The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) met at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 28, 2004, in 567 Capen Hall to consider the following agenda:
1. Approval of the minutes of April 14, 2004
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President/Provost
4. Report on WBFO – C. Petro
5. Introduction of Anthony Burgio
6. Report on the SUNY Faculty Senate meeting at Syracuse – J. Adams-Volpe
7. Old/New business
8. Executive session (if needed)
9. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of April 14, 2004

The minutes were approved as distributed.

Item 2: Report of the Chair

Chair Peter Nickerson reported:
• Professors Baumer and Nickerson, representing the University Centers and Health Sciences respectively, were elected to the SUNY Senate executive committee as sector representatives for next academic year.
• The Library Committee, now chaired by Professor Mary Cassata, held its organizational meeting today.

Item 3: Report of the President/Provost

None

Item 4: Report on WBFO – Carole Smith Petro

Associate Vice President Petro is General Manager of WBFO, UB’s public service FM station. It’s a National Public Radio affiliate that also provides local news along with educational and entertainment programming. Musical broadcasts mostly feature jazz and blues.

WBFO’s success in recent years is evidenced by substantial increases in membership and fundraising efforts. Also, the station has won many national, state, and local awards. Around 100,000 listeners tune in weekly.

WBFO currently ranks 10th nationally among NPR stations in its market size. It's been broadcasting throughout most of western New York since expanding coverage through repeater stations in Jamestown and Olean.

A recent digital conversion project and renovation of facilities were made possible by grant funding; no state revenues were used. Grant money has also been used to establish WBFO’s popular “Meet the Authors” series of interactive lectures.

Item 5: Introduction of Anthony Burgio

Incoming Undergraduate Student Association (SA) president Anthony Burgio said he wants to build a better relationship between SA and UB’s faculty. He also intends to foster a better sense of community for UB students. Improving communication to students and bringing in better entertainment will help to enhance student life on campus.

Student clubs are a very important part of campus life. Providing space for all of the clubs in the Student Union will be a challenge. Allocating funds to support student interests will also be challenging; fiscal accountability will be monitored carefully.

Promoting academic integrity is a faculty responsibility. Professors should set high standards and enforce them to discourage cheating.

Item 6: Report on the SUNY Faculty Senate meeting at Syracuse – Judith Adams-Volpe

Professor Adams-Volpe summarized her written report of the April 22-24 SUNY Faculty Senate meeting at Syracuse, which was distributed with the agenda. Highlights include:
• The Chancellor reported that SUNY graduation rates exceed those of national public universities, and are higher than the norm for New York private institutions.
• A tuition increase of $150-200 is being proposed, as influenced by the Higher Education Price Index. The proposal requests that tuition rates would remain the same for admitted students for four years.
• The New Vision Initiative for teacher education in SUNY is in place. Details are available online at http://www.sysadm.suny.edu/provost/teachered.htm.
• SUNY’s Levin Institute is planning to open in New York City in fall 2004. Its focus will be international relations and commerce. There will probably be 10 permanent faculty, and the rest will be “borrowed” from other SUNY schools for short or semester-long courses.
• The SUNY Faculty Senate voted (33-6) to endorse the document, “Strengthened Campus-Based Assessment,” with five requested modifications.
• A speaker on the “Students, Plagiarism & Ethics” panel said there’s a proven impact at institutions with a strong honor code/culture. Useful information is available on the Center for Academic Integrity’s Web site at http://www.academicintegrity.org. UB is a member of the Center.

Item 7: Old/New business

Item 8: Executive session (if needed)

None

Item 9: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 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 (A)
Arts & Sciences: S. Bruckenstein (P), M. Churchill (P), R. Hoeing (P), S. Schack (P), K. Takeuchi (P)
Dental Medicine: M. Donley (P)
Education: L. Malave (A)
Engineering & Applied Sciences: J. Jensen (P), R. Mayne (P)
Informatics: F. Tutzauer (E)
Institutional/General: O. Mixon (A)
Law: L. Swartz (P)
Management: J. Boot (A)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: J. Hassett (E), G. Logue (A), B. Murray (A), J. Sellick (P)
Nursing: P. Wooldridge (P)
Pharmacy: G. Brazeau (P)
Public Health & Health Professions: C. Crespo (P)
Social Work: Barbara Rittner (E)
SUNY Senators: J. Adams-Volpe (P), W. Baumer (P), M. Kramer (P), P. Nickerson (P)
University Libraries: CA Fabian (A)

Guests: D. Budniewski (Reporter), A. Burgio (Student Assn.), B. Burke (EDAAA), M. Cohen (FS past-chair), L. Labinski (Prof. Staff Senate), S. Nolan-Weiss (EDAAA),C. Petro (WBFO)