FACULTY SENATE

Minutes of December 4, 2007
(unapproved)

The Faculty Senate met at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at the Center for Tomorrow to discuss the following agenda:

• Approval of the minutes of October 9, 2007
• Report of the Chair
• Update on SIS Transformation –
Assistant Vice Provost Kara Saunders Dean of Undergraduate Studies Michael Ryan

• 1st reading – Grade Submission and Change Policies –
Faculty Senate Grading Committee
Professor William H. Baumer, Chair

• 2 nd reading – Policy on Distance Education
Professor Phillips Stevens
Undergraduate Academies – 1 st semester report
Tracy Gregg (Geology)
Peter Sobota (Social Work)

• Old/New Business
  
• Adjournment
  

Item 1: Approval of the minutes of October 9, 2007

The minutes of October 9, 2007 were unanimously approved.

Item 2: Report of the Chair (sent around ahead of time) 

1. REMINDER : Today is the Open House for the Comprehensive Physical Master Plan
• Being held from 9AM to 9PM at the new UB Downtown Gateway (formerly the M Wile Building) at 77 Goodell Street – plenty of parking available.
• PLEASE make every effort to attend if you haven't already done so: this is yet another important opportunity to review the ideas presented and to offer criticism and input
2. Faculty Senate Committees:
• Several FS committees have been meeting regularly: I will ask the Chairs to deliver reports at our April and May 2008 meetings.
• Committees that need to be re-activated soon: Facilities Planning, Bylaws, Public Service & Urban Affairs—If you know of anyone [including yourself] willing to serve as chair, please let me know ASAP
• The Budget Priorities Committee met on November 26. The scheduled agenda was cancelled due to an emergency assignment for Sean Sullivan. Instead, the committee discussed several items for future consideration:
1. The overall financial condition of UB
2. Results and finding of the Commission on Higher Education
3. Student fees
4. The UB Capital budget
5. Funding of Athletics
6. Financing and budget in Student life/FSA
7. Financial operation within the UB Foundation
At its December meeting the BPC plans to review Compact updates, compelling issues unique to individual units, discussion of suggested process for streamlining future compacts.

3. The Graduate School Executive Committee met on NOV 15: items discussed

• Policies & Procedures for re-admission / re-instatement of graduate students who had taken leave of absence;
• Fine-tuning enrollment projections
• Suggested changes to the draft version of a new Doctoral Student Exit Survey
• Changes to the graduate-level Academic Grievance and Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures . In particular, the GSEC would like the Policy to exclude bringing external lawyers into the grievance procedure; the current wording implicitly allows this.
4. Search committees update:
• All four candidates for the Dean of School of Nursing have been interviewed
• The Search Committee for the dean of the School of Management held its first meeting on November 27.
5. Our next Faculty Senate meeting will be held on February 5, 2008
• Topic: The Provost's State of the University address.
6. My thanks to all Senators and Committee Chairs and members for your time and energy this semester, and best wishes for a pleasant semester break.
7. The chief of police at UB sent an alert about a student being assaulted in a parking lot for the second or third time. This will be the subject of discussion probably at one of the FSEC meeting to see how campus security can be tightened up.
8. Barbara Rittner of the School of Social Work introduced the distinctive new cap and gown at UB that would be available for purchase (not rental) and explained the process through which UB Special Events came to choose this particular model and color (blue and gold hood; the gown carries the blue and white through the silver).  

Item 3: Update on SIS Transformation –

Assistant Vice Provost Kara Saunders

Dean of Undergraduate Studies Michael Ryan 

Michael Ryan provided the Student Systems Transformation update and discussed the scope of the project which ultimately engages the whole community population including faculty and graduate students.  He first defined student system as what supports the academic activities and services needs of all UB students including, for instance, admissions, recruitment, course scheduling, career services, student health, records, grading, financial aid, housing, registration, etc. Not all these functions will necessarily be replaced.Michael Ryan emphasized the need to upgrade: currently, there is a hybrid system between home-grown systems and commercially produced products. He discussed the concerns regarding the current systems (costliness; lack of integration; lack of flexibility, efficiency, functionality, need for capacity, impossibility of implementing current mandates).The 2 major committees in charge of assessing the systems are the Executive Steering Committee (Beau Willis, chair and executive sponsor in the office of the president; the Provost, Michael Ryan, project sponsor for Dennis Black, Vice president of Student Affairs; David Dunn, Vice President from Health Sciences; John Ho, dean of Graduate school; Nils Olsen; Dean Law School) and the Project Team (Moran Technology Consulting Firm on the Project Team has been helping). The two committees developed a set of guiding principles on the processes of this institutional wide project.Michael Ryan then listed the ways in which the campus community was told about the Student Systems Transformation through workshops and surveys, vendor demonstrations, and focus groups; listserv updates to various groups, reporter articles. The committees helped develop a set of guiding principles for implementation.Michael Ryan then listed the 3 phases of the process for the new system:

1. Review and assessment of the current system and future needs (April and May 2007) through vendor preview demonstrations, worshops (200 people participated), and a survey that involved over 350 faculty and staff.
2. Software evaluation (of commercial packages); acquisition and implementation planning (July to December 2007) through request for proposals for systems integrator and the establishment of an evaluation methodology, demonstrations, interviews, and evaluation (both the project team and the executive steering committee participated in all the aspects of phase 2). The expertise of the company and the quality and adequacy of response were taken into account and PEOPLESOFT was the recommendation as the superior product (of 3 and it is used by many comparable institutions): good functionality, strong secure corporation, solid business plan, large effective user group, product integrates well. UB is moving forward in negotiations to acquire the product.
3. Implementation approaches for implementing the product: 3 approaches (do it yourself; tell me how; and show me how): UB has adopted an approach somewhere between the tell me how and show me how. Currently, software and systems integrator contract negotiations are taking place (December 2007 to Spring 2008). Implementation will include several steps: start up, and discovery to looking at detailed fit/gap of software, testing, data conversion, data migration, etc. how we will redesign our practices to fit with the software; change management data governance, training.  

Michael Ryan concluded by emphasizing that continued faculty engagement and support + campus commitment have been invaluable and are essential to the success of this enterprise. There will be a Faculty Advisory Group to provide critical input and feed, and policies will require Faculty Senate approval.Claude Welch asked whether PEOPLESOFT provides just a software package or does it provide the integrator function as well? Michael Ryan explained that the two were separate. Kara Saunders discussed the role of the Faculty Advisory Group as well as the formation of a Student Advisory Group and a whole variety of working groups. Alan Lockwood (Biology) asked a question was asked about the # of FTEs each department could anticipate to commit to this project? Michael Ryan stated that in terms of the academic units, it is going to vary depending on the unit. Most of the # of FTEs are focused on the administrative units (financial services, undergraduate admissions, etc). 6 to 8 FTE would have to be on the core project team. At the undergraduate level, a lot of what will be needed is feed, consultative role. On the graduate and professional level where currently UB is a decentralized environment, we will need more involvement. In response to a question Barbara Rittner asked, Michael Ryan explained that interdisciplinary degrees and dual degree programs will be recognized by the new system in a way they are not by the current one. The chair asked how large the Faculty Advisory group would be. Kara Saunders clarified that the group will probably include 10 to 15 faculty with broad representation in terms of varied interests, but that no predispositions will be required. 

Item 4: 1 st reading – Grade Submission and Change Politics

Faculty Senate Grading Committee – Professor William H. Baumer, Chair 

The chair explained that the FSEC last week approved the suspension of our usual policy of having 2 readings for this policy in order to have it approved in a timely manner. The new students information system needs to integrate the policy. Motions to amend and approve are therefore up for action.Bill Baumer listed the amendments and policies for approval: 1. Grade Submission Dates: minor proposed change in wording for clarification (Motion passed unanimously) 2. Incomplete grades: proposal to add one sentence to clarify that an interim grade of ‘I' cannot be assigned to a student who did not attend the course. (Motion passed unanimously) 3. ‘J' No grade Recorded. Claude Welch requested that students be notified of their responsibility to contact the instructor. Bill Baumer explained that the undergraduate catalogue already includes this information. (Motion passed unanimously) 4. Grading Components in Course Syllabi: no additional components or assignments after close of semester can be added to justify a grade change. Motion passed with only 2 opposed. 5. Grade changes to allow for corrections, to replace an interim grade (unless the latter defaults to F after 12 months); after degree conferral (possible up to a point). Peter Horvath asked if a student who graduated can re-enroll to have a grade changed. Dr. Baumer explained this was not possible. (Motion passed unanimously) 

Item 5: 2 nd reading: Policy on Distance Education Policy Report

Professor Phillips Stevens 

The chair highlighted the minimal changes in wording proposed to the document. Phillips Stevens reminded the FS that he gave a history of the document at the 11/6 FS meeting and that this document needed to be approved because UB has not had an overarching policy regarding distance education. Distance education is too frequently abused and Dr. Stevens emphasized that the policy establishes a university-wide and comprehensive set of guidelines while allowing for flexibility within each of the units. The amendments were unanimously passed, and the policy as it stands was unanimously passed. Dr. Stevens concluded by extending acknowledgments and thanks to the provost committee on distance education chaired by David Penniman and the Faculty Senate Teaching and Learning Committee.Peter Horvath asked that the policy be brought to the attention of the heads of academic units specifically. 

Item 6: Undergraduate Academies – 1 st semester report

Tracy Gregg (Geology)

Peter Sobota (Social Work) 

Peter Sobota began by giving a history of the learning academies and a summary of their goals: identifying and advertising areas of interest to incoming freshmen. He mentioned that students have the choice between two levels of engagement: 1/ participating in seminars whereby students sign up for academies together (social interactions) 2/ loosely affiliated students who attend some events. Dr. Sobota also discussed the structure of the academies and his and Dr. Gregg's role in promoting interdisciplinary engagement at the undergraduate level. He reported that students routinely comment on how extremely beneficial the living communities of the undergraduate academies have been in their experience, as well as the importance of voluntarism as a site of making connections between student experiences and larger structural and social issues.Tracy Gregg explained that the research academies

• seek to pull together under one umbrella all the opportunities that currently exist so students and faculty can find each other.
• Expand research opportunities into the humanities rather than limit them to the sciences.
• Are consciously trying to make a 4-year program out of this and to provide guidance to students in a more sustained manner.
• Professor Gregg also spoke to the lack of systematic support and reward for faculty who wish to engage more fully with undergraduate students. She emphasized the enormous benefits that faculty can potentially garner from such engagement (she co-published a co-authored paper she wrote with an undergraduate student). Professor Sobota further emphasized that the program needed more mentors and faculty to be involved. Michael Ryan concluded by expressing his appreciation to both Dr. Gregg and Dr. Sobota. He explained that students have been responding enthusiastically to the idea of the Learning Academies. These have been effective recruitment tools, and students are excited about engaging with faculty. Michael Ryan also announced the creation of a third academy related to the theme “international” for the Fall.

Dr. Stevens asked that wider publicity be generated about these Academies. He asked about the connection between the Academies and the Center for Undergraduate Research and Center be clarified.

Item 7: Old/New Business

None. 



Item 8: Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 3:43PM .

Respectfully submitted,

Carine Mardorossian, Secretary of the Faculty Senate

Attendance