Faculty Council
Minutes of the meeting of September 12, 1994
Meeting was called to order at 4:04p.m. by Chairperson Ted Steinberg.
1. Motion (K.Lucey/K.Bonds): to adopt the published agenda. Motion passed.
2. Motion (L.Naslund/T.Pencek): to approve the published minutes of the May 2, 1994 meeting. Motion passed.
3. President Donald A. MacPhee reported that preliminary figures for current enrollment indicate that Fredonia is slightly above its target. He said that there is a SUNY-wide decline in applica- tions, shared by Fredonia; however, Fredonia has enjoyed a higher yield rate (ratio of enrolled to applications) than most of the other campuses, and a very high continuing/returning rate. He characterized this as a good year on balance. He said that the academic profile remains strong, with test scores around 1000 and high school averages of 86+. MacPhee announced that the report of the draft Information Technology Plan had been circulated by the Computing Services Planning and Priorities Advisory Board. Hearings on the plan were announced for September 15, 21, 27, and 28 at various locations on campus and faculty encouraged to attend for information and input. The president congratulated Alan Wheeler and Joann Parla for winning a $1.5 million 5-year grant for a joint project with schools in the Jamestown area. The grant project will serve at- risk students. J. Straight asked the president to comment on reported problems with operation of the Central Box Office. MacPhee responded that the Box Office had been taken away from the Student Association at the request of the student body at the beginning of the summer. He said there had been reports of glitches in the distribution of tickets, but that this apparently a computer software problem, as opposed to human error. He said staff of the Student Affairs division had been meeting to develop solutions to the problems. G. McNeil later clarified that Rocke- feller Arts Center is a client of the Central Box Office, not the operator of it; the box office is the place to call for tickets and ticket information. She asked that patrons contact the Box Office, not RAC, about ticketing problems.
4. Chairperson Theodore Steinberg announced that John Malcolm's current sabbatical leaves a one-year vacancy for an academic on the FSA Board; interested persons should contact him or VP Burdette. Steinberg announced a program on Sexual Harassment in the Work Place, Sept. 20, sponsored by the Western New York Paralegal Association. Theater for Change will be featured. He called for volunteers from the faculty to view the production to see if it would be worth sponsoring on our campus. Steinberg then read the Charges to FC Standing Committees for 1994-95 [text appended to these minutes]. T. Malinoski asked whence come the charges. Steinberg replied that input comes to him from various sources, faculty and administration; the Executive Committee then reviewed, discussed, and revised the charges to develop the present version. Chairperson Steinberg then read a prepared statement urging FC members to do more than just listen at FC meetings. He said he hoped for more lively and serious discussion of the important issues coming before FC. He cautioned that FC's silence may be taken by administration as acquiescence, or that FC may not be taken seriously if it does not engage in meaningful dialogue with administration over important issues. K.Mantai asked what had happened to the search for Associate Vice President for Curriculum and Academic Support . VP Hess answered that the position had been offered to the leading candidate, who declined the position. He said that he then decided to define the position as Assistant to the VP (instead of Associate VP) and fill it through a local search to save money. Mantai asked why that option had not been pursued earlier. Hess said, at the time he felt that it should be filled through a national search.
5. Vice Chairperson Jane Romal reported that the Counseling Center had completed moving into quarters in LoGrasso Hall, and that this improvement is an example of successful influence of FC.
6. Faculty Senator H. Joseph Straight reported that FS would meet at SUNY Central, Albany, Sept. 22-24, and that the standing committees would meet then, too. He noted that Sandra Brown Lewis serves on the Operations Committee; Vivian Conover is on Student Life Committee; Tom Regelski is on Programs and Awards Committee. He noted that FS President James Chen has achieved much greater diversity on the committees.
7a. Governance Committee chair Sandra Brown Lewis reported that the committee would be holding two elections for committee vacan- cies, but in the interim the outgoing members had agreed to continue (on Professional Service and Student Affairs commit- tees). Winners of May's committee elections include: Andrea Herrera (AEH), Thomas Rywick (NSS), Liza Smith (PS/MC) to Academ- ic Affairs; Gloria Taylor-Neal (PS/MC) Harry Watters (PS/MC) to Student Affairs; Rebecca Conti (NSS) to Professional Service; and Sandra (Brown) Lewis (PS/MC), Stephen Rees (AEH), Jacqueline Swansinger (NSS) to Governance.
7b. Academic Affairs Committee had no report.
7c. Planning & Budget Committee chair Connie Willeford reported that the committee would hold its first meeting Sept. 15, and that Jon Kraus would be replacing Janice Peterson during her leave.
7d. Professional Service Committee made no report.
7e. Student Affairs Committee, Lisa Naslund, chair, reported that its first meeting would be September 27.
8.(The Commencement Committee's report was postponed to the October FC meeting.)
9. Laura Henning reported for the College Scholarship Committee. She said the committee had distributed some $130,000 in scholar- ships for the '94-'95 AY, beyond those scholarships administered by departments. Foundation Freshman Awards of $2,650 went to 19 students (including 10 Faculty/Staff sponsored scholarships) with SATs of 1150-1370, and 91-99 high school GPA. (Last year's 21 recipients were all enrolled in honors programs.) Some 51 other students were awarded scholarships ranging from $100 to $2,000 under other programs. K.Lucey asked where students went who had declined scholarship offers. Henning replied that they often went to our competitors Geneseo, Ithaca, Syracuse, and UB. President MacPhee added that Fredonia needs to become more competitive in this area, and that some other institutions are offering very attrac- tive first year scholarships, de-emphasizing that those scholar- ships may not be available in subsequent years.
10. New Business:
J. Straight distributed copies of a preliminary proposal concerning the college calendar. [Copy included in Archive minutes]. The proposal would eliminate redefined days and make inter-semester break a week longer, with commencement on May 18. No action was taken on this, but he will move it for adoption at the October meeting. D. Jelski, and K. Mantai said that Chemistry, Biology and the Physics Department are now opposed to redefined days. D.Burdette said that the longer break would have only a negligible effect on utilities. B.J.Stephens spoke in favor of the later schedule. Registrar N.Bowser commented that her department needs the longer time between semesters to process grades for the previous semester and prepare for the Spring Semester start up; she added that students were surveyed when the policy was developed, and they preferred the longer break and later ending date.
A.Sarkar spoke to advocate merging the undergraduate and graduate catalogs. He said it would be helpful to all the stu- dents to see what courses are available, and that it would promote the graduate programs and perhaps save on publication costs. M.R.Amiran noted that the catalogs were combined in earlier years. T.Malinoski said about 35,000 undergraduate cata- logs are printed, and 5,000 graduate catalogs. He said merging them would add about 50 pages to the undergraduate catalog, making it more expensive, but that would be offset by not print- ing the graduate catalog separately. He said that the two had been separated to give the graduate program its own identity. MacPhee noted that the catalogs may be changing drastically before the next catalog, perhaps augmented by on-line computer- ized catalogs. Steinberg asked A.Wheeler to have the Graduate Council examine the question and report at the November FC meet- ing.
11. Motion (J.Romal/J.Kraus): to adjourn. Motion passed at 4:55 p.m.
Attendance:
Professional Staff, Management:
[x] K. Bonds (95)
[x] S. Clarke (96)
[E] V. Conover (96)
[E] D. Danielson (95)
[1] K. Harrington(94)
[1] R. Hart (96)
[1] A. Jackson (96)
[x] T. Malinoski (96)
[x] G. McNeil (95)
[x] T. Murphy (96)
[E] C. Niles (94)
[E] M. Pabst (94)
[ ] vacant
Arts, Education, Humanities:
[x] M.R. Amiran (96)
[1] C. Brown (95)
[1] J. Burke (94)
[x] J. Gillette (96)
[1] D. Kerzner (95)
[x] R. Klassen (95)
[x] K. Lucey (94)
[x] R. Ma
[x] L. Maheady (94)
[E] J. McVicker (95)
[x] K. Mills-Courts (96)
[E] M. Nelson (96)
[x] J. Parla (95)
Natural and Social Sciences:
[x] S. El-Mofty (96)
[1] J. Hansen (94)
[x] D. Jelski (94)
[x] J. Kraus (95)
[1] G. Lash (96)
[x] K. Mantai (96)
[x] P. Mattocks (96)
[x] A. Parai (95)
[x] T. Pencek (96)
[x] T. Rywick (94)
[x] A. Sarker (95)
[x] B.J.Stephens (95)
[x] M. Vassallo (95)
Student Representatives:
[1] N. Crino
[1] S. Downey
[1] M. Eglin
[1] R. Kerr
[x] N. Merkel
[1] G. Schneider
Ex Officio:
[x] D. Burdette
[1] J. Crowley
[x] M. Dimitri
[x] D. Hess
[x] J. Hurtgen
[x] S. Lewis
[x] D. MacPhee
[x] T. McNeil
[x] J. Romal
[x] T. Steinberg
[x] J. Straight
[x] A. Wheeler
[x] S. Zablotney
Guests:
Sue Besemer
Laura Henning
Nancy Bowser
Constance Willeford
Lisa Naslund
Ronald Ambrosetti
Thomas McNeil, College Senate Secretary