Governance Council
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
2:45 PM
UNH 306
Karin Reinhold, Chair
Minutes
Earle, Keith; Herrmann, Susan; Nowell, Greg; Petry, Greta;
Piotrowska, Monika; Poehlmann, Chris; Reinhold, Karin; Sergay,
Tim
The meeting convened at approximately 2:47 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Once quorum was reached, the minutes of March 8 were approved, with 3
abstentions.
CHAIR’S REPORT - Karin Reinhold
Mar 13" Maritza Martinez was added to the list of nominees for Open At-Large Senators
after a successful petition to add her name with 29 signatures.
Mar 20" Meeting of SEC:
What should be in the Senate website?
We are proposing that the website should have calendar of Council meetings. It
turns out that many councils do not meet regularly.
SEC endorsed the councils’ reporting of agenda and minutes on the website.
Presidential search: there is still time to forward input to M. Castellana about your
concerns or suggestions. For example, you could send names of possible candidates
or sample questions to ask candidates. The search committee is working on a
common set of questions to ask all candidates. Since there is no contingent faculty
in the search committee, J. Collins suggested adding 2 questions about part time
faculty.
There was a question about the role of the Senate on assessment of part time
faculty. SIRF scores are the only tool used for evaluation of part time teaching
faculty. Best practice in our own guidelines for hiring: peer review of teaching every
3 semesters.
CPCA is considering changing its structure for more efficient review of cases and
reducing work overload of members. This will be discussed during their meeting of
April 6.
Gov’s procedures to be included in policies and procedures document:
Online procedure to add nominees for senators at-large.
http://www. petitionbuzz.com/petitions
* Orientation meeting of Councils and standing committees’ chairs at the beginning of
the academic year to inform about reporting procedures, and general guidelines of
council chairs responsibilities.
* Meeting with SA and GSA presidents at the beginning of each semester to update
student senator rosters. There is a high turn-around of student senators leaving
councils and committees without appropriate student representation.
GAC requested information about contribution of immigrants: number, countries of origin,
financial and intellectual contribution of international students, faculty and staff to
UAlbany. GSA’s chair suggested that the President should consider making a statement
regarding our support and acknowledging their contributions.
Mar 20" Announcement of Faculty Bylaws amendments.
Mar 21* Streamlining requests for volunteers for shared governance: google form.
Mar 21*: forum on contingent concerns: J. Collins, Professor of Anthropology & Chair of
the University Senate, was the moderator. William Hedberg, Senior Vice Provost for
Academic Affairs, Chair of Implementation Team of Provost’s Blue Ribbon Panel on
Contingent Concerns, talked about the gains achieved with the work of the Blue Ribbon
Panels, Bret Benjamin, Associate Professor of English, President of Albany Chapter of
United University Professions , talked about the work UUP has done advancing the cause of
UUP most vulnerable members, the contingent faculty; Holly McKenna, Lecturer,
Department of Communication, Member of University Senate and Contingent Concerns
Committee of Albany Chapter of United University Professions (UUP), talked about the plea
of contingent faculty, Caitlin Janiszewski added the graduate students’ perspective and
Karin Reinhold, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Chair of
Governance Council of the University Senate, talked about the work the Governance
Council towards voting privileges of part time faculty. Provost Darrell asked the audience
what can be done to change the culture within departments to have more participation of
contingent faculty and more recognition of their work. Answers included: inviting more
engagement of contingent faculty, having intentional dialogs that address this issue,
bringing the dialog outside the circle of already committed individuals, bring the dialog to
Deans and Department Chairs and heads of Units. Keep improving the remuneration and
path to permanency. Encourage research and access to resources for research.
Mar 22" Assessment of administrative units. The Senate will have 1 or 2 representatives in
the Assessment Advisory Committee. It is advised that those representatives have
knowledge of the Senate, program reviews and assessment. Prior Senate leaders, UPPC,
GOV and CAA are appropriate choices.
Mar 22™ Leadership meeting.
Decanal 360 review is in the process of discussing parameters of evaluations. This review is
internal to UAlbany, whereas the assessment of administrative units is involved with
Middle States Accreditation. Minnesota has a pilot program in place. Consultation with the
legal department is underway because of fear of FOIL requests of the reviews. Rules of
items that are foilable are governed by NY State law, and are different than Minnesota’s.
Plans for the Spring Faculty Meeting are underway. It will have a conversational format
with the President, the Provost and past Immediate Chair of Senate, moderated by Chair of
the Senate. Questions from the audience will be welcomed.
Proposal to videotape senate meetings may have unintended consequences. Procedures to
communicate the content of the Senate meetings should be re-addressed. Consultation with
the legal department is recommended.
The question of quorum was revised and promoted the question of efficacy of student
participation in the Senate. A question to consider is whether the composition of the Senate
is appropriate.
Next meeting of website working group: March 30".
Chair Reinhold added the following to her written report:
Representative for Assessment Advisory Committee
It was proposed that past Senate/UPPC Chair Joette Stefl-Mabry would
represent governance on the Assessment Advisory Committee (AAC), and
that she would continue on UPPC in order to report on the AAC. GOV
members agreed with the recommendations that Chair Reinhold had shared
via e-mail regarding qualifications for service on AAC.
Committee on Council Nominations
The CCN would meet after the elections were complete in order to assign
volunteers to committees and councils. GOV Chair Reinhold and GOV
Elections and Liaisons Chair Poehlmann would serve. The GOV Chair
solicited another GOV member to serve, per the required membership, and
Senator Keith Earle volunteered.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
Liaison and Elections Committee (LEC) - Christian Poehlmann, Chair
Chris Poehlmann reported that the slate was entered into PeopleSoft, he
had tested the system, and elections were ready to run from April 3-7.
Assessment of Governance and Consultation Committee (AGCC) -
Greta Petry, Chair
Nothing to Report
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Representation of Contingent Faculty
GOV discussed the potential expansion of voting rights and representation
for contingent faculty, and a related AAUP (American Association of
University Professors) model. Members endorsed enfranchising part time
faculty provided that the process for amending the bylaws is changed. A
possible amendment to the bylaws would be revisit at the next meeting 1)
regarding quorum and 2) with the goal of expanding voting rights of part
time faculty.
Senate Webpage
GOV further considered revisions to the Senate website and made the
following recommendations.
Front Senate page should have a) News, b) top issues/cases/stories
the Senate is considering, and if appropriate c) information about a
particular issue.
More frequent updating of legislation.
In the membership area, each individual Senator should be able to
post articles on Senate issues (blog).
Support for the webpages. Elisa may get overwhelmed.
Easy access to updates on the status of programs, resolutions, etc.
that have been submitted to the Senate for review.
Each council should have a brief description “about this body”.
UPPC should have a link to information about the university’s budget.
NEW BUSINESS
Charter Amendment
A motion was made and unanimously approved in support of a proposed
Charter Amendment to bring the Charter in alignment with the Bylaws,
contingent on the approval of Charter Amendment 1617-xxx AMENDMENT
OF THE CHARTER Section IX.
Question on the composition of the Senate.
GOV discussed how the lack of student attendance at Senate and council
meetings had been affecting quorum, and questioned the level of student
representation in the Senate if they were not participating.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 4:21 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder
