FACULTY SENATE
Minutes of April 3, 2007
(unapproved)

 

The Faculty Senate met in the Center for Tomorrow at 2:00 PM on April 3, 2007, to consider the following agenda:

1. Approval of the Minutes of March 6, 2007
2. Report of the Chair
3. Discovery Seminars and Undergraduate Academies
   Michael Ryan, Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education
4. Report of the Athletics and Recreation Committee
   Gayle Brazeau and Russ Crispell, Co-Chairs
5. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the Minutes of March 6, 2007

The Minutes of March 6, 2007, were approved pending minor typographic corrections.

Item 2: Report of the Chair

The Chair reported that SUNY Provost Risa Palm, who had agreed to address the UB Faculty Senate today, had to cancel due to a change in schedule; unfortunately, she will not be able to come to the final meeting on May 6 either.

Professor Nickerson talked on Tuesday, February 27, about faculty governance at the Educational Opportunity Center located in downtown Buffalo.

A second meeting of the group that is working on making UB a better place to work was held recently. The group form two sub-committees: Best Practices and Communications. Chair-Elect Professor Hoeing will be serving on both.

Vice-Provost for Faculty Affairs Finley has responded to the resolution of the FSEC on Teaching & Learning and the reorganization of the Center on Teaching and Learning Resources: Professor Jensen will serve on the search committee that will both search for a new director and will work on defining the position in advance; the Faculty Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning will be involved in giving input into the description and scope of the job description; Professor Finley will meet with the Committee on Teaching and Learning; and Professor Wells is involved with researching what other major public research universities are doing with Teaching & Learning (from a central point of view).

The Affirmative Action Committee is finalizing the Recruitment and Retention Handbook . It met with Vice-Provost Finley and will make further changes with the expectation that the document will be presented at a meeting of the Provost and the deans.

The Computer Services Committee heard from two IT transformation task force members, Joe Mantione and Charles Dunn, who reported on the current progress of the group. They examined the IT infrastructure at UB (excluding the research centers), and determined that there are 1,000 servers on campus, 131 web servers, 12,194 users, 15,279 workstations, 72 TB of capacity being used for storage and 580 GB for e-mail purposes. They proposed improving service, consolidating the number of servers to a minimum, leveraging existing server -ups and existing skill-sets, and are in the process of developing a faculty survey. UB Mail is in the beta testing stage. They also reported that five teams are at work on various aspects of IT --- anti-virus, firewall, and patch; e-mail; database; directory services; and file, print, and net appliance.

Item 3: Discovery Seminars and Undergraduate Academies

Michael Ryan, Vice-Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, reported on the progress of two initiatives in undergraduate education at UB: the Discovery Seminars and the Undergraduate Academies.

The Discovery Seminar Program offers a small class experience for first- and second-year students, providing them with the opportunity to engage with a faculty member around a thought-provoking and challenging topic. The goals of the Program are to help lower-division students

• Explore a topic in depth in a comfortable, small group setting;
• Get to know a faculty member who loves teaching undergraduates;
• Engage in an unfamiliar subject in an environment conducive to exploration and discovery;
• Understand the academic challenges and rewards of attending a research university; and
• Improve skills in critical thinking, as well as in oral and written expression.

The Seminars are conducted in small groups limited to 15 students, in which active participation is encouraged and regular attendance is required. They meet throughout the semester once a week for 50 minutes and carry one credit hour, and evaluation of student performance uses standard letter grading. Faculty benefit from the Seminars as well. In addition to having the opportunity to engage more closely with undergraduate students and sharing their passion for their particular scholarly interests and activities, they help lower-division students become more active members of the University community. Because the Discovery Seminars are taught as course overload, faculty receive a $500 award for developing the seminar; this money can be used for any academic purpose including travel, research, and supplies.

Coordinator for the Seminars is Dr. Kara Saunders, Assistant Vice-Provost of Undergraduate Education. There were 4 seminars in Fall 2006, are currently 18 (Spring 2007), and 27 are planned for Fall 2007; the goal is to offer about 50 per semester. More information can be found at

http://discoveryseminars.buffalo.edu

The Undergraduate Academies are scholarly communities composed of faculty, students, and staff with shared goals and interests, and provide an organized way to focus on some of our institutional strengths in order to enrich the undergraduate educational experience. They provide not only a framework for undergraduates to be motivated participants, but also an inventory and coordination of programs and support services (both curricular and extracurricular).

The Academies will be directed by a Steering Committee whose members are: Dennis Black, Vice-President for Student Affairs; Barbara Ricotta, Dean of Students and Associate Vice-President for Student Affairs; Michael Ryan, Vice-Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education; and Regina Toomey, Senior Associate Vice-Provost. Dr. Toomey will serve as Project Coordinator, and Jacob Sneva as Administrative Director.

There are several components of the academies:

• Missions and Goals for each Academy;
• Defined Learning Outcomes;
• Faculty Leadership, consisting of a Master Scholar and a Board of Fellows. The Master Scholar provides the academic/intellectual leadership in designing the academy, and will be assisted by a two- or three-member Board of Faculty Fellows;
• Curricular components (courses, seminars);
• Extracurricular experiences (projects, workshops, etc.);
• Advisement services --- in particular, how students can integrate these experiences into their chose fields;
• Physical space (conference and meeting rooms);
• Living & Learning communities;
• Virtual communities (via IT tools that enable communication);
• Project grants for research, study abroad, community service and the like.

Four Undergraduate Academies have been developed so far. Civic Engagement (Fall 2007), Research Exploration (Fall 2007), Creative Expression (Fall 2008), and Global and International Issues (Spring 2008). The mission for the Civic Engagement Academy is to promote and encourage students to become active, reflective, and critically thinking citizens of their communities. Professor Peter Sobota (Social Work) will serve as Master Scholar; the advisory Faculty Fellows will include Professor Robert Granfield and another faculty member, with Amy Wilson (Leadership Development Center) as the Assistant Director providing administrative support. The mission for the Academy for Research Exploration is “to promote and encourage students to embrace critical and constructive thinking and help prepare students for post-baccalaureate endeavors”. It will be headed by Professor Tracy Gregg (Geology) as Master Scholar; Professors Peter Nickerson (Biomedical Science), Albert Titus (Engineering), and Diane Christian (English) as Faculty Fellows; and Timothy Tryjanowski (Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities) as Assistant Director.

The Academies will not require any membership criteria nor impose any course obligations; they exist to make students aware of the variety of opportunities at their disposal. Some students may only participate in a single seminar or research project, others may be involved in all aspects. Students who do fulfill a well-defined core of experiences will receive documented recognition, probably in the form of a transcript notation such as “Research Exploration Scholar”.

Of the 145 returned Orientation data forms, 31 new students so far have indicated an interest in the Academies; if this ratio continues for the rest of the new student population, there will be about 650-700 entering freshmen interested in the Academies. This strongly positive response should help increase enrollment and yield of best undergraduate applicants. Vice-Provost Ryan also expressed strong hope that it will help us increase out-of-state and international enrollment, enrich our opportunities for undergraduate education, provide a focus and motivation for the undergraduate experience, and improve our retention and graduation rate. In concluding, he invited the UB faculty to volunteer to offer Discovery Seminars and to serve as Faculty Fellows for the Academies.

The website for the Undergraduate Academies is: http://academy.buffalo.edu

Professor Welch asked what evaluation of the UB 101 program has been done in terms of its goals, and whether there were any relation between UB 101 and the various Academies. Vice-Provost Ryan replied that the main goal of UB 101 is to facilitate the transition for many students from high school to college --- for example, by introducing them to various time-management skills, study habits, critical thinking, and so on. Evaluation of both the instructor and the students is done at the end of each semester, similar to normal course evaluations. Feed from students varies according to instructor, teaching style, format, and other variables. At this point, there is no direct link between UB 101 and the Academies; but Professor Ryan does foresee an opportunity for designing UB 101 sections that would fit in with the Academies if the right parameters are set.

Professor Alphonce requested more clarification on the role of the Faculty Fellows in the Academies. Ryan responded that, whereas the Master Scholar shoulders the heaviest responsibility, the Fellows serve chiefly as an advisory board, providing intellectual leadership for the Academies. Their commitments in terms of time and work would be much less demanding; the Steering Committee is still in the process of defining their role more sharply.

Professor Nickerson asked whether UB were unique in offering these programs. Many institutions, Ryan responded, have freshman seminars in various forms, so the Discovery Seminars are not that unique. Although the Undergraduate Academies are not unique --- other universities have learning communities or similar programs --- those at UB do have distinctive elements and structures not found elsewhere.

Professor Adams-Volpe, who is presently teaching a Discovery Seminar, observed that the students can and do complement the instructor’s knowledge of the material, making it for both a true “discovery” seminar. Vice-Provost Ryan agreed, adding that they often change the nature and dynamics of the course.

Item 4: Report of the Chair

The Graduate School Executive Committee met last week and discussed issues concerning the Graduate Faculty. Upon appointment to a full title at the University, the individual is entitled to membership on the Graduate Faculty; the member must be in the computer system, which occurs on the first day of service at UB. If a faculty member transfers from one unit to another, the second unit needs to reaffirm that they want that faculty member on their graduate faculty. In another point on the agenda, Keith Otto (Intensive Language) and Steven Shaw (International Education) reported on requirements for international students at UB and on the availability of help to improve their ability to speak. Shaw talked also about recruitment of international students.

The FSEC recently heard from Dean Nils Olsen, Chair of the Corrigan Review Committee, who reported on the current review by the group on the Athletics program at UB [FSEC Minutes from 2/21, Item 2]. It also heard from Associate Vice-Provost Mangione about final exam scheduling and the need to revise/replace the old scheduling program [FSEC Minutes from 2/14, Item 5].

The Chair provided updates on activities of some Faculty Senate Committees. At a recent meeting of the Computer Services Committee, Dr. Peter Gold reported on the UBCATS on-line course evaluation system; the Committee also discussed the anti-plagiarism Turnitin program and privacy. The Affirmative Action Committee is working on a guide for recruitment and retention, and will interact with Vice-Provost for Faculty Affairs Finley at the end of March. The Athletics and Recreation Committee met on Monday talked about recreation and how to better understand the needs and current availability and diversity of the program. The Committee also discussed helping the Division of Athletics in the academic aspects of course development. The Academic Planning Committee reviewed the recent progress on the placement of Library & Information Studies; Vice-Provost and Interim Dean of the School of Informatics Finley met with the Committee. The FSEC voted to receive the Committee’s report. The Elections Committee is to report on the elections for SUNY Senator and UB Senate Chair (Item 5 below).

The Chair has invited recently appointed SUNY Provost Risa Palm to interact with the Faculty Senate, and is trying to arrange for her to attend one of the final two meetings of this academic year.

Item 4: Report of the Athletics and Recreation Committee

Mr. Russell Crispell, Assistant Recreation Director of Outdoor Pursuits, and Co-Chair of the Faculty Senate Athletics and Recreation Committee (ARC), reviewed the Committee’s three charges and addressed its progress on each. The first charges states that the ARC shall “conduct reviews of general University policies encompassing all athletic activities at this University and report on these”. On this point, Crispell mentioned that Professor Fourtner was appointed by President Simpson as the Faculty Athletic Representative; he oversees the academic side of Athletics, monitoring such items as integrity and the filing of the annual Academic Progress Report. Crispell noted on the side that he regarded himself primarily as an educator, only secondarily as a coach, and graduated 100% of his student-athletes, top in the nation.

The second charge to the ARC is “to carry out continuous liaison with the Director of Athletics and other appropriate University officers and committees concerned with the development and administration of University athletic programs to the standards, principles, and policies of the various conferences an associations to which the University belongs”. The Co-Chairs Crispell and Professor Brazeau met in Fall 2006 with the Director of Athletics, Warde Manuel, and senior staff to initiate contact and offer support. The Committee was formed during the same semester and met initially in December 2006; its members include the following faculty: Donald Henderson, Maureen Jameson, William McCall, Chuck Fourtner (ex officio), Ed Wright, Tim Hartigan, and Natalie Simpson. The co-chairs also serve on an ad hoc committee reviewing wellness programming for the University student/faculty/staff population.

On its third charge --- “to carry out such specific studies or investigation regarding athletic affairs as may be assigned to it by the Executive Committee” --- the ARC has agreed to review a proposed course for the Fall 2007 semester in Recreation’s basic instruction. The proposed course is ATH 204: Principles and Practices in Recreational Sports Officiating. The course proposal had initially been rejected, but will now be re-submitted following successful ARC recommendations.

The ARC also identified specific priorities it proposes to address:

• To strengthen the academic program within the Division of Athletics;
• To review recommendations from the Division of Athletics pertaining to programming, facilities, and needs --- for example, how to address the needs of recreation at all three campus locations, including downtown;
• To maintain consistency of Athletics and Recreation Policies and Procedures;
• To improve the overall recreational opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and the local community;
• To address any other charges the Faculty Senate may determine.

Athletics offers 20 Division I intercollegiate sports [M=men’s, W=women’s]: football, baseball, softball, W volleyball, M/W basketball, wrestling, M/W swimming, M/W tennis, M/W cross-country, M/W soccer, W rowing, M/W indoor/outdoor track and field. These are presently under review by the Corrigan Commission [for an update, see the FSEC Minutes of February 21, 2007, Item 2], whose report with recommendations will soon be delivered to Director Manuel and President Simpson. The University at Buffalo competes in the Mid-America Conference in all the above sports except women’s rowing, which is not sponsored by the MAC. Crispell noted that UB is one of only 62 institutions in the nation that are members of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU), and that over 40% of our student-athletes have been named UB Scholar Athletes (by posting a GPA of 3.0 or better) consistently each semester over the past ten years.

Recreational programming includes aerobics, aquatics, CPR and First Aid, fitness, various intramurals, open recreation, outdoor pursuits, and sport clubs. Crispell mentioned that he is moving Outdoor Pursuits to the South Campus, where Clark Hall will be renovated into an outdoor gear rental shop to which the community will have access.

Co-Chair Professor Brazeau added that the ARC is conducting an inventory and assessment of all recreational activities and facilities on campus, because they are so scattered and because the Committee wishes to make them available to all members of the University. Vice-Provost Ryan commented that several universities have, as part of freshman orientation, some outdoor activity such as a high-ropes event, and asked about the liability surrounding these events. Mr. Crispell answered that it is most important to “measure twice, cut once” --- i.e., proper planning, ensuring the proper infrastructure is in place and intact, and ensuring that the events are monitored by people who know what they are doing.

Professor Brazeau suggested that the proposed Undergraduate Academies might also address the issue of team building in connection with these activities. She stressed a top priority of the ARC, namely, to ensure the high academic quality of Athletics courses --- rigorous and sound, with valid learning outcomes. Professor Coles asked about the status of a fieldhouse and a stand-alone recreational facility; Professor Brazeau said nothing is definite yet, but it is “on the radar” and under discussion.

Item 6: Report from the Faculty Senate Computer Services Committee

Professor Ringland updated the Senate on the current activities of the Computer Services Committee (CSC). First is the IT Strategic Transformation, a process that is part of UB 2020 that includes several facets:

• Workstation standardization, under team leader Peter Rittner; a report has already been submitted to, and approved by, the Executive Technology Advisory Group (ETAG). Proposals include a four-year refreshment cycle for machines, and an attempt to standardize the software platform for each operating system used on campus;
• Server and services consolidation;
• Shared services desk, an effort to consolidate help services;
• Conversion of phone systems to VOIP [Voice Over IP (Internet Protocol)];
• Several other items, including the Strategic Information Reporting Initiative.

The CSC is also examining the new federal e-discovery rules which went into effect in December 2006; these could “potentially impose a tremendous burdens” on the University; for example, in cases of lawsuits, the purging of -up systems must be suspended. The University is currently developing protocols and procedures to deal with such eventualities. A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education titled “Don’t Delete”, stated that the university should dispel any expectations of privacy on the part of the faculty and staff members, and that the university should describe the college’s right when there is a need to inspect faculty’s home computers.

Of particular concern to the CSC are personal privacy issues surrounding the software program TurnItIn , a “massive, privately-owned database” used to detect plagiarism. Among specific potential problems is the vulnerability to government intervention and the sale of students’ papers to other parties. Professor Ringland added that the “long-term chances of a security breach … are extremely high”. Although technically a legal service --- it does not violate FERPA [the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] because the work is ungraded upon submission and is therefore not part of the students’ academic record ---, Professor Ringland feels the program violates the spirit, if not the letter of FERPA. After discussion with Rick Lesniak, Director of Academic Services in CIT, it was decided not to use the program in conjunction with Blackboard . The Committee is looking around for alternatives to TurnItIn .

The CSC is also monitoring “iTunesU”; the University has a plan to outsource podcasting of course material to Apple via this service. The Committee has submitted a list of ten questions to CIT --- among them, why they are outsourcing in the first place; why they are using a system that does not use open standards; what rights we are surrendering when course content is submitted; and what mechanisms exist for getting out of the agreement.

Other activities of the CSC include discussion of a 5-year public computing plan; development of computer security guidelines; examination of a new file-sharing tactic of the RIAA [Recording Industry Association of America] as well as the curtailed Fair Use standards of the DMCA; examination of bills introduced in Congress regarding open document standards and net neutrality; and consideration of the extension of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which now mandates the ability to remotely tap not only phone lines, but data/internet lines as well.

Professor Ringland invited anyone with concerns in these areas to share them with the Computer Services Committee.

Item 5: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Robert Hoeing,
Secretary of the Faculty Senate

Attendance

Architecture & Planning

Danford (P)

Arts & Sciences

Anderson (P)

Brancato (A)

Buscaglia (A)

Campbell (A)

Churchill (E)

DeWald (P)

Dryden (P)

Ehrenberg (A)

Gabriel (A)

Giese (A)

Griffler (A)

Hennessey (P)

Juarros-Daussa (A)

Lamb (A)

Lo (A)

Lulat (A)

Markelz (A)

Shiode (P)

Simms (A)

Street (P)

Subramanian (P)

Takeuchi (P)

Timler (P)

Watrous (A)

Weinstein (A)

Welch (P)

Young (P)

Dental Medicine

Bradford (E)

Davis (P)

Hall (A)

Mang (A)

Education

Ageyev (P)

Kibby (A)

Lee (A)

Schroeder (A)

Engineering

Alexandridis (A)

Alphonce (P)

Batalama (A)

Dargush (P)

Soom (P)

Srihari (P)

Titus (P)

Wetherhold (A)

Informatics

Woelfel (A)

Law

Miller (A)

Milles (A)

Management

Cohen (P)

Lin (P)

Simpson (A)

Trivedi (P)

Nursing

Curran (P)

Wooldridge (A)

Pharmacy

Boje (A)

Brazeau (P)

Social Work

Rittner (A)

SUNY Senators

Baumer (P)

Bradford (E)

Coles (P)

Durand (P)

University Libraries

Adams-Volpe (P)

Kramer (P)

Taddeo (A)

Tao (A)

Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

Amsterdam (A)

Brown (A)

Cherr (P)

Dayton (A)

Dobson (A)

Fiden (A)

Fudyma (E)

Harris (E)

Hassett (A)

Hernan (A)

Hershey (P)

Joshi (P)

Krause (A)

LaDuca (P)

Lukan (A)

Mastrandea (A)

Noble (P)

Sands (A)

Sharp (P)

Snyder (P)

Springate (P)

Spurgeon (A)

Sundquist (P)

Weinstock (A)

Yale (A)

Young (A)

Public Health & Health Professions

Farkas (A)

Horvath (A)

Tomita (P)

Faculty Senate Officers

Peter Nickerson, President (P)

Robert Hoeing, Secretary (P)

Guests

Satish Tripathi, Provost

Michael Ryan, Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education

Russ Crispell, Assistant Recreation Director of Outdoor Pursuits

Larry Labinski, Professional Staff Senate

Mary Cochrane, The Reporter

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