2003-04 University Senate
Minutes of February 9, 2004

Present: J. Acker, D. Armstrong, D. Bernnard, E. Brière, S. Chaiken, H. Charalambous,
R. Collier, D. Dewar, J. Doellefeld, S. Faerman, S. Friedman, R. Geer,
R. Gibson, F. Hauser, R. Hoyt, M. Jerison, S. B. Kim, W. Lanford, R. Lawson,
S. Levine, S. Lubensky, A. Lyons, C. MacDonald, G. Marschke, T. Maxwell,
D. McCaffrey, L. McNutt, G. Moore, J. Mumpower, J. Pipkin, M. Pryse,
R. M. Range, C. Santiago, J. Savitt, H. Scheck, L. Schell, D. Shub, G. Spitze,
S. Turner, T. Turner, J. Uppal, L. Videka, D. Wagner, J. Wick-Pelletier,
E. Wulfert

Guests: J. Bartow, R. Farrell, W. Hedberg, K. Lowery, S. Mahan

Approval of Minutes: The minutes of December 1, 2003 and December 8, 2003 were approved.

Provost's Report: Presented by Carols E. Santiago, Officer in Charge and Provost.

• Administrative Changes: Dr. Santiago explained recent changes in University Administration and his new role as Officer in Charge.
• Presidential Search: The Presidential Search process has begun, and a professional search firm has been hired.
• Enrollment and Budget: Next year's budget is flat; the state is not funding any money toward enrollment growth. There is no anticipated tuition increase for next year. The University is concerned about funding, especially for additional undergraduate courses, and student selectivity issues. Proposals on how to distribute funding will be discussed in future URPAC meetings. One issue that remains outstanding is the funding of any construction programs, and that discussion is continuing.

University Faculty Senate Report presented by Richard Collier: The entire text of Senator Collier's report was distributed to all Senators.

Chair's report: Presented by Professor Marjorie Pryse.

• Senate Membership Changes: Professor Donald Biggs has left his Senate seat, and Professor Sanford Levine has taken his place, both in the Senate and as a member of the Research Council.
• Council Representatives: UAC is looking for new faculty members and an undergraduate student senator.
• Faculty Forum: The forum is scheduled for March 24, 2004, and the title is The Engaged University: Sweat-Free and Sustainable. Confirmed speakers are Dean Katharine Briar-Lawson, Professor Fernando Leiva, Professor Steven Breyman from RPI; and Richard Perez, a Research Scientist from CESTM.
• Presidential Search Committee: Korn/Ferry International has been hired as professional consultants to the Search Committee, Nancy L. Cook of Korn/Ferry will serve as the lead consultant throughout the process. Ms. Cook met with members of the Executive Committee last week.
• Faculty Representatives to the Presidential Search Committee: A vote will be taken today to elect two non-CAS faculty representatives to the Search Committee. The University Council representatives asked for more diversity in professional affiliation of the six faculty representatives on the Committee, specifically, a representation of four faculty from CAS and two from non-CAS units.

Council Reports:

CPCA - Professor Glenna Spitze, Chair: no report.

EPC - Professor Edelgard Wulfert, Chair: Professor Wulfert reported that the charge to EPC resulting from the Senate's Substitute Motion on Oversight of State and Corporate Research regarding Nanotech Resources, Inc. has changed in light of the Governor's announcement to work with the University at Albany in the creation of a College of Nanotechnology. Specifically, EPC has refocused its efforts to clarify the relationship between the proposed new College of Nanotechnology and the University. EPC has formulated a set of questions examining the rationale and consultation process, structure, staffing, research and indirect costs, curriculum, graduate students, direct costs and overall implications of the new College. These questions will be directed to the Provost. The Provost will report back to EPC as soon as practical. A copy of the list of questions was made available to all Senate members at today's meeting. Further, EPC is working with Dr. Bruce Szelest to finish identifying which budget matters are to be made available to the general university community on the OurUAlbany database. The Council will make a recommendation to the Provost at its next meeting.

GAC - Professor Hara Charalambous, Chair: GAC is working on the charge to review new course approvals.

UAC - Joan Savitt, Chair: UAC will be looking at proposed revisions to the English major, and the revision of admission criteria for the University. It will be bringing legislation on admission criteria changes, and it is revisiting the issue of allowing seniors to register prior to the beginning of a semester for 100 level courses.

RES - Professor Lynn Videka, Chair: the Research Council has not met since the last Senate meeting. The subcommittee on Research Liaison Issues has met and is undertaking the charge of the question of whether safety and research oversight of state and corporate research is adequately provided for by existing University at Albany mechanisms, from the Senate substitute motion in December.

LISC - Professor David Wagner, Chair: LISC has completed working with CIO Christine Haile on the ITS internal policy review panel. The Senate at SUNY Buffalo has passed a resolution in support of open source technology and LISC will be dealing with that same issue sometime this spring. Other issues LISC will likely be working on are the Elsevier issue and concerns received about the new PeopleSoft database.

CAFE - Professor Donna Armstrong, Chair: CAFE has approved a bill designating distribution sites for newspapers on campus, and is forwarding it to ULC. CAFE is also working on a second bill regarding greater clarification of freedom of speech and freedom of expression on campus. Upcoming issues are: the impact of the Patriot Act on campus as regards to surveillance, international students, and constitutional rights.

ULC - Professor Gwendolyn Moore, Chair: ULC is continuing to address pedestrian safety issues on campus. Two other important new considerations will be those of family/maternity/paternity leaves, and a request to cancel classes on two Muslim holy days.

CERS - Professor Bruce Dudek, Chair: absent; no report. Chair Pryse indicated that she spoke with Professor Dudek and he reported that CERS will meet soon to complete the work that involved the meshing of policy framework that created CERS last year with existing policy guidelines.

Governance Committee Report - Professor Andi Lyons: The Committee is in contact with the schools and colleges about their Senate elections for next year. An email will be sent to part-time faculty, professional staff and senate officers asking for nominations. The Vice Chair and Secretary positions are open for next year.

Bylaws Committee - Professor Carolyn MacDonald: Professor MacDonald encouraged all to review the new Senate Charter for changes in council charges.

New Business:

Senate Bill 0304-10: Merger of Two Departments in the School of Public Health, introduced by EPC. Professor Wulfert introduced the bill on behalf of EPC and reported that Dean Levin of the School of Public Health communicated with EPC on this bill, indicating that merging the two departments is not uncommon at schools of public health. This bill represents a simple change in the organizational structure of the school, but not in its degree programs, and EPC supports the bill.

The bill was moved and seconded, it passed with an overwhelming majority vote.

Old Business:

Presidential Search Committee Faculty Representatives Vote: Professor Lubensky moved that two ballots should be taken, the first vote being for four candidates; the top four candidates should go to the second ballot; then the Senate would vote for two candidates and two alternates. All were in favor. Senator Pipkin and Parliamentarian Gibson tallied and recorded the votes on both ballots. Thirty-three teaching and library faculty Senators cast ballots.

The ballot included the following names:

Carol Anderson, Associate Librarian, User Services
Diane Dewar, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy, School of Public Health
Saurav Dutta, Associate Professor, Accounting and Law, School of Business
Timothy Hoff, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy, School of Public Health
Judith Langer, Distinguished Professor, Department of Educational Theory and Practice, School of Education
Daniel C. Levy, Distinguished Professor, Department of Educational Administration and Policy, School of Education
David McCaffrey, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of Public Administration and Policy, Rockefeller College
Bruce L. Miroff, Professor, Department of Political Science, Rockefeller College
Ronald Toseland, Professor, School of Social Welfare

After the first vote, the names of the four top vote-getters were placed on a second ballot.

The second ballot included the following names, in alphabetical order:

• Carol Anderson
• Diane Dewar
• Daniel C. Levy
• David McCaffrey

The elected representatives are:

• Carol Andersen
• David McCaffrey

The two alternates are:

• Diane Dewar
• Daniel Levy

The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Jayne VanDenburgh, Recorder