SEC CHAIR’S REPORT 01302017 – James Collins
I.
Informational
1.
On December 9 Chair Collins met with an outside consultant preparing an administrative report
on the Office of Management and Budget. This was requested by VP James Van Voorst.
2.
On December 9 and 10, Chair Collins, along with other Senate leaders, chairs and members took
part in the Strategic Planning “Concert of Ideas” events. Except for senate members, UUP
members, and Department Chairs, faculty attendance was sparse. On December 20, The Office
of the Provost sent out a summary of the event, and an overview of steps in the planning
process, for those wishing to provide timely corrective feedback as the plan develops.
3.
On December 13, 2016, Senate leaders (Collins, Reinhold and Fox), met with Provost Wheeler
and Chief of Staff Szelest. Among items discussed were the following:
a. Status of CNSE vis a vis UA
b. Proposed changes within CEAS
c.
Implementation of Panel Recommendations on Contingent Concerns
d. Implementation of Panel Recommendations on Graduate Student Concerns
e. Planning for Critical Conversation on Humanities
f.
Interim Director of ITLAL
g. Support for the Senate
4.
On December 14, Senate leaders (Collins, Fox and Reinhold) met with Paul Stasi, Academic Vice
President for Academics of the Albany Chapter of UUP, to discuss common Senate and Union
concerns. Primary among those were (a) loss of faculty in the Humanities and Social Sciences
2007-2014, and (b) support for Contingent Faculty.
5.
On December 14, Chair Collins confirmed with Associate VP Anne-Marie Murray a 02/13/17
Senate presentation from Dean Ouellette of the Albany Law School, on the Albany Law/UAlbany
affiliation.
6.
On December 16, Senate leaders confirmed a schedule of Campus Governance Leaders’
meetings for spring 2017 with the Office of the Provost.
7.
On December 27-28, Chair Collins reviewed the 2010 Senate Handbook as well as notes from
the UPPC working group on Senate procedures for vetting and approving administrative
changes. He sent a planning memo to members of the Governance Council, responsible for the
Senate Handbook, and to member of the UPPC working group, responsible for procedures on
administrative changes, since representatives from both Councils need to meet and discuss
coordinating their work.
8.
On January 4, Chair Collins was invited to attend a PIP (Performance Improvement Planning)
pre-meeting on January 18, 2017 with University administrators, prior to their attending a SUNY
meeting with Provost Cartwright, also on January 18, to discuss the UA plan for the same. Chair
Collins was unable attend, but Immediate Past Chair Cynthia Fox and Vice Chair Karin Reinhold
attended in his place.
II.
Actions taken
1.
On November 15, Chair Collins referred “The place of student evaluations in assessing faculty
teaching,” a UUP report on SIRFs, to the Chairs of CAA and CPCA.
2.
On November 30, Chair Collins asked the Chairs of COR (Fabris) and CERS (Jerison) and the Dean’s
Representative to UPPC (Rethemeyer) to jointly consider the status and reporting criteria for grants.
3.
On December 28, Chair Collins sent a planning memo to members of the Governance Council,
responsible for revising the Senate Handbook, and member of the UPPC working group, responsible
for procedures on administrative changes, informing representatives from both Councils of the need
to coordinate their work, updating the Senate Handbook and providing a statement of process for
Senate consideration of administrative changes.
III.
Recommendations for actions
None
