College of Arts and Sciences
Council of Chairs
October 11, 2006, 2:30 p.m. AS 122
Meeting Minutes
Present:
I. Berger
K. Doolen
J. Berkowitz E. Gaffney
C. Bose
S. Galime
E. Brière
K. Gersowitz
J. Carson
G. Griffith
A. DeBlasi
T. Harrison
N. Davis, Recorder
D. Hernandez
M. Hill
M. Jerison
J. Justeson
J. Kimball
J. Mandle
M. Messitt
A. Millis
J. Mower
C. Olsen
D. Parker
M. Rodriguez
L. Slade
E. Wulfert
G. Stevens
A. Zak
A. Ticano
T. Turner
J. Welch
J. Wick-Pelletier
Introductory Remarks:
Dean J. Wick-Pelletier welcomed all and called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.
Minutes of the meeting of 9/20/06:
A motion to approve the minutes was moved by L. Slade, seconded by A. Zak, 0 opposed, 0 abstained. The
meeting minutes for the September 20th, 2006 Council of Chairs were unanimously approved.
Business arising from the minutes:
None.
Announcements:
Open House: The Open house held this weekend went well. The Dean thanked all who participated.
Graduate Fair: On October 9th the first University “Graduate Fair” was held. The Dean was pleased to see
that many people had participated including many Chairs and faculty. The Dean expressed thanks to all who
participated.
Sabbatical requests: The deadline for submitting a sabbatical request for the spring has come and gone, and
there doesn’t seem to be the usual number of requests. Assistant Dean Galime stated that he will accept
requests up until October 12th. The Dean reminded everyone that timely requests are appreciated.
Data meetings: Assistant Dean Stevens reminded everyone of the upcoming data meetings to be held in UNH.
This will be a good tool for faculty to help plan courses. Everyone should have received an invitation for the
week of October 23rd.
Dean’s Office Display Case: The Dean reminded the members to submit ideas for the display case outside the
Dean’s Office.
Conference support award: The Dean reminded the Council that the deadline for the University at Albany
Conference Support Award will be coming up soon. Persons interested should contact the Office of Research
which adjudicates these awards.
CAS Faculty Dinner: The Dean reminded the Council that the college faculty dinner will be on October 26th, at
the Italian American Club and Dr. Slade will be reading from his book Jazz after Dinner. Please encourage all
your colleagues to attend.
Quarter courses: Assistant Dean Stevens commented that Quarter courses seem to be shifting more towards
freshman Gen*Ed and transfer courses, where there is a need.
Selective Investment Initiatives Update:
Selective Investment Initiatives: A list of prospective initiatives was circulated to the members. The Dean
reminded everyone that only ten initiatives can be put forward by the College. We have received notice of
about twenty-two initiatives for consideration. We have been casting a wide net in the spirit of
interdisciplinarity, and the list of potential initiatives includes departments that may consider joining in
discussions about these proposals. The Dean noted that all initiatives are due in the Deans Office on October
30th.
Community Media and Grass Roots Journalism: C. Bose requested this initiative be added to the list. This
initiative would involve Women’s Studies and Journalism, and possibly other units.
Outline/length/format of an initiative: A question was raised concerning the outline and format for these
initiatives, and the Dean asked her Secretary to send around the information from the Web. (K. Gersowitz has
distributed this information to the Council members)
Selective Investment Feedback: The Dean asked that the departments review the feedback on the initiatives to
help them proceed with revising these initiatives for this round.
Advice for Success: Discussion continued on ways to make the initiatives more likely to succeed, such as
thinking big, but not if the means are not available, making the initiatives clear and deliverable, showing how
you know the initiatives will work.
Specific Potential Initiatives:
Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities (CEMHD): Associate Dean Shell is moving
on this proposal to include Social Work, Public Health, and Psychology Department in the process.
Anyone interested should contact Dr. Schell.
Globalization: G. Griffith stated that this initiative is being spearheaded by E. Acosta-Belen and F.
Leiva. The chairs of the departments involved plan to meet on Wednesday.
Mesoamerican studies: The unit is currently drafting this initiative.
Humanities Center: A Committee met recently and the initiative is moving along well.
Art History: The Art Department is thinking about resubmitting the proposal they submitted last year.
However, they don’t want to be redundant in view of its connection to the Humanities Center initiative,
and would appreciate the Dean’s advice.
Strengthen AAS: L. Slade noted that they have gone back to the drawing board on their previous
initiative and hope to involve other units. The Dean stressed that AAS is looked at as the unit that
would be a leader in attracting diverse faculty and creating a climate to help all other units to do the
same.
Language Center: LLC has been meeting to work on this initiative, involving other departments to
discuss a service center for language with a strong IT component and creating a translation center. They
asked the Dean about getting feedback from their initiative last year. The Dean stated she would contact
B. Szelest for this information.
Human Biology: J. Justeson reported that they are working on an initiative and will collaborate with the
School of Public Health to show how they complement and support each other.
Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID): A. Millis discussed this initiative whereby the
University at Albany has an opportunity to be a top player in the country. They plan on gradually
involving other units including the School of Public Health and Government agencies.
Journalism: The initiative is being rewritten.
Multi-Media History, Documentary Studies and Film Studies: G. Zahavi will be calling a meeting, and
they will make sure the units involved are all included. Additional units they may be including are AAS
and JST.
Watershed Sciences and Management: This initiative is a big one, involving many units. A. Millis and
G. Kleppel are spearheading this. This could become very important nationally as well.
Center for Arts and Technology (CAT): D. Goodwin is spearheading this initiative, and is talking with
M. Valentis to see if it can be collapsed within CHATS. However, it seems as if there is still going to be
a need to focus on Technical and Visual Arts, and the department would like to see if it can be
resubmitted as a smaller more focused initiative with community outreach and residency programs.
Artists in residence program and concert series: The department would like to add housing as in integral
need for this initiative, and it also ties in with the Arts House. PAC can be added to this initiative.
Neuroscience: There is a draft coming into shape for this initiative, per A. Millis. They will be adding
CHM, PSY and hoping to add others including SPH for interactions.
Communication and EAS: The departments have been discussing an initiative involving modern mass
communication, political communication and intercultural communication.
Cognitive Science: E. Wulfert reported that members of the Psychology Department have met with P.
Blonairz and they have put together a group from CCI to find a common dominator.
CNSE Undergraduate: This initiative is just beginning, and the Dean will be meeting with Provost S.
Herbst and V.P. A. Kaloyeros to see if a joint initiative is feasible.
Environmental Studies: There is interest in developing this initiative.
SOC faculty: Departmental initiatives are under consideration.
Imaging database: This initiative with Theatre, CAS Computing and the resource Library, would
include digitizing slides and using visual images as part of instructional material. HIS, GOG and ANT
could all benefit from this sort of database and could be included in this initiative among others. J.
Carson will get the detailed proposal with cost analysis and circulate through e-mail.
Psychological Services Center equipment: The Center expressed concerns of being moved off campus
and not having enough money for essentials and an initiative may be put forth for equipment and
moving expenses.
Documentary Studies: Dean would like to see in the Documentary Studies selective investment
initiative includes a line for Film Studies. There is already a minor, and going forward with a major
could be more compelling.
Interdisciplinarity:
College reputation: The Dean noted that the College is already an interdisciplinary unit, with a fair number of
joint appointments and faculty with dual departmental affiliations. The College is developing more and more
programs that don’t fit squarely into one unit. This scenario has worked well in cases such as Human Biology
for years.
Departmental compensations: Including interdisciplinary programs in your department may involve more work
for your support staff as well as additional supply needs. Funds have been added to the departmental budgets to
offset the expenses associated with major interdisciplinary initiatives. Course releases for Directors have also
been made.
Hiring: The members need to think across boundaries when hiring for programs such as Globalization,
Documentary Studies, and Film Studies, for example advertise jobs across the boundaries and publicize your
applicant presentations to other departments. All departments will benefit from this thinking.
Engage your departments: The Dean noted the importance of engaging your own departments in discussion
about interdisciplinarity and its implementation.
MOU’s: Departments now prepare MOU’s for new faculty whose work is interdisciplinary, outlining their
responsibilities to the different units. This is done not only when there is a joint hire, but also when faculty are
affiliated with more than one program. The MOU’s will be particularly helpful at the time of promotion and
tenure.
Course Formats:
Due to time constraints, this item will be moved to the agenda for the next meeting.
Other Business:
No other business was asked to be considered at this time.
Meeting adjourned:
The meeting adjourned at 4:02 p.m. A motion was made by L. Slade, seconded around the table.