Committee Members
Elizabeth Abel, nursing
Patrick Brockett,
information, risk, and operations management
Wallace Fowler, aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics
Andrea Gore, pharmacy
Hillary Hart, civil engineering
Joan Neuberger, history
John Sampson, law
Faculty Council Appointees
Douglas Burger, computer sciences
Martha Hilley, music
The full committee met three times during the 2005-06 year, and the travel grant
subcommittee met another two times. Products of this committee were a final report
authorized by former President Faulkner (
Recommendations of the Implementation
Committee on the Status of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty) and a proposal for
a new travel grant program authorized by Provost Ekland-Olson. Meeting and event
dates, along with the issues discussed, are presented below.
September 2005
Hillary Hart convened the committee at the Faculty Council Meeting.
October 6, 2005-
Election of Vice Chair — Martha
Hilley was nominated vice chair of the committee and elected by an email vote
shortly after the meeting.
- Recommendations of the Implementation Committee on the
Status of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty — This report had
been sent to the president in July 2005 – Committee agreed to keep pushing
for its official publication.
- Faculty Travel Grants — Committee members decided to gather
more data from peer institutions on travel support offered to faculty from central
administration. These members volunteered to form a subcommittee to develop recommendations
for a new travel-grant program: Joan Neuberger, Wally Fowler, Doug Burger, Andrea
Gore, and Hillary Hart.
November 8, 2005
The committee met with Provost Ekland-Olson to discuss increasing the
level of monetary support for faculty travel to research meetings. The provost
made clear his support for the increase and stated the need for a “robust,
well-reasoned” faculty travel program. The committee was taxed with developing
a proposal that presents the basic structure (not the monetary details) of
such a program. This proposal should make three to five recommendations on
priorities and on how to structure the funding, keeping in mind that the
program’s mission
is to enhance the scholarly reputation of both individual faculty and UT
Austin as a whole.
November 18, 2005
Subcommittee members agreed that $1,200 is the target travel award, given the
level of support offered at UT’s peer institutions. They also determined
to devise a program that could achieve that level of support within three years
and to revise the travel grant application form to discourage those with other
(research) funds from applying.
The biggest challenge is to try and ensure that the funds go to those who need
them most, but after much discussion, the decision was made to keep the travel
awards equal for all faculty (tenure-track and senior lecturers) from all colleges
and schools, as they are currently. Deciding who is most deserving is difficult
and potentially open to abuse at worst and unfairness at best.
December 12, 2005
Hillary Hart presented the Implementation Committee report to the University
Leadership Council and to the Faculty Council on behalf of the Faculty Welfare
Committee. Both groups expressed strong support for the report,
Recommendations
on the Status of Non-Tenure Track Faculty. These recommendations, aimed
at providing a better career path at UT Austin for lecturers, include a new title
(which requires Board of Regents approval) and timely review and promotion. Because
the Faculty Council had already approved a very similar report two years before,
a vote was not considered necessary. Dr. Hart thanked President Faulkner for
constituting the original committee (the Langlois Committee) and for having the
vision that UT could be a leader in developing policies that recognize the significant
contribution of lecturers to many universities’ teaching mission.
This report was presented to the UT lecturer community at a thank you breakfast
on April 20.
January 24, 2006
The faculty travel grant subcommittee met to discuss the draft proposal prepared
by Andrea Gore, Joan Neuberger, and Hillary Hart. The proposal was subsequently
revised and sent to Provost Ekland-Olson on February 3, 2006.
After some feedback from the provost, the subcommittee developed another proposal
with an interim plan for allocating different amounts of travel funding to different
UT units, depending on past use of travel grants, average faculty salary, and
some other factors. This proposal called for hitting the target
— $1,200/year
for each eligible faculty member presenting at an academic conference
— within
three years. This award would be receipt-based, with conference-related expenses
up to $1,200 in any given year being reimbursed. This revised proposal was sent
to the provost on April 3, 2006.
On May 12, 2006, the provost informed the UT deans and other officials that the
original, target award was being implemented for all eligible faculty, commencing
with the 2006-07 budget.
The subcommittee celebrated with an unofficial happy hour.
Hillary Hart, chair
