The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College Academic Senate Minutes

The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College
Academic Senate Minutes
December 17, 2004
I.
Call to Order
Ms. Cantu called the December 17, 2004 meeting of the Academic Senate to order at 1:10 p.m.
in the SETB 3rd Floor Conference Room.
Members of the Senate in attendance included: Dr. Betsy Boze, Ms. Ethel Cantu (*), Mr.
Roberto Cortina (s), Dr. Charles Dameron, Dr. Therese Gallegos (s), Dr. Gerald Hollier (s), Dr.
Charles Lackey, Ms. Julie Larson (*), Dr. Jose Martin, Mr. Domingo Molina (s), Dr. Rafael
Otero (s), Mr. Jay Phillips, Mr. Mahandran Rajasuriar (s), Dr. Ruth Ann Ragland, Dr. Renee
Rubin (s), Dr. Hilda Silva, Dr. Carl Stockton, Ms. Thelma Sullivan (s), Dr. John Sutterby (s), and
Mr. Tom Welther (s).
Visitors included: Dr. David Pearson and Dr. Rey Ramirez.
II.
Review and Approve of the Minutes
Ms. Cantu called for review of the minutes from the November 19, 2004 Academic Senate
meeting. There were two corrections to the minutes: under Section VII: HOOP Policies- Csecond to the last sentence, the words, “since this was the first reading” should be struck and the
last sentence should be struck.
Hearing no further corrections or additions, the minutes stood approved as corrected.
III.
Presentation/Discussion: Tuition and Fee Increases
Dr. Hilda Silva, VPSA, provided the Senate with an update on tuition and fee increases. The
following is a summary of her presentation.
Designated Tuition would increase from $38.00 per semester credit hour to $44.00 per semester
credit hour. This increase would be used to hire additional faculty and staff and to establish a
student employment fund.
Graduate Tuition Differential would increase $5.00 for graduate students for a tuition
differential of $19.00. This increase would be used to defray costs associated with higher costs
of providing graduate courses and to fund graduate/research assistants.
International Education Fee is a proposed new fee of $2.00 which would be charged to every
student per semester. This fee would be used to provide funds for students wanting to participate
in exchange and/or study-abroad programs.
Medical Services Fee is a proposed new fee of $20.00 per long semester and pro-rated to $10.00
for each summer session, regardless of length. This medical services fee would be used to
expand services offered to students at the Student Health Center. Additional
services include mental health care and counseling, dental services, X-ray services, third party
insurance billing, satellite clinic at ITEC, and health education and promotion.
Student Recreation Fee is a fee approved on March 3, 2004 through a student referendum of
$79.00 per long semester and pro-rated to $39.50 for each summer session.
Dr. Silva pointed out that the fees listed above are compulsory fees-all students pay them and
noted the following changes in incidental fees.
SPED Assessment Instrument Fee is a proposed new $25.00 fee for graduate students enrolled
in SPED 6301, SPED 6302, SPED 6303, SPED 6307, SPED 6309, SPED 6600 and ESPY 6315.
This fee is to be charged per course and will be used to defray costs associated with updating and
replacing assessment instruments, which are used in the majority of courses to complete the
masters program for educational diagnosticians.
Outdoor Education Course Fee is a proposed new $20.00 fee for students enrolled in KINEU
2304. This fee would be used to defray coats for fee(s) associated with ropes/ adventure
activities and to replace equipment.
Developmental Writing Fee is a proposed new fee of $10.00 per semester for students enrolled
in ENGL 0320 and ENGL 0321. This fee would be used to defray the cost of operating
computer classrooms, including salaries, equipment, and supplies.
Following a discussion, Ms. Cantu thanked Dr. Silva for her presentation.
IV.
Senate President’s Report
Ms. Cantu had five items in her report.

TSC Board Meeting December 16, 2004- Terry Tomlin of the Music Department
presented CD recordings of the Jazz Band to the TSC Board members. The Board then
met in Executive Session to discuss real estate. After reconvening, the Board approved
the purchase of two Ft. Brown Villas. The Board then accepted the audit of Long &
Chilton that reviewed the district’s finances and reported “no findings”. The report
showed that the district had an increase of $3.4 million this year in net assets and has a
total of $53.1 million in net assets, which represents a healthy balance. The Board heard
a briefing on ITECC that focused on economic development and job creation. American
Customer Care, a call center, is now located in ITECC and is expected to employ 400
people within three years. This company offers health benefits and is expected to employ
many UTB/TSC students. The Board next heard a review from First Southwest Company
on the possible ways to finance the bonds recently approved by the voters of the district.
The company recommended that the Board use a negotiated sale strategy with local
participation of banks and firms. The matter will be studied further in a workshop in
January. The construction report highlighted the near-completion of the Mexican
Consulate Office in ITECC, the remodeling of the interior of the Officer’s Quarters for
use of the News and Information Office, and the progress on the Education and Business
complex. The building is expected to be substantially completed by April and available
for classes the first summer session. President Garcia has several announcements:
Teresa Sullivan and Geri Malandra from UT System will be on campus Friday,
December 17 for a review of the Campus Compact; Jude Benavides, PhD, is a new
faculty member in the department of Chemistry &Environmental Sciences; the
Coordinating Board approved a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management; the
Mariachi Escorpion has been invited to play at the Texas Ball for the Inauguration, and
1075 students are eligible to participate in this winter’s commencement. Lastly was a
video honoring Raul Besterio produced by the News & Information Office for People
Stories. The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is January 20, 2005.

Admissions Appeals Committee Nominees- the four faculty members the Academic
Senate recommended to the Admissions Appeals Committee have been accepted by
Hilda Silva, VPSA. She will recommend them to Dr. Garcia for appointment.

HOOP 7.5.1- “Selection of Department Chairs- since this policy generated so much
discussion at the last Academic Senate meeting, the Committee Chair Rafael Otero and
the Academic Senate Executive Committee have decided to present this topic for
discussion at the general faculty meeting in January. Two issues seemed to surface:
clarification on how long an interim chair can serve and the election process for a
department chair. This policy will be on the agenda for a subsequent Academic Senate
meeting.

Faculty Advisory Council Meeting, December 2-3, 2004- I have summarized the FAC
meeting in a separate document. In this president’s report I do want to call your attention
to a particular segment of the meeting. I took offense at the comments of THECB staff
member who, after a presentation on funding formulas and probable legislative priorities,
stated that the Coordinating Board should not be granting approval for doctoral programs
such as a PhD in physics in the fringes of Texas that are not in metropolitan areas. This
was an obvious reference to our PhD program in physics. His comment and my personal
reaction prompted a discussion among the FAC members that resulted in a referral to
FAC’s Faculty Quality Committee and subsequently a resolution that passed
unanimously. The resolution recommended that the UT System nominate teaching and
research faculty to serve on the new Graduate Advisory Policy Committee of the
THECB. Although having faculty representation on this committee would be helpful, it
doesn’t address what I see as prejudice against border institutions. I would like to send a
strong message protesting this attitude that serves to limit our ability to develop postgraduate programs. I invite interested Senators to work with the Executive Committee on

V.
the wording of resolution for the Academic Senate’s consideration at the January
meeting.
Committee to revise student evaluation forms-Bill Adams is the chair of a committee
that will consider changes to the student evaluation forms. He would like two or three
members of the Academic Senate to join him, Jay Phillips, Mary Sullivan, and Mrinal
Mugdh.
Faculty Advisory Council Report/ THECB Report: Doctoral Education
In Texas
Ms. Cantu reported on the Faculty Advisory Council meeting held in Austin on December 2-3,
2004. This report features the highlights of the meeting. See the preliminary minutes for details.
Teresa Sullivan, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Regarding the Coordinating Board’s report on doctoral education, Sullivan commented that “you
can have more if you have one, but if you have none, then it will be difficult.” The Coordinating
Board did create a Graduate Advisory Policy Committee that will have representatives from
higher education institutions in Texas. These representatives can be experienced faculty
members. Teresa Sullivan and Geri Malandra will be visiting each campus to review the
Campus Compact with the president. The Chancellor wants these compacts to be reviewed by
faculty. The compact is seen as a short-term (2 yr.) planning document. Sullivan specifically
mentioned our Futures Commission as a model for long term planning that allows for faculty and
community “buy in”.
Kenneth Shine, Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs
Shine commented that time and effort reporting on federally funded grants is critical and that
small campuses are especially vulnerable. He recommended that institutions have a vice
president for research. He also discussed the critical nursing shortage and a clash with the
Coordinating Board over ADN programs. His view is that most ADN nurses are “not well
trained”. He highlighted the collaborations in south Texas among the Schools of Public Health
and UTB and UTPA. He indicated that a Bachelor of Public Health was a possibility at one of
the campuses.
FAC Chair James Bartlett
The retirement contribution to ORP can be 8.5%. The Campus Life Committee of the Board of
Regents chaired by Kraven, for the first time will have a representative from FAC. The FAC
Executive Committee will present these four topics at the February 2005 Board of Regents’
meeting: ombudsman for dispute resolution on each UT System component, nursing shortage
and nursing faculty issues at health components, system-wide data base for faculty and student
research background/interests, and fund set-aside for fundable but unfunded grant proposals.
Jeffrey Phelps. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Phelps presented information on a revision of the funding formulas for higher education. These
new formulas try to capture the total cost for teaching. After reviewing several tables of
formula-related information, he offered some observations on legislative priorities. As funding
for Medicaid increases, funding for higher education decreases. The Texas legislature will
probably fund according to this list of priorities: Medicaid, prisons, schools, state agencies,
higher education. He then offered comments about being more cost effective, including a
comment about not approving doctoral programs in the “fringes” of the state with no major
metropolitan areas.
Geri Malandra, Vice Chancellor for Accountability
There are differences between the Coordinating Board and the UT System over accountability
measures. The audience for the accountability reports is the Texas Legislature.
FAC Committee Reports
Quality: Resolution: Whereas graduate education at the doctoral level involves teaching and
research faculty as well as administrators and whereas teaching and research faculty are primary
responsible for the creation and implementation of the curricula for doctoral programs, the FAC
recommends that the UT System nominate non-administrative teaching and research faculty to
serve on the Coordinating Board’s Graduate Advisory Policy Committee.
Governance: Definition of “Non-administrative faculty”: teaching, research, and clinical faculty
below the level of chair, with the exception of term-limited, rotating chairs.
Academic Affairs: Investigate pattern of submission and approval of post-graduate programs by
the Coordinating Board.
VI.
Academic Standards and Student Records Committee Report
Mr. Welther, Chair of the Academic Standards and Student Records Committee, provided the
Senate with the following report. Mr. Welther reported that this committee has been looking at
the suspension and probation policies on campus. Mr. Welther reported that in terms of
suspension and probation- there are two policies- one involving academics and one in connection
with financial aid. Mr. Welther explained that when students must stop out because of financial
aid suspension, they go to the Business Office and apply for an emergency loan, because while
they may be on financial aid suspension, they may not be on academic suspension. Mr. Welther
further explained that once students lose financial aid, they are in a financial spiral because they
apply for loans that they can’t repay. Mr. Welther said he has asked the Registrar to look at how
many students have below a 2.0 GPA. Mr. Welther also said his committee is looking at whether
financial aid suspension and academic suspension should be tied together. Mr. Welther
concluded his report by saying that the committee needs to look at more data- maybe two
semesters worth of data to make a recommendation. Ms. Cantu thanked Mr. Welther for his
report.
VII.
Evaluation of Administrators/Level of Confidence Question
Ms. Cantu reported that this was issue raised by Dr. Davis (who could not attend this meeting)
who wanted a question put on administrators’ evaluations regarding their leadership ability and
the level of confidence faculty had in their leadership. Dr. Davis via Ms. Cantu suggested the
following statement be added to administrators’ evaluations:
Overall I rate the leadership of this person as…. Several Senate members objected to this
statement, saying that it doesn’t fit on the Likert Scale (strongly agree…). Dr. Boze suggested
that the statement be changed to I have confidence in this person’s leadership.
Mr. Cortina moved that this statement be added to administrators’ evaluations. Mr. Welther
seconded the motion. The motion passed.
VIII.
HOOP Policy 7.3.1- “Faculty Responsibilities and Workload”
Mr. Phillips presented HOOP Policy 7.3.1- “Faculty Responsibilities and Workload” to the
Senate for a first read. Mr. Phillips explained that basically the changes to the policy occurred in
Section E where the policy describes the changes in the workload procedure. Under the revised
policy, the department chair will meet with all probationary and tenured faculty in an annual
workload planning conference to determine the faculty member’s instructional workload and mix
of other responsibilities for the coming year and review the accomplishments of the preceding
year. A faculty workload plan detailing the faculty member’s instructional workload and mix of
responsibilities for the coming year shall be developed as a result of the annual planning
conference. Probationary faculty members will continue to meet with the department chair and
dean to discuss the faculty member’s instructional workload and mix of other responsibilities for
the coming year and review the accomplishments of the preceding year. Tenured faculty
members may meet with the department chair and dean to discuss the faculty member’s
instructional workload and mix of responsibilities for the coming year and review the
accomplishments of the preceding year. This meeting is optional, but shall occur upon the
request of the faculty member, the Chair or the Dean.
Following a brief discussion, Dr. Otero moved to approve first reading of this policy. Dr. Hollier
seconded the motion and the motion carried. This policy will appear before the Senate for a
second read.
IX.
New Business
There were three items of “New Business”.

Mr. Molina voiced his concern over why there is no policy for department chairs in terms
of their workload. He asked why the six hour policy was not enforced. He said there is a
wide variation of the number of hours department chairs are teaching.
Ms. Cantu said that she will put this item on the agenda for a future meeting.

Mr. Molina wanted the Senate to know how much he enjoyed “Blackboard”. He said it is
a great program and he was wondering if there could be a required workshop for the use
of “Blackboard”. Dr. Ragland said that one of the professional development workshops
will be on using “Blackboard”. Ms. Cantu said that it is better to encourage faculty rather
than make it a requirement.

X.
Dr. Rubin voiced her concern over regalia for commencement. She said renting the
regalia is expensive and wondered if it wouldn’t be better for faculty to buy it. She said
in October you don’t know if you are going to Commencement and if you don’t go and
order your regalia, you have to pay for it. Perhaps there is a better system of dealing with
this issue.
Provost’s Report
Dr. Martin had eight items in his report.

UT System Vice Chancellor Teresa Sullivan and Assistant Vice Chancellor Geri
Malandra were on campus this morning to visit with us about our compact. We will be
talking with you more about that later. We are making good progress on our compact,
and we’ll have good information to report. Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Malandra send their
regards to you.

Dr. Betsy Boze has announced her decision to step down as Dean of the School of
Business after more than 10 years. During her tenure, the School of Business has
doubled its enrollment and has been a driving force for innovation as the School of
Business endeavors to extend services to a community that has been long underserved.
Her leadership allowed us to play a vital role in the Telecampus MBA, which allowed
campus colleagues like Dr. Lackey and Mr. Zavaletta to reach hundreds of students
outside of our region. I also want to mention that no one has fought harder for higher
salaries for the faculty than Dr. Boze
Dr. Boze’s decision is based on family reasons, and we wish to express our best wishes to
her. She will return to teaching in September.
Dr. Eli Pena has announced his decision to step down as Director of Advising, and will
return to teaching. It is hard to formulate in a few words, how much we all owe to Dr.
Pena, the workload of his department, and his own superhuman efforts. We can all rest a
bit easier today because he and his staff are still trying to address all the challenges that
surface as we prepare for graduation. For both Dr. Boze and Dr. Pena we expect great
things, and I know I foresee the future when I state that, from Dr. Boze and Dr. Pena, the
best is yet to come.

We had the dedication of the Bahia Grande Greenhouse last week and successfully
launched UTB/TSC’s cooperation with our partners and the community in the largest
wetlands project in the United States. We want to especially thank three members of our
faculty for their work on the Bahia Grande Project: Dr. David Hicks, Dr. Elizabeth
Heise, and Professor Mary Jane Shands, all of the College of Science, Math, and
Technology.

You all have heard, I’m sure, that the Coordinating Board finally has approved our
Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Management. We want to congratulate Dean Chip
Dameron and Dr. John Robey and their faculty for this wonderful accomplishment that
will open opportunities for many in our community.

SACS recently held its annual meeting in Atlanta December 4-7. We were represented
by Dr. Chip Dameron who led our self-study in 1997-98; Dr. Mrinal Mugdh, Director of
Institutional Research and Planning; and Dr. Ruth Ann Ragland. Our SACS visit will be
in 2007, so you’ll be hearing a lot about that very soon.

Graduation will be tomorrow. We will have three ceremonies; at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6
p.m. at Jacob Brown Auditorium. Speakers will be TSC Board of Trustee members.
Board Chairman Chester Gonzales will speak at 10 a.m., Dr. Roberto Robles will speak
at the 2 p.m. ceremony; and Mrs. Cardenas will be the 6 p.m. speaker.

We have four search committees that are in the process of being appointed: Dean of the
College of Liberal Arts, Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Vice President for
Institutional Advancement, and Director of Advising.

We wish Professor Joe Lacher a quick recuperation from his by-pass surgery this week.
Our reports indicate he is doing well.
XI.
Announcements
There were two announcements.
XII.

The General Faculty Meeting will be from 11-12:30 on Wednesday, January 12 in the
SETB Lecture Hall. On the agenda will be a report from the Welfare Committee on
salaries, a discussion on the election of department chairs, and a discussion on
recognition of tenure, promotion, and exceptional merit. Please encourage faculty
members to attend this meeting.

The next Academic Senate meeting is at 1 p.m. on January 21 in the SETB 3rd Floor
Conference Room.
Adjournment
The meeting stood adjourned at 2:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Julie Ann Larson
Academic Senate Secretary