COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
Meeting of the University Senate, February 10th, 2014
As submitted to Yenisel Gulatee, Senate Secretary, University Senate
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT –Christine Wagner, Chair
UAlbany’s START-UP NY plan has been finalized and submitted to the Chancellor. The Senate Chair received a
copy of the plan submission. Both UPPC and the SEC were consulted in the process of drafting the final plan.
The Campus Advisory Committee regarding the new relationship between UAlbany and CNSE received a
memo from President Jones informing that Chancellor Zimpher held an initial meeting of the SUNY
Implementation Team in December. The committee will meet on 1/31/14.
Senate legislation (Bills 1314-01 and 1314-02), approved in the Senate on 12/9/13, was approved by President
Jones.
A proposal from the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences regarding a name change of the Departments of
Music and Theatre was submitted to the Chair of the Senate Executive Committee (SEC). The SEC forwarded
the proposal to UAC and UPPC for review of any curricular or resource implications. These Councils will
report back to the SEC.
The Senate Executive Committee agreed with the recommendation of the Governance Council that the three
Senate seats designated to CNSE (now vacant) should remain Senate seats keeping the Senate at 44 Senators as
indicated in the Faculty Bylaws (Article II. Section 2.3). These seats will be re-apportioned to academic units in
proportion to the numbers of voting faculty members in each school or college according to Faculty Bylaws
(Article II. Section 2.3.2).
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) –Danielle Leonard, J. Philippe Abraham & John Schmidt,
SUNY Senators
166th Plenary Winter Meeting (Hosted by UAlbany) on January 23-25, 2014
Attended by UAlbany’s Philippe Abraham, Danielle Leonard, and John Schmidt
Outlined below are a few of the issues that were discussed at the Plenary that most impact UAlbany.
Teacher Educator Preparation Programs:
Neither the process nor the content of the Board of Trustees resolution on admissions standards for teacher
education programs are acceptable to the Faculty Senate. A data-driven examination of the relationship between
grades and teacher effectiveness will be on the agenda of a Provost’s Advisory Committee on Teacher
Education. The implications of the edTPA initiative (the new exam for graduating education majors before they
can be certified to teach) on students and our curriculum are also among the UFS’ concerns. There are two
issues. This year’s graduating class must take the edTPA even though the curriculum has not yet been adjusted
to cover the things tested. Only two states (Wash and NY) have adopted edTPA and NY has set a much higher
score to pass, such that 40% failed in the fall. Second, the criteria were set without input from SUNY Schools of
Education. UUP is engaging this issue and UUP’s VP for Academics, Jamie Dangler, presented UUP’s seven-
point action plan to press for changes in the edTPA at the Plenary.
Start Up New York:
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Campuses have now submitted their campus plans for Start UP New York. As important as the review of the
initial plans is, the review of specific business proposals is perhaps more important. The role of campus
governance in determining if companies sufficiently meet the academic mission requirement is not clear and is
of great concern to the UFS. The following guidelines were sent to campuses from System:
Selection Process and Qualification of Businesses:
Accepting Businesses Applications
Solicit and accept business applications with assistance of local REDC, municipality, county or other clearly
defined stakeholders.
START -UP NY Campus Advisory Committee
Establish a START-UP NY Advisory Committee, with membership including appropriate senior
administrative officers, faculty, and student representatives. Consider inclusion of external members as well.
Describe how members of committee will be chosen. The committee should provide a broad campus
perspective, and include representatives who can ensure the business proposal aligns with the campus’s
academic mission.
Criteria
Define specific criteria for how business will be chosen. The criteria may include some or all of the
following:
Academic and Research Alignment
• Is the business in an industry aligned with current and/or developing University research, scholarly,
and creative activity?
• Does the business provide experiential learning and workforce opportunities (e.g., internships,
fellowships, full-time jobs) for students and graduates?
• Does the business provide areas for partnership and advancement for faculty and students?
• Will the business provide access to research instrumentation, tools, and/or equipment necessary to
advance the academic and research mission?
• Will the business fund scholarships, campus facilities or other academic services or amenities?
• Will the business and/or its employees contribute to instruction or provide student mentoring?
• Does the business offer the use of company resources, intellectual property or expertise to support the
academic mission?
Open SUNY:
The Chancellor “officially” launched the Open SUNY initiative at the State of the University address on
January 14. She identified 8 programs from 6 campuses as “Open SUNY +” degrees that will pilot centralized
24/7 student (and instructor) support, tutoring, and advising. She announced two virtual groups that will be of
particular importance to faculty: Center for Online Teaching Excellence
(http://commons.suny.edu/facultycenter/) and Open SUNY Scale-Up Lab. The former has already attracted
more than 500 faculty interested in sharing expertise in online education. The position of the UFS is that Open
SUNY offers opportunity for faculty and students to leverage online education in better ways, but we’ll need to
be vigilant to maintain control over quality and curriculum for our campuses. Visit http://open.suny.edu/ for
further information.
Seamless Transfer/ Student Mobility:
At the end of our last meeting, the UFS passed a Sense of the Senate resolution asking the Executive Committee
to produce a resolution that, in essence, endorsed the basic position of the Faculty Council of Community
Colleges regarding SUNY Central setting de facto curricula via the seamless transfer paths. The Executive
Committee deliberated for some time on the wording of a resolution, and meanwhile a series of discussions
among FCCC President Tina Good, Interim Provost Beth Bringsjord, and UFS President Kneupfer resulted in
development of a process to move forward. Accordingly, the Executive Committee crafted a resolution
endorsing that process. This was endorsed by the full Senate our Plenary.
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The University Faculty Senate Executive Committee request that the Interim Provost work with Campus Chief
Academic Officers in consultation with their campus faculty governance leaders to identify an appropriate faculty
representative within each discipline on campus to advise on transfer paths related to the one for which the campus
has a registered program already established.
It was further resolved that the deadline for full implementation of minor and major revisions in the Memorandum
to Presidents on Seamless Transfer Requirements be extended to be effective for students entering in the Fall
semester, 2015, in order to ensure that the revisions to programs incorporate all changes made to the transfer paths.
In order to accommodate the process, the deadlines for submitting the first Program Status Inventory and waiver
requests will be extended to March 31, 2014.
LICH and SUNY Downstate:
The issue, which is of major concern to the UFS and all campuses, is the potential financial impact of the
divestment of LICH on the SUNY System as a whole. At present, even if SUNY were to exit the operation of
the Long Island College Hospital within 60 days, the potential liabilities exceed $500 million. Somewhat less
than half of this can be offset by a sale of the LICH properties, but SUNY would still be left with potential
liabilities of at least $300 million. Some of this debt could “go away”, but some percentage of it will have to
covered by SUNY, decreasing the funding available to campuses.
Other Resolutions:
The“Resolution on the Status of the New York State College of Ceramics” expresses concern to the
Chancellor and BoT over the identity of Ceramics within the Alfred University community and asks for a study
of that relationship.
The “Resolution requesting participation of Alfred University and Cornell University in the process of
recognizing SUNY faculty for distinguished achievement” asks that the Chancellor invite the Alfred and
Cornell Presidents to participate in making SUNY faculty members at their respective institutions eligible for
the honorific distinction of distinguished faculty under the existing SUNY review and recommendation
processes.
Announcements:
Undergraduate Research in New York State's Public Higher Education System: April 1, 2014, Legislative
Office Building, Albany, NY
SUNY’s First Conference on Shared Governance: April 23-24, 2014 at the Albany Holiday Inn on Wolf Road.
Proposals will be accepted through January 15, 2014.
GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Caitlin Janiszewski, GSA President
The GSA Vice President Nic DePaula resigned from his position at the end of the fall semester. Finding himself
over-committed and unable to follow through with his responsibilities, he decided to step down. The President
has appointed an acting Vice President, Kat Slye, who with Assembly approval may finish out the year. More
recently, the GSA Programming Chair has informed us that she must resign starting February 7th. We are in
search of a new chair to help us finish out this year’s programming agenda. These resignations are no doubt a
reflection of the fact that our organizational structure is dysfunctional. The executive board intends to address
this problem with the Assembly and offer proposals on how to re-structure so that we can operate without such a
high turnover rate.
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The GSA has also hired a Communications Director to redevelop the GSA's communications and PR strategies.
These responsibilities until now, by default fell on the shoulders of the GSA President as the organizations chief
advocate. This new person is working for the GSA to fulfill her required internship for the Communications
Department. The GSA hopes to offer this internship for graduate students in the Comm. Dept. every semester to
maintain our new initiatives.
Among our many structural transitions this year, the latest proposed change will be to increase the committee
requirement for Recognized Graduate Student Organizations who receive funding from the GSA. There are
currently 28 RGSOs which are required to sit on committees (in exchange for their funds) but the GSA receives
requests for nearly 40 students to sit on committees throughout the year. Not only do we anticipate the new Vice
President holding RGSOs more accountable to their committee requirements but we hope to change our
governing documents so that they meet the advocating needs of the GSA.
Finally, our grants program and our financial systems have moved entirely online. We are currently working out
the kinks of these systems but anticipate that they will make our grants program and accounting procedures
more efficient.
SA (Student Association) – Marc Cohen, Student Association Representative
Report:
Director of Dippikill Outreach - Alexis Klein
This weekend I am tabling with Heidi and a few interns at the ferocious feast from 4-7 before the basketball
game in order to promote Dippikill to the alumni.
I have an intern working on getting a mural set up in the campus center to promote Dippikill and beautify the
school.
I have another intern working on getting a photo of the day up on the university website as soon as possible.
Director of Marketing - Steven Valentine
Pins
Food Drive
Parkfest T-shirts and Flyer (Only when Programming picks an artist to perform can this be completed).
Shirts for Staff
Student Advocate - Michaela Torres
Nothing to report
Director of Academic Affairs - Derek Ellis
Co-sponsoring the Jobs/Interships fair
Director of Programming - Ajon Crump
Working on Parkfest
Director of Student Group Affairs - Katie Thomas
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Nothing to report
Director of Gender and Sexuality Concerns - Emma Suarez
Nothing to report
Director of Multicultural Affairs - N/A
Working on appointing a new director
Director of Legislative Affairs - Justyn Turner
Voter registration drive
Working out an alternative UAlbany day
Director of Community Engagement and Outreach - Rose Avellino
Working on Student to Student Initiative
Working with local high schools
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Deborah Bernnard, Chair
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility)
– Susanna Fessler, Chair
Nothing to report.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
Nothing to report.
COR (Council on Research) – John Monfasani, Chair
COR voted in its January 27th meeting to move the FRAP A deadlines up one month so as to give the FRAP A
committee time to decide on the applications. So starting next fall, the application deadline will be mid-
September rather than mid-October.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Sanjay Putrevu, Chair
The CPCA will meet next on Feb. 5th.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Ronald Toseland, Chair
The GAC approved a new degree program for a Master of International Affairs.
GOV (Governance Council) – Joette Stefl-Mabry, Chair
GOV met on 12/02/2013:
1. GOV drafted and unanimously approved the following resolution regarding the three vacant Senate seats
that resulted in the resignation of the CNSE senators:
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In accordance with Article II, Section 2.3.2 of the Bylaws and SUNY Board of Trustees policies: Whereas
the Board of Trustees has voted to separate CNSE from the University at Albany and all CNSE senators
have resigned from the University Senate, therefore be it resolved that the CNSE Senate seats remain
vacant through spring 2014 and return to the pool of senators for reapportionment as per the Bylaws.
2. The Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation discussed the creation of a
survey to evaluate shared governance as per the charge of the Committee (X.1.3) GOV discussed the
composition of the Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation, which according to the
Charter, “shall consist of no more than 8 members, including at least 3 members of the council, at least 5
Teaching Faculty, and no more than 2 voting members selected from Faculty or Staff who are not students
or Voting Faculty” (p. 9).
GOV met on 12/ 16/2013:
1. Re: Charter Amendment Re Composition of CPCA: GOV is awaiting word from Senate Chair Christine Wagner
that University Counsel has responded with any changes the Counsel may require.
2. The Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation discussed the scope of the survey on the
evaluation of shared governance. GOV agreed that the committee would consult with the IRB re:
implementation of the survey.
3. The Ad Hoc Committee on Senate Implications of the CNSE Transition continues to work on identifying issues
related to the transition.
4. The subcommittee working on CAFFECoR reported to GOV that it has been working on formulating a new
charge, or set of charges, as yet not complete.
GOV met on 01/27/2014:
1. Re: Charter Amendment Re Composition of CPCA: GOV received a letter from Raymond Haines clarifying the
language in the UUP contract. Senate Chair Christine Wager shared Haines’ letter with President Brett
Benjamin, Albany Chapter UUP. GOV is now awaiting word from President Bret Benjamin regarding UUP’s
perspective of Haines’ letter.
2. The Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation consulted with the IRB who determined that an
IRB was not needed for the survey on the evaluation of shared governance. The committee is finalizing the
survey and will share it with GOV at its next meeting on February 11th.
3. GOV discussed the work of the subcommittee working on the CAFFECoR amendment. The subcommittee has
almost finalized the work of removing those portions of the charge that are untenable and clarifying the
remaining portions of the charge with the goal of bringing them in line with successful past practices.
4. GOV discussed the importance for input from the Senate regarding several initiatives that are quickly advancing
and require careful ongoing deliberation at the campus level:
a.
Seamless Transfer
b. Teacher Education Programs and edTPA
c.
Start Up New York
d. Open SUNY
GOV recognizes that some of these initiatives do have faculty and professional staff serving on campus-wide
committees (for example Open SUNY and Seamless Transfer), but others may not. GOV feels that it is the
Senate’s role to promote mechanisms to facilitate dialogue and analysis, especially in the face of new challenges
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emerging in the shifting landscape of academia. GOV therefore recommended that CAFFECoR be tasked to
look into these as campus governance issues.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Elizabeth Gaffney, Chair
LISC has its first meeting of the semester scheduled for Monday, February 3rd. Eliot Rich has been selected as
chair of the IT committee of LISC.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Anthony DeBlasi, Chair
UAC met on January 29. It addressed two agenda items. First, it discussed whether there were any curricular
implications in the proposed merger of the Departments of Music and Theatre. It found none. Second, pursuant
to Senate legislation restructuring the General Education program, UAC then settled on a methodology for
reviewing the General Education Competency Plans for each undergraduate major. Following subgroup
consideration of assigned plans, the full Council will discuss a small number of plans at each meeting until all
majors are considered.
ULC (University Life Council) –Michael Jaromin, Chair
The next meeting of the ULC is today (2/4) at 3:00 pm.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) –Andi Lyons, Chair
Nothing to report.
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