UAH FACULTY SENATE

DRAFT MINUTES OF MEETING #473

16 FEBRUARY 2006

PRESENT:

ADSC: Tseng, Schnell, Patnayakuni

LBAR: Coward, Martin, Heikes, Reeves, Marcus, Neuschatz, Colclough, Meister

ENG: Banish, Anderson, Gaede, Kulick, Karr, Lin

LIB: Vaughan

NUR: Lawson, McClellan, Newman, Foote, Busby

SCI: Mecikalski, Boyd, Bishop, Paddison, Delugach, Ravindran

ABSENT WITH PROXY:

ADSC: Gramm

ENGR: Frendi

LBAR: Ferris, Bollinger

SCI: Friedman

ABSENT WITHOUT PROXY:

LBAR: Jones, Moore, Pritchard

ENGR: Frederick, Jovanov, Tippett

SCI: Weimer, Cox, Miller, Oluseyi

0. President Andrée Reeves called the meeting to order at 12:50 p.m.

1. Draft Minutes of Meeting Number 472 were approved. Motion by Ms. Lawson, seconded by Dr. Gaede.

2. Senate Executive Committee Reports accepted. Motion by Ms. Lawson, seconded by Dr. Mecikalski, with one abstention.

3. President Franz’s Report.

Dr. Franz reported regarding the lawsuit with Nektar and Milton Harris. Dr. Franz talked about our policy and the fact that if someone creates Intellectual Property while employed at UAH it is the property of UAH. The policy is in the Faculty Handbook and other places. UAH has a generous sharing of royalties, about 40% goes to the individual. Dr. Harris developed a polyethylene glycol substance that would attach to the drug and help extend the time it would work in the body. He patented this process in 1992. A company was formed (Shearwater) and Dr. Harris remained here until 2000. Last year Nektar, the company that had taken over Shearwater informed us they would no longer pay the royalty fees. We filed a suit and in doing research in preparation for that we discovered the faculty member had obtained another 20+ patents that we had not been informed of. We found nothing to indicate that we should not have been informed of this. It should have been disclosed. It is our property. We had one day to respond to add the faculty member to the suit or not. There is a substantial amount of money involved. Shearwater was sold to Nektar for $197M. We have a responsibility to file the case and protect UAH’s interest. This was filed on behalf of the Board. The Board members are highly supportive. There has been mediation suggested and we will of course try that.

Dr. Franz reported that Mr. Rieder will go around to departments to make faculty aware of the process and policies, etc.

Dr. Franz reported that the BRAC is upon us and there are projections of the number of people coming and the impacts. There will be Engineering, Science, and Business vacancies. There will be some 2700 positions affected. There is a proposal to the Army to create co-op positions to fill the need.

The enrollment is steady. There are some challenges in enrollment. Nursing Enrollment is down. Visas for International Students have created some problems.

Dr. Franz reported that Dr. Ranganath, the Computer Science Chair, has done a great job in recruiting International Students. He went to India and talked to some 1400 students, some graduate and some undergraduate, some in engineering and some in science. We have applications for over 50. We believe we could get 100 a year.

We also have the Japanese Consortia and have over 50 students in this program now.

4. Dr. Radonovich’s Report.

Dr. Radonovich deferred his time to Dr. Fix to give the presentation regarding the QEP.

5. A. Senate Committee Reports:

1. Executive: The report was distributed with the minutes. The report was approved.

2. Faculty and Student Development: No Report.

4. Governance and Operations:

The Committee will have Bill 305 at first reading.

5. Personnel: No Report.

6. Undergraduate Curriculum: No Report.

7. Undergraduate Scholastic Affairs: No Report.

8. Finance and Resources: Ms. Lawson reported individuals should have received information regarding the Distinguished Speaker Series. Information will be coming out about the REU.

B. University Committees: Dr. Banish encouraged people to check out the Library Website and the new Search Engines.

C. Officer Reports:

Parliamentarian: No Report.

Ombudsperson: No Report.

President-Elect: No Report.

President: No Report

6. Senate Bill 305: Change in the Bylaws Concerning Senate Membership:

Dr. Karr explained Bill 305 and distributed information about the history of the Bylaws and Faculty Senate Membership. He explained that things have changed significantly in 30 years and the Bylaws should reflect those changes and be brought in line with the times and with other universities. There was discussion regarding the bill and the Faculty Senate and representation on the Senate.

The vote was 7 in favor, 17 opposed, and 6 abstentions. The bill failed at second reading.

7. QEP Presentation:

Dr. Fix distributed a copy of the Executive Summary of the QEP. Dr. Fix reported we had our SACS off site review in the fall. We received comments. We responded with a focused report and the QEP that was sent in at the same time. We have been able to recommend two reviewers who have expertise in the area of QEP for the onsite review that will take place March 13-15, 2006. The main thing we have to do now is to let people on campus know about the Quality Enhancement Plan. We have started many things to spread the information. Dr. Fix will ask for advice at the end of the meeting on more ways to get the word out. The entire Quality Enhancement Plan was sent to some of the campus but it was not distributed to the entire campus. If you want a copy you may notify the SACS Office and receive a copy. The heart of the Quality Enhancement Plan is the Academic Resource Center (ARC) and the focus is on improving freshmen learning. We may branch out and expand later. The ARC will be responsible for three things. They will coordinate the peer mentoring program, the peer tutoring program and they will be a clearinghouse for other academic and learning resources and services on the campus. The peer tutoring program follows the supplemental learning model that has been used successfully before. We will hire a full time coordinator for the ARC who will report to the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies. The Coordinator will be someone with experience in working with Student Affairs and will help choose the mentors and tutors for the program. There will be 20 mentors to work with about 200 freshmen to start. The freshmen will be assigned randomly in order to assess the results properly. They will be clustered by major. They will meet together and create engagement. The mentor will assist with time management, study skills, and survival skills. There will be regular contact the rest of the year to find out how things are going for the students, etc. The mentors will be trained to know when to hand the individual off to a professional counselor, etc. The Coordinator will work with department to hire tutors to be imbedded in courses. They will be model students and will offer study and help sessions. They will work with the instructor closely, thus, helping faculty as well as students. There will be an Oversight Committee. They will establish goals and evaluate the Coordinator among other things. There will be an Assessment Committee who will carry out surveys and evaluate the program and make recommendation for improvement, etc. There have been substantial resources devoted to the program. There will be space in Madison Hall to house the program. This is considered a neutral space. There will be a full time Coordinator and a half time secretary that will be new positions. The mentors and tutors will be paid. This will be about $100,000 a year. We will retrieve part of this by improving retention. This spring we will be informing the campus of the plan. In fall 06 we will hire the Coordinator and select the Assessment Committee. Tutors and mentors will be selected and trained in 07 and we will begin the program in 07-08. In 08 we will assess and continue for 5 years. In summer 2011 the Assessment Committee will recommend continuing, changing, etc.

Right now we have to get the information out.

We will send the Executive Summary to all Faculty and Staff.

We will print it in the Exponent.

We will make pocket size cards for everyone.

We will have a link to the Executive Summary and the ARC on the UAH website

We will have it on WebCT

We will place signs around campus

We will meet with faculty in departments or colleges or both.

The Faculty will be asked to talk to their classes and perhaps put something on their syllabi.

There was a point made that there were no faculty or students on the Oversight Committee and that it had been suggested a couple of faculty be placed on the Committee. This was accepted by Dr. Franz.

There was some discussion regarding the way the mentoring and tutoring will be done. It was clarified the random selection of students will be for the mentors. The tutors will be assigned to class sections and all students in that section will have the benefit of that tutor.

8. Dr. Reeves adjourned the meeting at 2:05 p.m. after a motion by Melinda Lawson, seconded by Gerald Karr.