COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE SUMMARIES
Meeting of the University Senate, December 17, 2012
As submitted to Yenisel Gulatee, Senate Secretary, University Senate
UNIVERSITY SENATE CHAIR’S REPORT – Andi Lyons, Chair
Senate Bill 1213-01 (Department Name Change for the Art Department) and Senate Bill 1213-02 (Proposal to
Modify UAlbany’s Undergraduate General Education Writing Proposal) have been approved by President
Philip, and were signed on December 4, 2012.
President Philip’s Farewell Reception was held on December 4 in the University Art Museum. While he will
soon be leaving the campus physically, it is safe to say that we will never be far from his thoughts. The Senate
officers hope each of you will take a moment to thank President Philip for his willingness to work
collaboratively with the Senate during the past five years.
Winter Commencement will be held on Sunday, December 16th at 1:00 p.m. in the SEFCU Arena. Please
consider participating in this important capstone event for our students.
UFS (University Faculty Senator’s Report) –Danielle Leonard, J. Philippe Abraham & Shadi
Shahedipour-Sandvik, SUNY Senators
The resolutions and PowerPoint presentations from the fall plenary are now posted to the UFS website -
www.suny.edu/facultysenate
Resolutions can be found in the Plenary Meetings link under Approved Resolutions. They can also be found on
the individual plenary page for SUNY Oswego. That is also the page where you will find the PowerPoint
presentations. The Winter Plenary will be held at SUNY Oneonta January 24th-26th. Daniel White will attend as
Danielle’s Alternate, along with Shadi and Philippe.
The UFS Graduate and Research Committee's second bi-annual "Graduate Research Exhibition: Boosting the
power of SUNY" will be held on Feb. 26th 2013 at the Legislative Office Bldg. in downtown Albany. Graduate
students from across SUNY campuses as well as from CUNY and Cornell are invited to participate. Please visit
the UFS website for details.
GSO (Graduate Student Organization) – Thomas Devlin, GSO President
Nothing to report
SA (Student Association) – Arthur Rushforth, Student Association President
We had our fall concert November 30th but we didn't have the turnout we had hoped for. Those that attended
did however get a great concert.
The Student Association is buying a new copier from a local business.
The Student Association Senate passed a resolution recommending that the University terminate its contracts
with Coca-Cola for various injustices and racial discrimination.
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CAA (Council on Academic Assessment) – Adrian Masters, Chair
The CAA met on December 6th. We met with Tine Reimers and Heidi Andrade to discuss the Principles of
Effective Teaching in Higher Education document that they are participating in the construction of. We
approved an Academic Program Review Committee report on the Anthropology Department self-study. We
issued a memo to heads of Departments and Academic programs outlining the process for mid-cycle reviews of
their assessment procedures.
CAFFECoR (Committee on Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Community Responsibility)
– Leslie Saint-Vil, Chair
No response
CERS (Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship) – Carolyn MacDonald, Chair
A CERS meeting is being scheduled to discuss training and reporting issues.
COR (Council on Research) – John Monfasani, Chair
The FRAP-A subcommittee of COR is meeting to decide on the 21 applications it has received. The hope is that
a decision will be made this month about them, but certainly in January, very soon after we return from
intersession.
CPCA (Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments) – Sanjay Putrevu, Chair
The CPCA has concluded its activities for the semester. The next meeting will be in January.
GAC (Graduate Academic Council) – Tim Groves, Chair
The GAC met on November 12, 2012. The GAC Committee on Curriculum and Instruction (CC&I) approved a
revision of the MS in Reading Teacher degree program in the School of Education. The CC&I also approved a
request from the School of Education Department of Educational Theory and Practice (ETAP) to remove the
Praxis I examination from its Master of Secondary Education (MSSE) degree programs. The GAC approved a
School of Public Health proposal for a new Global Health Certificate program. UPPC had previously approved
this program as well. A bill for approval of the Global Health Certificate program proposed by the School of
Public Health will be presented by GAC Chair Tim Groves at the December 17 meeting of the University
Senate.
An agenda item follows:
A bill for approval of the Global Health Certificate program proposed by the School of Public Health will be
presented by GAC Chair Tim Groves at the December 17 meeting of the University Senate.
GOV (Governance Council) – Christine Wagner, Chair
GOV met on 11/26/12. A Bylaws amendment regarding the procedure for the placement of items on the Senate
Agenda by Senators was approved by GOV and reviewed by the SEC. This will go to a vote of the full faculty
in the spring. GOV reviewed a proposal to create a Council on Assessment and Institutional Review (CAIR) and
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a document of the Guidelines and Procedures for CAIR prepared by the Committee on Administrative
Evaluations. The status of Section XI: IRCUAP of the Senate Charter is under discussion. Recommendations
for teaching faculty to serve on the Honor’s College Governing Board were made to Provost Phillips. GOV will
hold its next meeting on 12/10/12.
LISC (Council on Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing) – Elizabeth Gaffney, Chair
Both of the LISC committees will met the week of November 26th. John Delano has been selected as the chair
of the Libraries Committee and Eliot Rich is the chair of the IT committee. Our next Council meeting was
postponed from Dec. 4th to Dec. 11th because of a conflict with President Phillip’s farewell reception. A further
discussion of the responsible use of IT policy and a discussion about the CIO’s strategic plan report are
scheduled for the meeting on Dec. 11th.
UAC (Undergraduate Academic Council) – Richard Fogarty, Chair
UAC has reviewed and approved the membership of the General Education Advisory Board, and is currently at
work on revising the university's Standards of Academic Integrity. We anticipate finishing this process by the
end of the semester, and then will coordinate with GAC to formulate a common undergraduate and graduate
policy, before bringing a bill to the senate.
ULC (University Life Council) – Vincent LaBella, Chair
ULC has met this on Dec. 6 and discussed the status of the Family Leave Resolution #0506-05. The resolution
was passed by the senate back in 2006 and was not signed by the president at the time. The resolution as
written is too broad and covers territory that falls under collective bargaining agreements. Nevertheless the
University is committed to making sure it is a family friendly institution. ULC will examine the resolution to
see what parts can be salvaged and what parts are off limits during the start of the spring semester. Our goal is to
come up with advice as to the next steps for this resolution.
UPPC (University Planning and Policy Council) – Susanna Fessler, Chair
Due to no pressing business, UPPC canceled its last meeting for the term, scheduled on Wednesday, December
05, 2012. The guidelines on the academic calendar document, approved at our previous meeting, has been
approved by the Provost and the President and will be posted to the web shortly. We are still working on
establishing our meeting schedule for the spring semester.
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