UTMB Faculty Senate

March 12, 2012

4:30 – 6:00 pm

MINUTES

 

Present:  Drs. S. Croisant, Chair, J. Badalamenti, K. Beal, B. Bryant, L. Cain, C. Cooper, P. Crane, R. Ellis, S. Elsaid, J. Graham, C. Houston, N. Mendias, H. Pine, E. Protas, C. St. John, C. Utsey, H. West, C. Wiggs and D. Wild

 

Absent:  Drs. S. Al-Arabi, B. Ameredes, J. Davis, L. Farmer, A. Jones, J. LeDuc, J. McBride, T. Riall, S. Sarna and D. Young

 

I.          The meeting was called to order at 4:35 pm by Dr. Sharon Croisant, Faculty Senate Chair.

 

II.        The Approval of the February 13, 2012 minutes.  The minutes of February 13, 2012 were voted and approved by email on March 15, 2012.

 

III.       Provost, VP and Dean’s Report

 

     Interim Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – report provided by Dr. Cooper.

     Interim Dean, School of Medicine, Dr. Donald Prough – report provided by Dr. Prough.

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

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

 

IV.        Reports by Faculty Senate Chair

       Dr. Croisant stated that the Nomination Advisory Committee will be meeting after the Faculty Senate meeting this evening to review the nominations for the HRI awards so the subcommittees will not be meeting after the Faculty Senate meeting but send your reports to her for the upcoming meeting with Dr. Callender.  She also concurred with Dr. Cooper’s assessment that all candidates for the EVP/Provost/SOM Dean are all well qualified and appropriate.  Dr. Croisant, Dr. Wiggs and Dr. Utsey met with the Council of Deans and presented an update on Senate activities and information gleaned from the UT System Faculty Advisory Council meeting.  She also announced that it is time to start thinking about nominations for the Chair-Elect position and for Senate seats that will be vacated this year due to turn-over.  Either can be self-nominations.  The Faculty Senate elections will be coming up in a couple of months.

 

V.    Construction Updates – Kim McKay, AIA, NCARB, Assistant Vice President, Business Operations and Facilities

Ms. McKay presented the Senate with a PowerPoint presentation.  If you are aware of testing dates, please let her office know so that they can have the construction crew’s work around the students’ tests dates.  Currently they contact the classroom services for this information.

 

Dr. Pine asked if they could add artist renditions of what the construction sites will look like when completed.  If we see what the outcome will look like, then we are more likely to accept all this construction interruptions.  Ms. McKay stated that this is a good idea, and they did this with a project earlier and will consider doing this.

 

            

VI.   Institutional Office of Regulated Nonclinical Studies – Dennis Trent, PhD, Director, Regulatory & Scientific Affairs and Melissa Eitzen, MS, RQAP-GLP, Director, Regulatory Operations

             Dr. Trent presented the Senate with a PowerPoint presentation.

 

VII.  Reports by the Executive Committee and Committee Chairs

·      Senator St. John reported for the IHOP Committee:  The Regents Rules and Regulations for Performance Evaluation of Tenured Faculty changes remain consistent with our IHOP regulations.  The schools may have slight differences with these in those cases where some of the review committees are elected.  However, this can be interpreted as the Dean of the school selecting members of the review committee by accepting the recommendations of the faculty through an election process.

·      Senator Cain reported for the Academic and Administrative Affairs Committee:  The Junior Faculty Development Program was presented to the Council of the Deans and they gave their support in regards to the concept of the program and in regards to the exploration of a program design.  After sending out a letter to the Department Chairs to seek their support.  The committee will begin the design of the program with input from other entities involved in faculty development. The design will be presented to the Faculty Senate for possible approval.  The Committee has talked with the following faculty regarding the possible implementation of the Junior Faculty Development Program:  Drs. Ferguson, Torres, Spratt, Stephen, Frye, Morey, Perez, Freeman and Lewis. The Committee will meet with additional individuals and with Dr. Robin Rose who is leading the development of the Academy of Research Mentors.  It is visualized that the Junior Faculty Development Program will have a common website that will list all of the faculty development activities that are occurring on the campus of UTMB Health and a will contain a  junior faculty database.  The program may have a mentoring component in which faculty mentors will volunteer a couple of hours of their time a year to advise junior faculty who are seeking to diversify their career or who do not have a mentor.  The Committee plans to have a design in April or May that they can present to the design to the Council of Deans.

         

            

             The meeting was adjourned at 5:48 pm.