Minutes of the University Senate Meeting
Sept. 8, 2008
The meeting was called to order by Chair Ana Maria Klein at 4:06 PM in Reed Library.
The Chair introduced this year’s Parliamentarian, Dr. Joseph Straight, and the members of the Senate Executive Board to the body.
The Chair asked each member to please state their names before they begin to speak, and to please wear their name tags in a visible place. She announced that we will not be printing the draft agenda or any of the materials to be discussed at the meetings. It is the responsibility of each Senator to make certain that s/he checks the Senate web site or the Senate ANGEL site for documents relating to the upcoming meeting.
Chair Klein called for a motion to approve the draft agenda for this meeting and the draft minutes of the meeting of May 5, 2008. A motion was made and seconded. [The Chair did not call for a vote.]
Report of the President: Dennis Hefner
President Hefner:
- Welcomed back the Senators;
- Updated the body regarding the budget:
There has been no final word yet;
The campus has used the worst-case scenario for its planning up to this point;
The total cut (worst-case) could be $2.7 Million;
Nothing will be taken away from the faculty, but please don’t ask for anything new or extra!;
The SUNY System is trying to get the Division of Budget to recognize that the cuts SUNY made prior to the latest call for cuts should be considered part of this present cut;
The SUNY Board of Trustees may come out with mid-year increases for tuition, but there is still on-going discussion behind the scenes;
Most of the cuts we made were not in Academic Affairs. Faculty positions and operating expenses for the departments are intact. Travel budgets are intact. And the Acquisitions budget for the Library is intact.;
As far as non-faculty lines, 39 different positions have been put in the 3-month delay to generate savings. Since July 1 this has generated $128,171 but we need to generate $404,100. We’ve already cut the other $2.2 Million, so we are getting there.
He then called for any questions regarding the budget.
Sen. Ziya Arnavut (AT LARGE, Natural Sciences) asked if the travel budget is intact, why are the departments not seeing as much in their travel budgets this year? President Hefner responded indicating that there may have been movement within the Colleges. Dean David Ewing added that the total travel budget for the Colleges is $313,000. In the past we’ve supplemented that with OTPS (Other Than Personal Service) funds. Without having academic equipment funding this year, we’ve got to use the OTPS funds for important equipment that breaks down. Something has to give, and that is travel.
Then President Hefner continued with his updates:
- Two things will be coming from SUNY Administration:
Ø One is looking at mission definition. There has been some “mission creep”, especially among the Ag and Tech schools. He announced that he would be leaving early from the Senate meeting today because he is assigned to a Task Force that has been appointed to look at this situation, and their first meeting is tomorrow in Albany.
Ø The second system-wide issue is not a big one for us, but it is for others, and that is problems with regard to transfers. How well transfer students are (or are not) being treated when they come to one of SUNY’s four-year schools. Our institution has a good reputation. This will be looked at by the Board, and there are likely to be some system-wide policy changes.
- Construction:
Ø The campus looks messier than normal as we open this year. We are in the absolute messiest part of the heating/cooling replacement. By next spring all that project should be done. Right now there are ten different sites for that project alone. Outside of my office in Fenton Hall, there is some kind of noisy machine blowing air up into the ceiling. Come May, even that will be taken care of.
Ø There has been some delay in getting monies released from the Division of Budget. We think we’ve jumped all the hurdles, but we have experienced delays, including obtaining the architect for the drawings for the new Science/Technology building. It is very frustrating for all of us.
Ø The Williams Center is running behind. We have discovered a structural problem with the new double glazed, and therefore heavier, skylight for the multipurpose room. We don’t want the skylight to fall, and we could not be sure how an additional two feet of snow might affect this problem, so we’ve ordered more reinforcement for the ceiling. This is being fabricated, and will be installed as soon as we can get it.
Ø Downstairs in the Williams Center, the CentrePoint Lounge has opened, although it is not completed. I was surprised by the statistics. Last Friday’s sales were incredible: over 3700 individual transactions. Only half the lighting is in right now. On Sept. 15, the Horizon Room will open, and that will serve as a lunch facility for faculty who wish to be able to eat away from the students. The new Panini station is expected to open by then as well.
- The Executive Committee of the Senate asked that I speak to the matter of why there is so much money available for construction at a time when the operating budget is being cut. We get two streams of funding. The operating dollars are based on tax revenue, and construction money is covered by 30-year bonds held by the Construction Fund. We have done well getting our construction funded, and that is why we can have new equipment. The academic equipment replacement line has been only about $70,000 per year. Using construction projects which have equipment funding built into them very often, has enabled us to continue to add new academic equipment.
- One other construction item (this is a one year’s warning): next summer, Maytum Hall will close for the year. We have very difficult problems with the piping in that building, and we will have to gut it and put in all new piping (and piping that will be accessible in the future.) We’ve formed a task force that is looking at the moves of the various offices. Probably in October I will be able to share the thinking about the temporary locations of the offices from Maytum.
- The Executive Committee also asked that I talk a bit about the Assoc. Vice President’s position now in University Advancement. Many think that this is a new position. It is not. It has been held vacant for the last three years. We now plan on using this for an internal promotion. Only a little money will be added for this, and the position will be very helpful for our current capital campaign. Large donors like to be courted by a high-powered individual. This will assist us in attracting giving.
- I just want to comment about the new Learning Assistants guidelines. These were created by a task force, and VP Horvath has agreed with the task force’s recommendations. My only take on this is that I truly think that undergraduate students should not be grading other undergraduates. Grading should be done only by faculty members or graduate assistants.
- With regard to the proposed College of Business which is later on the agenda, but I’m not going to be here for that… I know that you all think that this is just about AACSB accreditation. It is true that having this as a College will make that accreditation easier, but that is not a good, solid reason for doing this. I support this because I am always looking at the competition. Next year, the numbers of high school graduates will be declining. If we look at our three most viable competitors in Western NY (Geneseo, Oswego, and Brockport), they are structured with deans heading their programs, and they have AACSB accreditation. They have been doing better with enrollment in their business programs than we have. We are not putting a lot of money into the new deanship. The current director’s position will be upgraded slightly with money to become the deanship. We need our School of Business to be more competitive.
- Finally, if any of you were at the Concerto Competition in King Concert Hall, you know how outstanding this was. The winner will perform with the University Symphony. The pieces were long and involved (at least from my economist’s perspective) and I just want to say “Kudos!” to our School of Music.
Questions?
Dr. Roger Byrne asked relative to the skylight issue in the Williams Center, how are the extra costs being covered? Pres. Hefner answered we have submitted for emergency funds from the State because it is a structural problem. If we don’t get that, we will have to curtail some other project in the upcoming five year plan.
Sen. Arnavut asked about the Learning Assistants guidelines: is the Senate going to vote on that at some time? Pres. Hefner indicated that this was a task force that VP Horvath had formed, and had kept the Senate informed. Dr. Straight then rose and indicated the Academic Affairs Committee, which he chairs, will be looking at these, and will be bringing them to the Senate.
Sen. Arnavut then spoke to the issue of the proposed College of Business. He indicated he was for it, but in his area of Computer Science, CIS was wondering if there is any study or some sort of push by the administration for accreditation of our CIS program. Pres. Hefner indicated that he would be very supportive of computer science going for accreditation. He remarked that the San Bernadino campus in the California system had benefited greatly from having its computer science program accredited when he was there.
Report of the Vice President for Academic Affairs: Dr. Virginia Horvath
VP Horvath announced that her report will be brief, because it has been less than two weeks since her update at the All-Academic-Affairs meeting. She added that anyone who wished to have a copy of her PowerPoint presentation with all the updates could contact her office, and she would see that they received a copy.
She then informed the body that Dr. Rhea Simmons has been appointed the new Coordinator of the College Core Curriculum program. And she introduced Beez Schell, our new founding director of the Professional Development Center.
Questions?
Sen. Arnavut commented that last year there was a task force on personnel policies. Where are we with that process? Dr. Horvath responded that the Task Force had given her three different reports: one each for the teaching faculty, the professionals, and the librarians. None of these had many solid recommendations. Right now she and the deans are working with those reports and are forming a draft that will be brought to the Senate. She hopes that for the next academic year we’ll have more clear policies in place. One thing they are looking at is how to make the first review (which comes for most with only six weeks here) more humane. They are thinking of a much simpler process, one that does not stress what a new faculty member has accomplished in just six weeks, but more of plan for their professional development, teaching, research, and service.
Sen. Arnavut then asked about guidelines across the departments for DSI (discretionary salary increases). VP Horvath indicated that what she sees as uniform is only the formulas we use to calculate the amount of the pool… each department has its own process… we are not planning on saying that the model of “x” department is what everyone should be doing.
Report of the Senate Chair: Dr. Ana Maria Klein
Chair Klein first thanked Tracy Benkelman, Secretary to Dean Ewing in Natural and Social Sciences, for providing years of service to the Senate. In the past hers was the task of creating the majority of the documents, ballots, etc., collating and distributing them. Last year we decided to go paperless and upload everything on the Senate web site and in our ANGEL group. Tracy will assist Gloria Hobbs as they transition responsibilities for the Senate.
Chair Klein then thanked Randy Gadikian, Director of Reed Library, for going along with her idea of using this location and providing staff to get it created.
She then reminded Standing Committees that they must submit (and provide what handouts they would need) for the agenda no later than Noon on the Monday preceding the Senate meeting. We need time to coordinate the posting of these materials. She urged each Senator to come prepared, having read all the posted material. She asked Senators to make sure that their departments include a governance report at meetings at least once a month. And lastly, she reminded all that action items have to be announced ahead of time (usually one meeting) so that the entire campus can be made aware of and representatives can comment on, question, and debate such proposals before voting.
Report of the SUNY University-wide Senator: Dr. Cheryl Drout
Sen. Drout announced that the Fall Plenary will be at Potsdam on Oct. 16-17. She also noted that there is a workshop being presented at the University at Buffalo on how to get your proposal funded. This will be in the Marriot Niagara on Oct. 6, from 9:30AM to 4:00PM, and will be at no cost to the participants. Lunch will be provided. All one has to do is register in advance. Information and registration forms are available on the University Senate (the SUNY-wide senate) web site: http://www.suny.edu/facultySenate/
Chair Klein asked if there were any questions concerning her or Dr. Drout’s report.
Sen. Stephen Kershnar (Philosophy) asked if we are going to vote on which room we are going to use? Chair Klein responded that there was no plan to do so today, but we will work on it. Sen. Kershnar then asked if the Learning Assistants guidelines will be voted on. Chair Klein indicated that yes, once the Academic Affairs Committee gets to look them over, we will discuss and vote on those.
OLD BUSINESS
Dean Ewing asked that the proposal to create a College of Business be untabled. He then spoke in favor of such an action. As Dr. Hefner has already pointed out, the most important reason to do this is our competition. Whether the unit calls itself a School or a College at our sister institutions, all of them have a Dean that reports to the Provost or VPAA. Such a move will also streamline our structure. Currently the School of Business has two departments, who report to the Director, who reports to the Dean of Natural and Social Sciences, who reports to the VPAA. Creation of the new college will decrease that reporting structure by one step. The Director position currently is vacant. Dr. Seyedian is serving as both interim Director and as Chair of Business Administration. There is also a selfish reason: I now have 13 departments I have responsibility over, and truthfully I wouldn’t mind losing two (even though I love the School of Business!)
Then Dean Ewing digressed a bit and spoke to the earlier question from Sen. Arnavut, saying the Deans have asked the Chairs to look at their college budgets. There may be other ways to protect the travel budget, if we get creative. I have about $44,000 less this year than last year. What is formally earmarked for travel is miniscule. We have always supplemented it with OTPS funding.
Discussion:
Sen. Christopher Taverna (AT LARGE, Professionals) commented that at the last meeting it had come up that the new dean would be responsible for about 50% of his/her time doing fundraising. My question is who will be getting the responsibilities that are currently being carried out and apparently will be shed by this dean? Dean Ewing responded Moj is doubling as Chair of Business Administration and as Interim Director of the School of Business. We don’t currently have this line filled.
Sen. Nan Bowser (Ex Officio, Registrar) asked when will we vote on this proposal? Chair Klein indicated that we have the intent to vote on this at the next meeting.
Sen. Dani McKinney (AT LARGE, Social Sciences) asked if in that vote a yes vote would be to create the College of Business. Chair Klein responded yes.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Academic Affairs: Online Education Policy (Discussion Item)
[The draft Online Education Policy is available on the web site or via the ANGEL group.]
Dr. Straight opened by saying last semester we brought a preliminary draft of this policy to the Senate. We also wanted to consult with ITAB, and we’ve done that on a couple of occasions. A lot has been pared out of the original proposal. Please be aware that there is language about course frequency on the second page, and also alternative language at the end of the document. We’d like to have some input from the Senate. In the old policy there was the notion that students have the right to expect that they can pick their courses in a traditional format according to the course frequency in the catalog. If we want to change that, we should do so explicitly. Have we come far enough that we can offer a “B” frequency course in one year as a traditional offering, and the next year online?
Sen. Markus Vink (History) indicated he had a problem with that idea. He has a general problem putting traditional instruction at the same level as online. Having a professor at the front of the class provides more. He would like the opening to say traditional it is preferred that courses be offered in traditional format.
Sen. Bowser said she’d like to hear from the students, especially with regard to the language “students have a right to expect…” Sen. Nick Dhimitri (Student) indicated that courses that are offered traditionally are desired. Online courses are great, but it is not necessarily that we have come far enough, but rather some students do better in a classroom with human interaction. Therefore, we’d expect to have the courses offered as they are in the catalog in a classroom. That is his gut reaction.
Sen. Arnavut asked Dr. Straight, when you were Chair of Mathematics and Computer Science, there was some difficulty with our wanting to present a course online. Other schools do this all the time. The University of Pheonix survives this way. What kind of study has been done to justify that these will be equal quality. We need to do this very well so that students won’t complain about it later. How is this going to be assessed? We need to make sure we do it well. Dr. Straight responded the difference between this policy and its predecessor is exactly that; to have procedures in place for resources, training of faculty, means for students to assess their readiness for an online course, etc. We want to assume given that we have procedures in place that if we offer a course online, it will be of the same quality. Different students have different ways of learning, and some certainly do learn better face to face. In our current advertising, we give the impression that we learn face to face. We need to be explicit if we are going to change this. Students need to be able to handle conferences that are not face to face in the real world. We want to make sure that they are ready for that, as well.
VPAA Horvath commented that Assoc. VP for Graduate Study & Research Kevin Kearns is unable to be here today, but he feels that graduate courses provide a great opportunity for online programs. For working professionals, that type of instruction can be very much wanted and appreciated. Full online programs might be most appropriate for graduate studies.
Sen. Christine Givner (Ex Officio, Education) commented that in her College, there are 1700 teacher candidates at all levels. Our programs need to understand virtual learning so we have to be forward thinking. Programs no longer are just for residential campuses. All of our students need to be liberally educated, and being a nimble learner is a critical part of that.
Sen. McKinney commented that she has been teaching online, and students from other campuses are better at online learning. They kill our kids! We have to go the extra mile to make our students ready, because they are not. These were not freshmen. Most had not done well and were retaking the course. They were not ready. They had the hardest time getting up and running. We need to prepare them better for this type of experience.
Sen. Vink added that computer literacy is very important, as are public speaking abilities, critical reading skills, writing, etc. You can lose those skills when you move to online courses.
Sen. Dhimitri then said that he was one of those students who struggled in Dr. McKinney’s class. He wasn’t used to how it all worked. There is a way to do both, and help our students get up to speed for the virtual world without eliminating traditional classes. He doesn’t want to see the elimination of classes we offer here in traditional format, especially if we aren’t preparing our students to be up to speed for virtual learning techniques.
Dr. Straight closed by saying he will bring this up again at our next meeting.
Accreditation 2010 update
Dr. Byrne indicated that most of his remarks are covered in the handout [available on the Senate web site or in the Senate ANGEL group]. He said the first phase, the submission of our self study design, has been accomplished. At the next Senate meeting, he hopes to present the completed design. He urged us all to become familiar with the last outcome in the list on the handout. He informed the body that 8 working groups have been formed, plus 1 for the “infused” standard of integrity. He announced that Dr. Thomas Loughlin is the documents coordinator, so you might be hearing from him. Middle States wants us to use exising data as much as possible, and urges that we don’t do many new surveys.
NEW BUSINESS
Chair Klein asked Randy Gadikian to talk a bit about the Library and closing over Labor Day weekend. Mr. Gadikian stated that traditionally the Library has not been open on that weekend for a number of reasons. The Library did open on Labor Day weekend about four years ago, and had about a half dozen users. Other schools are open on that weekend, and they report that their use is rather light. One of our issues is staffing. Most of our hours, especially in late evening and on weekends, are staffed by students. Labor Day weekend is difficult because we are just hiring, and don’t have students in place. Hiring students earlier is not possible because they are not in town. This year was particularly difficult because we lost 75% of our student supervisors to graduation.
Questions:
Sen. McKinney asked is it possible to hire in spring for the fall? Mr. Gadikian answered we’ve talked about this, but students change their minds. They don’t come back, or they don’t want to work, and so on. Many times you can’t depend on early hiring because their plans change.
Discussion of other topics:
VPAA Horvath rose at this point to remind all of the Conference on Teaching and Learning on Tuesday, Sept. 23rd. The topic is civic engagement. This will be the same arrangement as last year. Faculty may make alternate arrangements for your classes so you don’t have to meet, but please remember classes are NOT cancelled.
Sen. Bowser asked the faculty about the deadlines for drop/add. The policy on the timing comes from this body, not the Registrar’s Office. We talked about six years ago about changing the deadline to the end of the second week instead of the third week. We had strong consensus that after the first few days of the semester, faculty wanted to be able to talk with and determine who could enter their courses. But several times this year, faculty have come saying “Why can’t we leave the web open for the first week?” This will be on the agenda of the Academic Leadership meeting. This would mean that a student could enroll up until 5 PM on the Friday of the end of the first week without contacting you. What do you think?
Sen. McKinney said two days for “free” drop/add seems short, but couldn’t we have the deadline after the second class session?
Sen. Paul Murphy (Music) agreed that Tuesday was very short. His only hesitation is that students will think that school doesn’t really start until the second week of classes. Mrs. Bowser responded that we certainly don’t want the second week of classes to become a review of the first week.
Sen. Bowser asked for a sense of the Senate by a show of hands. Those who wanted to leave open were the great majority. About seven hands were raised to leave it as it currently exists.
Chair Klein called for a motion to adjourn. Sen. Murphy moved, and Sen. Adrienne McCormick (English) seconded.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:23 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Vincent Courtney
Faculty Secretary