March 19, 2012

FACULTY SENATE MEETING MINUTES
March 19, 2012
3:15 p.m., 601 Rudder Tower
http://facultysenate.tamu.edu
 
 
Present: Louise Abbott, Derya Akleman, Ergun Akleman, Jorge Alvarado, Carisa Armstrong, Hassan Bashir, Michael Benedik, Leonard Bierman,   Doug Biggs,William Bedford Clark, Mark Clayton, Jonathan Coopersmith, Richard Curry, Joe Dannenbaum, Walter Daugherity, Darryl De Ruiter,  Janice Epstein, Jose Fernandez-Solis, L. Paige Fields, Edward Funkhouser, Norma Funkhouser, Holly Gaede, Fran Gelwick, Clare Gill, Ira Greenbaum, Mike Hanik, Ed Harris, Kevin Heinz, Kim Quaile Hill, Shelley Holliday, Wendy Jepson, Guido Kanschat, Andrew Klein, Paulo Lima-Filho, Carol Loopstra, Blanca Lupiani, Igor Lyuksyutov, Clint Magill, Kathryn McKenzie, Stephen Miller, Jeffrey Morris, A. Gene Nelson, Brian Perkins, Michelle Pine, Harland Prechel, Leslie Reynolds, Dale Rice, J. Maurice Rojas, Jason Sawyer, Karen-Beth Scholthof, Brian Shaw, Kathleen Speed, John Stallone, Bob Strawser, Elizabeth Tebeaux, Mike Thornton, Manuelita Ureta, Wyoma vanDuinkerken, Gary Varner, William West, Tryon Wichersham, B. Dan Wood
 
Absent: Jaime Alvarado-Bremer, Perla Balbuena, Judith Ball, Maria Barrufet, Charles Bollfrass, Edward Brothers, Patrick Burkart, John Carhart, Gwendolyn Carroll, Joe Cerami, Gwan Seong Choi, Robin Dabareiner, Swaroop Darbha, Ron Douglas, John Edens, Gioia Falcone, Stephen Guetersloh, Janet Hammer, James Heilman, Richard Hutchinson, Karen Kubena, Thomas Linton, Vanita Mahajan, R.N. Mahapatra, Sam Mannan, Christopher Mathewson, Sudarsan Rangan, Luis San Andres, Winfried Teizer, Grace Townsend, Jijayanagaram Venkatraj, Wei Wan, Richard Woodman, Jim Woosley, Keyan Zhu-Salzman
 
 
Call to Order:
Speaker Benedik called the meeting to order at 3:18 P.M. There was one senator from Qatar present via videoconferencing.
 
 
Speaker  Comments:
Speaker Benedik reminded the senators it's time for the Faculty Senate Aggie Spirit Award. The award winners (one or two) will be selected in time for the May Faculty Meeting. He asked for caucus leaders and senators to please be on the lookout for candidates to nominate from your Colleges. The awardees get a cash prize from faculty donations today and the April Faculty Senate meeting. At this time we will pass the hat to accept your donations and do the same in April, so bring your check books or go to the ATM machine before the April meeting if you can’t do it today.
 
Speaker Benedik discussed the nominations for election to the Faculty Senate or to various university committees will remain open until Wednesday. The up to date roster of nominees can be viewed from the Faculty Senate web site. The two are not mutually exclusive, you can be on the Senate as well as one or more important committee such as CAFRT, University Grievance Committee, Faculty Development Leave, University Tenure Mediation Committee, Honors Council and Subcommittee on the Status of Non-Tenure Track Faculty. These are important committees but most important they provide service to your colleagues. A few colleges have a number of open Senate seats, notably Science and Engineering. So please prod your colleagues to run – next year will be an important year in reviewing and approving what courses will be in the Core Curriculum amongst other items.
 
He stated that soon the nomination period will open for seats on the Faculty Senate Executive committee and for Senate Officers, notably the Speaker- elect and the Secretary. Any Senator can run for these positions regardless of whether you are currently on the EC. He urged the senators to consider running.
 
The speaker announced that the Core Curriculum Council has voted to extend its timeline for approval of a new core curriculum for 30 to 60 days to provide additional time for: a forum for students to express their views; input from the deans; a review of the residency requirement and its impact on upper division courses; and hearings on proposed changes in the kinesiology requirement that would be a part of the core curriculum reform.
 
Speaker Benedik announced that President Loftin was in Washington, D.C., for a homeland security panel and would not be speaking today as planned.
 
 
 
The February 13 Faculty Senate meeting  minutes were approved as submitted.                     Motion Passed
                                                                                                                                                    FS.29.156
                                                                                                                                                    Attachment A
 
Consent Agenda    The consent agenda was approved as submitted.                                     Motion Passed
GRADUATE COUNCIL                                                                                                               FS.29.157
New Courses - February 3, 2012                                                                                               Attachment B                                      
BIED 618 Early Language and Literacy  
BIED 619 Second Language Acquisition in Pre-K-12; Advanced Theory and Practice  
BMEN 627 Magnetic Resonance Engineering  
CPSY 636 Psychological Consultation to Organizations  
ECEN 763 Magnetic Resonance Engineering  
INTA 683 U.S. Border Security: Policies, Strategies and Issues  
PSAA 609 Introduction to Homeland Security  
PSAA 650 Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Nonprofit Management  
STAT 638             Introduction to Applied Bayesian Methods
VIZA 680             Professional Practice in Visualization
 
 
Change in Courses - February 3, 2012                                                                                                  Motion Passed 
ARCH 631                            Architectural Structures III                                                                           FS.29.158                 
ARCH 633                            Environmental Systems III                                                                          Attachment C
BIED 682                              Seminar in…
BIED 683                                Field Practicum in….
BIED 684                                Professional Internship…
 
 
Course Withdrawals - February 3, 2012                                                                                             Motion Passed 
INTA 607 World Cultural Geography                  FS.29.159
INTA 610 Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Nation Building                   Attachment D
INTA 624 Fundamentals of Global Economic Development  
INTA 628 International Energy Policy  
INTA 649 Transatlantic Relations: Security, Markets and Technology  
INTA 660 Economic Development in Latin America  
PSAA 672 Markets and Government  
 

Special Consideration - February 3, 2012                                                                                           Motion Passed  

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences                                                                                                FS.29.160
Department of Nutrition and Food Science                                                                                            Attachment E
Certificate in Space Life Sciences-Addition of Biomedical Engineering
 

Special Consideration - February 3, 2012                                                                                         Motion Passed 

Mays Business School                                                                                                                         FS,29.161
Proposed revision to the Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship                                                     Attachment F

 
Special Consideration - February 3, 2012                                                                                        Motion Passed
Texas A&M University at Galveston                                                                                                    FS.29.162
Department of Marine Sciences                                                                                                         Attachment G
Proposal for a (3+2) 5 year degree program: Ocean and Coastal Resources-Master of Marine Resources Management
 
 
Special Consideration - February 3, 2012                                                                                               Motion Passed
Texas A&M University at Galveston                                                                                                           FS.29.163
Proposal for a Graduate Degree License Option Programs at Texas A&M University at Galveston         Attachment H 
 

UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE                                                  Motion Passed
New Courses - February 10, 2012                                                                            FS.29.164
COSC 468 Risk Management in the Built Environment Attachment I
VIBS 411 Tumor Cell Biology and Carcinogenesis  
VMID 915 Veterinary Behavioral Medicine  
 
Change in Courses - February 10, 2012
GEOG 202                             Geography of the Global Village
GEOG 213                             Planet Earth Lab
GEOG 320                             The Middle East
 
 
New Course - May 12, 2011 UCC Meeting                                                                                    Motion Passed
CEHD 101                              Learning Community Foundations of Leadership                            FS.29.165                                                                                                                                                                                                            Attachment J

Change in Curriculum - February 10, 2012                                                                                 Motion Passed 
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences                                                             FS.29.166
D.V.M. Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine                                                                    Attachment K
 
Special Consideration - February 10, 2012                                                                                Motion Passed
Mays Business School                                                                                                                  FS.29.167
Department of Management                                                                                                         Attachment L
Certificate in Entrepreneurial Leadership Request for a change in course requirements
 
 
W-COURSES    
Motion Passed 
February 17, 2012   FS.29.167
W certification:   Attachment M
ANTH 489 The Neandertals  
BIOL 485 Tropical Ecology in Costa Rica  
ENGL 308 History of Literary Criticism  
ENGL 350 Twentieth Century Literature, Pre-WWII  
ENGL 481 Jekyll and Hyde: Literature and Film  
NUTR 289 Current Prospectives in Nutrition  
SCSC 311 Principles of Crop Production  
ESSM 405 Forest Resource Assessment and Management  
 
W recertification:
ECON 436                              Environmental Economics
KNFB 416                               Middle and Secondary School Physical Activities
SCSC 429                               Turfgrass Management Systems
SOCI 230                               Classical Sociological Theory
 
C certification:
ANTH 427                            Human Variation
 
 
                                                                             End of Consent Agenda                                                                                        
Committee Reports
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE                                                                                                       Motion Passed
12.99.99.M6 Department Head Rule Revisions                                                                        FS.29.169                                                                                                                                                                                                            Attachment N

Secretary Daugherity moved approval of Attachment N, a proposed revision to University Rule 12.99.99.M6, “Faculty Participation in the Selection, Evaluation, and Retention of Department Heads.” Speaker Benedik reviewed the history of the proposal and noted that the original Faculty Senate proposal was not acceptable to the deans due to requiring two-thirds of all faculty in a department to approve additional terms beyond the second     term, instead of two-thirds of the faculty voting. An ad hoc committee representing the faculty senate and the deans agreed to changing it to all faculty voting, but also added language to specify that a majority of faculty voting must approve a second term, and all votes must be reported.
 
Jorge Alvarado (Engineering) pointed out that there is no lower limit, so (for example) if only two of twelve faculty in a department voted favorably but ten did not vote, then the department head would receive an additional term.
 
Antonio Cepeda-Benito responded that he was the “mediator” for the ad hoc committee and that both the faculty representatives and the dean representatives agreed that faculty who choose not to vote should not dictate the outcome. If no consensus can be reached on modifying the rule, then the president will decide between the conflicting proposals.
 
Clint Magill (Agriculture and Life Sciences) reported some initial concern among non-tenured faculty about anonymity since the ballot asked for the number of years at A&M.  Kathryn McKenzie (Education and Human Development) said asking for rank might also provide some identifying information. Guido Kanschat (Science) said his department (Mathematics) requires a two-thirds vote for department head renewal, the same as for tenure in Mathematics.
 
Antonio Cepeda-Benito said that this department’s rule must be changed to conform to university rules, and that anonymous electronic balloting will be done by Measurement and Research Services; anonymous paper ballots will also be available at the Faculty Senate office.
 
Paulo Lima-Filho (Science) commented that faculty only specify “acceptable” or “unacceptable” department heads and do not rank candidates. Antonio Cepeda-Benito said this gives deans the flexibility to select the best department head.
 
After some additional discussion the motion passed.
 
 
WORKPLACE CLIMATE & DIVERSITY COMMITTEE                                           Motion Passed
Workplace Bullying Policy                                                                                         FS.29.170                                                  
                                                                                                                                 Attachment O
 
Secretary Daugherity moved approval of Attachment O, the “Workplace Bullying Policy” proposed by the Workplace Climate and Diversity Committee.

With an editorial correction by Ira Greenbaum (Science) the motion was approved.
 
 
QUALITY ENHANCEMENT PLAN COMMITTEE                                                    Motion Passed
QEP Committee Report                                                                                            FS.29.171                                                   
                                                                                                                                 Attachment P

Secretary Daugherity moved approval of Attachment P, the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Committee report.
 
Clint Magill (Agriculture and Life Sciences) asked how “lifetime learning” can be assessed except after a very long time. Pam Matthews replied that the QEP calls instead for “learning for a lifetime,” and will be particularized by departments. Speaker-Elect Stallone asked that an informational handout be prepared, and Kim Hill (Liberal Arts) asked that it be sent to all faculty. Pam Matthews said that after receiving any Faculty Senate feedback she will broadcast it to all faculty.
 
The motion was approved.

New Business

Committee of the Whole
There being no further business to come before the senate, Speaker Benedik turned the chair over to Speaker-Elect Stallone to convene the Committee of the Whole.
 
Joe Dannenbaum (Education and Human Development) described the “Tell Somebody” campus awareness and involvement initiative and reminded senators to report anything that seems amiss; avenues for reporting (including anonymously) are detailed at the web site http://tellsomebody.tamu.edu. There will also be a speaker coming April 24th, at 1:30 in Rudder Theater.
 
William Bedford Clark (Liberal Arts) asked where do we stand on outsourcing and urged the Executive Committee to take further actions beyond their letter to the Chancellor posted at http://facultysenate.tamu.edu. He underscored that one of our “Aggie values” is loyalty.
A lively and lengthy discussion about the following issues ensued:
 
  1. The RFP’s to outsource TAMU service departments were inappropriately issued by the TAMU System over the objections of TAMU’s chief executive officer, President Loftin, with responses due to the TAMU System April 3rd. Even so, an ad appeared in The Eagle incorrectly stating that TAMU had issued the RFP’s; links to the RFP’s will be distributed.
 
  1. Since the TAMU administration has failed to speak up very much or very publicly, it falls to the Faculty Senate to speak up for the university and its employees and to take action on their behalf, which also protects the community  (Texas citizens) from untoward actions by the a Texas state agency (the TAMU System). A wide range of actions was suggested, including a resolution of support for the Executive Committee [see below], a special Executive Committee meeting, inviting the Chancellor to a special session of the Faculty Senate, another more pointed letter to the Chancellor, a teach-in, and an investigation of the bidders and any awardees.
 
  1. Many questions were raised, including:
  • Who will evaluate the responses to the RFP’s and who will decide whether or not to accept one? (Speaker Benedik noted that the System general counsel is of the opinion that the System can do so on its own. He also said that we will ensure some faculty review, although the responses may not be public.) 
  • How can outsourcing save money if the vendor has to add a profit to the current expenses--maybe by having fewer and cheaper managers or by hiring student workers with no health plan and no retirement benefits?  Will the evaluation be as thorough and deliberative as the time-consuming evaluation of competing  proposals from Coca-Cola and Pepsi for the campus contract, or as rushed as the golf course outsourcing?
  • To what extent (if any) will current employees’ retirement benefits (in TRS) be protected?  Will the “Kimbrough rule” be followed, granting current employees continued state employment until they qualify for TRS retirement? Will current employees hired by a new vendor receive a defined-benefit retirement plan comparable to TRS?
  • How will the level of service be affected, especially in case of emergencies like the flooding in Blocker?
  
There being no further business to come before the Committee of the Whole, Speaker-Elect Stallone returned the chair to Speaker Benedik, who reconvened the regular session.
  
José Fernández-Solís (Architecture) moved an emergency resolution of support, which was seconded.  The senate then unanimously voted to allow the emergency resolution to be considered immediately.   After discussion and friendly amendments, the resolution read as follows: "The Faculty Senate fully endorses with vigor and without reservations the letter from the Faculty Senate speaker and executive committee opposing the move to outsource Texas A&M services without the due diligence of shared governance."
Motion Passed
FS.29.172

The resolution was unanimously approved.
 
Adjourn
There being no further business to come before the senate, the meeting was adjourned at 4:54 P.M.