FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of October 19, 2005
(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 19, 2005, in 567 Capen Hall to consider the following agenda:

1. Approval of the minutes of October 5, 2005
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President/Provost
4. Interaction re Graduate School – B. McCombe
5. Report of the Computer Sciences Committee – J. Ringland
6. /New business
7. Executive Session (if needed)
8. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of October 5, 2005

The minutes were approved as distributed


Item 2: Report of the Chair

Chair Nickerson reported:

• The interlocutors from SUNY met with UB representatives on Monday to review our Mission Review II document. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) will eventually be drafted by SUNY Central Administration that will be negotiated with UB administrators. Benchmarks with numerical goals will be part of the MOU.
• The University Club starts today. It will meet every Wednesday until December 8th in the Tiffin Room.
• The November 1st Meeting of the Voting Faculty will be followed by a meeting of the Faculty Senate (FS) so we can have second readings of the Academic Integrity and Grievance Policies & Procedures proposals.
• Interim Chancellor Ryan will visit UB on January 18th. We will have a special meeting of Faculty and Professional Staff Senates then.
• The FS Governance Committee met last week. They will be examining how deans and other senior administrators are reviewed and whether there is faculty input in the process at other SUNY institutions.

Item 3: Report of the President/Provost

None


Item 4: Interaction re Graduate School – B. McCombe

Dean Bruce McCombe reported on changes in the Graduate School’s admissions policies and procedures. He started by emphasizing that graduate admission has not been decentralized, and the revisions won’t significantly affect the professional schools or international students.

The changes mainly apply to doctoral and MFA admissions procedures. In September, they were discussed with deans and vice presidents and communicated to department chairs.

The new graduate admissions policy defines what constitutes a complete application, requires a 3.0 GPA or justification from the admitting department, and provides for an e-mail notification to the applicant confirming his/her recommendation for admission. The e-mail is only sent after a department has notified the Graduate School accordingly via the GrAdMIT system.

The new process enables data gathering with integrity so accurate information will be available for various reports and statistical analyses. It is consistent with best practices at many peer institutions.

The Dean’s welcome message is intended to enhance communication by promptly informing applicants of the admission decision. It notifies them that a separate acceptance letter will be sent by the department.

Questions & comments:

• Sending an e-mail from the Graduate Dean ahead of the department’s acceptance letter can be confusing to applicants. Most of them don’t understand what the Graduate School is because they’ve been dealing with a department. (Schack)
• The wording of the e-notification can be changed to avoid potential confusion. The system will be monitored to ensure proper understanding. (McCombe)

Item 5: Report of the FS Computer Sciences Committee – J. Ringland

Professor Ringland is chair of the FS Computer Sciences Committee. His report covered their recent discussion topics and concerns. Items included:

• UB’s IT operation and funding is smaller than at most comparable peer institutions.
• Focus groups have expressed a need for more technology-equipped classrooms, computer labs, and wireless access areas.
• Implementation of the iPrint system, which will allocate printing quotas in libraries and public computer labs, has been postponed until the Spring Semester.
• The CIT Help Desk response time has been greatly improved this semester.
• The MyClasslist pilot project has been successful. Student photos will likely be made available to instructors via MyUB next semester.
• Faculty in some tech classrooms have had students use clickers to increase class participation, involvement, and attendance.
• UBDigit is now online at http://ubdigit.buffalo.edu/. This Educational Technology Center project is a searchable database covering UB’s digital collections.

Item 6: Old/New business

None


Item 7: Executive Session

There was an executive session


Item 8: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:43 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: E. Pantera (P)
Education: L. Malavé (P)
Engineering & Applied Sciences: C. Basaran (P), R. Wetherhold (P)
Informatics: J. Ellison (A)
Law: T. Miller (A)
Management: W. Lin (P)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: D. Amsterdam (E), M. Dayton (E), L. Harris (E), J. Hassett (A)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (P)
Pharmacy: K. Fiebelkorn (P)
Public Health & Health Professions: vacant
Social Work: Barbara Rittner (P)
SUNY Senators: W. Baumer (P), W. Coles (P), H. Durand (P), P. Nickerson (P)
University Libraries: HA Booth (P)

Guests: K. Bissonnette (Student Affairs), M. Cochrane (Reporter), C. Connor (Grad. Sch.), L. Labinski (Prof. Staff Senate), B. McCombe (Grad. Sch.), L. Meister (Undergrad. SA), M. Thompson (Grad. Sch.)

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