The
Regular session – May 8, 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: Badhwar
(2), Benson (0), Biggerstaff (2), Bradford (0), Brown (1), Burns (1), Catlin
(2), Civan (1), Cramer (3), Croft (0), Fast (1), Fincke (1), Franklin (1), Frech
(0), Garn (2), Ge (0), Geletzke (1), Gutierrez (0), Hamerla (2), Hawamdeh (2), Hayes-Thumann
(2), Houser (1), C. Knapp (1), R.
Knapp (0), Kolar (2), Kutner (1), Lai (1), Lester (0), Liu (2), Magnusson
(1), Marcus-Mendoza (0), Raadschelders (3), Ransom (2), Roche (2), Rugeley
(2), Scamehorn (2), Schwarzkopf (1), Tabb (1), Trytten (0), Warnken (1), Weaver
(1), Wood (2), Wyckoff (2)
Provost's office representative: Mergler
ISA representatives: Hough, Smith
ABSENT: Albert
(3), Apanasov (1), Blank (1),
[Note: During the period from June 2005
to May 2006, the Senate held 9 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 2006
Summary of Speakers Service program
Faculty retirees
New senator
Remarks by Athletics Director Joe Castiglione
Health insurance
Senate Chair's Report:
Meeting with OSU and OUHSC
Searches, Fine Arts and Journalism deans
Graduation/retention task force
Faculty Welfare Committee survey about health benefits
Faculty death
Certificates of appreciation
Election, councils/committees/boards
Election, Senate standing committees
Election, Senate Secretary and Chair-elect
Resolution of Appreciation to Prof. Roy Knapp
Department of Zoology statement on evolution
________________________________________________________________________________
The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of April 10, 2006 was approved.
The
regular meetings of the Faculty Senate for fall 2006 will be held at
3:30 p.m. in Jacobson Faculty Hall 102 on the following Mondays: September 11, October 9, November 13, and
December 11.
Summary
of the activities of the Faculty Senate Speakers Service for the past year: From May 2005 to April 2006, the Faculty Senate
office arranged for 50 faculty and staff to give 124 talks to 77 organizations
in 36 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
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. Prof. Knapp noted
that former Senate Chairs Cline,
Levy, and Weaver-Meyers were among this year’s retirees.
|
NAME |
DEPARTMENT |
RETIREMENT DATE |
CAME TO OU |
|
Jody Anderson |
Human Relations |
7/1/06 |
1991 |
|
Joseph Bastian |
Zoology |
5/16/06 |
1974 |
|
Edward Cline |
Mathematics |
7/1/06 |
1989 |
|
John Downard |
Botany &
Microbiology |
6/1/06 |
1984 |
|
Russ Driver |
Management |
12/1/05 |
1979 |
|
Loretta Fowler |
Anthropology |
6/1/06 |
1995 |
|
George Henderson |
Human Relations |
6/1/06 |
1967 |
|
Larry Hill |
Political Science |
6/2/06 |
1968 |
|
Claren Kidd |
Univ. Libraries |
1/1/06 |
1972 |
|
Gregory Kunesh |
Musical Theatre |
7/1/06 |
1975 |
|
David Levy |
History |
6/1/06 |
1967 |
|
Fred Miller |
Law |
1/1/06 |
1966 |
|
Sandra Ragan |
Communication |
6/1/06 |
1983 |
|
Ron Ratliff |
Health & Exercise
Science |
3/1/06 |
1974 |
|
Theodore Roberts |
Law |
5/16/06 |
1969 |
|
Avraham Scherman |
Educational Psychology |
1/1/06 |
1974 |
|
Wilbur Scott |
Sociology |
1/1/06 |
1975 |
|
Dennis Shrock |
Music |
7/1/06 |
1978 |
|
Kenneth Taylor |
History of Science |
6/1/06 |
1967 |
|
Richard Van Horn |
MIS/Aviation |
5/16/06 |
1989 |
|
Pat Weaver-Meyers |
Univ. Libraries |
8/1/05 |
1981 |
|
S. Kay Womack |
Univ. Libraries |
8/7/05 |
1994 |
Prof. Xun Ge
(Educational Psychology) was elected to the Faculty Senate as of May to
complete the 2005-08 term of Terry Pace (Educational Psychology), representing
the College of Education.
Athletics Director Joe
Castiglione said he came annually to the Senate to bring a little sunshine to
the world of intercollegiate athletics. He
said he is finishing his eighth year as director, and he has truly enjoyed the
experience. He is privileged to work
with a great group of coaches and other staff that serve nearly 500
student-athletes in the 20 sports the department sponsors. He introduced Associate Athletics Director
Gerald Gurney, Academic Advisor Teresa Turner, Life Skills Program Director Jennifer
Vaughn, and Academic Advisor Curtis Jones.
Mr. Castiglione said the department was fortunate to have the leadership
of Dr. Connie Dillon (Educational Leadership & Policy Studies), who took
over from Prof. Dan Gibbens (Law) as OU’s faculty athletics
representative.
Guiding all decisions of the
Athletics Department is a set of core values:
respect, accountability for self and others, passion for comprehensive excellence,
commitment to continuous improvement, celebration of diversity, and integrity
in all affairs. Academic reform will
impact intercollegiate athletics on every campus in the country. OU has been preparing for the initiatives for
several years, not only applying the new NCAA strategies to our program, but
developing other strategies that will put our student-athletes in a position to
be successful academically. Coaches are
given three years’ worth of data so they will understand what we have faced and
will face in terms of similar comparisons.
The department has identified areas of concern, many resulting from student-athletes
leaving early because of professional opportunities. Some departmental policies have been instituted
that will promote improved academic performance, including a background check
of all prospective student-athletes, a faculty-based review of the academic
background of marginally special-admit student-athletes, careful review of
transferring student-athletes, and a new academic attendance policy. Athletes can be held out of practice or prohibited
from competing in contests for unexcused absences. The department currently is evaluating how to
put student-athletes in a better position to graduate in four years. Typically, NCAA student-athletes must successfully
complete 24 hours a year to remain eligible.
The university’s initiative is for students to complete 31 hours a year in
order to graduate in four years. It is
the intent of the Athletics Department to have student-athletes finish in a
four-year period, knowing that some cannot for very understandable and
acceptable reasons. Presently, student-athletes
graduate at a rate that is identical with the rest of the student body: 56
percent. Strategies to improve graduation
are being reviewed by other faculty on campus.
If we can keep student-athletes here through their four years of
eligibility, 84 percent graduate. Student-athletes
often leave early if they do not get enough playing time or have professional
opportunities. Ninety-three of our
student-athletes were named to the academic all-Big 12 teams. For the fall semester, the student-athlete
grade point average was at an all-time high of 2.95. Twelve teams finished with a 3.0 GPA or
better.
Student-athletes have
embraced the importance of being involved in the community. Jacob Gutierrez, a member of our football
team, and Jackie Dubois, a member of our track and field team, were recognized
for their outstanding contributions in community service by being nominated for
the John Wooden Citizenship Cup. The
recipient was Jackie Dubois, who overcame cystic fibrosis early in her
childhood to become captain of her cross country team. She also is graduating at the top of her
class in Meteorology. Student-athletes
are involved with over 1000 public school children, with hospitals, and with a
variety of charitable organizations. They
try to make a strong effort to give something back to the community in response
to the great support they receive in their athletic endeavors.
In terms of athletic
performance, OU finished in the top 25 in football for the sixth straight year
and had a bowl championship. Football
continues to draw record crowds; attendance is in the top ten nationally. The women’s basketball team won the Big 12
championship, was undefeated in the regular Big 12 season, and was the Big 12
tournament champion. Average attendance is
over 7500, and three games were sell outs.
The men’s basketball team finished in the top 25 in the NCAA tournament,
wrestling finished third in the nation, women’s gymnastics finished in the top
ten in the nation, men’s gymnastics won a national championship for the second
year in a row, men’s golf won the Big 12 championship, and baseball and
softball are in the top 10 and top 25 and have seasons that are ongoing, as do
the men’s and women’s track teams.
Diversity programs have been
put in place, which have produced very good results. The athletics diversity council brings in an
expert to assess the programs and the improvements made to comply with Title
IX, gender equity. New facilities for
soccer and tennis will be completed for fall.
The department has a continuing commitment to Title IX and is discussing
the possible addition of a women’s sport.
One of the core values is integrity in all affairs. In the last three years, the department has
been reviewing its compliance programs and has made improvement and
progress.
Intercollegiate athletics is
an enormous business. The Athletics
Department operates solely on funds it generates through ticket revenue,
fundraising, corporate sponsorships, revenue sharing through the conference,
licensing revenue, the use of primary marks, etc. It does not receive any part of the annual
state appropriate or any institutional support.
The annual operating budget is $62 million. For the seventh straight year, the department
will balance its budget. Growth has been
kept to CPI levels—3-5 percent—and the price of tickets has grown by the same
amount or not increased at all. Basketball
tickets were left the same price this year.
The department has tried to find ways to contribute to the campus. Through the $2 per football ticket fee, $2.5
million in unrestricted money has gone to the campus for academic enhancement. The Athletics Department and many of its
members personally contribute to the endowment for the University Libraries. To stay in step with President Boren’s
scholarship initiatives, the Athletics Department has increased its efforts to enhance
the athletic scholarship endowment. The
endowment grew by over $1 million from last year to this year. Mr. Castiglione thanked President Boren and the
regents for giving him the chance to be in the role of director. He said he tries to make the athletics
program mirror the mission of the university.
The Athletics Department has great coaches and student-athletes who
represent the University in a quality way around the country. He appreciates the opportunity to share
openly with the Faculty Senate. He wants
to operate fully with the spirit of transparency.
Prof. Schwarzkopf said he had
been hearing some discussions about the responsibility of universities to their
athletes. He asked what it would take to
remove a scholarship from a student-athlete.
Mr. Castiglione answered that scholarships are offered annually. There is an expectation that the scholarship
will be awarded each year. Every spring
student-athletes get a letter saying whether the scholarship will be renewed or
not. They have the right to appeal to an
independent board if the scholarship is not renewed. Typically, reasons are related to conduct,
not athletic performance. The aid is
honored for the duration they are here, provided they take their academic
responsibilities and conduct seriously.
Prof. Biggerstaff pointed out
that certain degrees are difficult to finish in four years, and adding
athletics on top puts a lot of pressure on the athlete. He asked whether the Athletics Department
asks students to consider a different discipline than those that take longer
than four years to master. Dr. Gurney replied
that the athletic scholarship is designed to be a ten-semester scholarship, so student-athletes
normally have five years plus summer school and intersession to complete their studies. The policy under consideration for continuing
eligibility is intended to help student-athletes focus on graduating within
four years but allows for specific degree programs that take longer. It currently is taking about 4.9 years to
graduate, and the graduation rate is only 56 percent. The rate should be better for both
student-athletes and students in general.
The proposed policy has exceptions and waivers for challenging majors
and allows some additional time to graduate. It is in line with what we are trying to do
here: have a student-athlete finish with
a degree in hand.
Human Resources Director
Julius Hilburn updated the Senate on health insurance issues. Assistant Director Nick Kelly and Employment
Benefits Committee Chair Darryl McCullough (Mathematics) also were present. Mr. Hilburn said the two questions he is
frequently asked have to do with the high premiums for dependent care and
whether the University will stay with
In response, Human Resources
has been analyzing the data, talking with various governance groups, and identifying
options that are worthy of further discussion.
Changing the contribution strategy will require the campus community to
engage in a thoughtful dialogue. It is
not an easy issue to resolve. The
Employment Benefits Committee, which is made up of faculty and staff from all three
campuses, has been discussing the contribution strategy and asked Mercer to
consider alternative strategies. With
the overall budget situation, it is not possible for the university to provide
additional dollars to solve the problem.
Mercer developed a “strawman” contribution strategy to facilitate
discussion and analysis and identify funding sources. The strawman does not represent a final
proposal, but could give us some ideas for responding to the issue. If we introduce a lower cost base plan,
employees who elect a higher level of coverage would make a contribution that
could be applied to dependent categories.
The lower cost plan would have a higher deductible, co-pay, and
out-of-pocket maximums, but would use the same networks as we currently have. Buying up to the current level of PPO coverage
would require a contribution of approximately $35 per month. If we made no change, the monthly rate for
families for 2007 is estimated to be about $700, which means employees are
paying on average 68 percent of the cost for a family. Under the strawman strategy, if the employee
chose the free lower cost plan, the family coverage would be about $500 per month
or 48 percent of the total premium. For
the high PPO plan, employees would pay $35 per month (10 percent of the cost of
that coverage), and the monthly family premium would be $613 (54 percent of the
overall premium). At other universities,
employees typically pay about 18 percent of the cost of the single-only premium
and 30 percent of the cost of family coverage.
The strawman model would move us closer to a competitive position. The model generated lots of good discussion within
the Employment Benefits Committee (EBC), and the group thought the proposal
warranted continuing dialogue. The EBC
asked Human Resources to look at other ways besides employee contributions to
generate additional dollars, the impact on lower paid faculty and staff, and a
phased implementation to a competitive position.
Another issue regarding
health insurance is whether we should stay with
Prof. Scamehorn asked how the
strawman proposal would affect retirees.
Mr. Hilburn said retirees who are over 65 are on Medicare. Those who are under 65 have traditionally had
the same contribution strategy as active employees. He said, “I think we would not do anything
with that because we do not consider them active employees.” Currently, they do not contribute more; the
university pays 100 percent of their premium.
Prof. Schwarzkopf said he thought it was good to have a discussion of
alternate plans, but summer was not a good time to make a change. If we are going to make a major change in the
paradigm, we need to spend the next year discussing the issue. [The slides presented by Mr. Hilburn are
available from the Senate office.]
On April 12, members of the Executive
Committee met with the leadership of the OSU and OUHSC faculty council and
senate. The group discussed health care
concerns, OTRS, TABOR, expanded grading scale, post-tenure review, faculty
diversity, and the OSU-Tulsa program.
At President Boren’s request,
the Executive Committee interviewed Interim Dean Foote in the College of Journalism
and Mass Communication and Interim Dean Enrico in the
At the monthly meeting with
President Boren, the Executive Committee suggested that additional faculty
resources be added to his task force on graduation/retention since the big
drops in retention occur as students move deeper into their programs. That is when the faculty has a bigger
impact. President Boren asked Vice
President Hathaway, chair of the task force, to take that under consideration.
The Faculty Welfare Committee
is conducting a survey of faculty and staff attitudes about health
benefits. The Executive Committee urged
President Boren to go slowly in making any changes in health benefits, particularly
since faculty will have their attention diverted elsewhere during the
summer. The President seemed to be very
accepting of that. Prof. Bob Dauffenbach,
chair of the Faculty Welfare Committee, said the response rate to the survey
was 60 percent so far.
Prof. Knapp reported the
death of Dr. Charlyce King, professor emeritus of education, who died on May 2,
2006. Mr. Hillyer Freeland, a staff
member who worked 36 years in the Oklahoma Memorial Union, 30 of those as the
manager of the union, died May 3.
Certificates of Appreciation were
presented to the following outgoing senators who completed full three-year
terms (2003-06): Cecelia Brown, Thomas
Burns, Jack Catlin, M. Chris Knapp, Hong Liu, and Daniel Ransom. Certificates also were presented to other
senators whose terms expired and to the outgoing members of the Senate Executive
Committee. Prof. Knapp thanked the
senators for their patience and diligence in their service to their colleagues
and University. He announced that
Senator Geletzke just retired after 27 years of service in the U.S. Navy. He thanked the Executive Committee members for
their counsel and advice. Prof. Knapp commented
that the Faculty Welfare Committee survey should provide good statistics on
attitudes of employees about health care. He pointed out that the Faculty Compensation
Committee had championed the idea of service awards for faculty, and thanks to
the support of the provost, 72 faculty members with 30 or more years of service
were given an OU arm chair at the faculty awards ceremony. He thanked Prof. Bradford for resolving some textbook
order problems and Prof. Frech for chairing the Committee on Committees. He also thanked student clerk Tabitha Brown
and coordinator Sonya Fallgatter.
The
Senate approved the Committee on Committees' nominations for end-of-the-year
vacancies on university and campus councils/committees/boards (attached). The names of the remaining volunteers will be
forwarded to the administration to consider for the appointments they
make. Prof. Frech said he appreciated the willingness of the
faculty to serve on committees.
The Senate elected the
following faculty to fill vacancies on Senate standing committees:
COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES, 2006-09 term
Continuing
members: Cecelia Brown (Library & Information Studies), Jane Magrath
(Music), Al Schwarzkopf (Management Information Systems).
To replace Keith Gaddie
(Political Science),
Glen Krutz (Associate Professor of Political Science,
Ph.D.
S. Lakshmivarahan (Professor of Computer Science,
Ph.D. Indian Institute of Science, at OU since 1979)
FACULTY COMPENSATION
COMMITTEE, 2006-09 term
Continuing members:
Tyrrell Conway (Botany & Microbiology), Heidi Mau (Art), Karl Sievers
(Music).
To replace Richard Marshment
(Regional & City Planning), Fred Striz (Aerospace & Mechanical
Engineering):
Jeffrey Maiden (Associate Professor of Educational
Leadership & Policy Studies, Ph.D. Florida, at OU since 1994)
L. Angie Ohler (Assistant Professor of University
Libraries, M.A. American, M.S. Catholic, at OU since 2004)
FACULTY WELFARE COMMITTEE
Continuing
members: Tom Burns (Sociology), Sheena Murphy (Physics & Astronomy), Lee
Willinger (Accounting).
To replace Bob Dauffenbach
(Management Information Systems), 2006-09 term:
Bob Dauffenbach (Professor of Management Information
Systems, Ph.D. Illinois, at OU since 1990)
To
replace Fran Ayres (Accounting), 2006-08 term:
Fran Ayres (Professor of
Accounting, Ph.D. Iowa, at OU since 1982)
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 2006-07 term, 3 at-large members
To replace Cecelia Brown (Library
& Information Studies), Roberta Magnusson (History), Murray Tabb (Law):
Peter Gade (Associate Professor of Journalism &
Mass Communication, Ph.D. Missouri, at OU since 1998)
Neil Houser (Associate Professor of Instructional
Leadership & Academic Curriculum, Ph.D. Washington State, at OU since 1996)
Randall Kolar (Associate Professor of Civil
Engineering & Environmental Science, Ph.D. Notre Dame, at OU since 1995)
Prof. Cecelia Brown (Associate Professor of Library
& Information Studies, Ph.D. Illinois, at OU since 1996) was elected Senate
Secretary for 2006-07. Prof. A. Steve
Bradford (John Saxon Chair of Ancient History, Ph.D. Chicago, at OU since 1994)
was elected Chair-Elect of the Senate for 2006-07.
Before reading the following
resolution of appreciation to Prof. Roy Knapp, outgoing Senate Chair, Prof.
Bradford remarked that in this time of heightened sensitivity to plagiarism, he
needed to confess that he freely borrowed from Homer.
Whereas
Whereas
Whereas Roy has steered us between the Scylla of
HealthChoice and the Charybdis of Aetna and has ensured that the crew would be
fully informed on health care issues, of the different plans and models, and
Whereas
Whereas
Whereas
Whereas
Whereas
Whereas
Be it resolved that the
Faculty Senate expresses its appreciation to Roy Knapp for his outstanding
leadership and services to the University and to the University Faculty for the
academic year 2005-2006.
The resolution was
unanimously approved by the Senate. Prof.
Knapp thanked the Faculty Senate for its support and asked a favor. He said, “I think that in the next few years,
we as faculty are going to have some opportunities for academic governance sharing
with the administration. Accept the
opportunities because I sense that this administration will welcome that
assistance, and your participation in faculty government will help make the
university much stronger.” Prof. Frech
presented Prof. Knapp with certificate of appreciation and an engraved OU arm
chair. Prof. Frech then assumed the
office of 2006‑07 Senate Chair.
In the interest of time,
Prof. Fincke said she would postpone the introduction of the Zoology Department’s
statement on evolution (attached)
until the fall. Prof. Frech wished
everyone a very happy summer.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00
p.m. The next regular session of the
Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, September 11, 2006, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
____________________________________
A. Steve Bradford, Secretary