FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of January 23, 2008

(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee met at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, November 14, 2007, in the Jeannette Martin Room of Capen Hall (567) to discuss the following agenda:

1. Report of the Chair
2. Report of the President/Provost
3. Report – Great Places to Work/Wellness/Advisory Board
4. Charging the Faculty Senate Facilities Planning Committee
5. Executive Session (if needed)
6. Old/New Business
7. Adjournment

 Item 1: Report of the Chair

• The Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs conducted two meetings over the semester break to review nominations for Distinguished rank as well as Chancellor's Awards; the committee's recommendations have been forwarded to the Provost and we will find out the results in good time.
• Marilyn Morris circulated the revised Policies on Post-Doc scholars for us to review; Prof. Baumer noted that the exclusion as advisors to grievance parties of attorneys functioning as members of the bar could prove to be problematic. In the process of approving the Academic Integrity and Academic Grievance Policies and Procedures, UB Faculty Senators representing the School of Law objected to any such exclusion on the grounds that an attorney at law cannot be viewed as NOT acting as a member of the bar, and this was deleted from the policies. --- I should point out that the Graduate School would also like this exclusion.
• The GSEC met on DEC 13; among the items ---

•  MM also discussed the draft policy at this meeting

•  Prof. Mick Thompson reported that the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS) --- our regional affiliate --- announced its sponsorship of 3 award programs designed to recognize outstanding faculty performance in (a) teaching master's students, (b) teaching doctoral students, and (c) mentoring grad students.

•  MT also reported that the Council of Graduate Schools has embarked on a new project designed to publicly highlight how graduate level education and training in the U.S. contributes to the public good and welfare of the States, the nation, and the world as a whole. CGS is developing a publication to this effect to be shared with Congress, Dept. of Education, and other relevant parties.

• SUNY announced JAN 14 the Search Committee for the new chancellor to replace Interim Chancellor John Clark. The committee includes, among others,
• Presidents John B. Simpson and Muriel Howard,
• Vishakha Desai (Pres. & CEO of the Asia Society --- a global education organization dedicated to deepening connections between peoples of Asia and the U.S. ),
• Carl Hayden (Chair of the SUNY Board of Trustees),
  H. Carl McCall, former NYS Comptroller,
• Carl Wiezalis (Pres. Of the Univ. FS) , and
• Paul Tagliabue (former commissioner of the NFL).
• Interim Chancellor Clark has formed a “Chancellor's History of SUNY” committee of faculty, administrators and archivists to celebrate SUNY's 60 th anniversary. They wanted one person per campus to function as prime contact between the Committee and campus. I asked Prof. Baumer to serve.
• Search for new Dean for SOM ( School of Management ) continues; the Position Profile has been drafted and edited, and Chair Harvey Stenger is slated to talk to the SOM faculty at its next meeting on January 25 th .
• Effective Jan 14: seamless transportation alternative to travel between all 3 UB campuses
• New brochure of the workshops offered by the Teaching and Learning Center available.

Item 2: Report of the President/Provost

The Provost reported that the SUNY Senate has founded a committee on transfer and articulation on which he is now serving. The committee has been focusing on the transfer articulation issues that arise when students transfer from a two-year to a four-year college. Strong recommendations will be coming out of this committee.

The provost also reported that in the State of the State Address, the Governor mentioned UB and UB2020. The budget came out yesterday, and the state has a major deficit. Yet the governor has spared the SUNY and CUNY with only a 2.5 % reduction in their operating budget as opposed to 5% to 10% with other state agencies ( University of California is getting a 10% cut). The governor is also fully funding all the negotiated energy costs etc. The emphasis on SUNY and higher Education is there. There is lot of funding in terms of the capital money, and the governor is thinking of UB2020 in terms of long-term support and investment. In addition, he has proposed a set of endowment fund, a 4 billion endowment fund that will give about 200 million dollars and that is how he expects to fund 2000 new faculty.

The President corroborated that it is a time when the NY State Budget is in very bad shape and the governor doesn't have the degrees of freedom he might have had a year ago. Nevertheless, the President is pleased with what is in the budget. The governor mentioned the university several times (in the absence of mentioning any other institution) and emphasized UB2020 and his long term commitment to our institution. The president emphasized that the vision UB has of its future is spread out across a couple of decades.

Stanley B asked about potential minor capital projects or plans for the future. The President said that he was very optimistic about it. He insisted thatit would be absurd to do capital planning one year at a time and that it was really positive that UB was doing the 5-year capital plan.

A question by Gayle Brazeau sparked a discussion about how well the governor was going to be working with the state legislature.

Item 3: Report: Great Places to Work/Wellness/Advisory Board

Kathie Frier, Amy Myszka

Scott Nostaja, Interim Vice President for Human Resources, spoke to the efforts made in order to make UB a great place to work (with Wegmans, ranked #3, as a model) and have it appear on the list of the 100 best places to work.

Studies show that the 3 things that make the difference in how workplace is conceived:

1/ people that work at the organization have a high degree of trust for the people they work for

=> trust in the people in leadership positions and trust in their ability to make the right decisions

2/ High degree of pride in the institution for which employees work

3/ High degree of camaraderie; people like the people they work with

Scott Nostaja emphasized that wellness programs are effective ways of achieving these goals. Surveys have been conducted among employees and 85% to 90% already identify UB as a good place to work. Focused groups have also been conducted in more intimate settings to find out how to turn what is already a good place to work into a great place to work. So far the focus has been staff but it will soon shift to faculty.

Some of the things people have mentioned to improve life on campus:

1/ facilities

2/ communication (particularly staff and faculty)

3/ recognition (issue with the staff especially)

4/ supervisors need to be better managers; they need training (goes to the trust question)

The Great Places to Work/Wellness/Advisory Board is still in an information-gathering phase with 600 people being asked to participate in a survey this spring. The difficulty with surveys is that they don't distinguish between faculty and employees, etc.

Someone commented that faculty typically experience the university through their particular departments rather than by seeing themselves in the context of the whole institution. Scott Nostaja confirmed the group's effort to localize the effort and focus on particular departments and units.

A presentation by the department of Human Resources ensued: Jennifer Bowen, Kathie Frier, Amy Myszka offered a powerpoint presentation to discuss the issue of Wellness on campus.

They began by defining how “Employee Wellness” is achieved =

•  by providing a healthy and supportive work environment for faculty and staff, a culture that supports the health and well being of employees

•  Identifying Campus needs and efforts underway

•  Assessing and utilizing the wealth of campus knowledge and resources

•  Building Partnerships to build a robust wellness program with the Faculty Senate, the Professional Staff Senate , Union Partners, School of public Health and Health professions, Div of Athletics, Wellness Task Force, External affairs, Campus experts

PART I is about Raising Awareness by starting out with smaller programs

While wellness encompasses more than physical fitness, fitness is the first thing to focus on because it gets everyone's attention. The group is, however, going to move to more scientific forms of wellness.

The speakers addressed what is now happening on campus:

Recreation and intramurals Division of Athletics

Area Gym and Fitness discounts

Weight Watchers is being brought to campus

Move it to Lose it Fitness Challenge (based on the Biggest Loser Challenge on TV): the prize is 2 flat panel television sets (supported by the School of Public Health; Athletic will provide a pass to allow participants to have access to the facilities)

Next Steps

National Healthy Campus Advisory Group with other Universities from which UB is learning tremendously

Personal Safety Awareness Workshops in Feb

Wellness Fair – April 9 th

Walking Programs

Creation of a Network of Departmental Wellness Champions

Creation of a Campus Working Group in conjunction with the Wellness Task Force

PART II –Taking Action

Focus on Behavioral Change; help create a campus culture that supports & embraces health & wellness

Programs and Initiatives that promote a healthy lifestyle

More robust EAP

Smoking Cessation Programs

Motivational Counseling

Health risk Assessments

Coaching for health improvement

Gayle Brazeau raised the issue of doing payroll deductions for wellness. The speakers concurred that payroll deductions do contribute to increased participation and that they will be possible for Weight watchers. Also of concern was Medication therapy management (which Pharmacy provides). The chair followed up by emphasizing the issue of medication alternatives.

The importance of marketing these initiatives to the community was also emphasized as well as the importance of extending benefits to spouses and family. Frank emphasized that changing the culture is critical (including among students) and also that such programs need to be ed with assessments that would reveal whether these programs make a difference.

Gayle commented that ten years ago, a core aspect of the curriculum used to be a wellness component that has since been taken away. Also, the food facilities need to be part of the discussion if wellness is going to be the focus.

A brochure was handed out with a list of the discounts available at various fitness centers around UB. 

 Item 4. Charging the Faculty Senate Facilities Planning Committee

The chair explained that the day after the physical master plan presentation last December in downtown, he received a number of emails from faculty emphasizing the need to reactivate the Faculty Senate Facilities Planning Committee. The chair contacted Bob Wetherhold to chair the committee. He then asked what concerns faculty had and what they expected from the FPC? Sit in on all the meetings called by Bob Shibley? Other things?

The question of how faculty is asked to participate in the process in an organized way was raised since the Senate is not an academic planning group like a department is. The departments, as core organizational units of the university, should be at the forefront of the planning process.

Janice commented that the academic strengths should drive the processes of what is needed. The chair commented that some departments would feel disempowered since they don't feel like they are part of the academic strengths

Randy Borst stated that the committee should give the facility user a voice. It needs to function as an overseer of the master plan. The people running the design program need to listen to the people on the ground, etc.

Gayle Brazeau emphasized the need for a surplus capacity for an emergency. The chair concluded by asking for recommendations and nominations.

 Item 5: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Carine Mardorossian, Secretary of the Faculty Senate

Attendance

(P = present; E = excused; A = absent)

 

Chair:
Robert Hoeing (P)

Secretary:
Carine Mardorossian (P)

Arts & Sciences:
Joseph Woelfel (P)
Melvyn Churchill (P)
Sharmistah Bagchi-Sen (A)
Stanley Bruckenstein (P)
Debra Street (A)

Architecture & Planning:
Scott Danford (E)

Dental Medicine:
Peter Bradford (A)

Educational Opportunity Center:
TBA

Engineering & Applied Sciences:
Stella Batalama (A)
Rohini Srihari (P)

Graduate School of Education:
Thomas Schroeder (A)

School of Law:
TBA

Management:
Hodan Isse (P)

Medicine & Biomedical Sciences:
David Ellis (P)
James Hassett (A)
Charles Hershey (P)
Peter Ostrow (A)

Nursing:
Cynthia Curran (A)

Pharmacy:
Gayle Brazeau (P)

School of Public Health and Health Professions:
Peter Horvath (P)

Social Work:
Barbara Rittner (E)

SUNY Senators:
William H. Baumer (P)
Peter Bradford (A)
Henry Durand (P)
Marilyn McMann Kramer (P)

Parliamentarian:
William H. Baumer (P)

Ex-officio:
Peter Nickerson (P)

University Libraries:
Dorothy Tao (P)

Guests:
Barbara Burke (EDAAA)
David BRay (EDAAA)
Staish Tripathi (Provost)
John Simpson (President)
Janiece Kiedrowski (Professional Staff Senate)
Kevin Fryling (The Reporter)
Gay Lynne Samsonoff (Graduate Student Association)
Frank Ceany (PHHP)
Jennifer Bowen (Human Resources)
Kathie Frier (Human Resources/Wellness)
Amy Myszka (Human Resources/Wellness)
Larry Labinski (Wellness)

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