UTMB Faculty Senate

July 12, 2010

4:30 – 6:00 pm

MINUTES

 

Present:  Drs. Wisnewski, Chair, G. Anderson, I. Boldogh, C. Cooper, S. Gerik, S. Higgs, C. Jansen, M. Kanuth, J. LeDuc, L. Massey, N. Mendias, D. Munsell, M. O’Keefe, S. Petronella, D. Powell, E. Protas, K. Sandor, P. Singh, H. Spratt, C. Utsey, S. Watowich, P. Watson and C. Wigg

 

Absent:  Drs. V. Brooke, J. Broussard, Y. Davila, E. Hannigan, S. Jain, E. Smith, D. Solanki and A. Torres

 

I.      The meeting was called to order at 4:34 pm by Charlotte Wisnewski, Faculty Senate Chair.

 

II.    Approval of Minutes of June 14, 2010.  The revised Minutes of June 14, 2010, were approved at the meeting.

 

III.  Provost’s and Dean’s Report – Dr. Garland Anderson

·     Dr. Anderson announced that there is a lot of construction on campus and there will be noise from time-to-time on the campus.  For the elevators, 1/3 of the elevators will be repaired this year, 1/3 next year, etc.  The elevators electronics/mechanics are located at the bottom which salt water affected a substantial amount of them.

·     Dr. Anderson announced that there are a couple of coffee shops opening around August in the Library and the 1st floor of the hospital. 

·     Dr. Anderson announced that a couple of buildings will be torn down once the asbestos abatement has been completed and will happen around the 1st of the year.

 

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

     School of Health Professions Dean’s Report

 

Dean, School of Nursing and Vice President for Education – report provided by Dr. Watson.

     School of Nursing Dean’s and UTMB Vice President for Education Reports

 

Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – report provided by Dr. Cooper.
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dean’s Report

 

IV. Elections for Faculty Assembly Chair Elect – Dr. Wisnewski

Dr. Wisnewski opened the floor for nominations for Chair Elect.  The chair elect rotates around the four schools and the next one for the position is GSBS however it could be a faculty from the SOM.  Dr. Petronella, GSBS, stated she had fulfilled a one-year term for Dr. Garg on the Senate and was coming off in August.  Dr. Wisnewski stated that Dr. Petronella could run for another term.  Dr. Petronella gave a statement about herself to the Senate; she was nominated and approved unanimously by the Senate.  Dr. Cooper announced that Angie is currently working on the GSBS election. 

 

V. Reports by Faculty Senate Officers/Chairs

·      Dr. Wisnewski and Dr. Utsey met with Dr. Callender on July 8th.  The financial exigency policy was discussed.  The Senate (Faculty Quality Committee) will need to start on this policy and then present to the Senate for approval.  Dr. Callender is also talking to legal regarding policy changes and a possible timeframe.  Dr. Wisnewski will send the template out again by email.

·      Dr. Wisnewski announced that we will be preparing for a new legislative session this year and Dr. Callender will be travelling a lot with the alumni office. 

·      Dr. Wisnewski announced about the upcoming Annual Luncheon on September 13 stated that Dr. Callender will be speaking; she asked Dr. Anderson to speak.  Dr. Anderson asked Dr. Wisnewski to send an email regarding what she would like for him to talk about.  The committee chairs each will present their report.  Dr. Wisnewski will send a template for the chairs to use and they will need to submit to her for inserting into the meeting’s PowerPoint presentation.

·      The Ombudsman position has two applicants and one is a full-time tenured faculty member at UTMB.  The ad indicated that it could be a retired UTMB faculty member and HR was supposed to send an email to our retired faculty; Dr. Anderson will check to see if this had been sent and also stated if we were going to accept applications of for current faculty, then we will need to update the announcement and open for all applications.  Faculty Senate members discussed the inherent conflict in having current faculty in the position and that the Faculty Senate had asked that it be only retired faculty. 1Dr. Powell will follow-up with Dr. Sierpina.

·      Dr. Utsey will update the motion tracking form with current motions.

·      Dr. Sandor reported for the Faculty Quality Committee:  They are working on a resolution in response to the June 12 AAUP report in which UTMB has been censured and the committee will have it to the Senate by the end of August for vote by the Senate.

·      Dr. Jansen reported for the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee:  They are looking into policies regarding international contracts dealing with vendors for laboratory equipment, and will look into personal and UTMB accountabilities to meet export rules.

·      Dr. Wigg reported for the Governance Committee:  They are working on the Ombudsman position as discussed earlier.

·      Dr. Munsell reported for the IHOP Committee:  The following faculty policies were accepted from the committee and presented to the Senate to accept as is:  5.1.2, 5.3.1, 5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.3.7, 5.3.8, 5.3.12, 5.5.1, 5.5.2, 5.5.5, and 5.5.6.  IHOP 5.3.8 and 5.5.6 were pulled out due since Dr. McKee is currently examining these policies.  A motion and seconded for the following 9 policies were accepted and approved:  5.1.2, 5.3.1, 5.3.4, 5.3.5, 5.3.7, 5.3.12, 5.5.1, 5.5.2, 5.5.5.

 

A motion for adjournment was made, seconded and approved.  Meeting adjourned at 5:40 pm.  The Committees met following the general meeting.