FACULTY SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Minutes of November 9, 2005
(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 9, 2005, in 567 Capen Hall to consider the following agenda:

1. Approval of the minutes of October 19 and 26, 2005
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President/Provost
4. Report on UB Photo Class List & Faculty Review – CA Fabian, T. Mangione, E. Eldayrie
5. Report of the FS Information & Library Resources Committee – M. Cassata
6. Report of the University Faculty Senate meeting – H. Durand
7. Old/New business
8. Executive Session (if needed)
9. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of October 19 and 26, 2005

Both sets of minutes were approved after noting two minor typographical errors that will be corrected in the online version.


Item 2: Report of the Chair

Chair Nickerson reported:

• In executive session last week, FSEC nominated faculty members to serve on the search committee for the dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.
• Another University Club gathering will be held at 4 o’clock today in the Tiffin Room. Attendance was down last week when there was no advertising, so an e-mail reminder was sent out this week.

Professional Staff Senate (PSS) Chair Larry Labinski reported that PSS met recently and is busy planning for this year’s Wellness Fair. Since the FSEC voted to co-sponsor the event, faculty assistance will be appreciated. Volunteers should contact Bill Coles.


Item 3: Report of the President/Provost

President Simpson said he’s pleased with SUNY’s proposed budget. The $5.6 billion won’t raise tuition and provides for a 12% spending increase to fund additional faculty hiring, plus $500 million for capital projects.

Chancellor John Ryan and the SUNY Trustees appear to be paying attention to our initiatives, because several aspects of the budget are derivative of proposals set forth in UB’s Mission Review II and UB2020 processes.

UB needs to increase enrollment by 5,000 and hire 250 more full-time faculty to be competitive with peer institutions. SUNY’s funding proposal has a program, the Excelsior Research Faculty Initiative, that will enable all four SUNY Centers to add faculty. By attracting high-level scholars to UB, we’ll be able to expand our sponsored research programs and help to strengthen the local economy.

SUNY’s current approach differentiates the research universities from the smaller colleges more than was evident in the past.


Item 4: Report on UB Photo Class List and Faculty Review – CA Fabian, T. Mangione, E. Eldayrie

Carole Ann Fabian, director of the Educational Technology Center, reported on a pilot project to provide faculty members with photographs of students enrolled in their class(es). Photo Class List uses the photos that appear on UBcards and makes them available to faculty members via UBLearns. The intent is for instructors to be better able to learn students’ names and to identify who’s taking exams.

The photos cannot be shared with anyone else without students’ permission. Teaching assistants will only have access if they are the faculty member of record for a course. Any other distribution violates the federal Family Education Right to Privacy Act (FERPA).

Director of Student Academic Records & Finances Terry Mangione reported that a survey of peer institutions showed 30% already use photo class lists, and 28% more are considering using them. No respondents indicated student privacy problems.

UB’s policy governing the use of Photo Class List is being developed. Photos are expected to be available by the beginning of the Spring Semester.


Item 5: Report of the FS Information & Library Resources Committee (ILRC) – M. Cassata

Professor Mary Cassata is chair of the ILRC. She introduced Steve Roberts, who was recently named Acting Director of the University Libraries. He said these are exciting and challenging times for the Libraries because some major changes are taking place.

The long-awaited library storage annex is finally under construction across Sweet Home Road, at the end of Rensch Road. Low-use materials will be moved there when the building is ready in 2006. This will relieve overcrowded conditions in the libraries by ultimately freeing up room for future growth of the collections, new study space, and, hopefully, more computers and library classrooms.

Electronic journals are increasingly important library resources because they can be accessed from any computer at any time of day/night. They are very expensive, however, and the library model for journal acquisition has largely shifted from ownership to the leasing of information. Many of our major journals will henceforth be acquired only in electronic format so we can maximize our collections budget.


Item 6: Report on the University Faculty Senate meeting – H. Durand

Professor Durand was one of several SUNY senators who attended the recent University Faculty Senate meeting at Saratoga Springs, NY. His written report was distributed at today’s meeting. It included highlights of reports by SUNY Senate President Carl Wiezalis, the Senate Executive Committee, Associate Vice Chancellor Don Sheppard (re budget update), and Chancellor John Ryan.

The search for SUNY’s next chancellor is underway. The Board of Trustees has appointed a 14-member search committee, and there’s an informational Web page at http://www.suny.edu/About_SUNY/chancellorsearch/chancellorsearch.cfm.


Item 7: Old/New business

None


Item 8: Executive Session

None


Item 9: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 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 (P), SD Schack (P), D. Street (E), K. Takeuchi (P)
Dental Medicine: M. Donley (A)
Education: L. Malavé (A)
Engineering & Applied Sciences: C. Basaran (A), R. Wetherhold (A)
Informatics: J. Ellison (P)
Law: T. Miller (E)
Management: W. Lin (P)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: D. Amsterdam (P), M. Dayton (A), L. Harris (A), J. Hassett (A)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (A)
Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (A)
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)
University officers: President J. Simpson

Guests: M. Cochrane (Reporter), L. Labinski (Prof. Staff Senate), L. Meister (Undergrad. SA), J. Xu (Grad. SA)

© Copyright University at Buffalo Faculty Senate | UB Home | Accessibility | Legal Notices | Website Acknowledgements