The
University of Texas System
Faculty Advisory Council
Minutes
of October 3-4, 2002 Meeting
New People
Orientation (October 3, 2002 at 9:00am)
Robert Nelsen, Chairman of the FAC, began the orientation at 9:00AM.
Robert provided
a background on the FAC indicating that we serve as advisors to the Chancellor
and the Board of Regents. He emphasized that we must establish a relationship
with the new Chancellor and his staff.
The committee
chairs gave a brief description of their committee responsibilities and
current activities. The chairs and their corresponding committees were:
Lisa-Ann
Wuermser for Health Affairs;
Bill Harris for Governance;
Tom Chrzanowski for Faculty Welfare; and,
Cynthia Brown for Academic Affairs.
Robert stressed
the importance of campus reports and the "to do list" as a means
to share information across the various UT components.
The meeting
concluded at 10:00AM.
General
Meeting (10:00am)
Robert introduced Chancellor Mark Yudof at 10:00AM.
Chancellor
Yudof began his remarks with an assurance that the FAC will always get
a sympathetic hearing from his office. He also suggested, "most of
the university systems in this country have not worked very well"
and that it was his job "to get blood flowing through the marble."
One of his goals is to ensure "cooperation among the campuses to
create synergies" among "multiple classes of customers."
He indicated that the UT System is "non-profit but not by design."
He affirmed that the "accountability revolution is here" and
that "faculty will have to grapple with it." He later stressed
that "we are all accountable." He summarized his message into
three words-accountability, synergy, and cooperation. Chancellor Yudof
described the relationship between the UT System and the state of Texas
noting each component of the System may not necessarily meet the needs
of the state, but the entire system should. For each individual component
institution, he stated, "(O)nce the mission is defined, become the
very best at that mission."
The Chancellor
introduced his new appointments:
Teresa
A. Sullivan as Executive Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs;
Tonya Moten Brown as Vice-Chancellor for Administration;
Geri Malandra as Executive Associate Chancellor for Accountability and
Performance;
Edwin Sharpe as Vice-Chancellor for Educational System Alignment;
Tom Scott as Associate Vice-Chancellor for Governmental Relations; and,
Amy Shaw Thomas as Vice-Chancellor for Health Affairs.
Mr. Yudof
also indicated that James Guckian will remain as acting Executive Vice-Chancellor
for Health Affairs until a search is completed. The Chancellor suggested
that the health affairs responsibilities may be separated into two distinct
positions.
Mr. Yudof
also announced the formation of the new "Campus Life Committee."
The committee, consisting of faculty, staff and students, will supplement
the existing System advisory committees. The creation of this committee
will "ensure (that there is) a place for all issues not normally
covered by the other committees." Regent Kraven will chair the committee.
The Chancellor
stated that the number of criminal background checks will be reduced.
He indicated that some positions, including "high level" administrative
positions, will be held to the existing standards. However, he is working
to create a "much more constrained policy."
Mr. Yudof
stated that we can expect a very hard legislative session. He suggested
the System needed a new approach to legislative requests. The Chancellor
mentioned that we should establish trust, promote stewardship, and "emphasize
the positive things that we do," adding that compelling arguments
can be made on our current programs.
Mr. Yudof
stated that the System will continue "closing the gaps," referring
to the Coordinating Board initiative. He also addressed the issue of "flagship
institutions". He indicated that he will examine the questions "should
there be more?" and "where should they be?"
Due to his
immediate departure for San Antonio, he postponed questions, but did agree
to email the various presidents at the campuses he would be visiting to
ask to meet with faculty, student, and staff representatives.
The meeting
adjourned into committee meetings.
Lunch
- Campus Reports (12:00 noon - 2:00pm)
(The following is a summary of the Campus Reports. Complete reports are
presented in Appendix A.)
Selected
Topics
Hottest Topics on Campus
Brownsville
1. Salary
and workload inequities
2. Evaluation of the administration
3. Receivership
Austin
1. Budget crisis
2. Use of university logo by student groups
3. Shortage of classroom space
Brownsville
1.
Resource availability and allocation
2. Gap between salaries of new faculty and existing faculty.
3. Parking
Dallas
1. Threat of reduced funding or insufficient funding
2. Support for research
3. System Policy on Criminal Background Checks.
El Paso
1. Enrollment growth and the associated problems
2. State funding inequities
3. Salary compression and inversion
Houston
1. Faculty salaries and incentives
2. Consolidation of the basic science departments
3. Faculty-Administration communications
Pan American
1. Faculty salaries, compression and inversion
2. Faculty resources to respond to rapid growth in enrollment
Southwestern
1. Faculty compensation with regard to the TFA study
2. Funding of Graduate Medical Education
3. Promotion and Tenure of non-tenured faculty
San Antonio HS
1. Faculty development
2. Faculty development leave funding
3. Communication between administrators and faculty
Tyler HC
1. New President
2. Honorarium policy
3. Salaries scales for new faculty hires
Tyler
1. Parking
2. Student Media Advisory Board
Galveston
1. Women and minority equity/equality status
2. Representation on the Institutional Budget Committee
3. Development of UTMB's Faculty Club.
Chuck
Hempstead, TACT, Legislative Agenda (2:00pm)
Chuck Hempstead,
Executive Director of the Texas Association of College Teachers (TACT)
spoke on their upcoming legislative agenda. Faculty compensation was the
first issue mentioned. Specifically, he noted that the compensation structure
in Texas is "not competitive" with the structures in other states.
The current mandate is that Texas should be competitive with other states
in salary structure. To ensure compensation competitiveness, the Coordinating
Board must supply institutional governing boards with statistics on salary
in a timely manner.
Also on the
legislative agenda are specific issues with the optional retirement program.
Mr. Hempstead stated that the current ORP program contained an 8.5 percent
match that is less than the national average of 9.5 percent. Also, new
hires since 1995 are only matched at a 6 percent rate. A new bill sponsored
by Fred Brown from College Station will address these issues. He also
held out hope that faculty members may be given another window to convert
from TRS to ORP.
Mr. Hempstead
added that more and better college education should improve everyone's
status in education "unless we are asked to do more with less."
He continued that the state should step up to cover the cost of higher
education. He also questioned whether student costs of education should
be capped or allowed to rise to meet the market.
A handout
provided points that TACT wants to sustain.
Mr. Hempstead
invited everyone to attend the Conference (see flier). I also pointed
out the "ebulletin" on the TACT website (www.tact.org).
Charles Zucker, TFA, Faculty Rights and Salary Discrepancies
(2:45pm)
Charles Zucker
from the Texas Faculty Association spoke on the role of his organization-to
support faculty rights through lobbying and lawsuits. He stated that the
legislature was extremely conservative in 1988, but it is more so now.
One current issue that TFA is pursuing is to reaffirm the rights of those
subject to tenure review to have due process. Specifically, TFA wants
to ensure that the faculty member has the right to present his or her
case to the institution's administration.
A second
issue that will be reconsidered is the faculty members right of prior
notification when called for review before an administrator. Mr. Zucker
indicated that two bills on salary and retirement issues will be refiled
with the Legislature. One of these bills will reestablish a line item
in each institution's budget for salary adjustments and merit pay.
Finally he
stressed that college professors are not prohibited from contacting their
state legislature representatives. Higher education institutions cannot
lobby, but individual faculty can.
Theresa
Sullivan, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (3:30 pm)
Terri Sullivan,
the newly appointed Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, conducted a
general conversation of her new responsibilities and challenges. She still
considers herself as a faculty member and believes that "universities
are great only to the extent that the faculties are great." Further,
she believes that there is no greater resource on any campus. Chancellor
Sullivan suggested that the graduate deanship at UT Austin prepared her
for her current position because graduate schools have no faculty and
exist through building relationships between organizations. She believes
in "shared governance" and wants to get an idea of what it's
like to be a faculty member at each of the component institutions.
As to future
funding, Chancellor Sullivan stated, "we need to quit thinking in
terms of the next legislature." She emphasized that we must develop
a longer-term plan, adding, "(F)or the collective good of higher
education, we cannot be another mouth around the table
.(E)verybody
thinks that they pay for higher education"-the parents and students,
the Legislature, and the funding agencies.
One of her
charges is to develop "more robust measures of accountability."
Issues to be specifically addressed include: "Is the University doing
what it should be doing?" and "How would I know?" She closed
her comments stressing that "accountability is not a threat to faculty
autonomy."
Daniel
Hamermesh - Salary Compression (4:15pm)
Dr. Daniel
Hamermesh, a labor economist from UT Austin, presented the results of
American Association of University Professors (AAUP) studies of faculty
salaries. The results were based on annual salary surveys (not samples)
with salaries stratified by rank and research activity. The results indicate
that across the entire nation, the "ratio of full salaries to assistants
has remained constant." Some comparisons suggest that "inequality
is rising" and "slight compression is occurring".
Adjournment
(5:15pm)
Richard
Armenta, Community Colleges Relations (October 4 at 8:00am)
Dr. Armenta
was appointed as liaison to between the state's community colleges and
the major university systems. He holds a joint appointment with University
of Texas, Texas A&M University and the community colleges. He noted
that the seventy-one community colleges across the state are the principal
feeders into the UT System. He also stated that the number of transfers
into the System institutions in increasing; thus, concerns about the academic
preparations of transfers is also increasing. The Transfer Committee has
offered these conclusions: (1) transfers are "well-prepared for university
courses," and (2) differences in levels of preparations can not be
distinguished between transfers and system students. Dr. Armenta characterized
the "transfer problem" as one of determining "transfer
credit" and the "alignment of expectations"
Dr. Armenta
provided a handout showing the website for further information on transfer
issues. The website is www.thecb.state.us/ctc/ip/core11_00/index.htm
Committee Meetings (9:00am - 11:30 am)
Chair Report (11:30am)
Robert Nelsen
began the session asking whether the FAC should propose system-wide surveys
concerning salary compression. Two lines of reasoning were offered. One
was the prevailing need to recognize the salary inequities in the academic
institutions. Campus reports suggested that "salary issues"
were universally important alluding to a faculty "morale problem."
The opposing view suggested a salary survey would be time consuming and
unproductive. Also, an examination of salary structure across campuses
could be meaningless due to qualitative differences in individual faculty.
Several FAC members spoke in favor of looking beyond the compression issue
and focusing on the budgetary process.
On a voice
vote, the motion to conduct salary surveys on each of the System campuses
failed.
Walter
Tenery, Chair, Employment Advisory Council (EAC) (12:00 noon)
Mr. Tenery,
Chairman of the Employment Advisory Council, provided information to the
FAC on the development and accomplishments of the EAC. The UT Arlington
model serves as the pattern for the other System employee councils as
well as the EAC. Common issues among the employee councils are staff development
and childcare issues. The EAC has worked to create subsidized transportation
and scholarship programs for their members. Other issues include a fee
waiver process and wellness programs. An on-going discussion centers on
the possibility of establishing a flextime program on the various campuses.
Also, the EAC is in the process of creating a "Best Practices"
manual to serve as a system-wide template for establishing and maintaining
programs.
Committee
Reports (1:00pm)
REPORT
FROM THE HEALTH AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
REPORT
FROM THE ACADEMIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (October 2002)
The Academic
Affairs Committee held discussions on five issues, only one of which led
to an item that called for immediate action by the FAC:
1. Every child, every advantage
2. The campus excellence statements
3. NIH ethics training for survey research
4. Assessment/accountability
5. Resolution concerning participation of the FAC in activities related
to assessment
Item 1.
The main outcome of this discussion was to encourage the faculty governance
body at each of the component institutions (including the health institutions)
to invite the campus K-16 Coordinator to address the Senate and answer
questions concerning the System's "Every Child, Every Advantage"
initiative. As soon as he gets this information, Robert Nelsen will communicate
to each of the FAC members the identity of the K-16 coordinator on his
or her campus.
Item 2.
The committee reviewed the report "Institution-Specific Excellence
Statements" that was presented to the Academic Affairs Committee
of the Board of Regents in April 2002. The two key points that emerged
from our discussion are these: (1) the excellence statements appear to
represent responses to accountability pressures (the need to show that
excellence money was well spent), and are not truly indicative of efforts
to build excellence at component institutions; (2) there was little faculty
involvement in either decisions concerning the allocation of excellence
funds or the preparation of the report. This raises the question: Are
the goals and priorities for excellence funding being set in partnership
with the faculty? The committee urges the Senates at the component institutions
to press for a strong voice in the formation of policies governing excellence
funding.
Item 3.
Committee co-chair Bruce Palka discussed with the cognizant authorities
at NIH the issue of whether individuals doing "non-intrusive"
survey research with NIH funding are required to complete the full-blown
ethics-training module for research involving human subjects that NIH
makes available. The short answer: yes. IRBs (or, at some campuses, the
Vice President for Research) are entitled to request exceptions to this
rule, but in practice they have been extremely reluctant to do so. Indeed,
according to the office of the Vice President for Research at UT-Austin,
the growing tendency seems to be for IRBs to require individuals who conduct
research that involves human subjects but who receive their funding from
agencies other than NIH to complete the NIH training. Thus, in most instances,
this will continue to be a compliance issue with which faculty have to
deal.
Item 4.
The committee had a free-flowing, wide-ranging, and largely reassuring
conversation with Dr. Geri Malandra, the UT-System's new assessment/accountability
tzarina, and Mike Kerker, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs,
on the System's assessment/accountability initiative. Dr. Malandra seems
very much inclined to adopt a faculty viewpoint on assessment issues:
she agrees with the FAC resolution that we should wait to see what kind
results come out of the writing and mathematics assessments before moving
ahead with assessment of the core curriculum; in her view, the objective
of this venture is to assess and then improve programs, not to take punitive
measures against individual faculty members whose students perform poorly
relative to a particular assessment instrument; she looks at assessment
as an important component of the general accountability process, but not
necessarily as the centerpiece thereof. One possible step backward: Mike
Kerker suggested that Regent Miller would like to see "critical thinking"
put back on the assessment table, despite the fact that neither Regent
Miller nor anyone else can provide an adequate definition of the term.
The committee
reviewed Ray Rodrigues's report covering 2001-2002 assessment activities.
We agreed that it is a thoughtful document, whose contents by and large
represent a faculty viewpoint. (This came as something of a surprise.)
It is even somewhat restrained in its recommendations about assessing
the core curriculum.
Item 5.
The rationale for the following resolution is an item brought to the committee's
attention by Robert Nelsen: SACS will soon be hosting a major meeting
on assessment to which the UT-System will send representatives, none of
whom is currently slated to be a faculty member. Given the heavy load
that faculty must bear in the assessment process, we find it highly appropriate
for faculty to be included in this activity (and other assessment-related
activities akin to it).
Whereas,
direct FAC involvement in the formation of policy affecting the UT System
assessment/accountability process is critical,
Be it resolved,
that representation from the FAC be included in any and all discussions
including professional meetings pertaining to the development, implementation
and evaluation of that policy.
The resolution
was unanimously approved by the FAC.
REPORT FROM THE FACULTY QUALITY COMMITTEE
Summary
of discussions occurring during 3, 4 October.
Faculty
Satisfaction Survey
· Met with representatives of Digital Research, Inc.
· Well attended session and the discussion ranged over a wide variety
of issues that the new FSS should cover.
Honoraria
· We had a brief discussion of the situation at UTHSC-Tyler (where
funds received for professional services must be returned to the university)
and decided to review HOPs at the next meeting with the intent of establishing
a comparator of policies among the campuses. This action may lead us to
suggest a uniform policy.
Sexual
Harassment
· Focus issue: Is it incumbent upon a faculty member to report
sexual harassment situations brought to their attention by others. Lengthy,
informative discussions were held with Helen Bright, Ester Hajdar and
John Poole. Suggested action: Phone and alert the administrator on campus
responsible for harassment issues that you are sending someone over to
report a problem. Additionally, everyone should check with the compliance
officer to make sure the "What to do if
" sequence
is spelled out in compliance training.
Regents
Committee on Campus Life
· After a brief discussion the committee, decided it would probably
be best to be reactive to this committee since its function is, as of
yet, not fully defined.
REPORT
FROM GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
The Governance
Committee brought forth the following resolutions.
Resolutions
and Recommendations
1. Faculty
Committee to Oversee the Office Of Sponsored Projects
And Grants and Contracts
The UT System
FAC hereby resolves that each campus governance organization consider
the creation of an oversight committee for the office(s) of sponsored
projects and grants and contracts. The functions of this committee should
include the following:
a) monitoring the responsiveness of the offices to faculty research
efforts:
b) ensuring the application of due process in evaluating the non-compliance
of faculty to research protocols.
2. Resolution Regarding Faculty Representation on Campus Executive Councils
Whereas,
enhanced communication between faculty and administrators is one of the
primary advantages to the shared governance to which the University of
Texas System is
committed,
Be it Resolved
that it is the firm conviction of the members of the Faculty Advisory
Council that each component campus of the University of Texas System should
include governance representation on the executive decision making body
(such as the President's Council or Executive Committee) which typically
includes senior administration and the campus President.
3. Resolution on Hiring Procedures for Full-time Non-Tenure Track Faculty
In view of
the increasing reliance on full-time non-tenure track faculty, it is the
recommendation of the Faculty Advisory Council that efforts should be
made to bring the hiring and review procedures for full-time non-tenure
track faculty within the framework of peer review.
4. Resolution Regarding Notification Procedures for Allegations of Non-Compliance
with Grants, Contracts, and State or Federal Law
Bodies concerned
with enforcement of compliance policies should notify faculty promptly
of issues concerning compliance as they arise.
5. Resolution Regarding Criminal Investigations and Background Checks
Whereas,
the Faculty Advisory Council of the University of Texas
System strongly supports the Chancellor of the UT System's current efforts
to revise the policies and procedures having to do with criminal investigations
and background checks for employees of the University of Texas System
Be it Resolved,
that the Faculty Advisory Council urges the Chancellor to include in his
revisions provisions to ensure that rights to due process of affected
parties, be they faculty or staff, are protected by making certain that
individuals subject to these checks are informed, in writing, that the
process has been initiated and providing said parties with a timely opportunity
to respond to the results of any such investigations before personnel
actions are taken.
Resolutions
1, 2, 4, and 5 passed a voice vote of the FAC. Resolution 3 was returned
to the Committee for further consideration.
The meeting
was adjourned at 3:00 PM.
Campus Reports
Arlington
Thomas H. Chrzanowski, Dennis Reinhartz
Enrollment
us up 12.5%.
Bricks and
Mortar: Construction of two new housing facilities has been completed.
They are fully occupied. Two additional new housing projects are in the
works with construction scheduled to begin immediately. Construction of
a Fine Arts Annex will begin this year. Construction of a new science
building will begin next fall.
The Dean
of Architecture was fired this fall after less than one year in the position.
This has been the source of much discussion around campus. The interim
Dean is a past faculty member who has come out of retirement to take the
position
The President
has our receivership policy and wishes to work with us on some modifications.
Senate issues:
We will revise our Periodic Review of Academic Administrators this year.
Several difficulties have been revealed by letting the policy work: We
are reviewing way too many people who only marginally impact the teaching/research
mission of the faculty and the current policy is silent on how to handle
the review clock for such things as title changes and changes in job description.
We will also
be looking into the recent trends in changes in Administrative positions/salaries
in comparison to changes in faculty positions/salaries
Three hottest items on campus:
a. Salary
and workload inequities (campus, local, regional and national)
b. Evaluation of the administration
c. Receivership
Changes
in compliance:
We no longer
participate in the 'Training Post' made available by UT-Tyler. We have
our own compliance training web site. It is very simplistic.
Faculty
on Development Leaves. 15 on leave, ~560 Faculty members.
New Travel
Policy: no problems brought to the attention of the Senate
Follow-ups:
We have not created a committee to advise the Office of Grants and Contracts.
The Senate did not meet between the time this recommendation was made
and now.
Committee
requests:
Faculty Quality:
On honoraria
.nothing specific here. Faculty are expected to follow
System Guidelines on this issue.
Governance:
a. Review of Lecturers. These are appointments without commitment to long-term
employment. Promotion, review and hiring all take place at the departmental
level with departmental policy governing.
b. Notification
of faculty non-compliance. This is usually done by the appropriate review
committee or by post-award administration specialists in the Office of
Grants and Contracts. Procedures are not codified.
c. Name and
titles of overseers of Grants and Contracts: Dr. Marianne R. Woods
Assistant Vice President for Research and Director, Office of Research
and she reports to Dr. Keith McDowell Vice President for Research and
Information Technology
Health Affairs:
Intellectual property rights:
This falls under the Office of Research. The organizational unit within
the Office of Research is termed Technology Transfer. An extensive policy
exists along with an Intellectual Policy Committee. The IPC is composed
of members of the administration, Deans, Chairs, community, local industry,
the on campus technology incubator, and a couple of faculty members. Thirteen
members, two may be faculty.
"Assists
faculty, staff and students who have invented or created intellectual
property and works directly with university inventions and inventors in
obtaining patents, copyrights, trademarks or in maintaining trade secrets.
This area also searches for marketing opportunities and develops confidentiality
and licensing agreements with businesses for the manufacture and sale
of new products and processes"
Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is attempting to deal with a profound
budget crisis. As explained in a report prepared by our Vice President
of Finance, if there are no new sources of revenue or major new initiatives,
then the University faces a deficit of $15.7 million in fiscal 2003-2004
and $28.1 million in 2004-2005. Taking into account critical needs, such
as faculty salary adjustments, reduction of student-faculty ratios, and
faculty "start-up" costs, this deficit balloons to $50.7 million
in 2003-2004 and $75.1 million in 2004-2005. Moreover, for the next three
years, in the absence of additional funding, there will be $243.4 million
in unmet capital requirements.
To meet the shortfall, the University proposed to levy an "infrastructure
fee" upon all students. Opponents of the fee, however, challenged
the legal right of the University to impose such a fee without legislative
approval. In mid-summer, the Attorney General issued a complex opinion
which appeared to give the University the go-ahead to levy the fee. Nevertheless,
the administration, fearful of provoking a legislative backlash, opted
to withdraw its proposal. Instead, the University will work with the governor
and legislature to develop a long-term plan to put it on sound fiscal
footing. In light of the state's own fiscal difficulties, the most promising
steps the legislature could take would be to grant the University greater
flexibility is setting tuition rates and fees and in permitting it to
keep indirect cost reimbursements.
In the meantime, the Administration is undertaking several steps to alleviate
the fiscal crisis:
It is committing two-thirds of its cash reserves to crucial capital
projects and is dedicating $8 million per year for debt service on bonds
that will be issued to finance capital projects.
It is placing on hold other important but noncritical projects. Among
the projects to be continued are the Blanton Museum, renovation of certain
classrooms and offices, various fire and life safety improvements and
completion of biology wet lab and experimental science buildings.
It will delay needed repairs and maintenance, thereby "saving"
$20 million per year.It has established a Task Force on Efficiency,
composed of a small group of administrators and faculty, to identify
ways in which the University can cut costs.As
a result of the task force's deliberations, the University is about
to sign a contract with a leading office supply company. This company
will now become the University's main source of office supplies. Individual
units will be able to order supplies "on-line" with guaranteed
next morning delivery. As a result of better prices and the "outsourcing"
of certain services currently performed internally, the University expects
to save over 2 million dollars annually. In addition, the University
will likely sign an agreement with a major credit card company that
will enable the University to accept credit card payments from students
without having to bear the cost of the standard credit card charges.
It has developed a five-year fiscal plan.
The first returns on the University's Coordinated Admissions Program are
now in. Under the terms of this program - a successor to the previous
Provisional Admission Program, a student is offered admission to UT Austin
upon completion of 30 hours of course work with a minimum grade point
average of 3.0, at a participating UT component. In the summer of 2001,
approximately 500 students enrolled in this program, mainly at UT Arlington
and UT San Antonio. Of those enrollees, about 170 transferred to the Austin
campus this fall.
To improve the University's four-year graduation rate, the Colleges of
Liberal Arts and Natural Science adopted a pilot program in which students
will not be charged tuition for any hours above 12 for which they register
in a particular semester. The expectation is that students will register
for a greater number of hours and thereby speed their progress toward
a degree.
The University has long had a problem with freshman retention. Owing to
improved counseling, a program of freshmen seminars and numerous orientation
programs, the freshmen retention rate has now increased to 92 percent
- a rate better than that at most leading public universities.
At its September meeting, the Faculty Council endorsed a proposal by the
Graduate School of Library and Information Science to change its name
to the "School of Information." This name change emphasizes
the schools broadened vision and is consistent with a nation-wide trend.
1. As previously
reported, the University has established a committee on non-tenure-track
faculty. The committee has circularized its report and is responding
to comments from deans and other administrators. A second committee,
that on expression and assembly ("free speech"), is still
deliberating and is unlikely to issue its report until late Fall.
2. The
President has established a Commission of 125. This group of 125 prominent
and influential citizens is to conduct a two-year study of the current
state of the University and advise the administration on goals and priorities
for the next two decades.
3. Faculty
salaries increases averaged 4 percent for the current academic year.
Of this amount 3.25 percent was provided from a central university fund
and the balance from "local" sources. The 4 percent average
increase most likely exceeded the median increase as it includes adjustments
to a selected few faculty to correct gross inequities and to match outside
offers.
4. The
President will shortly appoint a committee to study ways of controlling
enrollments.
1. Three hottest items on campus
·
Budget crisis and problems caused by the Attorney's General ruling on
infrastructure fee (see discussion as part of campus report)
· Use of university logo by student groups. A department of licensing
controls the use of the "longhorn" logo and has notified bone
fide student organizations that they are prohibited from applying the
logo on T-shirts and other items. All of the royalties for licensing
the logo are directed to Intercollegiate Athletics. Student groups complained
to the administration, which has now appointed a committee to study
the issue.
· Shortage of classroom space, especially in light of the construction
of "the bubble" (a balloon like structure that enables the
football practice field to be air conditioned) and the record enrollment
of 52,000 students.
2. List
of items mandated by the Legislature that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive
The most
costly item to the University is the "tax" that we must pay
on research grants. At present all indirect costs reimbursements are
recovered by the State, rather than the University. Similarly, the legislature
limits the extent to which the University can assess fees to students
or establish equitable and reasonable tuition rates. The University
is now working with the System on a deregulation package to be presented
to the legislature.
3. List
of items mandated by the UT System that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive
·
Accountability/assessment procedures
· Criminal background checks
· Post-tenure reviews
4. Changes
or problems with compliance training/office (to be reported only if there
have been changes or problems)
No changes
or new problems since last report
5. Number
of individuals on faculty development leaves
Using "Dean
Fellows," Faculty Research Assignments, and curriculum development
leaves approved by deans using their budgetary allocations, we have
an estimated 145 leaves annually, which is approximately 8% of our 1,741
tenured and tenure track faculty.
6. Problems
(if any) with new student travel procedures
None, the administration has issued a new policy, which is reported working
well.
FOLLOW-UP
ON RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PREVIOUS FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEETINGS
Status of
creation of a local/Senate committee to monitor/advise the Office of Sponsored
Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting
Our established Research Policy standing committee serves this function.
COMMITTEE
REQUESTS
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
1. Status
and nature of math accountability procedures at academic institutions
The Math department is continuing to evaluate assessment methods and is
carrying out a pilot study.
FACULTY QUALITY
2. Copy of
policy (if any) governing honoraria
Our consulting
policy is in the Handbook of Operating Procedures, Section 3.19. Our current
annual limit for University payments to our employees in $15,000. See
appendix.
GOVERNANCE
3. Promotion,
review, and hiring procedures for [a] Senior Lecturers, [b] non-medical
Clinical Professors (under the recently expanded Regent Rules definitions
of "clinical faculty"), and [c] adjunct/part-time instructors
A committee composed of tenured, tenure track and non-tenure track faculty
and administrators has studied this issue for over a year and has drafted
a proposal that would provide non-tenure track faculty with long-term
contracts after they have been with the university for a specified period
of time. Similarly, the administration is reviewing existing policies
with respect to clinical and research faculty but does not contemplate
any significant policy changes.
4. Notification
procedures (if any) for faculty in non-compliance with contracts, grants,
state or federal laws, etc.
Both the Office of Sponsored Projects and the Grants and Contracts division
notify faculty in noncompliance.
5. Name and
title of person or persons who oversee and/or direct the Office of Sponsored
Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting plus name, title, and office of
person to whom OSP/CGA reports
OSP Director
is Wayne Kuenstler and he reports to the Vice President for Research,
Juan Sanchez. The Contracts and Grant Accounting division is headed by
a Manager, Jason Richter, and he reports to Fred Friedrich, Director of
Accounting.
HEALTH AFFAIRS
6. Organization
and responsibilities of Intellectual Property Rights Committee, especially
with regard to faculty input and representation
Our faculty
intellectual property committee screens all intellectual property developed
by faculty and staff and recommends what action the University should
take.
Appendix
Handbook
of Operating Procedures -- Section3.19, Faculty Consulting and Other Professional
Activities, Including Outside Employment
II. Consulting,
Lecturing, or Other Professional Activities within UT Austin
A. Consulting with students and colleagues, occasional lectures to University
groups, and assistance with certain professional activities are recognized
as part of the normal obligations of faculty and professional staff
for which no additional compensation is required. On occasion, obligations
may be accepted that are in addition to those associated with full-time
employment and that justify additional compensation. The following rules
govern such additional compensation from University funds, including
grants and contracts, extension and correspondence teaching, participation
in workshops, symposia, etc.; and editing or proofreading for the UT
Press or other scholarly publications.
B. Normally, fees for consulting, lecturing, or other professional services,
in addition to full-time salaries, will not be paid to faculty or professional
or other similar staff in the same department or administrative unit
(e.g., non-departmentalized school, college, or organized research unit.)
C. Prior approval, in writing, by the department chairman and the Dean
of the College or School in which the faculty or staff are appointed,
and by the President or Vice President, is required for receipt of payment
from any UT Austin funds (including sponsored projects) for consulting
within the University. (See Policy Memorandum 7.205 for procedures.)
In the case of faculty or staff appointed to units that do not report
through a dean, prior approval should be by the appropriate vice president.
The prior approval request will include (1) source and amount of funding,
(2) services to be provided, (3) period of time and (C) justification
for special payment. The payment of consulting fees from University
funds, either to University faculty and staff or to persons not regularly
employed by the University, must be in accord with provisions of Policy
Memorandum 7.205.
D. In all cases, the rate of compensation cannot exceed the established
University rate, and the total of any additional compensation for full-time
employees from University controlled funds cannot be greater than $7,500
per year. Payment of consulting fees to full-time UT Austin employees
from federal grant and contract funds is permissible in unusual cases
where consultation is across departmental lines or involves a separate
or remote operation and the work is in addition to the regular departmental
load, provided that such consulting arrangements are specifically provided
for in the approved grant or contract or approved in writing by the
sponsoring agency.
E. Payments for consulting, lecturing or other professional services
within UT Austin are treated as salary payments and are paid with departmental
payroll vouchers. Procedures for payments are found in Policy Memorandum
7.205.
III. Outside Employment, Consulting and Other Professional Activities
A. Outside employment regulations for the University System appear in
the Regents' Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter III, Section 13.
Other regulations relating to U.T. Austin recommended by the 1972 Faculty
Committee on Outside Employment and by the University Council are as
follows:
1. No member of the faculty or professional staff shall undertake
any form of outside employment or activity, whether remunerative or
not, whether regular or sporadic, which prevents the performance of
those primary responsibilities expected of a full-time faculty or
staff member of the University as provided in the Regents' Rules and
Regulations, Part One, Chapter III, Section 8; but outside employment
and activities which do not affect the individual's compliance with
the highest standard of ethics in the proper discharge of these duties
are not prohibited.
2. Appropriate outside employment for a faculty member which enhances
the performance of duties as described in Section 8 of the Rules and
Regulations is encouraged as furthering the interest of both the individual
and the University. Consulting, professional performance and other
appropriate outside employment or activities can contribute to the
effectiveness of the faculty member as a teacher and as a productive
scholar, and can meet the individual's and the institution's obligation
of public service.
3. A faculty member may hold other nonelective offices or positions
of honor, trust, or profit with the State of Texas or the United States
as provided by Article 6252-9a, Section 1, V.C.S., and subject to
the other provisions of this memorandum and of Part One, Chapter III,
Sections 8 and 13 of the Rules and Regulations.
4. Conflict of interest should be avoided. As provided in Article
6252-9, Section 1, V.C.S., a member of an institutional faculty shall
have no interest of any kind, direct or indirect, or engage in any
business transaction or professional activity, or incur any obligation
of any nature which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge
of the individual's duties as a faculty member. See Regents' Rules
and Regulations, Part One, Chapter III, Section 4, for a listing of
the specific conflicts of interest prohibited by the State statute;
see also Part One, Chapter III, Section 13.3 of the Rules and Regulations.
B. Outside employment is defined as any remunerative activity such as,
but not necessarily limited to, consulting, advising, testing or assaying,
performing analyses or examinations, the practice of one's profession,
or similar work performed in addition to the official responsibilities
of a full-time employee.
C. Each school, college, or division shall submit to the President a
statement of outside employment practices which reflects any special
considerations appropriate for the particular area under the policies
and conditions of outside employment and activities. Such statements
shall be subject to review and final approval by the President.
D. During the period of full-time employment with UT Austin, members
of the faculty and professional staff may engage in outside employment
so long as it does not reduce the full-time obligation to the University.
The outside employment is considered an overload and must not exceed
20 percent of the full-time obligation. Faculty and staff may not receive
grant funds directly nor enter into contracts that conflict with the
individual's obligations to the University.
E. Before any faculty member or professional staff member of an institution
may engage in outside employment, approval of the department chairman
or equivalent supervisor and of the Dean is required. For continuing
employment, approval of the President is also required. For short term
or ad hoc employment, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research
must be notified after approval of the Dean. Requests for approval should
describe the nature of the employment, including compensation where
required by Regents' Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter III, Section
13. Recommendations for approval, and approval, shall be based upon
an affirmative showing that the proposed employment would be in accord
with the policies stated in this memorandum and with the applicable
statement of outside employment practices approved for the school, college,
or division. When Regental approval is required, such approval shall
be obtained prior to engaging in any activity.
F. Outside employment and consulting under the appropriate rules and
procedures usually require an absence from the campus. Even though there
is no cost to the University, absence from the campus or other regular
place of work for periods of half a day or more during the normal working
period must be preceded by an approved Travel Authorization.
Brownsville
As the FAC
is aware, UTB has recently expanded through the acquisition of the former
Amigoland Mall, just around the corner from the old Brownsville and Matamoros
(B&M) Bridge and from the acquisition of the Fort Brown Hotel properties
just between the main campus and the Friendship Bridge. These properties
were purchased by TSC at bargain prices but are in need of serious renovation.
As a consequence, during the summer, TSC began preparing a general obligation
bond issue to put before the community college taxing district. The bond
was intended to raise $97,000,000 for the purpose of expanding our infrastructure
and renovating the newly acquired properties. On September 14, the bond
issue was defeated.
The bitterly contested bond issue served to highlight community perceptions
of our institution and both its strengths and weaknesses. The proposed
bond issue would have raised taxes in Brownsville and outlying communities
by approximately 5.9 cents per assessed $100.00 of valuation, and our
community, amongst the poorest in the United States, simply couldn't handle
it. The ball is now back in the administrative court as the TSC Board
contemplates whether to try again and what kind of "restructuring"
might make the general obligation bond more palatable to Cameron county
taxpayers. This continues to be a highly sensitive topic that subjects
our campus to intense public scrutiny with all that implies. Failure to
pass some kind of a bond issue will most dramatically affect attempts
to renovate the recently acquired properties and get them into functional
condition. The fear is that, as it does in most matters regarding the
border region and its increasingly restive minority population, the state
will continue to practice the policy of benign neglect and refuse to help
local taxing entities. In Brownsville, it is very true that if we don't
do it ourselves, it doesn't get done.
Related to the general uproar surrounding the bond issue was the closing
out of a year of festivities recognizing and honoring the 75th anniversary
of Texas Southmost College. Cynics in our community wonder if this renewed
fascination with what is now little more than a local taxing district
is sincere or politically motivated, but there is little doubt that faculty
and staff morale have benefited from the year long series of events designed
to showcase the links between Texas Southmost College and the community
of Brownsville. Receptions and displays have focused on people and their
contributions rather than matters of brick and mortar, and those portions
of the campus that have felt neglected as the University of Texas supplanted
the old TSC with a radically different kind of campus culture have felt
somewhat mollified as they looked proudly back on a campus whose community
roots grow deep.
One last point worth mentioning is that, amidst perennial debates on parking
and faculty salaries, it was recently necessary to remind campus administration
that they are committed to bringing UTB salaries into parity with the
UT system. Our existing agreement is that parity for traditional academic
ranks is to be judged against the system excepting Austin, Dallas and
Arlington. At a recent meeting, the Provost suggested that the agreement
was predicated on Carnegie classifications, which would, of course, have
taken a number of other schools off the table. Needless to say, the Senate
took vehement exception to this interpretation of things, and we believe
all are now clear that our agreement extended only to those three schools
whose stratospheric salaries are beyond our aspirations in the lowly border
region. Still, while we may not have the greatest salaries in the system,
we are confident that we retain bragging rights to the most onerous workloads
and working conditions in the system.
This is
the "to do" list from UTB
The hottest
items on campus continue to be resource availability and allocation. There
is a large gap between salaries of new faculty compared to those that
have years with the institution. The other major problem seems to be parking.
Where most school average about 2.5 students per parking place, we average
over 5 students per parking place on campus.
We have just
recently hired a Compliance Officer (in September 2002)
There is
only one individual on faculty development leave this year.
Student Affairs
has been working with the new requirements for about a year and concurs
that they do increase the safety of students. The one issue that they
brought up was the 15 passenger vans are not being used with only 9 students
including the driver. It requires the use of more vehicles, but the students
are safer.
On follow-up
resolutions and recommendation from previous faculty advisory council
meetings:
There is
and Animal Subjects and Human Subjects committee with the hope of setting
up a Research Council in the future from the Office of Sponsored Programs.
Academic
Affairs:
Math accountability,
if it's refereeing to general ed math assessment is being handled by
the Dean of Development and General Ed. The General Education Advisory
Committee is developing a math assessment to be implemented in the spring.
Faculty Quality:
There is
not a policy governing honoraria at this time.
Governance:
The policy
governing promotion, review, and hiring procedures for Senior Lecturers
is part of the hiring policy for all faculty. A Lecturer does not have
the option of promotion and being awarded merit increases. They are hired
by administration and can teach up to three years.
When faculty
is in non-compliance with a grant, it would first be noted in the Technical
Report that goes to the Director of Sponsored programs. Only after the
Technical report is submitted would the Business Office become aware of
the non-compliance.
The
individual that oversees sponsored programs is Dr. Bill Strong, Vice President
for Institutional Advancement.
Dallas
Murray J Leaf, Speaker
Three
hottest items of concern on campus.
By "hot"
I assume we mean that which gets people upset.
The greatest
concern of the moment is the threat of reduced funding or insufficient
funding, which is at the moment in an especially noisy collision with
our ability to maintain or increase our graduate programs in general
and our research programs as their underlying foundation in particular.
The consequence is that the needs of established faculty have often
conflicted with the promises made to new faculty, and we have some rather
serious problems with the issues prominent on this agenda: salary compression,
inversion, and inequity.
Another
major concern involves support for research through the office of our
Vice President for Research and Graduate Education. In this, there are
several areas of serious faculty dissatisfaction: human subjects reviews,
patent and overhead cost returns to the investigators, and policies
regarding intellectual property, particularly as applied to cooperative
research with industry rather than research funded through the more
traditional grants from federal and other non-profit agencies.
Between
these two issues, it appears that we have lost at least three important
members of our faculty in science and engineering.
The main
ameliorative measures have been a change to the UTD policy on returns
for patent income, a slight restructuring of the committee concerned
with evaluating patent applications, and a fairly important reorientation
of that committee so that it now understands its duties to include the
development of technology transfer policies. At the same time, we have
set up an entirely new Senate committee, the Advisory Committee on Research,
to develop policies and advise the Office of the VP for Research and
Graduate Education on all aspects of their interaction with the faculty.
Now, all we need are the policies themselves. The committees have only
been appointed and are arranging to meet. We cannot at this point foresee
an outcome, although we can see that it will involve a lot of work.
The third
hottest item at the moment is the system Policy on Criminal Background
Checks. There was an apparent discrepancy between what the FAC was told
about the general status of this policy at the meeting last June and
what the administration was told through administrative channels subsequently.
The FAC was told that this was only system level policy and that it
was up to each campus to make its own interpretation. The administration
has apparently been told it is policy for everyone and must be implemented
as it stands. About a month ago everyone on the faculty received an
email from our Human Resources director giving a link to the system
policy as our own policy. The email was unambiguous that it was to be
followed-although, off the email the faculty was told that it was at
that point only for staff and that we had until November before it would
be implemented for faculty, in which time there would be some discussions.
Although we recognize that these discussions have intensified and that
the mischievousness of the present policy is being recognized at the
System level, there is still very substantial concern. The last action
of our Academic Senate was to establish a subcommittee of the Senate
to work with the Provost to be ready to respond when we might have an
opportunity to do so.
List of
items mandated by the Legislature that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive
Who mandated
the Post Tenure Review? The legislature in general, but for us it was
mainly the System. In any case, this would probably be highest on most
people's list.
The second
is probably the required de facto abandonment of "objective"
measures of preparedness in admissions. Although we never relied wholly
on numerical cutoffs and the like in the first place, the workload for
admissions and scholarship review committees has grown enormously, and
certainly this legislative requirement is at least partly responsible
because of the way it preclude the use of generally (if not precisely)
reliable quantitative measures in initial sortings.
The third
would probably be the minimum teaching load requirement-not, of course,
because it requires a minimum teaching load but because it does so in
such a relatively inflexible way at the individual level, which militates
against trading off tasks in response to shifting conditions.
Finally
(although on reflection this might be first), it seems clear that a
major cause of at least perplexity, and probably also record keeping
expense and internal budging difficulties, is the hugely complicated
fee structure that results from the legislative control of tuition and
other allowable fees.
It is probably
not possible to demonstrate clearly that legislative efforts to force
faculty to standardize curricula across the state has caused inefficiency
or waste in a financial sense, but it certainly has militated against
faculty efforts to design programs that make the best possible use of
our own particular resources to put together a well integrated program
within the University. In fact, I was recently told at meeting of the
directors of the undergraduate programs of our several schools that
the idea of such a unified program reflecting a campus-developed teaching
philosophy was obsolete. Perhaps it is obsolete here, but not at any
leading university or college elsewhere.
Finally,
I should mention that the faculty are currently quite concerned that
the Legislature may eliminate a program they very much appreciate. This
is TexShare. This seems to them an extremely sensible way to multiply
our resources at very little marginal cost, adding very substantially
to journal access and, thereby, greatly decreasing the sense of intellectual
isolation that until not very long ago was an unavoidable aspect of
a faculty position almost anywhere in the state but a UT or Rice.
List of
items mandated by the UT System that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive
The first
on the faculty list of such items would doubtless be the teaching assessment
program. Again, this is not because the faculty objects to assessment,
but rather because the mandated assessment for the designated courses
adds substantial cost in time and some not inconsiderable cost in funds
to the program we already have in place for these courses along with
all other courses we teach, with no gain in value.
The second
is probably the compliance program. The web-based "courses"
are the main irritant, although the increasing burden of detailed system
requirements (admittedly often originating in state law) is probably
actually more costly. The faculty do not need to be forced to appear
to accept simplistic and often questionable legal advice or advice contrary
to their legal rights and interests regarding what to do in specific
hypothetical situations. They would, however, probably like more attention
to be paid to making the actual laws available in a form that could
be adverted to when needed.
With respect to actual regulations, for example in areas like radiation
and chemical hazards or the above noted criminal background/criminal
history checks, the problem with the system policies is again not with
their intent or even really with their substance, but rather with the
way they tend to stand between the campus agencies charged with enforcement
and the laws and other governmental regulations that the policies are
supposed to reflect. The effect, commonly, is that instead of assisting
the campus in meeting those legal and administrative requirements, they
interpose an additional level of bureaucracy to comply with that has
the effect of making compliance more difficult.
Changes
or problems with compliance training/office (to be reported only if there
have been changes or problems)
No changes
to speak of.
Number
of individuals on faculty development leaves and overall percentage of
faculty that that number indicates
I neglected
to get our numbers for this year. For the previous few years it was about
ten per year for a faculty of 276, or about 3.6%. Last year, I believe
it was increased to about 15 and this year to twenty for a faculty of
300, or about 6.7%.
Problems
(if any) with new student travel procedures
None.
FOLLOW-UP
ON RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PREVIOUS FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEETINGS
Status of
creation of a local/Senate committee to monitor/advise the Office of Sponsored
Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting
Done. Appendix A.
Appendix
A.
POLICY MEMORANDUM
02-III.27-86 Issued: June 12, 2002
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH
The Advisory
Committee on Research is a Standing, Concurrent Committee of the Academic
Senate of The University of Texas at Dallas.
The Committee
is charged with recommending policies to promote and facilitate the research
activities of the faculty of the University. These policies may include,
but are not limited to, long term research planning, communication and
contracting with research sponsors, publicity for the University's research
activities, internal policies to assure that returns to the university
from patents and overhead are applied in such a way as to encourage and
promote additional research, the identification of new and potentially
important research areas and activities, the University's physical facilities
for research, the use of internal grants to initiate promising research
programs, and the operations of the Office of the Vice President for Research
and Graduate Education.
The concerns
of the Committee include all aspects of the interface between faculty
and the administration relating to pre-award and post-award services.
These include strategies for administrative staffing, communication with
the faculty regarding possible funding sources, the establishment of guidelines,
where feasible, regarding internal submission deadlines, turnaround time
for specific actions, expectations for the times within which faculty
may expect monies received by the University to be credited to accounts
allocated for their research, procedures for allowing faculty to monitor
such accounts, and assuring that clearances from internal review committees
are obtained in a systematic and efficient manner.
The Committee
shall have at least eleven voting members appointed by the President upon
recommendation by the Committee on Committees. Seven of the members, including
the Chair, shall be from the general faculty and will be selected to represent
the areas of activity with the most involvement with, and dependence on,
external funding. Appointments will be for two-year terms, and members
may be reappointed for additional terms. The Deans of the Schools of Engineering
and Computer Science, Human Development, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics,
or their designated representatives, shall serve as voting members, ex-officio.
The Dean of one of the remaining schools shall be appointed each year
for a one-year term, with vote. The Committee may recommend that the President
appoint additional members of the faculty as voting members for terms
of up to one year, and may form specific working groups or subcommittees
to consider and report on special questions of research policy that may
arise from time to time. The Responsible University Official shall be
the Vice President for Research and Graduate Education.
To ensure
continuity, appointments of general faculty Committee members, who have
two-year terms, will be for staggered terms. Initial appointments of three
members from the general faculty will be for one-year terms, and the appointments
of the remaining four general faculty members will be for two-year terms.
One-half of the appointments expire August 31 of each academic year. The
Chair of the Committee shall be appointed by the President annually.
The Committee
shall maintain a section of the governance website to which faculty members
may easily direct questions, complaints, and suggestions. The Committee
shall meet at least twice a year, once each long semester. Notice of the
times of the meeting shall be provided to the general faculty at least
thirty days in advance. The Chair shall provide the Senate with minutes
of each meeting and an annual report.
COMMITTEE
REQUESTS
GOVERNANCE
1. Promotion, review, and hiring procedures for [a] Senior Lecturers,
[b] non-medical Clinical Professors (under the recently expanded Regent
Rules definitions of "clinical faculty"), and [c] adjunct/part-time
instructors
We haven't
any procedures formalized except those for hiring as such. At this point
it is left to the discretion of Deans, and not under peer review. We
have just started talking about formalizing it and involving faculty.
2. Notification
procedures (if any) for faculty in non-compliance with contracts, grants,
state or federal laws, etc.
I don't believe we have anything formalized. It is generally the P.I's
responsibility, although the office is supposed to keep in touch and
serve as liaison, but his has been one of the areas we have been having
trouble with.
3. Name
and title of person or persons who oversee and/or direct the Office
of Sponsored Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting plus name, title,
and office of person to whom OSP/CGA reports
Vice President for Research and Graduate Education, Da Chuan Feng. He
reports directly to the President.
HEALTH
AFFAIRS
1. Promotion and tenure criteria for all health science centers, especially
with regard to promotion and tenure of clinical faculty
Not applicable.
2. Organization
and responsibilities of Intellectual Property Rights Committee, especially
with regard to faculty input and representation
Our policy
is attached, Appendix B.
Appendix
B:
POLICY MEMORANDUM
79-III.27-36 Issued: December 18, l979
Revised: March 1, l980
Revised: June 30, 1983
Revised: September 1, l989
Revised: October 24, 1989
Revised: June 15, 1994
Revised: May 23, 1996
Revised: June 4, 1996
Editorial Amendments: October 29, 1998
Editorial Amendments: September 1, 2000
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY
The Intellectual
Property Policy of The University of Texas is governed by Part Two, Chapter
XII of the Rules and Regulations (http://www.utsystem.edu/board-of-regents/tocrrr.htm)
of the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System, as implemented
in this memorandum. To the extent that provisions herein may vary from
the Rules and Regulations, the latter shall govern. An Intellectual Property
Handbook, bearing the approval of the President, will provide auxiliary
information and procedural details related to implementation.
I. Definition
of Intellectual Property
As used in
this Policy, the term "intellectual property" includes any invention,
discovery, trade secret, technology, scientific or technological development,
or computer software, regardless of whether such property is subject to
protection under the patent, trademark or copyright laws except as may
be excluded below.
II. Applicability
of Policy
A. This policy
shall apply to:
1. All
persons employed by U. T. Dallas
2. All
persons, including students, using the facilities of U. T. Dallas under
the supervision of its employees.
3. Candidates
for masters' and doctoral degrees.
4. Postdoctoral and predoctoral fellows.
5. Intellectual
property that has resulted either from activities performed by the individual
on U. T. Dallas time, or with support by State funds, or from using
U. T. Dallas facilities.
B. This policy
shall not apply to:
1. Faculty
authored, scholarly works, art works, musical compositions and dramatic
and non-dramatic literary works related to the faculty member's professional
field, regardless of the medium of expression, unless such work is commissioned
by or produced as a work for hire by the U. T. System or U. T. Dallas.
Such work is owned by the creator.
2. Intellectual
property produced by an employee of an outside firm under contract to
U. T. Dallas as a work for hire in the performance of a contract with
U. T. Dallas or as a part of an employee's assigned work responsibilities.
Such property is owned solely by the Board of Regents and the division
of royalties does not apply.
3. Intellectual
property unrelated to an individual's employment responsibility that
is developed on the individual's own time and without U. T. Dallas support
or the use of U. T. Dallas facilities. Such property is owned by the
creator.
III. Advisory
Bodies
A. The
President of U. T. Dallas shall appoint an Intellectual Property Advisory
Committee to help administer intellectual property policy and make recommendations
on such related matters as may be requested. The President shall also
appoint a Chair to direct and coordinate the activities of the Intellectual
Property Advisory Committee.
B. The
Intellectual Property Advisory Committee shall recommend to the President
as to whether and how U. T. Dallas and the System should assert and
protect rights in intellectual property covered by this policy.
C. Where
the U. T. System rights have been asserted on an item of intellectual
property, the President shall appoint a Business Advisory Committee
to advise him or her on decisions about this protection and its exploitation.
This Committee shall consist of the Executive Vice President and Provost
(Provost), the Senior Vice President for Business Affairs, the Dean
of Graduate Studies (ex-officio), the Director of Research Administration
and Sponsored Projects, the appropriate School Dean, inventor, and such
other individuals within or outside the University as may seem advisable.
IV. Submission
of Intellectual Property and Assignment of Rights
A. All
individuals carrying out University activities (including persons using
University facilities) which might result in creating intellectual properties
are obliged to maintain and make available adequate records of their
work and to follow the guidelines for disclosure and internal reporting
of such properties as described in the current issue of the University's
Intellectual Property Handbook.
B. Before
intellectual property covered by this policy is disclosed either to
the public or for commercial purposes, and before publishing same, the
creator shall submit a disclosure of such intellectual property as prescribed
in the current Intellectual Property Handbook for review by the Intellectual
Property Advisory Committee.
C. The
Intellectual Property Advisory Committee will review the disclosure
of intellectual property submitted by the creator, and will recommend
one of the following:
1. That
U. T. Dallas and the System assert rights of ownership in the intellectual
property on behalf of the Board of Regents and obtain such protection
for it as may be appropriate.
2. That
the Board of Regents release rights of ownership in the intellectual
property to the creator subject to such terms and conditions as may
be appropriate.
D. Where
U. T. Dallas and the System assert rights of ownership on behalf of
the Board of Regents in intellectual property covered by this policy,
it shall be mandatory that persons covered by this policy assign all
rights in such property and any patents or other protection to the Board.
E. Any
person who as a result of his or her activities creates intellectual
property that is subject to this policy, other than on government agreements
or other sponsored research projects where the grant agreements provide
otherwise, should have a major role in the ultimate determination of
how it is to be made public, whether by publication, by development
and commercialization after securing available protection for the creation,
or both.
V. Licensing
and Distribution of Income
A. In those
instances where rights in intellectual property are licensed by the
Board of Regents to third parties, the costs of licensing and obtaining
a patent or other protection for the property shall first be recaptured
from any royalties received.
B. The
remainder of such royalty income (including license fees, prepaid royalties
and minimum royalties) shall be divided as follows:
1. Fifty percent (50%) to the creator, and
2. Fifty percent (50%) to U. T. Dallas.
C. That
portion of the System's share of licensing income that is allocated
to U. T. Dallas shall be further allocated by the President for research
purposes. The Intellectual Property Advisory Committee may recommend
ways in which such income may be applied to further develop and support
the intellectual property interests of U. T. Dallas.
D. With
the prior written permission of the President, future royalties payable
to a faculty member pursuant to Section V. of this policy may be assigned
to U. T. Dallas by the faculty member and designated for use in research
to be conducted by such a faculty member.
VI. Equity
Interests
A. In agreements
with business entities relating to rights in intellectual property owned
by the Board of Regents, U. T. Dallas may receive equity interests as
partial or total compensation for rights conveyed.
B. Consistent
with Section 51.912, Texas Education Code, and subject to review and
approval by the President, the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic
Affairs, the Chancellor, and the Board, employees of U. T. Dallas who
conceive, create, discover, invent or develop intellectual property
may hold an equity interest in a business entity that has an agreement
with the University and System relating to the research, development,
licensing or exploitation of that intellectual property.
C. The
University may negotiate, but shall not be obligated to negotiate, an
equity interest on behalf of any employee as a part of an agreement
between the University, Board and a business entity relating to intellectual
property conceived, created, discovered, invented or developed by the
employee and owned by the Board. An employee shall request in writing,
using guidelines specified in the Intellectual Property Handbook, that
the University negotiate on his or her behalf.
D. Dividend
income and income from the sale or disposition of equity interests held
by the Board shall belong to the System. U. T. Dallas may use the net
income in accordance with Section V.C. of this policy.
E. Dividend
income and income from the sale or disposition of an equity interest
held by an employee pursuant to an agreement between U. T. Dallas or
System and a business entity relating to rights in intellectual property
conceived, created, discovered, invented or developed by such employee
shall belong to the employee.
VII. Business
Participation
A. Any
U. T. Dallas employee who conceives, creates, discovers, invents or
develops intellectual property shall not serve as a member of the board
of directors or other governing board or as an officer or any employee
(other than as a consultant) of a business entity that has an agreement
with the University or System relating to research, development, licensing,
or exploitation of that intellectual property without prior review and
approval by the President, the Chancellor and the Board as an agenda
item.
B. When
requested and authorized by the Board, an employee may serve on behalf
of the Board as a member of the board of directors or other governing
board of a business entity that has an agreement with the System relating
to the research, development, licensing or exploitation of intellectual
property.
El Paso
1. Three hottest items of concern on campus
a. enrollment
growth and the associated problems (serving more students without
sacrificing academic quality, class size, cost associated with adding
faculty and TAs)
b. state funding inequities
c. salary compression and inversion
2. Changes or problems with compliance training/office (to be reported
only if there have been changes or problems)
Sandy Vasquez, Director of Institutional Compliance
Every fiscal year the training requirements are determined by the Compliance
Committee. For fiscal year 2002-2003, the following seven training modules
have been assigned to all faculty, staff and student employees:
· UTEP Compliance Program
· Confidential Information and Records Management
· Fraud, Errors, and Omissions
· Sexual Harassment and Misconduct and EEO
· Use of State Property
· Strengthening Internal Controls
· Inventory Control
We have also created a job specific module to include information pertaining
to the University's Disclosure Statement and Cost Accounting Standards.
An announcement was sent to all employees notifying them of the training
requirement and a marketing item was included to publicize the Compliance
Helpline number.
A new MySQL database has been designed to work with the web-based training
modules which include new functionality and report options. The testing
format has changed from the power point presentation to a web- based
testing format in which the employees use radial buttons to answer the
questions and a single certificate prints upon the completion of all
modules assigned.
The Office of Institutional Compliance is now staffed by four employees,
a Director, Compliance Coordinator, Training Specialist and Administrative
Assistant.
3. Number of individuals on faculty development leaves and overall
percentage of faculty that that number indicates.
Mary Wolfe, Adm. Asst. VPAA - 8 represents 2% of the full-time faculty
FOLLOW-UP
ON RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PREVIOUS FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEETINGS
1. Status of creation of a local/Senate committee to monitor/advise the
Office of Sponsored Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting
Faculty Senate Executive Council - A Faculty Senate Standing Committee
called the Research Committee has the following charge:
To develop and express Faculty opinion concerning the operations of administrative
units directly concerning Faculty research; such as the Office of Contract
and Grants, the Schellenger Research Laboratory, and the Computation Center.
Steve Johnson, Faculty Senate President will ask the committee to submit
a plan for reviewing the effectiveness of the ORSP procedures.
COMMITTEE
REQUESTS
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
Status and nature of math accountability procedures at academic institutions
Pablo Arenaz, Assoc. VPAA - The math department is working on developing
an assessment tool for assessing student competency in math 1320 (college
algebra).
GOVERNANCE
1. Promotion, review, and hiring procedures for [a] Senior Lecturers,
[b] non-medical Clinical Professors (under the recently expanded Regent
Rules definitions of "clinical faculty"), and [c] adjunct/part-time
instructors
Mary Wolfe, Adm. Asst. VPAA - See attached policy on Senior Lecturers.
There isn't a UTEP policy at this time on Clinical Professors. We are
still checking on adjunct/part-time instructors. Jack Conway, Dean of
the College of Health Sciences
[b] non-medical Clinical Professors
o Promotion is not possible under the current College operating procedures.
o Review and renewal is yearly by the Program Coordinator, School Director,
and Dean.
o Hiring is initiated by the Program Coordinator or School Director, recommended
by the Dean, and approved by the Provost.
[c] adjunct/part-time instructors
o Promotion is not possible under the current College operating procedures.
o Review and renewal is yearly by the Program Coordinator, School Director,
and Dean.
o Hiring is initiated by the Program Coordinator or School Director, recommended
by the Dean, and approved by the Provost.
2. Notification procedures (if any) for faculty in non-compliance with
contracts, grants, state or federal laws, etc.
Jim Holcomb, ORSP - Person will receive a phone call from party who catches
the problem. If serious problem, call will come from Jim, Paul or president.
3. Name and title of person or persons who oversee and/or direct the Office
of Sponsored Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting plus name, title,
and office of person to whom OSP/CGA reports
Paul Maxwell, VP for Research and Sponsored Projects; Diana Natalicio,
President
HEALTH AFFAIRS
1. Promotion and tenure criteria for all health science centers, especially
with regard to promotion and tenure of clinical faculty
Jack Conway, Dean of the College of Health Sciences
o Promotion and tenure of clinical faculty isn't possible at the current
time. Clinical faculty are reviewed and reappointed on a yearly basis.
o Promotion and tenure criteria for UTEP are used for tenure track faculty
in the College of Health Sciences (these criteria are enclosed).
2. Organization and responsibilities of Intellectual Property Rights Committee,
especially with regard to faculty input and representation [NB: this applies
to academic components as well as health science centers]
Jack Conway, Dean of the College of Health Sciences
o We have no such committee in the College. The College follows the general
guidelines, policies, and procedures detailed in the UTEP Faculty Manual.
As stated on page 18 of this Manual:
"Intellectual Property
General Guidelines, policies, and procedures pertaining to intellectual
property, e.g., patents, copyrights, trademarks, confidentiality, are
set forth in the UTEP Intellectual Property Handbook and in the Regents
Rules and Regulations. Call the Office of Sponsored Projects for a copy
of the Intellectual Property Handbook."
UT-Houston
Three
hottest items of concern on campus
· Faculty salaries and incentives
· Consolidation of the UT-Houston Health Science Center basic science
departments
· Faculty-Administration communications
List of
items mandated by the Legislature that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive
· Dept. of Information Resources Biennial Operating Plan
· DIR Information Technology Strategic Plan for UT-H
· DIR/LBB "enforced" usage of the West Texas Disaster
Recovery Operations Center (WTDROC)
List of
items mandated by the UT System that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive
See above
Changes
or problems with compliance training/office (to be reported only if
there have been changes or problems)
None to report
Number
of individuals on faculty development leaves and overall percentage of
faculty that that number indicates
Currently, there are five faculty members who have been approved for Leave
by the Faculty Development Leave Committee. Not many more than this apply
each year. No more than six percent of faculty members may be on faculty
development leave at any one time. Possibly, there eight leaves granted
in each school independent of the UT-Houston Committee. The next round
of applications begins on November 1 (See Guidelines)
Problems
(if any) with new student travel procedures
Travel agency (Navigant) policies and fees and their impact on obtaining
low-cost tickets, particularly for students
FOLLOW-UP
ON RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PREVIOUS FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEETINGS
Status of
creation of a local/Senate committee to monitor/advise the Office of Sponsored
Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting
Not yet discussed or implemented.
COMMITTEE
REQUESTS
FACULTY QUALITY
Copy of policy (if any) governing honoraria
Honorarium.
Acceptance of honoraria is prohibited if for services that would not have
been requested but for the employee's official position or duties. Additional
information on this issue may be obtained at http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/ethics/guidenew.htm.
UTHSC-H's Ethics Officer is the local resource for questions.
Acceptance
of honoraria is prohibited if for services that would not have been requested
but for a public servant's official position or duties. See EAO's 125,
173, 226 (cash awards), and 294.
Acceptance
of honoraria is prohibited if given or received as consideration for official
action.
Prohibited
if for services that would not have been requested but for a public servant's
official position or duties. See comments. Comments apply to UTS giving
honoraria and UTS officials, faculty, or employees receiving honoraria.
Comments:
1. Public servants may not be offered honoraria in consideration of official
position or duties.
2. Transportation, lodging, and meal expenses may be paid for public servant's
active participation in a conference or seminar. See Penal Code Sec. 36.07.
Faculty participants
in the university's Medical Service Research and Development Plan (MSRDP)
participants are further covered by specific restrictions in regard to
outside activities; for example, MSRDP participants may not personally
retain fees for court appearances, depositions, and legal consultation
(including being an expert witness). All such fees must be deposited in
a departmental MSRDP account. Expenses associated with the earning of
legal fees, such as for travel, should be charged to MSRDP accounts.
GOVERNANCE
Promotion, review, and hiring procedures for [a] Senior Lecturers, [b]
non-medical Clinical Professors (under the recently expanded Regent Rules
definitions of "clinical faculty"), and [c] adjunct/part-time
instructors
Policies concerning promotion, review and hiring of Sr. Lectures, non-medical
Clinical Professors, and adjunct/part-time Instructors vary within the
schools and there is no institutional policy, although the Faculty Review
policy addresses review of all faculty. (See also 4.02 Academic Titles
http://www.uth.tmc.edu/ut_general/admin_fin/planning/pub/hoop/04/4_02.html
for your information.)
Notification
procedures (if any) for faculty in non-compliance with contracts, grants,
state or federal laws, etc.
a. Regarding contracts and grants, the Senior Grant and Contract Officer
said it would depend on the particular issue.
b. A similar response might be expected regarding state or federal laws.
Name and
title of person or persons who oversee and/or direct the Office of Sponsored
Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting plus name, title, and office of
person to whom OSP/CGA reports
Ms. Catherine Moore is Senior Grant & Contract Officer. This office
reports to the EVP for Research Affairs. Below is the URL address for
the Sponsored Projects Web Site.
http://www.uth.tmc.edu/ut_general/research_acad_aff/osp/osp-start.htm
HEALTH AFFAIRS
Promotion and tenure criteria for all health science centers, especially
with regard to promotion and tenure of clinical faculty
See Addendum
Organization and responsibilities of Intellectual Property Rights Committee,
especially with regard to faculty input and representation
See addendum
Addendum
Promotion
POLICY
OVERVIEW
This policy
presents guidelines to be used by the schools or institutes within The
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC-H) in the
process for recommending faculty promotions, explains the criteria applied
to a faculty member eligible for promotion, and describes the mandatory
flow of paperwork needed to accomplish the task.
To be considered
for promotion, a faculty member must meet certain criteria, including
outstanding performance in the areas of research, teaching, and service.
The UTHSC-H expects every member of the faculty to contribute to the educational
programs of the
university, whether with professional students, graduate students, or
postgraduate residents or fellows. Likewise, every member of the faculty
is expected to engage in productive scholarship, as defined in Appendix
C: UTHSC-H Statement on Scholarship.
Beyond those
criteria listed above, schools may have other criteria faculty must meet
to be considered for promotion. The schools must set forth such criteria
and any other promotion guidelines in writing and distribute them to all
faculty. Each school's promotion guidelines must at least contain those
items listed in Appendix C: Guidelines for Promotion.
While in
most cases, the promotion process will be initiated by the department
chairs (or equivalent), faculty in all schools may initiate their own
candidacy for promotion and must receive an accurate and complete promotion
evaluation.
I. School
Procedures for Promotion
Each school
must establish written procedures regarding annual promotion review that
must include at least the following:
A. provision
for annual opportunity for promotion consideration;
B. definition of who may initiate the process for promotion review that
must allow for nomination by the candidates themselves;
C. any school-specific time constraints on individuals who choose to
nominate themselves;
D. deadlines for each stage of the process;
E. a description of what materials are to be included in the promotion
file (at a minimum, those materials should include a curriculum vitae;
letters from the dean and department chair/equivalent; three letters
from faculty within the candidate's institution or summary statements
of department/module, section, or school-wide opinions and votes; a
minimum of three, preferably five, letters from outside the institution;
a letter from the chair of the school's Appointment, Promotion, and
Tenure Committee, if appropriate; any other letters that are appropriate);
F. written nominations that include a list of suggested professionally
qualified persons whom the school committee may use as references;
G. a description of the process for soliciting letters of reference
and the role of the candidate, the dean, or the school's Appointment,
Promotion, and Tenure (APT) Committee in this process;
H. timetable/schedule of the annual review cycle and timely publication
of procedural or schedule revisions.
The department
chair will distribute a copy of the school's promotion criteria and guidelines
to each faculty member at the time of initial appointment, and any revisions
of these guidelines will be distributed to all faculty in a timely fashion.
Recommendations
of each school's appointment, promotion, and tenure (APT) committees are
submitted to the university APT Committee for review by March 1 of the
following year, and are then forwarded to the president for his or her
endorsement. All
promotions are finally awarded by the UT System Board of Regents.
II. Advancing
Candidacy
The faculty
member or departmental chair (or equivalent) will submit for review a
letter and supporting materials to the committee responsible for recommending
promotion as provided by school guidelines. The candidate may supply a
list of individuals he or she
believes to be well qualified to serve as references.
The candidate
has the option to advance his or her candidacy, even with negative recommendations
from the department chair and/or dean, through all of the following levels
of consideration:
(1) the
department chair and departmental promotion committee
(when applicable) ,
(2) the school APT Committee,
(3) the dean, and
(4) the university APT Committee.
An individual
who seeks promotion should follow the procedure(s) within his or her school.
III. Notification
Once the
candidacy has advanced beyond the departmental level, the dean is responsible
for correspondence with the candidate at all stages of the process, and
will notify the candidate in writing of the outcome of his or her candidacy
for promotion at each stage,
including, in the case of denial, reasons for denial.
All candidates
for promotion will be submitted to the UTHSC-H president for his or her
consideration. If the president endorses the candidate's promotion, s/he
will forward a recommendation for promotion to The UT System Board of
Regents for approval as part
of the institutional budget. If the president does not endorse the candidate's
promotion, s/he will notify the appropriate dean that s/he does not endorse
the candidate for promotion.
The Regents' approval of the institutional budget is considered notification
to the UTHSC-H president that promotion nominations included in the budget
are approved. The promotion becomes effective as of September 1 of the
forthcoming fiscal year. The dean will notify the candidate of the approval
by means of the next annual appointment letter. Changes in status will
be reflected in the school's budget.
If the department
or school APT committee makes a recommendation for denial of promotion,
the candidate may advance his or her candidacy to the next level within
10 working days. If the candidate believes that denial was based on incomplete
or inaccurate
information, the candidate may provide corrective materials at this time.
The university APT Committee will be provided all materials added at any
stage. Any new materials added to the package in such cases must be evaluated
by the parties involved in any prior
reviews.
IV. Complaints
All individuals
involved in the promotion process have the responsibility for assuring
the integrity and fairness of the process, but the executive vice president
for academic affairs (EVPAA) has ultimate responsibility for this assurance.
The candidate may at any time
during the review process take complaints regarding procedural inadequacies
or improprieties to the EVPAA, who has the authority to resolve such matters.
V. Promotion
of Without Salary (WOS) Faculty
Promotion
of faculty in without salary titles should follow the same guidelines
as appointment of WOS faculty. (Refer to 4.04 Appointments.)
Updated 10/00
Tenure
POLICY OVERVIEW
Tenure denotes
a status of continued, full-time appointment to the faculty of the UTHSC-H,
as provided by the Regents' Rules and Regulations. To be eligible for
tenure, a faculty member must have demonstrated excellence in scholarship,
as defined in Handbook
of Operating Procedures Appendix C: UTHSC-H Statement on Scholarship and
as outlined in Appendix C: Guidelines for Tenure. In addition, the faculty
member must show the promise of continued excellence in scholarship in
the areas of teaching, research, professional service, service to the
community, and institutional citizenship.
Tenure is
awarded by The UT Board of Regents acting on the recommendation of the
UTHSC-H president. This policy references guidelines to be used by the
schools within The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
(UTHSC-H) in the process for recommending faculty for tenure; explains
the criteria applied to a faculty member being considered for tenure;
and describes the procedures needed to accomplish the task.
In order
to be eligible for tenure consideration, an individual must demonstrate
through his or her overall performance excellence in scholarship and the
promise of continued excellence. Tenure consideration will take into account
variations in emphases that may
reasonably occur among individuals whose responsibilities may differ widely.
The UTHSC-H expects every member of the faculty to contribute in the educational
programs of the university, whether with professional students, graduate
students, or postgraduate
residents or fellows.
Beyond those
criteria listed above, UTHSC-H schools may have other criteria faculty
members must meet to be eligible for tenure. The schools must set forth
such criteria and any other tenure guidelines in writing and distribute
them to all faculty. Each school's
tenure guidelines must at least contain those items listed in Appendix
C: Guidelines for Tenure. Ordinarily, tenure is considered on completion
of a probationary period of service to the university. An established
scholar may, under exceptional circumstances, be granted tenure simultaneously
with appointment to the faculty.
While in
most cases tenure recommendations will be initiated by the department
chair (or equivalent), faculty in all schools may initiate their own candidacy
for tenure, and must receive an accurate and complete tenure evaluation.
Note: The
University of Texas (UT) System considers tenure and compensation to be
separate matters. Compensation is based on performance of assigned duties
and productivity.
PROCEDURE
I. Criteria
for Judging Appropriateness for Tenure
Refer to
Handbook Appendix C: Guidelines for Tenure.
II. School
Guidelines
Department
chairs/equivalents will distribute copies of school tenure guidelines
at the time of initial appointment. Any revisions of tenure guidelines
must be distributed to faculty in a timely fashion.
Consideration
at the university level will accommodate the guidelines and mission of
the candidate's school. Review at each level will include an assessment
of educational contributions, research and other scholarly activities,
institutional citizenship, and consideration of how the proposed appointment
relates to the needs of the institution.
Each school
must establish and publish written guidelines regarding annual tenure
review that must include at least the following:
provision for annual opportunity for tenure consideration;
standards used in evaluating candidates and criteria by which achievement
in those areas will be measured;
definition of the role of the department chair (as advocate or neutral
presenter) and the role of the candidate in initiating the nomination;
a description of what materials are to be included in the tenure file
(at a minimum, those materials should include a curriculum vitae; letters
from the dean and department chair/equivalent; three letters from faculty
within the candidate's institution or
summary statements of department, division, module, section, or school-wide
opinions and votes; a minimum of three, preferably five, letters from
outside the institution; a letter from the chair of the school's appointment,
promotion, and tenure committee, if appropriate; any other letters that
are appropriate);
a description of the process for soliciting letters of reference and the
role of the candidate, the dean, or the school's Appointment, Promotion,
and Tenure (APT) Committee in this process;
a schedule of the deadline for each step of the process.
Final tenure
recommendations will be submitted to the university APT Committee by March
1 of the following year.
III. Eligibility
for Consideration
Only those
faculty who hold a tenure-track position with the academic title of professor,
associate professor, or assistant professor and who are in continuous
full-time service to the UT System may be eligible for tenure consideration.
(Refer to Faculty Review
Policy.) Academic service in the position of instructor is applicable
toward a faculty member's probationary period; however, tenure will not
be granted to an individual while serving in this position.
IV. Probationary
Service
Non-tenured
faculty who hold the academic ranks of professor, associate professor
, assistant professor, and instructor accrue time toward fulfilling their
probationary service periods. The period of probationary service in any
non-tenured tenure-track academic
position or combination of positions on the tenure track will normally
not exceed nine years. (See Section V. Extension of Tenure-Track Probationary
Period below.)
One year
of probationary service is defined as at least nine months of full-time
academic service during any academic year; however, in the year of initial
appointment, the period is counted from September 1, the beginning of
the university academic year. In the event
that an individual is appointed to the faculty at any other time during
the academic year, the service provided from date of appointment until
the following September 1 will not apply toward fulfilling the maximum
probationary service period. Prior service at other academic institutions,
whether within or outside The UT System, will not apply toward fulfilling
the probationary service period.
In accordance
with the Regents' Rules, when a tenure-track faculty member moves from
full-time to part-time service without termination of employment, the
period of part-time service is not counted as part of the probationary
period related to the award of tenure.
V. Extension
of Tenure-Track Probationary Period
The following
alterations to a faculty member's tenure-track status, when recommended
by the dean and approved by the executive vice president for research
and academic affairs (EVPAA), can produce extended time periods that will
not apply toward completing the probationary period; however, probationary
time accrued in a tenure-track position before and after a period of altered
status will be cumulative:
leaves of
absence without pay;
assignment to administrative or other non-academic duties within the UTHSC-H;
relinquishment of a tenure-track appointment to assume either a part-time
adjunct or clinical appointment with pay;
development leave;
reassignment of duties outside the UTHSC-H.
In addition,
a faculty member who determines that certain personal circumstances may
impede his or her progress toward demonstrating eligibility for recommendation
for award of tenure may make a written request to extend the probationary
period.
This request
must specify the reason(s) for the requested extension. Personal circumstances
that may justify the extension include, but are not restricted to, disability
or illness of the faculty member; status of the faculty member as a principal
caregiver of a
preschool child; or status of the faculty member as a principal caregiver
of a disabled, elderly, or ill member of the family of the faculty member.
The faculty member has the responsibility to provide appropriate documentation
to adequately demonstrate why the
request should be granted.
The request
must be submitted to the EVPAA through the department head or equivalent
and the dean. The decision regarding the request will be made by the EVPAA,
on recommendation of the department chair or equivalent and the dean,
and will be
communicated to the faculty member within 10 working days from the date
the request was submitted.
The request
for extension will be limited to one academic year. A request for an additional
academic year's extension will follow the established request process,
with the maximum duration of extension, whether consecutive or nonconsecutive,
to be two academic years.
Normally,
requests for extension must be made in advance of the academic year for
which the extension is desired and may be made no later than three months
prior to the deadline for initiation of the mandatory review process to
determine recommended award of tenure or notice, as provided under Section
VI below, that the next year will be the faculty member's terminal year
of appointment.
VI. Notification
of Completion of Probationary Service
On completion
of a probationary period, not later than August 31 of the eighth year
of probationary service and following formal review, all non-tenured,
tenure-track faculty will receive notice that beginning with the subsequent
academic year, tenure will be awarded; or the subsequent academic year
will be the terminal year of employment.
If notice
is not received by this time, it is the duty of the faculty member concerned
to pursue an inquiry with the dean (or delegate).
VII. Advancing
Candidacy
The specific
procedures in for making recommendations on granting tenure will vary
in detail within the UTHSC-H from one school to another. However, any
tenure-track faculty member may initiate candidacy for tenure prior to
his or her eighth probationary year.
An individual
who aspires to tenure should follow the procedure within his or her school.
(Refer to Section B. School Guidelines, above.) The candidate has the
option to advance his or her candidacy through all levels of consideration,
even if there is a negative
outcome at a particular level. These levels of consideration include the
following:
(1) the
department chair and department tenure committee (when appropriate),
(2) the school tenure committee,
(3) the dean, and
(4) the university APT Committee.
VIII. Notification
of Candidacy Status
Once the
candidacy has advanced beyond the departmental level, the dean is responsible
for correspondence with the candidate at all stages of the process, and
will notify the candidate in writing of the outcome of his or her candidacy
for promotion at each stage,
including, in the case of denial, reasons for denial.
Consideration
at the university level will accommodate the guidelines and mission of
the candidate's school. Review at each level will include an assessment
of the candidate's scholarship in the areas described in the UTHSC-H Statement
on Scholarship (Appendix
C-Guidelines), and consideration of how the proposed appointment relates
to the needs of the institution. The major criterion for judgment will
be the overall value of the individual's scholarly activities to the school
and to the UTHSC-H.
In the case
of an approval of a recommendation for tenure, the findings and support
material will be transmitted to the next level of consideration in accordance
with established schedules. If the recommendation is for denial of tenure,
the findings and support materials will be transmitted to the next level
of consideration only at the candidate's written request. However, if
the candidate is in the eighth year of probationary service, the recommendation
for denial of tenure along with the support materials must be transmitted
to the next level for consideration.
All candidates
for promotion will be submitted to the UTHSC-H president for his or her
consideration. If the president endorses the recommendation for tenure,
s/he will forward a recommendation for tenure to The UT System Board of
Regents for approval as part
of the institutional budget. If the president does not endorse the recommendation
for tenure, s/he will notify the appropriate dean that s/he does not endorse
the recommendation for tenure.
The Regents'
approval of the institutional budget is considered notification to the
UTHSC-H president that promotion nominations included in the budget are
approved. Tenure becomes effective as of September 1 of the forthcoming
fiscal year. The dean will
notify the candidate of the approval by means of the next annual appointment
letter. Appropriate changes reflecting changes in rank will be made in
the school's budget.
If the president
recommends denial of tenure, the candidate may request a review only in
accordance with Part I, Chapter III, section 6.35 of the Regents' Rules
and Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOOP) policy 4.09 Reappointment
and Non-reappointment.
The president's decision will also be transmitted to the appropriate dean,
and through the dean to the candidate, and will be reflected in the next
annual appointment letter. Appropriate changes reflecting changes in rank
or tenure status will be made in the school's budget.
If the department
or school APT Committee makes a recommendation for denial of tenure, the
candidate may advance his or her candidacy to the next level within 10
working days. If the candidate believes that denial was based on incomplete
or inaccurate
information, the candidate may provide corrective materials at this time.
The university APT Committee will be provided all materials added at any
stage. Any new materials added to the tenure package in such cases must
be evaluated by the parties involved in any prior reviews.
If a review
cannot be completed by August 15 of the penultimate year, the candidate
will be given a notice of non-reappointment, which may be rescinded if
tenure is awarded. No faculty member will be penalized, disciplined, or
prejudiced for contesting decisions, lodging a complaint, or aiding another
faculty member in doing so.
IX. Complaints
All individuals
involved in the tenure process have the responsibility for assuring the
integrity and fairness of the process, but the EVPAA has ultimate responsibility
for this assurance. The candidate may at any during the review process
take complaints regarding
procedural inadequacies or improprieties to the EVPAA, who has the authority
to resolve such matters.
X. Transfer
to a Non-tenure Track
In some situations
in which there are appropriate positions available, a department chair
may choose to offer a non-tenure-track position to a faculty member who
has not attained tenure. Such an offer will be made when an individual
has skills needed to support
the school and has made valuable contributions to the academic activities
of the university, yet has not met all the criteria on which tenure consideration
is based.
In such cases,
the transfer must be completed within the subsequent fiscal year after
notification regarding tenure. The process for altering tenure-track status
must be initiated by the individual faculty member. (Refer to 4.02 Academic
Titles.)
XI. Transfer
to Another UTHSC-H School
Refer to
4.12 Transfer/Assignment of Tenured Faculty.
XII. Change
in Status
A tenured
faculty member may change from full-time to part-time status and thus
from tenured to non-tenured status without termination of employment by
arrangement with his or her department/unit head. However, if a tenured
faculty member wishes to
change from full-time to part-time status and retain tenure, this must
be recommended by the dean and approved by the EVPAA.
Any tenured
faculty member who resigns or retires from the UTHSC-H may be eligible
to be re-hired, but will not be re-hired with tenure. If the faculty member
is subsequently offered another faculty position at the UTHSC-H, his or
her candidacy for tenure will
be determined by the type of position offered (e.g., tenure track or non-tenure
track).
Regents'
Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter III, Section 6.
UT System
Memorandum, 7/26/96, regarding the July 17, 1996, Final Report of the
Committee on Tenure.
Updated 12/00
Intellectual
Property
POLICY OVERVIEW
The University
of Texas (UT) System Board of Regents and The University of Texas Health
Science Center at Houston (UTHSC-H) encourage the development of inventions
and other intellectual creations for the best interest of the public,
the creator, and any research sponsor. After securing available protection
for the creation, the UTHSC-H will permit the disclosure of intellectual
property by development and commercialization, by publication, or both.
The basic policy of the board is to develop intellectual property primarily
to serve the public interest, and usually this is best achieved by developing
and commercializing the property by exclusive licensing. However, the
public interest may sometimes be promoted best by granting nonexclusive
licenses for the period of the patent. These determinations will be recommended
and made in accordance with administrative procedures established by the
board and the UTHSC-H.
A comprehensive
intellectual property policy has been formulated by the board to clarify
and protect the interests of all concerned. This intellectual property
policy applies to all persons employed by the UTHSC-H, to anyone using
UTHSC-H facilities under supervision of UTHSC-H personnel, to candidates
for masters and doctoral degrees, and to post-doctoral and pre-doctoral
fellows. As used in the context of this policy, the term "intellectual
property" includes any invention, discovery, trade secret, technology,
scientific or technological development, computer software, or other form
of expression that is in a tangible form.
The board
does not assert an interest in student, professional, faculty, or non-
faculty-authored works, scholarly works, art works, musical compositions,
and dramatic and non-dramatic literary works related to the faculty member's
professional field regardless of the medium of expression, unless the
work is commissioned by the board or is a work for hire.
The board
has rights in the intellectual property if the intellectual property is
related to an individual's employment responsibility or has resulted from
activities performed by the creator(s) under any of the following circumstances:
on UTHSC-H time; with support of state funds; while using UTHSC-H facilities
or personnel; while engaged in research
supported by a grant or contract from a federal agency, by a profit or
non-profit entity, or by a private gift to The University of Texas. However,
a creator of intellectual property who does not fall within any of the
previously mentioned circumstances may offer his or her creation to the
UT System. In such a case, the UTHSC-H president will recommend to the
board whether the System should support and finance a patent application
or other available protective measures and manage the development and
commercialization of the property.
The UT System,
with the cooperation of the UTHSC-H, will provide review and management
services for patentable inventions as well as other intellectual property
either by its own staff, through a related foundation, or by other means.
PRODEDURE
To obtain
protection for intellectual property, an individual will complete the
UTHSC-H Invention Disclosure form and submit it to the attention of the
chair of the Intellectual Property Advisory Committee. Copies of the form
may be obtained from the Office of Legal Affairs and Risk Management.
The committee
will review each disclosure and formulate recommendations regarding what
interest, if any, the UTHSC-H has in the property, and whether the UTHSC-H
and the board should assert their interest or permit the creator to proceed
on his or her own with or without certain restrictions. The committee's
recommendations will be forwarded to the president, who will forward his
or her recommendations to the board.
If the UTHSC-H
chooses not to assert its interest in a newly created intellectual property,
and that recommendation is approved by the UT Office of General Counsel
and the Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, the creator will
be notified within 180 days of the date of submission. If the UTHSC-H
chooses to assert its interest, it will work with UT System to pursue
patent or other appropriate protection of the intellectual property, and
will bear the costs of doing so. The UTHSC-H and the UT System will also
assist in securing funding for further development of the creation. Subsequent
net royalties, as net royalties are defined by the board, will be shared
between the UTHSC-H and the creator(s) according to the following formula:
50 percent--creator(s)
5 percent--school(s) of creator(s)
5 percent--department, division (or equivalent)
5 percent--laboratory of creators
35 percent--Office of Technology Management Patent Fund
In the event
that no school or department is clearly involved in the original development,
the Intellectual Property Advisory Committee will suggest a division consistent
with the intention of the division shown above. The final decision will
rest with the president.
More specific
details of this policy may be obtained by contacting the chair of the
Intellectual Property Advisory Committee.
Board of
Regents, UT System Rules and Regulations, Part Two, Chapter XII.
Updated 6/02
UT-Pan American
Three
hottest items of concern on campus
Faculty salaries, compression and inversion
UTPA is growing rapidly and actively hiring new faculty. The trend is
that new hires (new PhD graduates) are making significantly more than
those hired as recently as 3-5 years ago. More problematic, is that in
many cases, the new hires become the highest paid faculty in a particular
department, even relative to the senior faculty (full professors). This
problem appears to be common throughout the system and cannot be dealt
with at the local campus level.
Faculty resources
to respond to rapid growth in enrollment
Rapid growth creates a multitude of problems (as well as benefits, of
course), in particular when it is not anticipated. UTPA entering freshman
enrollment increased by 7.4% between Fall 2001 to Fall 2002, compared
to 4% for the previous year. This change in the growth pattern was not
discovered until late Spring. At this point, it is very difficult to find
faculty to teach additional the needed courses. Our demographic area is
such that there is not a ready pool of qualified and available people
to fill in at the last minute. The administrative solution is to increase
class sizes. There are significant ramifications on the faculty for this
action.
To further
compound the problem, during the past academic year, almost half of the
new faculty positions available went unfilled. To a great degree, this
can be traced back to salary levels. The university must offer a competitive
salary to hire new faculty and this, of course, creates budgetary problems
as well as those related to salary compression and inversion.
Continued
high growth in enrollment is expected (and encouraged by a variety of
legislative and system supported programs). It appears that it is easier
to get legislative support for new facilities than it is for the faculty
to teach in the new buildings.
List of
items mandated by the UT System that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive.
The strategic planning process currently in place is very cumbersome and
time-consuming. It is very frustrating for faculty to provide the level
of detailed planning required to only be told that the resources are not
available to support the plans.
The travel
policy that requires the use of Navigant is very expensive for the university.
I understand that there may now be some leeway in this policy but it has
not yet been formalized into our HOP.
Changes
or problems with compliance training/office (to be reported only if
there have been changes or problems)
New compliance policy was implemented over the summer. There is increased
usage of the hotline after the informational campaign. Issues seem to
be resolved fairly quickly. All employees were required to sign an awareness
of the compliance policy with their MOEs.
Number of
individuals on faculty development leaves and overall percentage of faculty
that that number indicates.
There is no faculty member currently on development leave.
Problems
(if any) with new student travel procedures.
There have been a lot of complaints about the new mandate of no more than
9 passengers in 15-passenger vans. This has doubled costs for many projects
such as field-experiment trips, student organization trips, and athletic
travel. For example, the golf team must now take 2 vans to transport the
10 team members. This means that two drivers must go through the training.
The policy is creating a financial burden, in particular for the non-athletic
travel, with the result that trips are being cancelled.
FOLLOW-UP
ON RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PREVIOUS FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEETINGS
Status of creation of a local/Senate committee to monitor/advise the Office
of Sponsored Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting.
UTPA has created no such committee.
UT Southwestern
Lisa-Ann Wuermser, MD
Campus
Report:
We are presently financially stable. A large philanthropic effort is to
be kicked off to fund new clinical centers. In the meantime, customer
service is a new goal for the clinical activity.
The Dean has now received the recently completed report from the Task
Force on the Retention and Recruitment of Women. He reports being very
interested in making changes, though none thus far. Major issues are tendency
for women to be recruited with a spouse, and therefore not get much in
start up funds, and to remain despite problems; meeting times (not during
regular working hours); and tendency for women to excel or be perceived
to excel in teaching and clinical care, which then occupies their time.
Women don't refuse added duties or non-promoting activities.
Ongoing problem with perceived or real lack of communication with administration.
Faculty Council (Chairs and Senate reps) is informative only, with little
influence on decision making. Dean's Council is a more select group with
no faculty. It is a very top-heavy system.
At long last the Senate has succeeded in getting the P&T criteria
on the intranet. Unfortunately it is located on the medical student web
page, so is a little hard to find. The new website promised months ago,
which would include a Senate page, has yet to go up.
To Do
list:
1. Hottest items are
1.) faculty
compensation with regard to the TFA study, especially since Health Institution
Presidents seem to have done really well;
2.) Funding
of Graduate Medical Education; and
3.) Promotion
and Tenure including our year to year contracts of non-tenured faculty,
no tenure for most clinical faculty, and inability to have tenure when
appointed part time.
2.and 3. (I'm not sure which are which).
Travel agency - expensive and less then ideal customer service
Salary limitations of staff and the need to conduct market surveys to
increase salary range, especially with respect to nurses.
Documentation of teaching physicians. I can co-sign an NPs note, but need
to write a bunch of repetitive verbiage with each note written or dictated
by a resident.
Difficulties on authorized uses of federal funds so as not to have direct
costs paying for things which should be paid by indirect costs. These
regulations often require calls to the program director at the Institute
to approve expenditures.
4. No
problems with compliance office.
5. 1 person on leave. (so <0.1%). The dean thinks that no one wants
to pack up his or her family for a year.
6. No problems with travel policy.
·
The oversight committee proposal has not gone to the Senate yet. It will
be brought up next meeting.
· Policy on honoraria attached.
· We generally don't use senior lecturers, adjuncts or non-medical
clinical faculty.
· I did not find any procedure regarding notification of non-compliance,
though I understand that those who are not in compliance may be notified
either through their Chair or each department's compliance officer (faculty
member).
· We have an OGM (Office of Grants Management) not an OSP (Office
of Sponsored Projects). The Director is Dan Alexander, and he reports
to Dr. Perrie Adams, Associate Dean for Research.
· Intellectual Property Committee is chaired by Dr. Dennis Stone,
who is the Vice-President of Technology Development. There are both faculty
and administrators on it.
University
of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Three
Top items of concern
Faculty development: Concern for development of new faculty and development
of mentoring system to make sure all are included in developmental activity.
Developmental activities for senior faculty to help them achieve promotion,
continue contributions to the institution and develop new avenues of teaching,
research and funding.
Faculty development leave funding: We have a new policy concerning faculty
developmental leave, however dialogue between faculty and administration
is needed to explore how the institution can financially support leaves.
Communication between administrators and faculty and among schools. This
is needed concerning the universities activities in the community and
within the university. As events occur that general faculty should or
would like to know, faculty may not receive the information. It would
seem that improvement in scholarly networking and faculty morale would
increase, if faculty knew more about each other's department, schools
and interactions with the community.
Other
areas
Support for Faculty Senate. What type of support are Faculty Senates given
at the other UT components? Are Senate chair given release time or compensation
of any type? Are Senates given budgetary support or secretarial support
for meetings?
Cost Sharing: Faculty effort on extramural projects for which there is
not corresponding faculty salary expensed against the project. Faculty
effort on the project is funded by a source other that the project. Proposal
is to minimize cost sharing at UTHSCSA. Faculty Senate has a resolution
voicing concerns about a policy to limit the use of cost sharing.
Social Security Numbers on Faculty and Staff documents - UTHSCSA Faculty
Senate is just starting to investigate this issue.
Faculty recruitment and retention: This is a concern expressed in Faculty
Senate, particularly in relationship to salaries.
Faculty salaries. This has been a concern in all UTHSCSA schools, particularly
in the School of Allied Health Sciences and School of Nursing.
Library Space: With increased electronic materials, library space is being
sought for other purposes, such as administrative meeting rooms and offices.
Daycare for faculty, staff, and students. Approx. 5,000 faculty, staff
and professionals work at the UTHSCSA. On campus day care facility could
help morale, productivity and be used for faculty educational and research
pediatric activities.
eCV. Committee has been formed to study the feasibility of eCV. Electronic
faculty CVs in which the faculty member would have the sole access to
modify the eCV but it would be available to the university community for
development of reports, etc.
List of
items mandated by the Legislature that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive
Laredo Extension Programs are costly in time for faculty involved in program
development.
Changes
or problems with compliance training/office
Appear to be smoothly conducted.
Number
of individuals on faculty development leaves and overall percentage of
faculty that that number indicates
UTHSCSA Faculty Development Leave Policy went into effect June, 2002..
Each school within UTHSCSA will develop its own procedures for awarding
faculty development leaves (with approval from the Executive Committee).
Currently, it appears there are no faculty members on developmental leave,
as reported by the Deans' offices. It is possible there are some that
have been approved at the Chair level in the larger schools. [Total faculty
- 1, 372, tenured - 388, Full time - 1,037]
Problems
(if any) with new student travel procedures
Much paper work is involved for student travel. The procedures are inconvenient
and must be strictly followed. Students do not receive funds before the
travel, must wait to be reimbursed following the travel event.
FOLLOW-UP
ON RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PREVIOUS FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEETINGS
Status of creation of a local/Senate committee to monitor/advise the Office
of Sponsored Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting
A Faculty Senate committee has not been created at this time.
UTHC Tyler
Malini Rajagopalan,
Ph.D
David Lakey, MD
We now have
a new President Dr. Kirk Calhoun. Will start at the Health Center over
the next few weeks. The search had been on since the beginning of this
year and 5 finalists visited the campus this summer. Apart from the administrators,
faculty and staff were also involved in the process of meeting with the
candidates and were asked to evaluate the candidates. Fortunately, Dr.
Calhoun was the first choice of the faculty and staff. Not sure who the
administrators wanted !!
About Dr.
Calhoun: Since 2000, Calhoun has been at Parkland and on the faculty of
U.T. Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he is associate dean
for clinical affairs. From 1993 to 2000, he was a faculty member and administrator
at the U.T. Medical Branch at Galveston. While at UTMB, Calhoun served
as corporate medical director of UTMB HealthCare Systems, chief medical
officer and senior medical director, director of internal medicine clinics,
and in other capacities.
In the March
FAC meeting we had found out about the changes in the contract terms for
faculty at Health Science centers as result of the last Regents meeting.
We reported these changes back to our senates and administrators. FYI:
The Regents had approved 1-3 year contracts for the faculty. Good news:
effective Sept.1, these changes have taken effect for the research faculty
and we are now eligible to receive contracts up to 3 year depending on
the # of years of remaining grant support. The new contracts issued this
year do reflect these changes. Bad news: The clinical faculty still have
1-year contracts.
Addition
of a new wing to the research building has been approved and ground breaking
is projected for spring 2003.
UT Health Center-Tyler
Three hottest items of concern on campus
New President
Honorarium policy
Salaries scales for new faculty hires
Changes
or problems with compliance training/office (to be reported only if there
have been changes or problems)
None
Number
of individuals on faculty development leaves and overall percentage of
faculty that that number indicates
At present no faculty on developmental leave. The policy allows 6% of
faculty at any given time to be on developmental leave. Thus far two people
have taken the leave.
Problems (if any) with new student travel procedures
NA
FOLLOW-UP ON RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PREVIOUS FACULTY
ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETINGS
2. Status of creation of a local/Senate committee to monitor/advise the
Office of Sponsored Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting
Was discussed and forwarded to VP for Financial affairs who oversees this
office at present. Agreed to it conceptually but not much has happened.
COMMITTEE
REQUESTS
GOVERNANCE
§ Promotion, review, and hiring procedures for [a] Senior Lecturers,
[b] non-medical Clinical Professors (under the recently expanded Regent
Rules definitions of "clinical faculty"), and [c] adjunct/part-time
instructors
Will provide a copy of the PEC (promotions and evaluations committee)
guidelines document.
§ Notification
procedures (if any) for faculty in non-compliance with contracts, grants,
state or federal laws, etc.
Dr. Dodon, our VP for Research handles these issues.
§ Name
and title of person or persons who oversee and/or direct the Office of
Sponsored Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting plus name, title, and
office of person to whom OSP/CGA reports
Michelle Hargis; Rick Hefner (VP, Financial Affairs)
HEALTH AFFAIRS
Promotion and tenure criteria for all health science centers, especially
with regard to promotion and tenure of clinical faculty
Will provide a copy of the PEC (promotions and evaluations committee)
guidelines document.
The University
of Texas at Tyler
Construction on the College of Nursing and Health Sciences building began
in May 2002 with a completion date of August 2003. The building will house
the College of Nursing only. The Patriot Center, the health and kinesiology
complex, is also scheduled to be ready for occupancy in summer 2003. This
structure houses the basketball court, an indoor track, work out areas,
health and kinesiology faculty offices and classrooms and labs. Just outside
the building is a swimming pool. Sports have been added to include both
men and women's soccer, cross country track, baseball/softball, basketball,
tennis. Football will be added at a later date.
All enrollment
caps have been removed for freshman and sophomore admissions. The university
saw a 12% increase in enrollment with 450 freshman.
The issues
with the HOP have been resolved. The president has forwarded the editorial
changes to Dr. Sharpe concerning academic freedom to introduce controversial
materials in class.
Three hottest items of concern on campus
a. Parking- with a 12% increase in enrollment this is a major concern.
There are plans for lots in the future and discussions about how the
problem can be dealt with in the short term.
b. Appointments to the Student Media Advisory Board and HOP policy about
the responsibility of the Board.
Changes
or problems with compliance training/office (to be reported only if there
have been changes or problems)
The only change that has been made is the addition of 3 modules: Copyright
and Intellectual Property, EEO, Overtime Compensation, Exempt and Nonexempt,
time keeping and FLMA; Contact with Media, Government and Outside Investigator
Number
of individuals on faculty development leaves and overall percentage of
faculty that that number indicates
Human resources did not respond with any faculty currently on leave.
Problems
(if any) with new student travel procedures
Concerns have been raised by a faculty member in the School of Engineering.
They are taking students to places like NASA and the mileage is just past
what it takes to have 2 drivers present and they cannot let two faculty
be gone at the same time. This will be reviewed in committee.
FOLLOW-UP ON RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PREVIOUS FACULTY ADVISORY
COUNCIL MEETINGS
Status of creation of a local/Senate committee to monitor/advise the Office
of Sponsored Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting.
The Business Affairs Committee of the Senate is charged with looking into
this issue.
ACADEMIC
AFFAIRS
Status and nature of math accountability procedures at academic institutions:
Assessment of core mathematics is required in spring 2003. UT System is
coordinating the type of assessment to be done in the first reporting.
The committee at UT Tyler has decided to assess those mathematics courses
that are most likely to be used by liberal arts majors during this first
assessment. Each component is responsible for its own assessment, however
UT Tyler are to address exemplary educational objectives identified by
the Coordinating Board. In fall 2002 the math courses are introducing
proficiency testing in the algebra classes. This will address some of
the objectives to which the committee must respond. Other objective will
be addressed in mid-term and final examinations. Assessment of Contemporary
Mathematics will also be addressed in spring 2003.
GOVERNANCE
Promotion, review, and hiring procedures for [a] Senior Lecturers, [b]
non-medical Clinical Professors (under the recently expanded Regent Rules
definitions of "clinical faculty"), and [c] adjunct/part-time
instructors
The hiring procedures for senior lecturers, clinical faculty and adjunct/part-time
is the same across campus. Positions are posted as needed, interviews
are done after review of vitae and letters of reference and transcripts.
Evaluations are done in each semester of appointment and determinations
made as to reappointment. Appointments are for a semester. Promotion is
dependent upon the faculty member receiving the highest earned degree
in the discipline or its equivalent. The faculty member is evaluated in
the areas of teaching, research/creative activity and service.
Notification
procedures (if any) for faculty in non-compliance with contracts, grants,
state or federal laws, etc.
None noted
Name and
title of person or persons who oversee and/or direct the Office of Sponsored
Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting plus name, title, and office of
person to whom OSP/CGA reports
At this time there is not a specific office that holds this responsible.
The Provost/VPAA is currently serving in this role. The Business Affairs
Committee of the Senate has been charged to review this issue and work
on developing guidelines and recommendations for a permanent position
and office
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
(Dr. Giulio Taglialatela, PhD)
1. Three hottest items of concern on campus.
1. Assess the degree of and achieve women and minority equity/equality
status in terms of both career opportunity and salary. Promote the presence
of women and minorities on crucial campus-wide committees and decision-making
task force. The President has sensitized the Deans on the issue and
asked the Faculty Senate Chair and Chair-elect to form a permanent task
force along with the UTMB Core committee on women and the UTMB Core
committee on minorities to function as a proactive body but also as
a monitor of progresses and initiatives.
2. Senators will be seating on the Institutional Budget Committee. This
is a very important committee at UTMB in that it develops the budget
for the fiscal year. The President has asked the Senate Chair to be
on the committee plus he wishes to nominate another Faculty Senator
chosen from the Faculty Senate Executive committee. This is welcomed
as a milestone in the Senate's growing recognition by the institution
and administration.
3. UTMB's president has approved the Senate's proposal of developing
a UTMB Faculty Club. The Faculty Club will be housed in the Old Red,
the historic and oldest medical school building in Texas and an UTMB
symbol. This is one of the Senate's achievement and work progress (on
the way) will be monitored.
2. List
of items mandated by the Legislature that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive.
We contacted the Office of the Vice President for Business and Administration
who provided us with a (endless) list of proposed deregulation issues
for the 78th Legislature. Among these, many do not apply to UTMB. Among
those that do apply to us, UTMB is very supportive of the proposed elimination
of the State law regulating privacy of medical records as it grossly exceeds
the federally-mandated one (HIPPA), thereby constituting an unnecessary
financial burden. Besides this particular issue and after having reiterated
our request to the VP for Business and Administration, it seems like that
currently there are no mandated issues that UTMB feels are unnecessary
or overly expensive.
3. List
of items mandated by the UT System that seem to be inefficient or overly
expensive.
Ditto as in point #2 above.
4. Changes
or problems with compliance training/office (to be reported only if there
have been changes or problems).
None.
5. Number
of individuals on faculty development leaves and overall percentage of
faculty that that number indicates.
2, <0.1%. Both individuals are recipient of a Presidential Leave, a
campus-wide sabbatical program that was recently established at UTMB.
6. Problems
(if any) with new student travel procedures.
None reported.
Additional
items of general interest.
UTMB recently developed a Presidential-sponsored grant program intended
to promote the hiring and retention of minority Faculty so as to increase
diversity among UTMB Faculty to be representative of the population UTMB
serves. This program (termed Research Program on Medically Underserved
Populations of Texas, RMPUT) provides start-up funds to new Faculty involved
in minority studies. Thus, the RMPUT is legally not in contrast with current
limitations on the use of ethnicity as a selection factor in hiring in
Texas as it promotes research on minority issues rather than promoting
hiring of minority faculty. Nonetheless, the probability to attract highly
qualified minority researchers conducting studies on minority issues is
considerably higher than in other research field. After one year of implementation
RMPUT has successfully resulted in the hiring four highly qualified new
minority Faculty. We noted that one of the key issues to make this program
successful was to avoid having application deadlines, leaving the funds
available to any new Faculty applicant so that if granted it could become
part of the startup package offered by the receiving Department. This
also stimulated Dept. Chairpersons in pursuing the RMPUT. Having assessed
its success, UTMB President John Stobo granted financial support to the
RMPUT into next year.
FOLLOW-UP
ON RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PREVIOUS FACULTY ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEETINGS
Status of creation of a local/Senate committee to monitor/advise the Office
of Sponsored Projects/Contracts and Grant Accounting
No action has been taken so far by the UTMB Senate as the local need to
do so is yet unclear. We are in the process of considering the issue from
a local prospective.
APPENDIX B
Supplemental
Surveys
I. Does faculty
salary paid by grant funds release you from teaching?
UT Arlington
No
UT Galveston cannot respond for all four schools
UTPB Yes (as long as an adjunct is available)
UTMDACC Not Applicable
UTD Yes
UTPA Somewhat-as long as you teach a minimum of six hours
UT Austin Not Applicable
UTEP Yes (as long as adjunct is available)
UTT Not sure across entire campus
UTHCT Not Applicable
UTHCSA No
UT Houston No
UT Southwestern Yes
II. Are you
required to place your salary (or a percentage thereof) on your grants?
UT Houston
Yes, at Medical School/Nursing, but may vary between schools
UT Arlington No
UT-Galveston Yes/No-not a uniform policy in different schools-to the best
of
my knowledge
UTPB Yes
UTMDACC Yes-30 % headed up
UTD Yes-in the sense that having a salary item on the grant and not
taking it, but using the money for something else, would be
regarded as fraudulent. We are not required to request salary-
unless we want to buy back time.
UT Austin No
UT El Paso No
UT Tyler No
UTHCT No, but encouraged to because the institutional overheads.
Salaries put on grants are returned to PI for hiring technical
support and as (25%) incentive salary to PI.
UT Southwestern So far as I know, yes.
III. What
level of administrative support is provided for your Faculty Senate?
UT El Paso
Administrative assistant, office space and office supplies are
provided by the Administration. Faculty senate president is
awarded a one-course release.
UT Southwestern Secretarial support out of the President's office. Take
minutes and
distribute info-no release time for FAC or senate leadership
(I still have to make my salary.)
UT Houston Secretarial support for medical school faculty senate and for
health
science center interfaculty council-no release time for
leadership-no budget-it comes from Exec VP for AA if we need
money.
UTHSCSA None
UTHCT/clinical None
UTHCT/research Secretarial support but no financial help
UT Tyler No secretarial support-3 hrs release time/semester for president
UT Austin Two full-time secretaries-release time for faculty chair is
on a
dept. by dept. basis
UT Dallas We have an office and a secretary who is also part of the Provost's
staff. Each senate committee has an attached "responsible
university officer" from the administration. The RUO should provide
secretarial support to the committee as needed. We have no budget as such.
Speaker of the faculty receives 2 course release per academic year; secretary
receives 1 course release per academic year
UT Pan American Faculty senate office and secretary (20 hrs/week)-Chair
receives
6 hrs release (at our campus, senate chair is expected to sit on
many university committees and also chair athletic compliance
committee).
MD Anderson Senate office-full time staff-assistant funded from Exec VP
for
Academic Affairs-chair of senate-one year freeze on
tenure/tenure track. We have seven-year term tenure, the freeze
extends this one year.
UTPB Budget, but no administrative support.
UTMB Administrative secretary, office supplies, no release time for FAC
or senate exec committee members
UT Arlington Small budget including funds for a work-study student for
secretarial help-additional work-study money generally available
from provost on a need basis-no office-supplies absorbed by
chair/secretary home dept.-one course/semester course reduction
for chair--$6500 summer salary stipend
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