Summary of the Faculty Council Meeting

November 13 2023
The complete minutes of the November 13 meeting of the 2023-24 Faculty Council are available for download.

Report of the Secretary

The Secretary's report for each Faculty Council meeting lists the status of Council legislative items, completed Memorial Resolutions, new Memorial Resolution committees, and new Council members. 
The November 13 Secretary's Report may be viewed here.

Communication with the President

President Jay C. Hartzell shared four campus developments for the four weeks since he last met with the Faculty Council. The new Moritz Center for Societal Impact is launching the first of a series of programs to help foster children find homes. The new “Take the World by the Horns” program will allow cohorts of students to take their fall semester abroad as incoming first-year students. Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General, presented with Matthew McConaughey (Professor of Practice, Radio-Television-Film) about mental health on campus. The Patman Center for Civic and Political Engagement has been established at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.
One question about electric vehicle charging availability was submitted in advance. President Hartzell said more charging stations are being planned for the Manor Garage (by the end of spring) and Pickle Research Campus (by the end of summer). A question was posed from the floor about adding more campus parking. See the minutes for the full Q&A. 

Report of the Chair

Chair Jen Moon (Professor of Instruction, Biology Instruction Office) reminded the Council about Orange Santa, a fundraiser to provide holiday gifts to families in need in the University community.
The Faculty Council Executive Committee continues to discuss implementation plans for SB 17 and SB 18 in their meetings with the President and Provost. Chair Moon thanked the members of the UT Austin community who are working on the implementation.              

Report of the Chair-Elect

Chair-Elect Stella Flores (Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy) has been working with Texas A&M to plan the annual Faculty Governance Joint Meeting with the A&M Faculty Senate and the UT Austin Faculty Council. The meeting, which will likely be in March or April, will take place on Zoom. Details will be forthcoming.  

New Business

  1. Canvas Requirement
    Starting fall 2024, faculty will be required to have a minimal Canvas presence for courses that have at least five students. The syllabus will need to be on Canvas, and electronic communications about grades will need to take place through Canvas. Several factors are driving this change including concerns from student governance organizations regarding timely feedback, FERPA violations that occur when faculty communicate about grades through insecure sources such as email, and a desire to make course materials more accessible.
    See the minutes for the full presentation and the Q&A.
    Questions from the floor were asked regarding the Canvas grade book, FERPA compliance, training for the new Canvas requirements, UT Box, other learning management systems, improvements to Canvas messaging, and securely communicating with former students.

  2. C-13 Information Technology Committee Faculty Council Priorities Report
    The work of C-13 over the past year has resulted in five main recommendations for improving IT across campus: setting norms, ensuring equity of resources, creating a “one-stop shop” for faculty, rationalizing existing IT capabilities, and crafting a new IT strategy/ providing support for the new CIO. See the minutes for the full presentation on C-13's work in 2022-23 and the current academic year.

  3. Faculty Council Priorities Updates
    Five broad themes arose from the small group priorities discussion: SB 17/ SB 18 implementation, cost of living/well-being, classroom infrastructure, Faculty Council infrastructure, and professional development and support. The Faculty Council Executive Committee will now assign priorities to the Standing Committees as appropriate, and the FCEC itself will take up topics as needed. Additionally, some issues raised are being addressed already, and the FCEC will investigate those areas and communicate back to the Council.

    Announcements
    • The fourth meeting of the Faculty Council will be held on December 4 at 2:15 PM with hybrid attendance options: Zoom and in-person in MAIN 212. There will be a pre-meeting reception beginning at 2:00pm in MAIN 212.
    Best,
    Jen Moon
    Chair, Faculty Council
    jen.moon@austin.utexas.edu

    Charlotte Canning
    Secretary, General Faculty and Faculty Council
    charlottecanning@utexas.edu
    This communication is from Faculty – Official.
    View this email online.
    The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX | 78712 US