College of Arts and Sciences
Council of Chairs
January 27, 2010
2:30 p.m., AS 122
Meeting Minutes
Present: J. Berkowitz, J. Brière, A. DeBlasi, S. Fessler, E. Gaffney, S. Galime, K. Gersowitz
(recorder), D. Goodwin, G. Griffith, R. Hamm, T. Harrison, M. Hill, V. Idone (for Thorncroft), T.
Kinal, R. Lachmann, A. Lyons, C. MacDonald, J. Mandle, M. Messitt, G. Moore, J. Pipkin, C. Smith,
G. Stevens, D. Strait (for Broadwell), M. Sutherland, P. Toscano, K. Williams, E. Wulfert, A. Zak, K.
Zhu, R. Zitomer. Guest: V. Delio
Introductory Remarks: Dean Wulfert called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m. She welcomed John
Pipkin from the Department of Geography and Planning who has agreed to serve as Associate Dean of
the College. She also welcomed back M. Hill to the Council and announced that P. Toscano would be
continuing in his role as Chair. D. Strait will be representing the Department of Anthropology at
Council meetings.
Minutes of December 9, 2009: A motion to approve the minutes was made by A. Zak, seconded by R.
Zitomer. The meeting minutes for December 9, 2009 were unanimously approved.
Announcements:
 Changes in Room Scheduling Rules. Chairs were encouraged to do what is necessary to meet Fall
2010 scheduling demands such as scheduling required courses in less popular time slots. A handout
providing classroom scheduling and renovation information was provided.
 Websirf Inaugural Run. The Dean encouraged Chairs to check the SIRF scores of their faculty and to
provide feedback if there are any concerns. Many but not all of the Chairs reported a lower response
rate from the Websirf method.
 Fall 2010 Teaching Templates due 2/5/10 (to Cindy Endres at cendres@albany.edu)
 UAlbany Advocacy Day is 2/8/10 on the Northern Concourse of the Empire State Plaza
 Conference Support Award requests due 2/12/10 with letter of support from Dept. Chair (AS 217,
original plus 6 copies)
http://www.albany.edu/research/Forms/Conference.pdf
 Journal Support Award requests due 2/12/10 with letter of support from Dept. Chair (AS 217,
original plus 6 copies)
http://www.albany.edu/research/Forms/Journal.pdf
 FRAP B Applications due 2/24/10 (AS-217, original plus 10 copies)
(http://www.albany.edu/research/Forms/FRAP.pdf)
 Promotion and continuing appointment cases due 3/1/10 to Dean for decision by 1/15/11
 The date by which candidates must notify Chair and Dean of Request for consideration for
Promotion or early Tenure by 8/31/11 is 3/1/10
 CAS Authors and Artists Reception is 3/2/10 from 3-5:00 p.m. in the Standish Room (contact
Debernee Privott at dprivott@albany.edu)



Nominations for Presidential Awards for Undergraduate Research due 3/8/10 (Dona Parker, AS
217)
Sabbatical reports for Fall 2009 are due 3/16/09 (faculty should send via email to Steve Galime at
sgalime@albany.edu with copy to Department Chair)
Spring Tenure-track faculty renewals due to Dean's office 3/29/10 (to Steve Galime, AS-217)
Faculty Participation Requested at these Events:
 Academic Fair and Scholars Luncheons for admitted Presidential and Frederick Douglass Scholars
are 3/4/10 and 3/11/10 at approx. 9:30 a.m. (Academic Fair-UNH Atrium) and 11:45 a.m.
(Luncheon-CC Ballroom)—contact Jaclyn Napoleon, Undergraduate Admissions
(jnapoleon@uamail.albany.edu or 6-8210)
 Closer Look Admitted Diversity Student Open House is 3/20/10, 10:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. in the LC
Concourse/Campus Center—contact Hank Shuford, Undergraduate Admissions
(Hshuford@uamail.albany.edu or 6-8204)
 Open Houses for Accepted Students are 4/17/10 and 4/18/10 (send name of department
representative to Cindy Endres at cendres@albany.edu by 3/26/10)
Old Business: –
University Strategic Planning Process – Dean Wulfert thanked those Chairs who had responded to her
request for University strengths and weaknesses. There are six strategic planning forums coming up
where the subcommittees will provide brief overviews and solicit feedback from those in attendance.
She encouraged the Chairs to attend one of these meetings and provide their input into the process.
New Business –
UAlbany Advocacy Day – Vincent Delio, Chief of Staff, Office of the President, provided the Council
with an overview of the issues faculty, staff, and students will be addressing with legislators at the
February 8, 2010 UAlbany Advocacy Day. The event, which will be held in the Empire State Plaza, is
designed to promote and celebrate the University at Albany. Displays from the different Divisions,
Colleges, and Schools will take place in the Concourse throughout the day. In addition, UAlbany
administrators and students will make advocacy visits with key legislators. The day will end with a
rally and reception.
This year’s message to state legislators is that the University at Albany has suffered from chronic
underinvestment and overregulation. Slides demonstrated the significant erosion of state aid over the
past two decades. In 1989 the University received $78.8 million in state aid, which translates into
$130 million in 2009 dollars. However, in 2009 the University received only $79 million in state aid.
Slides also demonstrated that past tuition policies have been tied to state aid. Historically during a
budget crisis tuition has been increased, however, state aid to the University has decreased to address
the budget shortfall. The net effect is that tuition increases have not been invested in student
education.
The Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, an outgrowth of the UB2020 plan,
addresses the issues facing the University by providing tuition, procurement, construction, and landuse flexibility. The Act would enable the campuses to pursue planned growth and differential tuition
would provide research institutions with the funds needed to support real costs. The Act ensures
access is preserved and will hold harmless TAP students. It is predicted that the flexibility provided by
the Act will afford the University the opportunity to hire new faculty and researchers, grow enrollment,
and contribute to job growth and local spending.
C. MacDonald questioned whether the UB2020 supporters were on board with this new proposal. V.
Delio answered that they were as they realized that they couldn’t make these significant changes on
their own. Last year UB2020 stalled in the Assembly. It was noted that UUP has some concerns,
specifically around flexibility in land and how to maintain the hiring of union employees once funding
has been taken out of state accounts.
Tuition will remain on campus, however T. Kinal questioned what is to prevent NYS from simply
offsetting the tuition by again reducing state aid. V. Delio noted that we have no control over state
assistance, but currently we are only receiving 15-16% of our budget in state funding.
J. Mandle expressed a concern that this might create a conflict among campuses. Dean Wulfert
questioned whether our Tier III status would prevent us from increasing our tuition as much as those in
Tier I and if so, would this result in the University attracting lower performing students. V. Delio
agreed that we need to be cognizant of market forces and our competitive relationships with our peers.
Classroom Decorum
The Chairs discussed recent experiences dealing with disruptive students in the classroom. D.
Goodwin noted that from his experience it was important to contact Clarence McNeil, Assistant Vice
President for Student Affairs, early on if a faculty member is experiencing difficulties with disruptive
students.
J. Pipkin noted that often a faculty member’s greatest ally in dealing with disruptive behavior can be
the other students in the classroom and many others agreed. Most are there to learn and disapprove of
the disruptive behavior.
It was noted that the lecture centers can be very difficult to manage. Students report that cheating is
widespread. Extra effort must be put into delivering exams in these areas. The topic of technology
and cheating was also discussed with reports of students texting each other answers during an exam.
R. Hamm suggested putting “learning environment” rules on the syllabus. J. Berkowitz noted that it
may be necessary to ask a student to leave the classroom if the behavior continues. G. Griffith
observed that in many instances students who are doing poorly in a class also often absolve themselves
of any responsibility.
R. Zitomer noted that these issues are not unique to the University at Albany. He felt however that we
don’t always want to focus on the disruptive students but we should focus on our many good students.
Dean Wulfert noted that we must learn to deal effectively with these issues so other students won’t be
impacted.
Attendance policies were discussed as a way of setting expectations. Some agreed that these policies
were effective while others did not. (After the meeting Dean Wulfert followed up with an e-mail to
Chairs containing a paper written by Psychology Professors Marcus Crede and Sylvia Roch who
conducted a meta-analysis on the relationship between class attendance and grades in College. The
paper is in press in a top education journal (impact factor 3.36), Review of Educational Research.)
It was agreed that it would be helpful if senior faculty worked with junior faculty and adjuncts to
prepare them for the classroom and help them address these issues should they arise.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:05.
Handouts:
Minutes of December 9, 2009 meeting
Agenda
University Classrooms (Scheduling and Renovations) Information