FACULTY SENATE MEETING
Minutes
University Center, Concho Room
May 2, 2001
Attendance:
Amster, H., Cantwell, D., Clark, J., del Carmen, A., Courtney, H., Crowder, W., Eakin, M., Elmasri, R., Hunter, S., Ingram, T., Kellner, H. (Secretary), Liu, H., Maizlish, S., Maxwell, P., Morrow, E., Munch, J., Nestell, M., Nussbaum, C., Porter, L., Rasheed, A., Reinhartz, D., Reinhartz, J., Rycraft, J., Schelly, Z., Shipman, B., Silva, D., Sol, T., Weed, F., President R. Witt, Provost G. Wright, Vice President D. Dunn, Assistant Vice President M. Moore, Sharon Smith (Student Congress) and Chair T. Chrzanowski.
Call
to Order:
2:35 p.m.
Senate Chair Thomas Chrzanowski called the Senate to order.
Approval
of Minutes:
The minutes
of the March meeting were approved.
Remarks
by the Chair:
The chair
reviewed the accomplishments of the Faculty Senate during the past academic
year. He noted the complicated
technical aspects of the job of chair, particularly with regard to the
maintenance of the Senate website and the development of Internet-based faculty
voting. All past Faculty Senate minutes
have been posted to the website of the Senate. After six years of work, UTA has
a faculty grievance procedure in place.
The discussion of faculty accountability continues, with Sen. D.
Reinhartz as Senate liaison to the system's accountability committee. An online voting procedure was successfully
used this spring to elect faculty representatives to the Periodic Review of
Administrators committees. The chair
proposed without objection that departing senators continue to serve on the
committee after their Senate term expired.
Several issues have gone from the Senate to the President, including the
ongoing matter of the use of Social Security numbers for university
identification; the adjustment of the clock
In Post-Tenure Review procedures; and the revision of bylaws relating to
the succession of Faculty Senate officers.
Next year,
the chair noted, issues for discussion will include: assessment of faculty;
field of study; biannual review of PTR policies.
The online
voting system worked well, in spite of the lack of faculty knowledge about the
system and the absence of a "faculty only" database. The presidential appointments to the
Periodic Review of Administrators committees are in place; the process will
take place in the fall.
Sen.
Cantwell noted that the privacy issue and the use of Social Security numbers
would not go away, quoting from the Wall Street Journal.
Remarks
by the President:
President
Witt commented that tensions ran high in Austin at the end of the legislative
session. Many bills relating to higher
education were in process; the situation changing from day to day. At issue are: the 21-hour rule; tuition
revenue bonds; Excellence funds (as proposed for UTA and UTD); formula funding
(no decisions have been made). The
matter of university recovery of indirect costs has moved to the
background. There is discussion of
merit raises for staff -- 100 dollars or three percent is likely -- but no
discussion of faculty raises.
Sen. Schelly
asked about "flagship" status.
The president mentioned several bills that are under consideration. Sen. Harris and the Dallas Citizen Council
have been lobbying for the Metroplex universities; Arlington will be kept on a
par with UTD. The House excellence bill
offers nothing for PUF schools, but Representative Giddings has proposed a
three-tiered system with UTA and UTD at the top tier. It is clear that money will follow research and graduate production.
President
Witt reported that Thomas Wilding would chair the review committee for Vice
President Williams. A chair for the
committee to review Provost Wright will soon be in place.
President Witt
is reviewing the comparative salary study prepared by Michael Moore (Moore
distributed two selections from the study.
The study may be found at www.uta.edu/provost/salarysurvey). Moore rejected the perspective of the TEA as
reported in the Shorthorn, which suggested that Texas universities were far
behind the nation in salaries.
About the
use of Social Security numbers, President Witt noted that the issue is complex,
and that it will be necessary to identify areas where the use of these numbers
can be eliminated. They cannot be
removed from financial or health system records in Austin, so a piecemeal
approach will be followed.
Sen.
Maizlish asked for the president's early thoughts about low-paid academic
units. President Witt replied that the
provost and the deans must take a multi-year approach because salary
compression is a danger in fields with upward salary pressures.
Sen. L. Porter asked when the salary report would be
in the library. Moore said that it
would be there in a few days.
Sen. Liu
asked whether UTA and UTD might be joined at a later date. President Witt said this is not likely, but
that greater cooperation and perhaps joint appointments should occur.
Remarks
by the Provost:
On Post
Tenure Review, 60 people were notified, and 50 were reviewed. Four faculty retired and three
resigned. One is on leave. Two did not stand. All those reviewed passed.
Ten Faculty
Development Leaves were given.
Committee
Reports:
There were
no committee reports.
Old
Business:
Sen. Amster
suggested that teaching loads should be included in salary equity information
for women and minorities. She suggested
that Beth Anne Shelton should meet with the committee on salary equity to
improve the review process. The chair
said he would refer this to the appropriate committee.
New
Business:
Annual
reports from University Committees are available through the following links:
Campus Master
Planning Committee
Committee on
Rules and Elections
Faculty Development
Leave Committee
Scholarship, Loans,
and Awards Committee
University
Committee on the Status of Women and Minorities
Elections:
A lengthy
discussion ensued about the status of the Senate officers and the rules of
succession when officer leaves his or position before the end of the term. Sen. Del Carmen presented information that offered
alternative interpretations of Senate policy.
Sen. Silva maintained that his committee had produced responses to these
questions that had been approved by the Senate at the March 14, 2001 meeting
and were in the hands of the president.
Sen. Maizlish
was elected Secretary of the Senate.
Sen. Del Carmen was elected Parliamentian. Sen. Porter was elected to TCOFS (Sen. Amster alternate).
Announcements:
Senator
Clark asked Liberal Arts senators to meet at the close of the Senate meeting.
Sharon Smith
introduced the new Student Government head Shane Burke.
The chair
thanked the committee chairs and the Secretary of the Senate for their service
during the year.
At 3:41 the
meeting was adjourned.