Governance Council
Monday, September 22, 2014
2:45 PM
UNH 306
Cynthia Fox, Chair
Minutes
PRESENT: Chesin, Sorrell E; Fox, Cynthia A; Gulatee, Yenisel;
Janiszewski, Caitlin I; Kuznetsov, Igor; Malavasic, Jolene; Moore, Chris;
Zemel, Alan
The meeting convened at 3:00 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of May 13, 2014 were unanimously approved.
CHAIR’S REPORT
¢ Summer activities
o GOV Chair Fox and Senate Chair Stefl-Mabry attended a UFS Senate leaders’
conference in June.
o GOV met to approve the list of membership for the Provost Search Committee
o GOV was asked to recommend a member of University Auxiliary Services to
replace Candice Merbler who has stepped down.
o GOV was also asked to approve Charter Amendment RE: Committee on
Assessment of Governance and Consultation, to be introduced at the next Senate
meeting.
¢ Meeting with Interim Provost 9/12
Interim Provost Mulcahy asked to meet with Senate leadership. We were encouraged that
he seems to have a strong commitment to shared governance. Topics discussed included
the long-standing issue of the Senate’s role in administrative assessment. We received
assurances that the Senate will have an opportunity to interview the candidates for
Provost.
e SEC meeting 9/15
Highlights were the President’s plan for moving forward with conversations about
strategic partnerships with Albany Law and Downstate Medical Center and with initiatives
in Allied Health fields and Engineering. An important topic he raised was a new budget
process in development.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Survey of Governance and Consultation
Chair Fox reviewed that GOV had put together and administered a Charter-mandated
survey last semester, the results of which will be ready for discussion at the next GOV
meeting. This year GOV will address concerns raised in the survey and evaluate and make
changes to the survey instrument so that the survey is ready to be repeated in the 2015-
2016 academic year.
Charter Amendment
Since the language of the Charter is vague about how often the survey should be
administered, and a survey had in fact not been administered in several years, GOV is
proposing an amendment that creates a two-year timeline:
X.1.3.3. The Committee shall, on a 2-year cycle, develop and regularly administer
assessment instruments, conduct data analysis, and report findings to the Council.
The proposed amendment had to go out 3 weeks prior to the next Senate meeting to be
voted on at that meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
e Meeting schedule
Conflicts with 10/13 and 10/27 fall GOV meeting dates that had been agreed upon will be
addressed by sending out Doodle polls for different potential dates. Chair Fox will also
send a message to confirm GOV members can meet at the same time and day next
semester, to be scheduled now as per the standard practice.
« Standing Committees
Chair Fox outlined the purpose and work of GOV’s standing Committee on Assessment of
Governance & Consultation and its Committee on Liaison & Elections. Each GOV member
was then asked to describe his or her Senate, Council and Committee and other
governance experience to help determine on which Councils it would be most beneficial to
serve. Chair Fox would send another inquiry asking GOV members to list any service
preferences.
¢ Participation on multiple councils
There has been a question about whether volunteers can participate on multiple councils.
The answer is that such service is not specifically prohibited anywhere in the Charter or
By-Laws, but the question is ‘is that a good policy?’ Advice from previous Senate leaders
suggests that this was only briefly an issue when former CNSE colleagues had
representation on many councils. GOV can decide whether a policy needs to be put in
place. Senator Gulatee explained that council membership and vacancies are different for
each council as there are different requirements. It does take a lot of time constituting
councils. The process is doable but we have to be sure we follow the rules. We try to have
diversity and have to follow the stipulations in the Charter, and replacements sometimes
have credentials to serve on different councils. Chair Fox added that recommendations for
additional Emeritus members who might be willing to serve would be welcomed.
« ACCS
Members of GOV were reminded that the council has been asked to recommend teaching
faculty to serve on the President’s Advisory Committee on Campus Security (ACCS). Chair
Fox reviewed the Committee’s charge, the process for candidate selection and summarized
her research on individuals who might have related experience. GOV reviewed the list of
names and made recommendations for others. Chair Fox will ask who currently serves on
the Committee and if anyone who currently serves would consider serving again. An e-mail
vote on the candidates would follow later that week in order to provide the solicited names
of six candidates to fill the three open seats.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder
