Present: D. Armstrong, H. Charalambous, R. Collier, A. Lyons, C. MacDonald,
J. Mumpower (for C. Santiago), J. Pipkin, M. Pryse, J. Savitt, G. Spitze,
L. Videka, D. Wagner, E. Wulfert

President’s report: Presented by Interim President John R. Ryan.

• Capital Budget: President Ryan has met with Senator Bruno regarding the capital budget; UAlbany is asking for more money than the original budget plan called for. He is optimistic that we will receive more capital budget dollars.
• Admissions: President Ryan is encouraged by the direction UAlbany is taking in trying to bring up group 1 student numbers. He has made a commitment to apply some resources if needed and has encouraged deans to offer honor programs to draw more group 1 students.
• Faculty Hires: Provost Santiago has advised the President that there is progress in faculty hires and there are several good quality candidates.

University Faculty Senate Report: Presented by Senator Collier. No report.

Chair’s Report: Presented by Chair Pryse.

• Faculty Forum: The Faculty Forum was held last week; Professor Gary Kleppel from biology joined the panel as its sustainability speaker. Although the forum conflicted with a lot of people’s schedules, those who attended reported that it was successful. The panel included Dr. Richard Perez, research scientist from CESTM, who spoke on the possibilities of the use of solar power in New York State and at the university. Professors Fernando Leiva of LCS and Dean Katherine Briar-Lawson from the School of Social Welfare addressed labor and “green” concerns following upon the successes of the anti-sweatshop task force.
• Interim Vice President for Research, Jeryl Mumpower, has forwarded an inquiry by a staff member conducted by his office concerning an alleged copyright violation. Although no wrongdoing was found, he has recommended that CERS consider finalizing the report and discussing the status of copyright for materials that appear in university publications. Professor Wulfert agreed to take up these issues in CERS.

CPCA – Professor Glenna Spitze, Chair: no report.
ULC – Professor Gwendolyn Moore, Chair. ULC will bring a bill on Muslim Holidays to the Senate. ULC is also working on a bill regarding pedestrian safety on campus.

EPC – Professor Edelgard Wulfert, Chair. EPC discussed the status of the proposed College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. The Provost must make a recommendation to the President regarding the college and has asked EPC to work expeditiously if it wants to provide input. EPC discussed the issues at length, but the membership felt it needed more information than it had been provided. Thus, it was moved for the Senate Chair and the EPC Chair to meet with President Ryan and Provost Santiago to learn more about the college and report back to EPC.

Professor Lyons asked Professor Wulfert about the academic calendar regarding the March 2005 spring break. She is concerned with Passover since it will be a month away from Easter next year and that will affect the calendar. Professor Wulfert will contact Registrar Robert Gibson on the issue.

CERS – Professor Edelgard Wulfert, Chair. A meeting has been scheduled for the coming week and she has received material from Interim Vice President Mumpower regarding the inquiry Professor Pryse spoke about earlier in the Chair’s Report.

LISC – David Wagner, Chair. Guest speaker Chief Information Officer Christine Haile spoke about a new IT policy review process. From the CIO’s perspective, it is important to have an IT policy to comply with external regulating, information security and privacy. CIO Haile proposed that UAlbany sets up a more formalized process, i.e., a policy review board that would advise the CIO’s office. She asked the Chair of the Senate to nominate some members to the policy review board, possibly members of LISC. She would like to convene the initial membership by the end of the semester to work over the summer. It was agreed upon to nominate two LISC representatives to the IT Policy Review Board yearly.

Guest speaker Dean of University Libraries, Meridith Butler addressed the Elsevier issue. A resolution has been developed and will be brought to the next Senate meeting for discussion.

GAC – Professor Hara Charalambous, Chair. GAC has three bills to bring to the Senate:

• Proposal to Establish a Registered Dual Degree Program M.S.W./M.A. in Public Affairs and Policy
• Proposal to Establish a Jointly Registered Dual Degree Program M.S.W.—University at Albany / M.S. Bioethics—Albany Medical College and Graduate College of Union University
• Proposal to Amend the Charter of the University Senate

Provost Santiago asked that the change in the final authority pertaining to graduate courses be tabled until the deans can review it and provide input as they may have some concerns.

GAC will also consider discontinuation of DA program, which has been considered and approved by EPC.

UAC – Professor Joan Savitt, Chair. UAC is discussing transfer credit and what can be allowed as transfer credit. UAC has also reviewed the faculty senate proposal from Senator Collier. UAC will not support it; it is against any system-wide assessment.

RES – Professor Lynn Videka, Chair.

• RES has forwarded a recommendation for the Excellence in Research Award.
• The IRB Policy Review Committee has made a recommendation on the oral history projects.
• RES has officially approved a request from Humanitech and strongly endorsed it. The Vice President for Research and Professor Videka provisionally approved the NYS Center for Information Forensics and Insurance. (Temporary approval of the new center.)
• RES discussed nanotechnology research extensively, the Council will continue to discuss it at the next meeting, focusing on bio and environmental safety issues.
• RES has begun a discussion about indirect cost returns.
• RES discussed a letter of complaint from eight bioscience faculty members about the Center for Genomics. The Council did not have enough information to act on it productively.

CAFE - Professor Donna Armstrong, Chair. CAFE may possibly have a bill on the Patriot Act for the last Senate meeting of the year. The campus policy on freedom of expression and the newspaper distribution bill may be ready for next Senate meeting.

Governance Committee – Andi Lyons. The ballots for professional full-time and part-time Senate seats will be mailed out tomorrow. There will be a bill brought to the Senate on providing official support staff for councils, and the Governance Subcommittee bill will go to the next Senate meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Jayne VanDenburgh