JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY SENATE

The University of Oklahoma (Norman campus)
Regular session – May 7, 2007 – 3:30 p.m. – Jacobson Faculty Hall 102
office: Jacobson Faculty Hall 206   phone: 325-6789
e-mail: facsen@ou.edu   web site: http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/

 

The Faculty Senate was called to order by Professor Roger Frech, Chair.

 

PRESENT:       Albert (3), Basic (2), Benson (1), Blank (0), Bradford (0), Brown (0), Brule (2), Civan (2), Croft (0), Draheim (2), Elisens (2), Eodice (0), Fincke (1), Forman (1), Frech (0), Gade (0), Ge (1), Greene (1), Gutierrez (1), Houser (1), Keppel (3), Kolar (2), Kutner (1), Lester (0), Livesey (2), Magnusson (0), Miranda (1), Rambo (3), Roche (2), Scamehorn (0), Strawn (0), Tan (3), Trytten (1), Vitt (1), Warnken (0), Weaver (3), Wyckoff (1)

ISA representatives:  Cook

ABSENT:         Badhwar (3), D. Bemben (3), M. Bemben (1), Biggerstaff (4), Cramer (3), Franklin (3), James (3), Knapp (3), Lai (3), Marcus-Mendoza (3), Raadschelders (4), Riggs (3), Schwarzkopf (1), Skeeters (3), Thulasiraman (3), Wei (3)

 

[Note: During the period from June 2006 to May 2007, the Senate held 9 regular sessions and no special sessions.  The figures in parentheses above indicate the number of absences.]

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Announcements:

Schedule of Senate meetings for fall 2007

Summary of Speakers Service program

Faculty retirees

Faculty development award recipients

Remarks by OU Regents’ Chair Tom Clark

Remarks by Athletics Director Joe Castiglione

Senate Chair's Report:

Faculty tribute

Discussion with Vice President for Research Lee Williams

UOSA Student Congress resolution on climate change

Faculty ballot: grading scale, reapportionment

City election on curbside recycling

Certificates of appreciation

Resolution, use of Social Security numbers in User Name/I.D.

Resolution of sympathy to Virginia Tech Faculty Senate

Election, councils/committees/boards and Senate standing committees

Election, Senate Executive Committee, Secretary and Chair-Elect

Resolution of Appreciation to Prof. Roger Frech

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APPROVAL OF JOURNAL

 

The Faculty Senate Journal for the regular session of April 9, 2007 was approved.

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

The regular meetings of the Faculty Senate for fall 2007 will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Jacobson Faculty Hall 102 on the following Mondays:  September 10, October 8, November 12, and December 10.

 

Summary of the activities of the Faculty Senate Speakers Service for the past year:  From May 2006 to April 2007, the Faculty Senate office arranged for 51 faculty and staff to give 144 presentations to 97 organizations in 32 communities throughout the state.  The Faculty Senate and the University sincerely appreciate the members of the Speakers Service who share their expertise and knowledge with the people of Oklahoma.

 

A list of the faculty who retired during the past academic year is below.  The Faculty Senate thanks these faculty members for their dedication and contribution to our community.

NAME

DEPARTMENT

RETIREMENT DATE

CAME TO OU

Caldwell, P. Mack

Architecture

8/1/07

1990

Carnevale, David

Arts & Sciences

5/16/07

1989

Dryhurst, Glenn

Chemistry & Biochemistry

3/1/07

1967

Gilbert, M. Charles

Geology & Geophysics

6/1/07

1990

Grasmick, Harold

Sociology

5/16/07

1977

Hix, Harry

Journalism & Mass Comm.

5/16/06

1996

Kidwell, Clara Sue

History/Native American Studies

7/1/07

1995

Myers, Cheryl

Interior Design

5/16/07

2001

O’Meara, Daniel

Energy Center

8/20/06

1992

Perkins, Edward

Political Science/Internatl. Prog. Ctr.

7/1/07

1996

Porter, W. Arthur

Elec. & Comp. Engr./Tech. Transfer

7/1/07

1998

Roberts, Theodore

Law

5/16/06

1969

Scamehorn, John F.

Chem., Biol. & Mat. Engr.

8/1/07

1981

Shalhope, Robert

History

5/16/07

1967

Spaeth, Hans-Joachim

Geography

5/16/07

1983

Tersine, Richard

Management

8/1/06

1980

 

The Faculty Senate is pleased to present the faculty development awards for the spring 2007 semester to Marjorie Callahan (Architecture), Johanna Cox (Music), Neil Houser (Instructional Leadership & Academic Curriculum), Patrick Livingood (Anthropology), Ingo Schlupp (Zoology), James Shaffer (Physics & Astronomy), and Grady Wray (Modern Languages, Liberatures & Linguistics).

 

 

REMARKS BY OU REGENTS’ CHAIR TOM CLARK

 

Prof. Frech introduced Mr. Tom Clark, chair of the OU Board of Regents.  Regent Clark was appointed to the board by Governor Frank Keating in 2001 for a seven-year term.  He received a Bachelor of Business degree from OU and is president of Tulsair. 

 

Mr. Clark said it was a great pleasure and honor to speak to the Faculty Senate.  He said he thought it was important for the Senate to understand how the regents operate.  The Board of Regents was formed by the state constitution, so it is not under the cloak of the legislature except it must comply with the open meetings act, ethics rules, and so forth.  Committees for each campus are composed of three members, who discuss the various items on the agenda.  The board has an oversight function, but it does not tell President Boren how to operate.  Sometimes, the members ask questions on controversial issues.  Mr. Clark said he was proud of what the university is today and what President Boren has accomplished.  Many surveys rank OU in the top 10 universities in the nation.  He said the faculty should be proud of where they have taken this university, and he hoped the faculty appreciated the role the regents play in helping professors achieve what they are trying to accomplish.  He said he thought all of the items the regents had voted on had been positive for the faculty, and he would like the faculty to think they had been treated well.  Last year, the regents approved a $2.8 million grant from the OU Foundation to help increase faculty salaries.  Mr. Clark worked with the OU Aviation Department to get new planes for training students two years ago.  Other regents help out in other areas.  He said he thought the provost had done an outstanding job working with the president, deans, chairs and faculty.  It has been a pleasant experience for him to visit with the faculty.

 

 

REMARKS BY ATHLETICS DIRECTOR JOE CASTIGLIONE

 

Mr. Castiglione acknowledged the opportunity he had to serve the university and to be at this meeting.  He said he never misses an occasion to recognize the honor and privilege he has in serving the OU Athletics Department and to do what he can to make the department reflect positively on the mission of the university.  He appreciates the opportunity to visit with the Faculty Senate each year.  He said he believes in life-long learning, and this week is special to him because he is graduating with a Master’s degree from OU. 

 

He said he would discuss the following areas:  mission, scholar-athlete retention and academic performance, financial perspective, and other programs, most notably rules compliance and integrity and a plan to celebrate our diversity.  Mr. Castiglione said the department had a video titled, “There’s Only One Oklahoma,” which identifies the things that distinguish us from our competitors.  The department’s mission is to inspire champions today and prepare leaders for tomorrow.  The annual report, which he distributed at the meeting, reflects upon that mission.  He said “champions” was not just about championships.  Some of our best champions do not finish first or have a trophy.  Jackie Dubois was diagnosed at an early age with cystic fibrosis, overcame that, and became a member of the track team.  She graduated at the top of her class in Meteorology. 

 

The Athletics Department has twenty sports, recruits all over the world, and the program is very diverse.  Student-athletes come from a variety of backgrounds, with varying levels of preparedness for higher education.  The Athletics Department has a strong student life program that supports student-athletes in their academic endeavors and development as full individuals.  We are the first university in the country to hire a full-time psychologist.  The program has two nutritionists, advisors for each sport, a life-skills director, and a career planning and placement program.  Part of Mr. Castiglione’s experiences in his own degree program allowed him to focus on the first year for students.  It caused him to strengthen the department’s commitment to making the student’s first year as successful as it can be.  Four years ago, the department established an academic review committee, made up exclusively of faculty, to review student-athletes at risk and those who are admitted through the special academic process.  The committee recommends student-athletes for admission, but the Admissions office makes the final decision.  All student-athletes must face a background check.  A class attendance policy was started two years ago.  Class checkers go to the classroom to make sure the student-athlete went to class on time and was there the whole time.  It is geared toward eliminating unexcused absences, but those who miss more than three classes are punished by being held out of practice or competition.  It has made a remarkable difference.  The department is in the first year of a retention and graduation strategy.  If the department can retain student-athletes through their years of eligibility, 84 percent of them graduate.  The vast majority leave for reasons not related to academic performance.  The cumulative GPA of student-athletes is almost 3.0.  In fact, 11 of the 20 teams have a 3.0 or better.

 

Financially, the Athletics Department has to exist on its own.  This is the eighth straight year that the Athletics Department will balance its budget.  Only 15 percent of athletic programs in this country finish in the black.  Ours is one of the few programs that does not receive any subsidies from appropriations, the university or student fees and, actually, subsidizes the academic budget.  The $2 surcharge on football tickets is for academic enhancement.  Several years ago, the department established a $1 million endowment for the library, which is funded through a portion of the royalties from licensed merchandise.  The department is trying to be a good partner financially.  It also is reaching out to other programs on campus.  For instance, discussions are being held with the College of Journalism to try to find ways to involve more students in the production of events. 

 

In closing, Mr. Castiglione said it was no secret that the Athletics Department had two significant challenges to its mission to uphold rules compliance.  While the department has rules and training in place and ongoing for staff and students, there have been a few challenges.  He said he wished there was a fool-proof mechanism to keep people from making mistakes.  The Athletics Department is doing everything it can to prevent situations from happening, it faces any situations head on, has zero tolerance of any kind of rules violations, and takes punitive measures.  He said, “No one on this campus will put us in the position to compromise our integrity.”  Several years ago, an athletic diversity council was put in place.  The coaching and administrative staff had not fully reflected the strongest commitment to diversity.  Now, the staff more closely resembles the student-athletes. 

 

Prof. Livesey asked about the standards for hiring coaches and whether their backgrounds were investigated.  Mr. Castiglione said for every candidate, he does an education, criminal, NCAA, and credit background check, he contacts colleagues, uses a private firm, and has a dialog about expectations and level of accountability.

 

Prof. Keppel asked, “What is the one thing you’ve learned about student retention that you think faculty members should know … and what we can do about it?”  Mr. Castiglione said the success or confidence developed in the first year translates into success and retention down the road.  It is about putting students in courses that help them build their confidence, operate on their own, and succeed.  He said he thought the Gateway program was very positive for students transitioning into higher education. 

 

Prof. Kolar asked about the evaluation process for a coach that does well on the academic side but is not winning games.  Mr. Castiglione answered that both sides matter because of the public attention to and expectations of our program.  Every student-athlete should have the same opportunity to succeed at the highest level as members of the more visible sports.  The most important thing is that all student-athletes have the best experience.  A coach that is having a rough stretch on the athletic performance side may be given some leeway if they have been doing a good job in every other area.  Likewise, a coach that is winning, but at all costs, is moved on.  Prof. Frech commented that our university may be close to unique in having this sort of annual presentation by its Athletics director.

 

 

SENATE CHAIR'S REPORT, by Prof. Roger Frech

 

“1. Senators who received awards at the recent Tribute to the Faculty ceremony include Debra Bemben and Michael Bemben, who received UOSA Outstanding Faculty awards, Rozmeri Basic, who received an OU Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award, and Michael Biggerstaff, who was recognized with a Regents’ Award for Superior Teaching.  A complete list of recipients is on the table.  Please join me in acknowledging our colleagues. 

 

“2. On April 30, Vice President for Research Lee Williams met with the Executive Committee.  Topics that were discussed included:

a.  Funding level to support proposals submitted to the Research Council

            b.  Fringe benefits on summer research fellowships

            c.  Full tuition and fee waivers for graduate students

            d.  Grandfathering indirect cost rates when these are changed in the middle of a grant.

 

Vice President Williams explained the current policies on these topics and agreed to re-examine the policies.  The Executive Committee and Vice President Williams explored several mechanisms of addressing the first two issues: the total funding pool for Research Council proposals and fringe benefits on summer research fellowships for faculty.  Vice President Williams mentioned that in certain exceptional circumstances, it was possible to grandfather in IDC rates on a case-by-case basis.

 

“3. The Executive Committee received a copy of the undergraduate Student Congress resolution on climate change, which was discussed at our April 30 meeting.  Since the resolution was received too late for action by the Senate this year, the Senate may wish to take this up next year. 

 

“4. May 11 is the last day to vote on the expanded scale grading system and Senate reapportionment. At press time, there have been 230 votes cast out of 931 FTE faculty.

 

“5. There is a city-wide election May 8 on curbside recycling.”

 

 

PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION

 

Certificates of Appreciation were presented to the following outgoing senators who completed full three-year terms (2004-07):  Michael Biggerstaff, LeRoy Blank, Faruk Civan, Lyn Cramer, Steven Draheim, Wayne Elisens, Ola Fincke, Phillip Gutierrez, Neil Houser, Fengchyuan Lai, Roberta Magnusson, Jos Raadschelders, Al Schwarzkopf, and Don Wyckoff.  Certificates also were presented to other senators whose terms expired and to the outgoing members of the Senate Executive Committee.  Prof. Frech thanked the Executive Committee for an extraordinary job, coordinator Sonya Fallgatter and student clerk Tabitha Brown.

 

 

USER NAME/I.D.

 

At last month’s meeting (see 4/07 Senate Journal), a resolution was introduced concerning the use of Social Security numbers in the 4+4 User Name/I.D.:  “The remaining four digits of the Social Security number shall be permanently removed from all faculty and staff identification numbers, including legacy systems, as soon as possible, but not later than July 2008.”  With no further discussion, the Senate approved the resolution on a voice vote.

 

 

RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY TO VIRGINIA TECH FACULTY SENATE

 

Prof. Frech presented a resolution of sympathy to the Virginia Tech Faculty Senate:  “Resolved, that the University of Oklahoma Faculty Senate expresses our deepest sympathy to our colleagues in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Faculty Senate and to all members of the Virginia Tech community.  We join you and our academic colleagues throughout the world in mourning the tragic loss of faculty and students in the events of April 16, 2007, and extend our heartfelt support to you in this extremely difficult time.”  The Senate approved the resolution on a voice vote.

 

 

ELECTION, UNIVERSITY AND CAMPUS COUNCILS, COMMITTEE, BOARDS AND SENATE STANDING COMMITTEES

 

The Senate approved the Committee on Committees' nominations for end-of-the-year vacancies on university and campus councils/committees/boards and Faculty Senate standing committees (attached).  The names of the remaining volunteers will be forwarded to the administration to consider for the appointments they make. 

 

 

ELECTION, SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, SECRETARY AND CHAIR-ELECT

 

The Senate elected the following faculty to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee for 2007-08:

 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AT-LARGE MEMBERS:

Aimee Franklin (Associate Professor of Political Science, Ph.D. SUNY at Albany, at OU since 1998)

Steven Livesey (Professor of History of Science, Ph.D. California at Los Angeles, at OU since 1982)

Deborah Trytten (Associate Professor of Computer Science, Ph.D. Michigan State, at OU since 1992)

SECRETARY:

Roberta Magnusson (Associate Professor of History, Ph.D. California at Berkeley, at OU since 1995)

CHAIR-ELECT:

Cecelia Brown (Professor of Library & Information Studies, Ph.D. Illinois, at OU since 1996)

 

 

RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO PROF. ROGER FRECH, OUTGOING SENATE CHAIR

 

Before reading the following resolution of appreciation to Prof. Roger Frech, outgoing Senate chair, Prof. Brown reminded the Senate that Prof. Frech is a chemist.

 

Whereas Roger has skillfully and gracefully balanced the chemical equation between the faculty and the university administration,

Whereas Roger, during this year of an unprecedented salary increase, has tirelessly yet subtly continued to charge the president with honoring faculty, whether it be with chairs, watches, or retirement plaques,

Whereas Roger, with finesse and dexterity, has polymerized the Library and Textbook Task Forces,

Whereas Roger, on our behalf, has provided the fuel to ignite a change in OU’s health care benefits system,

Whereas Roger has traveled the lonely stretch of the Turner Turnpike to seek an understanding of the dynamics of the faculty members at OU Tulsa,

Whereas Roger has patiently acted as the membrane between the faculty and IT for concerns about email SPAM, security of our 4x4s, rogue Internet hubs, and backdoor server portals,

Whereas Roger has diligently taken the temperature and measured the enthalpy of the Faculty Senate’s statement on science, resulting in an elegant and sturdy structure,

Whereas Roger has maintained a thermodynamically stable relationship with students by providing an open forum for the UOSA Honor Council, the Big Event Organizing Committee, and the Undergraduate Student Congress,

Whereas Roger has thoroughly studied the cation-anion interactions of the grading scale,

Be it resolved that the Faculty Senate expresses its appreciation to Roger Frech for his battery of outstanding leadership for the academic year 2006-07.

 

The resolution was unanimously approved by the Senate.  Prof. Bradford presented Prof. Frech with a certificate of appreciation and an engraved clock.  Prof. Bradford then assumed the office of 2007-08 Senate chair and wished everyone a good summer. 

 

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

The meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m.  The next regular session of the Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, September 10, 2007, in Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.

 

____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator

 

____________________________________
Cecelia Brown, Secretary