University Senate Executive Committee
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
2:45 PM
UNH 306
Cynthia Fox, Senate Chair
Minutes
Present:
Beach, Bob; Collins, Jim; Fabris, Daniele; Fox, Cynthia; Jaromin, Michael;
Jewell, Carol; Jerison, Michael; Kiorpes, Karen; Little, Walter; Mamorella, David;
Mower, James; Schmidt, John; Stefl-Mabry, Joette; Stellar, James; Toseland, Ronald;
Warner, Lynn
Guests:
Wirkkula, Leanne
The meeting convened at 2:50 p.m.
Chair Fox noted that President Jones was unable to attend the meeting. Participants were introduced to the new
2015-16 SEC members.
APPROVAL OF SEC MINUTES
The minutes of April 27th were approved with 7 abstentions.
The minutes of May 4th were approved, with minor changes and 7 abstentions.
PROVOST’S REPORT – JAMES R. STELLAR
Provost Stellar commented that it was a pleasure to be here now in his 8th month. Since then there has been a peaceful
though somewhat dramatic and large-scale transformation, with five new dean appointed due to retirements. We also
finished 2 reports that were blue-ribbon commissions, the Graduate Stipend report and the preliminary Contingent
Committee report, which have been transmitted to the President's Office. The issues of contingent faculty is a
complicated, far-reaching and important topic, one that the U.S. and world have been slipping into for decades, that
there is a high degree of reliance on a workforce not part of our original framework. The reports have been carefully
reviewed and should be available soon. We started 2 colleges - the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
and the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC), the latter being one
which the governor announced in his State of the State address. That triggered a rethinking of the E-TEC building.
We got $15 million from the governor's office to help invest in capital, but what really drove us was the opportunity
to acquire property on Harriman campus. It is anticipated to be built in 2019 - 2020 at the new location. Plans are
being somewhat redesigned, to include the 15 CEHC faculty in that building. The Interim CEHC Dean is David
Rousseau, and Kim Boyer, recently hired from RPI, is the new chair of the Department of Computer Engineering and
Interim Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. These two new
colleges will provide opportunities over the next 5 years to judiciously grow the university in student size to support
the new faculty hires, with full campus discussions. Provost Stellar remains very optimistic about the future of
UAlbany with everything he has seen these last 8 months.
We have recent additions to the President’s office. Joseph Brennan, Vice President for Communications and
Marketing, will help us continue to improve how we tell our story. Dr. Laura Schweitzer was hired as Vice President
for Health Sciences and Biomedical Initiatives to explore opportunities in the East campus, as well as our Cancer
Research Center here.
The Provost stressed that his overwhelming focus this year will be to deliver the resources to implement some of
these visions through retention efforts. It is also impressive to seeing program ideas emerging all over
campus. For example, SUNY set August 28th for the preliminary performance fund grant 2-page proposals to be
submitted for review. We just learned that 11 of the 14 proposals we submitted were approved to be resubmitted as
full 15-page proposals. SUNY campuses submitted more than 200 proposals. He is eager to go to the Provosts'
conference in a few weeks to see how others did, as he thinks we did well. This could lead to serious revenue, as 1time capital for operational expenses, to give us a boost. The review process deadlines have a short turn-round. Drafts
are due for the President's review and signature by October 7th. Also, on October 21st our EXCEL plan for the campus
is due, which Bruce Szelest is developing. The administration will try to get this plan circulated for comment and do
a bit better job than was possible in the summer of involving the faculty, now that we are all here.
Chief of Staff Leanne Wirkkula stated that the President is deeply vested in collaborative efforts to improve the
undergraduate experience. She asked that the Provost share with the Senators what he's been doing, as it is so
important to the University. The Provost responded that he had spent much time with Vice President for Student
Affairs Mike Christakis. We had about a dozen meetings in the campus Center and dorms with students. We brought
them pizza and asked for their views on UAlbany. We formed a committee for enhancing the student experience as
a working group and charged them with helping us understand how to interact with students. The goal was to raise
the freshman to sophomore conversion rate by 10%. Bruce Szelest calculated that to mean about 640 students and
$6 million in revenue. We thought this revenue could be used to hire new faculty, sustain the programs, and do new
things. We then made an investment in Writing and Critical Inquiry (WCI) faculty and dropped their section size
from 24 to 19. We built a website which will show all the people related to a student in terms of advising, mental
health counseling, financial aid, and instruction. The Provost noted that it is very important to back up advisors with
faculty. WCI offered us a unique opportunity to do that. Doctoral instructors in WCI looked at one half of freshmen
students in their first semester and one half in their second semester. The other freshman outside that group were in
the living learning experiences or other small classes. Massive changes were also made by the summer orientation
people as well to create more visits in small groups. Jeanette Altarriba and Mike Christakis led a presentation in the
Lecture Center which was highly popular. Students were then led into small groups for discussion. The idea is to
extend that small group to at least one class in the fall. The next step is to talk to faculty about what we can do to
take care of students going forward into their sophomore year. We also purchased a software package which will do
big data analytics on students on all students as they come in and as they execute here, with the idea of flagging
potentially at-risk students for Student Success. This package should be available in the Spring 2016 term and ready
for the start of next fall. We are hoping for something like a 4% increase this year and a 5% increase next year. Any
ideas on improving the student experience at UAlbany are welcomed as we have much work to do. For example,
we lose 30% of our first year transfer students. We are going to try to run workshops and work on this as well and
work on sophomore-senior transition rates. This is our mission and therefore the right thing to do and it will help us
grow our resources to support our overall vision.
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT –Cynthia Fox
1. Informational
a. On June 12, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences informed Senate Chair SteflMabry that the Religious Studies Program had been moved from the Department of Art and Art
History to the Department of History, effective fall 2015.
b. On May 21, Senate officers were asked to provide feedback on the Middle States Periodic Review Report
(MSPRR); feedback and suggestions from Chair Stefl-Mabry were incorporated into the document that was
due June 1. Two recommendations that remain only partially addressed include amending the process by
which part-time faculty Senators are elected (currently by “voting faculty,” of which they are not a part) and
consideration of representation on the Senate by emeritus faculty and those employed by the Research
Foundation.
c. Senate Chair Stefl-Mabry and Vice Chair Fox met with Provost Stellar and Chief of Staff Leanne Wirkkula
on July 1. Topics discussed included the MSPRR report, SUNY EXCELS, faculty evaluation of
administrators, the status of the yearly reports from the Vice President for Research on the occurrence of cases
pertaining to violations of academic integrity principles in research and scholarship and their disposition, and
the need to replace Albany Law student Andrew Howard as Senate Parliamentarian. As a follow-up to that
meeting, Chair Stefl-Mabry sent Provost Stellar documents related to the proposed Senate Council on
Administrative Review and Evaluation (CARE) which the Governance Council has been working on since
2011.
d. In mid-July, Senate officers received materials from Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Strategic
Leadership and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor Jason Lane relative to the implementation of SUNY’s
Seamless Transfer framework. As per a Memorandum to Campus Presidents of 6/13/13, the Final Program
Status Inventory and STR Attestation Letter need to be completed and submitted to system
administration no later than COB on October 15, 2015.
e. In August, Barry Trachtenberg, Vice President for Academics of the Albany Chapter of UUP, asked to meet
with Senate officers to convey some concerns regarding CPCA.
f. The schedule of monthly meetings between the Senate Chair, Vice Chair and Immediate Past Chair, the
Provost and the President’s Chief of Staff has been established for the 2015-16 year. The first meeting was
held on September 15.
g. Chair Fox learned on September 14 that SUNY Central administration has invited campus governance
bodies to provide input by October 9 on a revised Patent and Inventions Policy that they plan to submit to
the Board of Trustees in November.
h. Senate officers were informed on September 15 that (14) proposals were submitted to SUNY System
Administration on August 28 in response to their invitation for ideas that support SUNY Excels and goals
for student completion, and on September 16 that eleven (11) of these proposals (listed below) have now
been given the go ahead for development and submission by October 15.
# 123 Advanced Data Analytics Institute
# 124 Data Analytics for Transforming SUNY
# 126 Developing Cyberstructure to Advance Sensor Research and Development
# 127 Expansion of EOP program
#129 Faculty Start Up packages for CEHC
#129: Increasing Access Completion and Seamless Transfer Success through the
Development of Common Student Learning Outcomes
#130 Increasing Student Enrollment and Minority Representation in the STEM
Fields and Licensed Professions
#132: Renovation of the Schuyler Building as the New Home of the UAlbany
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
#133 SUNY Global College of Multilingual Online Learning
#135 The Steps 2 0 Evidence-Based Early Intervention Program for Alcohol
Marijuana and Non-Medical Prescription Drug Use
#136 UAlbany Advantage Enhancing the Student Experience
i. Chair Fox received a request for Senate consultation in the appointment of faculty members to the Honors
College Governing Board (HCGB) on September 16.
j. The fall faculty meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 27 from 3-4pm in the PAC.
2. Actions Taken
a. Chair Fox attended the first meeting of CPCA on August 30 to share UUP concerns.
b. Materials relevant to SUNY’s proposed Revised Patent and Inventions Policy were forwarded to COR for
comment on September 14.
c. Materials relevant to appointment of faculty members to the Honors College Governing Board (HCGB)
were forwarded to GOV for action on September 16.
d. The 11 proposals that support SUNY Excels and goals for student completion were forwarded to relevant
Senate Councils for comment on September 16 and 18.
e. Following consultation with the SEC on September 16, Chair Fox has appointed Ronald Vero as Senate
Parliamentarian for 2015-16.
3. Recommended Actions
a. In accordance with Senate Charter X.1.3.3., the Senate, via the Governance Council, is charged to
develop and administer the next survey of effectiveness of governance and consultation in Spring 2016.
The Fall Faculty Meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, October 27 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the PAC, at which
the President will give a State of the University address. Provost Stellar, Chair Fox, UPPC Chair Stefl-Mabry and
UAC Co-Chair Smith met with Interim Dean Russo, Elizabeth Gray and Celine Forsyth on 9/10 to talk about the
approval process on campus and off, as they will now be proposing a major in the CEHC. UPPC will review the
campus impact statement. A letter of intent and will go to SUNY Central administration, then a 30 day comment
period will go out to all SUNY. A campus visit from external reviewers will follow. On Monday, 9/28 there will be
an update to the Senate by David Rousseau. The campus governance bodies are invited to provide input by 10/9 on
a revised Patent and Inventions Policy proposed by SUNY Central, to go to the trustees in November. CoR will
look at that so that the Senate can comment. The transmittal and initial grant proposals were received and shared.
We will await news from the Provost's office on the 11 approved to move forward so that we can provide feedback.
A request for the Honors College Governors’ Board membership will go to GOV. We have identified the Senate
parliamentarian, who is an actual parliamentarian rather than a student. It is in the Senate Chair’s authority to
appoint him. He is not available for the first two Senate meetings, and so it was asked if anyone knew of someone
who could assist for those meetings. GSA President Bob Beach stated that he would ask their parliamentarian,
also a former student, if he might be available. Chair Fox underscored that at the beginning of last year the first
Charter Amendment that was passed changed the language to require that a survey on consultation and
governance be done on a two-year cycle. It falls on this year and is on the GOV agenda for its Monday meeting.
OTHER REPORTS
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) – J. Philippe Abraham, Walter Little & John Schmidt, SUNY
Senators
The UFS Senators look forward to the Fall Plenary at Buffalo State on October 22-24.
GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Robert Beach, GSA President
I am happy to report that we have put together an exceptional senate and senate council team in the GSA. Our
representatives are as follows:
GOV: Caitlin Janiszewski
COR: Hanna Pageau (Lead Senator), Hirah Mir
GAC: Rebecca Prince, Cristina Herrera, Tiffany Charles (Senator)
UPPC: Nakissa Jahanbani (Senator)
UAC: Derek Ellis
ULC: Yueyue Wang
LISC: Nicholas Schiraldi
CAA: Henry Curtis (Senator)
The GSA itself is in a very good position. It has a pretty big budget and is seeing increased participation by
graduate students. We are looking forward to a very productive year.
SA (Student Association) – Jarius Jemmott, Student Association President
Nothing to report
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE CHAIRS’ REPORTS:
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – James Mower, Chair
CAA is still forming committee assignments but otherwise has nothing to report.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility) –
Carol Jewell, Chair
CAFFECoR met on Sept. 17. We discussed several issues, which we will work more on in the coming months,
particularly as they relate to or impinge upon Academic Freedom.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Michael Jerison, Chair
Nothing to report
COR (Council on Research) – Daniele Fabris, Chair
The COR had its first meeting on September 17. We started to fill up the rosters of the various subcommittees and
discussed the major item in the agenda, which consists of the new amendments of patent policies suggested by
SUNY central. A document/report on this item will be percolating among the COR members.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Lynn Warner, Chair
CPCA met on Sep 15 and reviewed 1 promotion case and 1 tenure and promotion case.
CPCA is scheduled to meet on Sep 28 to review 2 tenure and promotion cases.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Ronald Toseland, Chair
Nothing to report
GOV (Governance Council) – James Collins, Chair
Nothing to report; the dates for the GOV meetings are scheduled.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – David Mamorella, Chair
LISC will have their first meeting on Sept. 21.
There has been a change to the membership – Kathleen Green will serve as the graduate student representative.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) –Karen Kiorpes and Christy Smith, Co-Chairs
Report of UAC Activity, May 7-September 15, 2015
UAC had its first meeting and filled the committees.
The Undergraduate Academic Council, led by Chair Robert Yagelski, held its last meeting of the 2014-2015
academic year on May 7.
The Council reviewed and approved a proposal from the Psychology Department to change the terms of
conditional readmission to the Psychology major from 2.50 in Psychology courses after completion of core courses
to 2.75. This higher GPA requirement will increase the likelihood that students will meet the full admission
requirements to the major the following semester.
The Council also reviewed two proposals forwarded from the Provost and Vice Provost. English is proposing a
Joint 3+2 Degree Program with the School of Foreign Languages of Shanghai University, and English/Liberal
Studies submitted a proposal to create a new B.A. /M.A. program. UAC does not need to act or vote on either
proposal but reports support for them. GAC will review the proposals in the fall.
The Curriculum and Honors Committee reported out approval of the following proposals:



Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences is revising the B.S. in Atmospheric Science. A new capstone
course has been added and the program will require 70 credits, up from 66, in part because of the
guidelines associated with SUNY Seamless Transfer initiatives
Chemistry is deactivating the Chemistry/Comprehensive Forensics Chemistry Emphasis B.S. since
maintaining the Emphasis to meet the Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission
was become unwieldy
Geography and Planning is revising the Globalization Studies language requirement so that it is clearer
and simple

Political Science is clarifying the requirements of the B.A. to ensure 18 credits must be taken at the 300 or
400 level at that a minimum of 15 credits must be completed
The Committee on Admissions and Academic Standing reported that the subcommittee, Committee on Academic
Standing has been meeting weekly to review student petitions for exceptions to academic policy. CAS will
convene for two full days in June to review petitions for reinstatement from students who will be dismissed when
grades are posted at the end of the semester.
ULC (University Life Council) – Michael Jaromin, Chair
Nothing to report
The Council is interested in hearing about tobacco free SUNY, and has membership changes. On the tobacco free
question, Chief of Staff Wirkkula noted that the President had a draft report but wanted to wait until after the
Policy on Policies was approved. That was approved last week by the Executive Committee, so we are now ready
to implement this. That practice will be among the first to go through.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Joette Stefl-Mabry, Chair
Nothing to report; UPPC's first meeting is Thursday, September 24th.
Chair Fox noted any changes in membership need to be forwarded to Yenisel Gulatee, and “cced” to her, as they
are presented to and voted upon by the Senate.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Deactivation of Puerto Rican Studies Major
Chair Fox recapped that at the last Senate meeting the proposal came to the Senate. An objection was raised by
Senator José Cruz, a copy of which he has provided. In the end, the proposal was tabled. It will come back to the
floor on the 28th. A motion needs to be made to un-table, and then we can try to come to a vote. We have invited
the Chair of the Department of Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies to respond to the objections.
NEW BUSINESS
Introduction of Charter Amendments
Last year Chair Stefl-Mabry asked the councils to review their charges. The amendments came out of the councils.
They then went to GOV which approved them to go forward for a vote at the SEC. The SEC now needs to review
that they are ready to go on the Senate agenda. The other proposed amendments and recommendations have gone
back to GOV for further review.
1516-01A: Updates to Section X.4 (GAC) 1) removes unnecessary procedural references while maintaining the
Council’s authority in supervising graduate education on the campus, and 2) adds clarifying language regarding the
need for the Senate to take action to both establish and modify graduate academic policies.
A motion was made and unanimously approved that the above proposal be put on this next Senate agenda. 1516-02A:
RE: Asymmetry in LISC Standing Committees repairs an asymmetry in the treatment of the Dean of the Libraries and
the CIO in the two standing LISC committees.
A motion was made and unanimously approved that the above proposal be put on the next Senate agenda.
An SEC member proposed to make it possible is a routine that some spontaneous comments appropriate to the Senate
can be brought to the Senate floor. An example of such an issue was discussed regarding the need for classroom redesign. It was considered whether such items should be included under new business after the business of the Senate
with the stipulation this could be removed if it becomes too cumbersome.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 3:56 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder