Minutes of the Council Meetings >>

MEDICAL SCHOOL FACULTY COUNCIL
Speaker/Dean's Meeting
TUESDAY, November 30, 2004

The meeting was called to order at 5:10 p.m.

1. MINUTES: Minutes of the Dean’s meeting of September 28th were unanimously approved.

2. FACULTY SENATE MEMBERSHIP: Dr. Lewis informed the Council that Dr. Morcos resigned his position as a Senator from UMSM Constituency B. His term began in FY04 and will end in FY06. Since Dr. Helen Bramlett was second in the election for that Senate seat, Dr. Lewis suggested that Dr. Bramlett be asked to serve the remainder of this term. The Council approved this unanimously.

3. PART-TIME FACULTY: Dr. Lewis announced that the Senate has approved legislation permitting the appointment of part-time faculty at the University. This legislation has been forwarded to President Shalala for approval.

Dr. Rosenthal informed the Council that the Senate did not approve the portion of the Guidelines for Part-Time Faculty pertaining to tenured and tenure-track faculty at UMSM, approved by the Council at its previous meeting. He said that policy on tenure-earning faculty seeking transition to part-time status was thought by the Senate as a possible means to circumvent the probationary period for mandatory tenure review. He offered the Council a revision which states that part-time faculty will be appointed onto the Research or Clinical Educator Tracks which leaves the issue of tenure-earning faculty to further deliberations. The Council and Dean Clarkson approved this revision which will be circulated to the Department Chairs and posted as a bylaw on the Council website.

4. FACULTY EVALUATION OF CHAIRS & THE DEAN: Dr. Lewis told the Council that the evaluation balloting for Chairs has been closed. However, the Senate agreed to permit evaluation balloting for the Dean to be open through December 15. This is because the number of ballots received has been far below expected or standard for other schools of the university. Dr. Lewis said that paper ballots are being delivered to all eligible voting faculty and assured the faculty that their votes will remain confidential. He also said that the Senate is considering methods to improve voting by computer and that these should be available by next year.

5. OCEAN AND HUMAN HEALTH CENTER: Dr. Laura Flemming informed the Council that funding has been received from the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for an Ocean and Human Health Center as a joint program of the Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and UMSM. She asked the Council to approve this center since this approval is a step toward approval by the Faculty Senate. The Center will be one of only four in the U.S. Dr. Flemming reported that the Center has already been approved by RMSAS. Dr. Flemming will direct this center with co-Director Dr. Sharon Smith. A goal is to increase collaboration among the biomedical sciences and oceanography. Funding is assured for five years at $1.25M annually. The Council unanimously approved this Center.

6. APPOINTMENT PROMOTION &TENURE GUIDELINES: Dr. Lewis reminded the Council that concerns were expressed about the APT process and that Dean Clarkson asked that an ad-hoc committee review the UMSM guidelines for promotion and tenure as a first step in improving the process. Dr. Rosenthal reported for this committee that revisions to the USMS guidelines have been made and offered these to the Council for its comments and approval at the next meeting.

Dr. Rosenthal said that the revised guidelines include a statement that a teaching portfolio is recommended for candidates who believe that their efforts in education should be a major factor in deliberations on their candidacies. He said that a link to the website and information created on teaching portfolios by Dr. Tiberius is included in the guidelines.

7. SEARCH COMMITTEES: Dean Clarkson requested that a Council member be appointed to the Search Committee for the Chair of Rehabilitation Medicine. The Council unanimously approved the appointment of Dr. Ragheb.

8. CAPITAL CAMPAIGN: Dean Clarkson announced that the medical school will be renamed the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami in honor of the $100M donation from the family of former trustee Leonard Miller. He suggested that the gift will be used, in part, to establish four Miller professorships to recruit the next generation of biomedical scientists and thereby to enhance the medical school’s academic mission.

Dr. Clarkson also announced that Janet M. Canterbury will receive the 2004 James W. McLamore Outstanding Service Award from the Faculty Senate for her service to the University.

9. BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Dean Clarkson told the Council that Mr. Dean Colson will replace Dr. Phillip Frost as Chair of the Board of Trustees and that Mr. Norman Braham Chair of Medical Affairs Committee. He reported that President Shalala and other key UM Board members are supportive of the new UMSM clinical practice building and hospital but that much work is yet to be done to gain full board approval. The new wet lab research building design phase has been approved by the master planning committee.

10. SELF INSURANCE: Dean Clarkson advised the Council that a proposal for enterprise model liability plan is under consideration to be presented to the state legislature. This plan would allow hospitals that meet a higher safety standard than currently required will be able to provide liability coverage for medical staff. If approved for JMH, this would cover UM faculty serving that hospital. He also said that Medicaid billing will be transferred to JMH. He also said that the UM self-insurance problem has been presented to the County Manager, the Mayor and County attorneys.

11. SCHOOL COUNCIL: The next meeting of the School Council will be January 18th, 2004 a Speaker’s meeting to be held at 5p.m in room 1537 of the Sylvester Cancer Center. This meeting is open to all faculty, as are all Council meetings.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.