The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 1, 2004, in 567 Capen Hall to consider the following agenda:

1. Approval of the minutes of November 10, 2004
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President/Provost
4. Current status of Mission Review II - S. Sullivan
5. Report re Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships - T. Tryjankowski
6. Progress report on Educational Programs & Policy Committee - K. Takeuchi
7. Old/New business
8. Executive session (if needed)
9. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of October 27, 2004

The minutes were approved after noting a typographical error in Item 5; in the third paragraph, “been” should be “be.”

Item 2: Report of the Chair

Chair Nickerson reported:

• The Student Life Committee of the SUNY Senate met in Syracuse recently. The head of Student Life for the system talked about a meeting of student affairs representatives that was held in Saratoga Springs. One of the fascinating topics relates to the millennial student. We are seeking approval for a speaker for the plenary session on “Who are our students today? The Millennial Student.” I would like to have a similar discussion here at UB. It is important for the faculty to understand our students, their values, and any generalities that would help us to better understand how they learn.
• The Parking Office would like to talk to us about a change that would limit parking for freshmen. We’ll schedule that for the first meeting in the spring.
• The Affirmative Action Committee is planning for a meeting with the Provost and the President’s Chief of Staff, the respective chairs of the Academic Planning and the Academic Planning Support committees for UB2020.

Item 3: Report of the President/Provost

None

Item 4: Current status of Mission Review II – S. Sullivan

This topic was cancelled because the Provost was unable to attend today’s meeting. It will be the main topic at next Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.

Item 5: Report re the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships – T. Tryjankowski

Tim Tryjankowski is the program coordinator for UB’s new Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships. The Center, which opened in 14A Capen Hall last month, is administratively under the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Its mission is to cultivate and promote undergraduate research. Many undergraduates attend UB because they feel they can benefit from the research going on here.

Most other research universities offer some form of undergraduate research experience to their students. UB intends to increase those opportunities here. Many of our programs are engaged in meaningful research, but there was no centralized office to connect research to undergraduate students until now.

Although some of UB’s schools and programs offer an undergraduate research course or internship, many do not. The Center aims to offer undergraduate opportunities throughout UB for students not otherwise served. It will also provide assistance for enhancing the services of established programs.

A review panel will be created within the Center to review unsponsored opportunities and verify that they have a suitable research component to them.

The Center intends to develop a prominent Web presence so online visitors can quickly link to their Web site and browse information and opportunities. Research submission and record keeping can be done online, or in person at the Center.

Faculty involved in research will be the driving force behind the initiative. All applicable faculty members are urged to provide opportunities for undergraduate participation in the research process. They can also assist in nurturing “rising stars” by encouraging grant and fellowship applications, as well as graduate studies at UB.

Questions & comments:

• Besides altruism, is there an incentive for faculty participation? Involving undergraduates in research projects can be very time consuming. (Crespo)
• Undergraduates can make worthwhile contributions when they have been properly trained. Some schools, such as the U. of Michigan, provide training in research methodology to all freshmen. Many grants offer funding for involving students. The National Research Council has some monetary incentives for involving minority students. (Tryjankowski)
• It might be productive to identify programs associated with a degree. These offer more incentive to students. Sigma Psi has a poster session where programs could be publicized. (Brazeau)
• Training such as what is being done at the U. of Michigan is important. Librarians could be utilized for something similar here, because some are already teaching about research methods. (Tysick)
• Perhaps research methodology could be a required component in UB101 courses. (Brazeau)
• Will the Center influence UB’s recruitment efforts? (Nickerson)
• Many students indicate that having a potential opportunity to be involved in research influenced their decision to attend a research university. (Tryjankowski)
• There’s been a lot of emphasis on research. Is there also a “creative activity” component to the Center’s mission? (Faran)
• Yes, the Center aims to serve all departments. (Tryjankowski)
• Can we offer a financial incentive to increase student interest? (Crespo)
• It’s unlikely that departments will have resources to pay undergraduates for their participation. The U. of Michigan model provides training to freshmen who might get hired as paid trainers/mentors in the program when they’re juniors. (Tryjankowski)
• You have to convince people that their involvement is a better investment of their time than other options that are available. Departments should structure their programs to attract student interest. (Schack)
• It will take a culture change to get departments to offer incentives. The time faculty might invest in providing undergraduate opportunities is the same time they need to write their grant proposals. Grants currently carry much more weight in the promotion and tenure process. (Brazeau)

Item 6: Progress report of the Educational Programs & Policy Committee (EPPC) – K. Takeuchi

Professor Takeuchi chairs the EPPC, which has already met with Tim Tryjankowski and discussed many of the topics covered today. One of their suggestions was that the Center should consider having a contract of sorts for students and faculty members to review beforehand so they’ll have a better understanding of each other’s expectations.

Instead of trying to come up with an all-encompassing definition of research and creative activity, the EPPC prefers that departments should provide their own definition and identify related course offerings.

EPPC member Cecil Walters of the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program has volunteered to work with the Center in developing a research training program.

The EPPC also recommends that the Center work with the Center for Teaching & Learning Resources to develop workshops for faculty on the best practices for structuring undergraduate research and creative activities.

Item 7: Old/New business

None

Item 8: Executive session (if needed)

There was an executive session.

Item 9: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:33 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Will Hepfer
Secretary of the Faculty Senate

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

Chair: P. Nickerson (P)
Secretary: W. Hepfer (P)
Architecture & Planning: GS. Danford (P)
Arts & Sciences: S. Bruckenstein (P), M. Churchill (P), J. Faran (P), S. Schack (P), K. Takeuchi (P)
Dental Medicine: M. Donley (A)
Education: X. Liu (P)
Engineering & Applied Sciences: C. Basaran (P), J. Jensen (P)
Informatics: J. Ellison (P)
Institutional/General: O. Mixon (A)
Law: vacant
Management: C. Pegels (P)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: J. Evans (A), L. Harris (P), J. Hassett (E)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (A)
Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (P)
Public Health & Health Professions: C. Crespo (P)
Social Work: Barbara Rittner (A)
SUNY Senators: W. Baumer (P), W. Coles (P), M. Kramer (P), P. Nickerson (P)
University Libraries: C. Tysick (P)

Guests: P. Balzano (SA), M. Cochrane (Reporter), L. Labinski (Prof. Staff Senate), L. Meister (SA), T. Tryjankowski