FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of January 24, 2007
(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee met at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, January 24, 2007, in 567 Capen Hall to discuss the following agenda:

1. Approval of the Minutes of December 13, 2006
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the Provost
4. Report of the Chair
5. Report on the SUNY Memorandum of Understanding
   Sean Sullivan, Associate Vice-President for Academic Planning and Budget
6. Report on the University at Buffalo Child Care Center
   Patricia Logan, Director
7. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the Minutes of December 13, 2006

The Minutes of December 13, 2006, were approved.

Item 2: Report of the Chair

Professor Nickerson notified the FSEC that he had received a summons for federal jury duty, and will be on call for the next three months. He also reported that Carl Wiezalis, President of the University Faculty Senate, will attend the UB Senate meeting on February 6. Also, the two governance leaders and the SUNY senators will attend the winter plenary meeting in Stony Brook this week, weather permitting.

The Graduate School Executive Committee met in December:

• Interim Dean John Ho is on the housing study group for graduate and professional students and is examining how many units are needed, and what costs students can pay;
• Questionnaires on the NRC assessment of research doctorate programs are being collected;
• There will be a minimum undergraduate GPA required for admission to graduate programs beginning next Fall;
• The Committee is still considering whether to require a tuition deposit for accepted students;
• Old ETS scores for the GRE will likely not be accepted for tests taken over 5 years previously (old scores are not certified by the ETS);
• Discussion continues on final submission of undergraduate transcripts; they would need to be obtained during the first semester of graduate study, because they are required for conferral of a graduate degree.

The Chair of the Professional Staff Senate, Larry Labinski, reported that the PSS met earlier this month. The office for Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary all need to be filled, and a candidate has been nominated for each of those positions; nominations are still being accepted.

The Academic Planning Committee met last week and reviewed the current progress on its report on the dissolution of the School of Informatics. It will begin work on the Memorandum of Understanding II between UB and SUNY.

The Budget Priorities Committee plans to discuss how faculty should interact with their units in the budget planning process.

The Information and Library Resources Committee and the Athletics and Recreation Committee plan to meet in the next few weeks.

Item 3: Report of the Provost

Provost Tripathi reported that undergraduate applications are up 12% across the board; graduate applications are also up approximately 8%. His office is currently getting information on applications from the professional schools as well.

He also announced that he and President Simpson plan to begin an Annual Faculty Lecture event to recognize the achievements (in research, teaching, service) of our best faculty. Each will be selected by a group of his/her peers. The Provost is discussing with others how best to honor them and how best to design the event.

Item 4: Report on the SUNY Memorandum of Understanding

The Provost introduced the outline of Mission Review II, emphasizing that, having gone through the academic planning process and defined our direction, this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is more than just a collection of numbers, but rather must be understood in the context of UB 2020 and as a compact between UB and SUNY.

Sean Sullivan, Associate Vice-President for Academic Planning and Budget, summarized in a presentation the main points of the document. The Chancellor's purpose for Mission Review II is to clarify campus goals and objectives for the five-year period 2006-2011. The Chancellor seeks to build campus and academic program quality, meeting demand while avoiding duplication across SUNY; to increase campus collaboration; and to build the case for investment form the State government. Vice-President Sullivan pointed out that this has been a long process: former Chancellor King issued the call for a Mission Summary in October 2003, which UB submitted in October 2004; the SUNY Interlocutor site visit came one year later, and the present MOU is scheduled for completion in February 2007.

SUNY asked UB to focus on two major points: First, its distinctive role within the system and in peer context, along with its economic impact, and secondly, its institutional position and benchmarks of success --- enrollment, faculty, academic program directions, student outcomes, technology, facilities, resource management, and community relations. Our response, informed by UB 2020, was to create an MOU that best articulates academic direction, campus goals, and strategies to pursue these goals; the Review should result in a compact between UB and SUNY, under which UB shows performance consistent with UB 2020 directions, and SUNY and New York State assure the funding and flexibility to enable this and reward our achievements. The Shared Objective of the compact is for UB to become a premier national research university and to grow by 10,000 students by 2020; "everything else cascades from the understanding that we share this objective".

Under this compact, UB aims for the following:

• Build world prominence in strategic academic strengths;
• Meet critical state/national educational and workforce needs;
• Catalyze WNY and NYS economic development;
• Create a truly distinctive undergraduate experience;
• Enhance quality of graduate and professional education;
• Establish a world-class Academic Health Center;
• Extend leadership role in international education;
• Employ sensible innovations to build excellent teaching and learning environments;
• Transform support infrastructures and processes.

In addition, UB has pledged a number of specific outcomes, presuming this compact can be realized:

• Increase entering freshman cohort preparation 50 ? 60% G1 selectivity, 1187 - 1220 SAT;
• Increase transfer cohort preparation 3.0 ? 3.2 GPA;
• Increase student diversity
  • Geographic: 17.5% ? 25% non NY freshmen
  • Underrepresented Students 18% ? 21%;
• Improve retention/graduation rates
  • Retention - First Year 88% ? 92%
  • Graduation Rates (6 Years) 57% ? 64%;
• Increase funded research - $133M ? $200M;
• Double philanthropic collections - $29M ? $60M;
• Significant campus and program rankings improvement.

In return, Vice-President Sullivan continued, the terms of the compact would request the following policy changes and funding decisions from SUNY and New York State:

POLICY

• Special focus on research university issues - strategic funding and policy differentiation;
• Implement predictable, rational, differential tuition policy;
• Implement UB professional program tuition policy recommendation --- one that establishes a market-driven ceiling and allows UB to price its own programs up to that ceiling;
• Administer a predictable mission-driven budget allocation system;
• Give campuses authority to finance certain facilities projects (beyond residence halls).

FUNDING

• Maintain principle that campuses manage tuition income;
• Fund UB current and planned enrollments --- currently, there are about 1000 students for whom we do not receive State tax support;
• Fund unsalaried GFT faculty salaries;
• Add MCEER [Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research] and RIA [Research Institute on Addiction] to the UB base budget;
• Fund faculty set ups;
• Fund critical capital priorities.

Vice-President Sullivan then outlined two parallel initiatives, the first being a "Right-Sizing" of our base budget necessary for the transformation. UB is undersupported relative to current and aspirant peer universities at today's enrollment levels; a critical first step is to adjust our base funding enabling us to grow our faculty to compete effectively with these institutions. He presented data to support this point. Comparably sized and elite peer institutions have a student/faculty ratio (SFR) of roughly 21-22%, while UB's SFR is currently 27.65; rightsizing to a comparable SFR entails hiring about 253 more faculty. The MOU proposes a staged faculty growth over five years of 438 additional hires, which would result in a SFR of about 16:1.

The second parallel initiative is Enrollment Growth: UB will grow the size of the student body --- by about 3,000 over the next five years --- while improving the quality and diversity of that population at all levels. UB will be a major contributor in responding to the critical workforce shortages and economic development needs of the State of New York. The proposed enrollment plan envisions maintaining a roughly 70%-30% ratio of undergraduates to graduate/professional students --- thus, a growth by about 2000 and 600 additional students, respectively.

A multi-year needs analysis indicates that recurring plus non-recurring total projected expenditures amount to around an annual additional $110 million by 2011-2012.

Concurrent with the envisioned faculty/staff/enrollment growth is a need for additional space. The model foresees an extra 737,000 net square feet (NSF --- occupiable space); at $400/NSF this represents a capital need of $295 million. Add to this the capital needs of residential bed space, capital renewal, and Master Plan development, the total amount rises to $613 million.

The capital priorities as of now, but subject to the Master Plan, are:

• Cary/Farber/Sherman renovation
• Engineering Building
• Library Storage Facility purchase
• Library space repurposing
• Nursing / Public Health facilities
• Recreation center
• Conference / Hotel / Faculty Club facilities
• Welcome Center
• UB Gateway (downtown)
• Housing Expansion of 1,200 beds (apartment style)
• Commercial and other Campus Life facilities.

Some additional classroom space is included in building renovations. Professor Churchill pointed out that we need more classrooms right now, especially if we plan to expand our enrollments as planned. Vice-President Sullivan rejoined that the State University construction Fund indicated that UB has, at present, about 200,000 square feet too much in classroom space; he is currently trying to resolve the discrepancy between the two perceptions. The overall Capital Funding Plan calls for $275 million from SUNY/NYS, and $138 million from UB.

To Professor Rittner's question about increased parking, the Provost and Vice-President replied that the Master Plan will address this central issue, and propose strategically improved transportation as part of the solution. Another determining factor will be the locations of new buildings. Professor Schroeder asked how SUNY and UB actually negotiate the MOU; Vice-President Sullivan responded that the actual process is somewhat haphazard and variable, dependent in part on annual budgeting and enrollment planning. Asked about the percentage of courses taught by full-time versus part-time faculty, the Provost replied that this is in need of some examination; there is no one simple formula --- this varies according to the curriculum of each program and according to available resources. In cases where adequate resources exist but some faculty have become accustomed to not teaching courses, he pointed out that this ultimately hurts the program's profile.

Item 5: Report on the University at Buffalo Child Care Center

Patricia Logan, Director of the University at Buffalo Child Care Center (UBCCC), found it appropriate to follow up the discussion in Item 4, because on-site child care could prove an effective recruiting tool as the University expands. The UBCCC is an independent, not-for-profit organization, founded in 1985 (on the South Campus) by a coalition of students, faculty, and administrators, which provides quality affordable care and education to children of members of the University at Buffalo. To meet ever-increasing demand, it opened a second site on the North Campus in the Fall of 1988. The UBCCC has been accredited by the National Association for Education of Young Children since 1994; this accreditation, higher than that maintained by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), focuses on such factors as curriculum, teacher qualification, health and safety, and leadership.

The South Campus facility, with a licensed capacity for 90 children, has 2 infant classrooms for 18 infants and 6 teachers, 2 toddler classrooms for 24 children and 6 teachers, and 3 pre-school classrooms for 49 children and 7 teachers. The North Campus facility, licensed for 54, has 1 infant classroom (8 infants, 3 teachers), 2 toddler classrooms (22 children, 5 teachers), and 2 pre-school classrooms (24 children, 4 teachers). Both have a waiting list (South - 36, North - 65).

The programs are based on "developmentally appropriate practice" --- children learning through playing, through active exploration of their environment, with several hands-on activities through which they develop problem-solving skills. Interaction with other children and with adults further enhances the learning experience.

The UBCCC serves about 40 student families, and offers discounts based on income levels to parents who are UB students (currently 10% for incomes less than $40,000). The discounts are made possible by a federal grant, run through the NYS OCFS, which administers through SUNY. The UBCCC receives extra money to enhance the quality of the program.

It also serves 90 faculty/staff families, who can receive benefits from the NYS Family Benefits Program; this is funded by the Governor's Office of Employee Relations, which provides technical assistance and grant funding for audits, health and safety, and staff training. Funding through this plan, which is based on the number of families of State employees, amounted to $25,000 over the past two years.

The Center serves the UB community in other ways as well. It functions as a work site for Work Study students through the Financial Aid office, and is used by several departments and programs (e.g., Interdisciplinary Science, Occupational Therapy, Honors Program, Psychology) for observation of young children, internship, and community service projects.

A phone fundraising campaign is run through the UB Foundation and is integrated with other UB fundraising efforts. Lunches for the Center are provided by the Faculty/Student Association, at a cost of $80,000 per year.

Director Logan pointed out that the UBCCC, unlike many other child care centers, reflects the diversity of the University community; 35% of the children enrolled are African-American, Asian, or Latino, and about 20% speak a home language other than English.

In addition, 50% of the 35 teaching faculty and administrative staff represent minorities. 70% of them have college degrees, mostly in early childhood education or childhood development. Because continuity of teaching staff is a sign of a quality program, the UBCCC offers higher salaries than most other child care centers, as well as benefits such as sick time, vacation, and health insurance. All faculty and staff are members of the National Association for Education of Young Children, the nation's largest Early Childhood professional organization (which has accredited its program).

The annual budget of the UBCCC is approximately $1.3 million, 75% of which comes from tuition, 15% form grants, and another 9-10% from in-kind contributions. 80% of the expenses are for program quality (instruction, administration, benefits, development and training, classroom supplies and field trips), and 10% for food.

Future plans include renewed NAEYC accreditation, renovation of the South Campus facility, a larger site on the North Campus, and expansion of the program to include after-school care.

Professor Batalama asked whether priorities could be re-assessed to benefit new faculty, who often get discouraged by the long waiting lists; Director Logan replied that one possibility discussed with the Board of Directors was to reserve a generic "faculty spot" on the waiting list. Professor Rittner observed that the UBCCC should provide data (funding, additional square footage, etc.) on its needs for growth, so that it could be included more precisely in the MOU discussed earlier in the meeting. She also suggested considering offering after-school programs as part of its future growth.

Item 6: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert Hoeing,
Secretary of the Faculty Senate


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

Chair: P. Nickerson (P)
Secretary: R. Hoeing (P)
Architecture & Planning: GS. Danford (P)
Arts & Sciences: M. Churchill (P), J. Faran (?), K. Tekeuchi (E), D. Street (E)
Dental Medicine: R. Hall (A)
Education: T. Schroeder (P)
Engineering & Applied Sciences: S. Batalma (P), S. Dargush (P)
Public Health & Health Professions: P. Horvath (P)
Informatics: J. Woelfel (P)
Law: J. Milles (A)
Management: W. Lin (P)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: William Fiden (E), James Springate (P), M. Dayton (P), J. Hasset (P), M. Dayton (P)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (P)
Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (A)
Social Work: B. Rittner (P)
SUNY Senators: W. Baumer (P), H. Durand (P), H. William Coles III (P), P. Bradford (A)
University Libraries: JA. Volpe (A)


Guests: B. Burke (EDAAA), David ??? (EDAAA), L. Labinski (PSS), L. Skompinski(SA), M. Cochrane (The Reporter), K. Warth (The Spectrum)

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