The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College
Academic Senate Minutes
October 20, 2006
Call to Order
I.
President, David Pearson, called the 20, 2006 meeting of the Academic Senate to order at 1:00 p.m. in
the Cassia Conference room.
Senate Members in attendance:
Arney Janna
Cantu Ethel
Castillo, Hector
Corbeil Rene (s)
Dameron Charles
Davis Bill (s)
Ferrier Doug
Fuhro Victor
Fuss-Sommer Karen (*)
Larson Julie (s)
Maldonado-Maxwell
Virginia (s)
Martin Jose
Molina Domingo (s)
Monroe Angela (s)
Morgan Bobbette (s)
Nelson Eldon
Ortiz Dennis (s)
Pearson David (s)
Phelps Cheryl (s)
Phillips Jay
Stockton Carl
Sullivan Rodney (s)
Tamez Eloisa (s)
Zamarripa Manuel (s)
Senate Members Absent:
Celaya Pat (*)
Gallegos Therese
(s)
Heise Elizabeth (s)
Hockaday Mabel (s)
Holt Jim
Jones Irma (*)
Jones Leslie (s)
Lacher Joe (s)
Lackey Charles
Lane Charla (s)
Martinez Rosemary
Moore Wayne
Peltz Gerson (s)
Ragland Ruth Ann
Ready Arlene (s)
Shane Martin
Silva Hilda
Zavaleta Antonio
Guests:
Linda Fossen
II.
Review and Approval of the Minutes
Called for by David Pearson. Bobbette Morgan noted that an apostrophe is needed in President’ Report.
In the paragraph starting the Board the 79 cents needs to change to 79.00. Floyd Acres is spelled Akers.
Need to Remove 2nd lieu of flowers. Check Ronnie’s new title which should correctly be described as
Director of Sports information, athletic development and marketing. Bobbette Morgan moved to
accept as amended. Julie Larson seconded. Motion carried.
III.
Presentations/Discussions
Presentation on Dual enrollment by Linda Fossen
Linda Fossen – appreciates opportunity to address and gave an executive summary of dual enrollment.
Handout received.
Summary of discussion
Excellent reputation among the High schools. Major contact on high school. Change in typo not 6000 but
600 dollars. Have to have 10 or more students in the class. Problems not enough faculty in the High
schools with masters working with Dr. Stockton about increasing that. Experimenting with Distance Ed.
A student’s mother called to tell that he was being challenged by the curriculum in the Distance Ed in
economics. Same format to evaluate teachers. Review faculty contract. Agenda for event. Karen clarified
to fall total for enrollment total students 4155 for a total of 16344 credit hours. Bill Davis expressed
concerns over issues of quality, no hoop policies about those faculty:
No guarantee on high school faculty
In HS real pressure to pass students
Keeping good students coming in
Can you maintain level of performance with the general student?
Fine climate on campus change of culture
No HOOP policy related to dual enrollment
25% of students are off campus
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Dr. Stockton commented. Not the climate with accountability at B.I.S.D. Standard has changed.
Teachers held accountable for not making the grade. David asked what is the qualification of technical
class. Linda responded that that is tech prep now re-branded as technical dual. Bill asked; has there
been a case where a teacher has been removed because the evaluations were bad. Eldon said for SHS,
the dual enrollment oversight and supervision has not occurred. Some may graduate with an AAS
degree without stepping on this campus. Some issues 25% of students not on this campus will there be
more in high school then on campus. Linda responded agrees that it is uneven some areas are doing a
super job and other that are not. Agree that concerns are warranted. She reported that Dr. Dameron is
willing to give workload release for managing that. Part of the concern, sophomore or freshman level
need is only going to get bigger according to ampersand student access was identified as a problem.
Ethel Cantu, large number of student who take there initial courses at high school will they be prepared,
psychologically for the campus. Linda stated that success depends on acculturation to the university
campus. Chip had the opportunity to work as coordinated dual with he stated it has grown rapidly and
need to look closely at implications. Doubled enrollment the technical dual 2/3 is an increase in technical
All have to meet enrollment standards for the assessment evaluation processes are in place.
Hb I states students have to have dual enrollment offerings. Parents are delighted by taking credits in
high school. Linda stated that the program asking for faculty to come out and bring student to campus.
STCC has more than us, TSTC is larger haven’t seen exact number says Linda Pan Am does not have
as much dual. Subsidize summer experience with dorm experience. Attract students Put in incentives in
scholarship model to increase.
Dr. Stockton – Austin community college has a large dual enrollment. There are many models out there.
More college ready programs. David said more of a community college. Dennis Ortiz stated, as a parent
students in class with students who don’t qualify. Quality is in teacher states Linda. Very rare dual are
freshman. Bill states some concerns, Chip says it’s on landscape. I am concerned that there is no policy
in hoop. Where is the accountability for quality request hoop policy for dual enrollment? might help get a
good handle on it. David concerned that dual students have access where regular students will have to
pay fees. Cheryl asked how they handled the course pay. Linda responded as a stipend. For that they
have to attend orientation, etc. Julie has 7 classes of dual. They are considered fulltime. Chip says they
have to meet the UTB course requirement. Definitely need to look at this. Bill Davis moved that a
resolution that hoop be written from dual enrollment. 2nd by Julie Larson.
Dr. Martin commented that it should help with them getting into there school of choice Essentially private
schools rise up the ante come out of high school with more than they normally would. Competitive nature
of the system. Issues of quality how do we certify test is aligned to pass the licensure test at the end.
Search for objective criteria to sort of know that what we know what will be quality. To funding formula if
we don’t have the students. To have internal accountability for the quality there should be a dean and
chair co certifier of quality of faculty.
IV.
Senate President’s Report
Administrative Changes
The most important recent administrative change has been the appointment of Charles Dameron to the
position of Vice President for Academic Affairs. What this means is that we will shortly be involved in a
search to replace Dr. Dameron as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts.
Faculty Advisory Council
FAC Chair Dennis Reinhartz outlined three major issues discussed at the August 10-11 meeting of the
UT System Board of Regents:
 The Regents want to found a Leadership Academy for new department chairs. The purpose
is to help new chairs learn how to deal with the sorts of issues that will confront them, such as
how to deal with staff.
 Concern with the declining number of minority students at the health campuses.
 The effort to establish a database for research projects, the so-called “dating service,” which
emphasizes cross-campus collaboration, and will ultimately be accessible to external
agencies and organizations.
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The FAC Chair also reported the sense that only two of the Regents are strongly pro-faculty, while
several others appear to share faculty concerns and sensibilities not at all.
Barry McBee, Vice-Chancellor for Government Relations
The FAC heard from Barry McBee, Vice-Chancellor for Government Relations, who discussed the
priorities and issues facing higher education in Texas in the coming legislative session. He noted that
there is an expected budgetary surplus on the order of $6-8 billion due to an increase in sales tax and
energy revenues. The environment, he noted, is “very flush” right now. The problem is that there are very
substantial budgetary demands, for new road construction, new prisons, and so on. On top of this there is
a constitutional spending limit, such that the Legislature might not be able to spend some of the surplus.
McBee noted that UT System’s top legislative priorities are three: restore the 10% funding cut, fund
approved tuition revenue bonds, and strengthening the formula for formula funding.
McBee noted that Distance Education is now being viewed by the Legislature as a low-cost tool for
increasing graduation rates. He noted that some Regents have been heard discussing the possibility of
requiring students to take one DE course per semester.
James Sarver, Director, Office of Employee Benefits
James Sarver, the Director of the Office of Employee Benefits, told the FAC that an HMO is not likely to
be a health care option next fall. He also said that his office is working on “branding” the six UT Systemapproved retirement venders’ offerings as “UT programs.” The six venders are AIG Valic, Fidelity
Investments, ING Life Insurance and Annuity Company, Lincoln Financial Group, MetLife Resources, and
TIAA-CREF.
Mr. Sarver noted that his office is currently working on a year-round online benefits enrollment procedure
for new employees, on a new webpage, and on a quarterly newsletter.
UT Chancellor Mark Yudof
In his meeting with the FAC, Chancellor Yudof focused on two main topics: the problems at UTMB
Galveston and the STARS Program.
The STARS program involves some $60 million to help attract and retain the best qualified faculty at our
institutions. Of that amount, $32.45 million was allocated among seven academic institutions, some on a
non-competitive basis ($14.6 million) and some ($17.85 million) on a competitive basis. These funds can
only be used for capital expenditures, not for faculty salaries, graduate assistants, or the like. Three
related goals form the pillars of this program:
1. The first goal involves retaining high quality faculty who have offers from another research institution
or have the potential to leave because of limited access to quality equipment and/or laboratories.
These awards are competitive.
2. The second goal is to recruit senior faculty from other institutions who have “star” status or had the
potential to become a star. These awards are also competitive.
3. The third goal is to improve the quality of new faculty and the research capacity of our academic
institutions by augmenting the start-up packages for tenure-track assistant professors. These take the
form of non-competitive block grants supervised by the academic officers at each institution.
Chancellor Yudof noted that efforts are now being made to make STARS more flexible and attractive by
locating private funds to augment the STARS awards. The private money could be used for faculty
salaries, graduate assistants, and other costs beyond the equipment/renovation emphases of the STARS
awards.
The major problem with the STARS program, as far as UTB/TSC is concerned, is that it applies only to
those UT System components receiving PUF monies.
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V.
VI.
HOOP Policies

Policy 7.1.1 Janna Arney described. David looked for discussion. Bill suggested adding
appropriate to the position after requirements. Julie states that there is no purpose. Rewrite to
Janna.

7.3.4 of Hoop: two tiered evaluation system. Proposed change is the need for a separate process
for evaluation of Chairs. Completive merit. Julie questioned chairs against chairs. Cheryl Phelps
Even handedness will not change if they are still in the pool. Julie requested then when policy is
passed it gets disseminated to chairs of departments. Rodney inquired does the wording indicate
may cause confusion is dean has to meet with faculty. Bill said availability basic merit is not high
enough. Remove 1st sentence Much discussion ensued. Julie motioned that it goes back to
original authors for clarification. Domingo 2nd the motion. Cheryl commented about eligible.
Rodney made more comments. Rodney in opposition was flogged by members of senate. Victor
Fuhro recommended it be rewritten in legislative style
New Business
Karen Fuss-Sommer reminded everyone of Nursing birthday party on October 27 at 630 pm and SHS
Open house on October 25 At 500 pm. Both in SHS courtyard.
VII.
Old Business
Cheryl Phelps--queried about an update on smoking policy.
VIII.
Provost’s Report – Dr. Jose Martin
1. As a result of the Legislator’s approval in the summer of our special item request for $ 33.8 million
for a science and technology building, the TSC Board has approved a significant change to the
Music Education Building. In order to provide the teaching and rehearsal space in the initial
proposal by the music faculty, as well to enlarge the recital hall to expend opportunities for a
wider range of performances, this project budget has increased from $18 million.
2. The proposal for our doctoral program in Curriculum and Instruction is on the agenda for the U.T.
System meeting in mid-November, and if approved, will move on to the Coordinating Board. T the
same time, the doctoral proposal is being revised this fall by the Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools. If all goes well, we intend to enroll the first group of doctoral students in the Fall
2007.
3. Frankie Avalon recently preformed before a large, enthusiastic audience at Jacob Brown
Auditorium as part of the Arts and Entertainment Series. Look for an announcement soon about
the performers for the coming 2007 season.
4. Professor Richard Urbis will perform tomorrow night as part of the Patron of the Arts Seines. Over
the next two weeks, there will be two add ional Patrons’ events that are featuring performances
on the piano.
5. Last Monday, as part of the DLS we had two distinguished lectors. Dr. David McCullough and Dr.
David Pearson. We are grateful to Dr. Pearson for his willingness to fill in at a moments noticed.
6. The School of Education, under the leadership of Carl Stockton, is going forward with the plans
for the Math and Science Assembly to it’s opening in August of next year. He is being assisted by
Dr. Rosales and Dr. Deloria Nanze-Davis.
7. Invite you all to a reception to honor Dr. Carl Stockton on the occasion of his being selected for
the Houston Endowment Chair in Education. This might take place at the Rose Garden next
Thursday, October 26, at 4:30pm.
8. I also want to remind you all that we are meeting in this room next Friday at 2pm, to honor Mr.
Victor Fuhro, who will be returning at the end of the month.
IX.
Announcements
Victor thanked all the senators for their support announced his replacement Hector Castillo. Hector
stated he was looking forward to working
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X.
Adjournment
Karen Fuss-Sommer moved to adjourn. Cheryl seconded. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by
Karen Fuss-Sommer, Vice President
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