Faculty Senate

March 6, 2019

8^th Floor, Mary and John Gray Library

 

Attending: Arts and Sciences: Jennifer Fowler, Tom Sowers, Sanaz Alasti, Stacey Knight, LeAnn Chisholm, Gretchen Johnson, Pat Heintzelman, Jing Zhang, Sujing Wang, JP Nelson, Christopher Martin, Suying Wei, Cengiz Sen, Robert Vallin, Valentin Andreev, Ted Mahavier, Joseph Kruger, Martha Rinker, Cheng-Hsien Lin Business: Kaushik Ghosn, Kelly Week, Karyn Neuhauser, Tim McCoy, Vivek Natarajan Education: Donna Azodi, Dorothy Sisk, Johnny O’Connor, Shannon Williams, Kim McGough, Cristina Rios Engineering: Berna Tokgoz, John Gossage, Xuejun Fan, Mien Jao Fine Arts and Communication: Amber Marchut, Ashley Dockens, Jacob Clark, Nicki Michalski, Paul Hemenway, Cherie Acosta Library: Scott Crawford College Readiness: Melissa Riley Lamar State College Port Arthur: Mavis Triebel

 

Not Attending: Arts and Sciences: Brian Williams, Kami Makki, Garrick Harden, Gwinyai Muzorewa, Maryam Vasefi, Ashwini Kucknoor Business: Purnendu Mandal Education: Connie Ruiz, Kaye Shelton, Janice Kimmons, Israel Msengi Engineering: Gleb Tcheslavski, James Curry Fine Arts and Communication: Nandu Radhakirshnan, Sherry Freyermuth Library: Michael Saar

 

Call to Order: 3:30 p.m.

 

Guest Speaker: James Marquart, Provost

• There are a couple of major searches going on: VP for research and sponsored programs and a new dean of engineering.
• The new science and technology building will open April 3.
  • If you would like a tour, Dr. Marquart would be happy to arrange it.
  • This building should help with recruiting both faculty and students.
  • It includes a makers’ space with drill presses and other tools.
• Evans and Dr. Marquart have presented several times in Austin.
  • It looks like Lamar will get the hold harmless due to Hurricane Harvey.
  • We are trying to get the student headcount process changed to better reflect our actual enrollment process. Because we have so many smaller sessions that start at various times, our current (funding) headcount is actually about 5000 students short.
• Recruiting continues to be a major focus.
  • A number of community colleges are setting up 2+2 programs.
    • We are trying to set up these and other agreements with Austin Community College, Houston Community College, San Jacinto, LIT, LSPCA and LSCO.
  • We recently held a 4+1 workshop for department chairs to encourage them to develop these programs which are a major draw.
  • We are opening a building in McAllen.
  • We are working on changes to TALH.
    • We may try to change the residential requirement. Perhaps we can set aside 8-10 spots for local students who want to live at home.
    • We currently have 35 students but space for 60-70. This low headcount is not sustainable.
  • We need to increase headcount in order to increase funding for the university. Our spring headcount was up around 500.
  • We are working on recruiting with at “one at a time” mentality. We need to focus on specific people, not just do blanket recruiting.
  • Several trips to China, Korea and India have been done to recruit in those countries.
  • Faculty all across campus are involved in recruiting, and we are recruiting new faculty as well.
• SACSCOC is progressing.
  • Almost all of the reports are in.
  • We want to have the draft done in May so it can be reviewed over the summer.
  • It is due to SACSCOC in September.
  • The campus visit will be in 2020.
  • One of the major projects this has included is getting the LU handbook in sync with the TSUS handbook.
• HEAF funding is primarily going to focus on computer upgrades this time around. Departments should still complete their requests.
• There will be five faculty development leaves awarded this year. They all seem to be very promising research.
• There is a new junior faculty research program that started last year. It will run again this year.
  • It is hoped that a similar program will be developed in the future that allows associate and full professors to apply.
• Some community colleges are approaching the legislature seeking to start four year degrees. If that happens, it will impact us.
• We will do our best to have a merit raise program.

Guest Speaker, Associate Provost for Research Dr. Srinivas Palanki

• We need to let people know that research expenses are not the same thing as grants. There have been some problems based on that confusion.
• We recently discovered that we were underreporting our research funding. We are actually right around $4 million. We are on track to have $5 million next year.
• We need more faculty to submit grant applications.
  • You really need to make sure that you read the terms and conditions so you don’t waste your time and energy applying for unsuited awards.
  • There are many little details that need to be addressed in this process; it is easy to miss some if you don’t pay attention.
  • As you are aware, there is an ongoing audit on campus and they are very sensitive to making sure that grant money is used appropriately.
  • We need a minimum of 3 working days to process your application because we only have one person who does that.
  • We are moving to a new submission platform that should increase the number of applications. One of its benefits is that it uses a single application for all available portals. There will be a training session in June.
  • Once you have your award, you need to live up to the time commitment you made. If you don’t put in the required hours, you will have to return funds.
    • Your hours and the work done will have to be documented.
    • It is important to not sign timesheets for research assistants and staff without checking them. This is all going to be scrutinized.
  • In regard to that, if you received an email about the time and effort policy, please sign the form and return it!
• The actual money you receive will come through the finance office, so if you have issues with that, contact them.
• It is important to remember that you cannot simply change the budget for a grant. There has to be significant reason to make alterations and they must be approved.
• The new system is going to archive all communication about the grant from the time of application onward. This will help with compliance issues.
  • We have a new compliance person, Emily Born.
    • She has formed a bio-hazard committee.
    • If you have questions about IRB issues, contact her.
  • We are implementing a new process for patent applications. The office will send the idea to a firm that evaluates if the idea is financially worthwhile for the university.
    • If it isn’t, it will be returned to the faculty member. It is up to them to decide if they wish to further pursue it. If they do, and it takes off, then the faculty member receives the benefit. An important note is that if you use LU equipment you will need to share the benefit with the university.

Guest Speakers: Drs. Judith Mann and Terry Mena were not able to attend, but it was announced that they would have talked about the grant LU received to provide financial assistance to students who were affected by Hurricane Harvey. Please have your students apply through the LU Strong portion of the LU website.

Approval of Minutes: Tom Sowers made a motion to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Ted Mahavier seconded the motion, and it passed.

 

President’s Report:

• The definition of collegiality was a major point of discussion at the TCFS meeting. Some schools are pushing to make it a fourth element along with teaching, service and research.
• Thank you to everyone who attended the strategic planning meetings.
• We will set up an ad hoc committee to deal with setting up a charge for faculty senate. SACSCOC requires that all committees have a charge.
• Because no one volunteered to run staff appreciation day, we may have to cancel it.

 

Academic Issues Committee: no report

 

Faculty Issues Committee:

• We are working on a grievance process/policy. Some of the things we are discussing include:
  • A designated leader (appointed by the faculty senate president) who would serve a 3 year term and receive a half time course reduction.
  • New forms to send to HR
  • Each complaint should be reviewed to determine if it is alright to solve through an informal process; it not, it will proceed to a committee composed of five members.
  • TSUS policy requires resolution within 30 days, so whatever we do has to meet that requirement.
  • The provost is concerned there will not be enough faculty willing to serve on the committees; that is why he prefers an ombudsman.
  • The current process is not transparent. That needs to be remedied.
  • If the complaint goes to court, there should be submission of a report, not the actual evidence the committee reviewed.
  • No matter what process we design, the university lawyer will make changes. It will take around two weeks for that.
  • Current grievances will continue to be reviewed under the current policy.
• Several senators suggested that there will be concerns about faculty vs. faculty conflicts and liability issues. This is why we should use an ombudsman.

 

Budget and Compensation Committee:

• It appears that the administration is not willing to address raises and class sizes.
• We have been told the Research Enhancement Grant call for applications will go out.
• The travel policy seems to be evolving into a funding junior vs. tenured faculty issue.
  • Marquart believes that there is a perception issue about travel funding, not a real issue.

 

Distinguished Faculty Lecture:

• A sponsor organization has been located. The advancement office will not share the specifics until the paperwork is completed.
• Evans wants this event run out of his office. The question is if that means he is taking over the event and cutting out senate.

 

Research Committee:

• 5 leaves have been approved.
• The committee will have a short meeting after the senate meeting concludes.
• We are going to ask for the actual budget for the leaves because many more have been funded in the past. We want more transparency in this.
• The committee rates the proposals, but Dr. Marquart decides what will be funded. He has always taken from the top rated down based on funding.

F2.08 Task Force:

• We have forwarded to you the statement that we plan to send to all faculty calling for every department to begin formulating their criteria.
• It has been noted that we also need a memo for chairs and deans clarifying that because this is a faculty driven process, the departmental committees must be elected, not appointed and the decisions of the committees must be respected (they cannot simply be thrown out by chairs or deans who dislike them).

Strategic Issues Committee:

• We will be meeting with Craig Escamillia about retention and success issues.
• We are discussing the new financial aid proposal.
• Dual credit programs are flourishing. We need to be prepared for students that are coming from high school with a lot of their core done who may not have the maturity or focus to dive into their major classes.

Old Business:

• Valentin Andreev nominated Cristina Rios to fill the vacant vice president position. She was elected by acclamation.

New Business:

• We need to begin the process of electing new senators so we can move on to the executive board elections.
• It is suggested that faculty portfolios (for 2 and 4 year reviews, T&P) should move to electronic format. The faculty issues committee is assigned to look into this.
• There is a suggestion that we need to look into the university’s finances. Faculty are being cut (lines not filled, etc.), but there are always new administrators being hired. Several faculty could be hired for the single salary of an administrator. This issue is referred to the budget and compensation committee.
• Vivek is the senate’s representative on the strategic planning committee. If you have any questions about it, please contact him.

 

Adjournment: Tom Sowers made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 4:57 p.m. The motion was seconded by Vivek Natarajan and carried.

 

 

Submitted by: Nicki Michalski