ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING
Friday, April 24, 2009
SETB Third Floor Conference Room
Minutes
Call to Order – Karen Fuss Sommer
I.
The meeting of the April 24, 2009 Academic Senate was called to order by Karen Fuss Sommer
at 1 p.m. at the SETB Third Floor Conference room.
Senate Members in Attendance
Chuey Abrego
Janna Arney
Jude Benavides
Steven Benton
Kevin Buckler
Pat Celaya
Ethel Cantu
Steve Chen
Charles Dameron
Bill Davis
Eduardo Del Rio
Manuel Escotet
Doug Ferrier
Angelica Fuentes
Karen Fuss-Sommer
Peter Gawenda
Elizabeth Heise
Gerald Hollier
Irma Jones
Joe Lacher
Charles Lackey
Brett Lefler
Eric Linder
Bobbette Morgan
Eldon Nelson
Grant Olbeter
Cheryl Phelps
Martin Shane
Patrick Smith
Annabel Treviño
Antonio Zavaleta
Senate Members Absent
Leslie Arnim
Hector Castillo
Emilio Garrido
Richard Gomez
Daniel Heimmermann
Moustafa Malki
Eldon Nelson
Guests
Betsy Price
II.
Presentations: Campus Compact: Marilyn Woods
Went over the highlights of the campus compact that was distributed by email to all faculty this
morning. Discussion and suggestions were made to improve or document research that
students are conducting. Formalize the program review process and faculty information on
research and publication. QEP should be in the ongoing initiatives where it is expanded and
assessed yearly. Design of QEP is done but the implementation is a five year theme.
There are some new strategic initiatives which will begin this year: educational leadership; and
an enrollment management plan; Bill Davis indicated that new faculty projections are too small
and the old plans indicate numbers that we haven’t really kept up. Marilyn would look into that.
III.
Review and Approval of Minutes – Karen Fuss Sommer
Bobbette Morgan moved the minutes be approved as distributed. Patrick Smith seconded the
motion. Motion carried.
IV.
Senate Presidents Report – Karen Fuss Sommer
Attended TSC Board of Trustee meeting on April 23, 2009 where Student Government spoke to
the Board of Trustees about issues of Student Government. There was a contribution and
renaming of the Performing Arts Center Box B to the Villarreal- Montemayor Box. The Chess
Team came in 3rd place. The official opening date of the new REK center will be on May. This
building will employ 67 students which is more students than any other part of the campus.
Attended Faculty Advisory Council on April 10 where they received an update on the UTMB
lawsuits and plans for the next meeting where they will be having dinner with Dr. Cigarroa, UT
Chancellor. The lawsuit against the UT System was settled on April 13. The lawsuit was for
violating the open meetings act. Faculty wanted their jobs back but the settlement did not
include that provision. The TFA website has all the settlement details. Hearings at UTMB on at
least four grievances have been held. System has not responded to any inquires from AAUP
about their displeasure with the process.
The handgun resolution passed the House and we anticipate that it is going to pass the Senate
as well. Congratulation to Bill Davis for winning the 2009 Chancellor’s Teaching Award.
V.
Committee Reports
 Welfare Committee Report – Steve Benton
Discussed the faculty workload responsibilities and teaching load policies. The drafts of
these two policies are being distributed for informational purposes only and will be brought
back at the next meeting.
 Treasurer’s Report – Elizabeth Heise
Elizabeth Heise attended the Business Affairs Partnership Committee meeting where the
authorization of the movement of the four electrical poles outside the Newman Center was
given so as to facilitate the movement of Campus Police to their new home. Once Campus
Police move to the Newman Center, renovation can begin on the Faculty Club area.
VI.
HOOP Policies Committee


HOOP 20.X.X Data Classification Policy – Steve Chen ACTION ITEM
After discussion with Michael Blanchard, it was determined that this policy does not have to
be in the HOOP and should be in the security manual of that department. No action was
taken except to remove this from the agenda.
HOOP 7.4.3 Faculty Classroom Responsibilities-Janna Arney (Second Reading) ACTION ITEM
Bill Davis asked about the reason for adding ISBN numbers to the policy again. The reason
behind the ISBN number is so that students can purchase books on line doing comparative
shopping. Does the ISBN give them options that the author and title does not give them?
Doug Ferrier indicated that the ISBN is not superfluous but is better or more specific. The
ISBN also distinguishes packages, soft or hard back, or different features included etc. The
ISBN is used for ordering material for the library. UTB is trying to be in compliance with
federal regulations that are coming up so this is in anticipation of that request to have it
supplied. Bobbette Morgan moves to accept this policy. Bill Davis seconds the motion.
Motion carried.
VII.
Old Business

Update on HOOP Exigency Plan – No update

Gender Equity Resolution – Patrick Smith
Before last meeting, Human Resources and Hector Castillo provided the committee with
a report. The data is still incomplete as it did not cover all the years asked for and in the
sense that by department, the numbers are not accurate. Given that data is incomplete,
there are four trends that can be seen: in terms of new academic faculty hired, males
are being hired 2-1 than women and the gap has been increasing over the last five
years. Technical faculty was previously hired was mostly female, although this is has
been reversed in the last five years. Tenured professors are relatively equivalent except
at the assistant professor level where more males are tenured than females. The
average salary for males and females at all ranks is approximately $56,000; at the
associate professor levels, males are making 3,000 more than females at $66, 000. At
assistant professor levels, males are making more. At the maximum there is a 5%
difference for male and females, with males earning more money. Data are incomplete
at the department level. Earlier this semester, the Senate passed a resolution to have
the university track specific data and that the data be more complete than it currently
is. When faculty are hired is important to know but also important is when did these
faculty members leave (how long did they stay) rather than not get tenure. This
information is not available yet. Kevin Buckler also recommends that tracking needs to
done at the time of hire as research indicates that men are more likely to negotiate
salaries than women. Dr. Dameron indicated that we need to look at each discipline
because as offers vary considerably based on the discipline. This would allow the
institution to look at implications.
Karen Fuss Sommer asked this committee to provide a written preliminary report in May
and try to clarify data or make sure that the data is complete. Pat Celaya asked why the
committee is going back to the partnership with this data. The reply was because we
were looking at the entire personnel process with how many women were hired and
tenured or promoted. Eric Linder makes a statement that the numbers given need to
be put in context. Dr .Zavaleta indicated it would be more helpful if the committee
could zero in where the original problem surfaced.
VII.
Provost’s Report – Dr. Antonio Zavaleta
Revision of Enrollment Management Plan
Dr. Zavaleta indicated that the institution completed a new enrollment management plans
which it has sent to UT System. It was returned with System asking UTB to review certain areas.
The plan was due back to System by March 27 and we have not heard from them. There was a
large investment in time and people to making the revisions so that the second draft of the
enrollment plan is good. There is an enrollment management plan retreat being held on May 11
with the Jim Scooter, the enrollment management guru from Austin being present to
participate. We are on the right track with the new plan that makes sense and is owned by
every precinct in the university with projections for enrollment and resources associated with it.
He will be able to report more at the next meeting and maybe even share the plan with the
Senate
There is a major effort to place items online that is a part of the enrollment management plan.
One practical application for this will be that it will help us do a better job of forecasting the
courses that students need. Kevin Buckler asked “How close is our website change?” Currently
the website is set up by organizational structure but Melanie Linder is hoping to have some time
to convene a group of people to look at general concepts about how the home page should be
organized. Tony Zavaleta indicated that the Senate can have Melanie Linder report at the next
meeting.
Tony Zavaleta reported on the results of the dual enrollment study compiled by Eddie Del Rio.
Understanding and attempting to interpret the immediacy of the need and the credentials of
the person to be hired, UT System granted UTB permission to create a director of dual
enrollment, not a dean, but a person that holds academic rank. The short list of names was
created by administration and Eddie del Rio agreed to serve as director of dual enrollment on an
interim basis. UTB will begin a search for a permanent director. Dr. Del Rio will begin his
position on July 1 and Dr. Zavaleta has been meeting with him for a rapid transition to what
must be done for the fall with the returning class of students. The administration has taken the
Senate report very seriously and they will do their best to fix the dual enrollment situation. Dual
enrollment is not going to go away but instead may be growing bigger with quality assurance
from faculty and department involvement.
VIII.
New Business
Cheryl Phelps asked a question about why the university couldn’t pool resources to hire a
university webmaster. Tony Zavaleta indicated that hiring a university webmaster is the plan
but we may not be there yet. There is only one department in compliance with the mandate of
websites. Kevin Buckler suggested that if a person was given a course release to organize the
website for a particular college, updating could be done in a quicker manner.
A question was posed about faculty being allowed to take more than the 24 hours after an exam
to submit grades. In the past, grades had to be sent to the department, then dean, then
registrar, the need for grades to be turned in as soon as possible after the exam was valid. Now,
as our grades are automatically submitted online and they arrive at the registrar’s office quickly
with no lag time, why can’t the faculty have 48 hours to submit grades? Bill Davis indicated that
if an instructor has a 24 hr time period but there is no automatic death penalty attached to it, it
doesn’t seem to matter. The registrar’s office will make exceptions where reasonable. It is
better to keep the 24 hour rule and beg for forgiveness. The question asked was if the
administration can provide a name of someone to contact if a faculty member is going to need
to turn in grades late? Tony Zavaleta will have that information for us.
Clarification of director positions – Because both Cheryl Phelps and Eddie del Rio have been
given promotions and because now the university has several different administrative levels:
assistant deans, associate deans, and directors, it has been more difficult for the Senate to
recognize if these positions are administrative or faculty. The Senate would like to consider and
implement some type of definition of faculty. UTPA’s constitution indicates that anyone who is
a chair or below and who has 50% or less administrative load is still considered faculty. An
example is: If Eddie del Rio becomes an interim director of dual enrollment and his
administrative role is 100%, he should no longer be considered faculty and be allowed to serve
as a senator or officer. Steven Benton asks if the Senate is suggesting an amendment to the
constitution. Karen Fuss Sommer will provide wording for this amendment at the next meeting.
IX.
Announcements
The Senate election results were distributed by Vice-President Bobbette Morgan and this list
identifies the senators and officers for 2009-2011. Because Eddie del Rio had run for the office
of secretary, he has had to resign that post. The Senate will be proceeding with a request for
nominations and election to fill the secretary position immediately.
Next Academic Senate meeting will be held on May 29, 2009 at the SETB Third Floor Conference
Room.
X.
Meeting was adjourned at 2:49 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Irma S. Jones, Senate Secretary
Dorothy Roussett, Recording Secretary