UTMB Faculty Senate

December 10, 2012

4:30 – 6:00 pm

MINUTES

 

Present: Drs. C. Wiggs, Chair, S. Al-Arabi, P. Boor, W. Braun, L. Cain, S. Clark, P. Crane, S. Croisant, R. Ellis, S. Elsaid, S. Fisher, J. Graham, A. Jones, L. Lawrence, B. Leonard, B. Luxon, J. McBride, R. Rupp, H. West and D. Young

 

Absent: Drs. B. Ameredes, J. Badalamenti, J. Davis, N. Mendias, A. Oberhauser, S. Sarna, T. Wen and D Wild

 

I.        The meeting was called to order at 4:30 pm by Dr. Carol Wiggs, Faculty Senate Chair.

 

II.           The Approval of the November 12, 2012 minutes.  The minutes of November 12, 2012 were voted and approved by email on November 19, 2012.

 

III.   Provost, VP and Dean’s Report

 

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

      VP and Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – report provided by Dr. Cooper.

         Dr. Cooper in addition to his report stated he and Dr. Regino Perez-Polo nominated Dr. Budelmann for Professor Emeritus which was approved by UT System.  He also mentioned that applications for the Graduate School are up this year.  Dr. Cooper also mentioned that discussions at NIH are talking about trainees being moved off of RO1 grants and onto training grants.  Senator McBride had a concern since the training grants were competitive and asked if there were going to be more training grants for them to apply to?

      VP for Education and Dean, School of Nursing – report submitted by Dr. Watson.               

 

IV.        Diversity and Inclusion – Adeola Oduwole, M.Sc., Director, Diversity and Inclusion

   Ms. Oduwole gave a PowerPoint presentation.  She answered several questions regarding baseline measures with the students from Dr. Croisant and junior recruitment from Dr. Cain. 

 

V.           Reports by Faculty Senate Chair

      Dr. Wiggs announced that the officers met with Dr. Callender on November 16 and discussed several topics. 

      Issue concerning future viability of GSBS and other graduate programs across campus in regards to number of graduates.  Dr. Callender continues to support the programs at UTMB, especially in GSBS.  He stated the new GSBS Dean will be charged with overview of the programs, that he hears the concerns, but feel no action is justified at present.  He continues to work with the Higher Education Coordinating Board to justify the low numbers of graduates. 

      Regarding the proposed retirement package for tenured faculty.  The discussion is still on the table with a       proposed timeframe still as January.  I mentioned the concern of faculty who are trying to plan for spring       semester classes and who may wish to accept an offer if presented.

      Dr. Steven Mintz, UT System’s Executive Director, Institute for Transformational Learning, visited UTMB on Friday, November 16th.  Several faculty members had the opportunity to meet and share with Dr. Mintz.  His goal is to support sustainable innovative education initiatives on each of the UT System campuses.  He was pleased at the response UTMB provided.

      Dr. Ben Raimer:  reminder of memorandum from Chancellor Cigarroa regarding interactions with members of the       legislative and state officials as the 83rd session of the Texas legislature approaches.  A notice was previously sent out to all Senators.  Please remind fellow faculty members.

                                      

VII.   Reports by the Executive Committee and Committee Chairs

Dr. Wiggs brought the Post Tenure Review policy up for discussion and vote.  Dr. McBride and Dr. Ameredes of the IHOP and Governance Committees drafted this policy.  A motion was made by Senator McBride to accept the policy and seconded by Senator Elsaid.  Senator Braun suggested two brief modifications and a vote was taken and unanimous to make the two minor changes and then send to the COD and to legal.  Dr. Wiggs and Dr. McBride will work on the revision.

Dr. Wiggs mentioned the Abandonment of programs and financial exigency policies were coming back to the Senate in hopes of making these into one policy and some minor edits.  Dr. Wiggs will work with the IHOP and Governance Committees on this policy.

 

Dr. Wiggs asked if any of the GSBS Senators would like to serve on the Faculty Quality Committee since a Senator asked to be moved to another committee, leaving Faculty Quality without representation from GSBS.  Senator Crane, Chair of the Faculty Quality Committee gave a brief description of what this Committee does.

Dr. Wiggs received a request from Dr. Watson through Dr. Jacobs, asking the Faculty Senate to put together a list of how best to serve as a line of communication.  A Senator stated that the Dean’s/Provost attending the monthly Faculty Senate meetings and submitting their reports was appropriate and another Senator mentioned that perhaps in addition that the Executive members meet with Dr. Jacobs like they meet with Dr. Callender on a monthly basis.  For faculty if they have any questions or concerns they can contact/email the Faculty Senate chair or to Mary to convey.

 

Dr. Cain who is a member of the IHOP Committee checks for any faculty related policies coming through and mentioned the Ownership of property policy and if you have any concerns, please email her and she can bring the topic up for discussion at the next UT Sys FAC meeting on December 14. Dr. Cain mentioned that she would like to see from the Faculty Senate are Faculty Senate newsletters or town hall type of meetings.

 

      A question was asked:  Will the other schools distribute indirects, like the SHP?

  

   Dr. Croisant distributed “SCI Café” flyer.  UTMB’s Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine, the NIEHS Center in Environmental Toxicology, and the Institute for Translational Sciences have partnered with MOD Coffeehouse to launch Galveston’s first SCI Café (Where Science and Communities Interact.)   

 

The meeting was adjourned at 6:06 pm.