COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
Meeting of the University Senate, November 19, 2012
As submitted to Yenisel Gulatee, Senate Secretary, University Senate
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT – Andi Lyons, Chair
The Annual Fall Faculty Meeting, which was initially postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, has been rescheduled
for Monday, November 19, at 1:35pm – immediately before the November Senate meeting.
The ULC/University Senate hosted two sessions on Diversity and Inclusion, on Wednesday, November 14, and
Thursday, November 15. These forums were facilitated by Frances Kendall, noted expert in organizational
change. The final count on the number of participants will be available at the full Senate meeting on November
19.
On behalf of the SEC, the Chair would like to thank the President’s Office, and especially Susan Reich Supple,
for arranging our dinner meeting with incoming president Robert Jones, on November 2. The meeting was
lively and informative, and it afforded the SEC an opportunity to discuss some priority concerns, as well as a
chance for us to learn more about our new leader and his aspirations for UAlbany.
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) –Danielle Leonard, J. Philippe Abraham & Shadi
Shahedipour-Sandvik, SUNY Senators
The SUNY Faculty Senate Fall Plenary took place at SUNY Oswego on October 25-27, 2012. Among the
topics of discussion was the new Resource Allocation Model/Tool which will be used to determine state
allocations to 32 campuses, including the 4 university centers. The RAT, as it is called, is based largely on
enrollments. There was a resolution against Shared Presidencies and another in support of our colleagues at
Downstate Medical Center. We also heard a report on Seamless Transfer from Provost Lavallee. A formal
report on the Fall Plenary is forthcoming. Please note, the UFS Graduate and Research Committee's second bi-
annual "Graduate Research Exhibition: Boosting the power of SUNY" will be held on Feb. 26th 2013 at the
Legislative Office Bldg. in downtown Albany. Graduate students from across SUNY campuses as well as from
CUNY and Cornell are invited to participate. More information is on UFS website
at http://www.suny.edu/facultySenate/
The UFS Graduate and Research Committee's second bi-annual "Graduate Research Exhibition:Boosting the
power of SUNY" will be held on Feb. 26th 2013 at the Legislative Office Bldg in downtown Albany. Graduate
students from across SUNY campuses as well as from CUNY and Cornell are invited to participate. More
information is on UFS website at http://www.suny.edu/facultySenate/.
A Special Issue of the UFS Bulletin related to Shared Governance will be available at the next Senate Meeting.
GSO (Graduate Student Organization) – Thomas Devlin, GSO President
The GSO is in search of an office at the downtown campus. Space has been secured for the GSO but it is not big
enough to do what we would like, which is to provide the students at the downtown campus the same services
that the students at the uptown and East campus enjoy, such as our free printing service. I have resubmitted a
request for a larger office.
The GSO held its monthly GSO Assembly meeting on October 19th.
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We discussed the possibility of raising the GSO fee for part time students which currently stands at $11 dollars
per semester to the full time fee of $22 per semester, as the same services are available and it would allow the
GSO to provide the services that students have repeatedly said they would like to see offered. After some data
is collected the Assembly should be casting a vote on the matter at the next GSO Assembly Meeting.
We also discussed the new recreation fee for graduate students. This is a new fee that is only being applied to
graduate students. It is a fee to use the gym here at the university, in the past we have always been able to use
the gym free of charge. The majority of the Assembly was opposed to the new fee. The GSO is currently in talks
with UAS to better understand these fees before deciding whether to take action against them. The Next GSO
assembly meeting will be held on Friday November 9th at 5pm in the CESTM Auditorium at CNSE.
SA (Student Association) – Arthur Rushforth, Student Association President
SA's down town clean up in conjunction with the Pine Hill's Neighborhood Association was a huge success.
Over 160 students signed in and participated in cleaning up the Albany downtown area. Local businesses
donated food and refreshments to all volunteers and over all SA has succeeded in continuing to raise the bar
between our commitment to the downtown community and being recognized as a permanent fixture in Albany
life.
This Saturday, SA had the opportunity to visit and bring supplies to families affected by hurricane sandy.
SA visited three shelters in some of the hard hit areas in New York City; George Washington high school,
Riverside church and Far Rockaway Queens. SA witnessed some of the affected families and also donated
items collected by most Ualbany students to help these families through these hard times. SA went on a "dorm
storming initiative in which we literally knocked on students doors asking for anything anyone was willing to
donate. Ultimately SA donated over 100 pieces of non perishable food items, as well as over 70 articles of
clothing. Ultimately SA plans to get more donations and return to the city Sunday November 18th. SA also is
committed to project "Sandy" and will be accepting donations to aid in the University's relief effort as well.
SA also sent a representative to the SUNY SA conference last weekend (November 3rd-4th).The SUNY SA
mission statement was amended to "It is the mission of the Student Assembly of the State University of New
York to empower the students of SUNY--through advocacy--to seek continued access to quality, affordable
higher education; to support the goals and initiatives identified by the students of SUNY as paramount to their
success; and to represent and protect the rights of SUNY students that the state and national level. A resolution
that requested that students who are working "election day activities" be allowed to miss class was tabled. A
resolution to increase cap on Student Activity Fees. Passed; increased from $100 to $250. A resolution that
would have condemned the new SUNY Resource Allocation Model was not passed. The model was incomplete
and the majority of the voters felt that condemning it would not have been the best choice at the time. This was
hotly discussed. Most of the people there feel that the new model will give disproportionate funding to SUNY
Centers as opposed to other 4-year and 2-year SUNYs. It was tabled to another time.
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Adrian Masters, Chair
At its meeting held on the November 8th, the CAA approved the APRC report on the Department of Art’s self-
study. We also discussed the proposal for the First-Year Writing Program. The council was largely supportive of
the latest version of the proposal which removed the clauses pertaining to the Writing Director’s membership of
the CAA. We decided to defer forming an opinion on a Charter amendment on the relationship between the
Writing Director and the CAA until we see the proposed amendment. We also discussed assessment with respect
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to the competencies within the major that form part of the new Gen. Ed. Program. It was agreed that as Joel
Bloom, Director of Assessment, will be a member of the Gen. Ed. Advisory Board that assessment is adequately
incorporated within the implementation process.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility)
– Leslie Saint-Vil, Chair
Nothing to report.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Carolyn MacDonald, Chair
The CERS chair and the VPR are meeting this month to discuss reporting and training.
COR (Council on Research) – John Monfasani, Chair
Nothing to report.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Sanjay Putrevu, Chair
The CPCA has reviewed of seven cases this semester. We expect to receive several dossiers over the next few
weeks. The next meeting is slated for November 14.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Tim Groves, Chair
The GAC met on 10-15-2012. There are presently no bills to bring to the Senate. All GAC committees are fully
constituted, with Chairs elected. The GAC will meet on 11-12-2012.
GOV (Governance Council) – Christine Wagner, Chair
GOV met on 10/29/12. The members of the Smoking Task Force selected by GOV were finalized. The Task
Force will be convened by the President as soon as possible. The committee addressing Resolution 1112-05R
has drafted an initial report and will meet again soon to finalize the report. GOV provided names for the Senate
designated positions on the University’s Excellence Awards Committees. GOV began discussion on potential
updates to the Bylaws and Charter. GOV will meet again on 11/26/12.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Elizabeth Gaffney, Chair
We have successfully recruited additional participants for our Libraries and IT Committees and have full
committee rosters. Organizational committee meetings will be held prior to the next Senate meeting. The
Council met on Nov. 6 and heard a presentation on Campus Computer Security issues from Marty Manjak of
ITS, and discussed our next steps regarding the Responsible Use of IT Policy which the IT committee worked
on extensively during the 2011-2012 academic year.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Richard Fogarty, Chair
UAC met on Wednesday, 17 October and approved a proposal for revising the writing intensive requirement of
the General Education curriculum by establishing a new, required first-year writing seminar and creating a
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writing program. UPPC also approved the proposal, so UAC submitted it to the SEC as a bill for senate
consideration, and the SEC voted on 5 November to send the bill to the full senate. In other business, UAC’s 24
October meeting included a visit from two members of the Strategic Plan Working Group on Faculty and
Instructional Development, to discuss that body’s recently-generated “Principles of Effective Teaching in
Higher Education.” UAC also began a review of the proposed membership of the General Education Advisory
Board. Meeting on 7 November, the council discussed revisions to the university’s Standards of Academic
Integrity policy, a discussion that will continue at our next meeting.
ULC (University Life Council) – Vincent LaBella, Chair
No response
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
UPPC has recently reviewed and approved for SEC consideration the following:
Certificate in Global Health (School of Public Health)
Department Name Change of the Art Department (College of Arts and Sciences)
Writing Program Proposal (Strategic Plan Implementation Committee)
We have also finalized the Academic Calendar Guidelines document, which was drafted by the Registrar with
UPPC input. This document will be revisited every two years by UPPC. Our sub-committees are fully formed,
with the exception of one graduate student missing from the Resource committee (we are still waiting for a
name from the GSO for that).
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