STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY
UNIVERSITY SENATE
Marjorie Pryse, Chair
September 22, 2003 Minutes
| Present: | Deborah Bernnard, Eloise Brière, Hara Charalambous, Richard Collier, Florencia Cornet, James Doellefeld, Sue Faerman, Robert Geer, Robert Gibson, Karen Hitchcock, Reed Hoyt, Suzanne Irving, Michael Jerison, Sung Bok Kim, Anton Konev, William Lanford, Catherine Lawson, Raef Lawson, Sophia Lubensky, Andi Lyons, Susan Maloney, Carolyn MacDonald, Terrence Maxwell, David McCaffrey, Louise-Anne McNutt, Gwendolyn Moore, Jeryl Mumpower, John Pipkin, Marjorie Pryse, Karl Retheymeyer, Carlos Santiago, Joan Savitt, Helene Scheck, Lawrence Schell, David Shub, Lawrence Snyder, Glenna Spitze, Lynn Videka, David Wagner, Edelgard Wufert |
| Guests: | Robert McFarland, William Hedberg, Sheila Mahan, John Wolff |
| Approval of Minutes: | A motion was made to approve the May 5, 2003 minutes, it was seconded, and the minutes passed unanimously. |
| A motion was made to approve the May 12, 2003 minutes, it was seconded, and the minutes passed unanimously. |
President's Report:
Enrollment:
| · This year's freshmen enrollment target of 2,100 has been exceeded, with an enrollment of 2,166 new students. These are divided into three academic groups: Group I represents 36% of the enrollment, and the enrollment in Group III is down to only 5.7%. Average SAT scores (1168) are 13 points higher than last year, with the University's goal being ultimately to reach 1200. The mean GPA is up also, and 22% of new freshmen are now coming from the top 10% of their high school classes. |
| International student enrollment has increased; but transfer student enrollments are down slightly, as are the number of Master's program enrollees. However, on an overall basis, the University is doing an excellent job at meeting its enrollment goals. |
| · New Faculty: We have 35 new faculty this year. However, given the unusually large number of retirements and resignations over the summer, the University started this academic year with a net loss of six faculty. |
| · Construction: Congratulations to Vice President Kathryn Lowery on classroom construction and lecture hall renovations being completed on target. Both students and faculty seem very pleased with the new rooms. The University is planning a four-year cycle of renovations; one million dollars each summer will go toward renovations. Eventually, all classrooms in the entire University (downtown campus as well) will be renovated. Facilities Management is beginning to plan renovations for the next cycle, and you are asked to forward any specific needs you see to the Provost's Office. |
| · Writers Institute: The Writers Institute will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year. As part of the kick-off to the celebration, we will be dedicating William Kennedy's papers on October 29th. His papers will then become part of the University collection. Also, there was a wonderful turnout of 3,000 people at the Garrison Keillor event on September 9th. |
| · Budget: It remains the same as this year; there is no news yet on any mid-year cut. |
| · Campaign: I am pleased to announce that an anonymous donor has given one million dollars to the Life Sciences program. |
University Faculty Senate Report: (Mr. Collier)
The SUNY-Wide Senate planning meeting was held September 11-13, 2003. The main
item on the agenda was University-wide
assessment and the Senate anticipates
this will also be the primary agenda topic at the upcoming meeting in October
in Oswego.
The trustees approved the University Wide Assessment Plan, despite
objections from the Faculty Senate.
Chair's Report: (Professor Pryse)
Chair Pryse welcomed new members, reviewed the mission of the University Senate,
introduced the Senate Website, and the Senate Faculty
Government list-serve. Professor McCaffrey explained that the purpose of the
list-serve is to enhance faculty governance and that it is intended
for all faculty on campus, not just Senators.
Council Reports:
Chair Pryse asked the Council Chairs to state the Council mission, along with their reports.
CPCA: Professor Glenna Spitze, Chair. CPCA has already met this year.
Its mission is to consider cases for promotion and continuing appointment,
and
to recommend individuals to the President for promotions and continuing appointment.
The minutes of CPCA are confidential; they will not be
posted on the Senate
website.
EPC: Professor Elga Wulfert, Chair. EPC has met twice this year. Currently,
it is working on creating a website on budgetary
information in order to disseminate
that information to faculty. At the moment, EPC is involved in academic planning
issues.
GAC: Professor Hara Charalambous, Chair. GAC has met once this year.
It formed three committees.
This Council deals with graduate affairs issues;
changes in graduate programs, grievances from graduate students, and other graduate
academic issues.
UAC: Professor Joan Savitt, Chair. UAC is the undergraduate version
of GAC; it looks at curriculum, missions, and academic issues
at the undergraduate
level. Business to report: at its first meeting, UAC studied the rule about
seniors being restricted from enrolling in
100 level courses.There are approximately 500 requests for exceptions each semester.
UAC recommends that, at the option of the
Dean, the rule should be suspended
for one semester.
RES: Professor Lynn Videka, Chair. The charge from the Research Council
is to review research activities and the allocation
of research funds within
the University, along with other issues involving research on the campus. RES
has met once this year.
There has been a call to reintroduce the FRAP program,
and the Council will thus evaluate this program. RES also discussed
reactivating
the Research Liaison Program, which is a subcommittee that will be evaluating
research infrastructure needs, and update
needs for students for benevolent
awards. It is also looking for the implementation of new centers and institutes
policies.
LISC: Professor David Wagner, Chair. The charge of LISC is to deal with
the development and evaluation of policies
and problems with library facilities
and to formulate policies guiding computer usage on campus.Issues this year
are the U.S.
Patriot Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. LISC will
try to maintain a free and open academic arena in the area
of downloading/computer
usage, while complying with acts of Congress. LISC had their first meeting last
week.
They developed two subcommittees; one is the Committee on Library Acquisitions
and the second is the Computer Usage Committee.
Dean Meredith Butler of University
Libraries and Christine Haile, the Chief Information Officer for the University,
both serve on the Council and give direct feedback. Over the summer, the Council
developed the Policies Link
on the UAlbany home page. This link can be found
on the Quick Links tab under "Policies." It includes all the
University
policies that the Council could locate. The Council is working to try to organize
it better and see what has been missed.
Professor Wagner asked whether people
know of more policies that should be included.
CAFE: Professor Donna Armstrong, Chair. She was not able to attend;
Chair Pryse read the report from Professor Armstrong as follows:
Professor Armstrong
spoke to Legal Counsel, John Reilly and Associate Vice President for Student
Affairs, Carl Martin regarding
guidelines/policies on freedom of expression
on campus. This was in response to an email from Mr. Martin to Professor Pipkin
during the summer,
asking that governance review current guidelines and consider
the need for new policy development. One issue involved the distribution of
newspapers on campus; the other issue involved guidelines for holding expressive
events on campus. We agreed to convene CAFE to discuss
these issues. Counselor
Reilly agreed to attend and Carl Martin, who is on (medical) leave, would like
to be copied on materials and kept
current on our discussions. CAFE will have
its first meeting on October 2, 2003.
ULC: Professor Gwendolyn Moore, Chair. ULC deals with the quality of
life issues other than academic issues on campus.
Last year the Fountain Day
Bill was introduced and passed. This year the Council has met and is gathering
information and materials
on the issue of freedom of expression (CAFE is working
on the same issue also).
CERS: Professor Bruce Dudek, Chair. CERS has not yet met. CERS' primary
work for this year was designated at the committee's creation
last Spring. This task is the full merger of the old campus policy on Misconduct
in Research with the new Policy Framework adopted in the spring,
including revised federal regulations. A preliminary version of this merged
document has been drafted by the University Compliance Office and will
be ready for CERS' consideration shortly. All new cases of misconduct in Research
and Scholarship are now being handled under the new Policy
Framework, as adopted last Spring.
Bylaws Group: Professor Carolyn MacDonald, Chair. The Bylaws Group is
meeting weekly; its intent is to increase the effectiveness
of the Senate and
to increase the number of faculty Senators' participation in the Senate. The
Bylaws Group is looking for feedback on several issues;
there will be a Faculty
Forum on October 20th dedicated to the revised Senate Bylaws.
Old Business: Chair Pryse announced that she and Past Chair Pipkin will
co-sponsor the Fall Faculty Forum on Wednesday,
October 15, 2003.The Forum is on the Role of Part Time Faculty on campus; speakers
will be Bill Hedberg, Jil Hanifan, English,
Candace Merbler, UUP, and Jim Collins,
Anthropology.
New Business:
The meeting was adjourned 4:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jayne VanDenburgh, Recorder