COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
Meeting of the University Senate, September 29th, 2014
As submitted to Yenisel Gulatee, Senate Secretary, University Senate
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT –Joette Stefl-Mabry, Chair
(authored by Christine Wagner)
Senate Bill 1314-04: Proposal to establish a Graduate Certificate Program in International Health
and Human Rights was approved by the Senate on 4/7/14 and approved by the President on
4/23/14.
Senate Bill 1314-06: Proposal to Establish a Faculty-Initiated Interdisciplinary Undergraduate
Major in Bio-Instrumentation was approved by the President on 4/18/2014.
Senate Bill 1314-05: Proposal to Establish a Graduate Certificate Program in Teaching
Composition was approved by the President on 4/18/14.
A letter of intent from the College of Computer Science and Information for a new major in
Computer Engineering has been received and is being reviewed in UPPC.
A letter of intent from the School of Education for a new major in Human Development has been
received and is being reviewed in UPPC.
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) –Danielle Leonard, J. Philippe Abraham &
John Schmidt, SUNY Senators
We are looking forward to the Fall Plenary Session of the UFS at SUNY-ESF in Syracuse on
October 23-25th, and will have more to report about the issues to be considered later.
We are also pleased to announce that the SUNY Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the
University Faculty Senate will be hosting a conference entitled “Making Diversity Count:
Ensuring Equity, Inclusion, Access and Impact” on November 12-13, 2014 at the Albany
Marriott Hotel, located at 189 Wolf Road, Albany, New York. This conference will leverage
SUNY investments in student success and diversity while exploring best practices in recruitment
and retention of students, faculty and staff within the domain of higher education.
We are thrilled to have Dr. Kerry Ann Rockquemore, President and CEO of the National Center
for Faculty Development and Diversity, and Dr. Daryl G. Smith, Senior Research Fellow and
Professor Emerita of Education and Psychology at the Claremont Graduate University, join us as
our two keynote speakers at this conference. For more information on this event and to register
to attend, please visit our website at www.suny.edu/makingdiversitycount.
We hope you will be able to join us for this seminal conference as we collaborate and share best
practices that will continue to help SUNY grow in this critical dimension.
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GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Caitlin Janiszewski, GSA President
The GSA Executive Board has developed a strategic plan for the year which addresses our
advocacy and professional development goals. Our advocacy vision statement emphasizes
completing our internal structural reforms and raising awareness regarding the critical positions
we hold within this institution such as the University Senate, our role in the SUNY Student
Assembly, and within the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students. Our
professional development vision emphasizes the formation of a hybrid academic and non-
academic professional development model for graduate students. We intend to capture
the resources on campus to empower students for both the academic and non-academic job
markets.
We have a surplus this year to help us work towards these goals and we are also
developing solid fiscal policies and procedures to make sure we can sustain the pursuit of these
objectives.
We have also moved locations due to the Campus Center Expansion project. It was a brutal
process but we are mostly settled now.
Our Senate team (both Senators and council reps) plays a critical role in achieving our vision. We
hope that you find graduate student participation meaningful and helpful on your councils this
year.
SA (Student Association) – Marc Cohen, Student Association Representative
University Senate Student Association Updates (September)
Dippikill
Completed
Planning and Tabling for the Great Danetopia
In process
I have been working with James to place an order for new Dippikill merchandise
I am finalizing my office hours
I am planning my Block Party Tabling Event
Upcoming
I plan on contacting several student group E-boards about the prospect of having a
Dippikill Retreat
I plan to follow up with the International Affairs Director about planning a student
welcoming event for this semester and potentially the beginning of next semester
I will be planning out dates for my tabling events for the rest of the semester
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Community Engagement and Outreach
Mississippi Day
September 13, 2014
Finding 25 UAlbany student volunteers
Two shifts (10:00am - 1:00pm / 1:00pm - 5:00pm)
Currently coordinating with Panama, Co-Community Service Chair for Alpha Phi
Omega- should have list by the end of this week
September Service Day
Date and Time are TBD- will be finalized by tonight
Contacting 4-6 local external organization (Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald
House, etc) for the purposed of solidifying a common date where UAlbany
students can go and serve the community collectively.
Creating a flyer for the event to distribute at the SA Block Party
Consider renting UAlbany Shuttles for Transportation
Consider paying for Breakfast
Gender and Sexuality Concerns
National Coming Out Reception and Festivities
Reception on October 23rd at 8:00pm
Performance artist Lady Dane has been booked
Plan to have other people share their coming out stories
Will have food, refreshments, activities and giveaways
National Diversity Month/LGBTQ History Month (October)
Working with Multicultural Affairs on planning events
More details to follow
Luncheon with Sue Rankin (November)
Speaker Sue Rankin- one of the creators of the campus climate index
Will be discussing diversity on campus and what can be done to uphold our mission in
supporting diversity includes our queer students in particular
More details to follow
Communications
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Press and Medic Contacts
Department has obtained direct numbers to contact for future press releases and event
information
Contacts include the Times Union and local news stations
SA Daily
Establishment of Monthly SA Newsletter
First edition to be released shotly
Academic Affairs
Albany Police Appreciation Night
Saturday October 4th at 6:00pm at the Football stadium
Please come out to the game to show support for the officers of the department.
DWI awareness Event
Planning on tying into Alcohol Awareness Week in October
More details to follow
Programming
Block Party
September 7 at 12:00
Putting together last minutes things
Fall Concert
Looking into the possibility of having concert
Potentially November 22
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Deborah Bernnard, Chair
There is no report from the CAA. We have scheduled our first meeting for Sept. 30.
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CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community
Responsibility) – Carol Jewell, Chair
CAFFECoR will have its first meeting of the semester on September 24, 2014.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
Nothing to report
COR (Council on Research) – Kajal Lahiri, Chair
Nothing to report
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Sanjay Putrevu, Chair
The CPCA met on Sept. 3 and 17 and the next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 1. The council has
low representation from the Sciences and is working to rectify this imbalance by adding more
members from those fields.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) –Abebe Rorissa, Chair
We had a planning meeting and an initial/general GAC meeting on Tuesday, 9/9. At the initial
GAC meeting, the GAC’s three standing committees (Curriculum and Instruction; Admissions
and Academic Standing; Educational Policy and Procedure) were formed and their chairs
elected. The GAC also has three student members. Each of them will serve on a standing
committee.
The GAC and its standing committees will each meet at least once every month during the Fall
semester (GAC meeting dates: 10/21, 11/18, & 12/9). We anticipate a fairly full agenda -
new/revised graduate programs, student cases (mostly grievances), policy revision, etc.
We need a few more volunteers to serve as members of the standing committees: two more from
the teaching faculty for the Committee on Educational Policy and Procedure, preferably not from
Biology or Criminal Justice. We encourage teaching faculty interested in serving on the standing
committees to contact Jonathan Bartow (jbartow@albany.edu).
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GOV (Governance Council) – Cynthia Fox, Chair
(authored by Joette Stefl-Mabry)
Governance Council Update: May 13
th – August15th
GOV met on May 13
th
Senate Chair Wagner and Chief of Staff Leanne Wirkkula attended the meeting to discuss the
Provost Search Committee. A review of the procedures for formal consultation was conducted
referencing the following materials:
State University of New York Policies of the Board of Trustees, ARTICLE IX:
COLLEGE OFFICERS AND ORGANIZATIONS, TITLE B. COLLEGE
ADMINSTRATIVE OFFICERS, § 2. Appointment. Appointments of all college
administrative officers and professional staff not in a negotiating unit established
pursuant to Article 14 of the Civil Service Law shall be made by the chief administrative
officer of the college; such appointments shall be reported to the Chancellor.
Appointment of academic officers such as vice-president for academic affairs, academic
deans and others with similar responsibilities shall be made after consultation with the
faculty.
Faculty Bylaws of the University at Albany, Article I. Section 2.5 Faculty
Participation in Advisory Groups Outside of Governance Bodies. Administrators may
choose to advance their leadership vision for the University by constituting special
committees and task forces, selecting individual faculty members because of their
experience or expertise. Ideally, such advisory groups shall be constituted in consultation
with the Governance Council of the University Senate and lines of communication with
relevant governance bodies shall be enunciated. In any case, such groups do not represent
the Faculty as a whole and advice from such groups does not replace approval by or
formal consultation with the Faculty. Such groups may freely provide advice; however,
for such groups to be considered part of the formal consultative process, a majority of the
faculty members must either be appointed by, or their recommended appointment
approved by, the Senate Governance Council, as specified in Article 2, Section 5.5, and
specific faculty members must be designated to regularly report to the Senate. The Chair
and Vice Chair of the Senate shall be consulted in the composition of all major University
level search committees and committees to select honorary degree recipients.
Senate Chair Wagner’s understanding was that to be considered formal consultation GOV could
either approve a majority (51%) of the slate of faculty names A) GOV recommended or B)
recommended by the President. In this context, faculty who hold academic rank who are not
playing another role, such as a Dean.
Chief of Staff Leanne Wirkkula clarified that the Provost Search Committee had not been formed
but, per the intended message from the President at the last Senate meeting, was on the way to
becoming formalized. Candidates had since been notified of their nominations to serve, pending
GOV’s approval. Responses were due by the close of business that Wednesday. A total of 17
members would include a range of representation from different units: 9 faculty who hold
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academic rank, 4 academic leaders (M-C) who also hold tenure, and 4 administrators (M-C) who
do not hold academic rank.
An open call for nominations went out to the campus in the February 28th announcement
regarding the transition. The President also requested the Deans and GOV provide a proposed
slate of faculty or staff.
GOV agreed to meet on Thursday, May 15th to review and vote on the President’s proposed
membership and to share any concerns. The list would be provided at that time.
Amendment RE: Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation.
A motion was made and unanimously approved to amend the Charter as follows:
Proposed Revision:
The following change was proposed:
X.1.3.3. The Committee shall develop and regularly administer assessment instruments,
conduct data analysis and report findings to the Council on a two-year cycle.
Chair Stefl-Mabry said that she would send out the formal amendment to the GOV committee for
a final review via email.
GOV met on Thursday, May 15
th
The council reviewed the President’s proposed membership, and sent its recommendations to the
President.
On May 16
th , Chair Stefl-Mabry received an email from Chief of Staff Wirkkula responding to
the Governance Council’s recommendations and asking GOV to vote on the amended list. Chief
of Staff Wirkkula commented that the President had appreciated GOV’s insight and constructive
feedback. An email vote was conducted and GOV voted unanimously to accept the proposed
slate.
On May 18th, Chair Stefl-Mabry sent an email to Chief of Staff Leanne Wirkkula to inform her
that the Governance Council had (via email) approved the final slate of the Provost's Search
Committee, as proposed by the President, after consultation with the Governance Council.
July 8
th : Michael Christakis sent an email to Chair Wagner, informing her that since Candace
Merbler had resigned from the UAS Board of Directors right around the end of the semester in
May, and pursuant to UAS Bylaws, vacancies from “constituent groups” (in this case the
“faculty”/the University Senate) shall be filled by said constituency group until the next such
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election takes place (in the spring, in this case), it fell upon the Governance Council to appoint a
replacement for the UAS Board until the next election cycle.
On July 9th Chair Wagner sent the request to GOV to appoint a replacement for the UAS Board.
On July 9th, Chair Stefl-Mabry sent an email to GOV with a list of prospective candidates and
asked GOV to vote via email. By July 14th a quorum had been reached and Chair Stefl-Mabry
notified Senate Chair Wagner that by means of an email poll, the Governance Council had voted
to accept the nomination of Gary Kleppel to the UAS Board as a replacement for Candance
Merbler.
August 15
th
Chair Stefl-Mabry sent an email to GOV with the rewritten Amendment re: Committee on
Assessment of Governance and Consultation Although the Council had already voted to accept
the amendment, Chair Stefl-Mabry asked GOV to review the Amendment and rationale and
share their thoughts re: the rationale:
Rationale:
The Governance Council has concluded it is important to institutionalize systematic
evaluation of the effectiveness of governance in representing its constituencies, in addressing
issues and concerns, and in affecting institutional decisions. This would support “the
development of stable expectations and working relationships” as recommended in the 2009
Middle States Report, Chapter 4, p. 2 (see
https://wiki.albany.edu/display/middlestates/Home). Although the recommendation put
forward in the 2009 Middle States Report was for annual campus surveys of faculty (see
quote below) the Governance Council has decided that a two year cycle would more
effectively support a process of survey development, implementation, analysis, presentation
of results and revision.
“It is strongly recommended that the campus survey of faculty completed for the Middle
States self-study be done annually as a way to monitor faculty views and conditions at the
University” (Chapter 4: Leadership, Governance and Administration, p. 8).
Once again, GOV voted unanimously to accept the Amendment.
Assessment of Governance and Consultation Ad Hoc Committee
Joel Bloom, Director of Academic Assessment & Survey Research, has been working with GOV
on the implementation of the shared governance and consultation surveys. Bloom sent Chair
Stefl-Mabry the results of the student and faculty and professional staff survey. GOV is currently
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working on analyzing the results of the survey and will share a preliminary report with GOV in
the next few weeks.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) –Boris Goldfarb, Chair
The Council of LISC is in the process of populating the two standing committee and is preparing
for the first council meeting in the first week of October.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Robert Yagelski, Chair
The Undergraduate Academic Council held its initial meeting of the 2014-2015 academic year on
Thursday, September 11th. At that meeting, the UAC committees were organized for the
academic year, and the chair presented members with an initial agenda of items to be taken up by
the Council. The Council also approved a request by the Department of Public Administration
and Policy to change the name of its Public Policy and Administration major to Public Policy and
Management.
The UAC met again on Thursday, September 18th to resume work on the General Education
competencies plans that was begun by the Council during the 2013-2014 academic year. Under
the new General Education curriculum, all programs were to submit by fall semester, 2013 plans
for meeting the four general education competencies (advanced writing, critical inquiry, oral
discourse, and information literacy). Seventeen such plans were reviewed and approved by UAC
before the end of the 2013-2014 academic year; twenty-two plans were reviewed and returned to
the appropriate departments for revision and remain to be approved. Three other plans were
submitted but remain to be reviewed. On 9/18/2014, the UAC reviewed and approved the
competencies plan for the Environmental Sciences major, which was forwarded to the Associate
Dean for General Education. The UAC will resume its review of the competencies plans at its
next scheduled meeting on October 9th.
ULC (University Life Council) –Michael Jaromin, Chair
Nothing to report. Currently, we’re working on scheduling the meeting times.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) –Christine Wagner, Chair
UPPC met on 9/11/14. Interim Provost, Dr. Timothy Mulcahy, introduced himself to the
members of UPPC. Sue Phillips provided an update on the transition of CNSE to SUNY IT.
UPPC approved an initial proposal for a new undergraduate major in Human Development from
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the School of Education and an initial proposal for a new undergraduate major in Computer
Engineering from the College of Computing and Information.
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