UNIVERSITY
FACULTY
SENATE REPORT
SUNY Purchase, Purchase
October 21-22, 2011
SENATE PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Ken O'Brien (SUNY Brockport).
SUNY System Personnel Changes: Departure of several
top SUNY administrators and selective replacements
will lead to significant savings particularly in the SUNY
Provost’s office. Brian Hutzley from SUNY Delhi has
been named the interim SUNY Chief Financial Officer.
Provost Lavallee has decided to remove the end date
from his appointment and continue on as Provost. Carl
McCall has been named the new Chair of the SUNY
Board of Trustees.
SUNY System Committee Organization: The Chancellor
draws on a diverse group of both top system
administrators and a Cabinet of University Faculty
Senate and Faculty Council of Community Colleges
(FCCC), and Student Assembly leadership to gather
broad advice.
The Power of SUNY: The strategic plan implementation
process continues. Work is being done on Strategic
Enrollment management and resource allocation. In
September SUNY held a national conference entitled
“Universities as Economic Drivers” which has drawn
the attention of politicians. Next year’s conference will
focus on what it means to be part of a system.
Work with FCCC and the CUNY UFS: We continue to
have strong relations and good support from the FCCC
to work on issues of shared interest and impact.
Shared Services: The purpose of the SUNY shared
services initiative to reduce administrative overhead in
order to move savings toward instruction and
instructional support. Shared services is being initiated
on a roughly regional. Campus leaders are exploring
shared HR, procurement, and IT services. There are six
paired campuses (SUNY Delhi-SUNY Cobleskill,
SUNY Potsdam -SUNY Canton, SUNY IT and
Morrisville) who were asked to share a president
between them. The Canton-Potsdam pairing has
provided a greater challenge than the other pairings and
the Board of Trustees has resolved to give them time to
explore and report about their specific issues. The other
shared presidencies will proceed with input from their
college councils. Campus presidents have been asked to
include established governance bodies as they proceed
with these important plans.
Legislative agenda: This has been a positive year for
SUNY and many aspects. The alignment of the state’s
economic goals with the power of SUNY plan, the
passage of NYSUNY 2020, an authorization to increase
tuition by $300 and additional $75 student fee for
university center students. However, SUNY assumes
the responsibility for covering the gap between tuition
costs and the cap on TAP which has not been adjusted.
This results in campuses receiving 75% of the tuition
increase with the rest going to supplemental awards for
students. TAP is unlikely to be adjusted in the current
budget climate. We need to continue to advocate for
student’s tuition dollars to come directly back to
campuses to support our academic mission and not to
support other state operation costs.
DAVID LAVALLEE, SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR AND
PROVOST
The Provost spoke about the on-going search for the
President of the Research Foundation. Dr. Lavalle is
currently the interim president. The position will report to
the Board of Trustees and SUNY. This is a change from the
previous position.
The Provost also spoke about several initiatives focused on
research, development and public-private partnerships.
The UFS grade change policy resolution has been accepted
by the Chancellor and the Provost’s staff is looking at a way
to implement a best-practices document to encourage
campuses that do not have a grade change policy to
implement one.
The transfer mobility web site project phase 2 has been
delayed due to staffing changes. This should be in place
shortly. In the context of transfer mobility the Provost has
indicated that system will be contracting with Degree works
(http://www.sungardhe.com/Solutions/DegreeWorks/ SUNY
Potsdam is already using it). This might be an area of SUNY-
wide implementation to save money.
The Provost mentioned that he would like campuses who are
working on their general education policies to accept the
SUNY 7 of 10 rule and keep any local requirements to the
upper level. This will facilitate better transfer articulation
between campuses.
The provost covered many of the same points discussed in
the following youtube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMZqW68ZJ24
Brian Hutzley, Interim VICE CHANCELLOR for Financial
Services & CFO
CFO Hutzley also spoke about shared services and provided a
powerpoint presentation that Senator Shahedipour-Sandvik
has already distributed.
NANCY ZIMPHER, CHANCELLOR
The Chancellor fielded questions about the strategic plan and
sector concerns.
UNIVERSITY CENTER SECTOR CONCERNS/QUESTIONS
We discussed the following issues:
alliance between Binghamton and Upstate Medical College
internal service sharing and its impact on academic services
and curriculum
the issue with secrecy and senior administrative searchers,
how to take part in the process without hurting our campuses
chances for attracting a superstar due to leaks and
misinformation.
potential policies on searches
shared services implications for university centers
Reports for the Following Committees are available:
http://www.suny.edu/facultysenate/standcmterpts.cfm
Committee on Diversity and Cultural Competence
Committee on Ethics and Institutional Integrity
Governance Committee
Graduate and Research Committee
Operations Committee
Programs and Awards Committee
Student Life Committee
Undergraduate Academic Programs and Policies
Committee
RESOLUTIONS
http://www.suny.edu/facultysenate/ApprovedResolutions.cfm
159th Plenary Meeting - Purchase College - October 20-22, 2011
Resolution for Rose Rudnitski, SUNY New Paltz
Resolution on Evaluation of Shared Services
Faculty Senate Resolution on Shared Services
REMINDER OF THE FACULTY SENATE PAGE
Although material is slow to appear on the site, eventually the full text
of motions passed should appear:
http://www.suny.edu/facultySenate/.
Respectfully submitted,
Daniel D. White, Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik, and Philippe Abraham
SUNY Senators
