Council and Committee Reports for SEC Meeting April 30, 2018
Christian Poehlmann, Senate Secretary
Chair’s Report – Karin Reinhold
On Apr 5th, Senate leadership (Reinhold, Collins & Mower) met with brand new VP for
Finance & Administration Todd Foreman. We talked about shared governance, the role
of UPPC and its Facilities and Resource committees. Budget reports and a member of
Senate's Resource Analysis and Planning Committee on appropriate Budget Advisory
Group . We asked that as he learns of the financial situation of UAlbany, we would like
clarification on some items:
1.Indirect cost returns
2.What are East Campus property rental costs to the University?
3.What is the current occupancy rate in the Life Science Building
on the main campus?
4.How are current renovations at the Schuyler Building being
funded
On Apr 9th, Senate leadership met with Provost Stellar & Chief of Staff B. Szeleste &
Chief of Staff and Associate Provost for Program Development Ann Mary Murray.
1.The new website is live and all council can update their page with council
business, news and initiatives. Organizational meetings with council staff
members will be planned twice per year.
2.Deactivation of program: there are lots of old programs which have become
outdated and which no longer have enrolment. Each school was asked to identify
such programs with the intention of removing them from the books. A report
will be available once the list is completed.
3.Between the provost and budget offices there are two executive facilities
committees. These need to be in communication with UPPC facilities committee.
4.The Strategic Plan Implementation team will consist of 22 persons: Stellar &
Christakis, the 10 co-chairs corresponding to the 5 initiatives, 5 Senate members,
3 from the President's office (including the VP for finance) & 2 deans. We
requested an additional 2 UUP members.
5. Metrics team: 2 from IR, 2 Budget office, 2 president’s office
Implementation plans will consist of letters of intent like the ones for compact planning,
but with shorter proposals and shorter timelines. Budget plans intend to focus on
sources for new enrolment, new sources of revenue, and strategic reallocations.
On Apr 12th, the Pay Equity ad-hoc group: Kristen Hessler, Heather Larking, Louise
Anne McNutt & Karin Reinhold, met with the Provost Stellar and Chief of Staff and
Associate Provost for Program Development Anne Marie Murray, who approved the
initiative.
On April 13th Reinhold attended the President’s Inauguration representing the Senate. It
was a beautiful ceremony with the attendance of Chancellor Johnson, SUNY Trustees
Chairman H. Carl McCall and prior UAlbany President Karen Hitchcock.
On Apr 18th, VP for Finance & Administration Todd Foreman gave a presentation in
UPPC about the budget with explanations of Indirect Cost. Please see UPPC webpage
for a report.
Associate Provost for Program Development Anne Marie Murray explained that there is
a team, which includes John Cimino (from the Concert of Ideas), that is exploring ways
of integrating arts and humanities across the curriculum. The team will be presenting a
report to the Senate next Fall.
Recommendations:
Reports presented to the Senate be place in the Senate website.
A report with the list of programs that will be deactivated and removed from the
bulleting be sent to the SEC for approval.
A report about proposal from Cimino’s team,
integrating arts and humanities across
the curriculum, be presented to the Senate in the Fall.
Actions Taken:
Invited Assoc. Prof. Fogarty, Senate’s Faculty NCAA Athletics Representative, to
present a report to the Senate on May 7
th.
Invited Dean of Graduate Studies K. Williams to give a report on the proposed
Graduate School to the Senate on May 7
th.
SAVE THE DATE:
Senate Forum on The State of Arts and Humanities: April 23
rd, 3:30-5:30pm,
CC 375
April 27th: The 15th Annual University at Albany Undergraduate
Research Conference will be held on Friday, April 27th in the Lecture
Center Concourse and Classrooms.
Other Announcements:
April 25
th: Sexual Violence: Action and Challenges for Change – Toward
equality! 2:15pm - 4:15pm Standish Room, Science Library, 3rd floor.
Sponsored by the Office of Intercultural Student Engagement, the Department of
Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies University at Albany and UUP Women's
Concerns Committee, UAlbany Chapter.
The Facilities Office has scheduled information sessions regarding current capital
projects work through next year, including:
o
detail regarding planned Lecture Center renovations,
o
upgrades to Dutch Quad buildings,
o
final design and construction schedule for the new ETEC building, and
o
other improvements and plans for the Uptown and Downtown campuses.
Dates:
Thursday, April 26, Noon – 1pm, Husted Amphitheater (Husted 106A),
Downtown Campus
Wednesday, May 2, Noon-1pm, CC West, Boardroom (CC 192), Uptown
Tuesday, May 8, Noon–1pm, CC West, Multi-Purpose Room (CC 034B),
Uptown
Please note that all three sessions above will cover the same information.
SUNY Senators – Diane Hamilton, Walter Little, Latonia Spencer
Nothing reported
Graduate Student Organization – Dawn Wharram, Lead Senator
Nothing reported
Student Association Report –Jerlisa Fontaine, President
Nothing reported
Council/Committee Chair Reports:
CAA – Istvan Kecskes, Chair, Mary Ellen Mallia Co-Chair
Nothing reported
CAFFECoR – Carol Jewell, Chair
Nothing reported
CERS – David G. Wagner, Chair
Nothing to report
COR – Robert Rosenswig, Chair
Nothing reported
CPCA – Jim Hargett, Chair
CPCA has reviewed all but one of the cases that were received this semester. That last case
will be reviewed Monday, April 23. The committee will also be meeting on 10 May to discuss
ways we can improve our efficiency and related CPCA matters during the 2018-19 academic
year.
GAC – Sean Rafferty, Chair
Nothing reported
GOV – Jim Mower, Chair
GOV will meet for its last scheduled meeting of the semester on March 28.
1. The elections for UAlbany Senators At-Large, University Faculty Senators, and UAS
Board members closed on April 9. CLE reported the following results:
Committee on Liaison and Elections Report
A total of 259 faculty voted. Candidate results are listed in descending order
by number of votes. Candidates elected are designated by an “XX”.
SUNY-wide University Faculty Senator:
1 seat
Votes
Sammy Axley (Student Affairs) XX
129
Craig Brewer (Campus Recreation)
78
Abstain
51
Write in
1
University Senate Open At-Large
Senator – 2 seats
David Lewis (Geography & Planning)
XX
128
Gregory Wiedeman (University
Libraries) XX
120
Brian Stephenson (Community
Standards)
103
Alex Tchernev (CAS/Math)
74
Abstain 1 & 2
49
Write In 1 & 2
4
University Senate Professional Faculty
At-Large Senator – 2 seats open
Mary Ellen Mallia** (Sustainability) XX
140
Ekow King** (Intercultural Student
Engagement) XX
124
Lindsay Van Berkom (University
Libraries)
91
Donald Keenan (University Libraries)
70
Leiry Santos (Residential Life)
59
Abstain 1 & 2
31
Write in 1 & 2
1
University Auxiliary Services Board
(UAS) – 2 seats open
Latonia Spencer (Billing and Account
Maintenance) XX
164
Jason D'Cruz (Philosophy) XX
161
Mary Ellen Mallia (Sustainability)
159
Abstain 1 & 2
32
Write in 1 & 2
0
Should an elected representative be unable to fill his or her complete term, the
candidate with the next highest vote count will act as the alternate and fill the
remainder of the term.
2. The Senate voted to accept the Council and Committee assignments presented at the
Senate meeting on 4/16/18. GOV is always looking for additional volunteers for
standing Councils and Committees as well as ad hoc committees. Please contact
James Mower or Chris Poehlmann if you are interested in serving.
3. GOV has received a large proportion of the 2018-19 Senate membership nominations.
Only a few remaining nominations remain; the Chair of GOV will continue to ask
that those names be forwarded from currently unrepresented units.
LISC – Billie Franchini, Chair
Nothing reported
UAC – Karen Kiorpes, Christy Smith, Co-Chairs
UAC Committee Report:
UAC met on 4/11 to review the proposal to revise and rename the Computer Engineering
major to Electrical and Computer Engineering.
UAC met on 4/17 and approved the proposal for Electrical and Computer Engineering and
the proposal for Environmental and Sustainable Engineering.
Agenda:
This week, I sent Karin three bills jointly sponsored by UPPC and UAC for consideration at
the final Senate meeting. The two proposals referenced above; and the proposal for Public
Health, previously reported approved by UAC and approved April 18 by UPPC.
ULC – Ekow King, Chair
Nothing reported
UPPC – Jim Collins, Chair
UPPC Report for SEC Meeting on 043018
Information:
The Council met on April 18.
Provost Stellar reported briefly on the Strategic Plan, confirming that the action plans were
due from unit VPs to the President by early July, that the Implementation Team would
prepare review actions plans for the University and prepare a proposal for implementation
to the submitted to the President by early October. (How the budgeting for proposed
strategic implementation is to occur is not clear at this time).
Todd Foreman, new Vice President for Financial Management and Budget, was introduced
to the Council and reported on Indirect Cost Funds, including the aggregate sponsored
research and contract monies the University generates, the per cent returned to the campus,
and divisions among different categories (incentives, research center support, the Office of
Research, etc.), 5-year table on the sources of the funds and changing ratios among sources,
along with a comparison of the University the other University Centers for funding levels by
category. Chair Collins thanked the VP for his informative report, and a Council member
asked about getting a copy of the PowerPoint for the report. It will be available through a
link to the Council documents.
Chair’s Report
Chair Collins reported attending a number of University and Senate meetings and working
groups; meeting the new SUNY Chancellor and the new University Chief Financial Officer;
hearing reports about graduate enrollment problems and a proposed Graduate School; and
asking questions, particularly about resource implications of a new Graduate School, and
about Indirect Cost Returns.
He briefly discussed two broad issues requiring ongoing Council attention and effort:
First, it is difficult to get information about resources and budgets
●
To ask the right questions, and
●
To know what you are looking at, whether a pie chart on indirect costs or a
Campus Impact Form
Second, the Council has to continue insisting on actions that the faculty bylaws and Senate
Charter specify in order to carry out the Council’s role in University Policy and Planning. In
particular, we need to ask the Administration to act on the following:
●
To place a representative from RAPC on the University Executive Budgeting
Committee, (From Charter X.2.8: The Council shall seek formal representation
on budget advisory bodies established by the President and Provost, and its
representatives shall report to the Council in order to facilitate the Council’s
review and advice).
●
To place a representative from the Senate’s Facilities Committee on the
University Strategic Facilities Planning Committee.
Committee Reports:
The Facilities Committee reported it met on April 4
th with John Giarrusso of the Office of
Planning, who provided a PowerPoint presentation on facilities plans for the ongoing
Podium renovation project;
The Resource Analysis and Planning Committee has not met since its last report.
Both committees will need to recruit new members for 2018-2020.
Old business:
The Council discussed the proposal from the School of Public Health for a new BS in Public
Health. Among issues raised were the anticipated large size of the new major and the
teaching resources required from CAS departments. The proposal was endorsed by the
Council.
The Council discussed the proposal from the College for Engineering and Applied Science
for a new BS in Environmental and Sustainability Engineering. Among issues raised were
the actual and projected size of the new major, the substantial funds required for laboratories
and office facilities, and the teaching resources required from CAS departments. The
proposal was endorsed by the Council.
New business
The Council discussed a Resolution of Support for proposals regarding a Career Pathway
for Part-Time Faculty and Guidelines for the Appointment of Part-Time Faculty. The
resolution was endorsed.
Actions taken:
1. A proposal from the School of Public Health for a new BS in Public Health was
endorsed and sent to the SEC;
2. A proposal from the College for Engineering and Applied Science for a new BS in
Environmental and Sustainability Engineering was endorsed and sent to the SEC;
3. A Resolution of Support the proposals to provide career pathways and better
appointment guidelines for Part-Time Faculty was endorsed and sent to the SEC.
The Council next meets on March 25.
