UTMB Faculty Senate

February 14, 2011

4:30 – 6:00 pm

MINUTES

 

Present:  Drs. C. Utsey, Chair, G. Anderson, K. Beal, P. Crane, S. Croisant, Y. Davila, L. Farmer, S Gerik, S. Higgs, C. Houston, C. Jansen, J. LeDuc, N. Mendias, M. O’Keefe, H. Pine, D. Powell, P. Singh, E. Smith, D. Solanki, C. St. John, P. Watson, D. Wild and C. Wisnewski

Absent:  Drs. I. Boldogh, B. Bryant, L. Massey, T. Riall, H. Spratt, A. Torres and C. Wiggs

 

I.      The meeting was called to order by Dr. Carolyn Utsey, Faculty Senate Chair.

 

II.    The Approval of the January 10, 2011 minutes.  The minutes of January 10, 2011 were voted and approved by email on January 26, 2011.

 

III.  Dean’s and VP Report

       Dr. Anderson stated that about 70% of the elevators are fixed.  By year’s end, we should have most elevators finished.  The first floor of the hospital is currently under repair and they have started working in the center and will work their way out.  Buildings that will be torn down should happen soon.  The Legislative session is in progress and we will not know about the budget until June.  The students from the four schools will go to Austin in March and they will meet with the Legislators.  Dr. Crane asked about the practice nurses and Dr. Watson replied that an email went out asking faculty to release students who wanted to attend.  Dr. Croisant asked what can the Senate do to support the University’s efforts?  If you know of someone who has a personal relationship with a legislator, have the person educate them.

 

Dean, School of Nursing (SON) and Vice President for Education – reports provided by Dr. Watson.

Dean, School of Health Professions (SHP) – report provided by Dr. Protas.  

Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) – report provided by Dr. Cooper.

 

IV.  Strategic Planning Calendar – Dr. Rebecca Saavedra, VP Strategic Management      

Dr. Saavedra distributed “The Road Ahead Strategic Vision 2011-2015” and the PowerPoint slide handout. 

For The Road Ahead Strategic Vision 2011-2015, Dr. Saavedra discussed the Mission, Vision and Values, Strategic Priorities, and the Institutional and Mission-Area Goals. 

For the PowerPoint slide on Strategic and Operational Planning Cycle, some highlights include:

The 1st quarter is Situation Analysis, 2nd quarter is Direction, 3rd quarter is Alignment and Execution, 4th quarter is Evaluation.

September: publish and implement updated institutional and operational  plans (goals), October-November: End of FY results and analyzed, December: Publish EOY report, January: Legislative session begins, begin operational and budget planning for next cycle, February-March: Mid-year reviews, April: Mission and Institutional goals developed/updated, June: Finalize/update institutional and mission area plans, July: Schools/Departments/Individuals align plans based on institutional and mission plans.

Dr. Utsey asked if there is input from other sources on specific goals?  Yes, the mission areas go to their leadership teams for input.  The website http://www.utmb.edu/strategic_vision/

Dr. St. John asked where do we stand with IHOP on financial exigency and on background checks?  Dr. Utsey stated they are still soliciting input.  Dr. O’Keefe asked for our increased enrollment, how did the percentages come about?  UT system pressure, building our capacity and the Dean’s checked to see what it would take, now we wait to see the actual budget.  Dr. Lieberman stated the number was derived several years ago from State needs and expectation and where we should go.  The SOM is frozen at 230 students until we have more facilities.

V.    Reports by Faculty Senate Executive Committee and Committee Chairs

·      Dr. Utsey stated that the Executive Committee recently met with Dr. Callender and they discussed status of the Faculty Senate goals including that the Senate subcommittees were working hard at completing these goals.  Dr. Utsey had inquired about the PETA report and it is currently under investigation internally.  The USDA inspected and did not find anything to support the complaint.  The employee who reported it went directly to PETA and the Administration was wondering why this person did not come to us with this complaint first? 

·      Dr. Croisant discussed and distributed the minutes from the UT System Faculty Advisory Council meeting, which was held January 27-28th.  She asked the Senators to take time to read this.  The House recommendations are 26.5% cuts and Senate recommendations are 19% cuts for UTMB but we will not know the results until June or July.  Speculation is that Governor Perry may run for President; Senator Hutchison will not run again and Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst will run for her spot.  She also reminded the Senators that when Dr. Raimer presented to the Senate, he mentioned that UTMB is an Academic Campus and Health System, which places the University at risk for budget cuts as well as possible reduction in medicaid reimbursement.  In addition, the bill for carrying a concealed gun on campuses is back.  Voice your concerns by contacting your Representatives, Read Dr. Raimer’s blog http://blog1.utmb.edu/hpla/.  We need to identify the bills that impact us, perhaps a link on our website?

·      Dr. Croisant discussed the results of the Faculty Senators Survey on Communication.  The SHP and SON have faculty meetings that include discussions from the Faculty Senate.  The SOM may need to consider a better mechanism for communicating Faculty Senate information.  Faculty Orientation would be a good place to give an overview of the Senate.  The next step with the Survey is to send it to faculty and department chairs and identify how we can better communicate our role and what we do.  Dr. Wisnewski stated last year, she sent monthly emails to the entire Faculty with a link to the previous month’s minutes.

·      Dr. Smith reported for the Faculty Quality Committee:  After discussion with Dr. Sierpina, we should revise the Ombudsperson qualifications.  Dr. Smith made a motion to amend the qualification by adding full-time tenured UTMB faculty member or retired UTMB faculty member.”  Dr. Powell suggested that we talk to UT Austin to see what works for them.  Dr. Pine asked, if the candidate is a current UTMB faculty, will he/she have to reduce 20% of his/her duties for this position.  The answer was that yes, he/she would and 20% of the pay would come from this position.  Other questions included: Would this be a conflict of interest if we had a faculty member from the same department as the Ombudsperson, so should there be an alternate person?  What role should they take Advocator or Facilitator?  A Facilitator.  Discussion ended and the motion was seconded and the vote was all in favor with one abstention. 

·      A motion to extend the meeting for an additional five minutes was approved by all.

·      Dr. Jansen reported for the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee:  The Committee is working on composing a document on a Faculty Development Program.

·      Dr. St. John reported for the IHOP Committee:  Nothing to report at this time.

·      Dr. Davila reported for the Governance Committee:  The Committee is working on the IHOP Security clearance document. 

 

6:14 pm, the meeting was adjourned.  The Committees met following the general meeting.