Oct 25, 2006 Minutes

Members present:

Chair Stone, Senators Conroy, Davidson, Feakes, Hazlewood, Hindson, McGee, McKinney, Sorensen, Warms, Wiley, Winek

Guests: Mark Fronstad, Geography, Roseann Mandziuk, Comm Studies, Oren Renick, Chair of Health Admin, Barbara Sanders, Chair of Physical Therapy, John McBride, Dir of Human Res, Michelle Moritz, Asst Dir of Human Res, Rose Trevino, Rep of Human Res.

Meeting called to order at 4:00.

UCC Recommendation: The University Curriculum Committee has recommended the approval of a graduate certificate in Healthcare Human Resources Management in the Department of Health Administration and a Doctor of Physical Therapy in the Department of Physical Therapy.  Some questions were raised regarding the source and level of funding for the Doctor of Physical Therapy.  Current funding is at the Masters level, but the University is seeking the appropriate level of funding from the Legislature.  The new doctoral program will have sixty hours of courses similar to the Masters level program with approximately thirty addition hours to make the degree appropriate for a professional doctorate and the Masters level program will be phased out.  Approval by the Senate will be considered at the next Senate meeting.

Worklife Web Site: Rose Trevino is the new Director of the Worklife Program in Human Resources and Rosann Mandziuk is chairing the revived Worklife Guidance Committee, which will have about ten members.  They gave a demonstration of the new Worklife web site:

http://www.worklife.txstate.edu

The web page gives pointers to such areas as benefits, family friendly policies, childcare, elder care and other University resources.  Rose and Rosanne are also looking for suggestions to make the site more useable and accessible.  Faculty and Staff are encouraged to try out the site and explore the links.

Piper Recommendation: The Senate suspended its rules in order to approve the recommendation from the Piper Selection Committee.  The Senate approved the committee’s recommendation of Dr. James Housefield, Art History, as this year’s Piper Nominee, and Drs. Steven Wilson, English, and Mary Ann Stutts, Marketing, as E. Swinney Faculty Senate Nominees.

New Business:

·         IRB:  The Institutional Review Board (IRB) on Human Subjects needs a chair.  While being the committee chair requires a heavy responsibility, it does come with some extra compensation. The chair of the IRB receives 100% pay for one summer session together with some release time.  A comment reminded everyone that a one-quarter release time opportunity most often turns into a fifty percent job.  Interested parties should contact a Senator or someone in the Provost’s Office.

·         CUPA:  The Chair indicated that the Senate now has direct access to the CUPA database.

·         Workload:  The new subcommittee of the Senate to study the spring workload report is considering a possible faculty survey to obtain faculty perceptions on equity in faculty workload at Texas State.

Break:

Development Leaves: The rest of the Senate meeting considered Development Leave application from Drs. Margaret Menninger, History, Hassan Tajalli, Political Science, Dwight Watson, History, Cindy Plotts, EAPS, Jon Bible, Finance & Economics, Jeff Dell, Art & Design, Verna Henson, Criminal Justice, and Allan Chavkin, English.  The other applicants will be reviewed at the next Senate meeting.