COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
UNIVERSITY SENATE – February 12, 2007
As submitted to Dick Collier, Secretary, University Senate
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) -- William Lanford, Chair:
1.
CAA has finished reviewing the assessment of Biology.
2.
CAA is reviewing assessments for Mathematics, and for Geography and Planning.
3.
A schedule for assessment of Project Renaissance has been developed that should allow
CAA to receive a full assessment report during the present academic year. Invitations to
outside reviewers are about to be mailed.
4.
As a result of Senate legislation from late last term, CAA now has responsibility for the
Committee on General Education Assessment. This, along with CAA's responsibility for
assessment of Project Renaissance, is leading CAA into new areas of assessment. Both
Project Renaissance and General Education are quite different from the largely
departmentally based program with that CAA has reviewed in the past. For assessments of
these programs to be effective, the key questions and issues need to be identified. To that
end, CAA requests all interested parties to relay questions/issues that should be addressed in
an assessment of either Project Renaissance or General Education. Communications can be
addressed to me (lanford@albany.edu, or Physics Department) or to Barbara Wilkinson
(bwilkinson@uamail.albany.edu).
5.
Previously, the Council raised the possibility of providing comparative data that would
allow individual course instructors to better understand their own student course
evaluations. A meeting on this topic was organized by Bruce Szelest with the (tentative)
conclusion that in the future, individuals would also received information on average scores
for the Department and College. Exceptions to this might have to be made for very small
departments where such a process might compromise confidentiality.
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) -- Elga Wulfert, Chair
The council has met and discussed some changes to the CERS policy.
A bill regarding an amendment to the policy will be presented at the next senate meeting.
COR (Council on Research) – Lawrence Schell, Chair.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) -- David Shub, Chair
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) -- Sally Friedman, Chair –
No report.
GOV (Governance Council) -- Reed Hoyt, Chair. The Governance Council met on 5 February
2007 to discuss the following three items: a clarification document from the Committee on
Assessment of Governance; (2) handbooks; (3) Senate elections for next year. The clarification
document was sent to Executive Committee. The handbooks need to be made more concise. A
notice will be sent out regarding elections for the 2007-2008 Senate, which must be in place on
16 April according to the bylaws, Article II, Section 8.1. The Governance Council will meet
again on 5 March.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Daniel White, Chair.
LISC met on February 5, 2007 to begin discussions about a Bill to make Email an official means
of communication with students. The bill was discussed at length and the chair will re-distribute
the changes for council member input this week. The council will vote on this bill shortly. We
also discussed some new business that was brought to the council by Kevin Tyle and Tom Hoey.
We discussed the need to develop some policy concerning the access to, use, and ownership of
electronic data. In the case of an employee leaving the university, who is authorized to access
data left on a computer or personal drive? The discussion was tabled until further information
can be collected. Dean and Director of Libraries submitted a written report available in the
minutes. The Assistant director of CETL reported that CETL has officially been renamed the
Institute for Teaching, Learning, and Academic Leadership. The new Institute has been planning
and hosting workshops on teaching and learning to graduate students and faculty.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – John Monfasani, Chair. UAC voted to give the
General Education Committee authority to approve the petition of a student to have a particular
course count as Gen Ed on his/her transcript, when departments do not respond in a timely
manner to the Committee's request for a decision.
ULC (University Life Council) – Joan Savitt, Chair. ULC held its first meeting of the
semester on Feb. 5, 2007, looking briefly at a number of issues. We learned that as of two days
before the start of the spring semester, books for more than 500 classes had not been ordered
through the University Bookstore. This affects the price of textbooks for students.
1) If faculty order their textbooks by the deadline set by the Bookstore, students who sell their
books to the Bookstore during buy-back receive 50% of the price they paid for the book (new or
used). After discussion with the ULC last fall, the Bookstore agreed to expand this policy.
Since courses are frequently taught every other semester, effective for the fall '07 semester, this
policy will include the entire next academic year. In other words, if faculty order their textbooks
by the deadline set by the Bookstore for the following semester, or if they inform the Bookstore
they will use the same textbook within the next academic year, students will be able to receive
50% of the price they paid for the book during buy-back.
This is one way faculty can help lower the cost of textbooks for students.
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ULC Continued…
2) The more textbooks students sell back to the Bookstore during buy-back, the more used
books are available on the shelves. Used books are sold at 25% off the price of new textbooks.
Therefore, again, if your order is placed on time, students are more likely to sell their textbooks
to the Bookstore for a 50% return, and those textbooks will appear on the shelves at a 25%
discount for the next student who purchases them.
This is another way faculty can help lower the cost of textbooks for students.
3) Students who choose to have their financial aid awards distributed to their podium accounts
may only purchase their books at the University Bookstore. We understand some faculty choose
to place their book orders with bookstores other than the University Bookstore. For the
convenience of those students who choose to have their financial aid disbursed on their podium
accounts, we ask that you place an order for at least a small quantity of all of the textbooks you
order with the University Bookstore.
This is a way faculty can help students effectively and conveniently use their financial aid.
UPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Steven Messner, Chair. UPC met for three
hours on January 17 to review proposals for Selective Investment. The council was unable to
discuss all proposals at the meeting. Nevertheless, a number of common themes emerged, and
the council reached a consensus that the most productive and practical way to provide input to
the Selective Investment Committee (SIC) would be to identify key criteria for the review of
proposals, perhaps illustrating these criteria as appropriate. Following the meeting, the Chair
solicited further commentary from council members and formulated a preliminary draft report
for the Selective Investment Committee. UPC met on February 8 to discuss the draft report. The
Council approved a final report that will be transmitted to the SIC.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community
Responsibility) -- Lawrence Snyder, Chair
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