Office of the Provost

Student Mobility Steering Committee

The Student Mobility Steering Committee shall be a SUNY shared-governance standing committee that reports to the SUNY Provost, the Faculty Council of Community Colleges, and the University Faculty Senate.  The Committee shall assume the duties of the SUNY Transfer Review Committee and the SUNY Joint Committee on Transfer and Articulation.  The SUNY Transfer Review Committee and the SUNY Joint Committee will be dissolved.  The Student Mobility Steering Committee shall make recommendations to the SUNY Provost on all matters concerning the ability of students to transfer from one campus to another within SUNY as prescribed by SUNY Board of Trustees Policy. The Committee will also advise the SUNY Transformation Teams and Innovation Teams on matters related to Student Mobility for as long as these teams continue to function. Specific Committee activities shall include but are not limited to:

1)      Establishing and reviewing processes that facilitate our students' ability to transfer their A.A. and A.S. degrees seamlessly throughout SUNY, according to SUNY Board of Trustees Policy.  The Committee will also establish and review processes that facilitate the ability of SUNY students transferring without A.A. or A.S. degrees to receive full credit for successfully completed general education courses and first-and second-year courses within the major.  Students transferring within SUNY will not have to repeat courses with similar curricular content, according to SUNY Board of Trustees Policy.  The Committee will facilitate the transfer of other first- and second-year courses generally offered at SUNY four-year institutions.

2)      Establishing and reviewing appeals processes (beginning from the processes developed by the Transfer Review Committee) for the following:

a.       Campus to campus appeals--A receiving campus may appeal having to accept a course listed in a category from a sending campus.  A sending campus may appeal a decision by a receiving campus not to accept a course specified for the major or for general education or by an articulation agreement to meet the same requirement as a native student taking a corresponding course.  After receiving an appeal request, the Provost's Office will attempt to have the campuses arrive at a mutually acceptable outcome.  If this is not achieved, the appeal will be referred to the Committee.

b.      Campus to SUNY System Administration Appeals, such as 

i.      General Education Transfer Appeals--If the Provost's Office determines that an individual course does not meet a general education category requirement, the campus may appeal this decision.

ii.      Transfer Assurance within the Major Appeals--Faculty may ask to have course lists revised because of the evolution of the discipline or there may be a desire to modify the process for including courses on the transfer assurance list within the major.  The Provost's Office will work to ensure that there is agreement between and among all SUNY campuses on the establishment of courses guaranteed to transfer within the major.

iii.      Course Category Descriptor Appeals--Faculty may wish to have descriptors revised to better reflect content expectations.
Note:  The term course category is used because several individual courses with a variety of titles may correspond to a single course descriptor, such as "British Literature. "  In these cases, any course that satisfies the descriptor is guaranteed to transfer into the appropriate academic major

iv.      Appeals for Acceptance/Rejection of a Course within a Course Category--If a campus wishes to include a course in a course category, it should first submit the course to the SUNY Provost.  If the SUNY Provost approves the campus request, the decision will be sent to the Committee for information purposes. If the SUNY Provost does not approve the course, the SUNY Provost will send the request to the Committee for further deliberation and recommendation.

c.       Upon the date the SUNY Provost's Office is able to announce public access to the SUNY Transfer Website, course descriptors and courses declared assured of transfer within the major shall be considered provisional through the Fall 2011 semester.  Suggestions for revision should be submitted by October 15, 2011, to allow the faculty review committees, composed of faculty in the respective disciplines from two- and four-year campuses, to consider them and make recommendations so that the website can be updated for the Spring 2012 semester.  If no appeal to a descriptor is received within this time period, the descriptor and courses assured of transfer within the major as designated on the website will be considered permanent until the Committee, using a systematic and transparent review process, recommends otherwise.

d.       It is understood that campuses will make the initial assignment of courses to the appropriate categories, consistent with stated course descriptors.

3)      Establishing an ongoing review process for evaluating the appropriateness of course descriptors and the list of courses assured transfer within the major, with mechanisms for proposing changes when and if necessary.

4)      Convening, when necessary, discipline committees, in consultation with the Faculty Council of Community Colleges and the University Faculty Senate, to advise the Committee with regard to activities related to appeals and review processes.

5)      Reviewing the Provost's decisions on Student Appeals, as prescribed by SUNY Board of Trustees Policy, to determine if any system-wide action needs to be pursued.

Chairperson:  The Committee Chair will be appointed by either the FCCC President or the UFS President and will be selected from one of the teaching faculty committee members.  The Committee Chair will have a one-year term.  Given the influential nature of the Chair's position, the Chair will be the last member of the committee to vote.  The first Committee Chair will be selected by the FCCC President and upon expiration of the Committee Chair's term; the UFS President will select the succeeding Chair.  The selection of Chair will continue to rotate as such in the succeeding years.

Membership:   

3 teaching faculty appointed by the FCCC President
3 teaching faculty appointed by the UFS President
2 System Administration representatives appointed by the SUNY Provost
2 SUNY Chief Academic Officers appointed by the SUNY Provost in collaboration with the FCCC President and the UFS President. One Chief Academic Officer will be appointed from the community colleges and one will be appointed from the state-operated campuses.
2 SUNY transfer (articulation) professional staff appointed by the SUNY Provost in collaboration with the FCCC President and the UFS President.  One will be appointed from the community colleges and one will be appointed from the state-operated campuses.

Terms:  Each member will have a two-year term but can be reappointed.  In order to provide for committee stability, initial terms will be staggered.  One-half of the committee membership will have a two-year term, and the other half will have a three-year term, with all succeeding terms remaining as two year terms.

Date:  December 21, 2010