FACULTY SENATE

Minutes of May 6, 2003

(unapproved)

 

The Faculty Senate met at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, 2003 , at the Center for Tomorrow to consider the following agenda:

1. Approval of the minutes of April 1, 2003
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President/Provost
4. 2 nd reading – Course Resignations – William Baumer
5. 2 nd reading – Resolution on Decanal Selection and Appointment – Dennis Malone
6. 2 nd reading – Resolution on Decanal Review – Dennis Malone
7. Report of the Admissions & Retention Committee – Judith Adams-Volpe
8. Report on Scientific Planning for UB's Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics – Norma Jean Nowak
9. Report on University Faculty Senate – Joe Hildreth
10. Report of SUNY Senate Meeting at Cornell – Marilyn McMann Kramer
11. Old/New business
12. Adjournment

 

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of April 1, 2003

 

The minutes were approved as distributed.

 

Item 2: Report of the Chair

 

Chair Cohen acknowledged that this is the last Faculty Senate meeting in his two-year term and recapped the major issues that FS and FSEC have dealt with during that period. He said we have covered a broad litany of topics, some initiated by us and others when input was requested by UB or SUNY administration. He will write a letter at the end of his term suggesting possible future directions to incoming chair Peter Nickerson.

 

One of the handouts distributed with today's agenda describes the Executive Search Team that is working with the Presidential Search Committee to identify candidates for University at Buffalo President. All faculty members are welcome to recommend names by contacting the Executive Search Team via e-mail at ubuffalo@emnemn.com.

 

Item 3: Report of the President/Provost

 

President Greiner commended Chair Cohen and presented him with a certificate of appreciation for his two years chairing the Faculty Senate.

 

State budget negations reached an impasse recently. After the governor submitted his proposed budget, the legislature presented a long list of requested amendments. The governor is expected to veto many of those recommendations. SUNY's likely budget allocation now will almost certainly require a $1,200 tuition increase. This is a better solution than increasing out-of-state tuition by $5,000 per student, because there are many other states for them to choose from. Besides, we have many more international students than out-of-staters, and they're already encountering many difficulties trying to come here.

 

Item 4: 2 nd reading – Course resignations – William Baumer

 

Professor Baumer, chair of the Faculty Senate Grading Committee, said that materials distributed for today's second reading of the Course Resignation proposal included information requested at the last meeting. One chart shows “Total Resignations versus Total Students per Resignation Group (students enrolled in Fall 2002 semester)” and another illustrates “Distribution of Undergraduate Resignations – Spring 2002.” The recommended change stipulates:

“Students may resign from one or more of their courses at any time before the midpoint of an academic term (the deadline for resignation may be extended for students in their first term of study at UB). Resignation from more than five courses during a student's study at UB requires prior consultation with an academic advisor. Such courses will appear on the student's record with a grade of “R” (resignation), indicating that the student dropped the course in a timely manner with no academic penalty.”

 

A motion was made (and seconded) to accept the proposal, which passed unanimously without discussion.

 

Item 5: 2 nd reading – Resolution on Decanal Selection and Appointment – Dennis Malone

 

Professor Malone, chair of the Faculty Senate Governance Committee, said that a question had been raised at the last meeting regarding who should be responsible making “evidence of meaningful consultation” known to faculty. He said it would be the provost's responsibility, and Professor Adams-Volpe suggested that the Resolution be amended to specify that. The amendment was seconded to change the Resolution to:

“ Resolved that , the Provost should provide a clear definition of the process for selection and appointment of deans, which includes evidence of meaningful consultation with faculty.”

 

Professor Hopkins commented that the phrase “meaningful consultation” is open to interpretation. Professor Schack said that spirit of the Resolution is clear enough, and the amended Resolution passed without further discussion.

 

Item 6: 2 nd reading – Resolution on Decanal Review – Dennis Malone

 

Professor Malone's Resolution was moved and seconded. Professor Schack said that, although he supports the idea behind the Resolution, he doesn't think we should vote to accept it because it doesn't add anything new. It just says we should continue doing what we've been doing.

 

Chair Cohen said the Resolution is intended to reinforce a policy that hasn't been followed in recent years. Professor Schack said the Resolution doesn't make that clear. It actually implies that everything is all right and should be continued. However, we can't simply vote it down, because that would imply that we don't approve the process outlined in 1994's “Procedures for the Review of Academic Deans,” which we do.

 

Professor Ludwig suggested that the Resolution should say we've noticed that the process hasn't been being followed lately, and we think it should be.

 

Professor Baumer made a motion to return the Resolution to the Faculty Senate Governance Committee, which was seconded and passed.

 

The Chair acknowledged Professor Malone's long-time involvement with the Faculty Senate, and announced that this is his last meeting as parliamentarian, a role he has had since 1985. Much applause.

 

Item 7: Report of the Admissions & Retention Committee – Judith Adams-Volpe

 

Professor Adams-Volpe, chair of the Faculty Senate Admissions & Retention Committee, presented an informational report about recent changes in NCAA minimum admissions eligibility standards. Although the new NCAA guidelines allow for lower SAT scores from prospective student athletes, UB will not be lowering its standards likewise. UB will not consider students with an SAT score below 740 regardless of their core high school GPA. UB's admissions standards will remain consistent with the criteria for the Individualized Admissions Program (IAP), which is based on a range of mean t-scores resulting from the student's high school average, rank in class and standardized test scores.

 

Professor Adams-Volpe pointed out that most of UB's student athletes come here via the regular admissions process, but there are some who are admitted through the IAP.

 

Item 8: Report on Scientific Planning for UB's Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics – Norma Jean Nowak

 

Dr. Nowak, Director of Scientific Planning for UB's Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, said that Buffalo institutions such as Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute and Roswell Park Cancer Institute have being doing renowned scientific research for years. RPCI has an outstanding genetics department and contributed important DNA sequencing data to the Human Genome Project.

 

Bioinformatics aims to meld theoretical and computational with biological research. Students with cross-disciplinary training in computer science, mathematics, and biology are needed to work in the field of bioinformatics. The Center wants to integrate its research with existing programs at UB and in the business community.

 

Bioinformatics has great potential to improve biomedical science and the daily quality of human life. Related research, for example, has helped to control pests, improve air quality, and develop better tasting produce. Identifying what cells control will help scientists to fix them when problems occur. Understanding the effects of drugs at the genetic level will help to treat diseases.

 

Item 9: Report on the University Faculty Senate – Joe Hildreth

 

University Faculty Senate President Hildreth said that the Senate was established 50 years ago by the SUNY Board of Trustees. The primary function of the Faculty Senate is to communicate the views and concerns of faculty to system administration, the Chancellor, and the Board. In turn, the Senate also communicates administrative views to the SUNY campuses. To facilitate communication, they publish the Faculty Senate Bulletin , discuss issues via a Faculty Senate ListServ, and hold meetings several times each year.

 

Opportunities to participate in standing committees will occur soon, so interested faculty should nominate themselves or someone else by filling out the form in the current Bulletin .

The University Faculty Senate has arranged with SUNY system administration to exhibit student SUNY students' art in their Albany office building. Campus faculty exhibits are also underway.

 

The University Senate also introduced an initiative to improve the student transfer process by guaranteeing that certain core courses would transfer between all SUNY campuses. This did not receive administrative approval, so it will not be implemented.

 

The Senate has lobbied for more SUNY funding. It has opposed the high out-of-state tuition increase and lobbied to have the chair be a member of the Board of Trustees.

 

General education courses will get underway unless there's a dispute, in which case an advisory committee will intervene and review course content.

 

There's a faculty development initiative. The SUNY Provost's office has charged a committee to develop a list of “Best Practices” pertaining to teaching, research, tenure procedures, and awards/recognitions. Surveys were sent to each campus, and a report is being compiled based on the responses.

 

G.E.A.R., the general education review group, has received assessment plans for all SUNY campuses, and most have been approved. A conference on campus-based assessment is scheduled for fall 2003.

 

The Global Education Network (GEN) is a start-up company offering courses for profit. The University Senate heard their presentation and said we shouldn't get involved with GEN. Regardless, GEN has been advertising in campus publications saying that their history course will satisfy a SUNY general education requirement. The history course is an existing course at Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC), and it is being offered via their server instead of on the SUNY Learning Network. The University Senate has asked the HVCC provost to change the advertising, which implies that course credit will be transferable to any SUNY school, because transferability is not guaranteed as the ad implies.

 

University-wide assessment is the main item on the University Faculty Senate's agenda. The Board of Trustees favors it as the best way to determine learning outcomes, but the University Senate prefers a campus-based approach. It is opposed to university-wide assessment, because there's a potential for unfair comparisons to be made between different types of SUNY schools. SUNY campuses rightly have diverse visions, and the students who attend are quite dissimilar. A meeting has been scheduled to discuss these different points of view in May.

 

VPAA Grant encouraged Dr. Hildreth and the University Faculty Senate to resist university-wide assessment because it's been shown to be ineffective elsewhere, and it's very expensive to implement.

 

Professor Malone said that a past effort to get Faculty Senate representation on the Board of Trustees had been supported by several legislators by opposed by the UUP, which wanted union representation on the Board. The issue died for lack of resolve, so the current movement should seek UUP support to strengthen their position. Dr. Hildreth said he will be meeting with UUP President Sch*** on that issue.

 

Item 10: Report of the SUNY Senate Meeting at Cornell – Marilyn McMann Kramer

 

SUNY Senator Kramer reported on the Plenary Meeting that was held April 3-5, 2003 , at Cornell University . Her written report was distributed with today's agenda, so she skipped over the parts that were already mentioned by Dr. Hildreth. He had been elected for a second term (2003/05) at the meeting.

 

When sub-groups met to discuss matters of common concern, several University Senators from UB attended the University Centers sector meeting. Topics included:

• implications of any increase in graduate tuition on graduate scholarships
• cost of implementing new Immigration & Naturalization Service regulations, monies which represent an unfunded mandate during a time of financial exigency
• patent and royalty monies distribution patterns on the campuses
• degree to which faculty is involved in campus financial discussions and planning

 

The Health Sciences sector, which was attended by University Senator Nickerson, discussed:

• continuing budgetary support for hospitals and capital construction projects
• impact of the Health Information Privacy Act (HIPA)
• regulations on how long student information, research and patient records must be kept

 

The State budget outlook is depressing. Decreased revenues and increased commitments will result in an $11.2 billion deficit. All state agencies, excepting public safety, will be subject to budget cuts and restrictions. SUNY won't get hit as hard as some other agencies, but the cuts will definitely have a negative impact.

 

Item 11: Old/New Business

 

None

 

Item 12: Adjournment

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m.

 

Will Hepfer

Secretary of the Faculty Senate

 

Present: NOT UPDATED AS OF 8/10/03 !

Chair: M. Cohen

Secretary: W. Hepfer

Parliamentarian: D. Malone

Arts & Sciences: W. Baumer, T. Gregg, J. Ludwig, J. Mendoza, A. Monteiro, J. Ringland, E. Scarlett, S. Schack , E. Segal, T. Thurston, M. Woldenberg

Dental Medicine: M. Donley

Education: H. Bromley

Engineering: S. Braynov, J. Jensen, R. Mayne, R. Nagi, R. Sridhar

Law: L. Swartz

Management: J. Boot, W. Lin, Trivedi

Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: C. Hershey, G. Logue, B. Murray

Nursing: P. McCartney

Public Health & Health Professions: G. Farkas, C. Golyski

SUNY Senators: J. Adams-Volpe, M. Kramer, P. Nickerson

University Libraries: S. Davis Bartl, J. Dickson, CA Fabian J. Hopkins

 

Guests:

D. Longenecker, Reporter

 

 

Excused:

Medical & Biomedical Sciences: F. Morin

 

Absent:

Architecture: GS Danford, H. Steiner

Arts & Sciences: H. Bennett, C. Bloom, S. Bruckenstein, A. Cadenhead, J. Campbell, M. Chen, D. Eddins, G. Finnegan, E. Hull, H. Luo, J. Pappas, A. Petrou, E. Seeman, C. Smith, M. Sultan, K. Takeuchi, V. Watrous, R. Woodard

Dental Medicine: D. Garlapo, L. Ortman, J. Zambon

Education: J. Almasi, R. Stein

Engineering: T. Mountziaris, S. Thevanayagam

Informatics: F. Tutzauer

Institutional/General: O. Mixon

Law: I. Marcus, R. Reis

Management: S. Gunn

Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: A. Aquilina, A. Baer, J. Canty, R. Fenstermaker, W. Fiden, B. Flynn, J. Fudyma, C. Granger, J. Hassett, J. Izzo, T. Langan, J. Leddy, K. Mahran, N. Nielsen, J. Novak, M. Paroski, R. Schifeling, F. Schimpfhauser, D. Shucard, G. Snyder, J. Yeh

Nursing: E. Perese

Pharmacy: K. Boje, G. Brazeau

Public Health & Health Professions: S. Nochajski

Social Work: S. Green, B. Rittner

SUNY Senators: H. Durand

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