2016-2017 University Senate
Monday, December 5, 2016
2:45 pm, Assembly Hall
James Collins, Chair
MINUTES
Present: Alaei, Kamiar; Almahamid, Ilham; Card, Dylan; Chan, Keith; Chen, Mei-Hwa; Collins, James;
Craig, Allison; Earle, Keith; Fabris, Daniele; Fox, Cynthia; Galusha, Jaime; Hamilton, Diane;
Holdridge, Brandon; Jerison, Michael; Kecskes, Istvan; Keenan, Donald; King, Ekow; Kiorpes, Karen;
Kressner, Ilka; Lawrence, Zina; Little, Walter; Lizotte, Alan; Mamorella, David; Manjak, Martin;
McKenna, Holly; McNutt, Louise- Anne; Mower, James; Ng, Vivien; Ostro, Austin;
Pastore, Christopher; Petry, Greta; Poehlmann, Christian; Prelow, Hazel; Pyles, Loretta;
Reinhold, Karin; Roberts, Nancy; Rosenswig, Robert; Shi, Hua; Smith, Christy; Tchernev, Alexandre;
Wharram, Dawn; Wheeler, Darrell; Williams, Kevin;
Guests:
Vero, Ron; Stewart, Caro-Beth; Winchester, Kathie; LaValley, Celine; Carroll, Llana; Skebe, Alifair;
Jewell, Carol; Murray, Ann Marie; Bartow, Jon; Wulfert, Edelgard
The meeting convened at approximately 2:47 p.m.
Chair Collins asked for a motion to amend the agenda to add the approval of council
memberships under New Business. A motion was made and approved by acclamation.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The approval of the minutes of November 21, 2016 was tabled until February since quorum had
not been met.
INTERIM PROVOST’S REPORT – DARRELL WHEELER
Interim Provost Wheeler once again reminded that the important strategic planning “Concert of
Ideas” event would take place on December 9th and 10th and thanked those who would be
attending. He added that a student-driven Diversity and Inclusion dialogue on efforts to increase
faculty diversity would take place that evening in the Ballroom at 5:00 p.m. The Interim Provost
clarified that the Compact Planning process would not be suspended, but rather the University
would be stepping back from allocations for the current year in order to provide the opportunity
to evaluate and line up allocations with the Strategic Plan. He spoke to a Times Union article
about our university post-election, and reported that he had fielded calls from concerned parents.
He thanked the Deans and administrators who had assisted in identifying 4 to 6 classes that had
been cancelled or had postponed exams for circumstances that could have been construed as
related to the election results. He reinforced that the University at Albany respects inclusivity and
diverse opinions and will not tolerate hateful or dangerous speech. He stressed, however, that we
will not uphold as a University the dismissal of classes as the result of an election. Interim
Provost Wheeler pointed out that Interim President Stellar had e-mailed a response to the
Sanctuary petition presented at the last meeting. He also announced that the administration was
working with the Deans on some minor restructuring of the June 19-21, 2017 Commencement
ceremonies. In closing, he thanked the Senate and added that in his 80+ days as Interim Provost
he had tried to work with Senate leaders and deans to better understand issues. He underscored
that transparency was an essential element and said that he would be researching and sharing
data in the coming months to inform the decisions being made.
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT – James Collins, Chair
I.
Informational
1.
On November 8, Chair Collins sent Chief of Staff Szelest information about the numerous offices which
must register changes to academic names or programs
2.
On November 9, Fall Faculty Meeting was held. Participants were pleased with an interactive format
allowing time for questions after the President’s Report.
3.
On November 11, Chair Collins met with Vice Chair Reinhold and Immediate Past Chair Fox to discuss
diverse issues, including follow up on Senate resolutions and an agenda for Senate leadership meetings
with the Provost and Chief of Staff.
4.
On November 21, 2016 a constituent asked Chair Collins to inquire into University responses to recent
racist or potentially racist incidents on campus. Collins raised the issue with Provost Wheeler during the
11/21 Senate Meeting and he responded.
5.
On November 22, 2016, Senate leaders (Collins and Fox), met with Provost Wheeler and Chief of Staff
Szelest. Among items discussed was Senate representation on administrative review processes, including
review of deans and non-academic administrative units. Senate leaders next meet with the Provost and
Chief of Staff on December 2.
6.
On November 22, Chair Collins and Immediate Past Chair Fox met to plan revisions to the Senate
Handbook clarifying Council procedures and routing practices.
7.
On November 25, Chair Collins received a draft statement on safety and freedom of expression from the
Executive Committee of the SUNY Faculty Senate in the face of hate speech and threats of violence.
8.
The Senate Executive Committee will meet On November 30.
II.
Actions taken
None
III.
Recommendations for actions
None
Chair Collins noted that the first meeting of the Presidential Search Committee would take place on
December 7th. He assured that Senate representatives would report back regarding the search
progress, within confidentiality constraints. The 2016 reports on the Survey of Governance, he
added, were available on the Senate website under GOV, and the resulting recommendations for
councils were introduced to the SEC at its meeting on November 30th. Chair Collins again solicited
participation in the "Concert of Ideas", as well as continued feedback on the strategic plan and
implementation efforts. The Chair reported that he and Immediate Past Chair Fox had attended a
regular monthly meeting with the Provost and Chief of Staff on November 28 th when they continued
discussion of the role of governance in academic and non-academic administrative review. Chair
Collins had e-mailed Sorrell Chesin, the Director of the Emeritus Center, to inquire if a
representative to the Senate had been selected. He added that he had also referred the Resolution on
Student Representation in Governance 1617-03R to the Provost and to the Deans of Graduate and
Undergraduate Education. Chair Collins provided an update on a petition, which was an
informational item at the last Senate meeting, to President Stellar to make the University at Albany a
sanctuary campus and reviewed President Stellar's response. The Chair shared that he had brought a
resolution in support of the petition to the SEC, which members had voted to approve with the
following mixed results: 6 approved, 0 opposed, 7 abstained. The resolution and the petition would
be brought forward to the Senate at the next meeting on February 13th. Chair Collins agreed, in
response to a request, to make available to members the petition and a SUNY Faculty Senate
statement on diversity and tolerance.
OTHER REPORTS
UFS (University Faculty Senate) – Diane Hamilton, Walter Little & Latonia Spencer, SUNY
Senators
1.
Nothing new to report.
Senator Little stated that the UFS would develop a resolution in support of the recent SUNY
statement on diversity and tolerance. He added that the next plenary agenda for January 19th
through the 21st was being made, following upcoming meetings including a Senate Executive and
Union Executive Committee meeting that Thursday. Senator little welcomed input on those items.
GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Dylan Carr GSA President
1. Nothing reported.
President Carr reported that on Friday the GSA assembly had met and passed a resolution in
favor of the sanctuary petition, which would be forwarded to the President, Chancellor, and
SUNY BOT.
SA (Student Association) – Felix Abreu, Student Association President
1. Nothing reported.
An SA designee apologized for the past lack of SA representation at Senate meetings and assured
there would be representation going forward. He reported that SA had voted to raise the student
activity fee from $100 to $110 in order to continue to meet the obligations relevant to that fee. He
added that, per the SUNY BOT policy, there would be a vote in March on whether that fee would
remain mandatory. He stressed that SA asks for support to keep the fee mandatory.
COUNCIL/COMMITTEE CHAIRS’ REPORTS
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – James Mower, Chair
1.
Nothing new to report
Chair Mower added that CAA had met on Friday and approved 2 reviews, one for International
Education and one for the Department of Literacy, Teaching and Learning. He reminded that, as
he would be on sabbatical, CAA had voted that Alifair Skebe would be Chair next semester.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community
Responsibility) –Carol Jewell, Chair
1.
Informational
a.
A few CAFFECoR members met on Friday, November 18, 2016, at which time
Malcolm Sherman volunteered to serve on the new subcommittee which GOV
will form, to create procedural language for the undergraduate bulletin, as
was previously announced. We also began to talk about the policy for faculty
fliers.
2.
Reports of Actions
a.
N/A
3.
Recommendations for Actions
a.
N/A
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Michael Jerison, Chair
1. Nothing reported.
COR (Council on Research) – Daniele Fabris, Chair
1. Nothing reported.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Louise-Anne McNutt, Chair
1. Nothing reported.
Chair McNutt stated that CPCA had met and voted on three cases and would meet the next week
to vote on four to five more.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – James Fossett, Chair
1. Nothing reported.
GOV (Governance Council) – Karin Reinhold, Chair
1. We will be meeting Dec 7. The Council is looking into the representation of
contingent faculty in the Senate.
Chair Reinhold added that GOV was working on an amendment to the resolution for the
sanctuary petition and welcomed input.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – David Mamorella, Chair
Overview of Blackboard Organizations This presentation described using
Blackboard beyond just using it for courses.
This concept of using
communities/organizations has been gaining traction; and anyone with a Net ID can
build one.
Brief Overview of the new Lecture Capture Room in SB-31
Dave showed slides of the new LC Room in SB-31 which was recently renovated to
capture lectures. It is new to the faculty, but if anyone is interested in learning how
it is done, contact the Classroom Technology staff in ITS.
Overview/Brief Demo of VoiceThread
Dave presented an overview of VoiceThread, which is an interactive collaboration
and sharing tool that enables users to add images, documents, videos, and to which
other users can add voice, text, audio file, or video comments. This tool can be
incorporated into Blackboard. It does require a webcam for the video component.
If anyone is interested, contact the Faculty Technology Resources team in ITS.
There is a workshop on VoiceThread scheduled for February 14th, 2017 in ITLAL.
Report/Updates from Rebecca Mugridge (Dean of University Libraries):
Faculty searches.
o
Director of Technical Services and Library Systems. The request to fill the
position will go out to Budget/HR/ODI this week.
o
Outreach and Marketing Librarian. An internal search for this position has
begun and hope to be finished by mid-December.
Student Advisory Board. The first meeting of the Board took place on October 25,
and the second meeting is coming up on November 16. Due to the amount of
student interest, the SAB was split into fall and spring. A little over 30 students
attended the first meeting. This meeting raised a number of issues, including their
concerns with printing costs.
Library Hours Task Force. At the request of the Libraries’ Student Advisory
Board, Rebecca has appointed a Task Force to make recommendations regarding
the hours of operation for all three university libraries. The Task Force conducted a
survey of students in October and is now conducting a survey of faculty and staff.
The results of these surveys will be used to inform our decisions about hours in the
next semester and going forward.
Digital Scholarship Center Task Force. The Libraries have formed a task force to
explore how we might expand the services offered by our Interactive Media Center
to include things like data visualization software and GIS. To inform their work
they’ve invited Joan Lippincott, Associate Executive Director of the Coalition for
Networked Information, to speak to the Libraries and other interested folks about
digital scholarship support services. This will take place on November 15, 10:30-
12:00 in the Cobb Room, and LISC members are welcome to attend.
Other Items
Rebecca will have a representative speak to the Committee on the reconfiguration of
the Library’s service desks and how it’s going to change the look of the Library.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) –Karen Kiorpes and Christy Smith, Co-Chairs
UAC met on October 18 and again on November 10. In its September meeting, UAC
reviewed a proposal from the School of Social Welfare to revise their policies on
termination from their major. In response to questions at that meeting, the School clarified
the language of the policy and the circumstances under which a student would not receive
a passing grade in Field Placements. The proposal was approved unanimously on October
18.
On October 18 UAC reviewed two revised General Education plans, one from Political
Science and the other from Social Welfare. The former was approved. UAC has asked
Social Welfare for a point of clarification regarding the Dewey Library role in the Plan.
Four new General Education Competency Plans were submitted. After the October
meeting, Chair Kiorpes divided UAC voting members into subcommittees to review three of
the new Competency Plans. Kiorpes assigned plans to subcommittees based on
representation of a UAC faculty member in a discipline relevant to the department
submitting the plan. The subcommittees reported on the plans at the UAC meeting on
November 10.
Computer Science: UAC will work with the department on required revisions before
it can be approved.
CNSE: Approved pending minor changes.
Urban Studies and Planning: Approved pending minor changes.
The Human Development competency plan will be reviewed in time for discussion at the
December 6 UAC meeting.
The Committee on Admissions and Academic Standing will be submitting a proposal for a
statute of limitations for late withdrawal requests. Additionally, a proposal regarding
readmission petitions may be forthcoming.
Two student cases are under review by Interdisciplinary Studies, including one internship.
On October 27, Kiorpes and Kathie Winchester met with Cynthia Fox and Jim Collins to
discuss their request to SEC to create documentation of procedures to follow when a
department or college proposes certain organizational changes. Recent proposed changes
in the School of Business and in the College of Computer Engineering and Applied Sciences
have brought such issues to the forefront, and there has been clarification regarding the
role the SEC and UPPC should play in such proposals. Kiorpes and Winchester want to
capture the jurisdiction for approvals, the steps needed, and the order of those steps, based
on the types of administrative changes being proposed. They provided Fox and Collins a
draft of a list of possible types of changes and a list of the groups that may be involved in
approval and implementation.
ULC (University Life Council) – Ekow King, Chair
1.
Informational – The University Life Council’s next meeting is on November 28th.
a.
A report will be given at the December 5th meeting
2.
Reports of Actions
3.
Recommendations for Actions
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Cynthia Fox, Chair
1.
Informational
a.
At the meeting of 11/16, Vice President for Finance and Administration James
Van Vorst announced that an outside consultant would be on campus
December 6-9 to gather information about the functioning of division
of Finance and Administration and requested that UPPC recommend two
individuals to meet with him during this visit.
b.
Brian Polanco has been appointed UPPC’s undergraduate student
representative.
c.
UPPC’s last meeting for the semester is scheduled for December.
2.
Actions Taken
a.
As follow up to UPPC’s 11/16 discussion of Senate policy and procedures re:
departmental name changes and reorganizations, Senate Chair /UPPC
member Jim Collins agreed to create a first draft of a document that would
eventually serve as permanent record/ guide for more consistent Senate
decision making in the future.
b.
In
response to
VP
Van Voorst’s request at
our
11/16
meeting, Chairs Chittur and Leventhal have been asked to have
their respective committees (Facilities and Resources) each elect a member
to represent UPPC/the Senate at the meeting with the consultant.
3.
Recommendations.
a.
None at this time
Chair Fox added that UPPC would be reviewing proposals on the restoration of a Certificate of
Graduate Studies in Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis and on an Undergraduate BA in
Sociology. She noted that Vice President Jim Van Voorst had been asked to the next UPPC meeting to
discuss the Compact Plan.
Senate Chair Collins commented that Senate leadership would be working hard with VP Van
Voorst and the Provost regarding more active and earlier input in compact planning.
ADJOURNMENT
The Senate adjourned at 3:43 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Elisa Lopez, Recorder
