Governance Council
Wednesday, January 25, 2016
2:45 PM
UNH 306
Karin Reinhold, Chair
Minutes
PRESENT: Durio, Sabin (GSA); Earle, Keith; Herrmann, Susan; Moore, Chris; Nowell, Greg;
Petry, Greta; Reinhold, Karin; Schmidt, John; Sergay, Tim; Yan, Zhen
GUESTS: Van Voorst, Jim; Bessette, Kim
The meeting convened at approximately 2:48 p.m.
GOV welcomed members Zhen Yan, who had been on sabbatical, and Tim Sergay, the
replacement for Ilka Kressner who was on sabbatical.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of December 7 were unanimously approved.
CHAIR’S REPORT – Karin Reinhold
Chair Reinhold reviewed her written report, submitted as follows:
Dec 7th: Governance started evaluating the representation of contingent faculty in the Senate.
Holly McKenna & Annette Richie gave a presentation on the issue.
Dec 21st: UAlbany Council meeting: preliminary evaluation of search firms.
Jan 13th: UAlbany Council meeting: Sandra Starke, who has served as Binghamton University’s
enrollment management leader for the last 15 years has joined us. Her office conducted a survey
of admitted top students that did not come to UAlbany, an exercise that will shape UAlbany
strategy going forward to better attract the group 1 students.
Jan 13th: UAlbany Council meeting extended session: Interviews and selection of firm that will
conduct the presidential search.
Jan 18th: Cynthia Fox and Karin Reinhold joined the UAlbany leadership team that met with
SUNY Provost Alex Cartwright for UAlbany’s Performance Improvement Plan. UAlbany is
showing improvements in enrolment and retention and is addressing the challenges regarding
graduate enrolments. Cartwright was very welcoming of faculty concerns, was supportive of
humanities and social sciences programs and aware of their current challenges. He was aware of
the challenges UAlbany faces with expansions into new colleges and programs and the situation
of contingent faculty. UAlbany is invited to apply for funding to support ideas that would move
the university forward.
Jan 24th: Leadership meeting: a report is soon to come about the implementation of Contingent
Concerns. The Critical Conversations forum on the role of humanities and social sciences will be
held Feb 27th. The assessment of deans and administrative units is moving along. A draft was
presented to the Council of Deans for feedback. The plan is to evaluate 2-3 deans per year.
Results will be presented to the President and Provost for professional review. A committee was
formed to evaluate written documents describing EOP program practices. The strategic planning
process is moving along. We had the “divergence” exercise in the Fall to create a pool of ideas to
move forward. Now we will move into the “convergence” phase on Fri Feb 10th. The goal is to
write the strategic plan by the end of the semester for implementation in the Fall 2017.
Governance Council will be working on the update of the Senate Handbook this semester and
probably during next year.
Forums update: Forum on Shared Governance has a preliminary date of Feb 21st, Contingent
Concerns Mar 21st, UAlbany Identity in April.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
Liaison and Elections Committee (LEC) – Christian Poehlmann, Chair
Nothing to Report
Assessment of Governance and Consultation Committee (AGCC) – Greta Petry, Chair
Nothing to Report
Ad hoc committee on Contingent Representation
Nothing to Report
OTHER REPORTS
UAlbany Budget Presentation – Vice President James Van Voorst and Associate Vice
President Kim Bessette, Finance and Administration
Jim Van Voorst and Kim Bessette gave a revenue and expenditure presentation which
highlighted the source and use of University funds and the 2017-18 executive budget. Discussion
followed.
Representation of contingent faculty would be discussed at a subsequent meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 4:13 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder
