COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
Meeting of the University Senate, September 26, 2011
As submitted to Danielle Leonard, Senate Secretary, University Senate
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT – Susanna, Chair
The Chair would like to welcome everyone back to campus. All chairs for councils and standing committees
have been elected, and we are working with both graduate students and undergraduate students to fill student
senate seats as quickly as possible. Meetings this year will be on Mondays 2:45-4:15 to better accommodate
teaching schedules and late afternoon family commitments of many senators. An orientation for new
council chairs was held on Sept. 7th, and the first meeting of the SEC was held on September 12. Council chairs
are asked to schedule regular meeting times for their councils and inform the Secretary of those meeting times
as soon as possible. In addition, they are asked to form council sub-committees and have those committees also
elect chairs.
This past summer saw a few important developments for UAlbany. One of those developments was the
introduction of the NYSUNY2020 bill to the New York State Legislature. The full impact of that bill on our
campus is not yet clear, but UPPC will be working over the next couple months with the President and the
Provost to hammer out the finer points.
The chair looks forward to a cooperative and productive year in the Senate.
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) –Daniel D. White, J. Philippe Abraham & Shadi
Shahedipour-Sandvik, SUNY Senators
SUNY Senate will be meeting at our fall plenary on October 20-22 in Westchester at SUNY Purchase. Please
feel free to bring any new or continuing business to the SUNY Senators for discuss at the State level. Topics
that we will be discussing will continue to revolve around the state of the budget and the role of the faculty in
deciding what changes occur to curriculum. A summer planning meeting occurred in June to prepare
committees for their work in the up-coming year.
GSO (Graduate Student Organization) – Heidi Nicholls, GSO Representative
The year has started with the President's Welcome Picnic and RGSO training. We had over 500 graduate
students turn out for the picnic and more than 30 different groups applying for official GSO recognition and
funding. Over the summer a new printer was purchased and the office once again redesigned including more
attention the GO Green initiative of the Albany campus including wax ink, composting coffee and tea disposal,
and GSO coffee to go mugs and club. We are still looking for a programming chair hoping to confirm the
position by the end of the month while welcoming those members new and returning to the office management
staff, executive board, and senate seats.
SA (Student Association) – Bryant Barksdale, Student Association President Designee
The Student Association has been very busy over the summer break planning the block party, speaker series and
concert for the undergraduate students. The Student Association is also in the process of filling all positions that
are still available and is look forward to a very productive year.
* Due to Hurricane Irene the Block Party that is put on yearly on Indian Quad has been rescheduled, tentatively,
for September 25th.
* On October 15th Earvin “Magic” Johnson will be coming for the 5th installment of the World Within Reach
Speaker Series. Johnson is an entrepreneur, businessman and a philanthropist.
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* FallFest 2011 will take place on November 12th and will feature LMFAO and Far East Movement.
* SA President Zafir Uddin and Senator Arthur Rushforth, Chair of the Student Senate, have been working
closely with the President’s Office and Mayor Jennings in helping coordinate the kick off to community service
month and launching a “Student to Student” initiative on October 5th.
* The SA Academic Affairs department has been busy organizing a campaign to get more students involved
with the University Senate. The department is also looking to start an Outstanding Faculty Award that will be
given out sometime in the spring. The University at Buffalo and Binghamton University currently has a course
evaluation system in place that lets student’s rate professors and courses at the end of the semester, and the
information is uploaded into a system where the whole university can view the results as students fill out the
evaluations. This can help students make choices about classes when planning their schedule for the next
semester, and faculty can get instant feedback on they were rated along with the course they taught. The Student
Association is looking into the possibility making this same type of system available to all students here on
campus.
* Lastly the Student Association Senate has expressed interest in having regular reports given to them from the
University Senate and any other university administrators, faculty, and staff in regards to things that affect
students.
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Adrian Masters, Chair
CAA has nothing to report.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility)
– Aran Mull, Chair
CAFFE-CoR held its first meeting September 19th. Nothing further to report.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Carolyn MacDonald, Chair
The policy approved by the senate 3/14 has not yet been signed. There are no ongoing cases, and no meetings
have been held yet this semester, but planning will proceed for regular training workshops for CERS members.
COR (Council on Research) – James Castracane, Chair
Our last COR meeting was May 18, 2011. I invited the new members of COR to the meeting to familiarize
themselves with the procedure.
At the meeting, three items of note were presented. VPR Dias presented charts on the research activity of the
University, AVPR Webster discussed the progress of ongoing audits the Office of Sponsored Funds has been
involved with and the Excellence Award for Research & Creative Activities Committee suggested an “early
achievement excellence award” to recognize younger faculty on a career trajectory of high merit. The
Researcher’s Liaison Committee will take this up this year to formulate recommendations to the VPR.
Our first meeting will be Sept. 19th…
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CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Christine Wagner, Chair
CPCA held its first organizational meeting on September 7th. There are currently 7 cases pending. Review of the
first two cases will begin September 19th
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Tim Groves, Chair
GAC is in process of organizing its committees. Otherwise, there is nothing to report
GOV (Governance Council) – Andi Lyons, Chair
GOV’s first meeting will be September 27th.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Nancy Newman, Chair
The Council's first meeting will take place Sept. 26. We will establish subcommittee membership and discuss
LISC's involvement with the Strategic Plan. Bruce Dudek has agreed to serve as our liaison to the Provost's
working group regarding "Keeping Pace with Emerging Technologies." Chris Haile is planning a presentation
on the new email system at the Senate meeting on Sept. 26.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – JoAnne Malatesta, Chair
The UAC meet for the first time on Thursday, September 1st. We started forming committees and will begin
reaching out to non-UAC members to complete the committee rosters. There is a roll-over item of business to
bring to the SEC regarding a change to the music minor. The proposal from the Music department was
approved by UAC last year.
ULC (University Life Council) – Yenisel Gulatee, Chair
The University Life Council has nothing new to report. The Chair is in the process of organizing for the Fall
2011 semester.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Eric Lifshin, Chair
Nothing to report at this time.
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