The
Regular session – January 23, 2006 – 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 Roy Knapp, Chair.
PRESENT: Albert,
Apanasov, Badhwar, Benson, Blank, Bradford, Brown, Civan, Cramer, Croft, Draheim,
Fast, Fincke, Franklin, Frech, Gade, Geletzke, Gutierrez, Hamerla, Hawamdeh,
Houser, C. Knapp, R. Knapp, Kutner, Lai, Lester, Liu, Magnusson, Marcus-Mendoza,
Ransom, Roche, Rugeley, Scamehorn, Schwarzkopf, Skeeters, Trytten, Warnken,
Wei, Wood, Wyckoff
ISA representatives:
Hough, Smith
ABSENT: Biggerstaff,
Burns, Catlin, Dewers, Elisens, Garn, Kolar, Megginson, Pace, Raadschelders, Sharp,
Tabb
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcements:
New senators
Assessment reports, student satisfaction report
Course syllabus
Senate Chair's Report:
UOSA resolution, question concerning dead week on
teacher evaluations
Faculty deaths
Interim Senate apportionment
State of the University address by President Boren
Election, Senate Executive Committee and Research Council
Courses with numbers ending in 60, 70, 80, 90
Central campus instruction
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The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of December 12, 2005 was approved.
The following faculty members
were elected to the Faculty Senate as of January 2006:
Gregg Garn (Educational Leadership & Policy
Studies), completing the 2003-06 term of Rosa Cintron (Educational Leadership
& Policy Studies), representing the
Ralph Hamerla (Honors), completing the 2004-07 term of
Randy Lewis (Honors), representing the
Peter Kutner (Law), completing the 2004-07 term of Jon
Forman (Law), representing the
June Lester (Library & Info. Studies), completing
the 2004-07 term of Catherine Hobbs (English), representing the
The 2004-05 Assessment
Report, Program Outcomes Assessment Report, and Student Satisfaction Report are
available in the Faculty Senate office.
President
Boren approved the proposal passed by the Faculty Senate on December 12 that
encourages faculty to make undergraduate course syllabi available online (see
12/05 Senate Journal). The Faculty
Senate office received a note of appreciation from Micah Carlson, Chair of
Student Congress.
Provost Mergler sent Prof. Knapp
a copy of Student Congress bill 740118 approved November 11, 2005, which asks
departments to add a question to their teacher evaluations concerning the workload
during dead week. The Faculty Senate
Executive Committee volunteered to meet with Student Congress leaders and the Provost
to discuss the particular concerns. The
Faculty Senate does not need to take any action at this time.
This month’s report of
faculty retiree deaths includes John Paul Klingstedt, former Accounting
professor, who died October 3, 2005, and Robert E. Bell, George Lynn Cross
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, who passed away January 1, 2006.
The University was
reorganized effective January 1 to add a new College of Earth & Energy, which
includes units from the colleges of Engineering and Geosciences. The Senate Executive Committee recommended
the following proposal for an interim apportionment of Faculty Senate until the
regular Senate apportionment for the period 2007-10: Designate the two seats of Faruk Civan
(Petroleum & Geological Engineering, formerly
Prof.
Knapp explained that President Boren could not give his address last fall
because of back surgery. President Boren
said he appreciated everyone’s encouraging words while he was recuperating from
surgery. His recovery is coming along very
well. He said he appreciates his relationship
with the faculty. He meets on a regular
basis with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, and that is extremely
helpful to him. He distributed five charts
(available from the senate office), which describe where we have come from and the
challenges we have.
State appropriations were 38.6
percent of the Norman campus operating revenue budget in FY1985, compared to
20.1 percent for FY2006. More and more,
we are getting revenue from sources other than the state, such as faculty
research, training grants, and private donors.
Tuition and fees jumped from 9.9 percent of the budget to 22.9 percent
in the past 11 years. It is a national
trend that continues to worry him.
Increasingly, public universities have to operate like private
universities that get some state support.
Historically, higher education has given opportunities to many students
because it has been reasonable in cost. It
is a struggle to maintain quality without putting increased pressure on
students through tuition and fees. The imperative
is even greater that we raise more scholarship funds to offset the increased
cost. A six-minute video is being shown to
alumni clubs around the country, with the hope of raising additional money for
scholarships.
In 1980, higher education received
18.55 percent of the state appropriation; today it is 14.68 percent. The total state budget this year will be approximately
$6 billion. If higher education received
the 1980 percentage, $240 million more would be going to higher education
funding. The Norman campus share of those
funds would be about $36 million. Fixed
costs for next year will increase $15-16 million because of utility bills, health
insurance, library costs, software costs, faculty growth, and some compression
problems. If we had the extra $36
million, we could meet all of our fixed costs for next year and have $20
million left. President Boren noted that
the administration was able to work out most of insurance issues with the cancer
treatment providers. A one percent compensation
increase for faculty and staff costs about $1.4 million. It is not unreasonable for us to say we ought
to get a $90-100 million increase for higher education, given our shrinking
percentage of the budget and the amount of additional money available to the
state (estimated to be $600 million). To
be fair, some of the changes in budgetary priorities have come from federal
mandates that were not fully funded, such as in health areas.
Over the past 14 years,
endowment funds have grown from $219 million to $850 million. Only 14 public universities in the country
have billion dollar endowments. All of
the earnings from our endowment program go toward the academic mission, much of
it for endowed chairs and the library.
We have made remarkable progress in the number of endowed chairs and
professorships, growing from 116 in 1995 to 396 now. Some announcements will be made at the
January 25 regents’ meeting that will be historic in regard to endowed chairs. [Note: He announced the addition of seven new
endowed faculty positions, bringing the total to 403.] Two things make for a great university: the excellence of the faculty and the
excellence of the students.
ACT scores for first-time
freshmen show the progress we have made.
We have jumped an entire cohort, three ACT points, adjusted to the new
system, over the past 15 years. The
average ACT for first-time freshmen is 25.8.
He said the higher caliber of students contributes much to the classroom
experience. He spoke briefly on the
tragic death of Paul Shanor, an OU student.
He said that he was a remarkable student, the kind of young person that
does everything you hope someone will do.
Turning to topics the Senate Executive
Committee asked him to discuss, President Boren said the budget priority will
be the same as last year: a meaningful compensation program for faculty and
staff. It will be a challenge, even in a
year when the state has more revenue. To
have a 3-4 percent salary increase, the higher education budget would need a
$90 million increase. The state regents
take about $15 million off the top of any appropriation, which would leave $75
million to go through the formula to the institutions. OU would get $19-20 million. President Boren has been meeting with the
governor and other state leaders to show how OU is impacted by fixed costs. The Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP)
receives $12 million of the $15 million.
It is wonderful news that more high school students have the opportunity
to become college graduates. However,
more and more students come through OHLAP every year. The chancellor said if we could find another
funding source for OHLAP, the money would not have to come out of the higher
education appropriation. OHLAP should
not be viewed as just the responsibility of higher education. It benefits common education as well, and it
is the state’s responsibility. We will
try to keep a tuition increase under 7 percent.
Officially, the state regents have asked for an additional $126
million. If OHLAP is funded, higher
education could receive an increase in the $78-80 million range. The OU Board of Regents is committed to
making faculty and staff compensation our number one priority. President Boren said he will need help working
with the legislature and will develop materials for faculty to use in
presentations to legislators.
Wagner Hall, the new academic
services building, is going up where the OU Press was. Improvements will be made to Gould Hall for
the
In an effort to deal with
enrollment pressures, the President is looking at faculty teaching loads and what
kind of incentives would be needed to encourage faculty to take on another two
or three hours. It is less expensive
than hiring additional faculty because 35 percent of new faculty compensation
goes toward benefits. He said he would
talk with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee about incentives for people
who would like to stretch their teaching load.
President Boren said he appreciated the number of applications for Dream
Courses this year. Four proposals are
funded per semester for bringing in outside speakers. He hopes to be able to fund five. He said we have had some incredibly inventive
classes.
We have several interim deans
in place at the moment. The policy for
national searches is well laid out, with the majority of the search committee composed
of faculty. The President anticipates
that the vast majority of searches for deans will follow the national search
process. Elevating an interim dean into
the deanship should be done rarely. In
situations, however, where we have an ideal person, s/he should be elevated into
the permanent position because it saves time, does not create as much
uncertainty in the college, and is not as costly as a national search. He will talk with the Senate Executive
Committee about a process for elevating an interim to a permanent deanship. At a minimum, the entire faculty of a college
would be polled, the Provost and President would meet in person with the
Committee(s) A, and the President would solicit comments from the faculty
through the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.
The prevailing rule will be national searches.
The President said he appreciated
the work of the advisory committee that has looked at keeping classes as much
as possible in the central campus. Some
of the discussion came up in light of the plans for a new chemistry building on
the south campus. It is likely to be
three or four years until completion of the building. He feels strongly that we should have a
walking campus as much as possible. We
do not want to fragment the community by taking too many classes out of the
central campus. He does not know of any
other plans in the future to do that.
The
We had a backlog of
approximately $70 million in endowed chairs.
The legislature had passed a bond issue for human talent almost two
years ago. While it took awhile, the Supreme
Court declared the $50 million bond issue constitutional; $44 million will come
to OU for endowed positions. That money
is counted in the endowment figures reported earlier. We still have a backlog of endowed
chairs. The giving for endowed positions
had leveled out because the donors were not getting the match from the
state. So far, the state regents have
allocated $11 million for next year, much of it going to OU.
President Boren’s priorities
are faculty and students. In light of
the bond issue and generous private gifts, it is not our priority to ask for
funds for buildings now. His goal is to
raise $50 million for the scholarship and fellowship endowment, not in five
years, as originally announced, but by the end of this calendar year. We have raised about $30 million already. We are losing a few students who do not have
the financial opportunities. If we reach
the $50 million goal this year, his plan is to raise the goal to $75
million. The second goal is to add at
least 20 endowed chairs this calendar year and go above the 400 level. As a three-year goal, the President wants OU to
be among the public universities that have a billion dollar endowment. He suggested that the University could raise
money for scholarships, fellowships, and endowed positions by offering to affix
the donor’s name in a prominent location or on an existing edifice that has no
name. He thanked the faculty for everything
they do for the University every day and for the help, encouragement, and
advice they share with him.
Prof. Schwarzkopf asked about
the best way to give private suggestions to President Boren. President Boren said individuals could meet
with him, talk to Vice President Nick Hathaway, or send him a confidential
note. Prof. Knapp asked for
clarification of the top 50 ranking.
President Boren said we rank 50th in public universities in U.S. News & World Reports. We are close to being in tier one of the top
100 public and private universities.
Some of the things that have hurt us are the graduation rate and
faculty/student ratio. Prof. Knapp noted
that soon we could point with pride to the U.S.
News & World Reports rankings.
We as a community ought to take great pride in going as far as we have,
and it is an achievement of all of us. President
Boren said the sense of community on this campus is remarkable. That we are close to the billion dollar
endowment speaks of the confidence that people have in us. It is a source of pride to him that the academic
mission remains the core of what we are.
The Senate approved the nomination
of W. Murray Tabb (Law) to complete the 2005-06 term of Thomas Dewers (Geology
& Geophysics) on the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and Andrew Strout
(Art) to complete the 2004-07 term of Nancy Barry (Music) on the Research
Council.
In the interest of time,
Prof. Knapp suggested that the Academic Regulations Committee revised proposals
(http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/arcprop2.htm)
concerning XX60, XX70, XX80, XX90 courses and the Central Campus Task Force
report (http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/cctfrsln.htm)
be postponed until the next meeting. Prof. Knapp noted that he had shared the draft
report of the Task Force on Central Campus Instruction with the President.
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, February 13, 2006, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
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Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
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A. Steve Bradford, Secretary