University Senate Executive Committee
Monday, May 4, 2015
2:45 PM
UNH 306
Joette Stefl-Mabry, Senate Chair
Minutes
Present:
Philippe Abraham, Deborah Bernnard, Marc Cohen, Susanna Fessler, Cynthia Fox, Boris Goldfarb,
Yenisel Gulatee, Caitlin Janiszewski, Carol Jewell, Kajal Lahiri, David McCaffrey, Sanjay Putrevu,
Abebe Rorissa, John Schmidt, Joette Stefl-Mabry, James Stellar, Robert Yagelski
Guests:
Bob Beach, Leanne Wirkkula
The meeting convened at 2:46 p.m.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to amend the agenda to add the following proposals for
consideration under ‘New Business’:



Proposal to Establish an Advanced Graduate Certificate Program in Adolescent Special Education for
Childhood Special Educators
Proposal to Establish a Bachelor of Science in Human Development
Proposal to Establish an Undergraduate Minor in Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and
Cybersecurity
APPROVAL OF SEC MINUTES
The minutes of April 15th were unanimously approved, with 1 abstention.
PROVOST’S REPORT – James Stellar
We are down to the final candidates in the Vice President for International Education and Criminal Justice Dean
searches. A major grant application triggered a site visit and tour by Blackstone today. The agency seemed very
impressed, and regardless of whether or not UAlbany is awarded the grant, Provost Stellar noted he could not have
been happier with what we did. Dr. Kim L. Boyer, formerly from RPI, was present and has been named Interim
Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The Libraries Dean search is still pending. The
Contingent Faculty and Staff Committee and the Graduate Student Stipend Committees are both expected to
submit final reports before the end of term. Next year the bodies will elaborate on the plans and get reactions to
integrate the 2 reports. Interim Dean Rousseau of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and
Cybersecurity will be providing an update. Provost Stellar noted that a lot has been happening as part of the
advancement of President Jones’ agenda playing out. He thanked the Senate for approving the bill for the name
change of the College of Computing and Information to the College of Engineering Applied Science. The
Committee for Enhancing the Student Experience has been running focus groups to garner reactions on
opportunities to improve retention rates and help students to fit in. This will continue to be a major effort to expand
revenue by doing the right thing.
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT – Joette Stefl-Mabry
Nothing to report
Bill 1415-03 – Graduate Certificate Program in Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cyber Security
was approved by the President today, 5/4/2015. On April 27th Chair Stefl-Mabry received a memo from Dean
Wulfert stating that effective in the fall semester the Journalism program currently housed in the Department of
English will move to the Department of Communication. All faculty will retain their current departmental
affiliations. Journalism, Communication and English have been consulted and support the move. As there are
significant areas of alignment, the integration of Journalism into the Department of Communication was also
recommended by the external reviewers in the department self-study last year. They believe that this administrative
integration will strengthen both programs and provide additional opportunities for collaboration among faculty.
The reorganization will not require any additional resources. The SEC agreed that Interim Dean David Rousseau
would give his report before the SEC committee reports.
Update regarding the formation of a new College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and
Cybersecurity – Interim Dean David Rousseau
Dean Rousseau offered to provide frequent updates to the SEC regarding where they had gone and where they
were heading. He recapped that the governor had announced the creation of the college in January, and UAlbany
was awarded the new college. Rousseau shared that they have been working at several levels. They have formed a
steering committee of about 10 faculty, and another group of approximately 50 faculty. There had been several
meetings of both groups working toward a minor and a major. The minor has worked its way through governance,
and they are hoping at the May 11th Senate meeting that the minor will be approved. Simultaneously they have
been working on the major. They are almost ready with the program announcement to go out for the 30 day period.
They will then bring in external reviewers, after which they hope to bring the major to the SEC. It will be an
interdisciplinary major with a core curriculum and electives in several areas, with a series of experiential learning
classes. Some of the mandatory training will take place at the Oriskany State Preparedness Center that is being
integrated with the college. Graduate programs will be tackled this summer, meeting with external stakeholders to
talk about the curriculum, etc. The governor is very interested in, down the line, offering continuing education
opportunities that fit with our programs. They will be working with deans across colleges to put that together. They
are putting together a budget and will be working with the governor and others to try to identify resources for the
University to build this work going forward. In response to questions, Interim Dean Rousseau explained the hope
to announce the new college around June 1st and then begin appointing joint faculty and building from that point
forward. Hopefully minors will be ready to come in fall and majors will be ready down the line. They have a lot of
related programs going on across the University, which are essentially repackaging, such as a Public Health
Certificate at the master’s level and at the undergrad level Informatics, Cyber Security, and Digital Forensics.
Vice Chair Fox noted that the college needs to be created now, and that the SEC had a big debate regarding how to
go about doing that. With only one Senate meeting left, it was proposed that maybe we need to do something to
avoid having faculty return from summer with the feeling that there had not been any discussion. It was suggested
that the Senate put forward a bill or resolution now so that we acknowledge having been made aware of the
creation of the college. It was discussed that a bill would not be in order, as this is an administrative decision. This
falls instead under the category of major reorganization regarding which ‘faculty shall be informed and given
opportunity to discuss’ under the Charter’s Rights and Responsibilities of the Faculty. A resolution however would
demonstrate support, since it was not considered to be a decision on which the faculty could vote. Of note, the
topic had also been discussed at the last Senate meeting.
A motion was made to put forward a resolution to show support of the creation of the new College of Emergency
Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity, which the SEC unanimously approved, with 1 abstention.
Chair Stefl-Mabry would draft the resolution and would put the item on the Senate agenda for following week.
OTHER REPORTS
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) –Danielle Leonard, J. Philippe Abraham & John Schmidt,
SUNY Senators
Report of the Spring Plenary of University Faculty Senate, Plattsburgh, April 23-25, 2015
The following issues were considered at the Spring Plenary
1.
Budget. The budget includes a modest increase in Tax dollar funding for SUNY, but not enough to meet the increased costs (e.g.
UUP 2% increases in salary this year and last). The state operated campuses budget increased from $713M to $730M, a $15M
increase or 2.1%. This includes an $18M Investment performance category to be doled out based on the SUNY Excels metrics
(individual campus plans yet to be submitted, but this year will be based primarily on student completion rates). There will be
another $300 tuition increase this the final year of SUNY2020, which (assuming approximately 200,000 students) will add
approximately $60M, same as last year. The UUP’s 2% raises this year and last would increase costs about $60M each year.
Hence costs are being shifted from State tax dollars to tuition again. On the capital funds side, there is also another $200M for
critical maintenance, same as last year. Still to be considered by the legislature is SUNY’s proposed extension of SUNY2020, for
further tuition rises, and a clarification of the “maintenance of effort” to include cost increases, rather than just constant dollars.
2.
Experiential Learning (or Practical Learning or Internships). The budget still included language on experiential learning
(which we consider a terrible precedent of Legislative mandating of curriculum), in spite of letters from SUNY UFS, CUNY
Senate and Faculty Council of Comm. Colleges Chairs to the Higher Ed Committees of the Legislature opposing it, although the
requirement was considerably modified. It now calls for the Board of Trustees to pass a resolution to develop a plan on
Experiential Learning by June 1, with implementation delayed to June1 of next year. Individual campuses would decide whether
the plan is feasible for them, and the implementation must explicitly engage Campus Governance Leadership and the UFS. The
UFS plans to set up a steering committee to ensure faculty input into the requirement in line with the faculty’s primary
responsibility for SUNY’s curriculum.
Resolutions were passed on the following subjects:
1. Resolution on Faculty oversight of the curriculum.
2. Resolution on Applied Learning
3. Resolution supporting renewal of SUNY 2020
4. Resolution encouraging SUNY to explore initiatives in Open Access Journals
5. Resolution encouraging SUNY to set up Graduate Fellowships for our best undergrads seeking to enter graduate fields at
SUNY institutions.
Further updates later….
A number of other things would be included in the upcoming Senate report, highlighted as follows: updates on
seamless transfer, open SUNY, intellectual property, retention and completion rates, a fall SUNY conference on
building a new business model for the academy planned for in October in NYC, a review of campus presidents
over the next 3 years covering all SUNY campuses (though not this campus in the near future) with the first round
including 9 or 10 campuses. Regarding a question on the state budget, the governor had originally issued a
legislative mandate that there be an experiential learning/internship component for all students. Now it is up to the
faculty to decide if it is practical and to consider such issues as accountability, funding, best student representation
for internships, etcetera, about which there was discussion at the last Plenary. Senate Chair Stefl-Mabry added
that it is very beneficial and important for leaders to continue attending the Plenaries to hear from other campuses
about how they are handling concerns and challenges. The experiential learning/internship matter has been
referred to the SUNY BOT which is meeting later this month. They will develop a plan within the year to go into
effect a year from next month. It will include campus governance leadership and the SUNY-wide University
Faculty Senate, which is developing a steering committee to coordinate faculty input. A lot of experiential learning
is already in existence. Provost Stellar added that this is a topic of high interest to him and that there are models
out there from which we can learn. The Provost recounted his positive experiences with experiential education. He
found it to be a great boon to recruitment because 1) it helped students bond with, learn from and make friends
with faculty; 2) helped students see their own futures with hands-on learning, made them more passionate and
made classes more fun and academic; 3) internships helped students get jobs within their fields upon graduation.
It was noted that at some point in the fall there may be a push for campuses to pass resolutions in support of
FMLA policy to assist with negotiations. Congratulations to John Schmidt on his new position for which he will be
writing the campus questions to the Chancellor.
GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Caitlin Janiszewski, GSA President
Nothing to report
GSA was in transition, and successor Bob Beach had been invited to join the SEC meeting. Provost Stellar and the
SEC thanked GSA President Janiszewski on doing a great job. GSA passed the budget at the final assembly
meeting and had a nice surplus to propose investments in the future. They were working on the 1) follow up to the
President’s Forum; 2) leadership summit, with an exciting site visit pending in 2 weeks from NAGPS leadership;
3) major recognition event at the end of the week. Senator Janiszewski will be moving to the University Council
and thanked the SEC for the experience of attending SEC meetings.
SA (Student Association) –Marc Cohen, Student Association Representative
Nothing to report
A summary of what the departments have done would be included in the upcoming Senate report. SA had a concert
yesterday that students enjoyed. Mark Cohen announced he would be serving in an advisory role and was not sure
if would be asked to serve on the SEC committee next year. He would serve on the Critical Conversations panel.
Provost Stellar and the SEC congratulated him on and thanked him for his service.
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE CHAIRS’ REPORTS:
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Deborah Bernnard, Chair
The CAA will be meeting on May 1.
CAA met that Friday. Cynthia Fox had sent a proposed amendment to clarify CAA’s role as requested when CAA
looked at its charges in the fall. The amendment changes the word ‘compliance’ to ‘review, as the Council thought
it more appropriate since there is no mechanism to ensure compliance. When looking at the Charter, another issue
had been brought up regarding the number of faculty who are supposed to be on the Council and on each
committee. We fall woefully short every year on committees, so CAA has asked to consider if the numbers are
wrong or should be changed, in particular for teaching faculty. We looked at and approved reports from the
General Education Assessment Committee on Gen Ed History and the History in the University in the high school
program. Reports from the Academic Program Review Committee on the Communication department program
review and Sociology department program review were also approved. A report on the Biology department
program review was considered but not approved because we want to make the language stronger about the
department needing to beef up its efforts in participation of assessment activities. Chair Stefl-Mabry asked the
Council on Nominations to consider the request. GOV Chair Fox responded that the vast majority of volunteers
are professional. The GOV Chair also commented that related to this issue of peopling councils is another issue
deserving of discussion regarding the ambiguous status of emeriti and part time faculty. They are part of faculty as
defined by the Bylaws and are allowed to vote on the committees on which they serve, but not in the Senate even on
their own representation. GOV Chair Fox did research on different models at other universities. Perhaps the
report from the Blue Ribbon Panel on Adjunct Faculty and a UFS report on contingent faculty will inform further
discussion. Another item for consideration is the potential automatic updating of title and name changes in the
Charter, per concerns raised last fall by GAC and others that language issues crop up in various places.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility) –
Carol Jewell, Chair
Nothing to report
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
Nothing to report
COR (Council on Research) – Kajal Lahiri, Chair
The Council on Research has completed funding rounds on both the Conference and Journal support award and the Benevolent
Association Awards for Graduate Student Research.
The Conference and Journal Support awards review committee had 3 applications for support for conferences, and one application for
support for editorship of a journal. The committee recommended that the 3 applications for conference support be fully funded; the
Journal support request was reviewed and it was recommended that funding not be awarded during this round. If the applicant confirms
their editorship of the journal in question, the application may be re-submitted for future funding. The Council voted to approve the
recommendations of the subcommittee. An additional request was received from PIs who applied for a conference support award last year
and were approved at a lesser amount of funding than that requested. While they submitted a revised budget, they did not provide the
additional justification needed for expenses that the subcommittee members were concerned about, and it was therefore the decision of the
Council that additional funding not be provided as sufficient justification for an increased amount was not received.
The Benevolent Association Awards for Graduate Student Research review subcommittee received nine applications for funding from
graduate students, as previously reported. These nine applications were thoroughly reviewed by a university-wide committee and it was
the recommendation of the committee that seven of the applications be funded. The Council voted unanimously to support the
recommendation of the review subcommittee.
The FRAP review subcommittee were notified that one of the recipients selected for the FRAP-A awards this year is no longer eligible; as
the award period had not yet started, the committee returned to the review of applications and unanimously recommended that the next
application in their ranked reviews be funded. This recommendation was unanimously supported by the Council.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Sanjay Putrevu, Chair
The next CPCA meeting is on April 29.
CPCA was meeting though there were no outstanding cases. The SEC thanked Chair Putrevu for his 3 years of
service.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Abebe Rorissa, Chair
I.
Informational
The GAC met on April 7, 2015. Items on the Agenda included reviews of: (1) a report from one of the GAC’s Standing Committees, (2) a
proposal to discontinue/deregister graduate programs in Geology, and (3) two proposals from the School of Education (to establish a
BA/MS program in Human Development/ Mental Health Counseling and BA/MS program in Human Development/Educational
Psychology & Methodology).
Our next scheduled meeting is on April 28.
II.
Reports of Actions
 The GAC, based on the review and recommendation by the Committee on Curriculum & Instruction, unanimously voted to
accept the committee’s recommendations to approve changes to two existing graduate programs in the School of Business and
the Department of Public Administration & Policy in the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. The proposal by the
School of Business sought to make a slight structural change to its Graduate Certificate program in Information Security -- a
one course reduction in the “specialized courses” category with a corresponding one course increase in the “elective” category.
The second proposal, by the Department of Public Administration & Policy, was to update its Master of Public Administration
program by elevating Nonprofit Management & Policy from a sub-cluster to a cluster within the MPA program.
 The Council unanimously approved a proposal from the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Science and the College
of Arts and Sciences to have graduate programs in Geology formally discontinued/deregistered.
 The Council also considered two proposals by the School of Education to establish a BA/MS program in Human
Development/Mental Health Counseling and a BA/MS program in Human Development/Educational Psychology &
Methodology. After extensive discussions and questions, the Council unanimously voted to reconsider the proposals at its next
meeting after the undergraduate (BS) piece is approved by the UAC.
III.
Recommendations for Actions
The GAC endorses introduction of a bill to the University Senate to discontinue and deregister graduate programs in Geology by the
Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Science and the College of Arts and Sciences.
The Senate did not get to vote on the Geology Bill 1415-05 at its last meeting, and so it would be reintroduced for
a vote at the next Senate meeting. Regarding the BA/MS Applied Program in Human Development, it was thought
better to wait until the fall of next year to introduce the proposal. The Advanced Graduate Certificate Program in
Adolescent Special Education proposal is on the SEC agenda.
GOV (Governance Council) – Cynthia Fox, Chair
Kajal Lahiri has been identified and has accepted to be the faculty member to serve as the Senate Designee to the START-UP NY
Advisory Committee.
GOV’s last meeting was on Wednesday. They had drafted Charter amendments based on recommendations last
fall from CAA, LISC, and GAC. There were large issues raised by UAC including how to make the large workload
more manageable. Many people volunteer for the same committees, which do not include UAC. The amendments
do not have time to be voted on this semester but are ready to go for the fall. Chair Stefl-Mabry thanked the
councils for their recommendations and GOV for the follow up.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Boris Goldfarb, Chair
Nothing to report
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) –Robert Yagelski, Chair
The Undergraduate Academic Council met on April 9 th and resumed discussion of a proposal from the School of Education, brought to
the full council by the Curriculum and Honors Committee, to establish a new undergraduate program in human development. Council
members focused discussion on revisions made to the proposal in response to the UAC’s initial review on March 26 th. These revisions
primarily addressed Council members’ concerns about the proposed program’s admissions criteria and procedures. Members were
satisfied that the revisions sufficiently addressed their concerns and unanimously approved the proposal.
The Curriculum and Honors Committee reported the English Department proposed a revision to the English minor—specifically, a
requirement that all students enrolled in the minor take English 205Z. Curriculum and Honors approved the proposed changes after
obtaining clarification from the English Department on several issues regarding transfer students.
UAC also met on April 23rd and reviewed a proposal to establish a new undergraduate minor in Emergency Preparedness, Homeland
Security, and Cybersecurity. The proposal was submitted by the Department of Public Administration in view of the founding of the new
College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity. The Interdisciplinary Studies Committee reviewed the
proposal and identified several concerns related to the design of the core curriculum in the proposed minor and to the academic
foundation of the minor; they brought these concerns to the full UAC. Representatives of the team that designed the minor, including
David Rousseau, Interim Dean of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity, attended the UAC
meeting and answered Council members’ questions about the proposal. After the discussion, UAC voted to approve the proposal.
In addition, the Interdisciplinary Studies Committee reported that it had reviewed and approved a proposal to revise the undergraduate
minor in International Studies. UAC endorsed the committee approval.
ULC (University Life Council) – Michael Jaromin, Chair
Joel Bloom presented to ULC on April 27th on "Quality of Life" data for students, faculty and staff.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – David McCaffrey, Chair
UPPC meets on April 29.
UPPC approved the Minor in Homeland Security and heard a briefing from Registrar Karen Chico Hurst on the
2016-17 academic year.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Electronic meetings and Faculty Bylaws
The SEC considered if procedures for the SEC and Senate to hold electronic meetings should be added to the
Bylaws. It was discussed that there might be a model, such as the University Council’s, to seek for guidance. The
SEC needs ample time for consideration, i.e. of guidelines in Robert’s Rules that call for simultaneous hearing,
speaking and seeing regarding holding electronic meetings. It was noted that council and committee meeting work
really is efficient as is, and works well, so whatever we do hopefully will not change that, especially in standing
committees.
NEW BUSINESS
The SEC reviewed and discussed each of the following 3 proposals to determine if they were ready to move
forward to the Senate.

Proposal to Establish an Advanced Graduate Certificate Program in Adolescent Special Education for
Childhood Special Educators
A motion was made and unanimously approved that the above proposal be put on the next Senate agenda.

Proposal to Establish a Bachelor of Science in Human Development
A motion was made and unanimously approved that the above proposal be put on the next Senate agenda.

Proposal to Establish an Undergraduate Minor in Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and
Cybersecurity – The proposal had been approved by UPPC and UAC
A motion was made and unanimously approved that the above proposal be put on the next Senate agenda.
Professor Lahiri’s concerns regarding distinguished professors and adherence to the SUNY Handbook.
Professor Lahiri shared that colleagues here should know how the selection process actually happens. The
discussion was prompted by a distinguished professor committee member who informed him that UAlbany had
sent in 4 names for consideration, of which 3 were shot down. That never happens there, and was found to be
somewhat embarrassing. We are dealing with good faculty here, and the administration handles this in a discreet
way so that it is not public knowledge that candidates are not qualified. At the same time, this should be an area for
campus governance to be aware of how those submissions are processed. Professor Lahiri noted that he has
observed that UAlbany in particular has been somewhat careless, for instance in that distinguished professors are
not mentioned at graduate ceremonies in the way that Collins Fellows are celebrated. This was in contrast to his
experience at a SUNY Central dinner where they were honoring distinguished faculty. The handbook also
indicates that distinguished faculty, being on high standing, should walk in the front of the procession in the
graduate ceremony. It makes a lot of sense, yet UAlbany does not seem to follow the SUNY guidelines. It was
thought our Provost is new and should be made aware of this. The guidelines also clearly state that scholarly
research should have a national or international component, not solely local to the campus and university. It was
suggested perhaps somehow governance should have some input or know about how UAlbany considers
recommendations for this category. It was discussed that it was thought there is a committee of distinguished
professors that in the past GOV approved in the fall and that should also include the Senate Chair. GOV Chair Fox
stated that GOV did not get a list to appoint distinguished professors this year, and Senate Chair Stefl-Mabry stated
she had not been asked to sit on such a committee. Professor Lahiri urged the SEC to look at the description so that
there is a clear understanding, since UAlbany selection procedures are unlike those of other university centers. As
procedures are not in the Bylaws or Charter, it was suggested to ask Bill Hedberg who it was thought was an
organizer in the past. SEC members agreed that procedures should be followed, governance has a role, service
professorship should be taken more seriously to respect good faculty, and if 3 names were turned down last year
that something is wrong. The SEC thanked Professor Lahiri for bringing the matter to their attention.
Chair Stefl-Mabry thanked the SEC members for their work this year and noted she would work on the resolution
and send it out to them.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 4:08 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder