FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of November 1, 2006
(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee met at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, November 1, 2006, in 567 Capen Hall to discuss the following agenda:

1. Approval of the Minutes of October 18, 2006
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President
4. The EOC and the Division of Continuing and Professional Education
   Sheryl Weems, Associate Vice-Provost
5. Fraternities and the Community
   Josh Hancock, President of the Inter-Fraternity Council
   Jerry Schoenle, Director of Public Safety
6. Report on the SUNY Senate Meeting
7. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the Minutes of October 18, 2006

The Minutes of October 18, 2006, were approved.

Item 2: Report of the Chair

Professor Nickerson reported that he had received from the Office of the Provost a proposal for the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to approve the change of the name of Health Behavioral Sciences to the Department of Health Behavior. The Vice-president for Health Sciences, the Dean of Public Health, the administrators of the School, and a majority of the Voting Faculty of the School of Public Health support the name change. The Chair commented that the proposal is quite extensive, and that the mission of the Department does not conflict with other units within the University. If there had been disagreement in the process, the past practice of the FSEC was to refer the issue to the Academic Planning Committee; since however there is no apparent disagreement, the Chair suggested a motion that there is no objection to the proposal. To the question of why the name was being changed, the Provost replied that the Department felt it would be easier to attract new faculty under the new designation. The motion carried and the name change was approved.

Item 3: Report of the President

President Simpson returned from a celebration congratulating UB on 25 years in China, where the university enjoys a remarkably high profile not only in that land, but in other regions of Asia as well. Through its programs, UB has a great leap over other AAU universities that are just starting to establish some interaction with China.

At the invitation of the Secretary of Education, President Simpson will return to China as one of a group of ten college/university presidents seeking to mend relationships --- perceived to have deteriorated due to visa problems, etc. --- between faculty and students in the wake of 9/11. This trip he views as a mark of recognition for UB, as well as a much-needed type of alternative diplomacy.

Professor Rittner asked whether the topics to be addressed would include the difficulty in getting the State Department to more easily grant visas to students not majoring in the Natural Sciences. President Simpson replied that obtaining visas has become much easier, and that the major national education associations have been lobbying from the beginning to improve the situation. He added that the Republic of China is still a difficult society, and has not yet shown the same degree of commitment to studying the Social Sciences or Humanities that American universities do.

Item 4: The EOC and the Division of Continuing and Professional Education

Sheryl Weems, Associate Vice-Provost of the Division of Continuing and Professional Studies (CPS) and Executive Director of the Educational Opportunity Center (EOC), addressed the synergy in the combination of the two units. In addition to its core mission of providing continuing education for a variety of constituent groups, the Division will include pipeline development for students outside who are seeking access to the University as well as for adults in the work force considering a return to college.

The vision statement of the CPS --- aligned with UB 2020 particularly in the areas of outreach and access --- has as its stated goals:

• becoming the premiere national and international model for continuing and professional studies;
• to be global in nature by enhancing and expanding distance learning programs and creating an educational continuum for life-long learning throughout the world;
• and to gain international prominence, particularly in workforce development and in assisting other communities in achieving economic development.

Among the strategies to develop the Division of CPS, Associate Vice-provost Weems cited: attracting and retaining the best staff, recruiting responsive leadership, creating strong marketing, securing broader external funding, capitalizing on UB's brand and leveraging growth, and providing incubation as well as seeking innovation to complement the University's programs.

To achieve its goals, CPS must define its target population, community, and market, and to maintain high-quality academic programs and service. In addition, the development of strategic partnerships and a universally consistent marketing strategy are critical. Associate Vice-Provost Weems expressed the desire to continue to create methods for CPS to be self-sustaining as well.

She then outlined the "Applied Appreciative Approach", based on "asking lots of questions"; using tradition to inform our future planning, the CPS will seek to create academic partnerships, relying on the strength of the quality, expertise, and resources of UB's faculty and staff. It then monitors its development against national models of Continuing Education.

Catalysts for the Division's integration and growth are:

• Credit-bearing courses through the University Extension;
• Non-credit-bearing courses;
• Industry-specific workforce development, including already successful ventures with biomedical device manufacturing firms, and biometrics education and training;
• Being a centralized distributor for linking non-competitive programs and services through on-line service;
• On-line programming in computing and network management;
• Pipeline access to University academic and training programs (literacy, remedial, college preparation, entry-level workforce development);
• Being a national certification center for work readiness certification, through developing appropriate curricula and examinations;
• New worker training initiatives (e.g., for Allied Health);
• Academic unit collaborations (School of Social Work, industry collaborations in Health).

Professor Danford inquired whether the CPS is working in collaboration with other professional schools as well, and suggested that Associate Vice-Provost Weems contact the School of Architecture and Planning, since the profession requires that their members pursue continuing education.

Item 5: Fraternities and the Community

Josh Hancock, President of the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC), reported on recent efforts of the IFC to establish better relations with both the police (Buffalo and University) and residents in the University District. Relations had been deteriorating over the past several years, in part because the students felt the police had become somewhat abusive --- although not physically --- in using "unorthodox methods" of breaking up parties. At a meeting last Thursday, the police were given a list of all the on-campus recognized fraternity houses, as well as contact people in case further problems arose. This meeting proved successful insofar as there were no major incidents over the Halloween weekend. The IFC is now focusing its efforts on relations with neighboring residents; among the planned projects are a clean-up and a bulb-planting initiative, designed to have the students interact with the neighbors and to instill pride in the neighborhood for both. Director of Public Safety Schoenle complimented Mr. Hancock for taking a leadership role in mollifying animosities with the police in a professional manner.

Unrecognized fraternities have posed one of the major problems in recent years; UB disaffiliated itself from several fraternities due to their hazing practices, boisterous partying, or financial instability. Although ordered to disband by UB and by their national affiliations, they continued to operate without official recognition, devoting too much attention to overdrinking and none to philanthropical activities. Since people had difficulty distinguishing between recognized and unrecognized fraternities, this very negative image spread to all.

Another problem has been the physical appearance and (non-)maintenance of properties, compounded by a significant number of absentee landlords. Mr. Hancock added that only one fraternity actually owns the house it inhabits; however, most chapters would like to own their own. This, he continued, would be a favorable development, since then the fraternity members would take more pride in their house and forge a stronger connection to their neighborhood.

To Dr. Durand's question about the degree to which fraternities are supervised, Mr. Hancock replied that (a) although all should have faculty advisors, most fraternities do not interact with faculty, that the relationship is poorly defined --- often only on paper, and (b) although his fraternity is the largest and most well-endowed, it has little or no communication with its national chapter; the majority of its resources go to schools which historically have more cordial and successful relations with the fraternity culture.

Professor Danford recalled that the University had a site planned for Greek housing, as well as a design for the buildings; unfortunately, the architect responsible knew nothing about fraternity life, the University proved itself inflexible, and the fraternities rejected the idea. He then asked whether the fraternities were again interested in Greek housing near campus; Mr. Hancock replied affirmatively, that they were indeed exploring various possibilities.

Professor Dayton asked whether the fraternities mentor new members on academic and other responsibilities. While conceding that academics were not a prime focus in the past, Mr. Hancock replied that the culture is changing and new members, at least in his fraternity, are expected to spend six hours per day in the library and maintain a respectable GPA.

Item 6: Report on the SUNY Senate Meeting

Professor Baumer reported that at the SUNY Senate meeting in Buffalo, Chancellor Ryan addressed a few main areas of his interest and concern. First, he expressed interest continued development and expansion in international programs and activities on the part of all SUNY campuses. Second, he stressed the need for the development of academic leadership, in which seveeral campuses are presently not doing a good job; he will be looking at programs and activities which are supportive of this. Third, he reminded the Senate that New York State will undergo a significant change in its population demographics over the next ten years, particularly in terms of ethnic heritage; consequently, SUNY will need to be able to continue its past practice of educating the immigrant population, this time with more energy and at all levels, from kindergarten on up. This will determine in part the design and operation of our university programs. Fourth, the Chancellor was very concerned about alcohol use/abuse by students, and said he would like to see an extension of programs prohibiting alcohol, as well as those prohibiting smoking --- ultimately campus-wide. Finally, in our strategic planning we need to get TAP indexed, and to get broad support across the State legislature for the University budget.

Vice-Chancellor Klein announced a 12.5% increase in State support for 2006-2007, including funding for negotiated salary increases built into union contracts, additional energy costs, as well as general increases in the costs of facilities and equipment. However, budget projections indicate a looming deficit of about $3 billion for 2007-2008, which in turn will entail great pressure to find ways to reduce State expenditure.

Former Chancellor and UB Professor Emeritus Bruce Johnstone addressed K-12 educational programs, and argued that not only Education programs, but any department whose subject matter is taught at these early levels should be directly involved in teacher education.

Also under discussion were three major issues facing the University: 1) the number of students receiving baccalaureate degrees; 2) the serious gap between secondary school and university assessment of student ability, and how we might bridge this gap through communication of our expectations and through a useful database documenting student performance according to subject and level; at present, we have no means to determine what teaching methods and practice are effective; and 3) student motivation and how faculty might improve it.

In her address, the new Provost Risa Palm saw much talent across SUNY, but not as much collaboration among the units as there might be; she echoed Chancellor Ryan and UB President Simpson in her interest in international programs. The third item she addressed, and one to which we will need to respond, is the report of the Spelling Commission, which included a number of recommendations for colleges and universities; included among these is an increased assessment of student achievement at various performance levels.

A variety of other concerns from various sectors of the University were voiced, including:
provisions for emeritus faculty, since how retired faculty are treated seems to vary wildly from one campus to another; concerns that the administrative officers at certain campuses are encroaching on faculty prerogatives for running academic programs; increasing the proportion of full-time to part-time faculty; and the concern of the Health Science Centers that the University needs a senior SUNY officer responsible for the Health Sciences. In addition, several campuses are worried that UB's growth plan would come at their expense, in the sense of losing their own students to our intended expansion.

Item 7: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Robert Hoeing,
Secretary of the Faculty Senate

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

Chair: P. Nickerson (P)
Secretary: R. Hoeing (P)
Architecture & Planning: GS. Danford (P)
Arts & Sciences: M. Churchill (P), J. Faran (P), K. Tekeuchi (E), D. Street (P)
Dental Medicine: R. Hall (A)
Graduate School of Education: J. Lee (A)
Engineering & Applied Sciences: P. Alexandridis (A), R. Wetherhold (A)
Informatics: J. Woelfel (P)
Law: J. Milles (A)
Management: W. Lin (P)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: W. Fiden (A), J. Springate (P), M. Dayton (P), J. Hasset (A)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (P)
Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (A)
Public Health & Health Professions: G. Farkas (P)
Social Work: B. Rittner (P)
SUNY Senators: W. Baumer (P), P. Bradford (P) H. Durand (P), H. William Coles III (P)
University Libraries: JA. Volpe (P)

Guests: S. Nolan-Weiss (EDAAA), V. Hussein (Undergraduate Student Association), L. Labinski (Prof. Staff Senate), L. Skompinski (Student Association), M. Cochrane (The Reporter), S. Duval (The Spectrum), J. Schoenle (Director of Public Safety), J. Hancock (President, Inter-Fraternity Council), L. Lidano (Judicial Affairs)

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