RE: FW: Proposed membership for Budget Advisory Group IV
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"Merbler, Candace A" <CMerbler@uamail.albany.edu>
Date
2011-01-25 15:44:17+00:00
To
"Lyons; Andi" <andi@albany.edu>; "Schmidt; John T" <js213@albany.edu>; "Cameron; Gail"
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Cc
"Angelozzi; Noelle M" <NAngelozzi@uamail.albany.edu>; "Bessette; Tom"
<TBessette@uamail.albany.edu>; "Carroll; Nan" <NCarroll@uamail.albany.edu>; "Chu; Liang T"
<lchu@albany.edu>; "Fahrenkopf; Nicholas M" <NFahrenkopf@uamail.albany.edu>; "Fessler;
Susanna" <fessler@albany.edu>; "Hoyt; Reed J" <rhoyt@albany.edu>; "Pipkin; John S"
<j.pipkin@albany.edu>; "Price; Tremayne" <TPrice@uamail.albany.edu>; "Scanlon; Donna M"
<dscanlon@uamail.albany.edu>; "Schultz; Laura" <LSchultz@uamail.albany.edu>; "Stefl-Mabry;
Joette M" <jstefl@albany.edu>; "Sussman; Janet M" <sussman@cnsunix.albany.edu>; "White;
Daniel D" <DWhite@uamail.albany.edu>
Subject
RE: FW: Proposed membership for Budget Advisory Group IV
Andi
Your recommendations from all other members of the Governance Council will effect the appt of BAG IV. Not even George expects me to particpate in this vote - just like with BAG III.
Candy M.
From: Lyons, Andi
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 8:02 PM
To: Schmidt, John T; Cameron, Gail
Cc: Angelozzi, Noelle M; Bessette, Tom; Carroll, Nan; Chu, Liang T; Fahrenkopf, Nicholas M; Fessler, Susanna; Hoyt, Reed J; Lyons, Andi; Merbler,
Candace A; Pipkin, John S; Price, Tremayne; Scanlon, Donna M; Schultz, Laura; Stefl-Mabry, Joette M; Sussman, Janet M; White, Daniel D
Subject: RE: FW: Proposed membership for Budget Advisory Group IV
Hi again,
Since I won’t be able to attend Thursday’s meeting, I will toss out a few comments below. Consider or delete as you will.
Of course, if we look beyond UPPC to the entire makeup of BAG III and IV, there are several departments or programs that happen to have more than
one member. With Michael Range, there were two people from Math and Statistics last time, as well as two from East Asian Studies, and I did not get
the sense that this unfairly skewed the results in any way in BAG III, for example. Other folks on this list who were on BAG III, please speak up if I am
misrepresenting that.
As for Candy’s unwillingness to vote on the constitution of BAG IV: while I certainly respect the UUP Bylaws that govern that decision, and while I do
understand that the net result of BAG IVs recommendations will likely include some job loss given the current fiscal situation of the State and SUNY and
UAlbany . . . for better or worse, it seems to me that this is THE faculty and staff opportunity to positively affect the future of the institution as “we” move
forward in the new economic reality. Personally, I would rather be in the room trying to help make whatever will remain the best it can be, than take the
Nancy Reagan approach. But, that is just me.
Also, while I do not think this unfairly skewed results either, the old-guard feminist in me must point out the potential effects of the reality that women
constitute only 25 percent of the proposed membership of BAG IV overall (and of the academic appointees as well). Women do make up just over half of
the professionals appointed, and 30% of the MC folks (including the Provost). I’m just saying . . . .
Have a nice meeting -- without me (I am sure several of you are relieved that I’ll be attending to that “pesky little detail” called teaching during the
Thursday meeting time this term).
Sláinte!
Andi
Andi Lyons
Chair/Lighting Designer/Professor of Theatre
Producer/Director of Design and Technology
Theatre Department, PAC 352
University at Albany, Albany, NY 12222 USA
PHONE: 518-442-4210 FAX: 518-442-4206
E-MAIL: Andi@albany.edu
From: John Schmidt [mailto:js213@albany.edu]
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 5:18 PM
To: Cameron, Gail
Cc: Angelozzi, Noelle M; Bessette, Tom; Carroll, Nan; Chu, Liang T; Fahrenkopf, Nicholas M; Fessler, Susanna; Hoyt, Reed J; Lyons, Andi; Merbler,
Candace A; Pipkin, John S; Price, Tremayne; Scanlon, Donna M; Schultz, Laura; Stefl-Mabry, Joette M; Sussman, Janet M; White, Daniel D
Subject: Re: FW: Proposed membership for Budget Advisory Group IV
GOV colleagues--
Looking over the members of UPPC, it has 18 members (including ex officio-- Pres, VPs), of which 5 are from CAS. Adding another
would make it six, which sounds about right. However, there would be two from Chemistry--that should not occur. I would favor
Welsh, who has been Chair of Chemistry, and replace Scholes with another science/math faculty member. Perhaps Millis, who has
been chair of Biology and is now Life Sciences Director, or John Molinari from Atmospheric Sciences (former chair and now O'Leary
Prof). The only other unit that has more than one is CNSE, with Lifshin and Eisenbran, and we might recommend a change there as
well. I support Reed Hoyt's suggestion of Monfasani as a CAS representative from the Arts/Humanities, maybe add another (Mandle
or Goodwin) to replace the second CNSE member.
John Schmidt
On 1/24/2011 12:41 PM, Cameron, Gail wrote:
Dear GOV Members,
Below is a message from Chair Fessler.
Gail
Gail Cameron
University Senate
UNH 302
University at Albany
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12222
PH (518) 956-8026
FX (518) 956-8022
http://www.albany.edu/senate/
P Please consider our environment before printing this e-mail.
GOV Colleagues,
Below is the e-mail from the president asking for GOV's approval of the proposed slate for BAG4. Our input is stipulated in the Bylaws, 2.5:
2.5 Faculty Participation in Advisory Groups Outside of Governance Bodies . Administrators may choose to
advance their leadership vision for the University by constituting special committees and task forces, selecting
individual faculty members because of their experience or expertise. Ideally, such advisory groups shall be constituted
in consultation with the Governance Council of the University Senate and lines of communication with relevant
governance bodies shall be enunciated. In any case, such groups do not represent the Faculty as a whole and advice
from such groups does not replace approval by or formal consultation with the Faculty. Such groups may freely provide
advice; however, for such groups to be considered part of the formal consultative process, a majority of the faculty
members must either be appointed by, or their recommended appointment approved by, the Senate Governance
Council, as specified in Article 2, Section 5.5, and specific faculty members must be designated to regularly report to
the Senate. The Chair and Vice Chair of the Senate shall be consulted in the composition of all major University level
search committees and committees to select honorary degree recipients.
The salient points, as I see them, are as follows:
1. The entirety of UPPC is on BAG4. I have asked for clarification from the President's office whether this in effect helps streamline the consultative
processes, combining sections 2.4.1 and 2.5 from the Bylaws, assuming that a member of BAG4 (the chair of UPPC perhaps?) reports to the
SEC. I will let you know what the President's response on that is.
2. GOV needs not only to approve/disapprove of the slate, we also should designate which faculty member(s) from BAG4 will report to the SEC. I
suggested above that it be the chair of UPPC, but that's just my suggestion, not a done decision.
3. Time is of the essence, which we knew already. We are scheduled to meet this coming Thursday morning, and the one item on the agenda
is BAG4's composition. If you have questions of clarification, please send them to GOV ahead of time and I'll see if I can get some answers so that
we don't get stuck on anything on Thursday.
Thanks,
Susanna
From: Presmail
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 9:34 AM
To: Fessler, Susanna
Cc: Phillips, Susan D; Lifshin, Eric
Subject: Proposed membership for Budget Advisory Group IV
Dear Susanna:
As you know, I am drawing together a further consultative group to assist in shaping the University’s response to what appears to be another reduction in
resources in the upcoming NYS budget. Given the complexities of the NYS and SUNY budgeting process, we are not likely to know the full extent of the
reduction for several months. However, it is critical we undertake the requisite planning processes on a schedule that will allow us to respond in a timely
manner when the final budget allocations are known.
In designing the Budget Advisory Group IV, I am very appreciative of the guidance and commentary that you provided to Provost Phillips from the
Governance Council earlier this month, and also the advice rendered from the meeting with Senate Chair Lifshin, UPPC Chair Fossett, and yourself.
Following the recommendations that emerged from these discussions, I have extended invitations to all members of the Budget Advisory Group III to
continue to serve in the next consultative group. All but two members of Budget Advisory Group III (Range/CAS/Math and Shaw/SPH/Health Policy, both
on sabbatical and out of town) accepted the invitation to continue. I now seek the guidance of the Governance Council in finalizing the group and
considering the totality of membership in the context of the Bylaws provisions for formal consultation, and in considering who and how to designate
specific reporting responsibilities. In order to extend invitations to additional members in time to make plans for a beginning-of-February start, I would
appreciate the response of the Governance Council—at least in terms of membership—by Friday, January 28.
I have attached a spreadsheet in which you’ll find the proposed membership for the Budget Advisory Group IV. In reviewing this, note that given the
timeline of the BAG III work beyond the end of the semester, the undergraduate student who had served on BAG III had departed before completion of
the work of BAG III; that student had been nominated by the Student Association, which has been approached for names for consideration for BAG IV.
Suggested ADDITIONS to the group of continuing BAG III members are below:
a. ADD all of the individuals who are on the current UPPC (who weren’t on BAG III). This includes*:
i. Welch CAS/ Chem
ii. Williams LIB
iii. Price UG student
*the senate website also lists Charles Scholes (CAS/Chemistry) as a member of UPPC. However, the most recent UPPC
distribution list does not include Scholes. If he is a member of UPPC, then the principles that guide the suggested additions would
call for his name to be added to the ADDITIONS list as well.
b. ADD one additional individual from CAS/ Humanities-Arts. Recommended list is ordered to reflect a preference for those who have been
recently involved in the strategic planning committee (SPC) and who have served in a departmental or other senior leadership role.
Multiple names are listed, as it is unknown if these individuals have other commitments during the relevant time.
i. Hill CAS/ Eng member SPC, chair
ii. Goodwin CAS/Art member SPC, chair
iii. Hamm CAS/History member SPC, chair
iv. Mandle CAS/Philos chair
v. Craig CAS/Eng
vi. Monfasani CAS/His
It may be helpful in the deliberations of the Governance Council to know I anticipate the work of the Budget Advisory Group IV will extend from the
beginning of February through the beginning of April. The charge will be twofold. First, I will ask the group to formulate operating budget
recommendations. The immediate challenge is to define a plan to meet commitments and needs in the 2011-12 academic year, a year in which New
York State will likely take additional fiscal actions that will further impact University programs and personnel. (While we anticipated a substantial
reduction in UAlbany’s financial plan for 2011-12, it is unlikely but remains to be seen whether that allowance is enough.) In addition, we must not only
address whatever decreases in State support are contained in the upcoming state budget process, but also continue our efforts to rebalance our
resources, to deploy them where they are needed to respond to areas of strength, student demand for instruction, and opportunities for the future.
Second, I will ask the group to consider the longer term, looking beyond 2011-12. In addition to the massive cuts in State tax dollar support taken to
date, all of us are increasingly concerned about the consequences of cumulative reductions on the scope, character and quality of our academic and
research programs. So I ask also for thoughts and recommendations about what UAlbany will look like at the end of this period of our development –
e.g., the menu of majors and degree programs we will offer, the quality of campus life and support we expect, and the condition of our physical fabric.
Many thanks for your guidance and leadership, and for your assistance in the path ahead. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely yours,
George
George M. Philip
President
