Governance Council
Thursday, February 10, 2011
10:30 PM
UNH 105
Susanna Fessler, Chair
Minutes
Present:
Holly Barker-Flynn, Nan Carroll, Liang Chu, Nicholas Fahrenkopf, Susanna
Fessler, Reed Hoyt, Candace Merbler, John Pipkin, Donna Scanlon, John Schmidt,
Laura Schultz, Joette Stefl-Mabry, Daniel White
The meeting convened 10:33 am.
CHAIRS REPORT
Chair Fessler reported that the amendment concerning the chair of CPCA was defeated at the last
senate meeting.
At GOV’s last meeting, there was a discussion concerning the formula for determining how
schools gain or lose Senate seats. It had been suggested that Secretary Bessette contact former
Secretary Collier to find out what formula he used so that it could be documented for future
Secretaries. Secretary Bessette did so, and forwarded the formula to Chair Fessler, who, after
some review, devised her own method obtaining the same results. Chair Fessler will forward the
information to GOV for their review.
Senate nominations for the Senate Secretary are due by March 10 and a special election for that
position will be held at the March 14 Senate meeting. She encouraged nominations of colleagues
that would be willing to serve to complete the two year term.
Chair Fessler said we are behind schedule concerning elections due to the lack of a secretary, but
she’s also concerned that the new secretary will be overwhelmed by the process. The Senate
Secretary is also chair of the Committee on Liaison and Elections. Elections for at large senators
needs to be initiated and the schools and colleges need to be contacted to make sure they are on
track with electing their senators. She offered to be the interim chair of that committee in order
for things to proceed. GOV members voted and approved Chair Fessler chairing the Committee.
The Chair said a call will need to go out for at large senators and she encouraged GOV members
to seek willing candidates.
Chair Fessler has begun meeting with deans of the different schools and colleges to talk with
them about senate service. This is an attempt to personalize the process and encourage a timely
response for having their senators in place. She informed GOV that the general call for Senate
service went out this week and encouraged GOV members to get their colleagues interested
The Committee on Council Nomination (CCN) will be meeting the first week of April in order to
constitute the councils by the penultimate Senate meeting on April 11, in accordance with the
Charter.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minute of February 10 were approved.
OLD BUSINESS
Council Membership Issues:
Chair Fessler informed GOV members that the Committee on Liaison and Elections (CLE) also
needs one member on the CCN and she asked for volunteers. Three members from CLE
volunteered and one will be selected based on their availability during the week of April 4.
Formation of Ad Hoc Committee in Administrative Assessment:
Joette Stefl-Mabry has volunteered to chair the committee. The charge is to determine how the
process will take place and to conduct a trial run. She has been looking for models from other
colleges and universities but has not been successful in finding them. She was referred to the
SUNY web site which has information from Stony Brook, Binghamton and New Paltz, and she
said she would review those materials.
GOV members discussed what membership of the committee should be. Prof. Stefl-Mabry
wasn’t able to provide a figure of what would be the optimal number of members. Reed Hoyt
said the committee members need to have the capacity to evaluate whichever unit is used for the
pilot run. In other words, stakeholders should be participants. Chair Fessler said that GOV is not
working under any deadline but would like to have a core group assembled by the end of the
academic year so that the process could start next fall. Prof. Stefl-Mabry said some body will
need to identify who the evaluation will be for, the department being assessed or for the
institution. Chair Fessler did not see this as being a concern for GOV but perhaps this and other
issues that arise could be presented to the SEC and the Senate for guidance since they approved
of the process taking place. Nan Carroll mentioned the importance of providing an institutional
link for the process, whether it’s GOV, SEC or CAA to ensure that a group has responsibility for
seeing the task carried out regularly. GOV discussed that perhaps SEC could decide who the ad
hoc committee reports to and to involve CAA in the pilot case as a courtesy. Chair Fessler will
discuss these concerns at the SEC meeting when it meets later this month.
OTHER BUSINESS
Reed Hoyt attended the SEC meeting of February 28 in Chair Fessler’s absence and provided a
report on some of the items that were discussed:
The SEC had discussed the process and length of deactivation of a program. GAC Chair
Kranich had read from a memo to campus presidents from the then Vice Chancellor for
Academic Programs, dated August 26, 1983 which stated that deactivations is submitted
by the campus president in the form of a letter to SUNY Administration, which will have
sixty days to respond.
The School of Business has been reaccredited.
The Provost reported that there is an effort to increase the number of out of state students
attending UAlbany. We are low in out of state admissions by about 1,000 students.
There will be a series of roundtable discussions concerning the facilities master plan.
SUNY Senator White said there had been a lengthy and ongoing discussion concerning the
charge of BAG4 and the Senate’s role. He said there also seems to be uncertainty within the
BAG group about its role. Vince Delio was present at the time and his understanding of the
process is that BAG4 and its composition is indeed part of the formal consultation process..
Senator White had provided an example that if five more programs were deactivated, is it the
president’s decision or is it a recommendation made to the president which then needs to go to
the full senate after a review by the appropriate councils. Mr. Delio said that upon the president
receiving the findings/recommendations of BAG4, the formal consultation process continues
with the President eventually advancing his own plan to the Senate (i.e., the Senate Chair) for his
consideration – just as with BAG3. Professor Hoyt added that since BAG4 is a combination of
formal and informal consultation--formal because of the presence of UPPC and informal because
of the ad hoc group--he believed as well that the process described by Mr. Delio would be the
appropriate option.
Candace Merbler said that upon receiving the first BAG4 report from UPPC Chair Fossett, she
contacted him about transparency since it was only being forwarded to the Senate and deans.
She asked him if it could be forwarded to the UUP membership and he indicated that she should
do so. She reminded him that we want transparency, and that whatever the SEC discusses it
should be reflected in the minutes, such as the discussion about deactivation. The process needs
to be made clear where people have access to the information. Senator White said the president
can decide unilaterally what the outcome will be. Ms. Merbler said that Chancellor Zimpher
delegated a second level of authority on retrenchment to all campus presidents. Senator White
indicated that UAlbany may have a University Faculty Senate representative involved in
discussions with the vice chancellor on matters concerning the budget.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 11:14 am.
Respectfully submitted by
Gail Cameron, Recorder
