2007-2008 University Senate Executive Committee
February 25, 2008
Reed Hoyt, Chair
MINUTES
Present:
Richard Collier, John Delano, Sanjay Goel, Reed Hoyt,
William Lanford, Eric Lifshin, George Philip, Susan Phillips,
Lawrence Raffalovich, Michael Range, Karin Reinhold-Larsson,
Joan Savitt
Guest:
Christine Haile, Chief Information Officer
Minutes:
The Minutes of January 28, 2008 were approved.
Chair’s Report, By Reed Hoyt:
GAC: Sally Friedman stepped down from Chairing GAC; she has teaching conflicts
with the meeting schedule, along with Senate and SEC meeting schedules. Professor
Laurence Kranich will take her place as Chair of GAC, and on the Senate Executive
Committee.
Presidential Search: The search continues; the Search Committee is meeting next
week. It is hopeful that there will be a new President on board by the fall.
Meeting with Interim President Philip: Chair Hoyt met with Interim President Philip
to discuss prioritizing ongoing issues needing resolution.
Senate Elections: It is time to solicit nominations for the positions of Senate Vice
Chair and Senate Secretary, Richard Collier’s term expires next year.
Council Volunteer Forms: The annual Council Volunteer Forms will be out soon, the
forms will include Councils and the three standing Committees (CERS, CAFFECoR, and
CIRAP), and no subcommittees will be included this year; that proved to be a logistical
mess.
Faculty Forum: In preliminary planning stage. Chair Hoyt would like to have panel
topics include: undergraduate curriculum, globalization, general education and
internationalization. He is hoping to tap Professor J. Pipkin and R. Bromley.
Sunday’s Times Union Editorial on SUNY Flagship issues: The article written by the
Presidents of Stony Brook and Buffalo was discussed. Interim President Philip said that
UAlbany is being responsive, it will be addressed.
President’s Report, by Interim President George Philip:
SUNY Day: SUNY Day is tomorrow, UAlbany is lobbying for full time faculty lines,
along with funds for a new School of Business building, Campus Center renovations, a
new Data Center, and a new multi-purpose sports facility. A “zero energy building” and
attracting outside investments are next. Renovating the Downtown Campus is also on
the radar screen. A study conducted a couple years ago, indicated that a Billion dollars
is needed for deferred maintenance on this Campus.
Harriman Status: There is 60,000 square feet available in Building 7 for the College
of Computing and Information. UAlbany will pay the cost of occupancy. There will be
a significant presence of UAlbany on that Campus soon.
Commencement Speakers: Prominent Attorney Dennis Archer, former Associate
Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, former Mayor of Detroit, and President of the
American Bar Association will address the graduates at Spring Commencement and
receive an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws. Frances Allen, a 1954 UAlbany
Alumni, and IBM researcher will address the graduates at Winter Commencement and
receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Science.
Myrlie Evers-Williams Lecture: Turnout was great; she is a fabulous speaker. He
would have liked to see more community involvement.
Branding Initiative: There was a question and discussion on faculty and student
involvement in this initiative. Interim President Philip will discuss faculty involvement
with VP Herman.
Status of Senate Bill No. 0708-13 Minor in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender &
Queer Studies: The Interim President has not seen the Bill, Counsel’s Office and the
Provost’s Office review it before it is presented to the Interim President for approval.
Introduction of the New Data Center, by Chief Information Officer Christine Haile:
CIO Haile introduced the plan for a new Campus Data Center, which would house all IT related
offices and equipment. She explained that the current data center will be at full capacity by the
year 2012. There is proposed funding in the Capital budget for this project.
Provost’s Report, by Interim Provost Susan Phillips:
School of Education: Robert Bangert-Drowns has been appointed Acting Dean and
Virginia Goatley has been appointed Acting Assistant Dean.
VSA: It is no longer on the university website; and UAlbany will go back to the
consultative mode.
The Distinguished Teaching Professor/Distinguished Service Professor Award web page
has been updated to read “Web page temporarily unavailable. Guidelines for nomination
are under revision” pending a decision on the new guidelines.
Project Renaissance: The reply to the Consultant’s Report has been constructed. It will
be underway soon.
First Year Experience: She is collecting data on that and will review it.
SUNY Senator Report, by R. Michael Range: There was nothing new to report. Senator
Range reminded everyone that Lloyd Constantine of the Governor’s Office was apologetic about
the flagship issues in the news.
Council and Committee Chair Reports:
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CAA (Council on Academic Assessment), William Lanford, Chair. This term, CAA's
Committee on Program Review (Chair: Peter Duchessi) plans to review the assessments of:
Sociology, Communications, Physics, Criminal Justice, Earth and Atmospheric Science, and
Psychology programs. In addition, the Committee plans to review and comment on assessment
procedures. CAA 's Committee on General Education Assessment (Chair: Seth Chaiken) is
currently working 2006-07 assessment survey summaries. The University in the High School's
General Education courses will be assessed in the same manner as regular (on campus) courses.
CAA is waiting for response to the report from the outside reviewers of Project Renaissance.
COR (Council on Research) – Lawrence Schell, Chair. Nothing to report.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments), Eric Lifshin, Chair.
CPCA is meeting weekly and handling two cases per meeting until the current caseload is
reduced.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council), Sally Friedman, Chair. Professor Laurence Kranich
will replace Chair Friedman as Chair of the Council. No business to report.
GOV (Governance Council), John Delano, Chair. The Governance Council approved a
modified proposal for the DSP/DST selection committee and a proposed a charter amendment
for CIRAP, both of which are on the SEC agenda. The Council also discussed concerns relating
to the operation of and administrative support for UAC.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing), Lawrence Raffalovich,
Chair. The Council met on Friday, it has been discussing the library budget being flat, and the
increase in expenses for periodicals, etc.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council), Karin Reinhold-Larsson, Chair. The UAC
approved the Financial Analyst Honors Program. The regular Financial Analyst program now
becomes the Financial Analyst Honors Program. The admission requirement for this honors
program is an overall GPA of 3.4 and a 3.5 GPA in the major. Students that cannot maintain its
high standards have the option to transfer to other very valuable and viable finance
concentrations: Finance/ITM, Finance/Marketing or Finance/Management. UAC revised the
bulletin language for change in grading from S/U to A-E and vice versa. “Changes in grading
selection cannot be authorized beyond the date specified” now should read: “Changes in grading
selection cannot be authorized beyond the date specified and this policy is rigidly enforced”.
Option of appealing remains the same. The new extra wording was needed not so much for the
students but for the members of the CAS committee. The spirit of S/U grading is to allow
students to explore new courses or areas not affecting their major or minor. The option is not
there to play with the GPA. In practice, all appeals are denied.
ULC (University Life Council), Joan Savitt, Chair. The Council will be meeting the Vice
President of Athletics and Professor Harrison in March. Chair Savitt is on the President’s
Advisory Committee on Sexual Assault; she is the governance liaison.
UPC (University Planning and Policy Council), Diane Dewar, Chair. The Chair is working
with the new staff support person to schedule the next meeting. The only current agenda item is
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consideration of the name change for the Graduate Studies unit.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community
Responsibility), Sanjay Goel, Chair. The Committee met on Friday, February 22, 2008 and
discussed two issues: 1) past issue of resolution on academic integrity which was discussed on
the Senate floor on December 17, 2007 and sent back to CAFFECoR. The committee
deliberated over the discussions in the Senate and concluded that there is no impact of the honor
code on academic freedom. Should an honor code be proposed for adoption CAFFECoR would
be one of the groups that should be consulted. The Committee will consider converting its
resolution to a report to be submitted at a later date. The Committee also started its
deliberations on the issue of use of performance enhancing drugs in academics, such as,
Adderall, Ritalin, and Provigal. The deliberations are continuing and are expected to result in an
informative report.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship), Zai Liang, Chair.
Following the meeting with Interim President Philip, and other related parties on February 8,
CERS met on February 21 to discuss issues raised at that meeting. Per Interim President’s
suggestion, CERS plans to form an Ad Hoc Misconduct Policy Amendment Committee. The Ad
Hoc Committee’s roster and its charge were discussed at the meeting. The Ad Hoc Committee is
expected to have its first meeting in March.
NEW BUSINESS:
Senate Bill No. 0708-05: Guidelines for the UAlbany Selection Committee
For Distinguished Teaching Professors (DTP) and Distinguished Service Professors (DSP):
GOV Chair Delano introduced the revised Bill with one significant change from when it was
first introduced to Senate in the fall. He reported that in consultation with the Interim President,
who would not approve it as originally passed by the Senate, the Governance Council chose to
revise the Bill in order to delete the one aspect that was considered troublesome. That item was
the inclusion of Full Professors among the membership of the UAlbany Selection Committee.
The current version of Bill 0708-05 that was discussed by the Senate Executive Committee today
contains provisions for only three Distinguished Teaching Professors and three Distinguished
Service Professors on the Selection Committee, plus the students and ex officio members. This
Bill is intended to formalize practices in the important process of soliciting, reviewing, and
recommending faculty for promotion to these two distinguished ranks.
There was discussion, and it was unanimously agreed upon to send this revised version to
Senate.
Proposed New Article for Senate Charter: Committee for Initial Review of Academic
Proposals (CIRAP): GOV Chair Delano introduced the proposal. There was a long discussion /
explanation period. It was unanimously agreed upon to send this to Senate, with an acronym
change. (Possibly to read: IRCAP instead of CIRAP)
Meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jayne VanDenburgh, Recorder
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