The
Regular session – May 11, 2009 – 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 Cecelia Brown, Chair.
PRESENT: Ahmed
(0), Asojo (3), Atiquzzaman (0), Basic (3), Bass (2), D. Bemben (2), M. Bemben (0),
Blank (0), Bradshaw (0), Brown (0), Brule (3), Buckley (1), Clark (1), Conlon
(0), Eodice (1), Forman (0), Franklin (2), Grasse (0), Greene (2), Hahn (0), Hawthorne
(1), Horn (2), Kent (0), Kershen (2), Lifschitz (2), Livesey (0), McDonald (1),
Miller (1), Morrissey (2), Moses (1), Muraleetharan (0), Reeder (2), Riggs (3),
Russell (2), Sadler (1), Schmidt (2), Strauss (2), Tan (2), Trafalis (1), Vehik (0),
Verma (0), Vitt (1)
ISA representatives:
Bondy, Cook
ABSENT: Apanasov (2), Graham (3),
[Note:
During the period from June 2008 to May 2009, the Senate held 8 regular
sessions and no special sessions. The
figures in parentheses above indicate the number of absences.]
________________________________________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcements:
Schedule of Senate meetings for fall 2009
Summary of Speakers Service program
Faculty retirees
Bicycle resolution, Final exam preparation period
Remarks by Athletics Director Joe Castiglione
Benefits
Senate Chair's Report:
Making up classes due to unscheduled closings
Publishing colloquium
Recycling: phone books, textbooks
Faculty award recipients
Meeting with OSU and HSC
Status of faculty issues
Certificates of appreciation
Resolution of appreciation to Prof. Cecelia Brown
Election, councils/committees/boards and Senate standing committees
Election, Senate Executive Committee
________________________________________________________________________________
The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of April 13, 2009 was approved.
The regular meetings of the
Faculty Senate for fall 2009 will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Jacobson Faculty
Hall 102 on the following Mondays:
September 14, October 12, November 9, and December 14.
Summary of the activities of
the Faculty Senate Speakers Service for the past year: From May 2008 to April 2009, the Faculty
Senate office arranged for 44 faculty and staff to give 141 presentations to 99
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
The Faculty Senate thanks these
faculty members who retired during the past academic year for their dedication
and contribution to our community.
|
NAME |
DEPARTMENT |
RETIREMENT DATE |
CAME TO OU |
|
Dickey, Leonid |
Mathematics |
5/16/09 |
1990 |
|
El-Ibiary, M. Yousif |
Electrical Engineering |
5/16/09 |
1973 |
|
Holmes, |
Human Relations ( |
6/1/09 |
1997 |
|
McMillen, Kenneth |
Journalism |
7/1/08 |
1992 |
|
McQuarrie, Frank |
Instr. Lead. & Acad. Curr. |
8/16/09 |
1988 |
|
|
Arts & Sciences |
8/25/08 |
1982 |
|
Ogilvie, Marilyn |
History of Science |
1/1/09 |
1991 |
|
Phelan, Andrew |
Art & Art History |
7/1/09 |
1992 |
|
Toothaker, Larry |
Psychology |
6/30/08 |
1968 |
|
Wahl, M. Iver |
Architecture |
6/1/09 |
1981 |
In response
to the resolution concerning bicycles on campus, which was approved by the
Senate on April 13, President Boren said, “I am strongly
supportive of these issues, and we will soon implement a campus bicycle plan
that will guide the development of bicycling infrastructure on our campus. I am very thankful for the great faculty
input into the plan’s development.” In
response to the March 9 Senate vote against changes in the final exam
preparation period, President Boren said, “As discussed with the Executive
Committee, we will work toward greater awareness of the existing policy without
changes at this time.”
Prof. Brown explained that
Mr. Castiglione had been coming each year to a spring meeting of the Senate to give
an update on what has been going on with the Athletics Department. Mr. Castiglione said he always tries to keep his
remarks very open and likes to leave time for questions. He thanked Prof. Brown for inviting him and
continuing the tradition. He also meets
with the Health Sciences Center Faculty Senate every year. He recognized Prof. Connie Dillon, Faculty
Athletics Representative for the NCAA and Big 12 conference, who also serves an
important role with the Athletics Council.
Senate member Abi Asojo is a member of the Athletics Council too.
Academically, the Athletics
Department had one of its best years.
Last fall, 42 student-athletes earned a 4.0; for spring 2008, 46 earned
a 4.0. For those two semesters, more
than two-thirds of all student-athletes, who number at least 355, earned 3.0
GPA or better. The goal is to get the
cumulative GPA of all teams to that level.
Last semester, 11 of 21 teams had a 3.0 GPA or better. Several student-athletes have been recognized
as Academic All-Americans, and many others have received other kinds of
academic honors. According to the Academic
Progress Rate data recently released by the NCAA, our football team has the
best APR in the Big 12 conference.
Some initiatives in the
department will give student-athletes a chance to use their experiences in
athletics to meet some of their academic goals.
OU is one of the leaders in college athletics in upgrading facilities
and now has new video boards in football, basketball and some other sports
venues as well as HD capabilities. The
department has worked with the
For the tenth consecutive
year, the department will have a balanced budget, in spite of the economy and
other concerns. OU is one of only 4-6
schools whose Athletics Department is self-sustaining. Athletics does not depend on any state
support, does not receive any institutional dollars, and does not receive any student
fees. The department is self-sufficient
and would like to remain self-sufficient and self-sustaining. It is not immune from the economic challenges
faced by the rest of the campus and other campuses. Mr. Castiglione has taken steps to minimize
any financial stress and is always looking for ways to increase revenues. He is conservative with revenue projections
and uses a zero-based budget philosophy.
The loan provided to the department for some debt incurred in the 1990s
is being repaid in an accelerated manner and should be paid off in 2012, which
is 10-11 years earlier than expected.
Strategies have been put in place to make the budget work. For example, the Athletics Department pays a
lower per diem and mileage reimbursement than the rest of the university, benchmarks
what it is doing against other institutions, and watches closely the scheduling
and traveling of teams to make sure it is done in the best way possible and
minimizes non-essential travel.
For the last several years, a
portion of home football ticket sales has gone to academics. A fee of $2 per ticket per game goes to the
institution to support academic initiatives.
Mr. Castiglione said he realizes that there would not be any athletics
without academics and that athletics is here to support the institutional
mission in the best way possible. In
turn, the institution has recognized that intercollegiate athletics adds to the
quality of life on campus. This year the
fee will be increased to $5 per ticket per home game to support academic
programs. The fee has provided about
$5.1 million of unrestricted support so far, and the increase is expected to
add another $2 million this academic year.
Intercollegiate athletics wants to be a good partner so we can have the
best possible campus environment.
The compliance staff was expanded
to eight full-time people. A big
undertaking was the automation of the department. A data base was created to log rules and
interpretation, which allows them to track, monitor, and interpret rules for
coaches, staff and student-athletes. It
has strengthened the compliance program.
The competitive success has created over $20,000 for the campus to use
for scholarships for students through the “player of the game.” A green team was established to apply
sustainable business practices to the day-to-day operation and to some of the
venues. The department has an athletics
diversity council and is one of the most diverse departments on campus. Dr. Penny Pasque (Educational Leadership
& Policy Studies) is conducting research on some of the diversity
initiatives that the department put in place.
It has been a pretty good
year in terms of athletic performance, and some sports are still competing. Individually and team wise, our programs have
really excelled. Football won a third straight
Big 12 championship, played in a national championship game, and produced the
National Player of the Year and Heisman Trophy winner. Men’s basketball went to the Elite Eight,
finished in the top ten and also produced the National Player of the Year. Courtney Paris was the first four-time all
American in women’s basketball history. So
far, four teams have won regular season conference titles, and several finished
in the top 15 in the country. Mr.
Castiglione said he was willing to answer questions and to give as much
information as he could.
Prof. Sadler said he loved the
new baseball score board but noticed two typos on a game that is played. Mr. Castiglione said some editing still
needed to be done but he would look into it.
Prof. Bass asked if he had any plans to reinstitute the faculty coach
program, where a faculty member is invited to certain sports events and gets to
be on the sidelines. Mr. Castiglione said
the program had not been eliminated, but that some sports may not get it going
each year. He said he would check.
Prof. Brown asked about the
impact the draft had on baseball. Mr.
Castiglione said student-athletes come to OU to improve their skills if they do
not get drafted out of high school. Scouts
come to every game. Many
student-athletes have advisers by the 7th or 8th grade. They come to campus to give themselves a
chance to be successful. That does not
mean they are not interested in academics.
A coach almost has to manage the program in two-year increments. Some student-athletes go to junior colleges
to work on their skills and then come here for the last two years. Hopefully, we can get them to graduate before
they go into the pros. Sometimes they
come back and graduate. In fact, we have
one of the best degree completion programs in the country. We created a good tracking system so we can
get them to come back and finish their degrees.
The department advises them and tries to get them to a point of
graduation.
Prof. Brown asked Mr.
Castiglione about the coaches’ raises. Mr.
Castiglione replied that OU is in a unique environment, especially with a successful
athletics program. The reason we are
having success is because we have been able to generate the revenue necessary
to best package our program. In many
cases, our coaches are considered the best in the business. If we ignore the market place, then we have a
problem with retention. Our coaches are
the reason why the program is self-sustaining.
The compensation of the coaches is commensurate with the market, their
performance, and how their teams do overall.
The increase in compensation is paid from sources that would not be
possible without their success. It comes
from radio and television, corporate sponsorship, and licensing revenue. At the same time, we have to navigate a
difficult journey because many of the staff will not get raises, just like the
rest of the campus. It is important to
keep the people who are creating success and, when possible, to share the
success with the rest of the campus, such as with the academic enhancement fee
and the endowment that was created several years ago for the University
library. In the last month, Sam Bradford,
Coach Sherri Coale and Coach Bob Stoops were on the cover of magazines. The student-athletes and coaches profoundly
impact our state.
Prof. Forman noted that a lot
of money comes the University’s way when we go to a playoff or bowl game. However, the Athletics Department takes quite
a few people on the trips, which is expensive.
Mr. Castiglione said the travel size reflects the type of bowl. A travel allowance is put in place by the
conference, and it is larger for a BCS bowl.
For the Athletics Department, it is a business trip. They have to move their operations to another
city for eight or nine days. It is very
expensive to move the players, coaches and their families, support staff,
University delegation, and the marching band.
A budget is set aside, and it is the Athletics Department’s job to stay
within the budget. The department does
it in a cost-efficient way but still makes it a first-class experience for
student-athletes, because they got us there, they deserve the reward, and
hopefully it puts them in a great position to win the game.
Prof. Muraleetharan pointed
out that another tangible benefit of having a successful athletics program is it
makes fundraising easier for the University.
Mr. Castiglione said there is some debate on whether a successful athletics
program has an effect on institutional fundraising and admissions applications. A good athletics program is like a high tide
in the harbor: it can raise all the boats.
Perhaps the program can bring recognition and visibility to the
University. The program’s mission is to
be successful but also to stay true to its core values.
Prof. Bass asked whether the
coaches would again pledge financial support for the library. Mr. Castiglione said he could not speak for
them. However, a number of the coaches help
the campus and the community in many ways and do it without a lot of publicity. It is their choice whether they support the
library or something else.
Human Resources Assistant
Director Nick Kelly said he hoped to bring a new and positive message to
Faculty Senate about wellness. Wellness
has been discussed with the Faculty Senate for several years. This year, the administration has made a
commitment to instill a culture of wellness and help people achieve wellness. It started with the president’s committee,
which resulted in a subcommittee that had a lot of ideas on how to encourage
wellness. One approach does not work for
everybody, but the expectation is to develop an effective partnership with the
faculty. One cannot put a price on the
ability of people to lead more productive and healthier lives. One of the first steps was to hire Breion
Rollins as the wellness coordinator. He
is housed at the HSC but is responsible for all three campuses. Mr. Kelly said HR would be happy to hear any
thoughts and suggestions.
Mr. Rollins said HR had a
great deal of success with the screenings that were held during staff week
events in April. He said he was aware
that the event was geared toward the staff.
He would like to set up some dates in the fall to do screening events for
faculty. The screenings test for
cholesterol, blood glucose, body fat, and BMI.
About 1500 faculty and staff were screened during the first event. They were able to talk with people about
health problems or about excellent health.
Surveys showed that weight management is a primary interest. HR will try to implement something like Weight
Watchers at work in the near future. There
is also interest in smoking cessation. Mr.
Rollins asked for suggestions on how to get people involved in the screenings,
which are free to all employees. A
walking program will be coming up. Pedometers
were given to those who came to a screening, and they will be issued to
participants in the walking program.
Prof. Vitt said he thought it
would be useful if the campus would develop a strategy for eliminating smoking
campus wide. Mr. Rollins said that is
being discussed. Perhaps next time he
may be able to give an update on that.
Prof. Muraleetharan asked if the wellness program had a web site. Mr. Rollins said the URL is healthysooners.ou.edu. Prof. Morrissey asked when the next wellness
check would be held. Mr. Rollins said he
would like to schedule it for two days in early fall from 8 to 5. The process takes about 20 minutes, and
individuals are given the information to pass along to their health care
provider. Prof. Brown asked about the
possibility of adding a bone density screening.
Mr. Rollins said he would look into it.
Prof. Brown noted that some fitness centers in town offer discounts to
OU employees. Mr. Rollins said he could
take suggestions on places he should call to ask for discounts.
Prof. Vitt commented that
there is a big delay in when employees are paid and when the retirement contribution
arrives at TIAA-CREF. The delay is
longer than for other companies and totals about 124 days a year. Mr. Kelly said there had been a transition in
the way OU sends the funds to TIAA-CREF.
HR hopes to shorten the time to be the same as other vendors. We are within the applicable guidelines. Within the next month, the time frame should
be about the same. Prof. Vitt said it
seemed that we should be able to transfer money within minutes with electronic
transfer. Mr. Kelly said our payroll has
to go to the state and come back, which does not save much time. Prof. Vitt said the TIAA-CREF delay is 70
days longer than other vendors.
TIAA-CREF says the state has to cut a check to the plan. Mr. Kelly said we may be able to eliminate
some days from the process. It would be
consistent with the other vendors. Prof.
Vitt asked if an update could be provided in the fall. Mr. Kelly he could do that.
Prof. Forman reported that a
TIAA-CREF representative had indicated that the University might leave the
program. Mr. Kelly said he was surprised
that a TIAA-CREF representative would say that.
We are in the process of trying to get a single administrator. With the market situation, some of the expectations
have changed and some of the pricing may be different. Several outcomes could happen. It is a longer process than anticipated, and
we are not close to a resolution. HR is
convinced we will have a better program, clearer choices, lower fees, consolidated
statements, and loan features.
Prof. Moses asked if any
changes would be made before they could be communicated to the faculty in the
fall. Mr. Kelly said HR is in the process
of discussion and negotiation. Before
any big change is made, there will be communication to the faculty and staff and
some opportunity for feedback. It is not
likely that anything would be done over the summer.
Prof. Brown asked about the
status of the retiree medical benefits. Mr.
Kelly said the committee still is working hard on that, is trying to reach a
decision, and has received a lot of feedback.
There are no good answers. Some resolution
should be available in a couple of months, but the committee needs more
discussion. Any recommendation will go
to the president, who will decide when and what to present to the board of regents. Prof. Brown said President Boren assured the Senate
Executive Committee that it would not be a summer surprise because there is no
rush. Prof. Bob Dauffenbach, Chair of
the Faculty Welfare Committee, said in a meeting last week with President Boren,
he expressed concern about moving the decision forward rapidly. President Boren said nothing would be decided
over the summer. Any committee
recommendation would be brought before the faculty. Prof. Brown said Prof. Dauffenbach had worked
hard on this and had proposed some alternatives.
“Last month the Small
Executive Committee proposed a policy for scheduling make-up classes when the
University has an unscheduled closing, with a plan to vote on it at this
meeting. Since we are working on the
wording and gathering data on its interpretation, it is not ready for a vote at
this time.
“The Publishing Colloquium on
April 24 in the new offices of the
“In March Bill Henwood from
Physical Plant came to our meeting and told us about recycling on campus. Physical Plant’s recycling program has been expanded to accept phone
books year round. Those offices
disposing of small quantities (fewer than 10) can place their phone books in
regular paper recycling containers. Offices
with a large number of phone books to recycle may contact Recycling at recycling@ou.edu, and someone will come
to pick them up. The other good news is
their high-powered paper shredder is working really well. All office paper is shredded. Lockable recycling containers are available
upon request for confidential material. If
you have any questions, please contact Physical Plant.
“One issue that was brought
up was what to do with old textbooks.
Physical Plant does not believe they have the resources currently to
recycle textbooks, but Grettie Bondy, who is one of the Informational Staff
Association representatives to Faculty Senate from Staff Senate, and many of
you know her for her role as the Undergraduate Advisor in English, has been the
sponsor of two student groups that for several years have held an annual book
drive for prison libraries and the Veterans Administration volunteer groups,
among others; however, these groups are not interested in textbooks. Grettie has recently learned of an
organization called BetterWorldBooks that promotes textbook drives on campuses
across the country.”
Ms. Bondy distributed a
handout describing the textbook drive.
Students are interested in doing this because it would raise money to
buy books for some literacy projects. The
student groups would like to know whether faculty members would be interested
in participating and whether August would be a good time. If a book is less than 10 years, BetterWorldBooks
pays fairly good money. If a book is over
10 years old, they will sell them or send them to international literacy
projects. They do not ever destroy books. We could try it once and see how it goes. We only need 25 books per drive. Comments may be sent to Ms. Bondy.
“Several senators were
honored at the Faculty Tribute on April 23.
Karl Rambo was awarded the Provost’s
Outstanding Academic Advising Award, Kevin Grasse was given a Regents Award for Superior Professional and
University Service and Public Outreach, Muralee Muraleetharan became a David Ross Boyd Professor. Kevin Grasse and Provost Mergler
celebrated 30 years at OU this year,
while James Hawthorne and David Tan were recognized for 20 years at OU.
Congratulations! Unfortunately,
we lost three faculty the past year:
Loren Hill, Michael Pfau, and Andy VanGundy. The Senate wants to express sympathy to their
families. We are grateful for their
service. They will be missed.
“In April, the Executive
Committee met with OSU and HSC at the
“I would like to thank all the senators, the Executive
Committee, Jon Forman, our Parliamentarian, and the Provost for all their hard
work and dedication this year! We have
made progress this year in green initiatives by learning more about recycling,
passing the bicycle resolution, and moving toward doing student evaluations of
teaching online. So far the response
rate is about 30 percent with the Arts & Sciences pilot using the homegrown
eValuate system. The
“Also this year we are beginning to see our health
care provider benefits move from treating illness towards promoting wellness
among faculty and staff for disease prevention and improved quality of life.”
Certificates of Appreciation
were presented to the following outgoing senators who completed full three-year
terms (2006-09): Rozmeri Basic, Debra
Bemben, Mike Bemben, W. Steve Brule, Jon Forman, J. Scott Greene, Steve
Livesey, Karl Rambo, Wayne Riggs, David Tan, Laurie Vitt and Barry Weaver. Certificates also were presented to other
senators whose terms expired and to the outgoing members of the Senate
Executive Committee.
Before
the resolution of appreciation was read, Prof. Conlon reminded the group that
Prof. Brown’s research focuses on the relationship between trainer and
trainee.
Whereas Cecy has worked
tirelessly to strengthen close and effective relationships with many
constituencies associated with the University, in particular the
administration, staff, students, and media, and
Whereas Cecy has encouraged
commitment to a program of promoting a healthier and greener campus through
multiple collaborative initiatives, and
Whereas Cecy has trained us to
use best practices research to inform discussions of faculty concerns across
campus regarding recruitment and retention policies, and
Whereas Cecy has, with good
humor and patience, been our coach and spotted us in dialogues on changes to
classroom activities such as dead week, campus closings, and online
evaluations, and
Whereas Cecy did the heavy
lifting required in the naming of the Ed Cline Faculty Development Awards, and
Whereas Cecy has steadily
increased the repetitions of communication between Faculty Senate and
Administrators so that we have built up the transparency regarding changes to
employee compensation and benefits policies, and
Whereas, these efforts have
strengthened faculty governance on campus,
Be
it resolved that the Faculty Senate expresses its sincere appreciation to
Professor Cecelia Brown for providing leadership and service to the University
faculty for the academic year 2008-2009.
By applause, the resolution
was unanimously approved by the Senate.
Prof. Franklin presented Prof. Brown with a certificate of appreciation
and an engraved clock. Prof. Franklin
then assumed the office of 2009‑10 Senate chair.
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.
The Senate elected the following faculty to the
Faculty Senate Executive Committee for 2009-10:
EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE AT-LARGE MEMBERS
Lucy Lifschitz (Associate Professor of Mathematics,
Ph.D. Yale, at OU since 2001)
Mark Morrissey (Associate Professor of Meteorology,
Ph.D. Hawaii, at OU since 1993)
K.K. Muraleetharan (Professor of Civil Engr. & Environmental
Science, Ph.D. California-Davis, at OU since 1994)
SECRETARY
Amy Bradshaw (Associate Professor of Educ. Psychology,
Ph.D. Arizona State, at OU since 1998)
CHAIR-ELECT
C. LeRoy Blank (Professor of Chemistry, Ph.D. Kansas,
at OU since 1973)
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 14, 2009, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
____________________________________
Paula Conlon, Faculty Secretary