FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Minutes

April 9, 2007

 

         Present:   Louise Abbott, Derya Akleman, Wendi Arant-Kaspar, Carisa Armstrong, Karl Aufderheide, Wolfgang Bangerth, Guy Battle, Robert Bednarz, Michael Benedik, James Boyd, Tahir Cagin, Richard Carlson, Esther Carrigan, Antonio Cepeda-Benito, Greg Cobb, Joselito Estrada, Richard Feldman, John Fike, Rainer Fink, Kishore Gawande, Melinda Grant, James Heilman, Arthur Hobbs, Ann Kenimer, Andrew Kirkendall, Andrew Klein, Antonio La-Pastina, Curtis Lard, Thomas Linton, Martha Loudder, Clinton Machann, Clint Magill, Lanny Martindale, Robert McGeachin, Peter McIntyre, Mary Meagher, William Merrell, Michael Messina, Frederic Pearl, David Peterson, Angie Price, Sanjay Reddy, Cynthia Riccio, Roger Schultz, Douglas Slack, Kathleen Speed, Susan Stabile, Richard Stadelmann, William Stein, Robert Stewart, Bob Strawser, Ellen Toby, Jyotsna Vaid, John Valasek, Arnie Vedlitz, Tom Vogel, Hank Walker, Michael Ward, Robert Warden, Jane Welsh, Matthew Whiteacre, Richard Woodman, Jim Woosley

 

               Bazzi, Thornton (Qatar Senators)

               Watson (Dean of Faculties)

 

Absent:  James Aune, Tom Blasingame, Sila Cetinkaya, Keith Chaffin, Richard Curry, Christopher Ellis, Anat Geva, Timothy Hall, Paul Harms, Edward Harris, Richard Hise, Phil Hobson, Nancy Ing, Larry Kelly, Alessandra Luiselli, R.N. Mahapatra, Rosana Moreira, Pete Peterson, Roger Reese, Elisabeth Rich, Robert Shandley, Robin Smith, John Stallone, Emil Straube, Douglas Thornton, Hamid Toliyat, Nancy Volkman, Gwendolyn Webb-Johnson, Kirk Winemiller

 

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 3:15 by Speaker Douglas Slack.

 

Speaker Comments: 

 

The Speaker informed the Senators of a memorial service for former speaker and Senate benefactor, Dr. Sam Black.

 

The Executive Committee met with President Davis to discuss selection of an interim Provost to replace Dr. Prior who is moving to a position in the UT system. Speaker Slack acknowledged President Davis for this demonstration of his commitment to shared governance.

 

Cooperation between two former speakers, Associate Provost for Information Technology Dr. Pierce Cantrell, and Dr. Mark Weichold, who last month was formally installed as Dean and CEO of the Qatar Campus, means that by next month the Senate meeting will have video telecommunications capacity for the off- campus sites in Qatar and Galveston.

        

March 19, 2007 Minutes were approved after minor editing.  Motion Passed F.S. 24.122

                                                                                       Attachment A

 

Consent Agenda:

Senator Magill asked that Math 615 be removed from the agenda; all other items were accepted as presented:                                     

University Curriculum Committee  

                                                                           Motion Passed F.S. 24.123

New Course Requests-March 9, 2007                       Attachment B

            CHEN 450       Microfabrication and Microfluidics Technology

CHIN 101         Beginning Chinese I

CHIN 102         Beginning Chinese II

CHIN 201         Intermediate Chinese I

CHIN 202         Intermediate Chinese II

ECEN 440       Introduction to Thin Film Science and Technology

ENGL 379       Postcolonial Studies

SOCI 310        Motherhood in Society

WMST 310      Motherhood in Scoiety

            Change in Courses

                        BIOL 360         Microbial Biotechnology

                        FNC 309          Survey of Finance Principles

                        JAPN 201        Intermediate Japanese I

                        JAPN 202        Intermediate Japanese II

                        MKTG 309       Introduction to Marketing

 

Graduate Council  

                                                                           Motion Passed F.S. 24.124             

New Course Requests-March 1, 2007                       Attachment C                                         

            AGEC 676       Frontiers in Markets and Information Economics

            AGEC 677       Frontiers in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics

            BUSH 610       Ethnic Religious Conflicts in Nation Building

            BUSH 613       Diplomatic Negotiations:  A U.S. Embassy Perspective

            BUSH 614       Protection of the Nation’s Critical Infrastructure

            BUSH 618       Government and Homeland Security

            Bush 619         Weapons of Mass Destruction

 

                                                                        Motion Passed F.S. 24.125 

New Course Requests-March 1, 2007                       Attachment D                                        

            BUSH 630       Program Evaluation in Public and Nonprofit Organizations

            BUSH 633       Philanthropy:  Fundraising in Nonprofit Organizations

            BUSH 649       Transatlantic Relations:  Security, Markets & Technology

            BUSH 677       Political Islam and Jihad

            BUSH 678       Interstate War:  Theory & Hist. Implications for the 21st Century

            BUSH 679       Homeland Security and Business

 

                                                                        Motion Passed F.S. 24.126

New Course Requests-March 1, 2007                       Attachment E

            BUSH 686       Russia in International Politics

            MATH 615       Introduction in Classical Analysis now in Attachment Q

 

                                                                        Motion Passed F.S. 24.127

Change in Courses- March 1, 2007                           Attachment F

            AGEC 695 Frontiers in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

                                    To Frontiers in Agribusiness and Managerial Economics

 

Committee Reports:

        

Executive Committee

 

University Curriculum Committee                    

Change in Curriculum-March 9, 2007  

                                                                           Motion Passed F.S. 24.128

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Attachment G

                           Department of Forest Science          

                                       B.S. in Forestry

                                                                           Motion Passed F.S. 24.129

               College of Liberal Arts                                 Attachment H

                           Department of Communication

                                       B.A. in Communication

                                       B.A. in Telecommunication Media Studies

                                       B.S. in Telecommunication Media Studies

 

Special Consideration-March 9, 2007              

                                                                           Motion Passed F.S. 24.130

               Dwight Look College of Engineering        Attachment I

                           Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

                                       Minor in Industrial Engineering

 

                                                                           Motion Passed F.S. 24.131

               College of Liberal Arts                                 Attachment J

                           University Studies Degree

                                       Area of Concentration – Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

 

Administrative Change – New Department                                          

               College of Architecture                   Motion Passed F.S. 24.132

                           Department of Visualization                Attachment K

 

New Course-March 9, 2007                                                                  

               Texas A&M Univ at Galveston       Motion Passed F.S. 24.133

               ENGL 415       Studies in a Major Author        Attachment L

 

         Graduate Council                                              

Graduate Council Approved the Bush School proposed Graduate Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management and additional Bush School Nonprofit Management Courses.                                        Motion Passed F.S. 24.134

                                                                                       Attachment M

 

W Courses – April 4, 2007 Course Additions    Motion Passed F.S. 24.135

Attachment N

COMM 446      Communication, Organizations, and Society

                        COSC 463      Introduction to Construction Law

                        MARA 440       Global Economy

                        SOCI 335        Sociology of Organizations

 

Diversity Committee                                          Motion Passed F.S. 24.136

Parental Teaching/Workload for Faculty        Attachment O

            Discussion on Agenda Item O

Senator Meagher from the Diversity committee explained that the proposal to formalize the frequently used practice of allowing teaching credits of new parents to be met by using flexible options without requiring classroom teaching would be a family-friendly statement that would aid in recruiting tenure track prospects, while protecting Department Heads who already do so. In response to questions she explained that other types of care, such as for a parent with a disabling disease, would require future action since these cannot be addressed with set one or two semester limits.

 

Subcommittee of Non-tenure Track Faculty     Motion to Postpone

Attachment P

Guideline to Tenure-Track, Tenured, and Non Tenure-Track Faculty Titles and all relevant documents

Discussion of Attachment P  (Non-tenure track ranks)

After Senator Loudder pointed out several cases of unclear meaning due to lack of clarifying punctuation and a nonsensical sentence, Senator McIntyre moved that consideration of the proposed guidelines be postponed until the next meeting after the proponents have had an opportunity to confer with Senator Loudder on clarifying the document.  Dean of Faculties Watson indicated that in any case, further editing would be involved in formulating the guidelines that are officially posted.  The motion to delay for one month passed.  

 

Old Business

                                                                                    Motion Passed F.S. 24.137

Attachment Q

Math 615 was accepted with editing to replace the incorrect statement of time allowed to request a makeup exam and corrections in the Title and course description

 

Committee of the Whole

 

Senator Linton (Galveston) requested that major committee meeting held in the future be held in rooms that permit at least teleconferencing if not video conferencing. 

 

Senator Vogel reminded the Senate that the problem of fences around Blocker forcing pedestrians onto the street has not been addressed.

 

Senator McGeachin, Chair of the Elections Committee, reported that ballots for the Senate elections will be available electronically between April 16 and 27.  Nominations for Senate offices and Executive Committee positions will be solicited for elections to be held in the May meeting.  The ballot will include the proposed amendment to eliminate term limits for Senators. 

 

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 pm.