UB Faculty Senate

FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of April 20, 2005
(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 20, 2005, in 567 Capen Hall to consider the following agenda:

Approval of the minutes of March 30, 2005
Report of the Chair
Report of the President/Provost
Report of the Affirmative Action Committee – M. Rhodes
Report of the SUNY Faculty Senate meeting in Syracuse – M. Kramer
Approval of the calendar for 2005/06
Old/New business
Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of March 30, 2005

The minutes were approved as distributed.

Item 2: Report of the Chair

Chair Nickerson reported:

Next week’s FSEC meeting will be the last of the semester. Dr. Anne Huot, chief of staff for the SUNY provost, will attend and interact with us. Mission Review II and the forthcoming visit of the interlocutors are likely to be some of the topics.
There are two resolutions to consider:

A motion to approve “Resolution from the Faculty Senate Executive Committee on Faculty Involvement in Planning” was seconded and passed. It states:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the UB Faculty Senate Executive Committee, acting for the Faculty Senate, expresses thanks to President Simpson for encouraging the extensive involvement of the faculty in the UB2020 planning process.

Another motion was also seconded and passed. “Resolution Recognizing the Accomplishments of Loyce Stewart” states:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, acting for the Faculty Senate, recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of Loyce Stewart as director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Affirmative Action, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the FSEC expresses extreme regret at her untimely death and extends sincere sympathy to her family.

Item 3: Report of the President/Provost

None

Item 4: Report of the Faculty Senate Affirmative Action Committee – Mattie Rhodes

The Faculty Senate (FS) Affirmative Action Committee’s chair, Professor Mattie Rhodes, said the committee members had been focusing on:

Value of a diverse faculty
UB’s faculty demographics
History of the recruitment effort
History of the retention effort
Proactive steps to improve recruitment & retention

The rationale for diversification of faculty extends beyond equal opportunity and equity. It contributes directly to educational quality by offering current and future student populations diverse perspectives at every level of college teaching and governance.

The percentage of minority students in U.S. colleges and universities has been steadily rising, but the rate of growth for underrepresented faculty members has remained low. Although the 2004 census showed ethnic minorities comprising 25% of the population, they are only 13.8% of higher education faculties nationwide.

According to statistics compiled by UB’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Affirmative Action Administration (EDAAA), our faculty composition hasn’t changed much since 2002. There were 1,446 full-time faculty here then; 422 were female. Overall, 80% were white, 4% were African-American, 14% were Asian, 1% was Hispanic, and 0.6% was Native American. In 2004, the numbers were: 450 females, 78.9% white, 3.4% African-American, 14.5% Asian, and 0.7 Native American.

UB’s commitment to faculty diversification is exemplified by search committee training that broadens perspectives, explains legal aspects, and covers available resources. There’s still room for improvement, however, and departments should be encouraged to conduct self-audits, identify targets of opportunity, and make competitive offers to minority candidates. Suggested methods for attracting minority candidates include hiring senior faculty with tenure, hiring UB’s own exceptional Ph.D.s, block hires, and actively recruiting faculty at other institutions.

Retention can be abetted through mentoring programs and professional socialization. Departments can help by being watchful with regard to workload and timely progress toward tenure. The Affirmative Action Committee has been developing a guide on proactive recruitment and retention of minority faculty. They are also planning to offer a workshop/forum on the topic for university-wide faculty participation.

Item 5: Report of the SUNY Faculty Senate meeting in Syracuse – Marilyn Kramer

SUNY Senator Marilyn Kramer summarized her “Report of the 140th Plenary Meeting [of the] SUNY Faculty Senate,” which was distributed with today’s agenda. Highlights included:

Professor Carl Wiezalis (Upstate Medical University) was elected Senate President for the 2005/07 term.
Chancellor King provided a legislative update on matters affecting SUNY. He was applauded and honored with a “Friend of the SUNY Faculty Senate” award on the occasion of him imminent resignation as Chancellor.
Provost Salins discussed the upcoming conference in Syracuse, “Strengthened Campus-Based Assessment: Continuing the Dialogue.
Dan Sheppard (SUNY Office of Finance & Business) presented an update on the legislative budget, which provides $2.06 billion in core instructional funding for State-operated and statutory campuses; this is a 4.1% increase.
The Governance Committee presented a panel discussion on faculty evaluation of senior-level administrators. The emerging principles were that the process requires a strong, institutional culture of faculty governance, and it’s not a “one size fits all” process.

Item 6: Approval of the FS/FSEC calendar for 2005/06

The draft version of the “Faculty Senate Meeting Schedule – Academic Year 2005-2006” was approved.

Item 7: Old/New business

None

Item 8: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Will Hepfer
Secretary of the Faculty Senate

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

Chair: P. Nickerson (P)
Secretary: W. Hepfer (P)
Architecture & Planning: GS. Danford (P)
Arts & Sciences: S. Bruckenstein (A), M. Churchill (E), J. Faran (P), S. Schack (P), K. Takeuchi (P)
Dental Medicine: M. Donley (P)
Education: X. Liu (P)
Engineering & Applied Sciences: C. Basaran (P), J. Jensen (A)
Informatics: J. Ellison (P)
Institutional/General: O. Mixon (A)
Law: L. Swartz (A)
Management: C. Pegels (P)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: J. Evans (A), L. Harris (E), J. Hassett (E)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (P)
Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (A)
Public Health & Health Professions: C. Crespo (A)
Social Work: Barbara Rittner (A)
SUNY Senators: W. Baumer (P), W. Coles (E), M. Kramer (P), P. Nickerson (P)
University Libraries: C. Tysick (P)

Guests:

P. Balzano (SA), B. Burke (EDAAA), M. Cochrane (Reporter), G. Johnson-Cooper (Affirmative Action Cmte.), J. Kiedrowski (PSS Diversity Cmte.), L. Labinski (Prof. Staff Senate), S. Nolan-Weiss (EDAAA)

Tel: 716-645-2003
Fax: 716-645-2717
Email: facultysenate@buffalo.edu
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FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of April 20, 2005 (unapproved)

Minutes of April 20, 2005
(unapproved)