College of Arts and Sciences
Council of Chairs
December 8, 2004
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
AS 122
In Attendance E. Acosta-Belen, S. Alam, J. Altarriba, I. Berger, C. Bose, E. Briere, J. Carson, B. Daniel, K. Doolen, S.
Fessler, E. Gaffney, T. Gage, S. Galime, T. Harrison, M. Hill, V. Idone, S. Isser, T. Lance, J. Mandle, M. Messitt, A. Millis, C.
Murray, N. Murray, D. Parker, J. Pipkin, M. Raider, G. Stevens, H. Strother, M. Sutherland, R. Ward, J. Welch, J. WickPelletier, E. Wulfert, A. Zak Recorder: R. Greenhouse
Minutes: Russell Ward made a motion to accept the minutes of November 17, 2004, which was seconded by Susanna Fessler,
and unanimously passed.
Announcements
Thank you to all who will help with December commencement.
Mission II Draft “brag items” have been collected and sent to Sheila Mahan.
Transfer students (starting in spring 2005) will need to be advised. If you and your faculty could be especially helpful to
students it would be good for enrollments.
Academic Planning - Steve Galime, Dona Parker, and Greg Stevens will soon start annual planning meeting for next year to
go over all issues regarding curriculum, staffing, and budget and to review a list of items to go over with faculty.
Research Professorships – policy is being sent to chairs. If you have comments please send to Dean Wick-Pelletier.
Northeast Association of Graduate Students (NAGS) - Awards announcement: Deadline for nominations is January 15, 2005
to NAGS; January 10, 2005 nominations to Jeryl Mumpower. Please copy or pass nominations through Dean.
Undergraduate Leadership nominations 12/14/04 due
Final Exams - Exams must be given on the scheduled date. Any deviation must go through Gregory Stevens (well ahead of
time) and must be approved. If you know of any faculty member doing this – discourage them from doing so. Final exams
cannot be given during the last class period.
Enrollment Issues
The President’s cabinet has reviewed Deans’ enrollment plans. The University must restore enrollments to planned 2004 level.
The freshmen goal is 2350 for fall 2005. Increase admission of transfer student and retention improvement are ways to assist
with enrollments. Departments should have discussions about problems of retention to find a way to get back to a more student
friendly atmosphere. In discussion with pilot honors students, it was brought up that some professors only want to research and
don’t really show that they are interested in teaching students. Discussions may have to involve how to do things differently –
sharing the work and preparing teaching assistants better to answer questions. Enrollment is multi-faceted: recruitment,
reputation, and retention. A consistently noted problem is students not getting required courses. It gets down to the fact that
more faculty are needed. Over the past 10 years faculty numbers have decreased. There is a high demand for general
education courses. The Dean recognizes teaching for merit. Transfer equivalents should be easier to interpret, and we should
be able to provide a way to help students work out these situations. The responsibility should also be put on students. Seniors
should know what they need and register early. General education has grown in a lot of ways – older programs, state mandates,
the system having to approve every course. A budget crunch is a good time to revise the general education requirements.
UAlbany’s general education requirements go way beyond the SUNY requirements. Keep track of your graduate enrollments.
Honors College
A draft document, Honors College: “The College within the College” Preliminary Recommendations, was handed out, and
input welcomed. The Dean is wondering about the current entrance requirement. During Dean Wick-Pelletier and Associate
Dean Altarriba’s discussion with pilot students, it was noted that the students were anti- too many requirements. We must
think carefully about what will go into this proposal. The goal is to get 100 to start and then move up in numbers.
Students should be encouraged to go honors. Presidential Scholars are often tuition paying students though may have
scholarships. Group 1’s are recruitable into Honors, but they may require scholarship money. We don’t really know how
many students will be involved in the Honors College, but the Dean would like to enroll at least 100. The difference between
Presidential Scholars and Honors College is that the CAS Honors College has core courses and a complete academic endeavor.
The Presidential Scholars have no specific core course requirements. Honors Colleges are becoming “popular” and are good
recruitment tools. Transfer student admission would be limited, because those transfers coming in at the end of the second year
would miss too much of the core experience.
Size, entrance and language requirements need to be discussed further and settled. One chair asked if it should be distributed
to undergraduate directors for discussion with their committees. What about teaching resources? We need a commitment from
the University. Incremental scholarships may work: a small amount the first year and increasing amounts each year based on
performance. Any comments about the general framework for the Honors College are welcome and would be helpful.
Adjourn: 4:05 pm