University at Albany, State University of New York
Governance Council
September 17, 2007
Minutes
John Delano, Chair
Present:
Erin Bell, Ray Bromley, Nan Carroll, Richard Collier, Edward Cupoli,
John Delano, John Monfasani, R. Michael Range, Helen Strother, Edward Waltz
Minutes:
The Minutes of April 23, 2007 were approved with amendments.
Discussion on Revisions to the Guidelines dealing with the Selection Committee for
Evaluating Nominees for Promotion to Distinguished Teaching Professor (DTP) and
Distinguished Service Professor (DSP):
Professor Range distributed Proposed Revisions to the Local Guidelines for the Local Selection
Committee for Promotions to DTP and DSP. In addition to reviewing the current UAlbany
policy, Professor Range noted that although significant changes occurred in the 2006-2007
SUNY Guidelines (from those of previous years), the UAlbany website has not been updated to
reflect those changes, including the new make-up of the committee.
There was lengthy discussion on the membership requirements. Most members favored two
students on the committee for both awards; one graduate and one undergraduate, instead of one
student representative for both awards.
There were several different scenarios discussed for membership to the committee; and the
possibility of having two committees, one for DTP and one for DSP.
Professors Range and Delano will work on a draft amendment to the Guidelines, and send it to
all members of the Council by email, for review.
Approval of University-Wide Interdisciplinary Courses:
Reed J. Hoyt, Chair, University Senate sent the following note to the members of the governance
Council:
First, greetings to all members. I’ll miss being with you during your deliberations.
One area of concern has been in the implementation of certain courses without proper
governance input. The source of the problem seems to be the sentence in the Undergraduate
Bulletin (2006-2007, p. 247 under the Category of “Faculty-Initiated Interdisciplinary Courses”
The relevant sentence under U Uni 150 reads: “Topic must be approved by the Vice Provost of
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Undergraduate Education” This sentence apparently has been interpreted to mean that the Vice
Provost is the only entity who approves the topic.
The matter was raised by Steve Messner, past chair of the Senate at that time, at the UPC
meeting of June 12, 2007. Because these minutes have not yet been approved by UPC—
although that may happen today—it would not be proper for the Governance Council to act just
yet on the proposal below. I believe that it would be proper, however, for GOV to act pending
today’s approval of the UPC minutes of June 12, 2007. Here is the quote from the current draft
of those minutes:
The final proposal would have to be approved by UAC. Dr. Messner stated that
procedures for review of faculty-initiated interdisciplinary majors/minors need to be
clarified. The Senate Charter stipulates that UPC reviews all new programs, while the
Undergraduate Policy Manual implies that faculty-initiated majors/minors only require
review by the Interdisciplinary Studies Committee of UAC. Dr. Messner recommended
on the Senate floor at the May meeting that the Governance Council clarify the review
process next fall.
Notice the use of the word “implies.” Steve calls for GOV to “clarify the review process next
fall,” and I think that GOV should act as soon as possible, despite the full plate that always
seems to be the lot of the Governance Council. Indeed, we should have clearly defined
procedures for approving all programs via UAC, GAC, and UPC, irrespective of the nature of
those programs: interdisciplinary or not, faculty-initiated or not, majors/minors or just groups of
courses.
Moreover, the Senate Charter and the Undergraduate Bulletin (and thus the Undergraduate
Policy Manual) seem to be at odds to a certain extent. One way of clarifying the matter would
link the language of the Charter to that of the Bulletin. The Charter, Section X, describes the
activities of the Undergraduate Academic Council. I would propose that we change the language
in one of those sections, X.3.4 , as follows to spell out the procedures.
(In the proposal below the original text appears in Times New Roman, the suggested changes in
Arial, and comments at the end in Courier New.)
X.3.4. The Council as a whole shall review all new undergraduate academic program proposals
and all proposals that would affect the continuation of undergraduate programs. Such review
includes the University-Wide Offerings except Internships, Independent Study and
Research Courses, and University Tutors. Further permission from the Vice Provost for
Undergraduate Education must be obtained as indicated in the Undergraduate Bulletin.
The Council and its Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies shall review all new
interdisciplinary programs, courses or categories to be listed under University-Wide
Offerings and any new Bulletin categories relating to programs or courses for
undergraduates. The Council shall submit recommended programs or eliminations to the
University Senate for approval.
Comments:
I don’t see any compelling need to subject individualized
projects like independent study and research or internships to
this level of scrutiny. (Again, see p. 247 of the UG Bulletin.
The categories consist of Internships, Independent Study and
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Research Courses, University Tutors, The Freshman Year
Experience, The Foundations of Great Ideas Programs, FacultyInitiated Interdisciplinary Courses, and University Library
Courses. Presumably, these were vetted through the process.)
Charter X3.11.5 should cover the faculty input on the initial
review by the UAC’s Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies with
respect to the implementation of faculty-initiated
interdisciplinary courses.
We might not want to link the Charter with the Bulletin in this
way, but it would save some charter changing if we did.
(U Uni 170 and 350 carry the “permission sentence.”) If we
don’t want to do that, then we’ll have to spell out in the
Charter exactly what we want to do—which might not be a bad
thing.
Thanks for your consideration, Reed
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