The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Dr. Anne O. Kilpatrick at 7:45 AM on Tuesday, April 1, 2003 in Room 107 Admin/Library Building. A quorum was present.

MEMBERSHIP ROSTER:

College of Medicine, Basic Sciences:

          Present: Philippe Arnaud, Lucille London, Sally Self, Eberhard Voit (Executive  
          Committee member)
          Absent: Debra J. Hazen-Martin

College of Medicine, Clinical Sciences:

Present: Susan Ackerman, Connie Best, DeAnna Cheek, Paul Gold, George M. Johnson, Shailendra B. Patel, Benjamin Saunders, Thomas Steele, Michael Zile (Executive Committee member)
Absent: Arthur J. Crumbley, Timothy W. Garvey, Gary Gilkeson, Mark Green, Barry Hainer, Dana King (excused), Subbi P. Mathur (resigned), P.R. Rajagopalan (alternate), Alberto B. Santos (alternate), Dean Schuyler, Renan Uflacker, Aljoeson Walker

College of Dental Medicine

Present: Richard J. Albenesius, Peter Kobes, Stephen Malley
Absent: Carlos Salinas (Executive Committee member) - excused

College of Health Professions:

Present: Libby Dismuke (Alternate), Jennifer Horner, Anne Osborne Kilpatrick (Executive Committee member)
Absent: Jack K. Thomas (excused), Andrea White

Library Sciences and Informatics:

Present: Mary P. Mauldin (Executive Committee member), Nancy McKeehan, Joann Sullivan
Absent: Geoffrey Freeman, Edward S. Hazard (alternate)

College of Nursing:

Present: Elaine Amella, John M. Welton (alternate) 
Absent: Julia Ball (excused), Elizabeth Erkel, Tara Hulsey (Executive Committee member) (excused)

College of Pharmacy:

Present: Katherine Chessman (Executive Committee member), Joli Fermo, Marc Lapointe
Absent: John Bosso (alternate), Kristi L. Lenz

The meeting minutes of March 4, 2003 were approved with minor changes.  These were made to the minutes posted on the web site.

MEETING PROCEEDINGS: 

I.  Chair's Report - State of the Senate

    A.    Role of Senators

Dr. Osbourn

     B.   UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COUNCIL (URC) - Michael Zile, Chair

The Council has met once.  The agenda for the first meeting included 15 items - two were discussed.  There is wide representation from both faculty and staff. The main purpose of the Council is to support the Provost's Office directly.  It will deliberate problematic issues and make recommendations to the Provost.  Although the Council's charter calls for biannual meetings, the group will meet monthly as they begin their work.  The first two issues to be discussed are space allocation and facilities engineering and maintenance.  An example of the issues to be discussed is filling the two new research buildings and then back filling the vacated spaces.  Faculty who would like issues discussed by this group should forward their concerns to Dr. Raymond who will then assign them to the Council as he sees fit.  The URC membership will be posted on the Faculty Senate Web site.

     C.  GOVERNANCE - Elaine Amella, Chair

The Committee met twice last month.  The two major areas of focus are the Senate elections and the revision of the Senate's Constitution and By-laws. Chairs of standing committees are asked to review the current bylaws and inform the Committee of necessary changes.  Dr.  Osborne Kilpatrick asked Senators to consider reelection to facilitate continuity.

II.  Report by Dr. John Raymond, Provost

Dr. Raymond reiterated to the Senate his philosophy of management which includes open communication and inclusion of the Faculty as much as possible in decision making.  A number of proposals are currently going to the Deans' Council that would include more representation from the Faculty Senate in governance.

MUSC has an interesting year ahead.  If a further budget cut of approximately 10% occurs in June, difficult decisions will have to be made.  Dr. Greenberg has asked that the cut be limited to 5%.  Reserves have been depleted over the years as the Provost office has absorbed a 2.7% cut without passing this on to the colleges.

Nine Centers of Excellence are going to be established by the State with $30M of state lottery funds.  Matching funds are required.  They will match up to $5M if pre-approved.  The goal of these Centers is to convert scientific capital into products.  Forty-one letters of intent were submitted from MUSC.  Twelve were approved.  The other two research universities in the state submitted a total of 8 proposals. 

Dr. Raymond will hold a series of Town Hall meetings with the Faculty.  March 13, he will discuss the state of research at MUSC including space issues.  March 24, he will discuss the budget; and March 31, he will discuss the state of academics with Dr. Valerie West.  All sessions will be held at 5PM in the BSB100.

There are a number of bills currently in the legislature that may impact MUSC. A bill is in the Senate Finance Committee process for review and recommendations regarding the continuation of TERI.    The at-will employment bill was amended to exclude tenure.  The foreign students' bill is being strongly opposed.  There is also a bill addressing cloning that MUSC will oppose as a university unless faculty are opposed to that action.

Dr. Raymond also stated that one of his goals is to improve research support services.  One step toward this goal is reconstituting the URC.  He would like to make the process more customer friendly.  The current structure is more geared to risk reduction.  The current IRB process is viewed as onerous by most when dealing with human or animal subjects.  The NIH has also raised concern regarding the lack of clinical researchers and is looking to fund interdisciplinary efforts.  We have received an NIH-funded grant to improve the research process including electronic submissions, identifying the current snags in the system, and conducting customer satisfaction surveys.  The URC will also assist with planning for a new research building.   With the space allocation in the new Children's Research Center and Hollings Cancer Center being "thematic", it is harder for non-thematic programs to grow.  Another research issue is the fact that the BSB was retrofitted to make a research building out of an educational building.  There is a significant mold problem due to the negative pressure created by the many hoods in the building and the high humidity levels.  They plan to fix half of the building now and the other half at a later time.  Repairs on the Gazes Building roof and HVAC will likely cost $10M instead of the $7.3M initially thought.

Dr. Osborne Kilpatrick thanked Dr. Raymond for his ongoing support of the Faculty Senate that includes our monthly breakfast. 

III.  Chair's Report - Anne Osborne Kilpatrick

Dr. Kilpatrick reported that she and Gary Gilkeson attended the Board of Trustees'  Research Committee meeting.  An Executive Wellness Center is being developed at Kiawah.  Also, philanthropy is doing well.  Three distinguished university professors will also be recognized: I. Singh, M. Wald, and R. Anton.  Anne also attended the Education Committee meeting.  The Faculty Senate was asked to report to this committee at its next meeting.

The Board of Trustees also held its Joint Conference during the board meeting.  It is planned to hire staff physicians for the Medical Center to relieve faculty/clinicians of call and inpatient responsibilities.  The hospital replacement committee will meet on March 19.  Dr. Zile will represent the Senate at that meeting.

Deans' Council:  Dr. Raymond will give feedback to the Faculty Affairs Committee regarding the tenure policy presented to the Deans' Council.

The policy regarding sequestration of records has gone to the Board of Trustees for approval.  The policy aims to protect someone who is being audited including the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.  It also aims to limit disruption of normal activities.  The policy will be posted to the web.

There were 1000 bills proposed this year in the legislature.  We would be affected by a number of them.  HR-3244:  At-will employment.  An amendment was passed to exclude tenure policies and procedures in public and private institutions.

HR-3047:  Use of State money for foreign nationals.  Through the efforts of many including our own faculty, this bill will probably be killed.  It is acknowledged that foreign nations contribute significantly to the research. clinical practice, and education mission of MUSC.

HR-???:  Bill that would require all undergraduate faculty to teach a minimum of 12 hr per semester.  We will watch.

Dr. Osborne Kilpatrick suggested that we may want to consider a legislative liaison for the Senate.

President's Council:  Continue to provide financial updates.  MUSC has taken an 8.78% budget cut thus far this year; 9.88% in additional cuts may occur in June 2003.

IV.  Announcements

Applications are now being accepted for Spinal Cord Injury research supported by DUI funds of approximately $1M annually.

Paul Gold announced that AAAs are now available for '04 federal budget for research.  If interested in a copy, e-mail Paul Gold.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 AM. 

Next meeting: 7:45 AM, Tuesday, April 1, 2003, Administration/Library Building Room 107 

Respectfully Submitted by: 
Kathy Chessman 
Secretary to the Faculty Senate