FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of October 5, 2005
(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 5, 2005, in 567 Capen Hall to consider the following agenda:

1. Approval of the minutes of September 14th and 21st, 2005
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President/Provost
4. Report of the Director of Athletics – W. Manuel
5. Old/New business
6. Executive Session (if needed)
7. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of September 14th and 21st, 2005

The minutes were approved as distributed.


Item 2: Report of the Chair

Chair Nickerson reported:

• The Budget Priorities Committee had its second meeting of the semester last week. Sean Sullivan presented past and present budgetary processes at UB. He’ll discuss some of the items from that meeting today under New Business.
• The Faculty Senate (FS) Committee on Libraries met last week. Associate Vice President Barbara von Wahlde said that she will be in Turkey for the year, and the acting director of University Libraries will be Steve Roberts. The Committee talked about library planning and whether having outside consultants might be helpful at UB. There was consensus that UB should hire consultants from institutions that UB would like to emulate, so that recommendation was sent to CIO Voldemar Innus.

Item 3: Report of the President/Provost

Provost Satish Tripathi said that he will be discussing the academic state of the university at next week’s meeting of the full Faculty Senate.

The Office of the Provost, along with the Faculty Senate and Professional Staff Senate, will host “UB University Club for Faculty and Staff” events on Wednesday afternoons, 4:00-6:00 p.m. in the Tiffin Room in the Student Union. The weekly programs, which will feature guest speakers, presentations, and musical performances, will provide opportunities to share ideas, foster collegiality, and make new friends. The inaugural gathering will be October 19th; complimentary light refreshments will be available.


Item 4: Report of the Director of Athletics – Warde Manuel

Director of Athletics Warde Manuel said he’s been at UB for just five weeks. He’s met a lot of hard-working student athletes in that time, and he’s encouraged by the fact that most of them strive to be successful in both academic and athletic endeavors. Of the two, academic success is more important, but athletics definitely add a lot of value to an institution.

UB’s involvement in Division I athletics is very young – only five or so years for most teams. We’ll work at improving in sports such as football, because our aim is to have a competitive athletic program that will make UB students and alumni proud. Some of our teams are currently having success – UB’s soccer team is ranked in the top 20 nationally, and the men’s and women’s tennis teams both won recent tournaments – but the media tends to focus on our struggling football program.

Mr. Manuel said he learned the importance of academics after an injury ended his college sports playing. He’s earned a bachelor’s and two masters’ degrees (MSW & MBA) since then, and had completed all the coursework for a doctorate in social work before being hired by the University of Michigan as an athletic administrator.

Questions & comments:

• Football is costly. Maybe we should drop it and focus on sports where we’re stronger. Football seems to drag down our other sports. (Schack)
• Football shouldn’t be perceived as a drain on our resources. Buffalo is a football town, and our investment in it can influence student recruitment, campus pride, and alumni giving. (Manuel)
• We need to replace our national culture of spectatorship with a culture of participation. Sports teams are given priority for using equipment and facilities at UB, so wellness and fitness users often can’t exercise to get/stay healthy. (Jameson)
• UB’s facilities aren’t very good, so we need to assess our environment to determine how best to serve all of our customers – students and faculty/staff. A new recreation center is needed. (Manuel)
• Adding ice hockey as a varsity sport seems like it would be a good fit. (Booth)
• Hockey is an expensive sport, but it will be considered. It’s not easy to recruit for hockey, but UB’s proximity to Canada might help with that. (Manuel)
• Students pay a comprehensive fee that supports athletics, but only a small percentage of that money goes toward recreation programs. That doesn’t seem fair. (Bradford)
• There are two separate fees – one for recreation and one for athletics. We’re hoping that many students will attend several of this weekend’s Homecoming sports events. It’s a good way to see their money at work. (Manuel)
• Some faculty members have complained that student athletes don’t give adequate advance notice when they have to miss classes for sports-related reasons. (Schack)
• Student athletes are supposed to give instructors a copy of their schedule and a letter of explanation at the beginning of each semester when they are participating in sports. Tournaments and post-season play can’t be anticipated, however. (Fourtner)
• Will many of the Corrigan report’s recommendations be implemented? (Coles)
• The report by consultant Gene Corrigan has been perused several times, and it will be studied at length. No decisions have been made yet about what will or won’t be implemented. (Manuel)

Item 5: Old/New business

Associate Vice President for Academic Planning & Budget Sean Sullivan explained that UB2020 has produced a transformation in how we conduct resource management. The all-funds, enrollment-driven, revenue-driven approach that had been used since 1999 is no longer the model being followed. The budget is more flat now, so allocations will be based more on enrollment and research goals than on whether a department can generate money. The process has become more holistic.

The new procedure is much more structured. Deans have to do formal presentations every year to discuss their needs and aspirations. Decanal units have been inventoried, and budget numbers have been verified. This information will be useful in planning relating to enrollment, hiring, and philanthropy.

Two percent of departmental budgets has been held for possible adjustments. That’s not a constant amount, so the percentage could be changed in future years.

There’s a direct link between enrollment growth and budgetary adjustment. Budgeting is no longer based on a formula, but rather on a combination of factors of which enrollment is an important part. Careful formulation and implementation of goals is critical, because there will be budgetary ramifications for not meeting goals.

Another topic under New Business:
Professor Rittner expressed concern about a change in admissions policy. Graduate students are now being admitted to the Graduate School rather than to the schools themselves. This has significant funding implications for the professional schools.

The change in policy seems to have occurred without consultation. There’s no apparent benefit to decanal units, nor is there any evident problem being fixed.

The new policy dilutes the identity of the professional schools and adds another layer to an already complex admission procedure.

Chair Nickerson said he’ll try to schedule Bruce McCombe, dean of the Graduate School, to address this matter at an upcoming FSEC meeting.


Item 6: Executive Session

None


Item 7: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 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: J. Faran (P), R. Hoeing (E), SD Schack (P), D. Street (P), K. Takeuchi (P)
Dental Medicine: M. Donley (P)
Education: L. Malavé (P)
Engineering & Applied Sciences: C. Basaran (A), R. Wetherhold (P)
Informatics: J. Ellison (P)
Law: T. Miller (A)
Management: W. Lin (P)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: D. Amsterdam (E), M. Dayton (A), L. Harris (E), J. Hassett (P)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (P)
Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (A)
Public Health & Health Professions: vacant
Social Work: Barbara Rittner (P)
SUNY Senators: W. Baumer (P), W. Coles (P), H. Durand (A), P. Nickerson (P)
University Libraries: HA Booth (P)
University Officers: S. Tripathi

Guests: P. Bradford (Rec/Ath Cmte), B. Burke (EDAAA), M. Cochrane (Reporter), R. Crispell (Rec/Ath Cmte), C. Fourtner (Rec/Ath Cmte), M. Jameson (Rec/Ath Cmte), L. Labinski (Prof. Staff Senate), L. Meister (Student Assn.)

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