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Committee and Campus Reports

December 6-7, 2007, Faculty Advisory Council Meeting

I. Committee Reports

A. Governance:

The governance committee proposed the following items:

1. Language to propose for faculty regent law.

Sec. 51.35X. NONVOTING FACULTY REGENT; UNIVERSITY SYSTEM BOARD OF REGENTS.

(a) In this section, "faculty governance body" means the apex representative faculty organization charged with formulating academic policy for their institution, usually called the “Academic Senate or “Faculty Senate.”

(b) The chancellor of each university system shall develop a uniform application form to be used by each general academic teaching institution and medical and dental unit in the university system to solicit applicants for the position of faculty regent.

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (f), not later than November 1 of each year, the faculty governance body of each general academic teaching institution and medical and dental unit in a university system shall solicit applicants for appointment to the position of faculty regent. Not later than January 1, from among the applications received in each institution, the faculty governance body shall select up to three applicants as the faculty recommendations for the position of faculty regent and send the applications of those applicants to the chancellor of the university system. From among those applicants, the chancellor shall select two or more applicants as the university system's recommendations for the position of faculty regent and shall send the applications of those applicants to the governor not later than February 1. The governor may request to review all applications for the position of faculty regent received by the faculty governance bodies. On June 1, or as soon thereafter as practicable, the governor shall appoint one of the applicants to serve as the faculty regent for the system for a one-year term expiring on the next May 31. The governor is not required to appoint an applicant recommended by the chancellor, but cannot appoint someone who was not an applicant recommended by their faculty governance body.

(d) A faculty regent must be a full time member of the faculty of their institution, with tenure, but may not hold an administrative appointment as Dean or above.

(e) A faculty regent is not a member of the board of regents of the system for which the faculty regent is appointed. A faculty regent has the same powers and duties as the members of the board of regents of the system, including the right to attend and participate in meetings of the board of regents, except that the faculty regent:

(1) may not vote on any matter before the board or make or second any motion before the board; and

(2) is not counted in determining whether a quorum exists for a meeting of the board or in determining the outcome of any vote of the board.

(f) The faculty governance body of the general academic teaching institution or medical and dental unit in which a current faculty regent is employed at the time of the faculty regent's appointment may not solicit applicants for the position of faculty regent for the next regular term of the position.

(g) Systems in which there are separate academic units and medical and dental units may devise schemes for rotating the faculty regent applications between academic and health campuses in alternating years.

(h) A vacancy in the position of faculty regent for a university system shall be filled for the unexpired term by appointment by the governor in consultation with the chancellor of the system.

   (i)  A faculty regent serves without compensation but is

entitled to be reimbursed for the actual expenses incurred by the

faculty regent in attending the meetings of the board of regents,

subject to the approval of the chairman of the board of regents.

2. Project to express concern to U S House and Senate regarding the increasing burden over over-extended regulation on American university campuses.

The following is a text to be transmitted to faculty bodies of university systems comparable to the UT System Faculty Advisory Council, to help us raise this concern with the House and Senate committees concerned with higher education policy.

Federal Regulatory Overreaching in Higher Education

Murray J Leaf, Speaker of the Faculty, U T Dallas

All who teach in America’s colleges and universities, and perhaps especially those in our research universities, are aware of the increasing burden of regulation and accounting requirements governing almost all aspects of what we do: financial aid, handling of students with disabilities, clearances for research from Institutional Review Boards, student records, student discipline, how examination scores are posted, and even how syllabi are written—to mention only some. The cost is substantial. Without question it cuts into the funds actually available for instruction and research, and it is almost certainly not offset by anything that might be regarded as increased quality.

This regulatory burden has a single underlying cause. It is the two-pronged mechanism that the Congress has adopted to enforce a number of acts affecting higher education. These include the Higher Education Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family Educational Rights to Privacy Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the National Research Act, the Animal Welfare Act, and others. The first prong is that the acts assign exclusively to one or another administrative agency the responsibility to write rules to implement the act. The second prong is that they assign to the same agency the power to enforce those rules, and this power usually includes the power to cut off all federal funds to the offending institution—not just those funds coming to the institution under the act or under one or another program under the act. The result has been that the agencies have consistently drawn over-broad and intrusive regulations, which campus administrations have often reacted to with even more overly broad and intrusive regulations of their own. Given a choice that seems to be between doing some one thing that might be of limited consequence in a way that appears to be more responsible and cutting off all federal funding, locally responsible choices have consistently lost out and the accumulated effects have been substantial.

• One example is the regulations written under the Family Education Rights to Privacy Act. Since 1984, the regulations under this act have been written by one person, the Director of the Family Policy Compliance Office. He has explicitly construed “privacy” “educational records” as broadly as possible and the exceptions allowed in the law as narrowly as possible. The result is a welter of conflicting regulations that have led campus legal councils to construe anything written as an “educational record” and to say that no such records can be circulated, even internally, without the permission of the student in question. Such interpretations have made it extremely difficult to maintain effective campus communication and feedback concerning students who posed a manifest danger to themselves or others and have substantially, if not wholly, created the climate of secrecy and inaction that has been described and criticized in the governor’s report in the aftermath of the disaster at Virginia Tech.

• Another example is the Higher Education Act. This governs the administration of federal higher education programs, including the administration of federal student financial support programs. The act was originally passed on October 1, 1998. This Act allows regional accrediting agencies to be recognized by the Department of Education such that if an institution fails to be accredited it is not eligible for Title IV or other federal funding. This has allowed the Department of Education to demand quid pro quo from accrediting agencies, in the form of “We enhance your authority, so this is what you have to do for us.” And this enabled the Department to impose requirements for accreditation on regional accrediting associations that the members of those have not originated and would not otherwise accept.

Actions Recommended

The following actions are recommended:

1. Publicize this information on your campuses: encourage faculty to check what has been said here for themselves.

2. Consider a Faculty Senate Resolution urging that the Senate and House committees on higher education keep in mind the problem of campus regulation that interferes with campus efficiency, effectiveness, and responsibility. As the concerned bills come up for renewal, they should require that the powers of such agencies be restricted in the following four ways:

First, where the penalties are associated with the administration of federal programs, penalties for violation of the provisions of the act be restricted to the withdrawal or withholding of benefits that universities obtain under those programs.

Second, where the acts are matters of general national policy rather the administration of federal programs, as for the Civil Rights Act and the ADA, the regulations should be drawn in such a way that penalties assessed for a non-complying campus would be comparable to those assessed by a federal court for non-compliance to a non-educational of entity under similar circumstances—such as to a non-complying business or governmental agency.

Third, that the acts provide for appealing administrative decisions to Federal District Courts on common-law grounds of fairness and equity.

Fourth, that grounds for appeal should include the claim that the penalty is disproportionate to the damage or harm.

That hearing processes for developing regulations should be required to obtain testimony from representatives of faculty governance bodies on individual campuses of representative institutions and from representatives of professional and scientific bodies that faculty belong to, such as the American Association of University Professors, the National Education Association, and scientific and scholarly associations in fields that the regulations are likely to affect.

3. Faculty should be encouraged to write individually to describe this problem as they see it and express their concerns the Chairs of the Senate Health Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (Senator Edward Kennedy) and the House Education and Labor Committee (Representative George Miller).

4. Faculty should express these concerns to their professional and scholarly associations.

5. Faculty should seek the cooperation of university and governmental affairs officers.

6. This cannot be a one-time only campaign; we must get involved and stay involved.

3. Proposed wording for policy on recordings of courses.

When the course or any part thereof of a faculty member has been recorded by the university in which they are employed, that recording is the property of the instructor and may only be used with permission of the instructor unless the instructor and the university have made a specific contractual agreement under which possession has been transferred to the university.

Students or others may not record courses or any part thereof without permission of the instructor.

Recordings made as accommodations for students under the Americans With Disabilities Act may not be reproduced or used for other than instructional purposes by the student for whom the recording was made.

Agreed to send to Chair Pate for circulation and legal review.

II. Campus Reports

UTEP Report to UT System Faculty Advisory Committee

December 5-6, 2007

M. L. Ellzey, Jr., Ph.D.

• After considerable work, tuition and fee increases meeting approval of the students have been prepared for submission to the regents.

• Continuing growth in the number of graduates is requiring that commencements be expanded from two sessions twice a year. The options appear to be either a new commencement in August or three sessions twice a year. The latter seems to have the most support.

• An amendment to the faculty government constitution permitting certain full-time non tenure track faculty to participate in faculty governance has been submitted to the general faculty for a vote. It appears to be headed for ratification.

• About two hundred million dollars of construction is planned for the coming two years. This includes a new engineering/science building and a new health sciences building. Other projects include completing the biological sciences building and renovating some older buildings.

• We are looking forward to celebrating our centennial in 2014 with an aggressive fund raising campaign and we hope to more than double our research funding.

• The Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center has received a $6.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to work toward elimination of racial and ethnic health inequalities across the nation.

UT Tyler

Report to FAC

12/07/07

“ Nothing endures but change.”

Heraclitus (540 BC - 480 BC)

And we are definitely changing!

Searches are underway for several major leadership positions on campus including Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Student Affairs, Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, and Director of the Writing Center. There are also nine advertised faculty openings at this time.

Several major construction projects are being completed with others in process. The new Ratliff Engineering building will be fully occupied by spring semester. The major addition to the University Center is due for completion by summer 2008, allowing for remodeling of the current Center. The new nursing addition is due for remodel and move-in by fall 2008. Faculty from Education and Psychology are also being relocated as various offices are vacated.

A new software database (People Soft) is being instituted and will be operational fall 2008.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the first PhD program for UT Tyler on October 25, 2007. The PhD in Nursing will be offered online.

The Senate has initiated a review and revision of the Emeritus guidelines. Plans are in process for a joint project with the Student Government Association to heighten global awareness across campus.

The University of Texas at Austin Campus Report

UT System Faculty Advisory Committee on December 6-7, 2007

Prepared by Doug Burger, 07-08 Faculty Council Chair

Major campus activities:

• President announced $2-4 B capital campaign, including new facilities for Communications and Computer Sciences
• Continuing discussions about long-term strategic planning on President’s Policy Advisory Council (PPAC)
• Work continues on AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center ( EECC) construction
• Work continues Football stadium renovation
• Report on salary compression and gender equity in preparation
• New list of core courses to satisfy state requirements, new set of freshmen signature courses planned for next year
• Faculty council recommended terminating Electronic Course Instructor Survey (eCIS)

UT FAC Campus Report

MD Anderson Cancer Center

12/6/07

We have been fighting the new research cost sharing policy put in place 18 months ago. After many discussions over that time, we believe that the policy will be rescinded in the near future.

Campus Report – December 2007

University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Promotion and tenure workshops.

Workshops designed to offer guidance and mentorship for faculty considering promotion are to take place next month. These events are being organized through the office of the Vice President for Academic Administration, and are supported by a coalition of campus organizations that help to promote faculty development, including the Committee for the Advancement of Women and Minorities, Faculty Promotions, Tenure and Appointments Committee, Faculty Senate, and the Women’s Faculty Association. Three workshops are to be held: One focused on the concerns of non-tenure-track faculty; the second focused on the concerns of tenure-track faculty; and the third designed to engage chairs of the departmental promotion and tenure committees in discussions that may foster more uniform and effective mentoring practices across campus.

Dean search for the School of Nursing

The search for a dean for the School of Nursing is ongoing. Visits have begun with candidates narrowed down to a few.

Dean search for the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences begins

The Dean of the Graduate School has indicated his intention to retire as of August 1, 2007. Therefore, a search for his replacement is to begin soon. President Cigarroa is currently meeting with faculty from throughout the Graduate School seeking input with regard to search criteria and the composition of the search committee.

Chief Operating Officer online – Michael Black

On October 1, 2007, Michael Black, MBA, began as Chief Operating Officer. His primary charge is to aid the President with regard to the fiscal challenges of the University, such as the increasing complexities associated with our multiple distant campuses, a complex research facility coming online soon, as well as multiple partnerships with research centers in San Antonio. He has spent much of his time so far meeting with campus leaders, including members of the Faculty Senate. He will speak to the full senate at our next meeting.

Faculty Compensation Committee

A faculty committee continues to work on developing a proposal for an XYZ-type compensation plan. The committee has now met 7 times, and the intense discussion/debate by faculty members on the committee has reinforced the idea that developing a unifying plan that takes into account the great complexities of the health campuses will not be easy.

 Revised mission statement.

It was surmised that our current university mission statement was too complex and the language too wordy. Therefore, a new simpler statement has been adopted:

The mission of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is to:

• Educate a diverse student body to become excellent health care providers and scientists.
• Engage in biomedical research focused on seeking information fundamental to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease.
• Provide compassionate and culturally competent state-of-the-art clinical care
• Enhance community health awareness, education and practices thereby improving the wellness of the citizenry.

Report on Clinician/Industry Interactions

 A committee comprised faculty and administrators representing all four of the Health Science Centers’ professional schools, including clinical practice components and student and graduate training programs, chaired by the Assistant Vice President for Clinical Research, held a series of 8 meetings. In addition, several members of the committee convened focus groups with their particular constituencies and reported back to the full committee. The theme of conclusions reached by this committee and of the guidelines proposed to our institutional Executive Committee is that the UTHSCSA is obligated to ensure to the fullest extent possible that the integrity of clinical decision making must not be compromised by financial or other personal relationships with industry. The guidelines will meet this goal by setting standards for the interactions between Health Science Center clinicians and industry, primarily the pharmaceutical and clinical device industry.

Standing Committee System

The Faculty Senate invited the chair of the institutional Committee on Committees to present a “State of the Standing Committee System” address. Although these dozen or so faculty committees are, in general, healthy and working effectively to represent the needs of the faculty, certain issues concerned with redundant committee charges, as well as “missed” opportunities for enhanced representation were discussed.

 HSC-Alert

Discussions continue concerned with the development of a Campus Disaster Readiness plan that offers guidelines for the prevention of campus emergencies, and plans, if an emergency occurs. The goal is to provide mechanisms by which faculty, staff, and students can be notified in the event of an emergency. HSC-Alert has now come online and allows direct notification of all UTHSCSA employees that an emergency situation has arisen. This single-step process activates messages in electronic devices via email, text messaging etc.

Campus Report for UT Health Science Center at Tyler

UT Sys FAC Meeting December 6-7, 2007

Pierre Neuenschwander, PhD, Chair, Research Faculty Assembly

Bola Olusola, MD, Chair, Clinical Faculty Assembly

James Galizia, MD, Secretary Elect and Alternate, Clinical Faculty Assembly

Prepared by Dr. Neuenschwander, edited by Dr. Galizia

• In the news…
• Under the direction of Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, UTHCT has enjoyed a fiscal recovery and is now able to invest in its own future. In this regard, a comprehensive billboard, newspaper and television cardiology ad campaign is underway in Tyler and surrounding communities, directed by Dudley Goulden, MD, Chief of Cardiology. Also, pulmonology ads are in the making.
• We are growing satellite outpatient clinics, under the direction of David Coultas, MD, Chairman, Dept. of Medicine, and recently broke ground on construction of a University Physician Associates Clinic in Gladewater. This will be a family medicine clinic with specialty services such as cardiology and geriatrics.  The clinic will be about 3,000 square feet with nine exam rooms. The Gladewater clinic should be completed, weather permitting, by the end of February 2008, and is scheduled to open for business in March 2008. 
• Dr. Coty Ho has joined us as Director of Oncology and we hope to build this program. Dr. Jonathon MacClements continues to direct our family practice residency  with twentyfour physicians in training.  We are  also involved in several ongoing clinical research studies, including those involving acute cardiac intervention, per investigators Dr. Masroor Khan, director of our brand new GE cardiac catheterization laboratory , and  Dr. Chagozie Nwasuruba.
• As previously announced, UTHSC Tyler held its annual fund- raising GALA on November 1, 2007 called “XXX Out Cancer”.   Vice Chancellor Kenneth Shine, MD, was the keynote speaker. The Celebration was quite entertaining and a great success, raising funds that will be used locally for cutting-edge cancer research and treatment at UTHCT. Nearly 1000 people – including many area scientists,  physicians, allied health professionals, elected officials and business leaders – attended the gala dinner dance in the Harvey Hall Convention Center in Tyler
• Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, president of UTHSC Tyler, was one of 12 people appointed to the UT Southwestern Presidential Search Committee. This committee will advise the UT System Board of Regents on who should succeed Dr. Wildenthal in Sept 2008.
• The clinical and research faculties have each been invited by the administration to complete anonymous surveys for purposes of strategic planning (SWOT analysis). These surveys are in the process of being put together and will be sent out to the faculty within the next month. The results will be compiled and presented in a PowerPoint presentation to the faculty and then the administration. The results may also be incorporated into a renewed compact with UT System in the future.
• The Biomedical research program at UTHSC Tyler has recently acquired a GE small animal CT scanner for use in studying lung tumors in mice, as well as for studying other mouse models of disease. The instrument is housed in the Vivarium and was purchased with a $300,000 grant from UT System to Dr. Steve Idell, VP of research at UTHSC Tyler. The Health Center is collaborating with several electrical engineers from the UT Tyler campus who will be involved in developing new software and techniques for reconstruction and analysis of images obtained with this scanner.
• A new faculty compensation package is being formulated, the details of which will be available shortly.

Report UTHSC HOUSTON 12/07

1) Presidential Search Committee has been nominated and selected. Meetings have begun with the search organization to query ideal candidate qualifications.

2) Dr. Giuseppe Colasurdo started as Dean of the Medical in September.

3) The IFC continued to work on the Conflict of Interest document, however due to time constraints this was voted on at executive counsel with comments to be forwarded by IFC.

4) Research Replacement Facility had ribbon cutting ceremony Dec. 14 th.

5) The Administrative Affirs sent a survey tool for distribution assisting with questioning the faculty about satisfaction. This was due back December 3 rd and we are awaiting results.