October 16, 2023
TAMU Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
October 16, 2023 3:00pm
Via Zoom
The full video recording of the meeting can be accessed on the Faculty Senate website:
https://facultysenate.tamu.edu/Faculty-Senate-Meeting-Recordings
CALL TO ORDER
Speaker Hammond called the fourth meeting of the 41st session to order at 3:00pm the meeting was conducted via Zoom.
Senator Andrew Klein will be monitoring the raised hand function and will monitor the chat. Registration function is being used to track attendance.
NEW BUSINESS
Installment of new faculty senators as follows:
Dr. Alison Fout – College of Arts & Sciences
Dr. Patricia Pietrantonio – College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
Dr. Joda Wolfe – School of Education & Human Development
SPEAKERS COMMENTS
This last month marked the completion of a deep yet quick analysis of the potentially negative impact of some of the elements of the Path Forward changes.
I attended as did many of you. General Welsh’s talk on his reflection on the outcomes of the analysis. My formal statement of that meeting is as follows. The President’s all faculty, staff and students meeting made it abundantly clear that Interim President Welsh understands, and practices shared governance. He has listened to the faculty and made decision based on their voice and relevant data. He provided a rationale for all decisions so that even when you disagreed with a decision, you could understand why the decision was made. I myself disagreed with at least one of the recommendations, but I was comfortable with the decision made.
Probably the most meaningful message that came through to me as part of this meeting was the extent to which he clearly respects the faculty and staff. He regularly mentioned how we should lean into the expertise of our faculty and staff when deciding the future of our university. It made me warm inside to hear him say he would rather ask the faculty how to move forward rather than an external consulting company. I was not along as this brought cheers from the crowd.
The talk brought people together, was inspiring, moved us forward, and all the decisions aligned with the opinions of the faculty.
Given the recent events, I think the biggest surprise was that there were no surprises. The faculty are starting to feel that they can stop acting like they’re walking on eggshells and take a deep breath. In all appearances, it seems that we are finally moving forward together as one as we should have been doing all along.
That’s the end of my statement. That statement is largely quite positive of where we are going in terms of shared governance. But I want to emphasize that does not mean we can sit back and relax. Now more than ever, it is important for us to redouble our efforts in strengthening shared governance. We need to focus on insisting on transparency. We need to continue to have impactful dialogues between faculty and administration. We need to ask our strongest faculty to participate in shared governance at all levels, including encouraging our faculty to participate in the Faculty Senate.
I think all of you now understand now more than ever, how important it is to have a strong faculty senate. We can’t predict when things are going to hit the fan, it’s only by always insisting on strong shared governance at all times can we guarantee that we will be able to respond when it’s really needed.
The last few months I’ve been spending a lot of time in quite reflection, thinking about what Texas A&M means to me. And what is the Texas A&M we are all trying to get back to. The Texas A&M that we know is in our hearts. Many of us remember the time of Bob Gates Presidency, and the elevation of the faculty and university during that time.
The Institute of Engineering Education and Innovation has been hosting a weekly book group event where we listen to parts of his book, A Passion for Leadership and reflect on where the university is now and where we would like it to be. There were more than a few shocking similarities and motivations for change.
At its core, Texas A&M shines at the intersection of excellence and selfless service. And I want to thank all of you senators for your role that you have played in the service to the university and to the support of shared governance over the past. In his book, A Passion for Leadership, Bob Gates mentioned the story of John Adams, our second president. Written to his son in a letter, public business my son must always be done by somebody. If wise men decline it, others will not. If honest men refuse it, others will not.
So again, thank you all for your service to the university.
One of the reflections Interim President Welsh made on the Path Forward changes was a decision to revert the provost position to that of its prior importance in the hierarchy of the university. I’m thrilled that the office of the Provost will elevate it as I strongly believe that it is the right thing for the university to do, and you’ll hear a bit more about that later on when I introduce the provost today as guest speaker. But I would be remiss if I didn’t fully acknowledge and that Dr. Anand and his team in the office of the Vice President for Faculty Affairs for the amazing work, they have done over the past few months in elevating faculty, creating policies to ensure faculty due process and in creating policies to ensure academic freedom.
Thank you, Dr. Anand, Dr. Lench, Dr. Wilkinson and the many others who have been working tirelessly to support the faculty. I see what you have done, and I recognize that you have accomplished transformational, unprecedented, positive change over the last few months. Please know that your efforts have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. Thank you.
Back to you, my senators. I again thank you for the great part you have played in ensuring that our university continued to strive to be a university that we are all proud of and specifically, I ask each of you, the senators of Texas A&M Faculty Senate.
To one, examine the relevant standard administrative procedures (SAPS) in each of your caucuses and committees to find the gaps in the saps.
Two work to make them stronger, to work with your department heads and your deans to determine how to strengthen shared governance in your department and in your college or school.
Three, look at the changes that have been occurring through the Office of the Vice President of Faculty Affairs and provide input whenever possible. Too many times these changes occur in a vacuum. We need all faculty to help.
So with that, I end my speaker comments. But not before one more quote from Bob Gates book, one that provides us a little warning but also a little smile. Public institutions are often not served well by their cultural insularity. The conviction that no one outside the institution can possibly understand those that in it do. How they do it or why they do it. In the private sector, the marketplace demands a far greater openness to new ideas. The near total absence of competition to public bureaucracies enables and strengthens a fortress mentality. There is in many bureaucracies a pervasive sense of uniqueness and implicitly superiority. This captured by the mantra at Texas A&M about being an Aggie. If you’re on the outside looking in, you can’t understand it. If you’re on the inside looking out, you can’t explain it. The strong belief in the oneness of those inside, and common defensiveness against those on the outside are both great strengths and weaknesses.
Their strengths in that traditions and the feeling of being part of a special family are central to the success of such institutions. Their weaknesses, because such a spirit is an intangible but powerful barrier to change into outside ideas. So, I conclude my speaker comments without a smile. Of all of that which we love about our Aggie community but also a small warning, it’s easy to come away from the last few months with renewed cynicism to change but not all change is bad, and we need to be an agent to change to ensure that A&M continues to effectively in its emphatic strive to be the best university it can be.
Before introducing Provost Sams, I would like to read one final brief section of Bob Gates book and end with a pointed question. Bob Gates was describing how the elevation of the faculty was the first item on the broadly agreed upon agenda at A&M when he stated this:
“The Administrative Vice President at A&M essentially ran the university when I arrived. Decisions on budget, space allocations and spending priorities were made by them and with little input from deans and faculty. I resolved to subordinate administration to the academic mission of the university. You would be surprised to know how often it is the other way around at colleges and universities.
The head of academic programs at Texas A&M, the Provost, also carried the title of Executive Vice President. A hollow honorific I made it real by requiring administrative Vice Presidents to report to me through the Executive Vice President or rather the provost again sending the message that academic needs would drive administrative decisions. I created four councils of 8 to 10 people to advise the provost and me. Three of the councils to be chaired by deans with both faculty and administrators as members. A finance council, chaired by the dean of the business school would participate in creating the university budget and make recommendations for how better to align academic needs and budgetary allocations. A research council would be chaired by the dean of the College of Science and an Education council will be chaired by the dean of the College of Education. The Built Environment Council would be chaired by the Vice Provost and would make recommendations in allocation of existing space and new buildings.”
I read this because it shines some interesting way on our current times, and I’m curious about your own plans Provost Sams to elevate the faculty, and as I mentioned in my opening comments, Dr. Anand and the office of the Vice President for Faculty Affairs have accomplished an enormous amount over the last few months to elevate and protect the faculty and academic freedom.
Have you given any thought on how to make sure we continue to make similar strides going forward? And with that question, Provost Sams the floor is yours.
GUEST SPEAKER
Provost Alan Sams with assistance from Dr. Jack Baldauf and Dr. Timothy Scott.
Comments and questions raised by: Senator Clint Magill and Senator Matthew Taylor – both from the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. Senator Dean Baskin and Senator Karen Wooley - both from the College of Arts & Sciences, and Senator Jorge Alvarado – College of Engineering, as well as many questions in chat which were presented by Secretary Klein.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Senator Blanca Lupiani – School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences wins open seat on Executive Committee.
Premier Conference and Engineering education will be held at the Memorial Student Canter and A&M Hotel starting Wednesday and will have approximately 702,000 researchers participating. I encourage you to check it out.
Tentative schedule for 2024-2025 Academic Calendar was sent out to all senators please provide feedback as soon as possible.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The motion passed to approve the September 11, 2023 minutes as distributed. Attachment B
CONSENT AGENDA
Change in courses: KINE 318 was requested to be pulled from the agenda and sent back to the department for further discussion.
Bulk Inactivation of Medicine Graduate (GR) and Professional (PM) courses: all of these courses were requested to be pulled from the agenda and sent back to the department for further review and discussion.
Graduate Council
New Courses – - Passed - FS.41.089
FINC 620: Financial Engineering and Risk Management
FINC 628: Venture Capital Investing
FINC 631: Energy Project Development
HORT 625: Environmental Instrumentation for Plant Research
INTA 610: East European Politics
INTA 624: African Politics and Regional Affairs
ISTM 665: Cloud Computing Technologies
DDDS 016: Practical Application of Oral Appliance Therapy for Sleep Breathing Disorders
Change in Courses – - Passed - FS.41.090
BUAD 705: Business Communications and Professional Presence
ECCB 606: Quantitative Phylogenetics
FINC 651: Financial Innovation and Risk Management
MGMT 611: Microfoundations of Business Behavior
MGMT 622: Organizational Staffing
MGMT 645: Legal and Ethical Issues in Business
MGMT 675: Leadership in Organizations
MKTG 604: Data Visualization for Marketers
MKTG 626: Marketing Analytics II
MKTG 665: Research for Marketing Decisions
Change in Courses – Course Inactivation Proposal – - Passed - FS.41.091
ECCB 607: Terrestrial Ecosystems and Global Change
ECCB 622: Biogeochemistry of Terrestrial Ecosystems
ESSM 610: Rangeland Resource Management
WFSC 639: Wildlife Ecotoxicology
Change in Courses – Galveston – - Passed - FS.41.092
MARS 625: GIS Use in Coastal Resources
Change in Programs – - Passed - FS.41.093
School of Medicine
Miscellaneous Bulk Change Request -- Passed - FS.41.094
Bulk Request for RWFM Course Prefix Changes
Miscellaneous Bulk Inactivation Request – FS.41.095
Agriculture & Life Sciences - GR Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Business - GR Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Bush School - GR Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Education & Human Development - GR Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Courses pulled from consent agenda and rolled back to department.
Medicine - GR Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Medicine - Professional Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Miscellaneous Bulk Inactivation Request – Galveston – - Passed - FS.41.096
GR Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
New Courses – - Passed - FS.41.097
AERO 436: Human Factors Engineering for Aerospace Designs
GLST 201: Introduction to Global Studies
GLST 205: Research in Global Studies
GLST 300: International Experience
GLST 497: Independent Honors Study
HORT 411: Hydroponic and Soilless Crop Production
KINE 353: Coaching of Softball
KINE 370: Basic Biology of Performance for Coaches
RWFM 330: Conservation Principles and the Role of Hunting
Change in Courses – Passed with exception noted below - FS.41.098
BICH 414: Biochemical Techniques I
DAEN 459: Capstone Senior Design Planning
ECCB 312: Diversity, Evolution, and Ecology of Grasses
GLST 401: The City and its Global Contexts
GLST 407: Migration, Indigeneity, and Diaspora
GLST 410: Gender and Globalization
HLTH 425: Health Program Evaluation
HMGT 489: Special Topics in...
KINE 215: Fundamentals of Coaching
NUTR 211: Scientific Principles of Foods
NUTR 301: Nutrition Through Life
RDNG 465: Reading in the Middle and Secondary Grades
RWFM 325: Watershed Analysis and Planning
RWFM 350: Wildlife and Fisheries Population Dynamics
RWFM 370: Aquatic Vegetation Identification and Management
RWFM 371: Fisheries and Small Impoundment Management
RWFM 406: Wildlife Habitat Management
RWFM 410: Principles of Fisheries Techniques and Management
RWFM 421: Game Bird Management
RWFM 470: Environmental Impact Assessment
SPMT 462: Leadership Application in Sport
VIBS 401: Developmental Neurotoxicology
The following Course pulled from consent agenda and rolled back to department.
Change in Courses – Inactivation Proposal – - Passed - FS.41.099
ESET 366: Communications Electronics
ESSM 281: Seminar in Ecosystem Science and Management
ESSM 306: Plant Functional Ecology and Adaptation
IDIS 421: Healthcare Distribution Networks
IDIS 445: International Sales and Marketing
IDIS 454: New Directions in Distributor Competitiveness
IDIS 455: Humanitarian Distribution Networks
RWFM 315: Rangeland Inventory and Monitoring
RWFM 423: Waterfowl and Wetland Management
RWFM 427: Disease Management in Fisheries and Aquaculture
RWFM 449: Professional Aspects of Aquatic Ecology
RWFM 457: Wildlife Ecotoxicology
TCMG 289: Special Topics in...
Change in Programs –- Passed - FS.41.100
College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
Department of Ecology & Conservation Biology
MINOR-ECCB: Ecology and Conservation Biology - Minor
Change in Programs – - Passed - FS.41.101
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of Global Languages & Cultures
MINOR-SPAN: Spanish - Minor
Special Consideration – New Program Proposal – - Passed - FS.41.102
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of Global Languages & Cultures
BA-GLST: Global Studies - BA
Special Consideration – New Program Proposal-- Passed - FS.41.103
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of Philosophy
BA-SEAL: Society, Ethics, and Law - BA
Miscellaneous Bulk Change Request -- Passed - FS.41.104
Bulk Prefix Request - INTS to GLST (Global Studies)
Miscellaneous Bulk Inactivation Request -- Passed - FS.41.105
Agriculture & Life Sciences - UG Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Education & Human Development - UG Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts - UG Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
W & C Courses
Courses with C – Certification – - Passed - FS.41.106
GEOL 450-C: Geology Senior Project
MUSC 441-C: Music Performance Capstone
Courses with W – Certification – - Passed - FS.41.107
HMGT 426-W: Sustainable Tourism
INST 362-W: English as a Second Language Methods I
MUSC 300-W: Music Research and Writing
SPMT 470-W: Application of Marketing Strategies in Sport
Courses with W – Recertification –- Passed - FS.41.107
COMM 407-W: Gender, Race and Media
FSTC 313-W: Food Chemistry Laboratory
INTS 403-W: Nations and Nationalisms
ISTM 410-W: Management of Information Systems
SPMT 265-W: Professional Communication for the Sport Industry
End of Consent Agenda
The motion passed to approve the October 16, 2023 Consent Agenda as approved with the following exceptions.
Comments were made by Senators Blanca Lupiani, Mark Sicilio, Hank Walker
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A motion was made by Senator John Campbell to send KINE 318 back to the department a vote was taken and approved to return to the department of Kinesiology.
A motion was made by Senator John Hubbard to pull the Bulk Inactivation of all Graduate and Professional courses from the School of Medicine that were slated for inactivation and send them back for further discussion. A vote was taken and approved to return to the School of Medicine.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Core Curriculum Council Report Attachment C approved as distributed.
NEW BUSINESS
None.
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
Senator Jorge Alvarado – College of Engineering, Asked for an update on the searches across the university. Provost Sams responded that the Dean search for Engineering is in the process of deciding who to hold a Zoom interviews with. Arts & Sciences has held Zoom interviews. There’s been no information about the search for a new president. ARCH Dean search was launched last week and PVFA Dean search was launched this week.
Senator Catharina Laporte – College of Arts & Sciences, discussed the syllabus and suggested that some items could be linked. As in the Title 9, Disability Services and Diversity Statement. Speaker Elect Price responded that there are state requirements and our own minimum syllabus requirements which were voted on by the Faculty Senate.
Senator Clint Magill – College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, stated that when his caucus met with the dean, he learned that there is a $100 per credit hour for graduate students added to their fees and he was hoping that would not be put in place.
Senator Jorge Alvarado asked if there was further information about the student who had passed away. Speaker Elect Price responded that we may never know what happened until the family releases information but probably not something they want to put out there publicly. Provost Sams stated that the investigation is still ongoing.
Senator Adam Kolasinski – Mays Business School, asked about the committee that was formed to protect faculty’s rights for academic freedom regarding introducing material that the classroom finds offensive. Secretary Klein responded since he serves on that committee. We are looking at various aspects of Academic Freedom. The committee has constructed a syllabus statement. We’re investigating overall definition of academic freedom and looking at existing university policies and procedures. Speaker Elect Price suggested that the committee notes from their meetings should be linked to the Faculty Senate website.
Note: The link to the committee notes have been added to the website under Important Faculty Updates.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was returned to Speaker Hammond and was adjourned at 4:35pm