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Attendance: Approximately 24
Announced Agenda:
1. Approval of the minutes of January 26, February 2, and February 28, 2005
2. Unfinished business - none
3. Reports of Special Committees
4. Reports of Standing Committees
5. New Business
a. Exceptions for candidates for May graduation
b. Transition plans for new Faculty Senate and P&T Committee6. Announcements
7. Adjournment
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President David Leebron called to order and chaired the General Faculty Meeting in McMurtry Auditorium of Duncan Hall at 4:02 PM. Alan Chapman served as Parliamentarian. Representatives from the Thresher were acknowledged as present.
1. Minutes of January 26, February 2, and February 28, 2005 Faculty Meetings - On motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the January 26, February 2, and February 28, 2005 Faculty Meetings were APPROVED as circulated in advance on the web.
2. Unfinished business - none
3. Reports of Special Committees and 4. Reports of Standing Committees - Patricia Reiff briefly explained the current committee system which includes University-level standing committees and special or ad-hoc committees and referred faculty to an on-line report by the Task Force on Faculty and Shared Governance for detailed recommendations for committees. She added that, in the future, much of the work now done by the Committee on Committees will be handled by the new Faculty Senate. The Committee on Committees currently helps determine the membership on standing committees by making recommendations to the President. The President makes the final decisions on committee membership.
Reiff encouraged all faculty members to turn in their committee membership forms to Sarah Holloman in the Faculty Council office. She also encouraged all current committee members or committee chairs of standing committees and special committees to turn in their forms to aid Faculty Council in accurate record keeping relating to committees.
5. New Business
a. Exceptions for candidates for May graduation - Matthias Henze, standing in for EX&S Chair Deborah Nelson-Campbell, announced that to date there are no exceptions for candidates for May graduation.
b. Transition plans for new Faculty Senate and P&T Committee - Lynne Huffer outlined the transition plans put together by Faculty Council for the newly formed structure of the Promotion and Tenure Committee and for the new Faculty Senate and gave details of the two separate elections.
The P&T elections will be held first. The nominating petitions are available to faculty members on March 16 in the Deans' offices, the Faculty Council office, and through the Faculty Council web site.
To ensure continuity, Faculty Council has set up a transitional period by continuing the three unexpired elected P&T positions. The three people who are currently serving on P&T will remain to finish out the terms for which they were elected under the current system: Ed Akin in Engineering, Steve Crowell in Humanities, and Patricia Reiff in Natural Sciences. The current elections will be for the remaining three elected positions: 1) Jones School, 2) Music and Architecture, and 3) Social Sciences. Faculty from those schools, and particularly the deans, were asked to encourage nominations, get petition forms to interested faculty members, and assist in collection of the ten required signatures per form. Huffer explained that the required signatories on the nomination forms must be from the school in which the nominee is being elected.
The nomination forms are due in the Faculty Council office by noon on Tuesday, March 22. Election ballots will be sent to faculty in the relevant schools on Thursday, March 24. On Wednesday, March 30, at 5:00 p.m., elections will close. The newly elected Promotion and Tenure Committee members will be announced on Friday, April 1.
Moshe Vardi commented on the very accelerated election schedule. Huffer explained time must be allowed for the Senate elections to follow, announcement of the elections results, and a Senate meeting to be held before summer. Ed Akin added that since the rules are changing so that members of P&T most likely will not also be members of Faculty Senate, people who were unsuccessful in the P&T Committee election could then be elected to the Faculty Senate.
Immediately following the P&T election, the process to elect the new Senate will begin. The schedule for the election will be posted on the Faculty Council web site, and a message will be sent to all faculty via the PRES-FAC list serve. Huffer gave an approximate timeline as follows: nomination petitions will be available on April 4 from the Deans' offices, the Faculty Council office, and from the Faculty Council web site; nomination forms will be due on April 11; election ballots will be sent to the faculty on April 13; elections will close on April 20; and the newly elected Senate members will be announced on April 22. The new Faculty Senate will meet before summer to elect a speaker, deputy speaker, and executive committee. It is hoped that the members of the Faculty Senate can draft the by-laws and constitution during the summer so those can be approved in the fall and business can begin.
Huffer mentioned that once the Faculty Senate is elected, a provision for the staggering of terms will be determined. Due to the need for this provision, some of the newly elected Senate members will not be serving a full three-year term. She also explained that the six current members serving on Faculty Council with unexpired terms will automatically be nominated in their respective Faculty Senate elections. The election committee, chaired by Ed Akin, will hold a caucus on March 29, at 3:00 p.m., in McMurtry Auditorium, Duncan Hall, to hear from members of the research faculty and non tenure-track teaching faculty who might be interested in serving on the new Faculty Senate.
There was brief discussion about the nomination process, the accelerated election schedule, anticipated faculty participation, and the role of the deans.
6. Announcements - President Leebron asked the faculty to participate in commencement. He also encouraged faculty to fill out and return a forthcoming survey on Engaging Houston as part of the University's effort to understand and communicate how extensively Rice is engaged with Houston, not only in official structures and programs but also individually.
There being no further business, President Leebron adjourned the meeting at 4:27.
Respectfully submitted,
Janis L. Cain
Secretary to the Faculty