COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
University Senate, December 15, 2008
As submitted to Dick Collier, Secretary, University Senate
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT – John Delano, Chair
A lot of work has been accomplished since the previous Senate meeting on November 17, 2008. In addition to the Senate Bills and Resolution that
are on the agenda for this current meeting, the following activities represent some high points.
(a)
Budget Advisory Group
: As described in the Senate Chair’s Report of November 17, President Philip and Provost Phillips want a Budget
Advisory Group (BAG) to be formed. At the request of the Senate Executive Committee, the Governance Council provided the President and
Provost with the names of individuals from all major constituencies to be considered as potential members of BAG. Although the SUNY budget
for the next fiscal year has not yet been finalized, and therefore the magnitude of challenges are not accurately known, individuals have been
contacted by the Provost for their willingness to serve on BAG. It is expected that this group will be heavily active during the months of January
and February to provide advice to the President and Provost.
(b)
Senate Resolution
: At their meeting on November 18th, the SUNY Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve Resolution #10R granting
business autonomy to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering without any changes to the current academic relationship between
CNSE and the University at Albany. The Senate Resolution to be considered by the Senate at the December 15th meeting endorses this business
autonomy while reaffirming the current administrative and governance structure. The Senate Chair expresses his deep appreciation for the
tireless and constructive efforts throughout the last four weeks that have been made by many loyal citizens of this institution to achieve the
unanimous consensus that was reached at the special meeting of the Senate Executive Committee on December 9.
(c)
At the December 9th SEC meeting, members considered the merit of proposing an amendment to the Faculty Bylaws to add Senior Vice
President Alain Kaloyeros as a voting, ex officio member of the University Senate. Since this idea received unanimous approval by the SEC
members, work on writing this amendment will shortly begin. Since the process of amending the Faculty Bylaws is stringent and time-
consuming, the SEC invoked Article II, Section 2.4 in the Faculty Bylaws dealing with the ‘Composition of the Senate’:
2.4 At its discretion, the Senate Executive Committee may nominate up to two Senators from the eligible voting faculty for
approval by the Senate for one-year terms.
Using this provision, the SEC voted unanimously to name Senior Vice President Alain Kaloyeros as a member of the University Senate for the
remainder of the current year. This appointment can be considered annually until an amendment, if approved, to the Faculty Bylaws is ratified.
(d) Energy Conservation: The views of all SEC members were solicited regarding the energy conservation strategies that have been developed for the
campus during the intersession. Their views were forwarded to the John Giarrusso, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management, and
Indu Lnu, University Energy Officer, for their consideration.
GSO (GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZATION) REPORT – Nicholas Fahrenkopf, Lead Senator
The Graduate Student Organization continues to organize, fund and promote events and initiatives for graduate students. Last week GSO sponsored
the Graduate Student Holiday Gala in conjunction with the Office of Graduate Studies. The GSO is also promoting a letter writing campaign on
behalf of School of Public Health Doctoral Student Kamiar Alaei who is being held incognito in Iran. Plans for next semester include a networking
event cosponsored by the Alumni Association. Lastly, in cooperation with Student Success, the University Police Department and the Albany Police
Department, the GSO is planning a fundraising and awareness walk in downtown Albany to benefit the Richard Bailey Scholarship Fund.
The Graduate Student Organization looks forward to working with units from across campus. http://www.albany.edu/~gso (gso@albany.edu)
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Henryk Baran, Chair
The Council on Academic Assessment met on November 19th, 2008, and continued its work from the November 5 meeting – reviewing the language
that defines its tasks and relationships with various constituencies. A number of editorial changes in documents on CAA itself were discussed and
agreed on; subsequently, we began work on revising some of the language dealing specifically with the Program Review Committee. It was agreed
that the chair will recommend to the SEC and the full Senate a review by the Undergraduate Academic Council and the Graduate Academic Council
of charter language that deals with their roles in the assessment process. The Council also briefly discussed the question of the status of ex officio
members, especially the Director of Program Review and Assessment; it was agreed that changes to the charter will be proposed.
The Council met on December 3, 2008. After approving the minutes from the previous meeting, it turned to the issue of data used in departmental
and program self-studies: in particular, whether some of the current data gathering requirements could/should be revised or eliminated. The Council
agreed to consider these matters further in the spring. It then turned to the question of how the results of General Education course assessments
should be shared to have a maximum impact on faculty participating in Gen Ed teaching. DPRA Kristina Bendikas informed the Council that the
Interim Provost has agreed that executive summaries of such assessments should be posted on the web and discussed with faculty.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility)
– Malcolm Sherman, Chair
CAFFECoR requested the SEC to support a Faculty Forum next semester on campus freedom of expression policies.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Carolyn MacDonald, Chair
The committee is circulating a draft of proposed revisions to the “Policy on Misconduct in Research and Scholarship” and is seeking comment from Senators.
COR (Council on Research) – Lawrence Schell, Chair
At its December 10th meeting, COR reviewed committee reports on conference and journal support and on SUNY Benevolent awards.
Notification of awards will come from the VPR's office. The VPR gave a report largely concerned with indirect cost returns. FRAP
applications will be reviewed at the next meeting.
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CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Eric Lifshin, Chair
CPCA had a meeting with Interim-Provost Phillips to discuss her views of how we were doing, to answer any questions we might have, and to voice our
own comments on the tenure and promotion process. Many issues were discussed and it was generally felt that communication could be improved
between tenure track faculty and CPCA, department chairs and the administration. These discussions should start as early as possible in an individual’s
career and clearly outline performance expectations in research, service and teaching. The discussions should also address how to best summarize results
in files that are consistent with the guidelines readily available at the UAlbany website. CPCA recognizes that while cases may be presented in a similar
format between academic units, expectations from the units themselves and the fields they represent may be different in such areas as grants, publications,
etc. Thus CPCA would benefit more from the reviews by sub-committees and departments if they added sufficient information about their unique
requirements and also suggested guidelines to help create more effective evaluation criteria, for example which journals are most significant, what is a
good standard for numbers of citations, or other figures of merit relative to peer groups, standards for teaching, etc. Furthermore, it was pointed out that
sometimes the multi-levels of review overlook addressing issues surfaced by external reviewers and simply repeat the more favorable points. What CPCA
expects is that these points of concern be addressed with some objective analysis that will help us put any concerns in proper perspective.
An expected outcome of this very useful meeting with the Interim-Provost is that more frequent discussions will be held between tenure track faculty
and CPCA as well as their department chairs to help in the development of the best possible cases and, more importantly, the best possible careers for
the individuals involved.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Laurence Kranich, Chair
GAC met on November 24. The Council approved a proposal by the Schools of Public Health, Social Welfare and Education for a Certificate of Graduate
Studies in Health Disparities, subject to minor revisions. In addition, the Council acted upon an academic grievance before the Committee on Admissions
and Academic Standing. It also approved a recommendation by the Committee on Educational Policy and Procedures against establishing an equivalence
scale between undergraduate and graduate credits. Finally, the Council approved two program changes: (1) a proposal by the School of Business to
combine and restructure its MS Professional Accountancy and MS Accounting Information Systems (AIS) Programs, and (2) a proposal by the School of
Social Welfare to change the name and course structure of the Direct Practice Concentration within its Master of Social Welfare Program.
GOV (Governance Council) – R. Michael Range, Chair
The Governance Council met on November 24 and December 8, 2008.
The Council reviewed the proposed clarifying amendment on graduate courses in light of the input received from Dean Pryse at its last meeting,
and concluded that no changes would be needed. The Council approved to send the amendment to the SEC. This proposed amendment will be
introduced at the 12/15/08 senate meeting, with a vote anticipated at the first meeting in 2009.
GOV completed discussion of a proposed amendment to ensure better consultation between the administration and faculty governance, and
unanimously approved forwarding the amendment to the SEC. At its Dec. 1 meeting, the SEC returned the amendment to GOV with several
suggestions. GOV reviewed the suggested changes on Dec. 8, revised the amendment in accordance to the changes suggested by the SEC, and
unanimously approved to send the revised amendment back to the SEC. At the end of the SEC emergency meeting of Dec. 9, 2008, and in
subsequent e-mail discussion, SEC members requested further changes before approval. GOV will consider the matter at its first meeting in 2009.
GOV reintroduced the IRCAP amendment from spring 2008 with a preliminary discussion. Further action will be considered at the next meeting.
With previous discussions regarding potential conflict of interest as background (e.g., Senate Chair Delano’s remarks at the 9/22/08 senate
meeting, or the amendment on eligibility to chair councils and committees currently before the senate), GOV reviewed a list of items that
document the appearance of a substantial conflict of interest by a member of the university community in a governance related matter. GOV will
examine at its next meeting whether any further actions should be proposed.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Lawrence Raffalovich, Chair
At the 11/21 meeting we discussed the impact of recent and anticipated budget cuts to ITS and University Libraries. Both report increased use with
decreased resources. Faculty are encouraged to develop and deliver courses on-line as ITS loses support capacity. University Libraries faces
increased prices for recurring subscriptions for journals and on-line databases, but will receive no funds to address inflation. University Libraries'
ARL ranking has dropped to 111/113. Contingency plans for ITS and University Libraries include reductions in service to the university community.
LISC expects passage of the Charter amendment regarding eligibility to chair Council committees. The Library Committee is currently active with
the DOL as chair, but we anticipate no problems with the transition in the Fall. The CIO and LISC chair are working together to form the ITUPC.
CIO Chris Haile is exploring alternative mechanisms for students to acquire software licenses directly through ITS (currently, these are available for
purchase only through an academic department budget).
In the spring, ITLAL will offer training for faculty to help manage student use of laptops, PDAs, cell phones, etc. to surf, text, email, etc. during class.
Items to be discussed at future meetings include access to on-line course materials for students with vision problems; and a recently released report by the
Digital Youth Project on the use of digital technology by young people, with implications for teaching and learning. LISC meets again on 12/19.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Joan Savitt, Chair
UAC approved a revision within the Chemistry major, the “Accredited Forensic Emphasis,” which is on today’s agenda. The council continues to
examine possible revisions in the 2nd Bachelor’s Degree.
ULC (University Life Council) – Daniel R. Smith, Chair
ULC met on December 3 and 5 to begin finalizing recommendations for modification to the smoking policy. The council also discussed and made
recommendations to the UAS Board about the advisability of serving wine or beer during lunch.
UPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Reed Hoyt, Chair
UPC approved the Certificate of Graduate Studies in Health Disparities proposal, which is on today’s agenda.
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