University Senate
Monday, February 25, 2019
2:45 PM – 4:45 PM
CC West Boardroom
James Mower, Senate Chair
MINUTES
Attendees: Gary Ackerman; Marcus Adams; Carolyn Jones; Sammy Axley; Marius Beceanu;
Michael Bloom; Jodi Boyle; Ray Bromley; Andrew Byon; Nick Pepe; Gang Chen; Sobha
Chengular-Smith; Sridar Chittur; Alec Dawson; Rachel Dressler; Amany Edwards; Morgan
Eldridge; Wyatt Erchak; Jesse Ernst; Sydner Faught; Billie Franchini; Diane Hamilton; Jim
Hargett; Gabriel Hetland; Lenore Horowitz; Jeong-Hyon Hwang; Patricia Keys; Ekow King;
Karen Kiorpes; Igor Kuznetsov; Deborah LaFond; Zina Lawrence; Mary Ellen Mallia; Jerry
Marschke; Maritza Martinez; Carmen Morano; Rececca Nous; Christian Poehlmann; Sean
Rafferty; Karin Reinhold; Anette Richie; Helene Scheck; Tim Sergay; Leonard Slade; Latonia
Spencer; Lindsey Van Berkom; Jan Waterhouse; Tim Weaver; Greg Wiedeman; Masahiro
Yamamoto; Tse-Chuan Yang; Virginia Yonkers; Greg Pogarsky; Kaylynn Enright; Karl
Rethemeyer; Elga Wulfert; Bruce Szelest; Ann Marie Murray; Kathie Winchester; Corinne
Fauchon
Approval of Senate Minutes of December 10 2018 and February 4 2019
December 10th vote:
Provost’s Report – Interim Provost Elga Wulfert
The Provost shared that we are celebrating our 175th anniversary which will be a year-long
celebration. Additionally, she reported that there was a Martin Luther King Day presentation
from Reverend Barber that was very well attended. A faculty and staff donor event was held last
week to thank donors for their contributions. She shared that a record number of faculty and
staff had contributed, that the campaign was still ongoing and that additional contributions would
be welcome. The Provost also indicated that UAlbany was again classified as an R1 in the latest
Carnegie classification and that it is important to maintain this status. She indicated that at the
State of the University System the Chancellor mentioned UAlbany for its particularly good job
of promoting access and social mobility. She made an announcement about the PRODI-G
program through which SUNY intends to hire 1,000 new URM faculty and women in STEM
fields over the next ten years to increase faculty diversity. She also provided an update on the
Provost search and encouraged everyone to attend the open forums. She also mentioned the
Strategic Allocation of Resources (StAR) funding program which is focused on increasing
undergraduate retention and graduation rates, increasing the number of graduate students from
underrepresented backgrounds, and increasing women in STEM fields. Furthermore, she
provided an update on the strategic enrollment plan which is a 5 year plan to get to ~19,000
students. This is a 1-2% increase each year, which is conservative, and we are expected to meet
or exceed this target. Finally, she also provided an update on the Women in Higher Education
Initiative.
Based on questions from the audience, the Provost mentioned an upcoming PRODI-G workshop,
which is designed to provide a background on the administration of the program, indicating that
Ann Marie Murray and Dina Refki will attend. Bruce Szelest indicated that we are examining
the various component elements of the data that contribute to our R1 status. Provost Wulfert
indicated that she will look into having the video from the Reverend Barber event posted online;
Dr. Slade shared that he had a video of a different presentation by Dr. Raymond Burse will be
made available to the library. Regarding the process of providing feedback for the Provost’s
search, she indicated that people will be invited to complete a web-based survey for each
candidate. She also clarified that students are invited to apply to the StAR program.
Senate Chair’s Report – James Mower
Nothing new to report.
Old Business
a.
Vote to approve new Council and Committee members
Vote: 47 in favor, 2 opposed, 0 abstentions
New Business
a.
Resolution on December Commencement Ceremonies—Deborah LaFond, ULC
Deborah LaFond again shared about the resolutions on December and Department
Commencement Ceremonies. She stated that many students who are international, got jobs, etc.
are not able to make it back to the May graduation ceremony. Ray Bromley shared his concern
that not having a December and August ceremony diminishes the loyalty and pride of those
students who are not accommodated and asked for a clear explanation for why this cannot be
done, or an investigation into its feasibility to bring back. Feedback was provided about specific
recommendations to the language to strengthen the proposal. It was also shared that SA also
passed a resolution encouraging bringing back the December graduation and there was a lot of
support from the students. It was clarified that the University grants degrees during 4 times:
May, January, August and December. A point of order was called to send back the proposal to
make edits, do further investigation, etc. before the vote. There was some discussion about what
“thorough investigation” means. It was suggested that edits be sent by email to Deborah LaFond
and Ray Bromley.
Vote to send the proposal on December Commencement Ceremonies back to SEC: 33 in favor, 9
opposed, 1 abstention
b. Resolution on Department Commencement Ceremonies—Deborah LaFond, ULC
The ceremonial importance of the departmental graduations was shared. Amendments were
suggested to the wording of the document to strengthen the resolution. It was asked that
amendments be sent to Deborah LaFond. It was shared that the reasons for taking away these
ceremonies were related to funding, time, space, and equity between departments. The
suggestion was made that wording be adjusted because it implies conferral of degrees, and this is
a recognition ceremony. It was stated that there was general support for the proposal but that it
should be brought back with edits, which would be solicited by email.
c.
Forensic Science Minor—Don Orokos, Biology
Don Orokos provided an overview of the proposal. He indicated that the minor would be
restricted because of capacity in the lab.
Vote:
d. Bill on Charter Amendment of CPCA Quorum Rules—Jim Hargett, CPCA
Jim Hargett shared that the number of cases coming to CPCA are steadily increasing. This
results in a large workload for each member. The proposal is suggested to help lessen workload,
speed up approvals, and help with recruitment – especially recruitment for full professors.
Quorum has been suggested to be reduced from 7 to 5, full professors reduced from 4 to 3. It
was indicated that the term Librarians is not clear and requested that it be edited to “Full
Librarians” – it was responded that “Librarian” is the official, legal term. There were issues of
recusal of librarians, but it was shared that the membership is flexible to handle this issue. There
was some discussion about whether 5 is an appropriate number, and anticipating trends in
caseloads. It was indicated that this can be revisited in the future. There was a discussion about
the importance of the participation of women on the Council, and the importance of recruiting
women.
Vote: 39 in favor, 6 opposed, 1 abstention
A point of order was raised that the vote should occur at the next meeting for a charter
amendment.
Other Reports
1. SUNY Senators’ Report – Diane Hamilton, Latonia Spencer, Sam Axley: Nothing to
add.
2. Graduate Student Organization Report – Kaylynn Enright, Lead Senator: There are
graduate students who will be meeting with provost candidates.
3. Student Association Report – Langie Cadesca, President: Leadership conference on
March 31st. Recommendations or volunteers for speakers were solicited, and
requested to be sent to the SA president.
4. Council/Committee Chair Reports:
i.
CAA – Istvan Kecskes/Mary Ellen Mallia, Co- Chairs: Meeting coming up on
Wednesday.
ii.
CAFFECoR – Malcolm Sherman, Chair: Not present.
iii.
CERS – Youqin Huang, Chair: Not present.
iv.
COR –Robert Rosenswig, Chair: Not present.
v.
CPCA – James Hargett, Chair: Not present (had to leave early).
vi.
GAC – Sean Rafferty, Chair: Meeting Thursday, nothing to report.
vii.
GOV – Zina Lawrence, Chair:
Combined Program Approval Process – GOV was charged to review the by-laws and charter to
determine how combined bachelor’s/master’s degrees can be approved in an abbreviated
timeline. Feedback was provided from Jon Bartow and Kathie Winchester indicating that
NYSED relaxed their requirements allowing us to consider them “existing” programs and
approval is only required on campus. The question before us was whether these approvals can be
limited to GAC and UAC rather than going through the full senate. It was noted that the
committees would report out their approvals for the full senate. It was agreed that a resolution
confirming that combined programs are to be considered revisions rather than new programs
would allow for limiting their approval to the GAC and UAC. Chair Lawrence will present a
draft resolution to share with the Council by email. If there are resource implications it will be
sent to UPPC.
Faculty Survey – Carolyn Malloch shared that the faculty survey is moving forward. The hope is
to get the existing data to the group on Friday for review. The student survey did not get
statistically significant responses and so cannot be used. IRPE no longer creates reports and so
the working group is responsible for the report itself. The greatest takeaway is that the Senate
needs to better advertise because a great number indicated no awareness of the Senate.
Update on Committee for Contingent Faculty Concerns – A standing committee will be housed
in Governance Council, including communication with stakeholder groups. It will be important
to have correct lists for contingent faculty; the Committee will work to ensure that any policies
that will affect those individuals will be shared so that they will be aware and can give feedback.
Starting as a committee allows for the possibility of vetting its viability and working out details,
and may also set up strong historical evidence for creating other shared governance opportunities
for this group.
Senate Elections Update –
2019 – 2020 Senate Allocations by School / College:
CAS 22
CEAS 2
CEHC 2
CRJ 1
EDU 3
LIB 3
ROCK 3
SOB 3
SPH 3
SSW 2
Current Timeline:
February 28th - The call for VC, Secretary, Senator-at-large and SUNY-wide Senator
nominations will be sent.
March 1st – Combine allocation and open seat information to generate appointment lists for the
schools / colleges.
March 4th - The schools/colleges will be sent list of open seats and faculty types needed; we will
ask to receive 2019-2020 appointments no later than April 8th.
Membership Nominations Request – The Council was asked to provide four (4) teaching faculty
nominees to the Advisory Committee for Campus Security (ACCS). It was recommended that
this would be a good opportunity for an untenured or junior faculty to serve. Christy Smith
volunteered and Jayson Kratoville was nominated; a call for additional nominees was reiterated.
Communications Update - In an effort to improve outreach and information sharing with the
campus community, and to demonstrate to potential members and the general community the
significance of the work of the Senate, GOV’s Communications Working Group will be
generating a monthly electronic newssheet. The newssheet will highlight the work of the Senate
as well as provide insights into faculty governance with a featured “bylaw of the month”.
viii.
LISC – Billie Franchini, Chair: Nothing to add.
ix.
UAC – Christy Smith/Karen Kiorpes, Co-Chairs: Nothing to add.
x.
ULC – Deborah LaFond, Chair: Chair LaFond pointed to her report indicating
that many announcements are in the report.
xi.
UPPC – Karin Reinhold, Chair: Among the measures considered to speed up
the New Program Approval process is that there be a firm deadline by which
proposals need to arrive. Called attention to the Climate Action and
Sustainability Plan.
Announcements
The President’s Address will be on Wednesday April 17th at 1:40pm in the PAC Main Theater.
Adjournment at 4:16pm
