2010-2011 University Senate Executive Committee
September 13, 2010
Eric Lifshin, Chair
MINUTES
Present:
J. Philippe Abraham, Tom Bessette, James Castracane, Nicholas Fahrenkopf, Susanna Fessler,
Pradeep Haldar, Laurence Kranich, Vincent LaBella, Danielle Leonard, Eric Lifshin, JoAnne
Malatesta, Richard Matyi, George Philip, Michael Range, Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik, Daniel White
The meeting convened at 3:31 pm
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes from April 26, 2010 were approved.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT by GEORGE PHILIP
Budget:
Over the summer the State legislature passed a budget with no restorations for SUNY. The final cut to SUNY
was $170 million, bringing cuts to a total of $550 million over the past two years. UAlbany will realize a
funding reduction of $35.5 million. The proposed 2% tuition increase was withdrawn. The legislature will
return at the end of September and it is hoped they will look at some elements for relief, perhaps in the form of
a rational tuition policy. The consequences of the cuts have arrived and the President will be asking for a
special meeting with the SEC to talk about next steps.
Enrollment:
President Philip informed the SEC that we have a strong incoming freshman class. Statistics from their GPAs
and SATs are close to those of last year’s class. Events for opening weekend went very well and the President
recognized the work put forth by faculty members that contributed to its success. There have been several
incidents on the downtown campus involving criminal activity, and there is a community effort to enhance
police presence.
The President responded to questions about the budget. He stated that UAlbany’s percentage of the $550
million reduction is about 30% of UAlbany’s cut and this campus received one of the higher percentage
reductions of the four research universities. He also responded to a question concerning PHEEIA and the next
steps from Chancellor Zimpher. He stated that she is committed in pursuing investments in higher education.
She will be meeting with candidates who are running in the upcoming elections. The President believes a
change in the tuition policy is critical for financial relief for the University, as well as changes in procurement
procedures and maintenance of effort. (Check 2/Vince)
SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT by ERIC LIFSHIN
Chair Lifshin informed SEC members that the Senate still needs a parliamentarian. Anyone who is interested
should contact him.
The Senate Orientation will be held next Monday, September 20th in the Alumni House. This will be an
opportunity for the former council chairs and the SUNY representatives to provide a brief summary of the
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responsibilities of each group and their composition. The goal is to provide new senators with a broader
perspective of how campus governance functions.
Chair Lifshin discussed an effort to encourage people to find new ways to energize senate activities. Currently
there is an effort underway to expand community engagement on campus led by Miriam Trementozzi. Part of
the campus-wide community engagement effort is to achieve the Carnegie Designation on community
engagement which is an indicator of how well universities are doing at becoming involved in community
activities. One desirable requirement for achieving the designation is participation in faculty governance.
While the Senate provides opportunities to present ideas of perceived importance, there are not many
mechanisms for broad communication, and the chair encouraged creative suggestions on expanding Senate
activities beyond legislative activity.
GOV Chair Fessler informed SEC that an effort was made about 15 years ago for a Carnegie Designation which
was tied to federal funding, and she asked for additional information on the designation. Chair Lifshin replied
that there is a detailed list involving certain classes of activities and this particular one could be related to
certain types of funding. He suggested that perhaps Ms. Trementozzi would be able to attend a meeting to talk
further about the process.
UPPC Chair Range stated that the activities of the councils and committees are fairly designated. Most council
members are quite busy with the responsibilities as directed per the charter and bylaws, and perceived this as
possibly diluting those activities. He suggested that perhaps University Life Council could take charge of this
activity. Chair Lifshin responded that this has been a matter of discussion to have the SEC involved and it’s
viewed as an important activity. The normal duties of the Senate would still be priority but this is an
opportunity to energize people to become more involved. Vincent Delio from the President’s Office discussed
this as being part of Chancellor Zimpher’s agenda, and she is asking campuses to take a closer look at outreach
and taking a greater role in their communities. The discussion came to a close and the group agreed that they
would like to have Ms. Trementozzi speak to them on the topic.
OTHER REPORTS
UFS (UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATOR’S REPORT) –DANIEL D. WHITE, J. PHILIPPE
ABRAHAM & SHADI SHAHEDIPOUR-SANDVIK, SUNY SENATORS
The SUNY-wide Faculty Senate will meet on October 21-23, 2010 at Alfred State College and the College of Ceramics at Alfred in
Alfred New York. All three senators plan to attend. Senator White sent information to SEC and GOV members about getting
involved in the Chancellor’s next phase of the Strategic planning process. Those who have volunteered should please let Gail
Cameron or Dan White know if they have been put on a committee. The SUNY Faculty senate will hear reports from the Chancellor
and the Chancellor’s executive staff Dr. Lavallee and Ms. Rimai. Likely topics of concern will be the failure of PHEEIA in the
legislature, continued budget shrinkage, maintaining academic quality in the face of likely program reductions, etc. Please feel free to
discuss suggestions for resolutions, discussion topics, or areas of clarification with any of the three SUNY-Faculty senators (Abraham,
Shahedipour-Sandvik, White).
GSO (GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZATION) – NICHOLAS FAHRENKOPF, GSO
REPRESENTATIVE
Council chairs that have openings for graduate students will be contacted with the names of those students who are
interested in serving.
SA (STUDENT ASSOCIATION) – JUSTIN WAX JACOBS, PRESIDENT STUDENT ASSOCIATION
Nothing to Report
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COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Richard Matyi, Chair
Chair Matyi will replace Heidi Andrade and he commented on the great job that she did last year.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility)
– Pradeep Haldar, Chair
Chair Haldar will follow up with past Chair Fessler on topics and issues for moving forward.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – John Monfasani, Chair
Nothing to Report
COR (Council on Research) – James Castracane, Chair
The Council on Research held a preliminary meeting on August 31st to elect a Chair. James Castracane was re-elected. The first
actual meeting will take place on September 15th.
The council will meet on Wednesday. One of the agenda items is to populate COR’s subcommittees. Other
agenda items will be to identify candidates for the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research, and to begin
work on announcing availability of FRAP A awards.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Vincent LaBella, Chair
We held our first meeting and elected a chair. We will be looking at our first case in two weeks.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Laurence Kranich, Chair
At its organizational meeting on August 30, 2010, Laurence Kranich was elected Chair of GAC.
Also, Chairs were selected for each of the three standing committees. The first regular meeting
of the Council will be on September 24. In addition, the Council will hold extra sessions in October to
discuss CAA assessment reports.
GAC has received a proposal from the School of Business.
GOV (Governance Council) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
The Governance Council had its first meeting on Wednesday, September 08, 2010 and addressed three items of business:
1) Minor Revision to the Language of Charter Section X.3.8.4.1, as follows:
Three representatives shall be invited from the College of Arts and Sciences and one from each of the following Schools or Colleges:
Business, Criminal Justice, Education, Computing and Information , Nanoscale Science and Engineering, Public Health, Rockefeller,
and Social Welfare.
These changes were deemed “housekeeping” changes that did not require a formal amendment of the Senate Charter.
2) Follow-up on Resolution 0910-02: GOV members will be reviewing materials from similar processes on our sister SUNY
campuses to determine what best practices could be incorporated on the UA campus. This item will be on the next GOV agenda, at
which time we hope to provide a suggested structure for membership to an ad hoc committee on Administrator and Administrative
Services reviews.
3) Formation of sub-committees and other regular GOV charges:
1) GOV members will be reading over the current draft of the governance handbook, making any suggested changes, and
seeing that it is posted on the Senate website.
2) The Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation will comprise GOV as a “committee as a whole” and its
first charge will be to review faculty perceptions of governance as reported in the Middle States report and address any
problems.
3) The Committee on Liaison and Elections will include Tom Bessette, Nan Carroll, Candace Merbler, and Dan White. The
remaining members will be chosen from Senate volunteers who have not yet been placed on sub-committees.
4) GOV agreed that, as in the past, the Committee on Mediation would only be populated if there were a need.
Chair Fessler reported GOV will review the section of the Middle States Report that refers to assessment of faculty
perceptions of governance and act if necessary. GOV member Daniel White reported that GOV is actively working on
the handbook and part of the focus is to expand the audience that will be reading it. The handbook will be posted on the
Senate website. Chair Fessler also reported that GOV members agreed to revisions of the Charter language (Section
X.3.8.4.1) pertaining to an anachronism concerning membership of school and college representatives on UAC’s
Appellate Subcommittee on Academic Standing. They also agreed the language should have the approval of the
SEC. She asked for a motion of approval. A motion was made and seconded and a vote approved the change in the
language.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik, Chair
LISC convened on Tuesday 31st of August and elected a new chair. Other than that there is “nothing to report”.
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UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – JoAnne Malatesta, Chair
UAC has no new business to report at the moment. We have formed sub committees and our first meeting will be next Wednesday
ULC (University Life Council) – Danielle Leonard, Chair
Nothing to Report
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – R. Michael Range, Chair
The UPPC received a proposal for a Graduate Certificate in Information Security from the School of Business. This proposal will be
placed on the agenda of the first meeting scheduled for Sept. 17.
NEW BUSINESS
Proposed Charter Amendment re: Proportional Representation on Senate: John Monfasani
Chair Lifshin pointed out that the proposed amendment lacks the format for submitting an amendment and
questioned whether or not this came from Professor Monfasani or if it was coming from CERS, the council
which he chairs. GOV Chair Fessler said she believed it was submitted on his own behalf. Professor
Monfasani was not in attendance for the discussion. Chair Lifshin expressed concern about chairs having a
private agenda that should not reflect that of the organization. He viewed it as a general comment and recused
himself from commenting. GAC Chair Kranich said he did not believe it should be discussed by SEC and Chair
Lifshin suggested that perhaps it might be turned over to GOV. UPPC Chair Range provided clarification on
procedures for the origination of amendments. GOV is the natural avenue but it is not necessary that they go
through GOV. If the SEC decided not to recommend an amendment, a group of faculty could take it directly to
the Senate and let them decide.
Chair Lifshin questioned why this situation has arisen since proportional representation in the Senate has been
reviewed in much detail. The elections for chairs are independent events and an indication of the available
candidates and how each council voted. He asked members to provide comments that Chair Fessler could take
to the council for discussion. COR Chair Castracane stated that if the issues are forwarded to GOV, they need
to know what is behind this since it appears there are no obstacles blocking anyone from running for chair.
Proposed Charter Amendment re: Composition of CPCA: John Monfasani
Chair Lifshin said it would be most desirable for the Chair of CPCA to be a full professor or distinguished
professor. When that is not the case, governance could devise a plan and prioritize a list of requirements. He
pointed out, however, that the chair does not determine policy but assures that meetings take place, agenda
items are covered, and avoids bringing any bias to a case or influencing the order in which they are reviewed.
He stated further that chairs should have the level of experience and authority to effectively do their job, but
their function should for the most part be that of following established procedures. All members of a council
are encouraged to participate in discussions. If the opinions of the council chairs carry more weight than that of
other council or committee members in the decision making process, then the system is dysfunctional.
GOV member Daniel White said he would like to hear the opinion of the person who submitted the proposed
amendment. GOV Chair Fessler offered to invite Professor Monfasani to the next meeting. GAC Chair
Kranich said he believed the procedure that has taken place is contrary to the customary procedures for
submitting amendments and suggested that it would be appropriate for Professor Monfasani to address GOV.
CPCA Chair LaBella said that having a full professor chairing the council looks good on the outside but is
somewhat misguided. One of the characteristics the council looks for in candidates being considered for
promotion is leadership experience, and chairing a council provides a way to gain that experience. Limiting
associate professors from chairing a council denies them the opportunity to make that leap to the next level.
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The conversation returned to the first topic of proportional representation and whether or not the issue could be
handled with a Charter amendment changing the allocation of senators in the schools and colleges. Chair
Lifshin again questioned why the issue was surfacing now when in the past most chairs were from CAS and it
was not an issue. GOV Chair Fessler said that CAS has a large representation on the Senate. Currently, CNSE
has 40% of the representation but proportionally is much smaller in its designation. She did not believe that the
voting procedure was the issue but the situation is out of proportion in its distribution to the Senate.
Chair Lifshin said that in order for governance to continue, councils need to be chaired with those candidates
who are available. CAA Chair Matyi said the votes are open records. He was voted unanimously and believes
that other CNSE Chairs were voted as such. He further believes that if he were not effective on the council last
year he would not have been considered. Chair Lifshin said he is willing to work with participants, irrelevant
of which schools or colleges they come from and he believes that CNSE is willing to be active in the
University. GOV Chair Fessler stated the importance of having diversity in our governance in order to
understand each other’s views.
UPPC Chair Range raised concerns about one group having a large representation. This perception could cause
others to feel there is little point of being vested in governance. Daniel White moved to end the debate and
forward the issues to GOV. Chair Lifshin asked for a motion to do so. A motion was made and seconded. SEC
members voted to move the two items to GOV.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 5:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted by
Gail Cameron, Recorder