Faculty Council
Minutes of the meeting of February 14
Meeting was called to order at 4:03 p.m. by Chairperson Theodore Steinberg. He announced that the Executive Committee proposed that the published agenda be revised as follows: add item 4a. Report of the Vice Chairperson, Jane Romal; add item 6a. Report of Vice President Burdette on capital improvements.
1. Motion (M.Nelson/M.L.Lunde): to approve the agenda as published and revised by the Executive Committee. Motion passed.
2. Motion (M.Nelson/M.L.Lunde): to approve the minutes of the December 13, 1993 meeting. Motion passed.
3. President Donald A. MacPhee reported that Chancellor Johnstone had resigned due to severe health problem. The President announced he would be going on retreat with the other SUNY presidents; he expected that the selection process for a successor would be on the agenda for that meeting; he said he expected an interim chancellor would be appointed pending a search. MacPhee said he would meet with William Parment, and had already met with other legislators, to advocate for the SUNY budget proposal, and further to advocate for additional faculty positions and class sections, and for student service programs not addressed in the proposal. J.Straight noted that Provost Burke indicated that a SUNY priority is to increase funding for community colleges, and asked for the President's comment. MacPhee said that would be a priority, but not one he would be advancing since it is outside his expertise. He said an appeal for Bundy Aid increase will be high on the agenda of the private institutions, and restora- tion of graduate TAP funding would be a priority for SUNY institutions - graduate TAP might amount to some $30,000 for Fredonia's students. M.Nelson announced that UUP-Fredonia would be joining in political advocacy efforts with a legislative reception scheduled for March 11. The President concluded saying he regretted not being able to personally present the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching to Prof. Karen Mills-Courts due to a meeting with the SUNY presidents. He urged the campus community to attend the ceremony and address by Mills-Courts.
4. Chairperson Theodore Steinberg began his report by thanking those FC members who had recently completed terms of service: Barb Servatius, Frank Krohn, Gordon Baird, Harry Jacobson, Mary Charbonnet, Peter Sinden, Tesfai Kflu, Tom Janik, and Tom Laughlin. He welcomed newly elected FC members: MindaRae Amiran, Jack Gillette, Ringo Ma, Karen Mills-Courts, Mac Nelson, Sylvia Clarke, Vivian Conover, Richard Hart, Angela Jackson, Tom Malinoski, Tim Murphy, Samar El-Mofty, Gary Lash, Ken Mantai, Peter Mattocks, Tom Pencek and Candice Brown. K. Lucey inquired when the FC terms expire. Stein- berg responded that terms expire with the calendar years, December 31, at midnight. Steinberg called on William Foeller, chair of the Search Committee for Associate VP for Academic Affairs who reported that the committee had met frequently October through January. He said a job description had been prepared and the position advertised, and 83 applications received and reviewed. The committee narrowed the field to 18, then again to 8 finalists. He said the committee will ask the Vice President to bring 3 to 5 candidates to campus in late March.
4a. Vice Chairperson Jane Romal made no report.
5. Faculty Senator H. Joseph Straight reported that the FS had met in January at the College at Purchase, and that a more detailed report would follow. He said a Bill of Rights for Electronic Community of Learners was presented for endorsement and is still under consider- ation. He said that libraries were a matter of widespread concern at the FS meeting.
6. Governance Committee chair Daniel Jelski distributed a printed report consisting of the current rosters of FC and its standing committees. He announced that he, Jelski, had been appointed to serve the remainder of the term of G. Baird (through '94) as a Natural & Social Sciences representative to FC.
6a. Vice President for Administration David Burdette distributed a written report showing the time schedules for 13 capital construction projects, most of which will begin on campus this summer, representing the start of a 5-year package of projects totaling some $24 million. He said the Dods Hall Swimming Pool Replacement would begin this summer, necessitating temporary loss of the Dods parking lot. Ventilation improvements for Houghton and Jewett Halls will take a year to a year and a half. He said Jewett may not be available this summer as significant steel construction is to be done there. Erie Dining Hall and Kirkland/Andrews Complex will get masonry work and roof repairs under the dorm fund. Concrete wall repairs and a new roof for the Campus Center will also begin this summer. Burdette said the Mason Hall rehabilitation will be a $12 million project. He said the preliminary program study for this would take a year, and the design study would take another year, with construction beginning in 1995. He said Gregory Hall lobby and offices were scheduled for major renovation to accommodate a 24-hour student services complex. J.Romal asked whether the Counseling Center would be located there. M.Dimitri responded that it will be in that building, but specific location is yet to be determined. K.Mantai asked what if Jewett is not ready for occupancy by the end of summer. Burdette said he is working on that, but nothing indicates it won't be ready to go by mid-August; Jewett will probably be significantly disrupted beyond September, but it should be ready for use. M.L.Lunde asked for comments on parking. Burdette replied that administration is working on alternatives, but that he cannot promise there will be no inconvenience. He said the Double Tier Lot may be expanded, the new lot near Houghton Hall will be ready by summer's end, and other options are under consideration. M.R.Amiran inquired whether it might make sense to not let freshmen bring cars to campus. Burdette replied that such a policy would pose significant recruiting disadvantages since competing campuses do not have such a restriction. Dimitri added that students park primarily on Ring Road, not in the prime spots. Burdette added that new parking spaces should provide a net increase in short run of nearly 100 spaces, even with the loss of the Dods lot.
7. Sharon Zablotney, co-chair of the Computer Services Priority Planning and Advisory Committee reported that the committee is co-chaired by Tracy Bennett and has been charged with (1) assigning priorities for computer programming, and (2) long term plan for computer services and information technology. She said committee has been seeking suggestions from chairs and administrators for programming needs for mainframe. As a result, the committee has set as first priority the revision of the transcript program. She said committee has been approaching long term plan from the perspective of the many users across campus: students, faculty, instructional technology in classrooms and computer labs, and administrative services. Committee is assessing campus infrastructure: cables, hardware, software and databases; assessing peoples needs; and assessing current technology, present resources (both personnel and equipment). She said this assessment is for purposes of developing a preliminary plan, and that subgroups are working on individual aspects of the plan. Bennett added that the committee has visited other campuses to see their approaches. K.Mantai inquired whether we need a mainframe, or might a network of smaller computers work better. Zablotney replied that the committee is looking at that. She said there exists a network in Thompson Hall, and we are hoping to increase and expand this and other networks and to install fiberoptics communications cables to enhance the possibilities for direct computer-to-computer communication without going through the mainframe. She said there remains a need for a mainframe for certain administrative uses including databases, purchasing processes, connections with Albany, and student records information. She said the majority of users is more interested in alterna- tives to the mainframe, and the committee is studying these. Macphee added that mainframe contracts are coming due within the next few months, allowing us opportunity to consider alternatives. He said a draft plan will be published on campus and subject to further input from all interested parties. Zablotney noted that the new multi-media classroom will be in place McEwen 202 by fall.
8. Library Advisory Committee, Jack Berkley, chair submitted a written report [included in Archive minutes]. MacPhee noted that the question of library collections will be given increased attention; he said it may be timely to commit a sum of money, in hopes of restoring some of the funding lost in recent years. Steinberg noted that the Acting Director of Reed Library will report at the March FC meeting.
9. Joanne Martonis report for the Office of Experiential Education. She said former Dean Amiran had asked her in 1989 to continue assessment of experiential learning as a one-hour course in portfolio development, which is available to 5 students per semester as an independent study. She said students receive zero to several hours credit for life experience according to evaluation standards of the Cooperative Assessment of Experiential Learning Handbook. The portfolio usually covers high school graduation to present, all work experiences, awards, and a personal narrative, with letters of reference and supporting documentation. The portfolio is evaluated by the student's major department chair plus two other faculty. Nine students have so far completed the portfolio process, resulting in from 5 to 16 credit hours awarded; two others are in process, plus two more beginning their portfolios.
10. There was no new business.
11. Motion (M.Nelson/M.L.Lunde): to adjourn. Motion passed at 4:44 p.m.
Attendance:
Professional Staff, Management:
[x] K. Bonds (95)
[x] S. Clarke (96)
[x] V. Conover (96)
[x] D. Danielson (95)
[1] K. Harrington(94)
[x] R. Hart (96)
[x] A. Jackson (96)
[x] T. Malinoski (96)
[x] G. McNeil (95)
[x] T. Murphy (96)
[x] C. Niles (94)
[x] M. Pabst (94)
[ ] vacant
Arts, Education, Humanities:
[x] M.R. Amiran (96)
[x] C. Brown (95)
[x] J. Burke (94)
[E] J. Gillette (96)
[x] D. Kerzner (95)
[x] R. Klassen (95)
[x] K. Lucey (94)
[x] R. Ma
[x] L. Maheady (94)
[x] J. McVicker (95)
[x] K. Mills-Courts (96)
[x] M. Nelson (96)
[E] J. Parla (95)
Natural and Social Sciences:
[x] S. El-Mofty (96)
[x] J. Hansen (94)
[x] D. Jelski (94)
[x] J. Kraus (95)
[x] G. Lash (96)
[x] K. Mantai (96)
[x] P. Mattocks (96)
[x] A. Parai (95)
[x] T. Pencek (96)
[1] T. Rywick (94)
[x] A. Sarker (95)
[x] B.J.Stephens (95)
[x] M. Vassallo (95)
Student Representatives:
[x] N. Crino
[1] S. Downey
[1] M. Eglin
[1] R. Kerr
[1] N. Merkel
[1] G. Schneider
Ex Officio:
[x] D. Burdette
[x] J. Crowley
[x] M. Dimitri
[x] D. Hess
[x] M. L. Lunde
[x] D. MacPhee
[x] T. McNeil
[x] J. Romal
[x] T. Steinberg
[x] J. Straight
[x] A. Wheeler
[x] S. Zablotney
Guests:
Tracy Bennett
Peter Schoenbach
S. Corcoran
Joanne Martonis
Ronald Ambrosetti
Thomas McNeil, College Senate Secretary