FACULTY SENATE
Minutes of May 1, 2007
(unapproved)
The Faculty Senate met in the Center for Tomorrow at 2:00 PM on May 1, 2007 , to consider the following agenda:
- Approval of the Minutes of April 3, 2007
- Report of the Chair
- Remarks by President John B. Simpson
- Update on the Faculty Senate Budget Priorities Committee
- Report on the SUNY Senate Plenary Meeting in Brockport
- Adjournment
- Tier I – making the case with external sponsors, and ensuring that the resources come to us;
- Tier II – cross-university budget/resource management, deciding how best to distribute the money;
- Tier III – unit resource management.
- Resource profiles, both unit-specific and University-wide;
- Unit objective and business models;
- Pre-growth potential for strategic improvement;
- Open campus dialogue;
- Three-year pre-growth agreements through 2008/09.
- the Cary-Farber-Sherman research space expansion ($10 million requested);
- UB's downtown Gateway and Educational Opportunity Center ($8 million requested);
- the Center for Translational and Clinical Research (($13 million requested).
Item 1: Approval of the Minutes of April 3, 2007 The Minutes of April 3, 2007 , were approved as submitted.
Item 2: Report of the Chair The Chair announced this would be the last Faculty Senate meeting of the academic year, and his last meeting as Chair; he said it has been a pleasure to serve in this capacity for the last four years, and for ten years total.
The FSEC saw a demonstration of the on-line program for sexual harassment training [Minutes of the FSEC, April 18, 2007 ]; The Chair reminded the Senate that it is essential that faculty, staff, and students receive up-to-date training on what constitutes sexual harassment and how to deal with it properly. The FSEC also heard from Heidi Retzer [FSEC, April 18, 2007 ] on an update on travel services; there is an attempt to combine State policies on travel with those of the Research Foundation through a merger of the two travel offices.
Ms. Jerry Linder from Human Resources presented to the FSEC [ April 11, 2007 ] a proposal for the establishment of a volunteer program in which faculty, staff, and students provide volunteer help for the Buffalo Public Schools.
On behalf of the Affirmative Action Committee, Ms. Lorna Arrington, a Committee member, presented a report on the Recruitment & Retention Handbook to the FSEC.
The Academic Planning Committee met with the Provost and discussed how the Committee could be more pro-active in its approach to academic planning. The Committee will meet with Professor Shibley soon to get a better understanding of how facilities are being planned for the future.
The Budget Priorities Committee also reported to the FSEC; it has been reviewing the UB Resource Management process as well as the process for forming compacts with the deans so that budget planning can cover a period longer than one year.
Item 3: Remarks by President John B. Simpson
President Simpson reported he had attended a meeting of the University presidents last week, where a major topic of concern was the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Whereas several campuses across the nation are considering various types of legislation which would hopefully better ensure campus safety, Simpson remarked that UB already has a very good system of response plans in place. Some of these were already tested during the October (2006) storm; UB learned from the storm a good deal about how these response plans can be improved. All policies, protocols, and procedures are being reviewed. Unfortunately, all of these are reactions to a given incident; there is not too much the University can do ahead of such an event, “without basically trampling on personal rights” and denying the open environment a University should be. However, we can improve communications about potential dangers and crisis events using the latest, as well as traditional, technologies available. Finding the right balance between the rights of the individual and the rights and safety of the community is the primary concern, and the UB administration has been working diligently on this. He welcomed ideas from the faculty on how to deal more effectively with potentially problematic situations.
Following up on former Vice-President Al Gore's visit to UB, President Simpson commented on UB's excellent record on, and continued commitment to the environment and energy conservation. Last month President Simpson signed, “with a good deal of enthusiasm”, a document called “The College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment” which commits the University to a goal of climate carbon neutrality within the next several years. He pointed out the silliness of the question, “Do you believe in climate change?”, because climate change is not a question of belief, but rather one of data. The University's smaller- and larger-scale green, energy-efficient projects and programs over the last several years not only helped the environment, but have also saved UB over $100 million which would otherwise have been spent/wasted on additional energy costs. President Simpson plans to continue to push a green agenda as long as he is president.
He then updated the Senate on events in Albany . He expressed regret that Chancellor Ryan was stepping down; Ryan, he said, has a “good sense of what higher education is”, and has worked very well with the legislature and the considerable bureaucracy in Albany . Most important, however, was his understanding of the nature and purpose of a research university. Ryan has been UB's “biggest cheerleader in Albany ” in support of our strategic planning and ambitious agenda. President Simpson noted that Governor Spitzer himself is also strongly supportive of this University in particular, and of what research universities in general can do for their communities. The Governor is presently putting together a blue-ribbon commission on SUNY to advise him on what SUNY ought to do to become a great university. UB has pushed and changed the conversation in Albany ; this is reflected in the Governor's attitudes as well as in the kinds of things he is proposing. However, “he is face with a State, and with a legislature, and with a history” in which ‘every child gets a favor'. Both he and Simpson are bucking this tradition, simply so that research institutions such as Buffalo and Stony Brook can realize their aspirations and not see their efforts get wasted. UB has far too few faculty for the breadth research undertaken. UB 2020 is not about growth per se, but rather about identifying strengths, focusing research directions and developing them; growth is just an enabling strategy. UB 2020 not only can happen --- it is happening.
Professor Welch asked if there were any tensions surrounding the Governor's support of UB, particularly between SUNY and CUNY. The President said there were indeed, but pointed out that the prevailing attitude --- that if something is good for one institution it's bad for another --- is simply misguided; nevertheless, the big advantage for UB is its location and its potential impact on the local economy. Professor Campbell wondered if there is any way to take advantage of this parochial mind-set; for example, the University of Georgia was successful in getting parents to buy into its mission. Thus, instead of fighting the State legislature, can we try to get them on our side through artful structuring of proposals. President Simpson considered the best path within SUNY (since secession seems unrealistic) leads toward differentiation --- in terms of budget, policy, and tuition (mainly between the doctoral institution and the rest of SUNY) --- rather than risk homogenizing the admittedly unequal institutions.
Asked about his views about the federal government's actions on higher education, Simpson felt that the Department of Education is pushing to hard, and trying to do more things than they should, and [things which] have the potential --- under the guise of regulating and improving by accountability --- of really doing significant harm. In particular, some in the Department, using the leverage of accreditation, would like to put in a system of accountability for higher education that would require a test-based demonstration that students have learned something. Not only is this impractical and non-indicative of success in higher education, it is destructive in its consequences for the country's greatest assets, namely, the research universities.
Professor Bradford noted that, at the New York State United Teachers convention the past week, Governor Spitzer made it very clear to the crowd of 3,000 --- 90% of whom were K-12 teachers --- that he was behind strong higher education, and that his budget would stress that significantly. Spitzer also said that the State's K-12 education system would not be homogenized at all. Professor Bradford wondered if UB was pairing its efforts with the region's K-12 schools in establishing an educational spectrum of sorts. President Simpson replied that the University is considering working with Buffalo 's public schools in ways that would be advantageous to both, but not with respect to what might happen with funding from Albany
Professor Cherr asked Simpson to comment on the University's role within the Berger Commission report, concerning the hospital closings in the region. The President replied that UB had been invited to participate in the conversations between Kaleida and ECMC; he could not say much beyond that due to a confidentiality agreement, but said he expects UB to play THE major role defining what health care is in the future of Western New York.
President Simpson then presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Professor Nickerson for his service as Chair of the Faculty Senate for the past four years, and one to Professor Hoeing for his service as Secretary as well as in anticipation of his upcoming term as Chair.
Item 4: Update on the Faculty Senate Budget Priorities Committee
Sean Sullivan, Associate Vice-President for Academic Planning and Budget, updated the Senate on the discussions of the Budget Priorities Committee (BPC) and resource management at UB. He first talked about opportunities available to us now and in the near future. UB is a $1 billion enterprise, and should grow to $1.4 by 2020. Roughly $100 million are expected to be freed up in position vacancies by 2012-2014; in addition, there are significant financial reserves available today across the units, albeit to varying degrees. Sullivan believes we will need a $1.5 billion capital “build-out” by 2020 to accommodate our growth, and $400 million of capital projects are already under way.
His office has engaged the BPC over the past year primarily through orienting it to the three tiers of resource management:
His office plans to share thinking with members at all three integrated tiers, build member perspectives, and ask the BPC to offer critical opinions of management plan at key points in the process.
Vice-President Sullivan pointed out that, over the last two years of his twenty-eight at UB, a new manner of thinking about budgeting resources has taken root. It has changed from being unit-centric to University-wide; the base budget used to be unit entitlement, but now all resources are University resources. Formulaic revenue sharing has given way to a model driven by strategic outcomes. Year-by-year increments are being replaced by flexible multi-year agreements, and a process that was once minimal and informal is now a structured annual cycle. Furthermore, use of funds will become aligned to the purpose of those funds.
The first step in constructing this new approach was in the development of the strategic vision of UB 2020 . To support that vision, we are trying to understand how we are currently using our budgets, and how this can be optimized through reaching shared understandings through
Using all information that becomes available, his office is beginning to model UB 2020 growth plans in terms of number of faculty needed, facilities, support budgets, revenues the investments would generate, and so on.
He then outlined the pre-growth three-year unit budget agreements as follows:
EXPECTED OUTCOMES + FINANCIAL PLANS
- Major academic initiatives - Financial profile – 2005 /06
- Strategic strength contributions - Requested investments
- Enrollment plans - Analysis-revenue potential and
- Student quality improvement expense management strategies
- Retention and degree attainment - Funding commitments
- Faculty/Staff/Student Diversity - Funded need
- Research plans - Funding plan (including unit match)
- Philanthropy goals - Base support
- Public Service Initiatives - Revenues
- Rankings / National prominence - New investments
- Planned use of reserves
At the end of the pre-growth process --- by 2008/09 --- expected outcomes include: a faculty increase of 100 FTE; significant increased in TA stipends; 10-15% savings in academic support units; transformed IT, phone, and Human Resources infrastructures; strengthened financial information systems; streamlined annual budget process and implementation; and resolution of four key resource management issues --- university/unit hiring planning, fee and service recharge policy, research income management, and the use of State operating funds.
Vice-President Sullivan has discussed all aspects of the budget process mentioned above with the Budget Priorities Committee. In “Making the Case with External Sponsors”, they covered the Mission Review, a multi-year needs analysis, tuition and financial aid policy, the legislative agenda, philanthropic efforts, and the SUNY State tax fund allocation method. On this last point, Sullivan noted that although SUNY is a major research institution, the allocation method used brings UB tax funding down to the system average; until the budget is differentiated, UB will be undersupported in this respect.
Similar discussion was held regarding cross-University resource management (resource management principles, funding realities, All Funds Budget profile, etc.) as well as unit resource management. The next steps to be taken, from orientation to informed engagement, include: streamlining the budget cycle; resolving the key management issues mentioned above; compiling a Budget Principles and Process handbook; modeling and planning UB 2020 growth; and revising unit agreements as appropriate.
Regarding the State's allocation of expenditure into the proper “buckets”, Professor Baumer noted that all fringe benefits are in a separate budget line in the State budget; they are neither in the SUNY budget nor in the UB budget. “That is one of the reasons for putting as much of the personnel costs on the State side as we can get, because it makes about a 30-40% difference in what you incur as a budget cost.” Sullivan added that, if we appoint people to the State payroll who should be paid from other revenue streams, and in so doing we avoid the benefit costs, we might be undercharging for the service that is driving the need for those employees. Thus we should examine whether we should adjust our rate structures to account for the fringe benefit cost. Professor Welch suggested, with respect to the required curriculum and its effect on service teaching, that the BPC schedule some joint sessions with Academic Planning to ensure that these matters are addressed.
Vice-President Sullivan then distributed a sheet summarizing the 2007/08 State budget highlights; in general, it is a very good budget for UB. All contractual salary costs are covered; in addition, UB received full funding for inflationary cost increases, full energy cost increase funding, $1.6 million in new recurring State appropriations for the Empire Innovation Program (funding for senior research faculty hires, irrespective on enrollment numbers), $1.7 million in unfunded enrollment support, as well as several appropriations beyond the State base (including $1.416 million for the Bioinformatics Center and $1 million from the Hunter Kelly foundation for research on Crabbe's disease). This enables UB to hire as many as 43 additional faculty. For the capital budget, UB received an additional $11 million for critical maintenance and $301 million in continuing project appropriations (the Educational Opportunity Center , the new Engineering building, the refurbishment of Acheson Hall, etc.).
He added that there is potential for supplemental allocations which will provide initial planning funds for UB's highest capital request priorities:
Sullivan expressed hope that we would secure funding at least for the first two.
Item 5: Report on the SUNY Senate Plenary Meeting in Brockport
Dr. Coles, SUNY Senator for UB, distributed prior to the meeting a detailed report of the Spring Plenary Meeting of the University Faculty Senate on April 26-28, 2007 . He commented on a few of the items in the report.
Re-elected President Wiezalis reported that there was no indication as yet as to who the Interim Chancellor would be; Chancellor Ryan is stepping down at the end of May. Tom Egan, Chair of the Board of Trustees, assured Wiezalis that faculty will be “intimately involved” in the selection of the new Chancellor.
In addition to the information presented in the foregoing item on the SUNY budget, Senator Coles added that the money allocated for the Empire Innovation Program had been doubled to $12 million; Chancellor Ryan had requested $19.2 million more. The money allows SUNY to continue to hire top rank research faculty, clustering hiring in strategic research areas. Also, the State budget calls for the establishment, by next year, of a comprehensive new five-year capital finance plan for SUNY for educational facilities, residence halls, and hospital facilities.
There has been a change in federal lobbying. Last year, SUNY spent $750,000 on an agency for lobbying for federal funds. This year, SUNY is securing is own lobbying office in Washington , D.C. , with a director and two assistants. It will spend $250,000 on the same agency and reduce that amount to $125,000 next year. It is anticipated that the move will provide researchers with greater access to NSF and NIH.
The private institutions are interested in having TAP allocations rise so that the range of the salaries that would be included for parents would be considerably higher. Senator Coles pointed out that this would hurt our students, especially since UB cannot take advantage of the maximum TAP as it is. Several students are already “getting indexed out of TAP”.
Great concern was expressed regarding the Spellings Commission's report “A Test with Leadership”, which calls for improved quality and public accountability; people were also worried about increases in federal intervention in the assessment of value-added learning.
The Gold Leadership Certificate Program at SUNY-Geneseo, directed by Tom Matthews, is an attempt to prepare students for leadership roles and responsibilities in service to the college and community. Because existing programs are small and select, it was felt that leadership opportunities should be open to everyone.
Among the shared concerns of the University sectors is the need for more money for graduate stipends. The Chancellor realizes this is a battle for talent; but when he argues the point before the legislators, he said, “their eyes just glaze over”. A second item for concern is the funding for libraries, for which there is no specific line in the budget. The Chancellor plans to discuss this again with the presidents, and Provost Palm may form a group to discuss library online sharing. A third concern centers on intellectual property rights; the Chancellor expects the SUNY Counsel to discuss issues of ownership, especially of syllabi and online courses.
Finally, Professor Nickerson, Chair of the UB Faculty Senate and Chair of the SUNY Gradaute and Research Committee, received the first University Faculty Senate Award for Outstanding Service to the University Faclty Senate.
Item 6: Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:25 PM .
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Hoeing,
Secretary of the Faculty Senate
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