COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
Meeting of the University Senate, March 10th, 2014
As submitted to Yenisel Gulatee, Senate Secretary, University Senate
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT –Christine Wagner, Chair
The Campus Advisory Committee regarding the new relationship between UAlbany and CNSE met with
Provost Phillips on 1/31/14 and 2/19/14. The Provost updated the committee on the activity of the SUNY
Implementation Team and the committee raised questions and ideas about the separation process.
A proposal to establish a Graduate Certificate Program in International Health and Human Rights has been
approve by GAC and is under review in UPPC.
The Senate Chair has received a proposal for a Faculty-Initiated Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Major in Bio-
Instrumentation. The proposal is under review in UAC and UPPC.
A Charter Amendment, introduced by GOV, has been forwarded by the SEC to the Senate. The Amendment is
distributed to the Senate with materials for the 3/10/14 meeting and will come for a vote at the 4/7/14 meeting
in accordance with Faculty Bylaws Article IV.3.
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) – Danielle Leonard, J. Philippe Abraham & John Schmidt,
SUNY Senators
166th Plenary Winter Meeting (Hosted by UAlbany) on January 23-25, 2014
Attended by UAlbany’s Philippe Abraham, Danielle Leonard, and John Schmidt
Outlined below are a few of the issues that were discussed at the Plenary that most impact UAlbany.
Teacher Educator Preparation Programs:
Neither the process nor the content of the Board of Trustees resolution on admissions standards for teacher
education programs are acceptable to the Faculty Senate. A data-driven examination of the relationship between
grades and teacher effectiveness will be on the agenda of a Provost’s Advisory Committee on Teacher
Education. The implications of the edTPA initiative (the new exam for graduating education majors before they
can be certified to teach) on students and our curriculum are also among the UFS’ concerns. There are two
issues. This year’s graduating class must take the edTPA even though the curriculum has not yet been adjusted
to cover the things tested. Only two states (Wash and NY) have adopted edTPA and NY has set a much higher
score to pass, such that 40% failed in the fall. Second, the criteria were set without input from SUNY Schools of
Education. UUP is engaging this issue, and UUP’s VP for Academics, Jamie Dangler, presented UUP’s seven-
point action plan to press for changes in the edTPA at the Plenary.
Start Up New York:
Campuses have now submitted their campus plans for Start UP New York. As important as the review of the
initial plans is, the review of specific business proposals is perhaps more important. The role of campus
governance in determining if companies sufficiently meet the academic mission requirement is not clear and is
of great concern to the UFS. The following guidelines were sent to campuses from System:
Selection Process and Qualification of Businesses:
Accepting Businesses Applications
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Solicit and accept business applications with assistance of local REDC, municipality, county or other clearly
defined stakeholders.
START -UP NY Campus Advisory Committee
Establish a START-UP NY Advisory Committee, with membership including appropriate senior
administrative officers, faculty, and student representatives. Consider inclusion of external members as well.
Describe how members of committee will be chosen. The committee should provide a broad campus
perspective, and include representatives who can ensure the business proposal aligns with the campus’s
academic mission.
Criteria
Define specific criteria for how business will be chosen. The criteria may include some or all of the
following:
Academic and Research Alignment
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Is the business in an industry aligned with current and/or developing University research, scholarly, and
creative activity?
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Does the business provide experiential learning and workforce opportunities (e.g., internships,
fellowships, full-time jobs) for students and graduates?
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Does the business provide areas for partnership and advancement for faculty and students?
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Will the business provide access to research instrumentation, tools, and/or equipment necessary to
advance the academic and research mission?
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Will the business fund scholarships, campus facilities or other academic services or amenities?
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Will the business and/or its employees contribute to instruction or provide student mentoring?
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Does the business offer the use of company resources, intellectual property or expertise to support the
academic mission?
Open SUNY:
The Chancellor “officially” launched the Open SUNY initiative at the State of the University address on
January 14. She identified 8 programs from 6 campuses as “Open SUNY +” degrees that will pilot centralized
24/7 student (and instructor) support, tutoring, and advising. She announced two virtual groups that will be of
particular importance to faculty: Center for Online Teaching Excellence
(http://commons.suny.edu/facultycenter/) and Open SUNY Scale-Up Lab. The former has already attracted
more than 500 faculty interested in sharing expertise in online education. The position of the UFS is that Open
SUNY offers opportunity for faculty and students to leverage online education in better ways, but we’ll need to
be vigilant to maintain control over quality and curriculum for our campuses. Visit http://open.suny.edu/ for
further information.
Seamless Transfer/ Student Mobility:
At the end of our last meeting, the UFS passed a Sense of the Senate resolution asking the Executive Committee
to produce a resolution that, in essence, endorsed the basic position of the Faculty Council of Community
Colleges regarding SUNY Central setting de facto curricula via the seamless transfer paths. The Executive
Committee deliberated for some time on the wording of a resolution, and meanwhile a series of discussions
among FCCC President Tina Good, Interim Provost Beth Bringsjord, and UFS President Kneupfer resulted in
development of a process to move forward. Accordingly, the Executive Committee crafted a resolution
endorsing that process. This was endorsed by the full Senate our Plenary.
The University Faculty Senate Executive Committee request that the Interim Provost work with Campus Chief
Academic Officers in consultation with their campus faculty governance leaders to identify an appropriate
faculty representative within each discipline on campus to advise on transfer paths related to the one for which
the campus has a registered program already established.
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It was further resolved that the deadline for full implementation of minor and major revisions in the
Memorandum to Presidents on Seamless Transfer Requirements be extended to be effective for students
entering in the Fall semester, 2015, in order to ensure that the revisions to programs incorporate all changes
made to the transfer paths. In order to accommodate the process, the deadlines for submitting the first Program
Status Inventory and waiver requests will be extended to March 31, 2014.
LICH and SUNY Downstate:
The issue, which is of major concern to the UFS and all campuses, is the potential financial impact of the
divestment of LICH on the SUNY System as a whole. At present, even if SUNY were to exit the operation of
the Long Island College Hospital within 60 days, the potential liabilities exceed $500 million. Somewhat less
than half of this can be offset by a sale of the LICH properties, but SUNY would still be left with potential
liabilities of at least $300 million. Some of this debt could “go away”, but some percentage of it will have to
covered by SUNY, decreasing the funding available to campuses.
Other Resolutions:
The “Resolution on the Status of the New York State College of Ceramics” expresses concern to the
Chancellor and BoT over the identity of Ceramics within the Alfred University community and asks for a study
of that relationship.
The “Resolution requesting participation of Alfred University and Cornell University in the process of
recognizing SUNY faculty for distinguished achievement” asks that the Chancellor invite the Alfred and
Cornell Presidents to participate in making SUNY faculty members at their respective institutions eligible for
the honorific distinction of distinguished faculty under the existing SUNY review and recommendation
processes.
The above issues were all chancellor’s initiatives of 2013 that we are still working to implement. For 2014 she
announced only one new initiative for the SUNY System. It is called “SUNY Works,” and seeks to increase
internships (paid or unpaid) and co-ops for our majors. Such work experience not only would augment their
education with practical experience, but also establish valuable contacts for employment after graduation. Some
of our majors such as Journalism already place their majors in internships at the Times Union and local public
radio stations, and extensions of internship programs would be negotiated at the local campuses and
departmental levels. SUNY would offer advice and contacts for further internships. The chancellor also plans to
meet with CEOs at all the Fortune 500 companies to get them to participate. This initiative requires funds for
additional professional staff who handle the placement of students, etc. It is our understanding that, thus far,
those funds have come from a grant from the Lumina Foundation. Sustaining this effort long term will require
more funding.
Announcements:
Undergraduate Research in New York State's Public Higher Education System: April 1, 2014, Legislative
Office Building, Albany, NY
SUNY’s First Conference on Shared Governance: April 23-24, 2014 at the Albany Holiday Inn on Wolf Road.
Proposals will be accepted through January 15, 2014.
GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Caitlin Janiszewski, GSA President
The GSA would like to announce that we are planning an appreciation reception for those who serve the
University community particularly the University Senate. This reception is planned for April 7th after the
Senate meeting. The exact time and location are TBA. We would like to invite all Senators to attend. There will
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be a simple program in which we will acknowledge the time and effort that goes into Senate service and shared
governance.
Aside from other normal GSA business, the GSA Wages & Benefits Committee is working towards our
President's Forum set for April 23rd from 4:30-6, location TBA. The Wages & Benefits Committee is also
working with the GSA President to push a resolution which calls for better pay for contingent faculty at the
SUNY System Student Assembly conference in about a month. We are working in tandem with students from
Buffalo and Binghamton to push this resolution on multiple campuses.
SA (Student Association) – Marc Cohen, Student Association Representative
Report:
Director of Dippikill Outreach - Alexis Klein
Nothing to report
Director of Marketing - Steven Valentine
Nothing to report
Student Advocate - Michaela Torres
Nothing to report
Director of Academic Affairs - Derek Ellis
The Academic Affairs Department is getting ready to take applications for the Outstanding Faculty and
Excellence in Teaching Awards. We are also in the middle of filming for the UA U SHOULD KNOW video and
will hopefully have that completed soon.
The Student Association's Elections Commission is preparing for the upcoming Spring elections which include
multiple senator positions and the seats for President and Vice President.
Director of Programming - Ajon Crump
Working on Parkfest
Director of Student Group Affairs - Katie Thomas
Purple and gold awards are April 28th at 7:30; the nomination form is now live on the student group affairs my
involvement page.
Director of Gender and Sexuality Concerns - Emma Suarez
Nothing to report
Director of Multicultural Affairs – Afiya Roberts
-The department is going to start having mandatory biweekly meetings with all multicultural groups.
-Cultural Carnival planning is underway and the "save the date" date is May 4th
- If they have any ideas for the carnival shoot me an email or stop by the office.
Director of Legislative Affairs - Justyn Turner
-Voter registration drive
-Working out an alternative UAlbany day
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Director of Community Engagement and Outreach - Rose Avellino
-Working on organizing another successful Pine Hills Clean Up
-Creating a partnership with groups campus wide to help form a food recovery network to donate the leftover
food from the dining halls
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Deborah Bernnard, Chair
Nothing to report.
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 approved a series of changes to the FRAP guidelines. They are as follows:
1. FRAP application can have only one Principal Investigator. Applicant must hold a tenure track, term
appointment or, if currently in qualified academic rank, have documentation showing that the
appointment will be converted to tenure track. Applicant must be a faculty member who is eligible to
be a Principal Investigator on a Research Foundation award. The itemized Budget must clearly state
the role of and the budget allocated for each Co-PI.
2. Under the rubric of “Other Support”: Provide details of all active funding available to the PI. Other
Support includes all financial resources available in direct support of all of the individual's research
endeavors, including but not limited to research grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and/or
institutional awards, including startup funds
3. In the Project Narrative, the applicant will be specifically required to describe the major theses of the
project and investigator’s understanding of the subject matter supported by relevant key literature
citations. The reference citations section will not count towards the five page application limit, but
only up to 25 references will be allowed and they must conform to the standard citation format of the
discipline.
4. In respect to eligibility, there must be at least 12-month gap between funding periods, regardless of
category. A faculty member cannot apply for FRAP if he/she has an open FRAP account, regardless
of category.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Sanjay Putrevu, Chair
The next CPCA meeting is on Feb. 26.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Ronald Toseland, Chair
The GAC has now organized itself and will be meeting monthly during the Spring 2014 semester.
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GOV (Governance Council) – Joette Stefl-Mabry, Chair
GOV Met on February 24, 2014
1. Based on a conversation that the Chair of the Senate had with the Chair of GOV, Re: The Charter
Amendment Re Composition of CPCA, William B. Hedburg, Senior Vice Provost and Associate Vice President
for Academic Affairs, was invited to attend the GOV meeting to discuss the existing rationale as written in the
proposed amendment. After William B. Hedburg left, GOV discussed the proposed changes and decided a
revision of the rationale was in order. A vote was taken and a revised version of the Amendment was accepted.
A friendly amendment to revise the amendment was taken to the SEC who met later in the afternoon on
02/24/2014.
2. The Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation is finalizing the Survey for Evaluation of
Shared Governance with input from the President’s office. The target date for the survey will be March 24th,
2014 and it will run through April 1st.
3. GOV has commenced election procedures for all University-wide balloting. Currently GOV is putting
together a preliminary slate of candidates with additional nominations solicited from the faculty and
professional staff for Senators-at large, UAS board representatives, and SUNY-wide Senators. Schools and
colleges have been notified regarding election procedures for Senators representing their schools and colleges
and asked to respond by March 28th, 2014.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Elizabeth Gaffney, Chair
The next regularly scheduled LISC meeting is Monday, March 3rd. Topics for discussion include Wireless Heat
Maps for the campus, and a report from the On-Line Teaching and Learning Committee.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Anthony DeBlasi, Chair
UAC has met weekly since the last Senate meeting. It has reviewed the General Education competency plans
for nine majors. Where necessary, it has contacted departments for further clarification. For those plans that
have been approved, the Council has notified the relevant department and the Vice Provost for Undergraduate
Education. In addition to the General Education plans, the Interdisciplinary Studies Committee is currently
considering a proposal for a Faculty-initiated Interdisciplinary Major in Bio-instrumentation.
ULC (University Life Council) –Michael Jaromin, Chair
The next ULC meeting will be March 3rd.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) –Andi Lyons, Chair
UPPC met on Wednesday, February 12. The Council considered whether there were any resource implications
for the proposed merger of the Departments of Theatre and Music into the new Department of Music and
Theatre; and seeing none, voted unanimously that this was an administrative decision within CAS and did not
require Senate action. The Council also considered the Graduate Certificate in International Health and Human
Rights, deciding that it should be returned to ROC until more information on its campus impact was provided.
Under old business, the Master of International Affairs was reviewed and the Council felt more information was
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required. Subsequently, we received the necessary materials and conducted an online vote so that this would be
available for the agenda of the next Senate meeting. The next UPPC meeting is scheduled for March 12.
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