LSUHSC-SOM Faculty Assembly
Meeting Minutes
February 5, 2015
Opening: The regular meeting of the LSUHSC-SOM Faculty Assembly was called to order at 4:07PM in Room 7 of the Lions Building by Dr. Stacey Holman
Present: Boulmay, B; Crabtree, J; De Silva, T; Delacroix, S; Engel, L; English, R; Farris, H; Greiffenstein, P; Happel, K; Harrison-Bernard, L; Hebert, C; Holman, S; Hunt, J; Kamboj, S; Levitzky, M; McGoey, R; Mussell, J; Neumann, D; Polite, F; Quayle, A; Spieler, B; Welsh, D Winsauer, P
Absent: Catling, A; Cestia, W; Kapusta, D; LaCombe, J; Lazartigues, E;
Proxies: Holman, S for Ali, M; Mussell, J for Campeau, L
1. Approval of the minutes from January meeting: Dr. Crabtree moved to approve minutes for January and was seconded by Dr. Levitzky. Motion was approved unanimously
2. Reports:
· Executive Council
o Dean Nelson expects a mid-year budget cut, but he does not expect it to effect the Health Sciences Center
o Dean Nelson is concerned about Governor Jindal’s proposed budget cuts, however, LSUHSC receives so little from the state that further reductions won’t have extreme impacts
1. Cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is a major contractor of the LSUHSC, are more concerning
o Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), the owner of Tulane Hospital, will likely purchase East Jefferson Hospital
o Service lines at the new University Medical Center are still under negotiation between LSU and Tulane
1. Dean Nelson was heartened by Children’s Hospital’s decision to place Orthopedics under the control of LSU
2. Dean Nelson believes the partnership with Children’s is moving slowly, but “in a positive way”
o Fernando Rivera is the new director and chief executive officer of the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System
1. Dean Nelson believes this is the start of a very beneficial relationship and Mr. Rivera understands the context by which land for the new VA hospital was acquired and his responsibility to LSU
o The Department of Orthopedics is fully reaccredited
o All faculty, including those newly promoted and given recent equity and merit raises, received a 4% raise effective January 1, 2015
o Dean Nelson encouraged all faculty to document any and all Facilities issues and present these issues to the Vice-Chancellor for Administration, J Pegues
1. Administration can’t continually ignore the faculty about physical plant concerns
2. There is still a need for Clinical Office Space close to the new UMC, maybe in the ILH once services are moved to UMC
3. It is more fiscally prudent to build a new Research Facility than renovate existing buildings like the Medical Education Building
o Searcher
1. Genetics – Dr. Lucio Miele is now Chair of the department
2. Orthopedics – letter of offer sent
3. Pediatrics – set to bring in 4 applicants for interviews
4. Hematology and Oncology – final details are being worked out be the Chair should be here in August
5. OB/Gyn – anticipate starting the process in March
· Administrative Council
o Meeting was focused on the upcoming Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges March 24th – 26th.
o A new standardized departmental review form has been implemented
1. Allows the reviews of the faculty to reflect the calendar year, not the academic year
2. This will sync with the department head review
3. LSUSOM needs to return to a culture of gathering evidence and using the evidence to drive decision making
4. The goal is to simplify the process overall
· Faculty Senate
o LSU System President Alexander issued a new President’s Memorandum – 69 (PM-69) that pushes powers of the old Systems Office down to individual chancellors
1. Chancellors can now give raises <15%, extend tenure clocks, and promote faculty
2. Chancellors can now also terminate tenured faculty
3. Unfinished Business
· Bylaws
o Article IV, Section 1 dealing with the number of delegates to the Assembly
o Current ratio is 12 Basic Scientists (BS) and 18 Clinical Scientists (CS) representing 91 full time BS faculty and 391 full time CS faculty
1. Original ratio was generated post-Katrina
2. Discussion focused on an increase in the number of CS delegates while leaving the number of BS delegates unchanged
3. President Holman is drafting a revised Bylaw to reflect a ratio of 12 BS and 24 CS to be increased by the addition of 3 delegates/year over the next 2 years
4. New Business
· Chief Medical Officer update
o Witt/Kieffer was hired as the search firm coordinating the hire
o Meeting next month
o Interviews in May
o CMO will have appointments at both LSU and Tulane
· New Vision and Mission
o Numerous faculty expressed concern over the new Mission Statement and the vision and research focus of the institution presented by Mr. Pegues at the December Town Hall meeting
o Faculty found the tone and content insulting
1. What is the best way to engage Mr. Pegues
o Research faculty are extremely concerned that genomics will be the only research area supported by the institution given the new vision
o Concerns were raised over the appropriateness of the Vice-Chancellor for Administrative Affairs dictating Academic course of the Health Sciences Center
5. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 5:19
Minutes submitted by: Jason C Mussell
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