Plenary Meeting Standing Committee Reports
Standing Committee Reports and Ad Hoc Committee Reports
Fall Plenary 2008 - SUNY Potsdam
University Awards and Program Committee
Governance Committee
Graduate and Research Committee
University Operations Committee
Student Life Committee
Undergraduate Academic Programs and Policies Committee
Special Joint Committee on Articulation and Transfer
Special Committee on Diversity and Cultural Competency
Special Committee on Sustainability
Ad hoc Committee on Professional Behavior, Ethical Conduct and Institutional Integrity
University Awards and Program Committee, Sandra Michael, Binghamton, Chair
Regarding "Conversations in the Disciplines," the committee continues to refine the procedures for online submission and review of proposals. In addition, the committee is considering the possibility of awards for those with "qualified academic rank’ (e.g., adjuncts as well as visiting, research, and clinical professors, among others). Following advice solicited and received from The Council of the SUNY Librarians Association, the committee decided to retain the current requirement that only librarians who have faculty status should be considered for the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship. Those individuals working in the campus libraries with an MLS but without faculty status continue to be eligible for nomination to receive the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service.
There was considerable discussion about issues regarding the "distinguished faculty ranks." A resolution was approved by the committee to permit and individual faculty member to hold multiple distinguished titles [That resolution is contained in the section below on "resolutions.]. Also, the committee will continue working on ways to distinguish the difference between the criteria required for the various Chancellor’s Awards and the relevant distinguished rank. The role of the campus president’s prerogatives in relation to on-campus review procedures will be examined.
Governance Committee, Sharon Cramer, Buffalo State, Chair
The committee provided the completed revised edition of the Governance Handbook to all senators, a copy of which is available on the University Faculty Senate’s website under "publications." The committee is engaged in a preliminary exploration of a webinar for University Faculty Senators and Campus Governance Leaders that is focused around pragmatic skills associated with effective leadership at the committee level. It is also developing a set of resources for governance leaders, present and future, that will be available on the Senate’s website, in the next edition of the Governance Handbook, and as separate documents. These include an Orientation Guide for new University Faculty Senators and for Campus Governance Leaders, as well as a power point directed at newly tenured faculty members describing the University Faculty Senate.
The committee will hold in-depth interviews with several SUNY campus presidents who are reported to engage in "best practices" for shared governance. A small group of these campus presidents will constitute a panel to discuss their views of shared governance at the Spring Plenary of the University Faculty Senate.
The committee will provide support and outreach to campus parliamentarians and invite them to participate in the webcast of Ed Alfonsin’s (the Parliamentarian of the University Faculty Senate) presentation on parliamentary procedures to the Council of Campus Governance Leaders. It will also establish a listserv for campus parliamentarians.
Graduate and Research Committee, Mark Noll, Brockport, Chair
Last year’s "Research Road Show" that was sponsored jointly by the committee and the Research Foundation was a huge success and the repeat of that in Buffalo this fall was fully booked. The committee recommended continuing this project in different areas of the state and to make some of the materials available in electronic format for those unable to attend.
The committee focused attention on how campuses prepare graduate students for their role in the classroom. It will develop a compendium of best practices as a resource document for campuses wishing such information.
The importance of generating and sustaining collaborative research was a topic of discussion. In addressing the difficulty of locating faculty across the system with common or complementary interests, the committee will investigate mechanisms that will allow faculty to self-identify their areas of expertise and interest in collaborative research that could be made available across SUNY. Because of the difficulties that time and distance impose on collaborative research, the committee considered several options. One such option would be the resurrection of the SUNY Faculty Exchange Scholar Program, which in the past provided a modest sum to facilitate collaborative research. Another option the committee also discussed was the possibility of enabling graduate students to complete part of their studies with a faculty member in residence at another campus for part of their course of study.
The committee was also interested in promoting providing ways of recognizing the importance of undergraduate research and scholarly activity on the campuses. It is working with the Undergraduate Committee to plan a "undergraduate research poster day" in Albany to showcase the scholarly and creative accomplishments of our undergraduate students, and to reinforce the need to support these efforts.
The issue of "sustainability" was one of concern to the committee. Given the importance of sustainability to the University Faculty Senate and to SUNY, the committee will seek input from the Research Foundation and the University Faculty Senate Special Committee on Sustainability on mechanisms to foster system-wide collaborative research efforts within some key areas of the sustainability issue ranging from technology areas to economics, social sciences, and education.
University Operations Committee, Ron Sarner, SUNYIT, Chair
The operations committee will be developing a "Faculty Diversity Profile" that describes the SUNY professoriate by gender, race, discipline, length of service, campus type, and salary. The inclusion of salary will depend on the availability of this information from UUP and their cooperation with this project.
The committee will review the senate’s previous report, "A Rational Fiscal Policy," in light of changes in the state’s fiscal climate. This review will call on the services of the Professor Emeritus Ram Chugh who was the lead author of the original report.
Several white papers will be prepared by the committee for the senate. One will cover on fringe benefit costs and equitable methods of calculating these costs. Another will focus on a line-item set aside for campus library budgets as well as an augmentation of campus library budgets through a mandated fee or some other fiscal approaches. After examining what campuses are doing to ensure workplace civility and reducing workplace violence, another white paper will be forthcoming on highlighting training methods to accomplish these ends. Finally, the committee will work towards a white paper to deal with the possible consequences of a recent directive of the New York State Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination that requires all state agencies (of which SUNY is one) to insure encryption of all laptops, USB flash drives, and PDAs accessing or containing agency data by December 31, 2008. The committee is concerned that this is a very substantial unfunded mandate and, in the extreme, if extended to students, is entirely unworkable.
Finally, the committee will propose a resolution to the University Faculty Senate that accedes to the request from SUNY Farmingdale to move from the Specialized and Statutory Colleges Sector to the Colleges of Technology Sector. For technical reasons, this resolution will need to wait approval until the Spring 2008 Plenary in Buffalo.
Student Life Committee, Ray Krisciunas, Canton, Chair
The committee will update its recent report on SUNY Campus Traditions by including campuses missed during the first iteration of the report. The committee decided to abandon the print format for an online version of this update.
A "service learning tool kit" is nearing completion. In addition, the committee will investigate what is covered and what is not covered by campus Student Health Services on the different campuses. In its survey of campuses, the committee is considering the advisability of surveying students and/faculty as well as health service professionals in this endeavor. An examination of existing campus programs that promote student leadership and career readiness is planned, which should result in a compendium of "best practices" in student leadership development.
The committee has a representative of the Faculty Council of Community Colleges on it. He reported that the FCCC will continue to work on their version of campus traditions, investigate how campuses are responding to the new textbook law, and discuss transfer student success in terms of adjustment to location, social life, residence, etc.
Undergraduate Academic Programs and Policies Committee, Kane Gillespie, Stony Brook, Chair
The committee will continue to work with the Graduate and Research Committee on the promotion and recognition of undergraduate research and scholarly activity through a poster session in Albany. Also, it is considering establishing a website for this purpose. It will also continue to consider the SUNY policy on the "contact/credit hour relationship."
An update of the widely-used booklet A Guide for the Evaluation of Undergraduate Academic Programs, last modified in 2001, is underway. The committee will also spend considerable time focusing on the various aspects of international education and how it may be improved.
Special Joint Committee on Articulation and Transfer, Joe Hildreth, Potsdam, Co-chair
This committee is composed of equal numbers of faculty and administrators from Community Colleges and the Senior Colleges in SUNY. In addition, it has three student representatives. It has been working on providing a smooth process of transfer for students from one SUNY campus to another that also leads to students succeeding in their academic pursuits. It has undertaken a survey of all SUNY campuses on the experience of transfer and articulation and has used that information to formulate a resolution on ways of easing the transition of students from one SUNY institution to another, which is to be presented to both the University Faculty Senate and the Faculty Council of Community Colleges at their Fall 2008 plenary for consideration. See the section below on "resolutions" for the text and disposition of this resolution.
Special Committee on Diversity and Cultural Competency, Phillip Ortiz, Empire State, Chair
The committee was established to "support the efforts of the [University] Faculty Senate and ODEE [Office of Diversity and Educational Equity] to diversify SUNY’s academic human resources and develop approaches to integrating diversity-related service, teaching and research into SUNY’s academic mission." It has set about to understand the challenges facing SUNY and ODEE with respect to its mission and to developing and prioritizing strategies for achieving its goals. To do that, the committee will work with ODEE and SUNY Institutional Research Office to collect and analyze relevant data from other institutions (eg., CUNY, University of California system). The committee is also working with ODEE to organize a conference next spring on the importance of diversity to educational excellence and how to preserve and possible grow diversity programs around SUNY.
The committee proposed a resolution for the University Faculty Senate on supporting the mission and leadership of the ODEE; the text of this resolution and its disposition will be found in the relevant section below.
Special Committee on Sustainability, Maureen Dolan, Old Westbury, Chair
This committee is "concerned with all matters related to energy, environment and sustainability throughout the University. The committee consists of a Steering Committee of between 6 and 12 members with expertise in at least one of the following areas relevant to sustainability: research, curriculum, student engagement, community outreach, University operations. Members of the Steering Committee will convene working groups in their area of expertise from among various SUNY stakeholders (e.g., faculty, staff, students, administrators) and will initiate relevant activities. There will also be an Internal (SUNY) Advisory Committee from the relevant bodies within SUNY and an External Advisory Committee drawn from public and private agencies and university with the relevant interest and expertise.
The committee will collaborate with the Editors of the University Faculty Senate Bulletin on a special issue related to sustainability to be published in the spring. There will be three special guest editors for this issue: Carl Hayden, Chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees; John Clark, Interim SUNY Chancellor; and Risa Palm, SUNY Provost. It will also collaborate with the SUNY Energy Office and other appropriate internal/external entities to organize a second SUNY Sustainability Conference.
The committee will collaborate with NYSERDA Energy Educators Program to identify potential partnerships through SUNY for broader implementation of model curricula related to the NYSERDA Program on "Energy Smart Students" (ESS) and potentially expand this K-12 program to general and continuing education. It will also work with the Graduate and Research Committee, the Provost’s Office, and the Research Foundation to compile a "SUNY energy and sustainability research clearinghouse," an online publication with a search engine to summarize faculty expertise related to energy, environment, and sustainability across disciplines and sectors. Finally, it will work with relevant individuals and groups within SUNY to develop policies, procedures, and models for improved dissemination and broader participation by SUNY in externally-funded energy/sustainability programs administered by NYSERDA, state and federal agencies, private utilities, etc.
Ad hoc Committee on Professional Behavior, Ethical Conduct and Institutional Integrity, Janet Nepkie, Oneonta, Chair
This committee was established "to gather information and serve as a resource for the Senate and the University;" it "will not serve as a disciplinary body not will it take part in judicial proceedings." The committee’s areas of activity and interest will be quite broad and will include looking at ethical and professional issues of curriculum; academic honesty; research, scholarship and creative activity; instructional, institutional and operational policies and practices; personal integrity; electronic communication; confidentiality; use of university resources; conflicts of interest and commitment; financial transactions; impact on the environment; and hiring and admissions practices.
The committee developed a pilot survey instrument that asked for relevant practices and policies on one’s campus was distributed to all senators at the Fall Plenary Meeting. As a result of the responses to that instrument and the committee’s analysis, a final survey instrument will be created and distributed to the campuses.