FACULTY SENATE MINUTES - University of Texas at Arlington
FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
February 18, 2004
Attendance: Dennis Reinhartz, Tom Chrzanowski, Li-Chin Ho, Bill Crowder, Vince Apliado, Abdul Rasheed, Mark Peterson, Mark Eakin, Judy Reinhartz, Diane Patrick, H. Liu, M. Spindler, Mohan Kumar, W.J. Lee, John Priest, Marilyn Jolly, Emory Estes, Johanna Smith, Stan Palmer, David, Silva, Toni Sol, C, Chiasson, Robert Young, Dennis Maher, Dan Formanowicz, Gary Kinsel, Merlynd Nestell, M. Codero-Epperson, Kaushik De, Harriett Amster, Lee Wright, Mary Weber, Lorrie Hegsted, Diane Snow, Vijayan Pillai, James Spaniolo, Dana Dunn, Tom Wilding
Call to Order:
2:35 p.m. – Senate Chair Reinhartz called the senate to order.
Approval of Minutes:
The senate’s first order of business was the approval of the previous meeting’s minutes. The minutes were not available for the December, 2003 meeting, but Senate Chair Reinhartz requested corrections from the senate on the Special Meeting’s minutes of February 11, 2004. Senator Hegstad of Nursing requested that the Nursing Senator’s name be corrected from Senator Weber to Senator Hegstad (page 3, RE: over-solicitation of outside reviews).
Remarks by the Chair:
Senate Chair Reinhartz announced that he, Senator Chrzanowski, and Senator Ingram would attend the Faculty Senate Executive Committee meeting of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates on March 3 and 4, 2004.
Senate Chair Reinhartz welcomed President Spaniolo and Provost Dunn to the meeting.
President’s Remarks:
President Spaniolo expressed his pleasure in attending the Faculty Senate meeting and invited faculty members to introduce themselves via email or phone. He also spoke about how he looked forward to working with the faculty over the long term. President Spaniolo is very encouraged by the response he has experienced across the university; namely, the faculty response.
President Spaniolo also discussed the announcements recently made on the new appointments. He felt these appointments were important for the continuity and momentum of the university as well as the appointees being strong leaders in administration. A national search will be conducted over the next 18 months for a Provost.
Dr. Dunn and President Spaniolo have discussed several ways of making positive changes relating to the faculty and the university that would improve the working environment without costing the university extra money. President Spaniolo solicited the senators for suggestions. Some of the ideas already discussed were:
1. An increase of an additional $1,000 in the amount of standard salary increase when promoted to Associate Professor or Full Professor.
2. Summer Pay: There is currently no solution, but all suggestions are welcome.
President Spaniolo also discussed the status of the Compact. The original deadline to the System was designated as February 15, 2004. President Spaniolo requested an extension which was granted and is now April 15, 2004. The president requested feedback so that a revised document can be composed.
Provost’s Remarks
Dr. Dunn announced that UTA had broken another record for enrollment. The Spring enrollment was over 24,000 students which is up 6.6% over the previous Spring enrollment and an increase of 7.9% in credit hours. There has also been much concern over the tuition increase which was thought to possibly dampen UTA’s momentum. To the contrary, the enrollment still increased; furthermore, the additional money allows for new resources for students and faculty.
With more than 70% of undergraduates enrolled full-time, the data indicate that UTA is not a commuter college. UTA’s momentum continues. The revenue generated through the tuition increase funded 50 faculty hires. Also, the revenue generated by the tuition increase next year will fund an increase in the departmental maintenance and operation account set aside. The pool will increase 10% which will be distributed to colleges and schools; thereby, allowing additional funds for travel, etc. The money will be distributed to each college/school based on a formula of credit hours and full-time faculty.
Questions to Provost Dunn
Senator De: Does the number of faculty versus student credit hours used include research output and funding also? Many research grants’ costs are shifted to M&O budgets.
Dr. Dunn: Your point is well taken and we have another solution. Ron Elsenbaumer will meet regarding this issue. The Research Advisory Council will plan the percentage of funding for M&O purposes.
Senator Liu: Is there a standard teaching load?
Dr. Dunn: The Teaching Load Policy requires all faculty to have a 12-hour teaching load per semester.
Senator Reinhartz:
With the university now hiring 50 people, some departments are worried about getting good people with the new 90-day waiting period for health insurance.
President Spaniolo:
This is a legislative issue and I defer to Dr. Dunn. It is hard to recruit and hire under this new policy.
Dr. Dunn: If the circumstances warrant it, an exception to the waiting period would be addressed, but the level of hire would have to justify the exception.
Also, when GTA’s are re-appointed, they will no longer be required to start over in regards to eligibility for benefits. We should hear soon for next fall that there will be a 4% increase for graduate students. We have an additional $600,000 to make allocations to colleges and schools for graduate students.
Senator Chrzanowski:
The step increase in promotion and tenure is great, but will bring problems regarding salary compression. There is no quick fix.
President Spaniolo:
Salary compression is a problem. We will have to study and arrive at a long term solution or strategy.
Senator Amster:
Is there any possibility of adjusting the amount of money for staff who do advising?
Dr. Dunn: We certainly can entertain looking at workload. We have added advisors. It should be brought first to the chair’s attention.
Committee Reports
Revision of T&P: Senator Chrzanowski announced that the meeting last week was productive. The amended document will be put on-line. He added that the committee went through the suggestions discussed and made changes in all suggestions.
Senator Chrzanowski asked the senate for a vote on acceptance of the amended policy. The motion was seconded by Senator Estes. The revised Tenure and Promotion Policy was approved by the Faculty Senate.
The senate went on to discuss the Tenure & Promotion Policy further. The requirement of 6 reference letters was discussed in depth.
Senator Chrzanowski pointed out some concerns that the committee encountered when amending the T&P Policy:
1. The policy should contain a rider for self-evaluation in 2 years. The policy must be reconsidered in 2 years by the Faculty Senate.
2. The composition of the University T&P Committee was changed. The chair of the Academic Tenure and Promotion Committee will be on the university committee. It will be a heavy responsibility for the appointee so candidates should carefully consider their role and accept the responsibility.
3. Appeals: The right to have legal counsel in appeal was lost in the amended policy.
Dr. Dunn: We consulted the Office of General Counsel who recommended to allow it. If the faculty’s counsel is present, then the university’s counsel can be present also.
The credentials of outside reviewers were also discussed. Senators Formanowicz and Chrzanowski agreed that each department/school/college instituted appropriate and necessary guidelines for each situation. They felt it was very hard to write a policy for all departments university-wide.
The cause for extension in tenure and promotion was discussed (Section 302.4). Senator Silva suggested changing the verbiage to read: “…member of faculty member’s household.”
Senator Chrzanowski noted the further changes discussed:
Sec. 6-302.3: Shift in 5th year to 5 year or earlier unless on an approved leave.
Sec. 6-302.4: Add “birth” to sentence two as a justification for a needed extension due to leave. Also, add “or a member of faculty member’s household” to sentence two.
Sec. 6-303: Delete “and measure” from the sentence in line number 4.
Sec. 6-303.C: Distinguish professional community from civic community or omit community totally.
6.308: The number of outside reviewers’ letters will change from 5 to 6 and the outside reviewers’ letters will not show an address for confidentiality purposes.
6.308.E: Add “the chair of the department will provide the credentials of the writer.”
The senate then discussed the appointment of a faculty member on the university Promotion and Tenure Committee. Dr. Dunn reiterated the massive workload of the committee member to serve on the university P&T Committee. The candidate would be required to work over the holiday break with 80 hours to review all dossiers. The candidate must commit to do a thorough job. Also, the candidate is required to not be committed to another committee so the pool of candidates will be small.
Senate Chair Reinhartz called the items to vote before the senate that the committee’s work be accepted as Senator Chrzanowski enumerated. The senate voted in favor of the changes.
Senator Chrzanowski announced that post-tenure review will be reviewed next.
Budget Liaison Committee: No report. The study is 75% complete. The 3 most recent years of faculty and administration increases were studied with the first being slightly higher for faculty. The percentage increase for faculty was 3.2% and 3.5% for administrators.
Operating Procedures: The Receivership Policy hasn’t been changed because the Regent’s Rules have changed many times; thus, the committee was unable to finish reviewing the policy. Also the by-laws will be rewritten to include the changes to the election process. The amended by-laws will be presented at the next meeting.
Elections in the departments will be held at the end of fall for proper apportionment.
Professor Emeriti: Currently the committee has 10 candidates for Professor Emeriti. Still waiting on CVs. The senate will make a formal announcement for Professor Emeriti when they are decided upon.
Ad Hoc Committee: Senator Kinsel and his committee were tasked with looking into the Office of Research. Senator Kinsel reported that it was difficult to get a meeting set with the Vice President of Research. A previously scheduled meeting was postponed and hasn’t been rescheduled to date.
Old Business
None.
New Business
Committee for Compact: Senate Chair Reinhartz will establish a committee when he receives the Compact document.
Announcements
None.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m.
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