FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of October 26, 2005
(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 2005, in 567 Capen Hall to consider the following agenda:

1. Report of the Chair
2. Report of the President/Provost
3. Report of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs – L. Finley
4. Charging the FS Privileges & Tenure Committee – SD Schack
5. Old/New business
6. Executive Session (if needed)
7. Adjournment

Item 1: Report of the Chair

Chair Nickerson reported:

• Dean Bruce McCombe told the executive committee of the Graduate School that he will deal with issues affecting the admission of master’s degree students in interactions with the directors of graduate studies. A question was raised regarding who has line responsibilities for students in BS/MS programs.
• Presidents of doctoral institutions may be asked for funding to study the National Research Council’s survey of rankings for graduate programs.
• The Budget Priorities Committee met on Monday and heard from Interim Vice President for Facilities Beau Willis. Dr. Willis talked about an analysis of UB’s facilities and the large number of buildings that must be maintained.

Item 2: Report of the President/Provost

None


Item 3: Report of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs – L. Finley

Vice Provost Lucinda Finley said she has met with numerous groups and participated in several workshops about UB’s promotion process since she took her job last February. There’s an open workshop about dossier preparation and the role of the President’s Review Board (PRB) scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on November 16th in Room 330 Student Union.

PRB is an advisory body to the president and provost on matters related to faculty appointments, promotion, and tenure cases. The membership is listed on the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Web site at http://www.provost.buffalo.edu/facultyaffairs/. PRB is comprised of a non-voting chairperson, nine voting tenured faculty, and two non-voting student representatives. The chair and faculty members must all be full professors or librarians, who are appointed to staggered three-year September/August terms.

Vice Provost Finley is another non-voting member. She selects PRB members after soliciting nominations from deans and the Faculty Senate and conferring with the president and provost. Although she strives for a demographic balance from the decanal units, this can be difficult because we don’t have a sufficiently diverse professoriate.

Tenure is rewarded to faculty members who demonstrate clear and unequivocal evidence of excellence in research, scholarship, or creative activity. PRB looks for indications of sustained productivity because “one of the best ways to predict the future is to assess the past.” UB doesn’t want “terminal associate professors” who stop doing producing scholarly works after they receive tenure.

If a tenure candidate receives a negative vote during the process, there is provision for having an advocate who will be given an opportunity to address concerns or provide additional information about the candidate. The candidate is allowed to review the non-confidential sections of the dossier, and the advocate is given access to the entire dossier. Cases are resolved following a meeting between the vice provost, the advocate, the department chair, and the appropriate dean (but not the candidate).

A 10-year review of tenure cases has shown that there was not a dramatic change in the number of tenure denials between President Greiner’s and President Simpson’s administrations. It varies from year to year, but generally it’s close to 10% of the total caseload. Our standards remain the same because they are stated in the Faculty-Staff Handbook, although PRB’s interpretation of them may vary somewhat from year to year.

Questions & comments:

• There’s much concern, especially among health sciences faculty, because moving to qualified ranks no longer seems to be an option for delaying tenure decisions until more research can be completed. (Nickerson)
• “Up-or-out in seven years” is a SUNY policy that neither the president nor provost is inclined to bend. It’s better if schools start faculty members on non-tenure lines and then move them to tenure-track positions when there’s more certainty of sufficient scholarly accomplishments within the time limit. (Finley)
• There’s a common misunderstanding that associate professors/librarians can’t reapply if their promotion to full rank is rejected. Resubmission is, in fact, allowed after three years. (Finley)
• The 10-year retrospective on PRB decision is useful information that should be published or posted on a Web site. (Schack)

Item 4: Charging the FS Privileges & Tenure Committee – SD Schack

This item was postponed.


Item 5: Old/New business

None


Item 6: Executive Session

There was an executive session


Item 7: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 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 (A)
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 (A)
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 (A), M. Dayton (A), L. Harris (P), J. Hassett (A)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (P)
Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (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: B. Burke (EDAAA), M. Cochrane (Reporter), L. Finley (Fac. Affairs), L. Labinski (Prof. Staff Senate), L. Meister (Undergrad. SA), J. Xu (Grad. SA)

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