UTMB Faculty Senate
March 13, 2006
Caduceus Room 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

MINUTES

Members Present: T. Albrecht, J. Alperin, W. Au, S. Ayachi, C. Baker, B. Budelmann, B. Camune, A. Cass, C. Christiansen, E. Cuellar, D. Freeman, J. Gallagher, P. Gallagher, R. Johnson, R. Leonard, H. Li, K. Mossberg, M. Olson, C. Phillips, R. Rahr, K. Rasmussen, S. Weaver, and M. Winter. Guests: W. New and Ann Elbert.

I. Approval of Agenda of 3/13/06

II. Approval of Minutes of 2/13/06 – A motion was made to hold and approve the minutes in April, the motion was seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

III. President’s Comments – Dr. Stobo was not present to provide his report.

IV. Deans’ Corner and SACS update
• Dr. Christiansen reported that the newly organized Council of Deans is busy with restructuring and will have a retreat for that purpose on March 23. • Dr. Christiansen reported that SACS compliance issues are being addressed, and narratives are being drafted by committees. An approval process has been developed for new educational programs at the university; all new programs will be expected to go through the 7 steps to gain approval (handout provided).
• Dr. Christiansen stated that the faculty roster will need to be completed by all grade-giving faculty, as required by SACS. He reported that Dr. Watson noted there was a review of all faculty credentials 3 years ago, so the plan is to retrieve that information and reduce the need for new credentialing of foreign-trained faculty.
• As SAHS Dean, Dr. Christiansen informed the Senate that the UT Board of Regents has approved the planning for a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program in the SAHS Dept. of Physical Therapy. He stated that a majority of the professional programs in physical therapy in the U.S. offer a DPT.

V. Chair’s Comments – Dr. Winter

• Dr. Winter reported that the institutional online training committee has approved 2 more online courses. One course will address time and effort reporting and will need to be completed by all faculty with sponsored research (not just federally-supported research efforts); this is due to a federal mandate that requires all faculty be trained by August 31, 2006. A second course will address technology transfer, in response to federal law, for those that might be ‘exporting’ data out of the U.S. or to foreign nationals within the U.S. A question was asked how this might affect working with graduate students, communications in graduate faculty and departmental meetings.
• Dr. Winter attended the IBC and will send the IBC PowerPoint presentation to all senators. The SON budget PowerPoint will also be sent to all. Hurricane Rita losses are reflected in the budget, partially explaining the shortfalls. UTMB has applied for reimbursement from FEMA and may receive between 5 to 6 million from them.
• Dr. Winter has a paper copy of the UTMB budget for the 1st half of the fiscal year for anyone wanting to review it; it is a SACS requirement that the budget be made available to faculty.
• Dr. Winter has a detailed breakdown of the recent Faculty Survey for those that want to see the longer version; data is available by schools but not by departments. It will be reviewed by the Faculty Senate and recommendations will be made regarding how to address ‘unfavorable’ ratings. There was a question how the results of this survey compared to prior ones; will need to locate prior survey results.

VI. Time & Effort Reporting/PeopleSoft Issues—delayed until guests could arrive at 5:00.
• Bill New and Ann Elbert provided an update on NIH issues resolved in late January. Recent Science article outlines that rules for research billing have not changed, but are being interpreted more strictly than before.
• There is a form where investigators are to sign approval of account; form varies slightly in each department). Mr. new explained that usually signing the form indicates institutional approval, not individual approval.
• Salary cap issues—UTMB over-billed, so we are paying that back
• Faculty members are encouraged to report their percent efforts on grants; dept. administrators should adjust percentages as need. If we work less than what we ill, we’d need to pay that back. When faculty see unusual percentage effort numbers (i.e. 32.73%), those odd numbers are reflecting non-recurring merits, bonuses, etc. Mr. New reports that this process should be easier with the new ‘institutional based salary’ initiative.
• If faculty get additional grants and need to adjust percent efforts on all externally funded projects, will need to reassign percentages. If reduce an effort by more than 25%, need to get the grant project director’s approval.
• An expense to grant A has to come from that grant’s budget; if an expense benefits several grants, can attribute a proportion to each budget. • DataMart is a reporting system and generates reports; sign off that you have seen the reports; generally check the expenses. Some training will be needed for faculty; after a bit to get familiar, scanning monthly will be sufficient.
• PeopleSoft is a tracking system. Mr. New admits there have been lots of problems with the program, resulting in lack of confidence in the program. It was upgraded in July and this addressed lots of the shortfalls.

VII. Chair-Elect Comments – Dr. Baker
• Dr. Baker recently attended a UT System Faculty Advisory meeting in which Rep. Patrick Rose, a member of the House Committee on Higher Education, addressed the FAC and expressed his support of higher ed; he hopes that tuition revenue bonds will be included on the agenda for the upcoming special session.
• Dr. Baker also shared that the first student Regent to the UT Board of Regents met with the FAC. He plans to visit each UT campus this year of his appointment.
• Dr. Baker also briefly reported that Regent Colleen McHugh met with the FAC; discussion focused on the Regent’s focus on graduation rates for 4 year institutions; concerns expressed to her that this one issue does not adequately represent the changing demographics of Texas campuses.
• Dr. Baker informed the Senate that there will be a demonstration next month of the ‘dating service’ that matches UT system graduate students with potential faculty mentors. The database will also allow faculty to input their research interests for other to see, expanding collaboration oprprtu9ens.
• Reports from the FAC committees: Academic Affairs committee reports an increased reliance on distance education courses since there is a shortage of physical classroom space on many campuses. Health Affairs Committee is drafting leave polices to be adopted by UT system and all campuses. Governance Committee encourages all components to implement a policy to have faculty representation on all administrative search committees on their respective campuses.

VIII. Past Chair’s Comments – Dr. Budelmann

• Dr. Budelmann informed the Senate that there are currently 83 members of the Faculty Lounge; 200 is the target enrollment. He suggested that there may be some changes to the operation of the Faculty Lounge to make it more cost-effective; these proposed changes will be discussed with Mr. Richard Moore. A more detailed report will be available next month.

IX. Senate Business

Committee Reports
o Governance – Chair Barbara Camune reported that the governance committee continues to review the Senate by-laws.
o Academic Affairs – Chair Christine Boodley was not present but Helen Li reported they are working on a common calendar for the four schools and expect to make a proposal to the Senate next month.
o Faculty Quality – Chair Richard Rahr announced that this committee is requesting to be placed on the agenda next month to present a plan for faculty development and mentoring in areas of service, teaching and research.

Dr. Winter reported that Dr. Alice Speer has requested an endorsement from the Senate for the Core Committee for Women Faculty and Administrators’ appreciative inquiry efforts; he will give this to the Faculty Quality committee for further action.

Further discussion of the Faculty Survey: Dr. J. Gallagher noted his concern about the high percentage of faculty that considered leaving in past year.

Further discussion of time and effort: Some faculty expressed concern that the forms being developed by the UTMB compliance office have confusing wording and recommend that a faculty member be involved in reviewing the forms (in addition to legal office).

Some stated that it appears that UTMB has gone overboard with compliance issues and is ultra-conservative; Dr. Winter explained that UTMB has been in trouble with feds in the past and ‘punishment’ is to have all faculty complete compliance training for 3 years. Others noted that some university campuses have a more collaborative environment; ours appears to be more dictatorial.

Request to have compliance officer Terry Reeves present at a future Senate meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

Committee meetings followed.

Next Faculty Senate Meeting: April 10, 2006 at 4:30 p.m. in the Caduceus Room.