COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
Meeting of the University Senate, October 22, 2012
As submitted to Yenisel Gulatee, Senate Secretary, University Senate
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT – Andi Lyons, Chair
Most Councils have finished populating their Committees, and those rosters are being posted to the Senate
website as they become available. Student Senators are also getting into place on Councils at this time. Thank
you to the GSO and the SA for their hard work in making that happen.
The Senate has received a proposal from the Art Department requesting to change its name to the Department of
Art and Art History. The Chair recommended that this proposal be reviewed by UPPC, and brought to the full
Senate as soon as possible.
The dates and times for the Senate’s forum on Diversity and Inclusion, moderated by Frances E. Kendall, have
been finalized. They will be held on Wednesday, November 14th from 9 a.m.–12 p.m., and on Thursday,
November 15th from 1 p.m.–5 p.m. We hope that many people will attend BOTH sessions, but you are
welcome to attend just one if that is the most your schedule will permit.
The annual Fall Faculty Meeting has been scheduled for Monday, October 29th at 3:00 p.m. in the Campus
Center Ballroom. Please encourage your colleagues to attend. In the continuing interest of cost-saving and
conservation, copies of the agenda and minutes from the spring faculty meeting will be the only materials
available in hard copy. All other materials will be posted on the Senate’s website in advance of the meeting
date.
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) –Danielle Leonard, J. Philippe Abraham & Shadi
Shahedipour-Sandvik, SUNY Senators
UFS senator Shahedipour-Sandvik attended the UFS planning meeting on Sept. 20th. The Graduate and
Research Committee met and devised a set of objectives and plans. The Committee will report on these and any
progress at the UFS Fall Plenary meeting in Oct. The report will be posted on UFS website. In addition the
second SUNY wide, graduate research exhibition will be held on Feb. 26th at the Legislative Office Bldg, in
Albany. Deans will be contacted to solicit graduate research posters for the exhibit, soon.
GSO (Graduate Student Organization) – Thomas Devlin, GSO President
The summer with the GSO got off to a rough start. We have serious budget issues. Last year the GSO overspent
the actual budget by a very sizable amount. This year’s budget is about half of what was spent last year, so there
have been drastic cuts in spending. In light of the bad circumstances, the GSO held its annual welcome back
picnic on Friday August 31st. The picnic was a big success and attracted an estimated 400-450 students. The
picnic costs just over 1,000 dollars, which is extremely less than last year’s, which cost at least $8,000. The
GSO held its first Assembly meeting on Friday September 14th where we passed a budget for the upcoming
year. Since then, the GSO has approved 35 graduate student grants and allocated funding for the over 30
RGSOs that we fund. The GSO also helped plan and participate in the community service month kick-off,
which was a great success! Our next GSO Assembly meeting is Friday October 19th.
SA (Student Association) – Arthur Rushforth, Student Association President
Our Vice Presidential Election is in now in full swing. We’ve had our first round of voting and are moving on
to a runoff election between two candidates. The elections will be held October 22 nd and 23rd for Steven
Valentine and Francis Agyemang Cross.
The October 5th Community Service Month Kickoff was a huge success. Students from the Albany School
district came to the University to learn about higher education. It was a collaborative effort between the
Student Association, the President’s office, and the Albany School District; offered demonstrations from
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nanotechnology, mock trial, and performances by various student groups. This was the second such installment
of the Student to Student Initiative and continued to improve on last year’s successes.
The sixth installment of the Student Association’s World Within Reach Speaker Series, has been set to take
place October 13th with Russell Simmons as the featured Speaker. Russell is the multi-talented entrepreneur
who pioneered the hip-hop industry and has been named by USA today as one of the “top 25 most influential
people of the past 25 years.”
Our voter registration drive was a huge success this year, helping over 175 students register to vote.
Our Gender and Sexuality Concerns Department has been hard at work for LGBTQ month, starting many
initiatives including condom-grams and the annual Coming Out Week Reception.
Muli-Cultural Affairs is moving forward with its plans for Asian Occasion a hugely popular reception which
honors Asian Culture. The Cultural Carnival is also well underway.
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Adrian Masters, Chair
The CAA met on 10/11/12. The main order of business was to consider how to address assessment in the new
Gen. Ed. program.
We also approved a PRC report on the Department of Political Science's self study.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility)
– Leslie Saint-Vil, Chair
Yet again, CAFFECoR has nothing to report. I hope to have something to report in the near future.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Carolyn MacDonald, Chair
Nothing to report.
COR (Council on Research) – John Monfasani, Chair
For COR, the report is: Nothing to report.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Sanjay Putrevu, Chair
CPCA met on September 19 and October 3.
September 19: The council discussed, revised, and approved the operational procedures.
October 3: The council discussed and voted on two dossiers.
The next meeting is slated for October 17.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Tim Groves, Chair
All three of the GAC committees are fully constituted per the Senate Charter. The GAC has no bills or
resolutions to go before the Senate.
GOV (Governance Council) – Christine Wagner, Chair
GOV met on 10/1/12. Immediate Past Chair, Susanna Fessler, chaired the meeting in Chair Wagner’s absence.
GOV began an initial review to update the Senate Handbook. The roster for the “Resolution 5 Committee” (the
committee charged with addressing Resolution 1112-05R) was approved. The committee will be convened as
soon as possible to elect a chair. The Council on Assessment and Institutional Review (CAIR), formed by GOV
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was re-established and held an initial meeting. GOV will try to meet on 10/29/12 for an interim meeting, but
will at least meet at the regularly scheduled date of 11/26/12.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Elizabeth Gaffney, Chair
LISC met on October 9th. We are working on forming our subcommittees, and will be looking for some
individuals, not on the committee, to help populate the subcommittees. We have a few old business items to
clear up, including final approval of some meeting minutes, and a decision, on how the committee will weigh in
on the Responsible Use of IT Policy.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Richard Fogarty, Chair
The council continues to discuss and amend a proposal, emanating from the Undergraduate Academics Working
Group charged with implementing components of UAlbany’s Strategic Plan, to create a university writing
program. The proposal is also presently before UPPC. UAC expects to complete its deliberations soon, and in
concert with UPPC to bring a proposal forward to the senate for consideration. In other business, the council
approved a recommendation from its Curriculum and Honors Committee to accede to a request from the
Chemistry Department to make minor revisions to a major requirement necessary to preserve accreditation.
ULC (University Life Council) – Vincent LaBella, Chair
The University Life Council has met several times this semester. Most recently on October 8th. The main
agenda item is the upcoming forums on diversity and inclusion on November 14th and November 15th. The
ULC will be playing a critical role in helping to facilitate these sessions. ULC is working with the president’s
council on diversity and the external consultant to ensure that the forums are informative and engaging. The
hope is the attendees at these forums can take away an understanding and awareness of the universities climate
and culture as it relates to diversity and inclusion. Our next meeting is October 23rd.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
At the last UPPC meeting on October 3, UPPC reviewed the current UAlbany academic calendar guidelines,
last updated in 90-91. Suggestions of changes/updates were made to the Registrar, who attended as a guest. We
also took our first look at the Writing Program proposal, and will be looking at it again at our next meeting.
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