University Senate Executive Committee Meeting

February 28, 2005

Minutes

 

Present:��������� S. Chaiken, R. Collier, V. Idone, W. Lanford, A. Lyons, C. MacDonald,

D. McCaffrey, S. Messner, G. Moore, J. Mumpower, R.M. Range, M. Sherman,

G. Singh, L. Snyder, D. Wagner

 

Minutes:� ������ The minutes of January 24, 2005 were approved with amendments.

 

 

Ongoing Business:

 

  • College of Computing and Information:� Professor MacDonald reported that, since the College will have graduate and undergraduate programs, discussion on it should go to UPC, UAC and GAC.� It is now being discussed only in UPC.� Professor McCaffrey reported that discussion on the College will continue at the next UPC meeting.� Professor MacDonald asked if it Council discussions could be done in parallel, at UAC and GAC at the same time.� Professor Range suggested it would be efficient to have representative members from the various Councils get together at once and have Dr. Bloniarz do only one presentation.� There were concerns that the different councils had different issues and that this might not be efficient.

 

  • IT Commons:� �IT Commons has been discussed at COR and will also be discussed at UPC.� Interim Provost Mumpower reported that there was an initial discussion of the IT Commons proposal last spring at EPC where Dr. Bloniarz spoke about hires, etc.� Professor McCaffrey noted that there has not yet been a specific proposal.

 

  • CAS Honors College:�� The CAS Honors College proposal will be discussed at UPC and UAC.� In an effort to eliminate duplication, Council Chairs McCaffrey and Chaiken will try to coordinate discussions.

 

  • Research Center Approval:� �Professor Idone reported that COR will forward the Gen*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics proposal to UPC.

 

  • Academic Freedom Resolution Response:� �Professor Snyder reported that CAFFECoR is working on a statement related to the academic freedom bill of rights.� The statement will be reported to this body, and it will be a response to Candace de Russy�s proposal.

 

Provost�s Report � presented by Interim Provost Jeryl Mumpower:

 

  • Enrollment:� The University has made a substantial recovery from the fall enrollment shortfall.� Freshmen admissions are down by about 600 in comparison to this point last year.� Applications are down in all three groups in which we admit students.� (Group 1, 2 and some 3.)�� Admission numbers are up in terms of transfer students.�

 

  • Mission Review:� President Hall is reviewing the document.�

 

 

Chair�s Report � presented by Professor Carolyn MacDonald, Senate Chair:

 

  • March 2 Faculty Forum:� Professor Acker has coordinated with members of the ad hoc University-wide Governance Committee to speak at the Forum.� Members of the Governance Council�s Joint Working Group with CNSE will also be present to speak and answer questions.� Professor Wagner reported that there have been over 100 responses to the electronic survey to date.

 

  • Brown-bag lunch:� Professor MacDonald announced that President Hall has requested regular brown-bag lunch meetings with Executive Committee members, the first to be on Friday, March 4, 2005.

 

Council Reports:

 

Council on Academic Assessment (CAA), Professor Malcolm Sherman, Chair:� The Council has been reviewing Italian and Slavic studies and will review Chemistry and Anthropology.� In addition, the Council members are refining how they should be working on the process, i.e., where the reports ultimately should reside.� The assessment documents will be filed in CETL to be available for review by anyone.� External reviews will be reported to the Senate.� Finally, one issue the Council is working on is how to make assessment an annual operation.

 

Council on Promotions and Continuing Appointments (CPCA), Professor Diane Dewar, Chair:� CPCA continues to meet weekly on its many tenure and/or promotion cases this semester.

 

University Planning and Policy Council (UPC), Professor David McCaffrey, Chair:� �UPC will discuss the ULC bill on Religious Holidays, the proposal on the CAS Honors College, the proposal for the College of Computing and Information, and the student satisfaction surveys.�

 

Graduate Academic Council (GAC), Professor Louise-Anne McNutt, Chair:� Professor McNutt distributed the draft proposal for an Ombudsperson�s Office that will be brought forward at the next Senate meeting.� She explained that the model GAC has proposed is completely informal and outside the grievance process.� GAC does not want to change any process that is already in place.� Many students do not want to use the formal grievance process, but do need advice.� The Ombudsperson will be non-partisan, and will educate students about the grievance process but s/he will not take sides.� Organizationally,� the position will be created so that a comparable undergraduate office may be added in a year or two.�� The office will keep tracking data, but it will not keep personal information.� GAC will introduce three other bills at Senate also:� the Proposal to Establish an Inter-institutional Dual-degree ���������� Program with Albany Medical College, MD/MPH, the Proposal to amend University Graduate Policy Pertaining to the Certificate of Advanced Study, and the Proposal to Amend University Graduate Policy Pertaining to Master's Degree Transfer Credit.

 

 

Undergraduate Academic Council (UAC), Professor Seth Chaiken, Chair:� UAC is continuing to coordinate with the Task Force on Advisement lead by Dean Sue Faerman and Assistant Vice President Sheila Mahan; that Task Force has now constituted several working groups.� The UAC is continuing to develop an advisement policy to be proposed to the Senate and expects to complete it at its next meeting.� UAC has received the proposal for the CAS Honor's College and will begin to discuss it its next meeting.� The UAC is coordinating with the UPC to identify for discussion the academic issues in this proposal and any in another proposal now before UPC for the formation of a College of Computing and Information.� The UAC bill for the B.A. Program in Art History will be presented.� UAC notes that this bill is for listing as a regular listed major a current faculty initiated interdisciplinary major that has been conducted for the past 10 years .� Recent UAC discussions express concern that available and expected faculty resources are not adequate for continued viability and stability of many undergraduate academic programs.

 

Committee on Ethics in Research and Scholarship (CERS), Professor R. Michael Range, Chair:�� No report.

 

University Life Council (ULC), Professor Gwen Moore, Chair:� ULC is considering class suspension for religious holidays and family leave issues.

 

Governance Council (GOV), Professor Steven Messner, Chair:� The Council is discussing graduate curricular issues in the Joint Working Group with CNSE.�� Framework has been developed, and it is planned to coordinate it with GAC input. �It is hoped the Council will have something specific to submit at the April Senate meeting.

 

Council on Research (COR), Professor Vincent Idone, Chair:� �No report.

 

University Resources & Priorities Advisory Committee (URPAC):� Professor Andi Lyons:

URPAC continues to meet with deans and vice presidents to discuss the potential implications for their units if the University faces further budget reductions.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Jayne VanDenburgh, Recorder