COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
Meeting of the University Senate, April 27, 2015
As submitted to Yenisel Gulatee, Senate Secretary, University Senate
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT –Joette Stefl-Mabry, Chair
I.
Informational
•
Senate Chair Stefl-Mabry and Vice Chair Fox met with Provost Stellar and Chief of Staff
Leanne Wirkkula on April 9th, 2015.
•
A Charter Amendment, introduced by GOV, has been forwarded by the SEC to the
Senate. The Amendment is distributed to the Senate with materials for the April 27th
meeting and will come for a vote at the May 11th meeting in accordance with Faculty
Bylaws Article IV.3
•
A proposal for a new Advanced Certificate Program, Adolescent Special Education for
Childhood Special Educators was approved by UPPC and is under review by GAC.
•
Proposals for the BS/MS programs in Human Development are awaiting further review
from GAC.
•
On April 15, 2015 Senate Chair Stefl-Mabry received an email request to address the lack
of Senate communication (emails and/or notification) to part-time contingents. Currently
only 78 of the 520 academic contingents are 100% fulltime, and receive Senate email and
information regarding elections. However 442, who are less than 100% fulltime do not
receive Senate email, and yet they have an elected “part-time faculty at large”
representative on the Senate who they cannot vote for, and many do not even know the
position exists. Chair Stefl-Mabry notified Vice Chair Fox and asked that the issue be
discussed with the Governance Council.
•
The Senate Chair and Vice Chair will be attending the Spring Plenary for Campus
Governance Leaders (CGLs) in Plattsburg on April 23rd-25th.
II.
Reports of Actions
Chair Stefl-Mabry received an email from Celine Forsyth, Office of Undergraduate
Education, on April 15, 2015, announcing that the State Education Department has
officially registered Informatics as a new Bachelor of Science major effective
immediately. Admission to the Faculty-Initiated Interdisciplinary major with a
concentration in Information Science snow suspended.
III.
Recommended Actions
N/A
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) –Danielle Leonard, J. Philippe Abraham &
John Schmidt, SUNY Senators
The UFS Senators look forward to attending the 170th Spring Plenary, hosted by SUNY
Plattsburgh, April 23-25, 2015.
GSA (Graduate Student Association) – Caitlin Janiszewski, GSA President
The GSA completed their elections and the new E-Board is the following:
President - Bob Beach
Vice President - Kat Slye
Treasurer - Hina Thalo
Equity and Inclusion Chair: Amani Edwards
*Note: our constitutional amendment passed which changed this officers position from
Multicultural and Affirmative Action Chair (MCAA) to Equity and Inclusion Chair.
Lead Senator: Hanna Marie Pageau
University Council Representative: Caitlin Janiszewski
We will be working on appointments of the Programming and Grants Chair positions as well as
Senators immediately. We have a very busy end of the semester with planning for the NAGPS
Leadership Summit this summer, the President's Forum, as well as our trips to the NAGPS
Northeast Regional Conference and SUNY Student Assembly meetings. We had very productive
meetings in both places. But of course, what is keeping us busier than anything is the beginning
of transition. We hope to have a very solid transition this year with several returning officers
along with new and excited officers. The new E-Board is excited to work on strategic plans again
and gear up for a productive 2015-2016.
SA (Student Association) – Marc Cohen, Student Association Representative
Academic Affairs
The Department of Academic Affairs and Advocacy has been busily working on two
events recently. The most recent event that occurred was the UPD Appreciation Night,
where they honored the University's Officers and Staff for all that they do for our campus
community. It was a great success! In addition, they have been working on the
Outstanding Faculty and Excellence in Teaching Awards which will be given out at a
lunch-in at the Patroon Room in the Campus Center. They are currently finalizing the
details.
Communications
The department is continuing to meet with the Residence Hall Associations of the Quads
in order to establish stronger ties with the student body. In addition, Plans for the Student
Government Conference are well Underway, I am going to be vising and meeting with
the Directors of Communication from the other colleges ahead of the Conference.
Community Engagement and Outreach
The Annual Pine Hills Cleanup is this weekend at 11:00! Give back to the Pine Hills
Community by helping cleanup the neighborhood.
Relay for Life is next weekend- support the American Cancer Society and show your
support for the millions of survivors who either have or still are battling cancer.
Dippikill
Dippikill reservations have opened up into June and t-shirts were ordered for the front
desk assistants to wear for promotion. The department was expanded to include
Environmental Sustainability and will work with several new departments on campus.
Gender and Sexuality
We just had a successful NELGBT Conference with around 600 People! :) Now we are
getting ready for the third annual SlutWalk and The Vagina Monologues happening May
1st and 2nd! Also, Lavendar Graduation will be May 15th for LGBT Students and Allies!
Legislative Affairs
Planning the details for an upcoming Forum hosting several local officials, creating a
venue for students and representatives to continue the conversation on education
Marketing
Working hard preparing to market for our Parkfest Artist!
Multi-Cultural Affairs
Wrapping up from out annual Cultural Carnival- the event was a complete success!
Programming
Save the date! Parkfest will be happening May 3rd!! Artist will be released in the up and
coming days!
Student Group Affairs
Purple and Gold Awards are just around the corner! The selection committee is finishing
up last minute details.
CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Deborah Bernnard, Chair
The Council on Academic Assessment met on March 25 and approved two reviews from the
General Education Assessment Committee on the Foreign Language Program and the Foreign
Language in the High School Program.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community
Responsibility) – Carol Jewell, Chair
Nothing to report
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
Nothing to report
COR (Council on Research) – Kajal Lahiri, Chair
Nothing to report
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Sanjay Putrevu, Chair
The next CPCA meeting is on April 22.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) –Abebe Rorissa, Chair
I.
Informational
The GAC met on April 7, 2015. Items on the Agenda included reviews of: (1) a report from one of the
GAC’s Standing Committees, (2) a proposal to discontinue/deregister graduate programs in Geology, and
(3) two proposals from the School of Education (to establish a BA/MS program in Human Development/
Mental Health Counseling and BA/MS program in Human Development/Educational Psychology &
Methodology).
Our next scheduled meeting is on April 28.
II.
Reports of Actions
The GAC, based on the review and recommendation by the Committee on Curriculum &
Instruction, unanimously voted to accept the committee’s recommendations to approve
changes to two existing graduate programs in the School of Business and the Department
of Public Administration & Policy in the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and
Policy. The proposal by the School of Business sought to make a slight structural change
to its Graduate Certificate program in Information Security -- a one course reduction in
the “specialized courses” category with a corresponding one course increase in the
“elective” category. The second proposal, by the Department of Public Administration &
Policy, was to update its Master of Public Administration program by elevating
Nonprofit Management & Policy from a sub-cluster to a cluster within the MPA
program.
The Council unanimously approved a proposal from the Department of Atmospheric and
Environmental Science and the College of Arts and Sciences to have graduate programs
in Geology formally discontinued/deregistered.
The Council also considered two proposals by the School of Education to establish a
BA/MS program in Human Development/Mental Health Counseling and a BA/MS
program in Human Development/Educational Psychology & Methodology. After
extensive discussions and questions, the Council unanimously voted to reconsider the
proposals at its next meeting after the undergraduate (BS) piece is approved by the UAC.
III.
Recommendations for Actions
The GAC endorses introduction of a bill to the University Senate to discontinue and
deregister graduate programs in Geology by the Department of Atmospheric and
Environmental Science and the College of Arts and Sciences.
GOV (Governance Council) – Cynthia Fox, Chair
I. Informational
1. GOV met on April 13. Our next scheduled meeting is April 20.
2. On April 1, Chair Fox received a request from Senior Vice Provost and Associate Vice
President for Academic Affairs Bill Hedberg to identify a faculty member to serve as the Senate
Designee to the START-UP NY Advisory Committee.
3. In a memo sent April 7, Interim Dean Rousseau of the proposed College of Emergency
Preparedness informed Chair Fox that he had extended invitations to the three individuals
recommended by GOV for the steering committee, and to everyone on GOV’s list for the larger
faculty group.
4. In fulfillment of Senate Charter IV.1.2, monthly meetings have been scheduled for Senate
Chair Stefl-Mabry and Vice Chair Fox to meet with Provost Stellar and Chief of Staff Leanne
Wirkkula. The first of these meetings was on Thursday, April 9.
6. Chair Fox has called for a meeting of the Council on Committee Nominations for the week of
April 20 to prepare a slate of Council members and of members of the standing committees of
the executive committee recommend to the Senate before the penultimate spring Senate meeting.
7. Chair Fox and Senate Chair Stefl-Mabry will attend the Spring Plenary of the SUNY Faculty
Senate in Plattsburgh April 24-25.
II. Actions taken
1. The Council discussed issues related to the recent elections and Bylaws amendment.
2. The Council discussed of the role of governance in the proposed name change for the College
of Computing and Information.
3. The wording of the proposed Charter Amendment re Voting privileges for administrators on
Senate Councils and Committees was finalized and unanimously approved.
3. GOV discussed the qualifications in the individual to be named a Senate designee for the
STAT-UP NY Advisory Committee. Members will be contacting several possible candidates to
see whether they are willing for us to consider them. We will then take an online vote to rank
these individuals. We also discussed whether Governance could/should have a role in the how
student representative will be recruited for this (and other) advisory bodies.
III Recommendations
1. That GOV compile a list of recommendations for future votes conducted electronically
2. That the proposal to rename CCI be sent to UAC and GAC for consideration prior to going to
vote on the Senate floor.
3. That the Charter amendment be forwarded to the SEC for placement on the agenda of the
April 27 Senate meeting.
4. That the graduate student representative to the START-UP NY Advisory Committee be defined
as the GSA Vice President or a proxy sent by the GSA VP.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) –Boris Goldfarb, Chair
LISC met on March 30. Reports by the Dean and Director of Libraries, Mary Casserly, and the
CIO, Christine Haile, will appear in the minutes posted on the Council website. The Council
initiated a discussion of the new Elsevier contract and its impact. We also discussed other
avenues of publication including open access journals and online archives.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Robert Yagelski, Chair
The Undergraduate Academic Council met on March 26th and devoted the meeting to discussion
of a proposal from the School of Education, brought to the full council by the Curriculum and
Honors Committee, to establish a new undergraduate program in human development.
Discussion focused on various aspects of the proposal that concerned UAC members—
specifically, criteria for admission to the proposed major, procedures for managing admissions
and enrollments, and a rationale for the admissions criteria. Suggestions for revisions were made
to the proposers, and the proposal was tabled until the next UAC meeting on April 9th.
ULC (University Life Council) –Michael Jaromin, Chair
On Monday, March 30th co-sponsored the UACCESS event featuring presenter was Michael
Brownstein, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at John Jay College.
His presentation entitled, “Simple Strategies for Complex Problems: Implicit Bias and Higher
Education” was very informative and was videotaped (where to access the link is forthcoming).
The small group sessions for this presentation will be held April 14th, 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. at
the Alumni House (Lunch will be served) and April 15th, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in the Campus
Center, Room 375 (Refreshments will be served). The sessions will be facilitated by Professors
Karyn Loscocco (Sociology) and Walter Little (Anthropology). Any faculty member interested in
attending the small group sessions should contact Deborah Nazon no later than Monday, April
13th by 11:00 a.m.
Below are a few highlights/suggestions from Brownstein’s talk to address Implicit Bias in Higher
Education:
Suggested that teachers emphasize the malleability of intelligence to their students,
rather than talking about "innate brilliance."
Emphasized the importance of providing appropriate critical feedback to students, in
order to avoid giving undue positive feedback as compensation for self-doubt about one's
egalitarianism.
Discussed ways to promote intergroup contact: (1) for students, random assignment to
roommates from different social groups; (2) hiring a diverse faculty, in order to provide
students with exemplars of members of underrepresented groups in positions of
leadership.
Suggested trying to take the perspective of others, by actively imagining their
psychological experiences.
Brownstein noted the importance of humility, i.e., recognizing that we are all likely to be biased
on many ways, and that "being smart" doesn't inoculate against being biased.
Finally, here are some resources for learning more about Implicit Bias:
(1) Project Implicit, the home of the IAT
(2) Virginia Valian's homepage, which houses "Tutorials for Change," targeting gender biases
(3) Inclusivity in the philosophy classroom, which lists many relevant empirical results.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) –David McCaffrey, Chair
On March 12, UPPC approved the proposed Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security,
Cybersecurity, and Emergency Management.
Provost James Stellar, Associate Provost Ann Marie Murray, and CCI Dean Sue
Faerman discussed planning for development of the engineering programs on campus. They
reviewed a proposed name change for the College of Computing and Information to College of
Engineering and Applied Sciences, emphasizing the importance of moving ahead with the name
change in light of the need to search for a dean of the college given the current dean's pending
retirement.
UPPC has placed on its website links to information regarding the scheduling of the academic
calendar. Put up info on academic calendar scheduling.
On April 9, UPPC took the following actions:
Approved a revised campus impact form for the undergraduate degree in human development.
Approved a request to discontinue and de‐register Geology Programs.
Approved changes to the Physics major.
Approved proposals for Human Development BS/MS programs:
· Program Title: Dual Degree Program: BS Human Development (Educational Psychology
concentration) and MS in Educational Psychology and Methodology
· Program Title: Dual Degree Program: BS in Human development (Counseling Psychology
concentration) and MS in Mental Health Counseling
Approved a proposal for an Advanced Certificate Program, Adolescent Special Education for
Childhood Special Educators.
