FACULTY SENATE

Minutes of October 5, 2004
(unapproved)

 

The Faculty Senate (FS) met at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 5, 2004, at the Center for Tomorrow to consider the following agenda:

1. Approval of the minutes of May 4, 2004
2. Report of the Chair
3. Report of the President
4. The Academic State of the University – Provost Satish K. Tripathi
5. Old/New business
6. Adjournment

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of May 4, 2004

The minutes were approved following acknowledgement of a typographical omission in the heading for Item 4; the proper heading is “Item 4: Legal issues affecting the faculty – Lewis Rosenthal, SUNY Counsel.”

Item 2: Report of the Chair Chair Nickerson’s report included:

• A welcome to the first FS meeting in this academic year. Senators are encouraged to appoint alternates who may attend and vote in their stead during absences.
• Several UB faculty members attended a meeting of the Planning Committee of the University Faculty Senate in Sarasota Springs recently. Topics included revising the budget allocation process that determines funding for SUNY campuses. Research, health sciences, and graduation rates were also discussed.
• The UB Council met during the summer and heard an overview of activities in the Office of the Provost. As a result of administrative reorganization, national searches are underway for vice presidents for Health Affairs, Research, and External Affairs.
• The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) is in the process of forming an ad hoc committee to address President Simpson’s request for a faculty code of conduct.
• The FS Planning Committee heard from the Government, University, Industry, and Development Organization (GUIDO) about their work on assessment and future directions for these activities at UB. The results will help in the search for a vice president for external affairs, a new position in the university.
• The Provost reported to the UB Council that UB has 3,223 freshmen this year; 4.7% are from out-of-state and 4.7% are international students. UB is now ranked in the second tier of universities by U.S. News & World Report.
• Dr. Beau Willis told the UB Council that the University will receive a 2.6% increase in the operating budget. UB’s budget will be $290 million, an increase of $7 million (made up from tax and tuition).
• The FS Teaching & Learning Committee met and discussed the survey of students regarding whether faculty should have access to student photographs as part of their class lists. They also heard a preliminary report on distance education. There will be follow-up on these topics.

Item 3: Report of the President

None

Item 4: The Academic State of the University – Provost Satish K. Tripathi

Provost Tripathi said the strategic planning process that’s underway will help UB to become a great research university. It’s important to have a set of guiding principles aimed at institutional excellence.

UB’s strengths come from the teaching, research, and creative contributions of our faculty. Recent accomplishments have included:

• A Graduate School of Education grant for $1.5 million for improving reading and writing skills of schoolchildren. Buffalo public school students will serve as test subjects in a 3-year study.
• A $196,000 grant to the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures for expanding the LiTgloss Web site . LiTgloss is an annotated collection of texts of literary and cultural interest, written in languages other than English.
• Elizabeth Mensch (Law) and Charles E. Mitchell (Geology) were named Distinguished Teaching Professors, and David M. Engel (Law) was named a Distinguished Service Professor.

Questions & comments:

• There was a previous planning effort when David Triggle was provost. Will the document that was produced then be used in the new planning process? (Meacham)
• The current process involves identifying what strengths UB has now. Many Senate members and other faculty are involved, and they should be able to determine what resources are needed to support the process. (Tripathi)
• Students can benefit greatly from opportunities to study aboard, but they often have trouble getting the required coursework beforehand. What kinds of curriculum adjustments might be made to facilitate their participation? (Graves)
• Steve Dunnett (Vice Provost for International Education) has been working on ways to facilitate studying abroad, so perhaps he could be invited to address the Faculty Senate about that. (Tripathi)
• How are we going to identify UB’s potential strengths and weaknesses? What criteria will be used to determine excellence? (Adams-Volpe)
• We won’t be able to use a single criteria for every subject. Research dollars, the number of students, and other factors might be factors, but none of these will be the single determinant for excellence. The Planning Committee will determine proper assessments. (Tripathi)
• There have been many budget cycles, and politicians often make promises that they can’t keep. Does UB have a contingency plan in case the budget is cut after next month’s election? (Welch)
• There’s no contingency plan, although the Planning Committee is looking at ways to save money. We can’t depend on getting most of our money from the state, so we have to manage our resources as efficiently as possible. Decreasing state revenues are a nationwide trend, so universities are becoming much more dependent on donations and external funding. (Tripathi)
• What role will centers and institutes play in enhancing the quality of education at UB? (Schack)
• Centers should be created when they serve a valid purpose – bringing faculty from various areas together to combine their expertise for research. Centers that aren’t being successful or no longer make sense should be abolished. (Tripathi)
• Will UB continue to expand our masters level programs? (Kramer)
• We’ll be reviewing masters programs as part of our planning process. As a research university, our institutional reputation depends on having strong Ph.D. programs, but the quality of our masters degrees is also important. (Tripathi)
• The planning process is supposed to include a lot of interaction and be completed by the end of December. Is that a realistic time-frame? (Pegels)
• Some planning processes go on for years, but we think that ours is attainable if we stay focused. The Web site will facilitate interaction, because two-way communication is an important part of the process. (Tripathi)
• Departmental reviews are taking place as part of the planning process. Will this be continued on a regular basis in the future? How often will departments be reviewed? (Boeing)
• Departmental reviews will be handled by the deans; most reviews will take place every five years or so. (Tripathi)
• Many students attend a large university such as UB because it offers opportunities to learn from faculty who are doing important research. What can UB do to involve more undergraduate students in the research process? The FS Educational Programs & Policy Committee is interested in identifying ways to increase student participation. (Nickerson)
• We should cultivate and promote undergraduate research opportunities. It’s already happening on a small scale, but more faculty should be encouraged to cooperate so there will be more ways for students to get involved. (Tripathi)
• What can UB do to promote interdisciplinary research? (Nickerson)
• The deans are working together to achieve more unity among schools and disciplines. It will be important for faculty from different disciplines to work together if we want our research to have a real impact on society. (Tripathi)

Item 5: Old/New business

None

Item 6: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Will Hepfer
Secretary of the Faculty Senate

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

Chair – P. Nickerson
Secretary – W. Hepfer
Parliamentarian – W. Baumer
Architecture & Planning – GS Danford (P), K. Mackay (P)
Arts & Sciences – R. Allen-King (P), S. Bennett (P), S. Bruckenstein (A), J. Buscaglia (A), M. Chen (A), M. Churchill (E), M. Detty (A), L. Dryden (P), D. Eddins (P), J. Faran (P), A. Graves (P), T. Gregg (A), R. Hoeing (P), A. Markelz (P), N. Matthews (P), P. McDevitt (P), J. Meacham (P), J. Mendoza (P), A. Monteiro (P), J. Pappas (A), S. Rothenberg (A), S. Schack (P), D. Street (P), K. Takeuchi (P), J-C Thill (A), T. Thurston (E), G. Timler (P), P. Vanouse (A), D. Wackeroth (P), C. Welch (P), R. Woodard (P), J. Yu (P)
Dental Medicine – P. Bradford (A), M. Donley (E), E. Pantera (A), J. Zambon (P)
Education – J. Hoot (P), X. Liu (P), L. Malave (A), T. Schroeder (P)
Engineering & Applied Sciences – C. Basaran (A), S. Chen (P), J. Jensen (A), K. Lewis (P), D. Pados (P), A. Reinhorn (A), A. Titus (P), R. Wetherhold (P)
Informatics – J. Ellison (A)
Institutional General – O. Mixon (A)
Law – D. Filvaroff (A), R. Reis (A), L. Swartz (A)
Management – J. Boot (E), S. Gunn (P), C. Pegels (P), N. Suresh (P)
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences – D. Amsterdam (P), F. Baddoura (A), C. Cohan (P), M. Dryjski (P), J. Evans (A), J. Figueroa (A), E. Fine (E), W. Flynn (A), J. Gibbs (A), H. Hameer (E), L. Harris (E), J. Hassett (P), D. Holmes (A), T. Langan (A), V. Li (A), F. Loghmanee (A), A. Manyon (A), N. Miele (A), A. Posner (P), J. Sauret (A), J. Sellick (E), R. Stephan (A), G. Sufrin (A), F. Velazquez (A), B. Weinstock-Guttman (A)
Nursing – P. McCartney (P), P. Wooldridge (A)
Pharmacy – K. Boje (A), G. Brazeau (E)
Public Health & Health Professions – C. Crespo (A), G. Farkas (A), S. Nochajski (A)
Social Work – B. Rittner (A)
SUNY Senators – W. Baumer (P), W. Coles (P), M. Kramer (P), P. Nickerson (P)
University Libraries – J. Adams-Volpe (P), HA Booth (A), S. Davis (P), C. Tysick (P)

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