UTMB Faculty Senate
March 14, 2005
Caduceus Room
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

MINUTES

Senators Present: T. Albrecht; J. Alperin, S. Ayachi, C. Baker; C. Boodley; D. Breitkopf; B. Budelmann (Chair); B. Camune; A. Cass, C. Christiansen (ex officio); J. Dallas; J. Gallagher; P. Gallagher; A. Hudson Jones; H. Jordan, R. Leonard; M. McGinnis; R. Moore (ex officio), K. Mossberg, V. Parisi (ex officio), C. Phillips; L. Phillips (ex officio); R. Rahr; K. Rassmusson; P. Watson (ex officio).

I. Approval of Agenda of 03/14/05

II. Approval of Minutes of 02/14/05

III. Dean of Medicine – Dr. Parisi

• New HBC&G Chair - After the decline of the top candidate, Dr. Perez-Polo (Chair ad Interim, UTMB) was appointed chair for three years. This will allow to bring the department into a position for successful recruitment of a chair of National Academy stature. It was not in the best interest for the department to initiate a new search.
• Search for Chair Ophthalmology - The Deans Advisory Committee discussed the situation with key off-campus ophthalmologists and made recommendations for how to continue the search.
• Search for Chair Internal Medical - The search is moving along using internet blackboard search. After review, the top candidates will be identified. A short list should be available by May. The package for this position will be pre-fixed to guarantee equal treatment of internal and external applicants.
• Search Chair Orthopedic Surgery - A short list will be available by next month.
• All three searches should be completed by June.

IV. Dean of School of Allied Health Sciences, University Chief Academic Officer and Chair of the Academic Executive Council – Dr. Christiansen

The Dean addressed a task force considering teaching and learning needs on campus and developing a six-year strategic plan for education. The AVP for Academic Resources and Director of the Library, Brett Kirkpatrick, will chair the task force. The following topics will be considered: IT Infrastructure; Computerized Testing; Instructional Space; Library Resources; Quality, Quantity and Availability of Instructional Support. The Senate recommended investigating how buildings are bring used for scholastic enterprises. The Senate recommended Drs. Joan Nichols, James Blankenship, and Francis Quinn as members of the task force.

V. Chair Comments – Bernd U. Budelmann

Report from Faculty Advisory Council Meeting in Austin March 3-4, 2005:
• The Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (Teresa Sullivan) will be very involved in undergraduate education and recruiting. There will be a special meeting in June to address those issues.
• The decline in students interested in graduate school is alarming. The Chair reported that for UTMB the numbers are down 22% as compared to last year, and 51% as compared to two years ago, mostly because of a decline in foreign applications (US applications are down 15% and 30%, respectively). The VP for Business & Administration Richard Moore mentioned that there is a program in place in Texas “Closing the Gap” that should bring enrollment in Texas to national average (by 2015, an increase to 600,000 college students).
• The new Vice Chancellor for Research, Bob Barnhill, will focus his interest on technology transfer and intellectual property issues.
• A new law puts a cap on the amount of money obtained from malpractice lawsuits. Since lawyers are not as interested any longer to take up such cases, patients are more likely to file complaints with the state boards. Once an informal complaint is filed, a physician has 10 days to respond. The complaint goes into the health professional’s record and must be reported when licensure is renewed. This raised the question of institutional support of faculty when complaints are filed.
• Legislature wants to increase medical residencies by 300.

VI. Senate Business.
• Governance – Dr. Albrecht Several working documents were prepared when the committee met with the members of the Office of the Vice President for Research. A critical issue concerns core facilities. A document will recommend re-examination of core facilities and new ways for funding them.
• Faculty Quality – Dr. Baker Senators toured the new Faculty Club space. It looks very promising. It should open by the end of the semester or the beginning of the summer. Loree Primeau is a part of the Faculty Survey Group. Currently, they are asking for last minute suggestions to the survey; it should be completed and out to faculty in September.

Meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

Next Faculty Senate Meeting 04/11/2005