Senate Charter Amendment No.: 0809-02
UNIVERSITY SENATE
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
Introduced by: Governance Council
Date: December 15, 2008
Clarifying Amendment on "Graduate Courses" (Section X.4.6)
IT IS HEREBY PROPOSED THAT THE FOLLOWING BE ADOPTED:
1. That the proposed clarifying amendment of the University Senate Charter, as highlighted
in boldface on the following page, be adopted.
2. That this amendment go into effect immediately upon approval.
3. That this amendment be forwarded to the President for approval.
Rationale:
The Governance Council considered a proposal from the Graduate Academic Council for an amendment to the
Senate Charter that would permit "University-wide" graduate courses to be offered by entities other than the
schools and colleges, subject to final approval by GAC. After lengthy and productive discussion, GOV reached
a strong consensus that Article X.4.6.2 in the Senate Charter ("New graduate courses and changes to existing
graduate courses receive final approval from the schools and colleges...") accurately reflects that graduate
courses appropriately are and shall remain the responsibility of a school or college, or a combination of two or
more of those academic units in the case of cross listed and some interdisciplinary courses.
From this perspective, there couldn't be any "University wide" courses that are not under the responsibility and
continuing control of at least one school or college. Interdisciplinary approaches can still be initiated under the
aegis of an existing school or college and, as in the past, in time can evolve into a full-fledged program. If such
offerings evolve into a new school or college and that entity and its academic program(s) have secured the
requisite approval of GAC, UPC, the University Senate, the President and as necessary SUNY and SED, the
new school or college of course would then have “final approval” for creating or revising its courses, subject to
notification and GAC review as per Article X.4.6.2.
Consequently, GOV does not consider an amendment along the lines proposed by GAC to be either necessary
or desirable. On the other hand, GOV decided to propose an amendment to X.4.6.2 that would explicitly spell
out the understanding summarized above.
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PROPOSED SENATE CHARTER AMENDMENT 0809-02
X.4. GRADUATE ACADEMIC COUNCIL
X.4.3. The Council shall have the responsibility for the conduct of the University’s graduate educational
program.
X.4.4. The Council as a whole shall review all proposals for new graduate programs. It shall submit
recommended program approvals to the University Senate for consideration.
X.4.5. The Council as a whole shall review proposals that would affect the continuation of graduate
programs
X.4.5.1. It shall consider assessment reports pertaining to graduate programs including those from the
Council on Academic Assessment and shall recommend changes it deems desirable.
X.4.5.2. After due consideration, the Council may bring a recommendation to suspend or discontinue
of a program to the Senate.
X.4.6. The Council, through its Committee on Curriculum and Instruction, shall have responsibility for
the graduate academic curriculum. The committee shall have no more than eight members and shall
include at least five Teaching Faculty, at least two of whom are on the Council.
X.4.6.1. The committee shall consider all revisions to existing graduate degree programs and shall
submit all recommended changes to the Council for final approval.
X.4.6.2. New graduate courses and changes to existing graduate courses receive final approval from
the schools and colleges, subject to appropriate notification, but the Graduate Academic Council shall
have the power to review new courses and changes to existing courses and require reconsideration by
the schools and colleges. Notification should be made to the Graduate Academic Council, to the Office
of the Dean of Graduate Studies, the Office of the Vice President or Dean of the affected college or
school, and to all other interested parties. [Section X. 4.6.2 revised by amendment 5/2/05]
X.4.6.2.1. Courses offered at the graduate level must be approved by the faculty of a school or
college. An interdisciplinary or cross-listed graduate course may be proposed by more than
one school or college. Such a course must be approved by the faculty of each sponsoring
school or college
X.4.6.2.2 A graduate course must remain the responsibility of at least one school or college
during the course’s lifetime.
X.4.6.2.3 Because Study Abroad programs are centrally approved by SUNY System
Administration, requiring home campus registration regardless of the SUNY campus that is
administering the program, they are not included under these provisions.
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