University at Albany - State University of New York
2004-05 University Senate
Minutes of March 14, 2005
Present:
J.P. Abraham, J. Acker, J. Bartow, J. Berkowitz, D. Bernnard, T. Bessette,
R. Bromley, S. Chaiken, R. Collier, R. Craig, D. Dai, S. Faerman, L. Franklin,
S. Friedman, R. Geer. R. Gibson, K. Hall, J. Hanifan, C. Hartman, F. Hauser,
R. Hoyt, V. Idone, M. Jerison, G. Kamberelis, S.B. Kim, W. Lanford,
C. Mac Donald, S. Maloney, J. Marler, T. Maxwell, D. McCaffrey,
L. McNutt, S. Messner, G. Moore, J. Mumpower, J. Murphy, O. Pelosi,
M. Pryse, L. Raffalovich, R. M. Range, J. Razzano, H. Scheck,
L. Schell, L. Snyder, B. Spanier, J. Stromer-Galley, J. Uppal, L. Videka,
J. Wessman, O. Williams S. Wood, E. Wulfert, R. Yagelski
Guests:
W. Hedberg, S. Mahan, J. Neely, B. Szelest
Minutes:
The corrections to the December 6, 2004 minutes were approved.
The February 7, 2005 minutes were approved as amended.
President’s Report – Presented by President Kermit L. Hall:
Inauguration:
President Hall reported that he will not have a formal inauguration
ceremony. He has set up an Inaugural Scholarship Fund, to raise one-million dollars for
undergraduate students. He urged Senate members for pledges and noted that it will send
a positive message if the money is raised. Presently there is $190,000.00 pledged and the
first scholarship will be awarded in the fall.
Office Location:
President Hall’s office is currently located in room 340 in the Science
Library. He will have a regular presence both in the Campus Center Dining Center and
in the Residence Halls and is asking his colleagues to do the same.
“Ask the President” web page:
There have been over 300 questions asked thus far on
the President’s page. The questions vary and most are from undergraduate students, with
some from graduate students and a few from the parents of undergraduates.
SOS Survey:
President Hall noted that he is aware of the Senate working on a number
initiatives to improve the somewhat distressing Student Opinion Survey results. He
would like to use governance mechanisms that exist to put together a campus-wide effort
on all issues, i.e., parking, food, etc.
Enrollment Management:
President Hall reported that UAlbany needs more permanent
faculty to be directed at undergraduate mission at the institution. The student / faculty
ratio currently is not competitive. Group 1 and 2 student applications are down by about
1,000 students. Group 3 applications are down about 200 students. These numbers
indicate that the pool of students is smaller than last year, which was smaller than the
previous year. President Hall indicated that the “message for today “is that the University
will put its financial house in order, and then work on a stronger enrollment position.
Transfer applications are up by about 30%. Graduate enrollment is good.
Searches
: The search for a permanent Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
is ongoing. The search for a permanent Vice President of Advancement will soon begin.
The Office for Advancement will be significantly reorganized, along with the present
fund raising campaign.
Budget
: The budget looks at least more reasonable than first feared; there should be
money for the Life Sciences and entry buildings, and also for Brubaker Hall renovations.
However, there are concerns with the federal budget, the Perkins Loans and Pell Grants
are in jeopardy.
URPAC
: The budgeting process needs significant retooling and attention. President
Hall will work with URPAC and Senate members on next year’s priorities.
Chair’s Report:
Student Voice Meetings:
Chair MacDonald reported that she and Professor McCaffrey
were invited to participate on the committee for the Student Voice meetings, the Senate
will be actively involved in those meetings.
Senate Bill Number: 0405-11 Religious Holidays:
ULC members have chosen to
delay introducing the bill in order to allow time time to reach out to external
constitutiencies on the matter.
Council on Academic Assessment (CAA), Professor Malcolm Sherman, Chair: Professor
Lanford reported that the Council has been reviewing Italian and Slavic studies and will review
Chemistry and Anthropology. In addition, the Council members are refining how they should be
working on the process, i.e., where will the reports ultimately reside. The assessment documents
will be filed in CETL to be available for review by anyone. External reviews will be reported to
the Senate. Finally, one issue the Council is working on is how to make assessment an annual
operation.
Council on Research (COR), Professor Vincent Idone, Chair: No report.
Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments (CPCA), Professor Diane Dewar,
Chair: CPCA is continuing to meet weekly; it has 27 more cases to review.
Graduate Academic Council (GAC), Professor Louise-Anne McNutt, Chair: GAC will
introduce four bills under new business today.
Governance Council (GOV), Professor Steven Messner, Chair: The Governance Council will
introduce a bill for amendments to the Senate Charter under new business. Council members
continue to work on issues with governance practices with the CNSE graduate curriculum.
There were approximately 270 responses to the faculty survey and the Committee on Assessment
of Governance and Consultation will review and report the results.
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Council on Libraries, Information Systems and Computing (LISC), Professor David
Wagner, Chair: No report.
Undergraduate Academic Council (UAC), Professor Seth Chaiken, Chair:
UAC is continuing to coordinate with the Task Force on Advisement lead by Sue
Faerman and Sheila Mahan; that Task Force has now constituted several working groups.
The Council is continuing to develop an advisement policy to be proposed to the Senate.
UAC has received the proposal for the CAS Honor's College and will begin to discuss it
at the next meeting. The UAC is coordinating with UPC to identify for discussion the
academic issues in this proposal and any in another proposal now before UPC for the
formation of a College of Computing and Information.
The UAC bill for the B.A. Program in Art History will be presented. Note this bill is for
listing as a regular listed major a current faculty initiated interdisciplinary major that has
been conducted for the past ten years or so.
Recent UAC discussions express concern that available and expected faculty resources
are not adequate for continued viability and stability of many undergraduate academic
programs.
University Life Council (ULC), Professor Gwen Moore, Chair: ULC will be reviewing the
student survey reports on health, safety, athletics and residential life. Introducing the bill for
religious holy days has been postponed.
University Planning and Policy Council (UPC), Professor David McCaffrey: UPC voted to
recommend that the current calendar for religious holy days be extended for one more year. The
Council began discussing the proposed College of Computing and Information and the proposed
Honors College within CAS. The Council will meet twice before the next Senate meeting to
continue discussing both proposals. The Center on Genomics will be discussed. Professor
Wulfert is working on the student satisfaction survey and hopes to complete it soon.
A motion was made on behalf of UPC, that UPC recommends that the policy on Religious
Holidays (including Muslim Holy Days) be extended for one additional year to allow for time to
discuss it with external constituencies.
Discussion on the motion: Professor MacDonald explained that time is needed to discuss any
action that the University might take that would have an effect on the community, to enable the
University to be informed of what the community feels, and to make sure the community
understands that any action is based on an attitude of inclusion and respect.. The external
community includes potential students, media, donors, family, etc. In response to a question
about the Muslim holidays, it was explained that it is not known what percentage of students that
are affected by this bill, as students do not self-identify. The motion was approved; the
suspension of classes in recognition of Muslim Holidays will be extended for one year, through
the 05-06 academic year.
Discussion: On May 3, 2004, the Senate approved a motion to accept the suspension of classes
in recognition of Muslim Holidays for the 2004-05 academic year, while Senate Bill Number
0304-28 was sent back to ULC. No change in the calendar policy concerning suspension of
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classes on religious holidays was approved on that day. Consistent with the May 3, 2004,
motion, the 05-06 academic calendar (as posted on the UA website), does not include suspension
of any classes in recognition of Muslim Holidays. The approved one-year extension therefore
requires appropriate changes in the 05-06 academic year calendar, and does not apply to the 06-
07 academic year. For purposes of formulating a preliminary calendar for the 06-07 academic
year, the policy governing the calendar prior to the 2004-05 academic year remains in force,
unless the Senate passes legislation requiring an alternative calendar.
Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility
(CAFFECoR), Professor Lawrence Snyder, Chair: Professor Snyder reported that the
committee will draft statement on the Academic Bill of Rights.
Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship (CERS), Professor R. Michael Range,
Chair: No report.
New Business:
Senate Bill No. 0405-10: Charter change from Governance Council: The bill was
introduced by Professor Messner. It was suggested that technical language be added to the cover
sheet of the bill, including “#2) that this be forwarded to the President for approval, and #3) That
this change take affect immediately upon approval of the President. The amendments were
accepted. The bill passed unanimously.
Senate Bill No. 0405-12: Art History Major (UAC): The bill was introduced by Professor
Chaiken. The bill passed unanimously.
Senate Bill No. 0405-13: Ombudsperson Office (GAC): The bill was introduced by
Professor Louise-Anne McNutt. It was suggested that technical language be added to the cover
sheet of the bill, including “that it is approved and recommend by GAC” and “that this be
forwarded to the President for approval and effective September 2005.” The amendments were
accepted. Professor McNutt explained that the bill was purposely designed so that the
Ombudsperson will not directly report to GAC; it is set up in a way which would make possible
the addition of a similar function for undergraduate students in the future. President Hall
suggested amending the reporting line of the Ombudsperson from reporting to the President, to
reporting to the Chief Academic Officer of the University, which is the Provost and Vice
President for Academic Affairs. That amendment was accepted by GAC. Prof. Wulfert
suggested that a more distributed approach using multiple faculty, as had been done in the past
with sexual harassment advisors, might be better. Others noted that creating the Ombudsperson
office might be regarded as implying that the current system is dysfunctional or as exonerating
departments from the responsibility towards their own students. After extended discussion, the
bill passed.
Senate Bill No. 0405-14: Proposal to Establish an Inter-institutional Dual-degree Program
with Albany Medical College, MD/MPH (GAC): The bill was introduced by Professor
Louise-Anne McNutt. Professor Lanford asked how much in resources is this program going to
cost in the first year and in year one to five. Professor McNutt replied that the only resource
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implication for UAlbany is the online summer courses. For the academic year, it would not be a
huge number of students; the only additional resources are summer courses. The bill passed
unanimously.
Senate Bill No. 0405-15: Proposal to amend University Graduate Policy Pertaining to the
Certificate of Advanced Study (GAC): The bill was introduced by Professor Louise-Anne
McNutt. The bill passed unanimously.
Senate Bill No. 0405-16: Proposal to Amend University Graduate Policy Pertaining to
Master's Degree Transfer Credit (GAC): The bill was introduced by Professor Louise-Anne
McNutt. The bill passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Jayne VanDenburgh
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