College of Arts and Sciences
Council of Chairs
November 28, 2007
2:30 p.m., AS 122
Meeting Minutes
Present: J. Carson, J. Collins, A. DeBlasi, R. Dressler, P. Ferlo, E. Gaffney, S. Galime, K. Gersowitz
(recorder), G. Griffith, R. Hamm, T. Harrison, D. Hernandez, M. Hill, V. Idone, S. Isser, J. Kimball, A.
Lyons (for Doolen), J. Mandle, M. Messitt, A. Millis, J. Monfasani, G. Moore, J. Mower, C. Olsen, D.
Parker, M. Sattinger, L. Schell, G. Stevens, M. Sutherland, E. Turner, J. Welch, K. Williams, M.B. Winn,
E. Wulfert, A. Zak. Guest: Dr. Tamra Minor, Assistant Vice President and Director of Diversity and
Affirmative Action.
Introductory Remarks: Dean Wulfert called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.
Minutes of the meeting of November 7, 2007: A motion to approve the minutes was moved by E.
Turner, seconded by A. DeBlasi. The meeting minutes for the November 7, 2007 Council of Chairs were
unanimously approved.
Announcements:
Doctoral Program Transition – In Departments where the graduate director position will be turning over at
the end of the year, Dean Wulfert suggested that a successor be named as early as possible to allow the
new director to work with the current director during the spring semester. This should help provide a
seamless transition.
COEUS - L. Schell reported that he and Dean Wulfert had recently met with Vice President for Research
Lynn Videka on the issue of financial and reputational credit. We now have the ability, though COEUS,
to attribute reputational credit separately from financial credit. This is considered very important if CAS
is to be seen accurately as an active research unit within the University, and for Departments to receive
full credit for the activity of their faculty.
L. Schell distributed a handout outlining how financial credit can be separated from reputational credit in
many different scenarios. If Chairs have any questions, or if they are facing a complex situation, please
contact L. Schell to discuss.
Record of Accomplishments – Dean Wulfert encouraged the Chairs to keep a running record of faculty
accomplishments. The Dean’s office often receives requests for such information on very short notice,
and having this list will make responding to these requests much easier. She also suggested putting
student and faculty accomplishments on departmental websites.
History Department Move – It was reported that the History Department has moved to the Social Sciences
Building.
Final Exams – Dean Wulfert reminded the Chairs that the University sets the schedule for finals and any
request to deviate from this schedule must be approved by the Dean’s office.
December Graduation – Interim President George Philip recently sent out a call for marching faculty.
Dean Wulfert encouraged the Chairs to reach out to their faculty to participate in the December
commencement ceremony.
Blackboard – Dean Wulfert reported that she has shared with CIO C. Haile concerns raised by M. B.
Winn regarding the self-training program for Blackboard. Dean Wulfert reported that C. Haile responded
favorably and that the system has been revised. Please note the December 3 deadline to provide to ITS
any new materials that need to be converted for Blackboard use. WebCt will not be available after the
Fall 2007 semester.
Dean’s Advisory Board – M. Messitt reported that there are currently three openings on the Dean’s
Advisory Board. He will shortly be sending an e-mail to Chairs asking for confidential nominations of
alumni and emeriti to join the Board. Board members are expected to attend two meetings annually and
participate in one of two working groups.
Old Business: Undergraduate Writing Task Force Report
Dean Wulfert reported that Bob Yagelski, chair of the undergraduate writing task force, has received our
feedback and has made revisions to the proposal based on these comments. Dean Wulfert recently met
with B. Yagelski where he discussed data on high school students’ writing abilities which seemed to
indicate that only a very small percentage of students entering college are able to write at the appropriate
level of proficiency. It was agreed that we should ask him to include these data in his presentation of the
modified proposal at the next Chairs’ meeting. Dean Wulfert noted that the Chairs of the CAS Faculty
Council Academic Planning and Academic Programs subcommittees will also be invited to attend.
Business arising: Discussion with Dr. Tamra Minor, Assistant Vice President and Director of
Diversity and Affirmative Action
Dr. Minor thanked Dean Wulfert for inviting her to join the Council of Chairs meeting. She began by
stating that she has been charged with enhancing and institutionalizing diversity efforts at UAlbany. She
noted that access continues to be important, but we must think beyond that to retaining our faculty and
students and building a sustainable diversity effort.
T. Minor made the following points in regard to diversity at UAlbany:
 Diversity is everyone’s responsibility
 Diversity should be central to all we do to insure academic excellence for all
 Diversity should be pervasive, including co-curricular and curricular activities
In addition to an external review, the University will undergo a self-study next semester. T. Minor views
the self-study as being visionary work and including University leadership, faculty, staff, and students. It
will include a climate survey, visionary meetings, a gap analysis, and development of strategies to close
the gaps. There will be many opportunities to participate. Self-study activities will begin in January.
External reviewers will likely be brought to campus in the fall.
T. Minor assured the Chairs that former Diversity and Affirmative Action staff have fully briefed her on
the specific concerns of the many Departments, including in some cases efforts being made on a national
level within a discipline to address diversity efforts. She would like to work with the Departments to help
develop strategies not only to attract diverse faculty, but also to create a climate that will assist in
retention.
T. Minor outlined some recruitment strategies:
 Develop relationships with colleagues from diverse backgrounds, national organizations (many
have subcommittees geared toward minorities) and minority institutions. She noted that we often
fall short in “working” these relationships.
 Develop pipelines, a strategy that will vary depending on the field. Some professional
organizations provide opportunities for faculty to make presentations to doctoral students. T.
Minor hopes to travel to support these strategies, developing connections that can then be turned
over to the Chairs.

Identify promising graduate students here and close by, as well as undergraduates with great
potential.
Dean Wulfert asked T. Minor if there was an updated list of minority candidates available from ODAA
because her experience has been that these lists are often quite out of date and that they do not provide the
expected yield. T. Minor believed there is, but agreed that this sort of cold contact does not work well;
she suggested that it was a much better strategy to develop relationships and pipelines.
T. Minor was asked about any planned linkages with Dr. Pedro Caban and SUNY Central. She reported
that she has spoken with Dr. Caban about working across campuses in a more comprehensive fashion than
in the past. She also noted that the self-study will assist in developing a budget that she can then advocate
for.
It was observed that in the past three years faculty have been asked to participate in numerous self-study
activities including departmental self-study reports, compact planning and selective investment and there
was some concern about how faculty might respond to yet another self-study. It was also noted that last
year CAS hiring requests required that a diversity hiring plan be part of the request. It was agreed that
any detailed information that T. Minor could provide the Departments in their recruitment efforts would
be greatly appreciated.
T. Minor reinforced her previous statements that she is very concerned with retention issues. M. Sattinger
was a member of the University salary ad hoc committee and will forward to T. Minor the findings of this
committee.
The question arose of what exactly was meant by diversity in the faculty beyond the legal definition. T.
Minor responded that clarifying what the UAlbany definition of diversity is was very important and
would be part of the dialogue during the self-study.
T. Minor stressed that there will be numerous opportunities to participate in the process. A committee
comprised of faculty, staff, and students, will be convened to develop the climate survey and identify
issues. Dean Wulfert reported that she has been asked to provide names of faculty to sit on this
committee. Faculty will be asked to complete the survey and attend sessions to provide feedback. T.
Minor noted that she will be involved throughout the process. She anticipates the use of external
facilitators as well.
Many Chairs felt that a survey would not be the best tool to get at the confusion currently experienced in
many Departments. T. Minor stressed that the definition of what we mean to be diversity will be
addressed during the self-study process, which, in addition to the survey, includes visionary meetings and
a gap analysis.
Dean Wulfert stated that the University has data on faculty, staff, and students falling into specific
diversity categories and asked if we had specific goals towards which we should be working. T. Minor
answered that goals would not be set in terms of numbers.
T. Minor was asked whether there was a timeline for developing a working definition of diversity and if
this timeline was linked to the arrival of a new President and Provost. She responded that she believed we
would have a working definition of diversity at UAlbany by the end of next semester. She noted that a
number of institutions have been through this process, but there is no “recipe” to be followed. It was
noted that it is important for the institution to take ownership of the process.
Early next semester campus leadership, including Vice Presidents and Deans, will begin the dialogue on
what this campus should look and feel like. This will help set the stage for further discussions as the
semester progresses.
Adjourned: The meeting was adjourned at 3:55.
Handouts:
Agenda
Minutes of 11/7/07 Council of Chairs meeting
Models for Allocating Financial and Reputational credit using COEUS