The Faculty Senate met at
2:00 PM on December 2, 2008 at the Center for Tomorrow to discuss the following
agenda:
1.
Approval of the minutes of October 7, 2008
2.
Report of the Chair
3.
Report of the President/Provost
4.
Interaction with Joseph Brennan, Associate Vice President for University
Communications regarding the branding concept
5.
Parking and Transportation Services—Maria Wallace, Director
6.
Report of the SUNY Senate Plenary Meeting—Postdam—SUNY Faculty
Senator Marilyn McMann Kramer – cancelled
7.
Old/New Business
8.
Adjournment
Item 1. Approval of the minutes of October 7, 2008
The minutes were unanimously
approved.
Item 2: Report of the
Chair
Report of the Chair
1. The Provost and
Chair Hoeing are assembling a General Education Task Force to re-examine the Gen Ed program, identify its
problems, how it interacts and complies with SUNY requirements, what new
approaches it could take toward satisfying them and providing students with a
more distinctive and transformative learning experience.
2. The Graduate School
Executive Committee, after consultation with the FSEC, has issued a Thesis
and Dissertation Publication Embargo Policy which allows, under certain circumstances, a student to secure a
3-/6-/9-/12-month hold on the release of the thesis.
3. Chair Hoeing will be
meeting with Robin Sullivan and others to look at the progress on the new FS
website; we expect to have it up and running soon --- all faculty will be
notified when it’s operational.
4. Committee updates:
·
The Faculty Senate
Grading Committee will begin meeting
again after a well-deserved break, this time to revise the “Course Second
Enrollment Policy.” Many students repeat a course simply to get a better grade,
which was not the intent of the original policy. Repeaters account for an inordinate percentage of enrollment
in already severely impacted courses. Prof. Baumer and Associate Dean Bruce
Pitman have already exchanged extensive e-mails and ideas towards crafting a
new policy.
·
Prof. Arabella Lyon has
submitted a proposal for the creation of a Writing Center at UB, along the
lines of those found at OSU and Penn State; she has already discussed this with
the FSEC, revised the policy, and the chair will be forwarding this shortly to
the Educational Programs and Policies Committee.
·
The Information &
Library Resources Committee met on
October 23. VP Steve Roberts reported that the UB libraries are facing a 14-15%
reduction in spending power for collections relative to what was spent the
previous year. He also noted that nothing new has been decided regarding the
re-purposing of library space, and that the budget crisis has slowed the migration
of material to the Annex. On the bright side, Director of Public Services
Margie Wells reported that the main website has been revamped, and that a new
search engine --- Multi-Search ---was recently launched; this provides
citations and abstracts, as well as linking opportunities to full-text
articles, electronic books, and records in the BISON catalog --- it is a much
more flexible and powerful engine. Further notes will be posted on the new FS
website once it is up.
Item 3. Report of the
Provost
n/a.
Item 4: Interaction with
Joseph Brennan, Associate Vice President for University Communications
regarding the branding concept
Joseph Brennan, associate
vice president for University Communications (UC), and Peter Killian, assistant
Vice President for Marketing, updated senators about the latest developments in
University Communications, and more specifically about the “Reaching Others”
initiative. The initiative seeks to showcase UB’s excellence and its positive
impact at the local, regional, national, as well as global level. Brennan explained
that UB is not as well known or appreciated as it should be beyond the
boundaries of WNY. This is something his office was working to change by using
video, TV, and radio “to tell the story of UB’s academic excellence.”
“A stronger public image will
help us recruit students and faculty, enhance alumni pride, generate support
from the community, government officials and donors, and make UB a great place
to learn and work” Brennan stated. “This is about creating a consistent
message,” Killian added. The initiative grew out of a process that began two
years ago when the Division of External Affairs commissioned a comprehensive
study of how the university is perceived by internal and external audiences. The
study (which gathered the opinions of more than 4,000 faculty, staff, students,
parents, alumni, community members and external people) revealed that UB lacks
a clear consistent identity, that stakeholders perceive this and that they want
a clarity of image and messages. So “Reaching Others” was established to help
highlight what makes UB distinctive:
·
Its
creativity, research, discovery, creation of new knowledge
·
The
difference it makes globally
·
Its
resilience and optimism
·
A
big, diverse and international community that has a sense of kinship
·
Its
pursuit of academic excellence
“Reaching Others” is expected
to integrate all aspects of UB’s external and internal communications beginning
with admissions since it is, as Brennan pointed out, “one of the key pieces
that starts to tell the story.” He further reported that the initiative has so
far included the purchase of local television and radio spots for $34,000.
These commercials were broadcast on CNN, “Meet the Press,” and other
Sunday-morning news shows. Commercials also appeared—at no cost to UB--on
UB athletic contests that are broadcast nationally and locally, including on
the ESPNU network, on ESPN2 on Nov. 4 when the Bulls hosted Miami (Ohio), and
on ESPNU when UB played at Akron (Nov 13).
In light of the recent budget
cuts, Brennan said, his office’s main strategy for spreading the word about the
university has been to
·
Take
advantage of low cost/no cost opportunities
·
Utilize
media relations
·
Integrate
with key university initiatives
·
Partner
with academic and support unit communications and offer consulting services internally:
e.g. UB’s five health sciences are participating in an audit of their
communication activities
·
Develop
internal resource toolbox for any unit to use, whether it is a slide, printed
material
Brennan concluded by
reminding the senators of UC’s mission: to support teaching, service and
research at UB by producing effective communications. He requested that
information about faculty accomplishments be funneled to his office.
Chair Hoeing expressed
genuine excitement about the work done by the office of University
Communications. Dan Ramsey, from Public Health and Health Professions, inquired
about the timelines to have things well established. Brennan responded that
everything should be all integrated by the end of next year. Jason Young,
History, asked about the target audience of the commercials created for
“Reaching Others”: Is it perspective donors? students? Is the scope local,
national, international? Brennan clarified that the initiative was targeted
more to “influencers” (elected officials, alumni) than the undergraduate
population for instance. Gayle Brazeau expressed concern that the talk about
leveraging low cost/no cost opportunities did not entail a risk, namely that of
“not getting what we need”? Brennan explained that this focus is specifically
in light of the current budget situation. The UC has a media plan that goes
regional and national if funding becomes available. Brazeau also inquired about
media plans for when UB does not get positive news coverage (as with the recent
tuition increase).
Item 5: Parking and
Transportation Services
Director of Campus Parking
& Transportation Maria Wallace, and Assistant director Chris Austin
Mission
Maria Wallace gave a
powerpoint presentation about the services offered by her office. She underlined
their importance in light of her unit’s ties with the physical Master Plan that
is under way. “The Parking and Transportation Services is dedicated to
balancing the demand of parking allocation and transportation alternatives to
best serve the University community,” she explained. The office believes:
Services are available to all
University at Buffalo students, faculty, staff, emeritus personnel, volunteers,
and guests, Wallace said. She listed the key services offered by her office:
inter- and intra-campus busing to meet the transportation needs of students, faculty,
and staff. Approximately 2.5 million riders utilize this service each year.
Parking Shuttle Service which provides
a valuable and convenient alternative to parking, particularly when
faculty/staff and student lots are congested. Convenient pick-up and drop-off
service at major sites around the Academic Spine/Putnam Way are available.
Shuttle Services,
Students with Disabilities. Shuttle service is provided in order to meet the
inter- and intra-campus transportation needs of students with disabilities.
A blue line connector
connects all the affiliates downtown, Wallace said. Her office shuttles more
than 3.5 million riders between these North and South campus each year. Green
initiatives are also being pursued and encouraged, she added. For instance:
Buffalo Blue bikes are
available for rental
Downtown circulator
NYS Ride (Tax free program
launched w governor office to buy pre-tax
Rideshare-good going WNY
Wallace then provided a
breakdown of the revenue that funds her office (with the student fees at $6.5
million annually being the largest source of revenue; $500,000 from parking
violations)
She also listed her unit’s
“unfunded initiatives,” namely
·
parking ramps,
·
a hybrid bus fleet,
·
heated bus shelters,
·
onboard WiFi service,
·
a “zip car” rental
program and
·
“bicycle
infrastructure,” with bicycle lanes both on and between the North and South
campuses.
And concluded with the
challenges her unit will be facing in the near future:
·
Lack of capital funding:
a single parking spot in a basic parking ramp costs approximately $27,000; a
hybrid bus fleet costs $80 an hour ($50 for traditional vehicles)
·
Lack of public
transportation network
·
WNY culture (single
occupant vehicle)
·
UB Car free
Senators inquired about
alternatives to the hangtags.
Item 6: Old / New Business
Item
7: Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:48 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Carine
Mardorossian, Secretary of the Faculty Senate
Attendance