2017-2018 University Senate
Monday, October 16, 2017
2:45 pm, Board Room
Karin Reinhold, Chair
MINUTES
Present: Adams, Marcus; Altilio, Jarrett; Asaro-Saddler, Kristie A; Asmus, Dillon F; Bernard, Sheila Curran;
Boyle, Jodi B; Bromley, Ray; Chandra, Uday; Chen, Gang; Chen, Mei-Hwa F; Chittur, Sridar;
Collins, James P; Cruz, Jose E; Demma, Amanda S; DuFault, Beth A; Eldridge, Morgan; Ernst, Jesse;
Faught, Sydney A; Fontaine, Jerlisa S; Frelin, Adam; Galusha, Jaime; Hamilton, Diane M;
Igboekwe, ChiChi; Keenan, Donald H; King, Chad L; King, Ekow; Kiorpes, Karen E; Kressner, Ilka;
Lawrence, Zina M; Little, Walter; Lizotte, Alan J; Losito, Logan J; Martinez, Maritza; Mower, James;
Narendran, Paliath; Pastore, Christopher L; Poehlmann, Christian H; Prelow, Hazel M;
Rafferty, Sean; Reinhold, Karin B; Richie, Annette D; Roberts, Wendy; Robertson, Tom W;
Rosenswig, Robert M; Rybak, Mitchell; Saddler, Bruce T; Shi, Hua; Sorensen, Lucy C;
Spencer, Latonia T; Stellar, James; Urena, Moises L; Warner, Lynn; Wharram, Dawn M;
Yonkers, Virginia F; Zhou, Liming
Guests:
Baranik, Lisa E; Vero, Ronald; Szelest, Bruce; Kay, Gwen; Smith, Christy; Winchester, Kathie;
Espindola, Pedro; Wulfert, Edelgard; Jewell, Carol
The meeting convened at 2:50 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chair Reinhold reviewed the method for obtaining quorum, referring to the related Bylaw
Amendment 1718-BA02 to be discussed under “new business”.
The minutes of September 25, 2017 were then approved, with the following voting results:
Approved 38, Opposed 0, Abstained 5
PROVOST’S REPORT – James R. Stellar
Provost Stellar announced that President Rodríguez was continuing his listening tour, having
recently visited departments including the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business,
and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He encouraged the community to get
introduced to the president, ask questions and add to the dialogue.
He announced that the University was in the final stages of the School of Public Health dean
accelerated search, with the aim to fill the position in the spring 2018 semester. He had met
earlier with the Dean of Arts and Sciences Edelgard Wulfert, he noted, regarding readiness to
launch the School of Business (SOB) dean search. Dean Wulfert would chair that search, he
added, with the aim of filling the position in fall 2018.
The provost reported that the university had strong enrollment this year with 18,000 visitors as
prospective freshmen and our largest freshman class yet. Our graduate student enrollment, he
added, was a little below targets, but we did grow. We are doing what we said we would do, he
underlined, expanding the University to pay salaries for new faculty in the new colleges.
The provost then addressed questions and concerns on topics including clarification regarding
the current SOB dean search, SUNY assistance offered to students from Puerto Rico, and the
Informatics and Information Science reorganizational move to the College of Emergency
Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity.
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT – Karin Reinhold
I. Informational
On Sept 19, Chair Reinhold met with Immediate Past Chair Collins & Vice Chair Mower to plan upcoming
amendments and fora. We agreed to reach out to all chairs of departments, all deans, Senate departmental
representatives and UUP departmental representatives to solicit from them their support contacting all faculty and
staff in their units. Date for vote on the amendments was set for 2 weeks after the October Senate meeting. Details
on this year’s fora will come later.
On Sept 19th Chair Reinhold received a request for a visit to the Senate of the Director of the State University of
New York’s Center for International Development (CID), Gina Volynsky. The CID is a university-wide institution
that designs and implements international technical assistance and training projects, conducts policy-oriented
research, and contributes to both the theory and the practice of international development. The purpose of the visit is
to raise awareness among the faculty about the work the CID does and the opportunities that exist for collaboration
between CID and the faculty.
On Sept 20th Chair Reinhold received a request of clarification of the role of co-chairs of councils. Last year the
Senate started a model of shared chair responsibilities in order to support the people that stepped up to serve as
chairs. When this was decided, it was greed that only one person would officiate as chair of the council during SEC
and Senate meetings and one person would be listed as the official chair on the council roster. When attending SEC
and Senate meetings, both co-chairs could attend but only one would be vested with the vote corresponding to the
chair of the council. The co-chairs need to schedule who will attend the SEC and who the Senate meetings
officiating as Chair of the council. In either case, the other person is always welcome to attend as guest.
On Sept 20th Chair Reinhold received a request of clarification on voting rights of council members. The basic
principle is that members of a council have the right to vote in that council. It can be confusing that we have a
University Senate with councils composed of tenured/tenured track faculty, contingent faculty, professionals,
graduate and undergraduate students, and emerita. Some senators are departmental representatives; some are
senators at-large, SUNY wide senators or senate officials (immediate past chair, chair, vice chair, secretary). The
composition of councils is dictated by the Bylaws & Charter, which also describe the process of approval of
membership. The council's roster is first approved by the council on nominations, then by the SEC and then voted
by the Senate. Whichever category a member may belong to, the member has the right to vote in that council.
Chair Reinhold inquired about video or audiotaping the President’s report at Senate meetings. Approval by the SEC
was requested. The SEC approved it on Oct 2nd.
On Sept 21st Chair Reinhold received a report on SUNY-wide task force on Micro Credentials for review. The
deadline for campus response is Oct 11th. Provost Stellar, who is a member of the SUNY task force on Micro
Credentials, explained the Micro Credential proposal to SEC on Oct 2nd. He stated that the office of Applied
Learning is working on the UAlbany’s response. There were several concerns about the oversight of digital badges
and micro credentials. Some badges such as being in the Dean’s list or the new Global Distinction are easy to
implement. The bylaws assigns faculty charge over curriculum therefore badges that pertain to curriculum should
have Senate oversight. Provost Stellar explained that badges are tools for enrolment and helping students searching
for job after graduation.
On Sept 28th, Chair Reinhold received documents for the MS & PhD in Electrical and Computer Science
Engineering for final Senate Review. The bill for approval of these programs will most likely come to the Senate
floor on the November 13th meeting.
On Oct 6th, Chair Reinhold attended the Campus Governance Leaders Leadership Institute at the Desmond in
Albany.
II. Actions taken
MS & PhD in Electrical and Computer Science Engineering was sent to UAC & UPPC for Approval.
III. Recommendations for actions
Bylaws amendments 1718BA01 & 1718BA02 vote starting date is planned around Nov 6th.
Videotaping of President and/or Provost report on Senate meetings and upload them to the Senate webpage.
IV. Announcements
Vote for amendment to bylaws 1718BA01 & 1718BA02 planned for on Nov 6th.
Vacancies in Councils and subcommittees:
o
COR is looking for faculty for its subcommittees:
Committee on Center, Institutes and Specialized Research
Laboratories
Researchers’ Liaison Committee
Ad Hoc Committees
o
UPPC has vacancies in
Resource Analysis and Planning Committee
University Facilities Committee
Information about relief efforts for hurricanes Maria, Irma and Harvey and Mexico Earthquakes
http://www.albany.edu/relief/
Congratulations to Joachim Frank, one of three scientists who were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in
chemistry for developing cryo-electron microscopy, which simplifies and improves the imaging of
biomolecules, allowing the image generation of everything from proteins that cause antibiotic resistance, to
the surface of the Zika virus. “This method has moved biochemistry into a new era,” the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences
2017 SUNY Diversity Conference: Engaging Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity in the Classroom, Campus
and Community, 29 Nov - 1 Dec.
SUNY Undergraduate Research Symposium 2018: Friday, April 20 at Oneonta, and Saturday, April 21 at
Monroe County Community College. UFS supports this opportunity for students across the SUNY system
to come together and display, talk about, demonstrate and/or perform their research and scholarly activity.
Chair Reinhold added that the Senate officers had met with Provost Stellar regarding faculty
concerns over the reorganizational move of Informatics to CEHC. She reiterated the request to
encourage faculty to vote beginning November 6th on Bylaws amendments 1718-BA01 and 1718-
BA02. Vice Chair Mower and GOV members, she underlined, were looking into an easier voting
procedure through BallotBin. The Senate chair asked members to solicit volunteers from their
departments for Senate council service to fill current vacancies. Chair Reinhold announced that
the fall faculty meeting was scheduled for November 1st at 1:00 p.m. She reviewed the definition
of “Faculty” per the Bylaws and noted that graduate and undergraduate students were welcome
to attend. The chair highlighted that the Senate President and Provost reports could be recorded
going forward, per their and the SEC’s approval. Lastly, Chair Reinhold reminded of the Fall
Plenary Meeting at SUNY Delhi on October 19. She requested that members direct questions for
the Chancellor to UFS Senator Walter Little and asked individuals to send her topics for the
President’s Fall Faculty Address.
OTHER REPORTS
SUNY Senate President – Guest Gwen Kay
Implementation of SUNY Trustees’ Resolution 2016-65, Cross Registration Policy, adopted on
November 3, 2016. http://system.suny.edu/academic-affairs/student-mobility/cross-registration/
Three things for October:
o
1. It's not too early to think about the SUNY Shared Governance Award
. Applications are due
November 21.
o
2. We're looking for a SUNY Provost. For more information, see http://www.suny.edu/provost-
search/.
o
3. Did you know that SUNY Delhi is one of five college in the northeast where students graduate
with the least amount of debt?
SUNY Senate President Kay reported that SUNY was starting to re-think general
education requirements currently driven by a 20-year-old template. SUNY faculty, she
explained, would be joining with Community Colleges and convening a committee to
write a white paper. She reviewed long-term plans, emphasizing that this would be a
several year process. The President urged faculty to voice questions and concerns to
campus Senators and governance representatives who would be asked to share updates.
The Senate President underlined that a memo had been sent out in July to SUNY
Presidents underlining the current cross-registration policy. She noted that assessment
would begin on how well the system was working. Senate President Kay then fielded
related questions, assisted by Director of Student Financial Services / UFS
representative Latonia Spencer.
Director of the SUNY’s Center for International Development – Guest Gina Volynsky
Chair Reinhold noted that Gina Volynsky was unable to attend but would be invited to
the next meeting.
UFS (University Faculty Senate) – Diane Hamilton, Walter Little & Latonia Spencer,
SUNY Senators
The SUNY University Faculty Senate will convene its 177th Fall Plenary Meeting at SUNY Delhi from
October 19-21, 2017.
Senator Little highlighted some proposed resolutions on topics including financial aid
advising, recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in lieu of Columbus Day, menstrual
equity and broad-based fees. He noted a request to voice concern to the Chancellor
regarding the need for increased support of faculty diversity.
GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Dawn Wharram, Lead Senator
Nothing to report
Senator Wharram reviewed additions to her report, submitted as follows:
Dylan Card, GSA President, and Dawn Wharram, GSA Lead Senator, attended the
SUNY Student Assembly Fall 2017 Conference and represented the graduate student
body as voting delegates. On Friday, November 3, President Rodriguez is scheduled to
attend the GSA Assembly Meeting at 6pm in the SEFCU Hall of Fame room.
Additionally, the GSA has been promoting the Open Forums on October 18 with
President Rodriguez to fellow graduate students.
SA (Student Association) – Jerlisa Fontaine, President
Nothing reported
President Fontaine noted that SA would be postponing the DACA Town Hall meeting.
She announced that there would be a Scholar Series Social Welfare event on November
1st from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. The SA President asked for input on ways to help build
relationships with faculty and encourage their attendance at events.
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE CHAIRS’ REPORTS:
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Istvan Kecskes, Chair, Mary Ellen Mallia Co-
Chair
Nothing to report
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community
Responsibility) – Carol Jewell, Chair
Nothing to report
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Michael Jerison, Chair
Nothing reported.
Senate Chair Reinhold added that David Wagner had agreed to serve as the new CERS
chair.
COR (Council on Research) – Robert Rosenswig, Chair
The first meeting will be on Sept 18th.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Louise-Anne McNutt, Chair
At CoR’s first meeting of the academic year held on Monday, September 18, 2017, we:
Populated all of the subcommittees. However, we noted that each CoR member sits on two separate
subcommittee and each subcommittee has a significant workload. Therefore, we plan to request that the
number of CoR members be increase in the future and in particular that more teaching/research faculty be
assigned to us. A formal request and proposal for an amendment to the Charter will follow.
Reviewed the updated proposal submitted by Dr. Theresa Pardo, the Director of the Center for Technology
in Government (CTG) and approved the proposal which requests the formation of a new research institute
which will not only consist of the Center for Technology and Government, but will also have the ability to
add additional centers.
Received a request from the Center for Global Health (CGH) Status for full center status. They have been
operating since 2009 with provisional approval but final authorization was never granted. At the Sept 18
meeting, John Justino, Center Director, presented an outline of the activities of the Center and requested
that the Center be granted official status as an administrative unit designation within the Dean’s office on
the organizational chart. The Center for Global Health is looking for official status for financial
sustainability reasons and the Dean of the School of Public Health supports the approval of CGH’s status as
a center. CoR has requested more information and expects to vote at our next meeting on Oct. 23, 2017.
Following a request from the College of Arts and Science (CAS) for the VPR’s office to share the criteria
and method of reviewing FRAP-A applications, CoR members discussed the need for us to make the
formal, numeric method of evaluation available to FRAP A applicants. CoR also intends to formalize the
use of Dean’s evaluations and rankings in the decision process. Our plan is to make all of these formal
evaluation and ranking procedures available to applicants for the 2017-2018 competition. They will also be
posted on the Senate website.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Sean Rafferty, Chair
Nothing reported.
GOV (Governance Council) – Jim Mower, Chair
GOV voted to:
Appoint Julie Cuccio Slichko to the Campus Recreation Advisory Board and
Appoint Karen Chico-Hurst to fill the UAS board member term vacated by Gary Kleppel on his retirement.
Unfortunately, replacement procedures for vacancies on the UAS board are not described in the Faculty
Bylaws. Senate Chair Karin Reinhold and I have since talked about a way to make filling UAS vacancies more
regular without amending the Bylaws, specifically by applying its rules for replacing vacated Senate positions
(II.8.3.a,b) to the UAS board position. In subsequent elections that we conduct for the voting faculty, we would
be sure to keep a permanent record of votes for all candidates. By doing so, we could fill vacancies by asking
each of the runner ups, in order of vote count for the elected position, if they would be willing to serve out the
term in question. If not, we would use past practice and conduct a GOV vote of nominees presented by the UAS
board President, just as we did for the Kleppel vacancy.
Anticipating GOV’s approval of the Faculty Bylaws amendments BA 1617:01 and BA 1617:02: voting rights
for part time faculty to elect their own representative and clarification of voting senators, Senate Chair
Reinhold, Past Chair Collins, and I have discussed various methods for achieving quorum (following positive
reviews of the amendments by the Senate Executive Committee (SEC) and the University Senate) when the
voting faculty participates in the online election. We agreed to contact deans and department chairs to
encourage them to spread the word on the vote. We are also trying to make voting easier; ballotbin, an online
voting technology recently used by the College of Arts and Sciences, is one such possibility. Jim Mower and
Ilka Kressner spoke with CAS Associate Dean Susanna Fessler about her experience with the tool for
administering the recent CAS at-large election. On hearing good news about ballotbin, GOV will further
explore its use in future Senate voting tasks.
GOV will eventually take on new legislation to, in the words of Senate Resolution 1718-01R, “explore
amending the Faculty Bylaws to grant voting faculty status to part-time faculty and staff. “ A positive vote will
have implications for achieving quorum in future votes; GOV will likely take a role in defining how part-time
faculty will be counted in quorum decisions.
GOV passed 1617BA01 and 1617BA02 (voting rights for part time faculty to elect their own representative and
clarification of voting senators) with edits and forwarded both to SEC for consideration. SEC approved both
amendments and has forwarded them to the Senate.
Chair Mower announced that the committee was looking into using BallotBin for voting to
help increase participation and reach quorum.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, & Computing) – Billie Franchini, Chair
The Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing (LISC) will meet on October 12, 2017, and
tour the new Educational Technology Center.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Karen Kiorpes, Chair & Christy Smith, Co-Chair
The UAC held its first meeting of the year on Tuesday September 19th, 2017.
UAC Chairs have been working to assemble subcommittees. There are still two more members to the
council that need to be appointed
Associate Dean for General Education Richard Fogarty reported on the current status of General Education
Competency Plans. To date there are 42 approved programs; 11 more are undergoing revision, and 6 more
are not yet submitted. The General Education Committee of UAC will review plans as they become ready
and will send them back to the Department as necessary or bring them to UAC for a final vote.
The General Education Advisory Board was provided for in the General Education Program legislation
effective Fall 2013. The Board will become more active as work progresses on assessment of the General
Education Program in anticipation of the Middle States Accreditation Process. Institutional Research and
the Counsel on Academic Assessment will spearhead assessment of General Education.
Celine LaValley (Undergraduate Education) summarized the procedures for new program proposals that go
outside of SUNY Albany for review, and those that may come to UAC for review in 2017/2018.
The Committee on Academic Standing met September 14th and is currently meeting biweekly.
The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 31st, 2017.
ULC (University Life Council) – Ekow King, Chair
Nothing reported
Chair King indicated that ULC had been working on an amendment to section X.9 of the
Charter. He referred to recent issues discussed, including an external review of Student
Affairs, affordable childcare, and ways to make ULC more inclusive.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – James Collins, Chair
Information:
The Council met on September 20.
It heard a report from Provost James Stellar that the new academic units CEAS and CEHC were both doing
well in terms of enrollments and the University undergraduate enrollments were higher than expected, as
were international student enrollments, while graduate student enrollments were below the targets for this
year. Council members asked about resources for the Health Sciences Campus, in particular space
allocations of research, bus scheduling, and access to library resources for graduate students working or
taking courses on the Health Sciences Campus. The Provost discussed the issue of space, given the mix of
UA and private business claims on space. Chair Collins and a Council member asked about the status of
the Information Studies Department (IS) given the proposal by the Dean of CEAS to remove Information
Studies from the College. The Provost acknowledged that it was still undetermined where the department
would be administratively located, a decision depending on input from President Rodriguez, but said that a
decision should be made “within weeks.”
The Council heard a report from VP for Finance and Administration James Van Voorst, about a robust
capital projects budget, an adequate operational budget, and evolving issues like the Excelsior Program. He
mentioned ongoing legislative effort, supported by an upcoming Student Assembly rally, to expand the
Maintenance of Effort Agreement with New York State. The expansion would increase state support for
labor costs, utilities, and other recurrent, increasing expenses. A council member asked about the likelihood
of it becoming law, and VP Van Voorst replied that the legislation for the expanded MOE had passed the
NYS Assembly and Senate annually since 2015, but the Governor had refused to sign it to date.
The council heard a presentation from Dean Harvey Charles and Dr. Annette Richie of the Center for
International Education and Global Strategy of a proposal for an undergraduate Global Distinction
Milestone. It was the second presentation on the proposal, which would draw on courses from a wide range
of academic programs at the University. Council members asked about different components of the
program, including language requirements, study abroad, and accessibility of the Milestone to students of
limited financial means). A frank and open discussion addressed one of the chief criteria of UPPC’s
assessment of the ‘Campus Impact” of new proposals: Whether adequate consultation had taken place with
affected academic units. A compromise was devised, given the wide interdisciplinarity of the Milestone
proposal. The council voted to support the Milestone proposal, with the proviso that the sponsors obtain a
letter confirming consultation from the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
The council heard a presentation from Registrar Karen Chico-Hurst about the proposed Academic Calendar
for 2018-19. Questions and discussion followed, focusing on the value of having a 3- or 5-year cycle of
calendar planning. Council members argued that a longer view would help those trying to host large
academic events, such as professional research conferences, at the University. The Registrar agreed.
UPPC next meets on October 18
Actions:
1.
The Council voted to approve the Center for International Education and Global Strategy proposal
for a Global Distinction Milestone, with stipulations pending.
2.
The Council voted to approve the proposed University Calendars for 2018-19.
Recommendations:
None at this time.
The Council next meets on October 18.
NEW BUSINESS
Approval of changes in Council memberships
UAC
o
Lisa Baranik, Management, School of Business
COR
o
Jesse Ernst, Physics, CAS ,
o
Lynn Warner, School of Social Welfare
A motion was made to approve the above changes, with the following voting results:
Approved 41, Opposed 0, Abstained 0
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chair Reinhold and Past Chair Collins reviewed the following Bylaws amendments and again
emphasized the need for members to assist in encouraging faculty to vote in order to reach
quorum. The Chair noted that an extended voting period would begin in November.
1718BA01: FACULTY BYLAWS AMENDMENT for PART TIME REPRESENTATION
1718BA02: FACULTY BYLAWS AMENDMENT DEFINING QUORUM FOR SENATE
MEETINGS
ADJOURNMENT
The Senate adjourned at 4:11 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder
