arney
Jude Benavides (s) CSMT
Steve Benton (s) CSMT
Kevin Buckler (s) CLA
Ethel Cantu Associate VPAA
Hector Castillo Asst VPAA
Pat Celaya (s) CATGS
Charles Dameron VPAA
Carol Collingsworth
Bill Davis (s) CLA
Deloria Nanze Davis
Eduardo Del Rio (s) CLA
Doug Ferrier Dean IS
Linda Fossen Associate VPEP
Karen Fuss Sommer*
Therese Gallegos
Emilio Garrido Sanabria (s) CSMT
Peter Gawenda Interim Dean
CATGS/CSMT
Gerald Hollier (s) SCOB
Brett Lefler (s) CLA
Eric Linder (s) CSMT
Mostafa Malki (s) SCOB
Patrick Smith (s) SOE
Annabel Trevino (s) PS
Senate Members Absent
Chuey Abrego (s) SOE
Miguel A. Escotet Dean SOE
Angelica Fuentes (s) CLA
Richard Gomez (s) SOE
Daniel Heimmermann Dean CLA
Elizabeth Heise*
Irma Jones*
Joe Lacher (s) SHS
Domingo Molina
Bobbette Morgan*
Grant Olbeter (s) SHS
Cheryl Phelps (s) CLA
Martin Shane Dean SHS
Bashir Tiwana (s) PS
Guests
Betty Becerra
Emma Miller
Diana Ortiz
Daniel Perez
Betsy Price
Laurie Schmidt
II.
Presentation — Room Scheduling: Emma Miller
Presentation — Use of Technical Courses: Janna Arney
Presentation – Academic Standards: Carol Collingsworth, Terese Gallegos
III.
Review and Approval of Minutes
a. Committee Reports letter c. Remove paragraph three (Steve Benton said he didn’t state that
paragraph) Please add: There are no dual enrollment courses at this time.
IV.
Senate President’s Report — Karen Fuss Sommer
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FAC – November 7, 2008
o Moving forward with faculty regent. They have identified senator that they would like.
Karen has identified one from down here. They have assured that they will carry this
along.
o Will meet with Legislative Representative of UT System to get a heads up.
o Combat commentary of political action group regarding faculty.
TSC Board Meeting – attended two board meetings
o Naming for Arts Center.
o SAP Update
o Provost Search
Committee Reports
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Parking Committee Report – Carol Collingsworth for Domingo Molina
Welfare Committee Report — Steve Benton
1. Patrick Smith Sub Ad Hoc Committee
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2. Questionnaire and Report at next meeting
Treasurer’s Report — Elizabeth Heise (Bobbette Morgan) Absent
1. No Funds – Karen Fuss Sommer
Dual Enrollment Task Force — Eduardo del Rio
1. Have set up 6-7 Committees (35 Faculty, Staff, and Administrators have volunteered)
2. Meeting in December.
TX Council of Faculty Senates — Irma Jones (Bobbette Morgan) Absent
HOOP Policies Committee
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HOOP Policy # Student Notification Email — Steve Chen & Gus Barrera
1. Tabled for next AS Meeting
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Old Business
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Update on Training Post Status
1. Request that Dr. Heise made for courses to be added to the training post will been added.
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Update on Faculty Club
1. Have been assigned a group of institutions to be reviewed for information for the kind of Faculty
Club we are looking for.
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ISBN Numbers on Schedules – No Comment
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New Business
1. HOOP Policy regarding student appeals.
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Provost’s Report — Dr. Jose Martin
At the meeting of the Board of Regents in El Paso on November 12, the Regents discussed the situation at
the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, a teaching hospital that was damaged by Hurricane
Ike. The Regents reported that the hospital would have no money to operate in about three months, and the
Regents approved laying off about 3,800 workers (about a third of its work force.)
President Juliet Garcia has been invited to serve in the transition team for President-Elect Barack Obama.
She has been authorized to accept this invitation by both the UT System and the TSC Board of Trustees.
She will be serving in the transition team for Education: we know that she will be a great contributor to the
work of the team.
We continue to gather data on the impact of the policy for satisfactory academic performance. The data
indicates that the overall impact has been positive. There has been a marked increase in the number of
courses that the students completed successfully (that is, with a grade of C or better.) The number of
courses from which the students have withdrawn is down by about a half. One of the most encouraging
pieces of information relates to the number of students coming “off suspension”. A student placed on
suspension must wait a full long semester to register again and is not eligible for financial aid during that
semester. Because of these conditions and others, we feared that most of those The UT System asked UT
Southwestern Medical School to prepare a feasibility study on an Austin medical school in late 2007. UT
regents are currently studying the issue, system officials say, although it is not clear when a vote or decision
on the potential medical school may happen.
Construction proceeds as scheduled. The renovations at ITEC are essentially completed. We expect the
ReK Center to be ready for use in the spring. The Trustees approved the funding for a mural inspired by the
concept that “Knowledge has no Borders” for the Library. Construction documents will be completed in a
couple of months for the Science and Technology Learning Center, and we expect to break ground in the
spring.
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Announcements
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Next Academic Senate Meeting —December 19, 2008
SETB Third Floor Conference Room
Academic Senate Christmas Party – December 19, 2008; 4-6pm
SETB Third Floor Conference Room
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Adjourn @ 3:50 pm
1. 1st Motion – Jude Benavides / 2nd Motion – Patrick Smith
2.
Respectfully submitted by
Dorothy Roussett, Recording Secretary
Note: Welfare Committee meets immediately prior to the Senate meeting.