11/1/04UNIVERSITY PLANNING AND POLICY COUNCIL
2004-05 Chair: Marjorie Pryse
November 1, 2004
Meeting Minutes
Present: J. Bartow, R Baum, N. Claiborne, F. Hauser, F.
Henderson, T.
Hoff,
G. Kamberelis, S.B. Kim, J. Langer, C. MacDonald, D. McCaffrey,
J. Mumpower, K. Murray, G. Paul, M. Pryse, S. Stern, E. Wulfert
Guest: R. Farrell
Chair’s Report – presented by Professor Marjorie Pryse:
Senate Bill Number 0405-01: Additional Membership on Councils and
Committees,
proposing that the elected representative of the Council of Deans become
an ex
officio member of UPC, was passed at Senate. Dean Wick-Pelletier will be
the
Deans’ Council Representative to UPC.
UPC Committee Reports:
University Facilities Committee (UFC), Frank Hauser, Chair: No report.
Resource Analysis and Planning Committee (RAPC), Nancy Claiborne Chair:
RAPC
met twice for the purpose of responding to the Mission Review II
document. Due
to the importance of the document and the breadth of its analysis,
committee
members felt that they could better respond to the Interim President and
the
Interim Provost by identifying three to four priority items that the
university
might be able to achieve in the next five years. Once UPC has further
discussion regarding the priorities, RAPC will meet if necessary to
develop
language to send forward.
Mission Review II (MRII) Discussion:
Professor Pryse distributed Student Satisfaction Survey results for the
past ten
years along with the 1992 University at Albany Mission Statement for UPC
members
to consult while reviewing the MR II document. She noted that the 1992
Mission
Statement language seemed to remedy the problems UPC identified in the MR
II
draft, particularly the balanced commitment in the University’s mission
among
the liberal arts and sciences and the professional schools; and how to
create,
through narrative, the impression of a “well-orchestrated whole.”
Professor McCaffrey reported that in the RAPC review of MR II, the
members found
it difficult to identify clearly three or four priorities in the
document. He
indicated that the responses to the 2002-03 survey are very unsettling,
and he
hopes that the MR II document will address issues that did not fare well
in the
surveys.
Professor MacDonald distributed a document identifying a few priority
areas and
including key text suggestions for the beginning of the MR II document.
Funding to the core programs was discussed, specifically, that the charts
show a
pattern of below the mean ratings that appear to address the quality of
instruction. Professor Hauser mentioned that there was a report
distributed by
the Task Force on the Quality of Undergraduate Academic Life and Student
Retention in 1998 that studied issues of retention and recommended
improvements.
He noted that there were very useful recommendations in that report that
could
be incorporated into the MR II. Interim Provost Mumpower indicated that
some of
the language in the honors initiative stemmed from that document.
Professor
MacDonald pointed out that a number of issues which require governance
discussion are discussed in the document also. The document will be
distributed
to all UPC members for review after this meeting.
There was discussion on the student satisfaction survey results with
regard to
how much time the faculty spends with students. The results were not
very
favorable. Some members agreed that it is difficult to spend a lot of
time with
individual students when teaching groups of 100 at a time. Interim
Provost
Mumpower said that the surveys are conducted every few years and in
general,
there is a higher level of satisfaction now than ten years ago.
Professor Wulfert raised questions about an “armchair approach” to the
solution
of problems, such as constituting a previous task force on student
retention and
hiring external consultants. She stated that if this campus wants to find
out
why the students are so dissatisfied, it should conduct a study with a
stratified random sample of students, pay them for participating, and
find out
in carefully constructed interviews what the sources of dissatisfaction
might
be. It was moved that UPC authorize Professor Wulfert to design a study.
Professor Wulfert agreed to bring a more concrete proposal to the next
Council
meeting and the issue will be moved then.
It was also suggested that the MR II should address bringing residential
life
into podium or academic life, linking one to the other.
Graduate Certificate in Public Health Genetics Proposal:
Professor Hoff introduced the certificate program proposal. The
certificate is
a twelve credit, four course certificate that will be available for a
wide
variety of people, i.e., health care professionals, doctors, lawyers,
media,
etc. The resources are already committed. The proposal will go to GAC
this
week. It was moved that the proposal be approved. The proposal was
seconded
and approved unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Jayne VanDenburgh, Recorder
