THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO

DOCUMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL FACULTY

SUMMARY MINUTES OF THE

FACULTY SENATE MEETING

OF MARCH 10, 2005

The sixth regular Meeting of the Faculty Senate for the academic year 2004-2005 was held March 10, 2005 at 3:30 p.m. in the Business Building University Room (BB 2.06.04) with Dr. Mansour El-Kikhia, Chair, presiding and Dr. Steven Boyd, Secretary.

I. Call to order and taking of attendance

Present: Ron Ayers, Ronald Bagley, Guy Bailey, Thad Bartlett, Robert Bayley, Manuel Barriozábal, Steven Boyd, Felecia Briscoe, Anthony Chronopoulos, Daniel Engster, Eugene John, Craig Jordan, Michael F. Kelly, Richard Lewis, Patrick E. McDaniel, Frank Pino, Alyson Ponomarenko, Dianne Rahm, Robert Renthal, Michael Ryan, Carlos Salinas, Rocky Shih, Thankam Sunil, Betty Travis, Raydel Tullous

Absent: Diane Abdo, Rosalie Ambrosino, Stephan Bach, Ron Binks (excused), Fred Bonner, John Byrd, Aaron Cassill, Stacey Davis (excused), Mansour El-Kikhia (excused), Roger Enriquez, James Gallas, Damon Garcia, Timothy Goles, David Hansen, Lars Hansen, David Johnson, Kerry Kennedy, Kenneth Masden, Hayley Mayall, James McDonald, Bill Mullen (excused), Rudy Sandoval, Larry Shrum, Ted Skekel, Joseph Stafford, Yiuman Tse, Jude Valdez, Sandra Welch, Karen Williams, Venetta Williams, Wan Yao

Total members present: 25 Total members absent: 31

II. Reports

A. Senate Chair – Dr. Mansour El-Kikhia

Dr. Felicia Briscoe chaired the Faculty Senate session in Dr. El-Kikhia’s absence. Dr. Briscoe said that there has been a change in the Handbook of Operating Procedures about criminal background checks.

B. Secretary of the General Faculty

None

C. Committees

1. Academic Policy and Requirements Committee – Dr. Robert Renthal

Dr. Renthal discussed recommendations for policy changes from the Handbook of Operating Procedures 2.34 Faculty Grievance Procedure. One of the recommendations included a small addition to section 2.34 of the grievance procedure in order to streamline the grievance committee function. The second recommendation was in consideration of a class action process in order to present a single collective grievance. Motion to approve all policies as presented made, seconded, and approved.

A motion was made to include two changes in the Handbook of Operating Procedures 2.34 Faculty Grievance Procedure. These changes are listed below:

1. In section D, “with the consent of the grievant” was added after “at the discretion of the Grievance Committee Chair.

2. “With the consent of the grievants” was added in the last sentence after “at the discretion of the Grievance Committee Chair”.

Motion seconded and approved.

Dr. Renthal also added that an overwhelming majority is in favor of establishing an Ombudsman office, and the Faculty Senate should have a proposal by April’s meeting.

2. Evaluation, Merit, Rewards, and Workload Committee – Dr. Daniel Engster

Dr. Engster reported the Committee met to review and has been working on the Part-Time Tenure Policy, Family Leave Policy, and the Workload Policy. He said that the Provost plans to decentralize the workload to colleges and departments, and the Workload Policy should be available by March 15.

3. Nominating, Elections, and Procedures Committee – Dr. Carlos Salinas

Dr. Salinas reported on two issues related to the revision of Senate bylaws that need consideration.

· Per recommendation of the Senate Faculty Governance Committee, there was an agreement to add three-year terms to Senators. Dr. Salinas asked Faculty Senate input regarding extending the terms for committee members to three years.

· Dr. Salinas also asked Faculty Senate input regarding a new committee called The Committee on Handbook of Operating Procedures, and whether this committee should include a faculty member from each college and Faculty Senate members. Dr. Salinas said that the Procedures Committee is proposing a small committee that will work in cooperation with the Senate Committee. He also added that an individual with a grievance would be in cooperation among the committee since the HOP Committee would have more expertise in grievances than a general committee.

D. Open Forum

Dr. Ron Ayers discussed hybrid course guidelines and distributed a course proposal outlining these guidelines. Dr. Ayers explained that hybrid courses replace seat time with online interaction between faculty and students. He proposed that the Faculty Senate should explore the option of UTSA including hybrid courses in their course catalogue. The following questions were raised concerning hybrid courses:

· What is the nature of a hybrid course?

· What happens on the web between faculty and students?

· Are there any underlying principles among these hybrid courses that would explain the very large and significant improvements among students?

· Are there any reduced teaching loads?

Dr. Ayers responded to these questions by reiterating that hybrid courses will: 1) require students to meet face to face once a week, and then meet online during class time for the rest of the week; 2) suggest that it is up to the faculty member teaching the course what they would like to do on the web; 3) generate interest in active learning, collaboration, and engagement from the students who take these courses; and 4) require guidelines for faculty in order to aide in a course release to develop that hybrid course.

Dr. Shih suggested that if the Faculty Senate decides to explore the hybrid course option further, the Senate should also explore legalistic issues.

A motion has been made for the Faculty Senate to explore the option of hybrid courses at UTSA. Motion approved.

A decision was made to forward a message regarding the possibility of hybrid courses at UTSA to the Curriculum Committee.

E. Graduate Council Consent Calendar

Recommend approval of Graduate Council Bylaws Revision - Approved

III. Provost – Dr. Guy Bailey

Dr. Bailey discussed part-time tenure status, the Family Leave Policy and the budget. Main points about part-time tenure status are as follows:

· Dr. Bailey is in favor of faculty members maintaining their tenure status if they cut back to part-time. A version of that policy should be available for the Faculty Senate meeting in April.

· Currently, part-time faculty members may remain part-time for two years and still be able to maintain their tenure status.

· If a faculty member decides to remain part-time for three years, they would need approval and may not be able to reestablish their full-time status at UTSA. However, a policy is being created in order to allow first consideration to these faculty members.

· If faculty members’ part-time status is below 50% of full-time, those faculty members will lose their benefits.

Dr. Bailey added that a version of the Family Leave Policy should be available for review in April. Dr. Bailey discussed the budget and made the following points:

· The budget will not be finalized until the end of May.

· The House budget will place 77 million new dollars into higher education. If the House version passes, UTSA would receive about 14 % of the funding.

· The Senate version of the budget will place over 200 million new dollars into higher education. If this passes, UTSA would receive about 9% of the funding.

Dr. Bailey also added that all of UTSA faculty’s pay raises are self-funded, and in order to continue pay raises, faculty members need to remember to:

· Offer required courses frequently.

· Minimize courses offered that are not required for graduation and continue to implement Graduate programs.

IV. Unfinished Business

None

V. New Business

None

VI. Adjournment


Comments or questions to spottorff@utsa.edu<
Last updated May 9, 2005