The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College
Academic Senate Minutes
May 5, 2006
I.
Call to Order
President, David Pearson, called the May 5, 2006 meeting of the Academic Senate to order at
1:05 p.m. at the SET-B Third Floor Conference Room.
Senate Members in Attendance: Cantu Ethel (*),Celaya Pat (*), Collinsworth Carol (s), Corbeil
Rene (s), Dameron Charles, Davis Bill (s), Ferrier Doug, Fuss-Sommer Karen (*), Gallegos
Therese (s), Heise Elizabeth (s),Hockaday Mabel (s), Hollier Gerald (s), Jones Irma (*), Lacher
Joe (s), Lackey Charles, Larson Julie (s), Maldonado Maxwell Virginia (s), Martin Jose, Morgan
Bobbette (s), Otero Rafael, Pearson David (*), Peltz Gerson (s), Pena Eli, Phelps Cheryl (s),
Phillips Jay, Ragland Ruth Ann, Sullivan Thelma (s),
Senate Members Absent: Fossen Linda, Fuhro Victor, Holt Jim, Martinez, Rosemary, Nelson
Eldon, Rajasuriar Mahandran (s), Ronnau John, Silva Hilda, Stockton Carl, Sullivan James (s),
Sullivan Mary, Sutterby John (s), Zieschange Paul Hermann (s).Zavaleta Anthony.
Guests in Attendance: Julio Ledesma and Veronica Mendez
II.
Review and Approval of the Minutes
Dr. Pearson called for review and approval of the minutes from the March 10, 2006 Academic
Senate meeting. There were no corrections to these minutes. Dr. Gerald Hollier moved the
minutes be approved as distributed. Ms. Carol Collinsworth seconded the motion. Motion
carried.
III.
Presentations/Discussion: SACS Report—Dr. Eli Pena, Director of Institutional
Effectiveness
Dr. Pena distributed an outline of his report which included timelines for SACS Reaffirmation
and accreditation, doctoral program-Doctorate in Educaiton-SACS Ap[placation and Prospectus,
responses to SACS for Compliance Statemens, Documenting Faculty Teaching Credentials,
programs of study, faculty handbook, quality enhancement Plan, catalog revisions, and syllabi.
There will be a double visit for campus and doctoral program. There was a problem noted with
compliance statements with virtual college. Everything should be ready next Friday. Calendar
has the proposed dates outlined in it. The federal government is putting pressure for student
learning outcomes in SACS. They in turn are putting pressure on the UT System. By December
a draft of all compliance statements should be complete. SACS is going to be very high on
documentation. We will not hear from SACS until end of 2008. Dr. Pena outlined identified
leadership team members. Dr. Pearson asked a question about the quality enhancement plan and
how far along are we? Dr. Pena replied we are formulating a chart which coordinates all parts of
mission, student success issues and other effectiveness measures. We are looking for ideas for
themes. Dr. Lackey stated that the proposal for doctoral program will be in mail by next week.
Dr. Pena gave out a copy of compliance statement table where each compliance leader is
outlined.
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We need to make sure that the catalog, coordinating board and tables for degrees match. You
will be hearing more about that. We should have a format for faculty credentials by next week.
This will include all dual enrollment and adjunct faculty. We do not have a faculty handbook
instead we use HOOP. Mary Sullivan has an example which we will be looking at using that
institution wide. Reviewed catalog needs revisions. Dr. Bill Davis asked how the state
mandated 120 hours effects the 25% rule (residency requirement)? Ours says 30 hours which is
not 25%). There is a proposal to audit degree plans a semester before they graduate and students
will be encouraged to graduate on time. If you have 100 hours, they should have a degree audit
but that’s another proposal. Last item is syllabi recommending all have learning outcomes.
Elizabeth Hiest asked if it wouldn’t be helpful to have a university wide statement on disabilities
and academic honesty in a template. Dr. Bill Davis suggested using that as a separate paper.
Carol said that Steve Wilder send out a copy of disabilities. Charles Lachey identified how the
roles of faculty used to be for previous visits. He inquired as to how would they be different this
time. Several roles were outlined by Dr. Pena. Dr. Pena said it would be less faculty intensive.
(Dr. Pena’s report is attached)
Task Force on Student Success: Personal Barriers, Final Report —Ms. Ethel
Cantu, Senate President Ex-Officio
The committee charge: A UTB/TSC student will persist, despite personal barriers.
Data Collection: Focus groups with studens enrolled in Julie Larson’s Speech 1315 course;
administrator interviews: UTSA, UTEP, TSTC; CSI data.
Barriers Identified
1.
Financial: 74% are working ; 46% are working more than 20 hours per week;
“charge it on credit card”; “I have heard they offer jobs here but to work for five or
six dollars an hour is not enough, not even for gas.”
2.
Poor Time Management-first year students; “We prefer not doing other stuff, like
doing what we are supposed to, so I guess that’s why sometimes we have a low
GPA.”
3.
Unprepared: Academic and Psychological – 64% predict that they will struggle with
their academics; 73% are at risk for dropping out. “I didn’t think I was going to need
a backpack because I didn’t think you needed to do homework in college.”
4.
School Safety-Auto theft, dark around residence halls; juniors and seniors-dark
walking back to dorm; homeless people on campus.
5.
Lack of “Family Support”- first generation college students, 47% of parents have not
graduated from high school.
6.
Health Issues
7.
Child Care
Recommendations:
1.
Require extended orientation course (SPCH 1315) for all first-year students;
2.
Adopt case management approach to 1) identify student needs prior to enrollment and
match needs to resources, and 2) monitor student progress in academic (attendance, grades, skill
development) and psychological (follow-up on referrals for assistance) arenas.
3.
Establish mentoring programs: faculty and staff could serve as liaisons/mentors; students
could serve as peer mentors.
4.
Establish financial literacy program.
5.
Include parents and siblings in orientation and enlist their support.
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6.
Prepare students in high school for college-level work and responsibilities through
workshops and bridge programs.
7.
Address safety concerns of lighting vehicle thefts and vagrants.
8.
Expand availability of child care.
9.
Create an ad campaign that focuses on student success and that targets parents.
Teach the speech class in the high school is one suggestion made by Bill Davis. Julie Larson
indicated that many students in her classes were juniors and seniors instead of being the
freshmen students. The focus groups also indicated there were many juniors and seniors instead
of freshman. Thelma Sullivan indicated that maybe a change in name of course so that it reflects
the content should be made. Because of the GIPWE, we cannot change the title. Cheryl Phelps
indicated that maybe we don’t know our students the way we should know them. Is one of the
issues that the Department that offers the Speech class is limited in faculty? Yes. The repeat
takers are able to register before the freshman students so they know they need to get into it so
they take up the slots for freshman. Possibly designate sections for specifically freshman or
developmental students.
At the meeting last Friday when this report was given, Julie Larson was disappointed at the
number of people left in the room. Ms. Larson was reassured by Dr. Ragland that the reports
will be distributed so your work is not in vain. Faculty should attend these meetings. Dr. Martin
mentioned that behavior is affected by many factors, the issue of finances is an important one
and so student success is affected. Because of this awareness, President Garcia is going to be
making a concerted effort to raise money to support students. This year we are awarding 62
million dollars in financial aid, that is 12 million more than the year before. These awards comes
in many forms, federal grants, loans, some of the fastest growing segment in financial aid is
loans.
Our development office under Dr. Ragland and Dr. Garcia will be knocking at everyone’s door
to recruit funding with a consistent story of why we need the support for students. The average
debt for 2 year is $7 or $8,000 per David Pearson. In Texas, $150,000 average for medical
graduates.
Bond Projects Update—Julio Ledezma, Assistant VP for Administration and
Partnership Affairs and Veronica Mendez, Assistant VP for Construction
Bond project is to create more classrooms, ITEC campus, Music Education, East Library and
Oliveira Library, Biomedical Research and Outreach, Center for Early Childhood Studies.
Zones are being created: the Professional Zone is around the Education/Business Complex and
the Fine Arts Zones for the Music Education. The committee structure on how the projects are
approved was discussed. Two classroom buildings are online: one building for small classrooms,
16,585 sq ft and one building for large classrooms, 31,800 sq ft; ITEC 60,000 sq feet with
infrastructure and air conditioning improvements that will be made in the interior of ITEC. It
has been turned over to the architect to work on the master plan. Music Education-the facility
will have 27,000 sq ft. The East Library is 41,000 sq feet with library services, instructional
support, internet café, computer lab and study spaces. The Oliviera Library will expand the
Hunter Room and other labs. The Oliviera Library will not get renovated until the new one is
complete. Biomedical Building has 14,500 sq ft.; Wellness, Recreation and Kinesiology
Building has 150,000 sq ft.: three gyms, weight and fitness, multi-activity rooms, indoor track,
six classrooms and an outdoor pool, sports fields and faculty offices. Childhood Studies has
16,8000 sq ft., Eight classrooms, observation rooms, multipurpose room, and playground
facilities. The timeline is the for schematic designs until the end of the summer. We hope to
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hire contractors by June, 2006. The development of a web page for the construction progress is
in the works. Therese Gallegos asks why are our buildings only two stories high? The Master
Plan has determined that the Professional Zone should have only two stories. The water area
indicates that you shouldn’t have more than that. Bill Davis asks what will happen to the old
Childhood Center? What will happen to the current gym? The current Childhood Center will
serve infants to 2 and the new will be 3-5. The gym will continue to serve everyone. Tennis
courts- what are the ultimate plan for tennis courts. Continue to acquire property to move tennis
courts to that site.
IV.
Senate President’s Report
TSC Board Meeting, March 2006
The regular meeting of the Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees took place on Thursday,
March 23, 2006, in the Gorgas Board Room. A number of items were mentioned and discussed:
Property Purchases
The Board voted to purchase two lots in Colonia Alta Vista, Brownsville, Texas.
Board Briefing
The Board received a briefing from Doug Ferrier, Dean of Instructional Support, and the staff of
Distance Education (DE) staff on the use of MyUTBTSC portal for Distance Education.
UTB/TSC has been a pioneer in technology use, and has one of the best DE departments in the
UT System. Enrollment in DE courses has increased from 586 in the year 2000 to 5,150 in 2006.
Degree programs offering core courses online include: B.S. in Nursing, B.S. in Criminal Justice,
and the Bachelor of Applied Technology. Several graduate programs also offer online courses:
the Master of Educational Technology, the Master Technology Teacher, and the Master in
Business Administration.
Business Affairs Partnership Committee
During the report by the Business Affairs Partnership Committee, series of bids were approved
by the Board. These included:
 the demolition of vacant buildings ($159,700),
 a hydonic piping upgrade ($183,000),
 a pedestrian bridge over the Fort Brown Resaca ($528,000).
Substantial completion and final payment of $266,661.69 was approved for the University Blvd.
parking lot improvements, (1,200 parking spaces, landscaping, electrical and irrigation services).
Substantial completion and final payment of $19,583.70 was also approved for the temporary
cooling tower at the ITEC Campus.
The Board approved a change order for Phase II of the ITEC Campus thermal plant
improvements. This change, in the amount of $284,695, was necessary to add a new 1,000 ton
chiller to replace the existing outdated chillers.
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Finally, the Board heard that the contract for Construction Manager at Risk for the Wellness,
Recreation and Kinesiology Complex had been reviewed by the District’s legal counsel, the UT
System Office of Facilities Planning and Construction, and the District staff. The Board then
approved a Guaranteed Maximum Price for Construction Services contract with J. E. Dunn-Terry
Ray, a joint venture.
Bond Issuance
The Tax Bonds authorized by voters in November 2004 assumed six series of bonds issuances
between 2005-2010. The Board heard that because interest rates are near historical lows, TSC
can issue up to $25 million of Tax Bonds for approximately the same tax rate impact as had been
projected for an issuance of $20 million. The Board approved the commencement of proceedings
relating to the issuance of not less than $20 million and not more than $25 million of Tax Bonds.
Maintenance Tax Notes are a unique debt instrument available to the District. They do not
require an election, but can only be used for renovation and maintenance costs. By utilizing these
Notes to fund the estimated costs for renovation budgeted in the Bond Package, a like amount
can be freed up for other purposes such as construction or land acquisition. The District can issue
some $4.85 million in Maintenance Tax Notes, and the Board approved the commencement of
proceedings relating to the issuance of Maintenance Tax Notes.
The Board also was informed that the District has utilized Revenue Bonds several times in the
past for projects such as the Student Union Fee Revenue Bonds, the Combined Fee Revenue
Bonds for land acquisition, and the Wellness Fee Revenue Bonds. The Board voted to take
advantage of the current low interest rate by refinancing the 2002 Combined Fee Revenue Bonds
and extending the maturity date to 25 years, adding approximately $1.5 million to the project
fund.
Bond Projects Update
Since the new classroom buildings and the East Library will be built adjacent to each other, a
single architect will be hired to design these facilities. The Board voted to approve the selection
of Kell Muñoz Architects. The firm has designed other buildings on campus, and was described
as having “a vision for these things.”
President’s Report
Among the points Dr. García reported: for the third consecutive year, students from the UTB
School of Education received first place in the annual NASA Pre-Service Teacher competition.
UTB/TSC hosted the Rio Grande Valley Regional Science and Engineering Fair on March 4th.
A building that once housed a classroom at Episcopal Day School in Brownsville was officially
dedicated and named the Bahia Grande Research Station.
TSC Board Meeting, April 2006
The regular meeting of the Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees took place on Thursday,
April 13, 2006, in the Gorgas Board Room. A number of items were mentioned and discussed:
Real Estate Purchases
The Board voted to purchase four lots in Colonia Alta Vista, Brownsville, Texas.
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Public Discussion
Marvin Lovett, Professor of Marketing, discussed a paper he authored that was accepted for
publication in Spring 2006 issue of the Journal of Business and Behavior Sciences. The paper
was written in response to the School of Business Curriculum Committee effort to add an “ecommerce” degree major or concentration to the BBA programs.
Board Briefing
Carl Stockton, Dean of the School of Education, described how a team of UTB/TSC students,
referred to as “the fab four,” placed first in a competition with 60 other universities in the NASA
Pre-Service Teacher Competition, held in Washington D.C. The purpose of the competition was
to develop the skills and confidence necessary for teachers to teach science and mathematics
with a very high level of competency.
Manuella Campanelli, Associate Professor in the Physics & Astronomy Department, and
Assistant Director of CGWA, discussed her research, which focuses on a newly introduced
approach to the binary black hole modeling problem, dubbed the Lazarus Project.
Business Affairs Partnership Committee
The Board learned that the proposed budget will concentrate in critical funding issues such as
additional faculty positions, maintaining competitive faculty and staff salaries, growing academic
programs, increasing student retention, and compressing time to graduation. The total new
requests is $10.9 million, which includes $1.0 million for faculty merit and $3.6 million for new
faculty. No action was taken at this meeting.
Insurance rates have increased significantly since the past year, mostly due to weather-related
concerns. After considerable discussion and consideration of alternatives, the Board approved
paying higher premiums to ensure complete coverage of physical assets on the UTB/TSC
campus.
President’s Report
Among other items in her report, Dr. Garcia announced that UTB/TSC has offered a four-year
scholarship to an 8-year-old chess player from Garden Park Elementary School.
V.
Committee Reports
Texas Council of Faculty Senates: Irma Jones, Senate Secretary
There was a report about the Texas A & M Kingsville situation. The week of this meeting, the
faculty at Texas A & M Kingsville was voting on the new constitution for their Faculty Senate.
Before the end of the meeting, it was reported that the new constitution was approved by 58%.
We also heard from the UT-Austin faculty senate that they are working on student evaluation of
instruction forms. They are revising the form so that students are aware that faculty may be
able to identify a student by their writing. Also, standardization of how and where faculty may
access their evaluation forms. Dr. Parsoneault with the Coordinating Board is putting together a
state committee that will evaluate the status of undergraduate education. Each university will
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have two representatives, a faculty member and an administrator. We also heard from the
President of the Faculty Senate at University of Arizona on faculty governance. Arizona has
legislation that recognizes shared governance. There is one faculty member on the Board of
Regents for their institution.
VI.
Old Business
Exceptional Merit: David Pearson, Senate President
This is a continuation of the report from the committee who made recommendations on
exceptional merit. All departments should establish criteria for exemplary performance.
Faculty applying for exceptional merit should submit a written statement identifying those areas
in which they were exemplary. 1. A separate chairs merit process should be established.
Chairs have input into merit process, with a limited number of positions, if they also vote, they
could cut down competition. 2. Faculty who are themselves applying for exceptional merit
should not participate in the evaluation of exceptional merit applications.
Discussion began over these items. The first item to be discussed was a separate chair
process. It makes sense to have a separate process because the mix of responsibilities are
different from teaching faculty. Chairs are in the mid-management range and teaching is limited
for them. John Sutterby moves that faculty who apply for exceptional merit themselves should
not participate in the evaluation of merit applications. Jay Phillips indicates that if the chair goes
up for exceptional merit then the dean won’t have recommendations for any of the faculty in that
department that are going up for exceptional merit. It limits the amount of information the Dean
receives on faculty. Motion dies for lack of a second. Bill Davis moves that we vote on the two
committee recommendations together. It seems like both recommendations have some
support: the first recommendation is to have a separate chairs merit process and the second
recommendation is for faculty who are themselves applying for exceptional merit should not
participate in the evaluation of merit applications . It was moved and seconded to adopt both
recommendations together. Karen Fuss-Sommer seconded the motion. Therese calls for the
question which means it calls to end discussion the discussion. The motion carries.
The next two recommendations from committee that will be discussed are:
Exceptional merit may be received no more than once in any three year period.
Exceptional merit may not be received during the three years following successful
application for tenure and/or promotion.
Bill Davis is uncomfortable with the idea that base merit should be replaceable. Faculty should
not give that up. The senate needs to stand more forthrightly to have base merit be what it is
supposed to be; to ensure that base merit keeps up with inflation.
Recommendation:
Tenure-track faculty may not receive exceptional merit more than once
prior to applying for tenure.
Dr. Stockton indicates that exceptional merit is above base merit. If someone is doing
exceptional work, they should be able to compete at any time they wish. If you say a faculty
member may receive it only one time then you are discriminating against junior faculty. Dr.
Lackey says we can’t determine who is exceptional so we go to this type of system to sort out
who is exceptional. What we need to do is figure out how to determine who is exceptional. Dr.
Pearson says that departments must have some kind of criteria. Ethel Cantu mentions she is
opposed to time limits applied to exceptional merit because it is detrimental to creative process.
People should be able to apply for exceptional merit when they want. Rodney Sullivan says that
if the university doesn’t go to some type of system, we are just patching something that is
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broken. We need something more than a patch. We need university-wide criteria or something
that says that a faculty member must have new material for evaluation when they go up for
exceptional merit not just the same old material each year. If a faculty member is doing pure
research, it will be real hard to have new material each year.
Exceptional merit goes back to the time of the last personnel action. That isn’t necessarily true.
Karen Fuss-Sommer says that one item that is a problem is that we have gotten away from
making sure that faculty that are exceptional be rewarded and identified. There has to be
someone willing to look at that and then maybe it would be better instead of faculty doing the
same portfolio each year. Rodney Sullivan says we are losing sight of exceptional teaching.
We are recognizing something other than exceptional teaching. Gerson Peltz says exceptional
merit isn’t a tool to get more money. We shouldn’t use it to fix salaries. We might need
guidelines for evaluating portfolios. HOOP says you may be recognized for any of the three
things, then the department can’t say they don’t value one of the three things. Some
departments have a 3 year only policy and others do not. Therese Gallegos indicates that if
people received exceptional merit and if was added to their base pay, then they might not need
it each year. Therese was informed that exceptional merit monies are added to your base pay
permanently.
Bill Davis indicated that we have some recommendations from a committee that worked on
exceptional merit. We have talked about two of these recommendations: 1. that department
criteria should be established for the exceptional merit process and that all faculty should submit
a written one-page summary of describing whether they are applying on teaching, service or
research. We have discussed separating out the chairs as well as faculty that are going up for
exceptional merit from being on the personnel committees making exceptional merit decisions.
Bill continues to say that he doesn’t think the senate should take up anything else until the
senate takes a stronger stand about base merit. Senate needs to quit ignoring the reason why
the process hasn’t’ worked here. Nationally, faculty raises at other institutions have kept up with
cost of living. Here at UTB, they haven’t.
The senate tabled these issues and will take them up at a future meeting because they are
serious issues.
Karen Fuss-Sommer followed-up on the discussion with a resolution to administration to make
campus smoke free. There are several campuses in Texas that are smoke free. The policy
from UT Medical Branch Galveston is the one we would like to model ours after. UT-MB is an
entirely smoke free campus including the parking lots. Who would be the party responsible for
monitoring the policy on campus. No other academic institutions have an entirely smoke free
campus except the health schools. Since there is precedents for this, Karen would like to
recommend we do the same. She sent the policy to staff senate so they could begin
discussions about it. Cheryl Phelps says that the present policy indicates that the signage only
indicates that this is a smoke free facility (building), so the current signage is totally inadequate.
Balconies are becoming smoking dens. Our current policy just says smoking will not be
permitted in any facility at the university. The policy from the HOOP is not the latest policy that
was passed. Senate minutes show we had amended that policy previously. The questions was
asked: How do we move this policy forward? The Faculty Senate must make a strong
resolution stating what we want. At the moment, the issues we have are about the rules and
procedures for smoking and the designation of the space specifically for smoking. The current
policy is more of a problem than a solution at the moment. Campus police say that it is difficult
to enforce. If the faculty senate makes a strong enough statement, the administration will take it
forward but be aware of what you want.
Karen Fuss-Sommer will work with Cheryl Phelps to draft a resolution for the next meeting. We
also need to put up new signage between Cardenas North and South. The policy/signs now
read: 20 feet from any doorway.
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VII.
New Business
Forecast: Eli Pena will be coming and talking to us about a faculty handbook for SACS.
The Industrial Technology Department has a concern that at ITEC they are having problems
with their garbage pickup. When is regular garbage pickup on campus? The answer is
everyday. Apparently housekeeping is not emptying waste baskets for faculty everyday. This
may be indicative of lack of priority from main campus to off-campus sites. Dr. Stockton
comments that someone needs to pick up a telephone and report it to Housekeeping. Rodney
Sullivan clarifies that sometimes UTB has a specified contract indicating when and how often
garbage will be picked up in offices. Once the university went to outside contractors, everything
must be specified. This question needs to be redirected to the management at ITEC. Dr.
Martin indicates that ITEC has a contract for housekeeping and it is true that they looked closely
at the rate of trash pickup, with less pickup in administrative offices vs. more trash pickup in
public places. At ITEC, there is a weight considering the number of people to square footage.
Dr. Martin will follow up on this situation.
The next senate meeting is scheduled for April 7. Dr. Martin has a conflict as he has been
invited to be a guest speaker on that date. We can change the meeting to a different date, or
have the meeting without the provost but he has never been absent at any senate meeting
during his tenure, or cancel the April meeting. Joe Lacher moves that the meeting for April be
cancelled. Rodney Sullivan seconds the motion. Motion carried. There will be no meeting of
the Faculty Senate in April. The next meeting will be May 5.
Karen Fuss-Sommer reminded everyone that elections will take place in April for those senators
whose terms expire. Jay Phillips reminded everyone that we now have a new college with
faculty that are entitled to be represented at the Senate. Karen will add this college to the
election process.
Therese Gallegos asks for the Welfare Committee to please stay after the meeting.
VIII.
Provost’s Report
A portable building donated to UTB/TSC by Episcopal Day School and Ocean Trust Foundation
was dedicated last Thursday at the Bahia Grande. It is located on property owned by the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service. It will be used by our scientists for research and storage. It also will be
a gathering place for students planting Mangroves at the Bahia.
We want to thank our faculty, staff and community members who served as judges or in other
roles during the Rio Grande Valley Science Fair held on our campus last Saturday for the fifth
consecutive year. Coordinating the event was Dean Jay Phillips, Ruth Hunter, Griselda
Mendoza, and BISD’s Mike Baldwin. We had more than 360 projects entered. The fair has
grown so much, it may have to be held at Jacob Brown Auditorium next year.
Faculty members are in the process of accepting nominations and submitting portfolios for the
President’s Outstanding Teaching Award, which was formerly known as the Chancellor’s
Council Outstanding Teaching Award. A seven-member committee of past recipients has been
appointed to make a recommendation for the 2006 recipient. An ad will appear in the March 20
Collegian seeking nominations for our institution’s nomination for CASE Professor of the Year
Award.
Congratulations to Dr. Carl Stockton and faculty in the School of Education. Students from
UTB/TSC have won a prestigious NASA competition for future science teachers, defeating 60
other competitors from throughout the nation.
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The Academic Excellence Awards Ceremony recognizing outstanding students will be March
22, 2006 at p.m. in the SETB Lecture Hall. Guest speaker will be Mr. Ben Reyna, former
Director of the U.S. Marshals Service and now a special assistant in Academic Affairs for
federal relations and our public policy program. Come and support our excellent students.
Bond Project progress report: Selection process for architects is almost finished.
A couple of weeks ago, we had a distinguished visitor, Yale University Professor Emeritus, Dr.
Howard Person, who made three presentations during his visit. One as part of the Border
Health Seminar series on the Role of Iron Deficiency on Learning and Behavior; one to the premed students, and one to a small group of university and community members on a camp for
children with terminal/serious diseases. This is not a university initiative but an initiative
supported by members of the university community.
I have appointed a task force in support of Regents Resolution on Graduation Rates to try to
track students in a way that allows us to align our policies to improve graduation rates.
I have also appointed the search committee for the VPAA. It has faculty members from each
school and college.
Time and effort reporting is a big issue that requires investment. There are implications for
research and for resource allocations.
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IX.
Adjournment
Karen Fuss-Sommer moved the meeting be adjourned. Dr. Therese Gallegos seconded the
motion. Motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Irma S. Jones, Senate Secretary
Note: Welfare Committee meets immediately prior to the meeting
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