University Senate Executive Committee
Monday May 5, 2014
2:45 PM
UNH 306
Christine Wagner, Senate Chair
Minutes
Present:
Debrah Bernnard, Anthony DeBlasi, Susanna Fessler, Elizabeth Gaffney, Yenisel Gulatee,
Michael Jaromin, Danielle Leonard, Andi Lyons, John Monfasani, Susan Phillips, Sanjay Putrevu,
John Schmidt, Joette Stefl-Mabry, Christine Wagner
The meeting convened at 2:54 p.m.
APPROVAL OF SEC MINUTES
The minutes of March 24th were unanimously approved with a minor change and 1 abstention.
The minutes of April 16th were unanimously approved with a minor change and 2 abstentions.
PROVOST’S REPORT – SUSAN PHILLIPS
Provost Phillips summarized what had transpired since the Academic Retreat of last May.
A Computer Engineering Program, funded by the SUNY High Needs Program, is in curriculum development to be
reviewed by the Senate in the fall. Three other areas being considered are Biomedical Engineering, Health Information
Systems Engineering, and Environmental Engineering.
Secondly, there is an interest in developing more Allied Health options. We have been looking at other ways for
students to move into non-medicine health fields. About 100 of 400 to 500 students enrolled with an interest in
medicine end up actually pursuing that. We want to offer pathways for the other 300 to 400 students in other varieties of
health fields such as PT, OT, Veterinary Science, and Lab Technician areas. Work is being done to add options to the
Human Biology major to create different tracks into i.e. pre-nursing, pre-physical therapy and pre-occupational therapy.
Funding will be in consideration soon and will involve adding some resources to the Biology Program. We are
exploring creating partnerships with Downstate and potentially other areas. We are also exploring an area of Behavioral
Health. In the 2020 RFP proposal we had 3 different proposals for Behavioral Health which highlighted how much
expertise we have on campus in this area. We might start with a Behavioral Health minor, which will be coming
through this fall. That area has also been informed by a survey of the region’s health care employers.
We are looking, the Provost reminded, at ways to identify, develop and grow engaged learning areas to put in pathways
students can more easily find. A group of faculty is also looking at ways to connect majors to professions. The Career
Development Center has been working with department chairs, especially in CAS, in this area. We have also been
looking at interesting new combinations of majors and minors, like Business and Theater, Spanish and Social Welfare,
and Japanese and Informatics. Those might include undergraduate plus graduate combinations as well.
An International review and self-study was taken externally in the fall. We put together recommendations which
included creating a scholarship program for international freshmen, providing a tenured faculty support member for the
Vice-Provost who can deputize, hiring an international student recruiter, sponsoring faculty in international travel,
having an international alumni database, and reducing the cost of study abroad.
Lastly, Provost Phillips reported, there was follow up on the Full Time Tenured Faculty Satisfaction Survey. This
included a series of conversations followed by an invitation to meet with small groups from each of the Schools and
Colleges to talk about creating a map, which is underway, for what needs to happen.
Provost Phillips, responding to a question regarding recruitment efforts, stated that she believes the intent will be to
draw in different, highly qualified, well prepared students as well as out of state and international students. Regarding
the question of different majors being developed, the Computer Engineering major is quite small at approximately 30. If
we were to grow the other 3 Engineering parts mentioned, it is very expensive and how it would be funded is unsure.
Allied Health would draw and also retain students, as mentioned earlier. There is also discussion regarding transferring
exceptional community college students into a 4 year honors program. We have done much better at creating pathways
for all community college students to UAlbany programs, especially for our best partners such as Hudson Valley.
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT – CHRISTINE WAGNER
Senate Bill 1314-04: Proposal to establish a Graduate Certificate Program in International Health and Human Rights was approved
by the Senate on 4/7/14 and approved by the President on 4/23/14.
Senate Bill 1314-06: Proposal to Establish a Faculty-Initiated Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Major in Bio-Instrumentation was
approved by UAC and UPPC and will go to the Senate for a vote on 4/28/14. Approved by the Senate on 4/28/14.
A Charter Amendment (1314-02A) regarding the composition of CPCA, introduced by GOV, was approved in the Senate on
4/7/14.
The Faculty Athletics Representative, Teresa Harrison, requested to make a report to the University Senate about the intercollegiate
athletics program at UAlbany. She will report to the Senate on 5/12/14.
Senate Bill 1314-05: Proposal to Establish a Graduate Certificate Program in Teaching Composition was approved by GAC and
UPPC and will go to the Senate for a vote on 4/28/14. Approved by the Senate on 4/28/14.
A letter of intent from the Department of Geography and Planning to establish a Master of Science Program in Environmental
Geographic Information Science (MSEGIS) has been approved by UPPC and GAC.
A Charter Amendment (1314-03A) regarding the charge of CAFFECoR, introduced by GOV, was distributed to the Senate on
3/31/14 and will come up for a vote at the 4/28/14 Senate meeting in accordance with Faculty Bylaws Article IV.3. Approved by
the Senate on 4/28/14.
The Senate Chair has received a proposal from the College of Arts & Sciences for a reactivation of the Theatre Major. The proposal
was forwarded to UAC and UPPC.
OTHER REPORTS
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) – Danielle Leonard, J. Philippe Abraham & John Schmidt,
SUNY Senators
The UFS Senators are looking forward to the Spring Plenary May 1st-3rd hosted by Empire State College.
John Schmidt reported there were 4 resolutions on: 1) Textbook Costs – to help keep costs down. This was tabled back to
committee; 2) Evaluation of Campus Presidents’ Commitments to the Principles of Shared Governance – passed without dissent.
They sent advice, previously solicited by the Chancellor, on criteria for periodic evaluation in this area; 3) Extending SUNY Board
of Trustees Guidelines for Presidential Searches and Searches for Campus Executive Officers -- it was requested that “Campus
Executive Officers” be used in place of “Presidential”. That resolution pertains to the merger of Nano and SUNY IT and was
passed without dissent. The idea is to ensure that BOT best practice policies about such searches on campuses are followed, i.e.
that open searches take place as the faculty would expect. 4) edTPA – ratified the Executive Committee’s previous resolution
asking for the removal of the requirement for teacher certification and the appointment of an advisory committee to study the
flawed implementation of edTPA. That passed without dissent.
Regarding teacher education, the Interim Provost Elizabeth Springford is establishing an advisory committee on teacher education.
The UFS is working with UUP and has passed its resolution, and the Faculty Council of Community Colleges as well as the
Student Assembly have each passed similar resolutions.
LICH in SUNY Downstate news was that the first bid was accepted, and if there were problems it would go to the second bidder.
They had until yesterday today, and the report in the news indicated it was going to a second bidder, and the first was suing. The
bottom line is supposed to be that SUNY will be able to exit its commitments to run LICH after May 22nd which should end the
drain of $12 million a month.
The Chancellor and Provost both talked about data driven policy making and metrics. The Chancellor highlighted a move by
SUNY in the direction of developing its own metrics for measuring success in the SUNY system and trying to influence the federal
government’s metrics.
The Seamless Transfer initiative – the online faculty review has concluded, and 94% of faculty recommendations were adopted as
proposed. That seems to smooth pathways for some 30 different majors from mainly community colleges and also from 4 year to 4
year.
Open SUNY has called for proposals for a second wave of online degree programs. The courses were sent to the campus on April
11th and due May 16, a part of the effort to support the Chancellor’s ambitious goal of 100,000 new online SUNY students in the
next 4 or so years.
Conference announcements: Sustainability in the Curriculum next month; Making Diversity Count in November; 2-day workshop
on Applied Learning in the fall TBA.
GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Caitlin Janiszewski, GSA President
The GSA has been very busy. We are preparing to move our offices due to the initiation of the campus center expansion project. It
is of course a very stressful endeavor. Much of what we need to do depends on campus center management and we are
understandably a small blip on their radar for this massive project. Our election results are the following:
President - Caitlin Janiszewski
Vice President - Kat Slye
Treasurer - Justin Chase
MCAA Chair - Brittany Glenn
Lead Senator - Ryan Gregoire
Appointments of Senators and other chairpersons are in process. We have already received notice from Senate council members
that they would like to continue their services on their respective councils. We also successfully put on the Spring Presidents
Forum. We look forward to following up on the issues discussed and improving for the next President's Forum in the fall. We hope
to encourage more faculty to attend in the fall. We continue to hammer out the details of our bylaws.
And finally, we are working on following up with the University Auxiliary Services regarding what seems to be a display of
incompetence regarding tax law. The treasurer and I have scheduled a meeting with UAS Executive Director and some staff to
work through the nuances of why it seems they have been instructing us to do things for 10 years which are out of compliance with
tax law. We hope to discuss our relationship as a whole and hammer out what responsibilities UAS must fulfill to allow us to do
our jobs professionally. We are dependent on UAS for critical information regarding our financial processes. We will review our
contract with them and attempt to clarify as well as standardize our interactions so that they are fair, regular, and professional. I
should note that some members of UAS are very helpful when it comes to human resources issues, etc. but it is in regards to our
overall processes that we have experienced major issues with UAS neglecting to provide critical information or following up with
questions. Small issues of miscommunication are of course inevitable but we will be addressing those which have resulted in many
hours of graduate student officer's time compensating for something that could have and should have been communicated well in
advance.
SA (Student Association) –Marc Cohen, Student Association Representative
Interviews for next year's directors are being scheduled and conducted.
Purchase Requests for the comptroller's office have a deadline of Tuesday, 29th.
The senate passed a budget for next year.
Community Engagement and
Outreach
Pine Hills clean-up was a success!
Hackett Middle School program still
going on
Academic Affairs
UA U Should Know videos out
Multicultural Affairs
Planning Cultural Carnival
Gender and Sexuality Concerns
Started planning for conference for
next year
Student Group Affairs
Prepping for Purple and Gold Awards
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE CHAIRS’ REPORTS:
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Deborah Bernnard, Chair
The Council on Academic Assessment hosted the Associate Dean for General Education at our April 25 meeting. Dr. Halpern
provided information on the progress of the Core Competencies in the Majors initiative. CAA will be it crafting assessment cycles
for these competencies next year.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility) – Susanna
Fessler, Chair
Nothing to report.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
Nothing to report.
COR (Council on Research) – John Monfasani, Chair
COR voted to change the guidelines for support of conferences so as to allow support for conferences at the SUNY Global Center
in New York City when UAlbany faculty are principles in organizing the conference. We also have under consideration the
establishment of three new centers at Albany. Finally, we are still grappling with several issues concerning eligibility for FRAP
awards.
There would be a meeting next week, on which they would report next semester.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Sanjay Putrevu, Chair
The next CPCA meeting is on April 30.
They had been meeting weekly as cases were coming in.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Ronald Toseland, Chair
GAC will be meeting on April 29th to consider a petition from a graduate student to be reinstated in the psychology graduate
program. We may also have other reports to consider at the meeting from the two standing committees of the Council. Remaining
business will be taken up during a meeting on May 9th if needed.
GOV (Governance Council) – Joette Stefl-Mabry, Chair
GOV met on April 14, 2014
Committee on Liaison and Elections
On April 8th, 2014 Senate Chair Wagner sent an email requesting that the Governance Council discuss whether an email vote
would “count” in the recently conducted Senator-at-large elections. As MyUAlbany is the voting mechanism for current election
and votes must be cast there and only there (as stipulated in the email sent out by the Secretary of the Senate announcing the
elections), it was suggested that the Governance Council should update the language in the Charter to reflect current voting reality
and consider suitable alternatives as technology continues to evolve. After discussion, the Governance Council decided it would be
prudent to remove all descriptors related to technologies that are in use or that might be used in the future.
Current Charter:
X.1.4.3. Election function.
X.1.4.3.1.4. nominate a slate for the election of Senators-at-large according to Bylaws Article II, Sections 2.2 and 5.3 and conduct
the election, to be decided by plurality vote, by mail or email ballot.
Proposed Revision:
The following change is proposed by the Governance Council:
X.1.4.3.1.4. nominate a slate for the election of Senators-at-large according to Bylaws Article II, Sections 2.2 and 5.3 and conduct
the election, to be decided by plurality vote. by mail or email ballot.
This amendment to the Charter will be brought forward to the SEC on April 16th.
Committee on Council Nominations
The Governance Council elected Cynthia Fox to serve on the Committee on Council Nominations.
Assessment of Governance and Consultation Ad Hoc Committee
Joel Bloom, Director of Academic Assessment & Survey Research, has been working with GOV on the implementation of the
shared governance and consultation surveys. The student version of the Survey of Evaluation of Shared Governance and
Consultation at the University at Albany will be sent out this week (April 15th) to all students, matriculated or non-matriculated,
and the faculty survey should be going out within the next two weeks.
The student Survey and now the Faculty and Professional Staff Survey had been sent out, and participation was encouraged.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Elizabeth Gaffney, Chair
LISC held a meeting on Monday, April 21. CIO Chris Haile provided updates on the plans to migrate to the new data center. Dean
Mary Casserly, provided an update on the progress made in developing an Institutional Digital Repository. The library hopes to be
able to rollout the digital repository to the campus in Fall 2014. If another LISC meeting is needed this year, it will be held on
Monday, May 19th.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Anthony DeBlasi, Chair
Nothing to report
Proposal to reactivate the Theatre minor – UAC approved and saw no curricular barriers and deemed it an administrative
matter. UAC continues to work on Gen Ed plans – they have 3 to go of those submitted; 13 majors have not yet been
received. UAC review will go into the summer.
ULC (University Life Council) – Michael Jaromin, Chair
The ULC met last week and identified the impact of construction projects on University life as a significant topic for the committee
to discuss next year in regard to improving the quality of life for students, faculty and staff.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Andi Lyons, Chair
Nothing to report
They would meet to look at the Graduate Certificate in English Studies for master’s level and to look at reactivation of the
Theatre major. Chris would chair that portion of the UPPC meeting that coming Wednesday.
NEW BUSINESS
Chair Wagner inquired as to if the Graduate Certificate in English Studies for master’s level had been reviewed by
GAC. It was believed it would be reviewed at the next meeting that Friday. It was to be determined if the Senate
would vote on it this semester.
Reactivation of Theatre Major, College of Arts & Sciences
Chair Wagner reported she had received a proposal from Dean Wulfert from the College of Arts and Sciences
outlining plans to reactivate the Theatre major that was deactivated three years ago. She explained that when a
major is put on hold, per SUNY, it can simply be reactivated within a limited span of 3 years. Chair Wagner
proposed that the reactivation be handled much in the same way as the merger of Music and Theatre. She would
send the proposal to UAC and UPPC. Assuming they found no respective curricular or resource issues, then the
proposal would be considered an administrative item. Rather than a bill to the Senate, it would just be reported
back to the senate. It was suggested that this method be laid out for the Councils so when it was being discussed
they would have the information at hand. Senator Andi Lyons underlined that there continues to be significant
interest in the major and that the deactivation was due to faculty numbers dropping by half and a coinciding budget
situation. There are currently 2 tenured faculty members and with the addition of the VAP in performance,
reactivation was proposed. It was added that a similar process took place recently with the reactivation of a
Globalization studies program, though that was a major restructuring.
A motion was made that, given that UAC saw no curricular reasons why the item should be anything other than
administrative and assuming that UPPC adopts the same position, SEC consider this an administrative matter that
need only be reported to the senate.
Voting results: Unanimously approved with 2 abstentions.
The matter would thus be reported to the Senate at the May 12th meeting.
Deactivation and Discontinuation of CNSE
Chair Wagner reported she had received a memo from Provost Philips informing SEC about these deactivations
and asking for input. Provost Phillips explained that with the CNSE IT merger in order for the graduate and
undergraduate programs currently offered through UA to migrate to the new entity they have to be deactivated here
with a discontinuous date. That allows whoever is in the pipeline to complete the program – a process called a
teach-out window. As of January, assuming the new entity exists and has capacity for its own admissions, we
would deactivate programs and would not admit students to those programs after that point. We would set a
discontinuous date allowing anyone who had started here and wanted to continue at UA time to do that. For the 2
bachelor’s, Ph.D. and 2 master’s degree programs it is pretty straightforward. The joint MBA-Nano degree would
prove more complicated. We have to deactivate the joint program and then reactivate it with a different
configuration. It is our agreement with the new entity that they will continue to provide the faculty required for this
joint program, and those UA students enrolled would get everything else at UAlbany. Provost Phillips outlined
general details of the MOU under negotiation, focusing on what needs to happen for the students associated with
the undergraduate and graduate programs in Nano. This will allow each student a choice in the transition regarding
if they want to transfer to the new entity or remain at UAlbany, and it will allow sports scholarships to finish.
There had been discussion on what would be reported back by the Provost to the Senate during the transition, to
include for instance the number of students who transfer to the new entity and the number who remain UAlbany
students. It was suggested that discussions take place in the next meetings of UAC and GAC to contemplate
implications of the transition in the spirit of cooperation. With the support of SEC, Chair Wagner agreed to draft a
memo from the SEC outlining concerns discussed and to include any additional concerns raised at the subsequent
upcoming UAC and GAC meetings. This memo would then be forwarded to the Provost in order to constitute
formal consultation.
SEC congratulated Chair Wagner on her years of service as Chair. Chair Wagner in turn thanked all very much for
the opportunity to be of service for such a great group.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 4:29 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder