Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
GSA Officer Reports – October 2, 2015
Treasurer’s Report – Hina Thalho
Budget as of 9/24/15
GSA ACCOUNT BALANCES & REPORT SUMMARY
Expected Revenue 2014-15
$165,000.00
Carry-over from 2013-14
$124,102.54
Total Expected Revenue
$289,102.54
Total Allocated
$244,364.00
Total Unallocated
$44,738.54
Total Deposits
Total Paid
Adjustments: See attached Sheet
Actual Account Balance
Expected Account Balance
$124,102.54
$129,63.75
$0.00
$111,138.79
$276,138.79
BUDGET SUMMARY
Amount
Amount
Allocated
Paid
SERVICES
Room Reservations
$1,000.00
$0.00
RGSO Awards
$40,000.00
$0.00
Grant Awards
$45,000.00
$0.00
Contingency Budget (at 5% of projected
revenue)
$8,250.00
$0.00
GSA Welcome/ Year End Events
$4,000.00
$0.00
Allocated from Previous Fiscal Year (Note 1)
$15,814.00 $6332.24
Food Pantry
$5,000.00
$0.00
OPERATIONS
Contractual Goods and Services
Liability and Theft Insurance
$2,000.00
$0.00
Printer Contract/ Lease
$17,000.00 $1,138.00
Non-Contractual Costs
Paper
$5,000.00
$0.00
Office Supplies/Expenses
$1,000.00
$750.39
Balance
$1,000.00
$40,000.00
$45,000.00
$8,250.00
$4,000.00
$9481.76
$5,000.00
$2,000.00
$15,862.00
$5,000.00
$249.61
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
Phone and Fax
$100.00
$0.00
$100.00
Water
$1,000.00
$125.4
$874.6
Officer Stipends
Stipend-President
$4,500.00
$0.00 $4,500.00
Stipend-Vice President
$3,500.00
$0.00 $3,500.00
Stipend-Treasurer
$3,500.00
$0.00 $3,500.00
Stipend-MCAA Chair
$3,000.00
$0.00 $3,000.00
Stipend-Programming Chair
$3,000.00
$0.00 $3,000.00
Stipend-Grants Chair
$3,000.00
$0.00 $3,000.00
Stipend-Lead Senator
$1,000.00
$0.00 $1,000.00
Stipend-Senators
$1,500.00
$0.00 $1,500.00
Stipend-University Council Representative
$200.00
$0.00
$200.00
Stipend-Assembly Speaker
$200.00
$0.00
$200.00
Administrative Support
Office Managers (Note 2)
$20,000.00 $2,524.45 $17,475.55
Public Relation Manger
$2,500.00
$0.00 $2,500.00
Parliamentarian
$800.00
$0.00
$800.00
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
NAGPS
$16,000.00 $1962.06 $14,037.94
Strategic Plan Funding- President
$6,000.00
$131.21 $5,868.79
Strategic Plan Funding- MCAA Chair
$3,000.00
$0.00 $3,000.00
Strategic Plan Funding-Programming
$6,000.00
$0.00 $6,000.00
Strategic Plan Funding- Vice President
$1,500.00
$0.00 $1,500.00
Investments
Future Technology Purchases (Printer for
Uptown)
$20,000.00
$0.00 $20,000.00
Note 1.
Allocated from Previous Fiscal Year
Above line is created to show you those expenses that are part of previous budgets but were not
presented at that time period.
As you know that our fiscal period is July 1st to June 30th. There are couple of events and
operation expenses that occurred before June 30th or during the summer but were paid after July
1st. Almost 70% amount of above line is related with RGSO events and Grants.
About 5.33% amount of above line is associated with old Fiscal period. Those expenses were not
paid due to submission of inefficient documentations.
Note 2.
Office Mangers
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
Office Mangers’ line consists of sum of two things. Total amounts were earned by office
manager, $2305.00 and total taxes were paid, $219.45.
President’s Report – Bob Beach
Five Year Master Plan Committee:
I hope to have a report from this committee by the time we meet in October. As of this moment, I
have 3 students (including me) on the committee. If you are interested in serving on this
important committee, please talk to me after the meeting, or send me an email
(gsapresident@albany.edu)
Orientation and Student Support Services:
I want to echo the remarks below from the Vice President (below) thanking everyone involved in
visiting department orientations this term. We reached a number of students and were tuned into
several issues that we can address within our organization. The biggest issue seems to be the
utter lack of support services for graduate students on campus. The orientation sessions run by
the GSA far surpass any existing general orientation procedures on campus. It appears that the
university is relying on departments to do this work. I think we can take a multi-pronged
approach to improving these services. First, we should put pressure on the graduate school to
provide these services. We should also think about improving our own orientation and/or
integrating it into any new programs provided by the graduate school. And finally, we should
work to improve our communication with new students by creating a webpage, linked to ours,
that provides information and resources for new graduate students.
Advocacy RGSO
I’ve received information from a couple of students interested in forming/joining the advocacy
RGSO. This effort, part of my strategic plan, is to institutionalize our relationship with local
legislators in Albany. We would like to see the GSA become an important presence in New
York, and in the SUNY system and need interested students to lead this effort. If you are
interested, please contact me (gsapresident@albany.edu).
NAGPS Events
Based on Assembly instructions given to us in September. The Executive Board has approved
the application of Anjola Coker to attend the upcoming Legislative Action Days in Washington.
We are still looking for applicants for the national conference. Please send all application
materials to me (gsapresident@albany.edu).
SUNY SA delegation
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
We are also looking for a small delegation to accompany me to the SUNYSA meeting in
November. As an Albany-based research center in the SUNY system, we need to increase our
presence and participation in SUNYSA. Students that are interested in promoting the interests of
UAlbany graduate students in the SUNY system should contact me (gsapresident@albany.edu).
Vice President’s Report – Kat Slye
Department Orientations (Part II)



Since the last Assembly meeting, there were about 5 or 6 more department orientations
that e-board members or other GSA representatives attended to inform graduate students
about what the GSA does and how they can get involved if they want.
I want to publicly thank everyone who helped attend these orientations to represent the
GSA and helped to ensure that more graduate students know about us, what we do/our
goals, and what we can do for them as graduate students. I and Lisa would not have been
able to attend all of these orientations on our own; this initiative worked because of
everyone who agreed to help!
I also want to thank the Office Managers who logged all of the information we gathered
from students at those orientations and added many students to the GSA listserv!
RGSO Committee Update





I have structured this committee a little differently from years past. I split the committee
in two in order to ensure that the parts of my strategic plan that the Committee will work
on will be completed. For the fall, half of the committee will work on developing the
NAGPS application and approval process; they will have a draft for the November
meeting and will produce a final version for Assembly approval at the December meeting
given changes made from feedback. The other half of the committee will work on
approving RGSO event requests. I will be working with both groups on both initiatives.
In the spring, half will work on RGSO transition to offer groups information about how
to transition and what research says about how to do transition, all with the goal of
ensuring RGSOs have more smooth officer turnover year to year. The half that worked
on the NAGPS process in the fall will then work on approving RGSO event requests.
If anyone would like to join the RGSO committee and/or work on one of the special
projects outlined above (NAGPS or Transition), please e-mail me at gsavp@albany.edu.
For the fall, the NAGPS committee has a standing meeting time of first and third
Tuesdays from 4-5pm.
The RGSO Event Review committee has a standing meeting of second and fourth
Tuesdays from 3-4pm.
Both meet in the GSA Uptown Office 307/8.
RGSO Applications and Recognition
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222




RGSO President’s received an e-mail letter from me in September explaining the $500
grant, the reimbursement process, as well as committee assignments. Remember: The
$500 grant your RGSO was given is to get you started and if you need more money, you
need to fill out an event sheet on MyInvolvement and submit it at least 1 month before
your event (the earlier the better).
After processing the RGSO Applications, we have 27 RGSOs this semester. Two groups
have reformed after being inactive for a few years, and we have three new RGSOs. This
also means that we lost a few groups – meaning they did not apply for recognition this
semester – but I know a few are working on rebuilding and might be applying in the
Spring. With 27 groups, and even though we lost a few, we have had a net growth of 1
RGSO.
If your group has not registered with the office of student involvement on
myinvolvement, please do so as soon as possible (this is separate from applying for
recognition with the GSA). You go to your group’s page on myinvolvement, click the
blue register button, and it takes about 5-10 minutes to complete. If you do not have an
advisor, you do not have to list one. You can instead write “nobody” in the name section
and “nobody@albany.edu” in the e-mail section.
If your RGSO has not submitted the signatures to have an additional representative
because you are larger than 40 people and want to have the second rep, I need that by the
October 2nd Assembly meeting.
RGSO Guidelines





I have submitted a few suggested edits to the RGSO Guidelines that will be discussed at
the October Assembly meeting. I have offered these changes in order to make things
clearer, more fair, and to make things easier on RGSOs. Here is a summary of my
suggested edits as well as my reasoning for making the suggestion:
Recognition applications are only required in the fall unless you have officer changes;
groups can still form in the spring and submit an application at that time if they did not
apply in the fall. I suggest this because some groups have said it would be easier to only
do it once a year and because we now have a rolling allocation system a second period is
unnecessary.
Set a deadline for RGSO training to be completed; we have had trouble getting everyone
trained so a clear deadline is needed to everyone is aware of the requirements and when it
needs to be completed by. Having it in the guidelines will also ensure that it is consistent
and not at the whim of the GSAVP.
Added information regarding the requirement that all petty cash be deposited with the
GSA; this is a legal issue since RGSOs do not actually exist for legal purposes but are
under the GSA. It also ensures your money does not get lost. You will be able to access
this money and you can use it for anything you want; it does not have to follow GSA
guidelines since it is not GSA money.
Added information about the requirement that RGSOs need to get 41 signatures to
demonstrate they have more than 40 members and are eligible to have a second voting
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222


representative in the GSA Assembly. This has not officially been formalized but it was
decided on last year by the RSGS Committee as the mechanism for verifying
membership and was part of the application. If groups have other suggestions, I am open
to a discussion at the meeting of how groups can demonstrate they have more than 40
members.
I suggested a requirement that each RGSO give the new Vice President a point of contact
to ensure all groups are aware of important information, such as training dates and
application deadlines. This person would be responsible for ensuring all group members
who need the information are aware of any information communicated by the Vice
President. I suggest this because over the last few years we have had trouble ensuring
groups have important information because we don’t know who the officers are as many
do not elect new e-boards until the fall.
Other Updates



I have ensured all RGSO documents on the website are updated, which includes adding
the RGSO Welcome Packet from training.
I updated the RGSO FAQs and will continue to do more work on this. Please consult this
page if you have RGSO related questions.
I (with the help of Hanna Pageau’s Photoshop skills) am creating an RGSO Event
Flowchart so you can see visually all of the steps that are involved in the process to make
it easier to follow. This will be available on the GSA website and will include links to all
the pertinent information and documents you need for events. If you have a suggestion of
any other processes you want to see in this manner, please e-mail me.
Equity and Inclusion Chair’s Report – Amani Edwards
Hello RGSO's! The E&I committee is meeting next week and will begin reviewing events for
E&I approval. Please refer to the GSA website for the form for E&I events. Send this form to
gsainclusion@albany.edu before Friday October 9th if you want approval. We accept these
forms throughout the semester, but highly suggest you send the form two weeks before the
scheduled date for your event. Please email me with questions or if you need help with events.
Thank You, Amani Edwards
Programming Chair’s Report – Lisa Cassidy
The Programming committee convened for the first time in September and has a number of
efforts planned for the semester. We are compiling a list of programs that various entities are
hosting throughout the year that the GSA can promote and potentially cosponsor in order to
expand the presence and influence of the GSA.
Additionally, we are looking into starting a dissertation boot camp for graduate
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
students at UAlbany in collaboration with Library Services. We are in the process of researching
programs at other schools and how we can incorporate such a regular program into the current
infrastructure at UAlbany. This would, of course, be open to all students with large writing
projects (dissertation/thesis).
Upcoming events
-SEPTEMBER 30: "Just Ask" campaign kick-off
This campaign is meant to raise awareness about sexual violence prevention. Chantelle
Cleary, our new Title lX coordinator would like to have a graduate student on the Just Ask
committee for the month of October. If you are interested, please contact me at
GSAprog@alvany.edu.
-Wednesday, OCTOBER 14: Message Congress Day for GradsHaveDebt2
This is part of the national campaign through the National Association of Graduate
Professionals (NAGPS) to speak out about graduate student debt and advocate for legislation that
lightens the debt burden for those pursuing graduate and professional degrees. Tweet, post, or
message our members of Congress to express concerns or share personal stories about how debt
has affected you. Like GradsHaveDebt2 on Facebook!
-Sunday, OCTOBER 25: GSA networking event
This is an opportunity to network with your fellow RGSOs and other leaders on campus to
form beneficial collaborations. This is a three hour workshop meant to help make the GSA
become a more cohesive and effective entity that can better support the graduate student body. A
representative from each RGSO should attend but all are welcome! Please RSVP by emailing
GSAprog@albany.edu. Please indicate if you will be bringing any children and their ages so that
we can prepare appropriate activities.
Events to look out for
-Pizza with the senate team
-President's Forum
Grants Chair’s Report – John Stovall
The Grants committee has begun the process of evaluating the 28 grants which were received for
the Autumn of 2015 and should complete its evaluation by the end of October. Any questions or
comments concerning this process should be addressed to gsagrant@albany.edu
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
Lead Senator Report – Hanna Pageau
Hi everyone!
So a few of the Councils have met prior to today (September 25th) and you can find the available
reports below (except for UPPC, as to be fair I am giving everyone 48 hours to submit reports
and it hasn’t even been 24 hours since it met yet, so that is the only exception at the moment).
There is at least one meeting to be happening next week as far as Councils go (GAC), one
tentative meeting (CAA), and the University Senate meeting itself. I will update the Assembly on
any meetings that take place between September 28th and October 2nd as needed, full reports
from any of those meetings will be available with any meeting reports that take place between
October 5th and October 30th (the date Officer Reports are due for the November GSA
Assembly meeting).
The majority of the Advocacy Team received training in Robert’s Rules on September 21st, with
a big thanks to our Parliamentarian.
The next Advocacy Team meeting also takes place on September 28th, should anything develop
out of that meeting I will update the Assembly. Should any Assembly member have concerns,
questions, or comments about Senate activity that they wish to broach with the team – please feel
free to contact me at gsalead@albany.edu.
There have been two changes to our Council Representative roster since the September meeting:
* Cathleen Green (GSS RGSO) resumed her 2014-2015 LISC membership due to an unexpected
vacancy.
* Emilia Pawlowski (SPH RGSO) was appointed to replace Hirah Mir on the Council on
Research due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict.
Hanna Marie Pageau
[US] University Senate
Bob Beach {S/President}, Hanna Marie Pageau {LS}, Tiffany Charles {S}, Henry Curtis {S},
Nakissa Jahanbani {S}
September 28, 2016
1. 1st meeting happens after reports are due for the Assembly meeting. Will update Assembly
with any immediately pertinent happenings. Look for a full report in the November Officer
Reports.
Future Meetings
October 19th
November 16th
December 7th
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
[CAA] Council on Academic Assessment
Henry Curtis {S}
First Meeting, Pending (Doodle poll sent out 9/21)
2. 1st meeting happens after reports are due for the Assembly meeting. Will update Assembly
with any immediately pertinent happenings. Look for a full report in the November Officer
Reports.
[CoR] Council on Research
Hanna Marie Pageau {LS}
September 17, 2015
Report
1. Subcommittee designations were discussed, volunteers spoke up.
2. Revised Patents and Inventions Policy
a. Last amended in 1988
b. Goal: Rectify Ambiguities
c. Goal: Rectify the exclusion of students as inventors
i. Will now retain inventorship under certain guidelines.
ii. Anyone paid for research will not retain ownership (ie – URAs/GRAs)
1. Waiver opportunities available
d. Concerns Raised: Conflicts for people with multiple appointments
e. Concerns Raised: Industry and Academic Collaborations
i. Work for Hire vs. Sponsorships – Answer is dictated by contract type.
f. Clarification Made: Doesn’t impact copyright, it is a separate section of the guidelines.
g. Clarification Made: Student ownership (this effects graduate students in particular) will follow
a paid to do vs. paid for the opportunity model.
i. Explanation: Graduate Research Assistants are paid to do research, therefore do not retain
ownership.
ii. Explanation: Undergraduates or Graduate students who create something as a class
assignment are paying for the opportunity to create something, therefore retain ownership.
iii. Explanation: SUNY retains rights when they are paying for something or “significant” SUNY
resources (such as labs) are used in the process.
3. 2014 – 2015 year in Review document was passed out, discussion was tabled until the next
meeting so the Council could properly review the document.
4. Follow up on the GSA proposal for a New Initiative (Graduate Student Advisors for
Undergraduate Researchers) was requested. The Lead Senator (Hanna Marie Pageau) will be
following up on where the previous Senate Team (Ian Tucker and Klil Neori specifically) left off
to hopefully pursue further development of the idea.
Future Meetings
October 14th
November 12th
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
December ? (previously, 2nd, is being rescheduled)
[GAC] Graduate Academic Council
Tiffany Charles {S}, Rebecca Prince {CR}, Cristina Herrera {CR}
September 28, 2015
3. 1st meeting happens after reports are due for the Assembly meeting. Will update Assembly
with any immediately pertinent happenings. Look for a full report in the November Officer
Reports.
Future Meetings
September 28th
October 19th
November 16th
December 7th
[GOV] Governance Council
Caitlin Janiszewski {CR/Proxy}
September 21, 2015
Report
1. LISC and GAC charter amendments have gone to SEC and are on the agenda for the Senate
meeting on the 28th.
2. CAA charter amendment held at GOV so we can consider the balance of faculty’s right to
have oversight in academic affairs with the creation of unnecessary workloads for faculty.
3. UAC changes we require more information because the changes could be complicated given
the way the Appellate Subcommittee is structured.
4. The Assessment on Governance and Consultation plan was discussed. A subcommittee will be
formed and the survey needs to be completed in the fall because of the workload in the spring.
5. CERS has been inactive for years which is considered to be a good thing but monthly
meetings with Senate leadership and administration has revealed that there may be some reports
which CERS should be looking into.
6. The possibility of administrative review and evaluation by the faculty has come up – Past
Chair Joette Stelf-Mabry brought up a type of evaluation in response to the Middle States
Assessment of 2005 (many year ago) and President Phillips blocked any progress.
7. We need to select people for the Honors College Board. I could use recommendations from
the list of faculty in Bob's inbox.
8. The issues of student representation and the status of contingent faculty and emeritus faculty
in the Senate were briefly reviewed. I am tasked with writing up a review of the student
representation issue and making recommendations for the next GOV meeting.
[LISC] Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing Meeting
Cathleen Green {CR}
September 21, 2015
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
Report
1. The LISC meeting was called to order by the Chair, David Mamorella.
2. We reviewed the LISC Committee Charter and approved an amendment to section X.8.4.1,
which mandates that the Dean and Director of University Libraries, ex officio or designee, sit on
the Library subcommittee.
3. The Library and IT subcommittees were formed and David Mamorella appointed respective
Chairs.
4. ITS Report: Carole Sweeton (Interim CIO)
a. A BlackBoard upgrade was completed over the summer
b. They are working to fill several open positions and a few new positions within ITS, and are
hoping to progress throughout the semester
c. The search for a new CIO is ongoing and should be finished by January 1, 2016
d. The new data center, the Information Technology Building (ITB), is being planned and
prepped for “people space” i.e. offices, lounges, conference rooms, etc.
i. With this, most of the ITS services will be relocated from the podium and main campus to the
ITB. The only services to remain on the podium are Faculty Support, Testing Services, and Walk
In services.
e. ITS is working on ways to improve internal workflow so that better internal efficiency can
lead to better service for customers.
f. Discussion on allotting more memory space for research faculty, tabled for next meeting
g. Brief polling of group on use od OneDrive for Business and Skype for Business
i. Carole is going to prepare an overview of these services for next meeting
5. Libraries Report: Rebecca Mugridge (Interim Dean of Libraries)
a) Proposal to grow an interactive media center has advanced
b) Looking for hire a research data management librarian; proposal has advanced but status is
currently unknown
c) Issues still unresolved with Elsevier cost, we need more money to pay to keep up with such
electronic resources. A meeting will be held to ask for more money
d) Many vacant positions are looking to be filled. Hiring plan is good but work is ongoing
i. Dean – ongoing
ii. Public services – had so few people they almost entered “crisis” mode and had to shut down
some libraries for some hours due to lack of staffing
iii. Two librarian positions
iv. Two professional staff positions
e) Hired a graduate assistant whose project is to catalogue special archives and collections to
give it more visibility
f) Affiliation with Albany Law was discussed as a way of sharing resources and potentially staff
g) Nine group study rooms opened – need to develop policies for room use and reservation
h) Open Access event on campus October 20th to address nationwide and worldwide issue of
information sharing
i) Looking for undergraduate and graduate students to serve on Student Advisory Board
6. The floor was opened for topics for LISC to consider this year. Two things were raised:
a) Ease of use of faculty websites under the SUNY website. Difficult to use and varies
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
department to department, depending on department size and resources
b) Libraries have hours tailored to undergraduate student semesters, gives message that we are an
institution focused on undergraduates, when in fact we are a research institution.
i. Rebecca responded that the summer was unusual due to many staffers retiring and lack of staff.
ii. Also she reported staff has been cut by 30% since 2008
iii. She expressed interested in expanding the library hours and hopes to address it by adding the
research data management position and by expanding services to faculty and graduate students
iv. Robert Rosenswig seconded the notion that the libraries are oriented around undergraduates’
schedules.
Future Meetings
October 26th
November 9th or 23rd
[SEC] Senate Executive Committee Meeting
Bob Beach {S/President}
September 16, 2015
Report
Much of the meeting was a bit of review, it helped some new people in the room get up to speed.
The Provost talked for 45 minutes. Several interesting points we should think about and stay on
top of.
1. The Blue Ribbon panel on contingent should be released in the next few days. The stipends
report was released earlier. The Senate team should look these over, as we need to make sure that
the recommendations are being adopted. (the stipends report is attached)
2. The University is initiating new programs to welcome undergrads to the University. These are
tech-heavy programs and very much in the social media/My Involvement type realm. But the
suggestion that transfer students were being overlooked in these recruitment and retention efforts
open possibilities where we can advocate for graduate students who are clearly overlooked on
this issue. These issues fill out the administration’s goal of improving our recruitment and
retention numbers.
a. The GSA orientation session with Women’s studies the very next day revealed significant
gaps in University efforts to welcome and retain new students. Graduate Studies does not
provide orientations for grad students (relying on overworked departments to handle both
University AND departmental orientation).
b. These admin goals also mesh with the GSA’s efforts on behalf of international students to
provide needed support students in things as varied as assistance with finding housing to
workshops in academic writing skills.
3. Each of you should expect to see several developmental grants come through their
committees, if not already, then very soon. Stellar praised those involved as SUNY Albany was
“pre-approved” for 11 of 14 of these grants. Once pre-approved, the university submits a full
application by mid-October. Cynthia Fox has sent me several of these preliminary applications
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
(the rest are apparently coming) and I will forward these in a separate email.
4. The new school EPHSCS is continuing to develop, as are plans for a new building on the
Harriman campus where the new school is to be housed.
Other Reports
CoR – Should expect discussion of the new Patents and Inventions Policy in the near future. It
seemed that this was an ongoing thing.
GOV – Should expect discussion about the next survey on governance, scheduled to go out in
Spring 2016.
Senate Agenda
The items approved for the Senate agenda:
1. Motion to discontinue the department of Puerto Rican Studies. Was tabled in May, must be
taken from the table (Majority vote).
2. Charter Amendments
a. Addresses an asymmetry in the LISC’s Library Committee
i. Gives Dean and Director of Library Services a permanent seat on the committee
ii. The Chief Information Officer has a permanent seat on the [Computing?] committee
b. Removes unnecessary procedural references in the GAC
i. Clarifies requirements regarding notification, steps that appear to already occur
ii. Clarifies the authority of the senate to both establish AND modify graduate programs
[UAC] Undergraduate Academic Council
Derek Ellis {CR}
Sept 15 T 1:00 pm Standish Room, Science Library
Report
1. Discussion about what ends up going to the senate floor; generally major/large issues.
2. College of Emergency Preparedness update: looking at a 39 credit major, half of which will be
at or above the 300 level. 6 courses will be taken by everyone. 3 courses will be in experimental
learning/workshops/working outside the university. Looking at about 20 or so students to start,
and expecting 180 in five years.
3. Additional minor in English and creative writing is in the works. Committee formation and
review.
Future Meetings
September 29th
October 9th
October 27th
November 10th
December 1st
[ULC] University Life Council
Yueyue Wang {CR}
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
Unknown
[UPPC] University Planning and Policy Council
Nakissa Jahanbani {S}
September 24, 2015
University Council Report - Caitlin Janiszewski
The meeting was late on Friday, the report will be an addendum to this report
OTHER REPORTS:
UAS Report – Cassidy Drasser
UAS Board Report
University Auxiliary Services Board of Directors Meeting
Friday, September 25, 2015
The Executive Director of UAS, Steve Pearse, presented his report on the facilities update.
The East Campus Addition is now open and offering extended hours. The new retail options
include:
Cusato’s (pizza)
East Deli
Fountain Grill
Stalks & Stems (salad)
Jazzmans (coffee/bakery)
He reported on the average check amounts for the entire operation and for each store
individually. The average check cost for all of the stores from 9/8-9/21/2015 was $6.51,
including weekends and holidays. The breakdown for average check amounts at each retail
option were:
Cusato’s $6.23
East Deli $7.72
Fountain Grill $8.08
Stalks & Stems $6.71
Jazzmans $3.98
Due to the lack of space, the deli slicers for the East Deli were stored in the kitchen (in the back)
and out of quick use from the workers. Therefore, the deli cold cuts needed to be sliced fresh
each morning and brought to the front of the house. The slicers will now be stored in the front
and in reach of the workers. Therefore, cold cuts will be sliced to order for customers.
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
The renovation of the Patroon Room includes a spacious kitchen area, where they intend to bring
in guest chefs to host cooking classes for students, faculty, and staff. They are also open to
allowing student groups to cook meals with chefs as an option if they are putting on an event in
the Patroon Room, Assembly Hall, or Ballroom.
For this upcoming year:
UAS will be looking deeper into the services they provide and ways to increase student benefits.
-We are exploring “buzzer” options for some of the retail stores. This way, customers can
receive a buzzer when they place their order, and be promptly informed when their order is
ready.
-We are planning opening up a Kosher and Halal retail store in the campus center in the future.
They will be visiting various campuses this year that have established Kosher and Halal retail
stores to help choose the best option.
-We will also be exploring options for renovations of the Downtown Café (downtown campus
retail store).
-The bookstore contract and renovations will also be an item of discussion for this year.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any of these
issues. I am your representative on the UAS Board of Directors and it is my duty to share your
input with the board.
Best,
Cassidy Drasser cdrasser@albany.edu
GSA Designee on the UAS Board of Directors
Member of the Executive Committee
Member of the Services Committee
Wages & Benefits Report – Caitlin Janiszewski
The W&B met on 9/14 and has another meeting set for 9/28. During our first meeting we
discussed potential activities for this semester and have followed up with subsequent discussions
via email.
Generally, the W&B would like to engage in more creative activities this year to bring awareness
to issues such as the BOT policy change to limit student workers to 25 hours a week as well as
the Blue Ribbon Panel reports which are set to be released soon. Some of our ideas include
creating "Did you know?" posters on these topics, perhaps online cartoons that we post on social
media, or work on a meme to be shared with captions about the blue ribbon panel reports.
In addition to these general ideas we have brainstormed we have been called upon by some allies
at Columbia University to support them in their #WeAreWorkers day of action on October 15th.
We are thinking of creating a photo essay to support their campaign to be posted on social media.
Campus Center 308 | University at Albany, SUNY | Albany, New York 12222
We should have an update on what our projects for the semester are by the time of the Assembly
meeting.