President’s Cabinet
9:30 a.m., January 13, 2021
Teams Meeting Minutes
Present: Beran, Cantu, Cobler, Colwell, Faulk, Field, Figueroa, B. Glenn, C. Glenn, Lake, Lambert, Locher, Martinez, Pisors, Smith, Teixeira, Tomek and Walyuchow
Absent: None
I. Organizational Business
A. President’s Update
President Glenn said the university would remain at Phase 2 of the Phased Reopening Plan for the foreseeable future. He said the hope is to be at Phase 4 by late in the spring semester. Phase 2 will allow for 15% of students in class at any time once a week in the classroom and offices will be at 15% capacity. President Glenn said University South is near completion and the plans are to move faculty in the coming semester and offer summer classes. University South will have a fall ribbon cutting.
B. Minutes
The September 9, 2020, minutes stand approved by consensus.
Motion carried unanimously.
II. Business
A. Academic Affairs Updates— Chance Glenn
Courses
Provost Glenn said spring courses are prepared to be delivered the same as in the fall semester; with classes being offered three different ways: Hybrid (online/hybrid – traditional), Real-Time Online (online – virtual) and Traditional Online.
Dean Search
Dean Colwell has been named as the chair of the Arts & Sciences Dean Search committee, and a recruiting firm has been hired to assist with the search. Provost Glenn said the university would hire a new dean as quickly as possible.
COVID Operation Center
Provost Glenn said that by working through the COVID Operation Center, UHV is able to provide support resource material to the community with the County Health Director. He said in regards to the city, that vaccines would be offered in the next week or two.
Diversity and Race Task Force
A budget line has been established for this task force. He said he is working with a very active, robust team. They have already started for the spring. The Victoria Advocate has been in contact about writing an article on Martin Luther King Day about the university establishing the task force.
Academic Strategic Plan
The strategic plan is going forward. The plan has been distributed widely for review and noted revisions will be added. The Town Hall chairs of the subcommittee have talked about what has been working to make it clear. This is not just a document but also an aspirational plan. The university will not be able to do everything right now.
Partnership with Victoria College
Provost Glenn said UHV continues to have a strong partnership with VC. Each dean has identified programs that would allow us to work on joint things together.
B. Facilities & Finance Updates—Wayne Beran
Mr. Beran shared the following information on Capital Projects.
University South (STEM)
Looking good
Working on the punch list
Furniture in and stacked about
Northwest Campus
Moving along very well
Executive Committee toured
Furniture order (church is storing furniture for UHV)
Has a lot of potential
Don and Mona Smith Dorm
Working on getting the dorm sign to light up
Wellness Center
23 architectural firms have applied; probably will end up with 3 to interview
Soccer Practice Field
will be converted to a parking lot
Ready by fall 2022
Ben Wilson Street Project
75% completion as far as architectural
Appears to be late fall or early spring 2023 before completed
Design and the construction will be to the city’s specifications
Budget
Simplifying the process, still in talking stage
C. Enrollment Management Updates—Jose Cantu
Enrollment
Dr. Cantu said there is a 4% increase in headcount and a 4.4% increase in semester credit hours (SCH). He announced they would be dropping the non-paying students and then start registering up again. He indicated he expects a 4% headcount and a 5-7% SCH increase.
Highlights
Retention is on spot
AP not helping as much as last time
Transfer students are staying and remaining; down but still have a number trying to complete their studies
Position very well in the state (they want to know how we maintain this)
Messaging going to full-time pushing for more graduate and new students
Welcome Center Concept
Still having campus tours
Revamping a video of the tour
Virtual Lobby
Launched and growing this
Hired
Enrollment Manager
Enrollment Customer Relations Manager (CRM)
D. Student Affairs Updates—Jay Lambert
Dr. Lambert reported he feels students are doing as well as can be expected.
Commencement Survey
He announced he had sent out a commencement survey asking student preference for graduation in Victoria, Katy or virtually. He received back around 700 responses out of 1,200. The results were 411 for Katy, 201 for Victoria and 85 virtually. There is enough of an interest in a virtual commencement that we are at the very beginning stages to see what that would look like. It is important to note that students who participate in a virtual commencement will not be excluded from a face-to-face commencement in the future.
Housing
Dr. Lambert said the university is starting the spring off with 384 students in housing; this is slightly down from the 396 we ended the fall with.
Homecoming
Homecoming will kick off on April 5 and end on April 10. The university does not know what it will look like right now, but we will have a homecoming.
Student Service Fee Hearings
UHV will still have to hold hearings for student service fees. The university will push this to March in hopes of having a clearer picture of what the budget will be. Unlike the rest of the budget, departments funded through student service fees need to be approved each year by a committee made up of mostly students, but also with faculty and staff. Like the rest of the budget, I do not anticipate funding for any new requests, but hope the university is able to fund items that were approved last year but not funded this year.
University Commons
University Commons hours will shift starting next week to 7:45 a.m. to 12 midnight. The extended hours is mostly to give WiFi access to students. There are a number of Victoria College students taking advantage of the University Commons for this reason as well.
Orientation
At this time, orientation is still up in the air regarding virtual vs/face-to-face.
E. University Advancement Updates—Jesse Pisors
Overall fundraising raised through January 10, 2021, for FY 21 was $2,489,425
99% of our FY 21 goal of $2.5M, was attained with over seven months yet to go
UHV has raised twice as much at this point in FY 21 as we had at this point in FY 20
UHS has only raised about 56% of the amount raised through this point last year, so UHV is looking very good relative to our System
Kay Walker Memory Garden
At this point, the Kay Walker Memory Garden project has about 300 donors that have given $130,000 since September 1
Giving Tuesday 2020 (December 1, 2020)
Against a goal of 250 donors in 24 hours, secured 256 donors
Raised $45,164 in 24 hours for UHV (about 1.8% of total giving to UHV in one year)
Demonstrated the widespread interest and support we sought, gifts were made to 46 different funds
Deliberately sought both small and large gifts and were successful in this quest, as gifts ranged from $1-$10,000
Wanted gifts that represented great stories, and this goal was realized as new alumni donors from Columbia, Nigeria and Australia supported a new international Alumni Scholarship Fund
Wanted to increase the average gift and were successful doing so, as the average gift sized increased by 89% from 2019 to $162
Wanted the university’s alumni to play a greater role in #uhvgivingtuesday, and achieved this; the percentage of #uhvgivingtuesday donors who were alumni grew from 16% in 2019 to 27% in 2020
One For All, All For One
Mr. Pisors said we are on pace with FY 20, when UHV set another all-time record for both the number of UHV employees giving to any fund at UHV and the percentage (69%) of employees who were also donors.
Upcoming Alumni Engagement Events and Activities
“Welcome to the Alumni Association” gift box offered to all fall 2020 graduates (262 accepted so far)
Complete overhaul of UHV Connect – rebranding as “Alumni & Friends” website
Updating of University Advancement webpage on uhv.edu
Virtual event in February
Alumni e-Newsletter
Networking luncheon in early March
Homecoming in first week of April
Ring Ceremony on April 21 (and all new UHV Ring Scholarship)
Mr. Pisors told the story of a passionate young alumna, Loveth Ohenhen’s campaign for the UHV International Alumni Scholarship fund – substantial, personal giving; fundraising from others; working with the Office of University Advancement to maintain energy and interest in growing this fund.
Larger Gifts so Far This Year
$2,000,000 pledge from Johnson Foundation for construction of the Health & Wellness Center
$300,000 gift from Johnson Foundation for scholarships
$40,000 for the Kay Walker Memory Garden
$15,000 from the Albert E. and Myrtle Gunn York Trust for the Student Emergency Fund
$10,000 for the Kay Walker Memory Garden
$10,000 from the Wood Family Memorial Trust for scholarships
$10,000 from KMH Wealth Management in support of Giving Tuesday/various funds
F. Other Items
Dr. Teixeira said Faculty Senate has not been very active at this time due to the Winter Break holidays. Their next meeting will be on February 5 where discussion of the Strategic Plan and CUPA level salaries will be discussed.
Ms. Field said the guest speaker at the November Staff Council was Rebecca Lake who discussed the Diversity Task Force. Freddie Cantu also shared an LGBTQ etiquette lesson for staff. The December Staff Council meeting was a wellness check for staff to see how they were handling the pandemic and if there were any personal things they felt needed to be talked about. Ms. Field said the next Staff Council meeting will be held at the end of January. The council is currently working with the Staff Compensation Committee.
Ms. Figaro said she believes students had a successful fall semester. The SGA is guiding students to resources that will be helpful. First spring meeting of the SGA is scheduled for February 10.
Dean Colwell said the School of Business Administration’s SCH enrollment is really robust. The headcount is up 7%, SCH is up 9%, graduate up 13%, with graduate SCH up by 18%. He thanked Dr. Cantu’s team for their assistance with enrollments. Dean Colwell said he is involved in three faculty position searches HR Clinical, Organizational Behavior and MIS; as well as the Arts & Sciences dean search. The five curricular changes approved by our faculty this fall were delayed because the Senate Curriculum Subcommittee did not meet in December due to a lack of a quorum. General Management degrees in Construction Management is moving forward. The founders of Innovation Collective: Idaho is a group that go around the country and work to build communities and possible economic development opportunities. The founder of Innovation Collective is coming to visit UHV on January 25-26.
Interim Dean Martinez said the school’s enrollment is positive and their undergraduates are their strong group. She said Education has a revamped job description for a Nursing Director and a search is underway. The dean said UHV has a strong and good relation with VC and they have a dual enrollment track and hope to roll it out in the fall. There are dual Education classes with VISD that already have students and a grant. Their big activity has been on a report that Education has to submit to TEA every year with a 90% pass rate. They have also been working on a 5-Year Desk Audit. This audit consisted of pulling documents over the last five years on 50 students. Interim Dean Martinez said they have been working really hard and pulled together to get this audit submitted in time.
Provost Glenn commended the interim dean and school for performing this audit.
Interim Dean Tomek said Arts & Sciences undergraduate enrollment is up but graduate is flat. She said the school recently launched a new Criminal Justice master’s degree, putting an attractive new graduate degree on the books. She reported that Computer Science has passed the next step for ABET accreditation. She said UHV and VC are working on an undergraduate music degree, including a PEP band and a mariachi band. If successful, the partnership would extend into Studio Arts. The dean said she feels the insight on the SCH increase is because for the past three years they have encouraged students to take 15-hours. She expressed her appreciation for Jesse Pisors’ eagerness to help gain support and funding for the music projects and bands.
Ms. Cobler said the 2019-2020 UHV President’s Annual Report & Excellence Awards was successful. At this virtual event, Cesar Gonzalez was awarded the Student Leadership Award, Lane & Phyllis Keller received the Community Partnership Award and Robin Cadle was given the People Who Make a Difference Award. Ms. Cobler said the virtual event was a learning experience and thanked those in IT for all their help. She said Marketing & Communications has been working with the School of Education, Health Professions & Human Development on a digital plan to help market graduate programs starting in February. Her department also has been working with HR and Special Events on the February 23 virtual Faculty and Staff Recognition event. Ms. Cobler also said she has been researching virtual graduations by talking her counterparts at UH System campuses. She closed by saying that as of February 1, her husband has accepted a position in North Texas. She will be resigning her position but does not know when her last day will be.
President Glenn acknowledged that Ms. Cobler would be missed and what she brings to the table.
Mr. Faulk reported University South is up and going; in the finishing stages the IT department is working on a few tweaks. The audio visual is finished up. IT is moving forward on purchasing hardware for the Northwest campus. Currently people are relying quite bit on Team meetings with needed Team support. Mr. Faulk requested that at least a two-week notice would be needed for Team events. Students have commented that they did not have access to labs. He reassured SGA representatives that the labs in the dorms and in the Center Building are open for use during university operating hours.
Provost Glenn said UHV was top online deliver in the State of Texas, kudos to Mr. Faulk and the IT team.
Ms. Lake said Equal Opportunity is seeing about the same Title 9 and discrimination numbers as before. The spring semester will be very crucial for a long-term plan for the Diversity and Race Task Force. She said the fall was research and the spring will be working groups drafting for the plan (especially January - March). She said there are great opportunities for community and staff to participate and also options for a book on diversity and equality. Ms. Lake said the team is working on a list of books in our library and Victoria’s public library. She said the next step is to see whether people want to donate to this
Process. UHV will match funds donated by employees and Dow will share with their staff and donate with matching funds during promotion period. The February book club will feature Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Ms. Lake thanked Ms. Locher and her staff for their assistance and noted Mr. Pisor’s team for quickly pulling together donor process.
Provost Glenn said there is a strong desire by the city officials and community leaders to get together in a forum to discuss.
Ms. Locher said with VC in session the library has extended their hours. She said she has been working with Ms. Lake and Mr. Pisors to make buying a book for the community book read as seamless as possible and feels the library is getting there. When Northwest is ready, Ms. Locher said the library would be moving 25,000 items/manuscripts that are currently in storage to their new location. She mentioned the library will open up their Laptop Project and are mostly ready to go with Circulation being ready by spring term. For those outside the university community, Book a Space was developed for students due to maintaining COVID-19 safety requirements. Students will now need to Book a Spot to book a room, a study spot or a computer in the library. Ms. Locher said Stephen F. Austin University has contacted her about sharing our COVID-19 experiences.
Ms. Smith reported the staff evaluations are all in. Currently she is working on reclassification reviews. Twenty reviews are with the consultant and will be sent to the Executive Committee. She reminded everyone the campus will be closed for the Martin Luther King holiday on January 18. Ms. Smith is also assisting with the virtual Faculty/Staff Recognition event. She said the next online New Employee Orientation is scheduled for February.
Mr. Walyuchow said Athletics is operating under strict guidelines. He reported they have had a few athletes and staff that have come down with COVID, himself included. Thanked Dr. Cantu for the 20% in new student athletes. It has been decided that there will not be any fans at the games because of COVID but will stream home games. The Jags will not playing as many games this season. Some schools have dropped out completely. A more traditional type of giving campaign was used last year as our fundraiser with $30,000 raised for our athletes. The Athletic Department is looking at additional costs on hotels and buses due to COVID regulations. All six sports teams will be competing this spring.
President Glenn closed the meeting by encouraging everyone to be patient this semester. He said this university has a high level of collegiality with people willing to talk to people.
Meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m.
Submitted by Kathy Walton