The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College

Academic Senate Minutes

July 15, 2005

 

Note: These minutes are from the notes and recollections of the Academic Senate president, Ethel Cantu. Since no one accepted the responsibility of taking the minutes in the absence of the secretary, Doug Ferrier, Dean of Instructional Support, volunteered a tape recorder to record the meeting. Unfortunately, the battery ran down and the meeting was not recorded.

 

I.            Call to Order

 

Ms. Cantu called the April 8, 2005 meeting of the Academic Senate to order in the SETB 3rd Floor Conference Room.

 

Members of the Senate in attendance included: Ms. Ethel Cantu (*), Mr. Bill Harris, Mr. Roberto Cortina (s), Dr. Charles Dameron, Dr. William C. Davis (s), Dr. Charles Lackey,  Dr. Jose Martin, Dr. Ruth Ann Ragland, Dr. Eldon Nelson,  Ms. Cheryl Phelps (s), Mr. Jay Phillips, Dr. Carl Stockton, Mr. Victor Fuhro, Ms. Mabel Hockaday (s), Mahandran Rajasuriar (s), Mr. Doug Ferrier, Ms. Rosemary Martinez and Mr. Tom Welther (*).

 

 

II.           Review and Approval of the Minutes

 

Ms. Cantu called for review of the minutes from May 6, 2005 Academic Senate meeting.  After correcting minor grammatical errors, the minutes were approved as distributed.

 

 

III.          Presentation/Discussion:  Legislative Update/Budget

 

Prior to the presentation on the legislative action and its impact on the budget, VPBA Martinez gave an overview on hurricane preparedness in the event of landfall of Hurricane Emily.

 

Dr. Woods said the University would welcome any suggestions that faculty might have in regard to the compact.  She said that they can contact the Vice President for Academic Affairs with their suggestions.  She concluded her presentation by saying that the rough draft of the compact is due on May 1, 2005 and Dr. Garcia will present the final draft to the UT Board of Regents in July.

 

Ms. Cantu thanked Dr. Woods and Mr. Castillo for their presentation.

 

 

 

IV.           Senate President’s Report

 

Ms. Cantu had three items in her report.

 

  • TSC Board Meeting March 2, 2005- the Board passed a resolution to purchase a Fort Brown Villa, approved the final payment for the Orive Technical Training Center at ITECC, and passed an amendment to the TSC budget for membership fees for the Texas Association of Community Colleges.  The TSC Board heard a briefing on the Fine Arts program by its chair, Suzanne Urbis.  The Music Department had a 100 % pass rate on the ExCET exam and was unique in the State of Texas for that accomplishment.  The first student to complete an MAIS in fine arts will graduate in May.  The Academic Affairs Partnership Committee reported on the Associate of Arts in Teaching degree.  This two year program has been designed to meet the requirements of the “No Child Left Behind” legislation which requires that paraprofessionals have associates degrees.  This degree also encourages paraprofessionals to continue their education as the associate degree will transfer to a bachelor’s degree that will meet the requirements for Texas teacher certification.  The Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Committee reported on the campus visit of Gerry Malandra, UT System Vice Chancellor for Accountability and Institutional Improvement.  Discussions with her focused on accountability measures, with a particular interest in value-added measures that would adequately assess our unique educational mission.  The next meeting of the Board will be Thursday, May 19.

 

  • University Council April 1, 2005- During the time allotted for one-minute presentations, I informed the group of administrators about the recent work of the Academic Senate, highlighting the revision to HOOP policy 7.5.1 to provide for election of department chairs to three year terms.  Other presentations featured the STARS scholarship program open to full-time students with at least 12 credits and a GPA of 2.7; the application to NAIA for participation in athletics with four-year schools to be able to retain our student athletes; the reunion celebration of the Development Board to honor those who have served and to inspire those new to the board to continue the work; and the work of TSC Trustee Roberto Robles in raising money for the Music Department.  Tony Zavaleta gave an update on the higher education bills before the legislature, including a surprise bill sponsored by Senator Lucio to study the possibility of a law school at UTB.   Provost Martin led the group in an exercise to explore possible accountability measures.  We were asked to review a list of 13 measures and then rank order our top six measures.  We then broke into small groups to discuss problems and recommendations related to retention.  Among the recommendations that the group reported were to increase the number of faculty so that more courses and multiple sections of courses could be offered.

 

  • Campus Visit of Dr. Raymund Paredes, Commissioner, THECB, April 7, 2005- I attended the breakfast meeting welcoming Commissioner Paredes to our campus.  In this remarks to the group he referred to the letter I sent to him expressing concerns about prejudicial attitudes of the Coordinating Board staff regarding approval of graduate programs at UTB/TSC.  He assured the group that our applications for new programs would be reviewed fairly and no preference would be given to large metropolitan areas.  He expressed the view that the Coordinating has an obligation to serve the needs of all Texas regions for both undergraduate and graduate education.

 

In response to Ms. Cantu’s report, Dr. Nelson commented that he was delighted with the fact that the Senate voiced it concern over the doctoral programs and that we received a response.  Dr. Nelson thanked Ms. Cantu.

 

 

 

V.            Partnership Committee Reports

 

There were no reports.

 

 

 

VI.           Academic Standards and Student Records Committee Report

 

Mr. Welther reported on the work of the Academic Standards and Student Records Committee.  Mr. Welther said that the committee has been looking at the suspension and probation policy.  He said that the Registrar addressed the committee at it last meeting.  Mr. Welther said that the committee will meet again on April 15, 2005 (tax day). 

 

Following Mr. Welther’s report, senators discussed the suspension, absence, and probation policy.  Ms. Cantu thanked Mr. Welther for his report.

 

 

 

VII.     Academic Senate Committee Reports

 

A.     Memorial Fund- Mr. Benton reported on the work of the Memorial Fund Committee.  He said that the committee met and had a discussion regarding how long an employee has to be here before they could be memorialized.  He said that he will have a full report for the Senate at the next meeting.

B.     Welfare Committee- Dr. Hymson reported on the work of the Welfare Committee.  He said that at the last meeting of the Welfare Committee pay increases are discussed.  He also said that the committee discussed whether we should continue parity or go to higher base merit increases for all involved.  Dr. Hymson concluded by saying that the committee will meet following the conclusion of this meeting.

 

 

VIII.         HOOP Policy 7.2.2- “Graduate Faculty” 1st reading

 

This was the first reading of HOOP Policy 7.2.2- “Graduate Faculty” before the Senate.  Dr. Lackey presented this policy and said that some may remember this policy from a recent Senate meeting but he said the policy underwent substantial changes since that time and the process now starts over.  The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines for appointment to the graduate faculty. 

 

After a lengthy discussion regarding changes to the policy, the Senate agreed on the following changes: 

 

  1. delete subsections 2 and 3 under section “B”- Appointment of Graduate Faculty,
  2. delete subsection 3 under section “C”- Selection and Retention of Criteria,
  3. delete the words, “Vice President for Academic Affairs” in subsection 1 section “B”- Appointment of Graduate Faculty,
  4. delete the words, “membership consonant with the basic criteria for graduate faculty membership developed by the Graduate Committee” in subsection 1 section “C”- Selection and Retention of Criteria and replace the words with “who actively participate in graduate education”. 

 

With the discussion complete, Dr. Hymson moved to approve first reading of the policy as amended.  Dr. Sutterby seconded the motion and the motion carried.  We will look forward to a second read of this policy.

 

 

 

IX.           New Business

 

There was one item of “New Business”.

 

  • Dr. Gallegos reported that she received a call Veronica Rocha from the bookstore informing her that there will be a meeting on Tuesday regarding complaints about the bookstore.  Dr. Gallegos reported that she will attend the meeting and wondered if anyone had any concerns or comments that needed to be addressed.  She also mentioned that on April 25, 2005 there will be a meeting with representatives from Barnes and Nobles and Doug Arney and Rosemary Martinez regarding significant problems with the bookstore.  Hopefully the problems will be straightened out.

 

 

 

X.            Provost’s Report

 

Dr. Martin had eleven items in his report.

 

  • Dr. Ragland asked me to express her regrets that she cannot be here today.  Her husband Fred is in the hospital for chest discomfort and he is undergoing tests.  He is doing fine but will be in the hospital overnight.  She reports that she is very thankful for our UTB/TSC medical programs.  Our graduates and students are providing excellent care.

 

  • It is my honor to announce that Dr. Manuel Medrano, Professor in the Social Sciences Department, is the recipient of the 2005 Chancellor’s Council Outstanding Teaching Award.  He will be honored and give the keynote address Tuesday night at the Honor’s Convocation.  All of you are encouraged to attend.  It will be at 6:00 p.m. at the SETB Lecture Hall.

 

·      We had Commissioner Raymund Paredes of the THECB on our campus for a visit yesterday.  He attended a Wednesday night 10th reunion of the UTB/TSC Development Board at the Young House and the Alonso House.  Yesterday, he met our Deans and faculty, students and VPs and toured the campus.  He also mentioned the letter that the Academic Senate sent regarding their resolution on doctoral programs.  He assured us that doctoral programs are not just for metropolitan areas. 

 

  • We are trying to determine what the impact of our GEAR UP Program will be on our freshmen class.  At this time we believe that we will have about a 35% increase in enrollment of first time college students because of our successful GEAR UP Program.  We are tentatively expecting about 2235 freshmen this Fall.  We expect to have more information and a possible presentation for you soon.

 

  • There are three bills in the Texas Legislature concerning UTB/TSC that you may hear about.

                     

1.      The Wellness Recreation Center bill appears to be progressing well through the legislative process.  Dr. Silva, Dr. Zaveleta, and our student government president Michael Camarillo have been in Austin to testify on the bill and the response had been positive.

2.      A bill that would establish a Texas Academy of Math and Science on our campus has been introduced and we expect to testify soon on it.  The bill would provide for an academy for about 50 outstanding high school juniors and seniors to take courses on our campus as part of our regular classes.  Our academy would be modeled on a very successful one at the University of North Texas.

3.      A bill that calls for s study for possible location of law school at UTB/TSC has been proposed by Senator Eddie Lucio.  We are in the process of formulating plans for a law school for our under served area.  You will be hearing more about this later.

 

·                    Our third annual Filemon B. Vela Pre-Law Academy will be held on our campus May 16-27th.  This year we have professionals from Kaplan to help prepare our students for the LSAT exam.  We have ten $1,000 scholarships for ten students.  Others will be allowed to participate if they pay their own $900.00.  We have selected 10 excellent applicants for the scholarships and several others have applied to attend on their own.

 

·                    The budget process for the institution has begun.  Deans, directors, and VPs are working on budgets now.  A budget hearing will be open to the entire campus on April 18th.  You will be receiving announcements. 

 

·                    I want to give you an update on the HOOP policy that has passed the Senate regarding selection of department chairs and program directors.  The Deans Council has considered it and has concerns about requiring that 2/3 of the faculty in a department vote.  The HOOP will go to the Deans and Chairs Council for further discussion on April 29th.

 

·                    It is time to update our Compact with UT-System.  Academic Affairs will be forming a group of faculty, deans, staff, and administrators to update the compact.  Any volunteers?

 

·                    We are seeking input concerning the Maymester for Academic Calendar 2006.  The problem is how to handle Memorial Day.  The calendar committee suggests two options to accommodate the holiday: 1).  that Maymester classes be extended fifteen minutes for a total of 3 hours and 15 minutes per session or 2).  that the final exam will be held on the Saturday instead of Friday.  Friday would be a regular class day.  This year, as last year, we will have classes on Memorial Day, however, regular staff will not be on campus.  In the past, we have had complaints that we were not respectful of veterans by having classed on Memorial Day.  We need your input.  Would you prefer to have longer classes during Maymester or would you prefer to have the final exam on Saturday? 

 

{At this point a discussion followed.  Various points of view were discussed included the abolishment of Maymester.  Dr. Sutterby asked that senators have time to discuss this matter with their constituents.  This matter was postponed and will appear on the agenda of the next Senate meeting.}

 

·        Bids are in for the construction of a parking site for 1500 parking places.

 

 

XI.           Announcements

 

There were six announcements.

 

·        The Welfare Committee will meet immediately following the Senate meeting.

 

·        Deadline for voting for Academic Senate executive officers and senators is April 8, 2005.

 

·        The next Academic Senate meeting is May 6, 2005 at 1 p.m. in the SETB 3rd Floor Conference Room.

 

·        All divisions will make presentations for their budget needs on April 18 from 9-5 in the Gorgas Board Room.  Each entity has 15 minutes to highlight their critical needs.  Sessions of interest to faculty are scheduled as follows:  Academic Affairs 11:30, Instructional Resources 1:30, Developmental Education 1:45, Business 2:00, Education 2:15, Health Sciences 2:30, Liberal Arts 2:45, and Science, Math and Technology 3:15.

 

·        At the May Academic Senate meeting appointments will be made to committees needing appointees.  Chairs of committees needing representatives should email Ms. Cantu addressing their needs. 

 

·        STARS Scholarship applications are due on May 2, 2005.  Please encourage your students to apply.

 

 

XII.          Adjournment

 

The meeting stood adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Julie Ann Larson

Academic Senate Secretary