The
Regular session – November 10, 2008 – 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,
Apanasov, Atiquzzaman, Bass, D. Bemben, M. Bemben, Blank, Bradshaw, Brown, Brule,
Buckley, Clark, Conlon, Croft, Eodice, Forman, Franklin, Graham, Grasse, Hawthorne,
Horn, Kent, Kershen, Lifschitz, Livesey, McDonald, Milton, Morrissey, Muraleetharan,
Reeder, Riggs, Sadler, Schmidt, Strauss, Striz, Trafalis, Vehik, Verma, Wyckoff
Provost's office representative: Mergler
ISA representatives: Cook
ABSENT: Asojo,
Basic, Greene, Knapp, Miller, Moses, Rambo,
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Resolution of appreciation, Ed Cline
Blood drive
Project to conserve energy
Search committee, Fine Arts dean
Employment Benefits Committee membership
Senate Chair's Report:
Parking
Huston Huffman fees
Legislative issues
Benefits – HMO plan
________________________________________________________________________________
The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of October 13, 2008 was approved.
Prof. Brown presented the resolution
below from the OU Regents expressing appreciation to Prof. Ed Cline and naming
the faculty development awards the Ed Cline Faculty Development Awards. Prof. Cline said it was an honor for which he was
very grateful. He congratulated the
recipients of the awards.
WHEREAS, Ed Cline Jr.’s
distinguished career with The University of Oklahoma began in 1989, when he
joined the
WHEREAS, he served the department as Director of Graduate Studies of Mathematics from 1997 to 1999;
WHEREAS, throughout his academic career he was a much sought-after lecturer and a prolific author of scholarly works;
WHEREAS, from 1988 to 1989, he served as editor of Communications in Algebra;
WHEREAS, from 1990 to 1993, he served on the Campus Planning Council, and was Chair of that council from 1992 to 1993;
WHEREAS, from 1991 to 1994, he served on the Athletics Council, and was Chair of that council from 1993 to 1994;
WHEREAS, from 1997 to 1999, he served on the Research Council;
WHEREAS, from 2004 to 2006, he served on the Recreational Services Advisory Committee;
WHEREAS, from 1998 to 2001, he was a member of the Faculty Senate, serving on its executive committee from 1999 to 2000, as Chair-elect from 2001 to 2002 and as Chair from 2002 to 2003;
WHEREAS, during his term as Chair of the Faculty Senate, he proposed the Faculty Development Awards, which provide support for all aspects of a faculty member’s mission;
WHEREAS, the awards, first presented in spring 2004, have funded some 57 proposals;
WHEREAS, he has shown remarkable dedication and service to The University of Oklahoma from the time he joined the faculty until his retirement in 2006;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that The University of Oklahoma Regents express profound appreciation to Ed Cline Jr. for his loyalty, dedication, commitment and years of service to the advancement of The University of Oklahoma’s stature and academic mission by naming the faculty development awards the Ed Cline Faculty Development Awards.
UNANIMOUSLY approved by The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents on October 22, 2008.
Mr. Ben West, University of
Oklahoma Student Association Director of External Campus Relations, reported on
the Bedlam blood drive being held on November 21 and 24. The blood drive is an annual competition between
OU and OSU to see which campus can donate the most blood in a certain time
period. An awards ceremony will be held at
halftime of the Bedlam football game, with T. Boone Pickens presenting the
award to the winning school’s student government leaders. Donation locations will be in the Red Cross
bus on the east side of the Union from noon to 5:00 p.m. and in the
Mr. Bill Henwood, director of
the Physical Plant, discussed some initiatives to conserve energy on the Norman
campus. He introduced Don Carter,
assistant director of the Physical Plant, and Mark McWhirter, who will be the
project manager for the next two years. A
new performance contract was signed in September with Johnson Controls
(JCI). The contract is a $21 million
effort, with Johnson Controls designing, building and implementing a number of
energy conservation measures in about 70 E&G facilities. The project will create operational and
energy savings, and the savings will go to pay off the bonds over a 25-year
period. The initiatives also will reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. President
Boren was one of the charter signatories on the
Summarizing the improvement
measures, Mr. Henwood said 1392 electrical exit signs will be replaced with
photo luminescent signs wherever appropriate or with LED features. Some 93,000 interior fluorescent light
fixtures will be retrofit with new ballasts, and 32-watt bulbs will be replaced
with 25-watt bulbs. They also will
install state-of-the-art lighting controls that determine whether lights should
be on or off. Exterior lights will be replaced
with new bulbs and ballasts. The savings
from the lighting retrofits will remove 9500 tons of green house gas emissions
from the air per year. Water
conservation measures will include replacing many of the plumbing flush valves
and faucets, which will save 24 Olympic-size pools worth of water a year. Vending misers will be installed that will sense
when a vending machine should be lit. Installing
the misers on 203 machines across campus will save $250,000 a year. The machines will sense when someone walks up
to them and will light up.
Infrastructure improvements will
be made to select academic buildings, such as installing automation systems and
temperature controls, replacing HVAC systems, installing weather stripping,
caulking, glazing, and replacing various steam traps to better control the steam
used for heating. The roof on Copeland
Hall will be replaced. All of the
improvements will be done so they do not impact the work of faculty. They will be done at night after hours,
during breaks, and in the summer. With these
improvements we expect to have more comfortable environments, fewer trouble
calls, and annual reductions equivalent to the energy produced from burning
28,000 trees, having 1800 fewer cars on the road, or the energy consumed by 415
single family homes. Work is expected to
begin on the northeast side of campus in the Sarkeys and Carson centers and proceed
south and west. The projects will be
done incrementally and will be closely coordinated with the deans’
offices. JCI employees and
subcontractors will be identified by badges and vests. Flyers will be posted in buildings to
describe the work that is going on. OU
is one of the leaders with respect to the ACUPCC. This is an important step in the pursuit of
sustainability and climate neutrality as is the wind power agreement initiated with
OG&E.
Prof. Livesey brought up the problem
of water damage in the Physical Sciences Center after rainstorms. He asked whether the Physical Plant planned
to address the leaks in the windows. Mr.
Henwood said he would research that. If
the building is not scheduled for exterior work, the Physical Plant could tackle
the problem individually. Prof. Livesey asked
whether the stadium lights and lights illuminating buildings were part of the
program. Mr. Henwood answered that the
Athletics Department is in charge of stadium lighting. Exterior, architectural lighting generally is
low wattage and not part of the current project, but he can look into it. Mr. Henwood said he is a member of the Sustainability
Committee and chair of the building subcommittee. He said he looked forward to addressing some
of those issues.
Prof. Brown asked how the
Physical Plant planned to deal with the old buildings, such as the library,
that have beautiful windows and steam heat.
Mr. Carter replied that the first phase does not cover the original 1929
library. Right now, the focus is on the
lighting. Mr. Henwood added that there
is the possibility of further phases like the contract with JCI. He said, “We are your Physical Plant. If you have issues … we are not going to wait
for a project if we can help that. We
are going to get out there and resolve those issues now.” He invited email or phone calls if anyone had
questions or issues in general or with regard to a facility. Prof. Buckley asked if there was a policy
with respect to hanging flyers on the outside of buildings. Mr. Henwood said that was not a
responsibility of the Physical Plant. It
is a part of the informal communication that goes on across the university. Mr. Henwood’s slides are available from the
Faculty Senate office.
The Senate approved the Senate
Executive Committee’s nominations for the faculty-at-large position on the Fine
Arts dean search committee:
Abi Asojo, Associate Professor and Director of
Interior Design
Richard
Marshment, Professor of Regional and City Planning
From these nominations, the
administration will select one to serve.
Prof. Brown noted that it would be an internal search chaired by the
provost. She announced the other members
of the committee.
The
Employment Benefits Committee proposed the following change in its charge
concerning the
Current: 1 College of Medicine-Tulsa faculty member,
President appoints after recommendations from HSC Faculty Senate, 4-year term.
Proposed: 1 Tulsa Campus faculty member, President
appoints after recommendations from HSC Faculty Senate and Norman Faculty
Senate, 4-year term.
Prof. Brown explained that
the EBC would like to broaden the
“I contacted Theta Dempsey, director of Parking, about parking concerns
and questions. Some faculty members drive both a motorcycle or scooter and a car but would
like the option of purchasing only one parking pass, rather than one for each
vehicle. This is possible as long as
both are not on campus at the same time.
The problem is attaching the pass to the scooter. Ms. Dempsey said that some people have
figured out how to do this, so you can contact her office and she can help you.
Another parking question was about
reduced parking fees for reduced usage.
Currently there is a week-long pass for $6.50 plus the option of parking
at Lloyd Noble for free and taking the shuttle but no sort of punch card
system. I thought it might be helpful to
understand how the parking revenue is spent and learned from Ms. Dempsey that after
half a million is reallocated to the Educational and General budget, the rest
stays in the parking and transportation budget.
The fees pay for all maintenance, staffing and debt service for parking
facilities. The largest single expense
annually is debt service on bonds, which paid for the construction of the two
parking garages as well as some surface parking lots.
“Another issue is the cost
of the use of the
“Last week the Executive Committee met with Danny
Hilliard, OU’s director of Government Relations, who shared with us a couple
legislative issues that are likely to come up in the 2009 legislative session,
are of interest to faculty members and he will be keeping an eye on: concealed weapons on campus (some may even try
for open carry) and a movement to remove tuition authority from the colleges
and universities. Tuition would then be
set by the legislature.”
Prof.
Brown reported that she had received a lot of calls and emails about our new
health insurance plan for 2009. The big
problem seems to be that there are not enough physicians in the Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Oklahoma HMO plan. Human
Resources Director Hilburn had hoped to come to today’s Senate meeting, but he
had to be at the HSC. Eight pediatricians
were on the
BlueLincs Network, November 10,
2008. Several OU employees who live in
the Norman area have asked for an update on efforts to add physicians to the
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma (BCBSOK) BlueLincs HMO network. Recent
negotiations between BCBSOK and local healthcare providers have resulted in the
addition of
Prof. Buckley noted that for
many employees, it will be a double-digit increase because they will have to go
with the PPO. Prof. Forman said his
understanding was the doctors did not think the HMO capitation was enough money
to run their offices. Prof. Buckley said
he would like more information. It seems
to be a kind of bait and switch tactic. Prof.
Brown said she would email the concerns to Mr. Hilburn, but she encouraged the
senators to email him as well. Prof. Muraleetharan
said to the credit of Mr. Hilburn, HR is trying to work on this, and people
should wait and see what they come up with.
Prof. Brown said Mr. Hilburn had been very responsive, but there was not
much time left in the enrollment period.
[Note: All eight Norman pediatricians
agreed to contract with the BCBSOK BlueLincs HMO, and the enrollment deadline
was extended three days.]
The meeting adjourned at 4:15
p.m. The next regular session of the
Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, December 8, 2008, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
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Paula Conlon, Faculty Secretary