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Faculty Senate Executive Committee

Minutes of March 18th, 2009
(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee met at 2:30 PM on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009, in the Jeannette Martin Room of Capen Hall (567) to discuss the following:

1. Approval of the minutes of January 28, 2009
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President/Provost
4. Update on University Development and Philanthropy—

Vice President for External Affairs Marsha Henderson
Interim Director Alumni Relations Jay Friedman

5. Old/New business
6. Executive Session (if needed)
7. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of January 28, 2009

The minutes were unanimously approved.

Item 2: Report of the Chair

1. The Chair welcomed back the Committee after a much-needed three-week recess.
2. The Chair was pleased to report that some Faculty Senate committees have been quite active lately:
• The Information & Library Resources Committee met on 2/26 to further discuss the dire financial situation for the libraries and possible strategies for remedying this. We are all too keenly aware that a great research library is a prerequisite for a great University. Two more faculty members joined the Committee, Sergio Lopez-Piñeiro (Architecture) and Irving Massey (English). Chair Dyson would like more members, so please feel free to nominate fellow faculty.
• The Teaching & Learning Committee met on 3/5 and also added new members --- EIGHT!!! --- and launched discussion of the Writing Center proposal. Professor Lyon is in the process of drafting a five-year plan for developing it. Also, Jason Adsit, Director of the Teaching & Learning Center, gave a brief update on the UBlearns SafeAssign plagiarism detection integration plans. This is currently being evaluated as a less expensive replacement to Turnitin. The Committee will be meeting again on April 21 to chart its future course.
• The Academic Planning Committee met on Friday the 13th with the Provost. Among the items discussed was the problematic nature of any possible program suspension --- for such, we would need to plan well in advance, since there are marketing considerations, catalog rights, and student registration considerations.
• The Budget Priorities Committee will also be discussing simmilar points in its upcoming meeting on 3/2, i.e., . Should circumstances come to this, what criteria would we recommend for consideration relative to selective program and / or service reductions or elimination?
• The Committee on Community Outreach met on 3/16 on South Campus after a three-month delay. Although several members were unable to attend, there is great enthusiasm for the Committee’s many planned actions. One of its first steps will be to let the community know of UBs involvement; it will do this through TV and radio ads. It will then solicit stories from members of the public directly affected by our efforts and advertise these as well. After informing the community of our many outreach activities, we will then ask them what else they need or would like from us. Also suggested was an Info Fair, at which among other things awards would be presented. The Committee is looking into successful models at other universities, including OSU, UCLA, and Michigan State. --- The Chair asked for nominations for this Committee as well.
• The Student Life Committee is meeting this Friday to discuss the cost of textbooks for undergrads, and will address drinking and substance abuse problems among the UG population.
3. The new Faculty Senate website should be up and running in the next few weeks; there are still a few kinks to work out, but soon visitors to the site will be able to submit suggestions, engage in discussion, and use a Minutes search engine to more efficiently find FSEC discussions on specific topics over the past several years. This website is also the reason we need a professional group photograph.
4. The Search Committee for the Dean of the School of Dental Medicine held its initial meeting on 3/9 and will meet again on June 3 for the candidate file review. In the meantime, our headhunters will round up excellent prospects for this position. Prof. Joe Bernat was kind enough to give this Chair a tour of the Dental School the next day; this Chair, a member of the Committee, had requested this in order to have a better understanding to the School, its strengths and problems.
5. The General Education Task Force will meet next Wednesday 3/25 for the first time to begin re-evaluation and re-creation of the Gen Ed system at UB.
6. The Chair received several positive reactions to the Commission on Academic Excellence and Equity proposed by the Provost in the attachment forwarded to the Voting Faculty; some have volunteered to serve, others have submitted concerns and items they felt the Commission should address. This is a very positive start to further improving the entire tenure process at UB.
7. Reminder 1: Please attend the Celebration of Academic Excellence on April 7; it is a wonderful opportunity to honor not only our outstanding students, but also our fellow faculty. Among those to be honored is a member of our FSEC, Prof. Paschalis Alexandridis, soon to be UB Distinguished Professor.
8. Reminder 2: The President and Provost will hold two Town Hall meetings next week --- Tuesday 3/24 in the Lippes Concert Hall (NC) and Wednesday in 105 Harriman Hall (SC). The Chair thanks them once again for taking the time to maintain open dialogue with the faculty on pressing issues. Questions can be submitted in advance to simpson@buffalo.edu
9. Tomorrow is “Super Thursday” at WBFO; all pledges will be met with an equal amount, thus doubled. Please consider giving. This Chair will be working the phones during the early hours.
10. The Chair then asked for agenda items for April.

Item 3: Report of the President/Provost

Provost Satish K. Tripathi reported that he participated in a meeting of presidents and provosts from WNY colleges and universities at Geneseo State College on Tuesday. The focus of the gathering was collaboration. The Provost said that UB is already engaged in collaboration with neighboring institutions but that in these difficult budget times, it was a good idea to consider additional projects. Suggestions fore further collaboration included:

• Putting into place a formal system to accommodate spousal or partner hires at neighboring institutions;
• The sharing foreign language instructors, especially in Arabic and Mandarin;
• preparing for an increase in veteran student enrollment;
• cross-campus professional development activities;
• The expansion of online course offerings of which we only have a few. While “lots of community college courses are already online,” online courses are only starting to be offered by the four-year colleges, the provost noted.

Item 4. Update on University Development and Philanthropy—
Vice President for External Affairs Marsha Henderson
Interim Director Alumni Relations Jay Friedman)

Marsha Henderson, vice president for external affairs, discussed the impact of the economy on UB’s philanthropic prospects. “We’re running about 30 percent below our collections and commitments at the same time last year,” she said. “The largest drop is in our corporate, foundation and planned gifts. People are … worrying about their current portfolios and incomes” instead of thinking long term, she added. In response, the Offices of Development and Alumni Relations are working together to “increase results and maximize returns on investments of resources.”

In response to the changing economic climate, Henderson said the offices of Development and Alumni Relations are focusing on “increasing results and maximizing returns.” One of the ways in which they are working together to do so includes the use of data mining and screening techniques to come up with a contact list of 15,000 of high potential prospective donors out of a list of 185,000 alumni. She explained that while about 80 percent of all gifts come from individuals, about 90 percent of a campaign’s funds derive from the top 15 to 30 donors.

To organize for success, Henderson stated, Development and Alumni Relations have

• Prioritized their contact efforts
• By identifying high financial capacity
• Using Philanthropic indicators
• Aligned resources to the best opportunities
• By strategically deploying development officers
• Assuring equal opportunity for success
• Unlocked additional capacity
• By school, “Magic” prospects range from 80-3,400
• Schools have 1-3 development officers

Henderson explained that greater resources had to be deployed in areas of highest potential. The two offices combined have approximately 100 employees—from major gift officers and corporate foundation staffers to student phone operators—who are predominantly targeting alumni from schools and departments most likely to yield major returns. Henderson also emphasized the importance of opening up opportunities to support key initiatives that cross unit boundaries. A feasibility study was launched, she added, on the potential benefits of a new fund-raising campaign (80-100 interviews were conducted). Many factors suggest that UB is “in a strong position to consider such a project,” Henderson said. For instance, interviews and surveys indicate the public has an extremely positive view of the university’s clear vision and focus on strategic strengths. In addition to the feasibility study, steps that have been taken to prepare for the campaign include:

• Database mining
• Restructuring development
• Development committee in place at Foundation
• Hiring of a chief development officer
• Determining the campaign size and budget

The campaign’s goal, Henderson emphasized, is to provide greater resources for faculty and students:
“There’s still money out there.” Henderson said that earlier this week, a $500,000 gift from the Prentice Family Foundation was announced to establish a new scholarship program.

Chair Hoeing asked what percentage of donation is targeted. Henderson responded that by far maybe 80% is.

Item 5. Old New Business

Item 6: Executive Session (if necessary)

Item 7: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:44 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)

Architecture & Planning:
Alfred Price (A)

Arts & Sciences:
Robert Adelman (P)
Sampson Blair (A)
Stanley Bruckenstein (P)
Melvyn Churchill (P)
Stephen Dyson (P)

Dental Medicine:
Thomas Mang (A)

Educational Opportunity Center:
TBA

Engineering & Applied Sciences:
Paschalis Alexandridis (P)
Sargur Srihari (P)

Graduate School of Education:
Janina Brutt-Griffler (A)

Law:
Mark Bartholomew (P)

Management:
Hodan Isse (P)

Medicine & Biomedical Sciences:
Peter Nickerson (P)
Philip Glick (E)
James Hassett (A)
Charles Hershey (P)

Nursing:
Sherry Pomeroy (E)
Linda Steeg (E)

Pharmacy:
Gayle Brazeau (P)

School of Public Health and Health Professions:
Robert Burkard (E)

Social Work:
Robert Keefe (P)

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

Parliamentarian:
William H. Baumer (P)

University Libraries:
Dorothy Tao (P)

Guests:
Satish Tripathi (Provost)
Kevin Fryling (The Reporter)
Janiece Kiedrowski (Professional Staff Senate)
Barbara Burke (EDAAA)
Dave Bray (EDAAA)
Mary Cochrane (Development)
Marsha Henderson (Development)
Jay Friedman (Alumni Relations)
Daniel Kehoe (Graduate Student Assoiation)

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