Faculty Council
Minutes of the meeting of November 14, 1994
Called to order at 4:04 by Chairperson Theodore Steinberg.
1. Motion (M.Nelson/L.Maheady): to approve the agenda. Motion passed.
2. Motion (M.Nelson/T.Pencek): to postpone approval of the minutes of the October 10, 1994 meeting. Motion passed.
3. President MacPhee reported that the impact of the recent elections is still to be determined, but it is clear that we must move to defend the vital interests of the College and immediately to influence the governor elect before he publishes his proposed budget. He noted that Mr. Pataki has no apparent identification with public higher education. He said that SUNY leaders are renewing their acquaintances with republican leaders to learn how best to approach him. He said SUNY presidents are advising the new Chancellor who will meet with the new governor soon. He said it would be important to influence the budget before it reaches the legislature, since it will be difficult to improve the budget through legislative influence. He said the college would continue with its priorities, recruiting faculty and staff, the construc- tion projects, and the fund-raising campaign. MacPhee said he would meet with Planning & Budget to talk about options, probably beginning to plan for possible freezes and cuts in anticipation of a shortfall in next year budget.
4. Chairperson Steinberg reported that the Executive Committee recommended formation of a search committee for Dean for Educational Studies, to consist of Julius Adams, Maggie Bryan Peterson, Jack Croxton, Barbara Mallette, Terry Mosier, Jack Onufrak, and a student from Education Dept (TBA).
Motion (M.Nelson/J.Romal): to adopt the Executive Committee's recommendations for the committee. Motion unanimously passed.
Steinberg called for nominations for FC Chairperson, FC Vice Chairperson, and College Senate Secretary.
Nomination for Chairperson (by M.Nelson): Theodore Steinberg.
Nomination for Vice Chairperson (by M.Nelson): Jane Romal.
5. Vice Chairperson Jane Romal gave no report.
6. Faculty Senator H. Joseph Straight announced that the next conference on instructional technology, sponsored by the SUNY FACT Committee, the FS, and the Faculty Council of Community College, would be held at Utica/Rome May 31 - June 2. Brochures are available from Straight giving details.
7a. Chairperson Steinberg, reporting for committee chair Sandra Brown Lewis, announced that the Governance Committee had dis- cussed the information technology plan with a view toward explor- ing several possibilities for added use of technology in campus governance.
7b. T.Rywick, chair of Academic Affairs Committee, said the committee was not prepared to report on the impact of the information technology plan.
Motion (Academic Affairs Committee): to adopt the recommendation of the Academic Affairs Committee to raise the QPA requirement for Dean's List from 3.25 to 3.30.
Rywick said that last year, the honors requirement for Cum Laude was raised from 3.25 to 3.30, to equal that for a B+ average. Motion passed unanimously.
Motion (Academic Affairs Committee): to adopt a policy on instructor-initiated drops, as follows:
During the second full week of classes, instructors may request in writing that the registrar to remove a student from a class roster if there have been at least two scheduled meetings of the class and the student has not attended any of the scheduled class meetings and has not contacted the instructor.
Registrar N.Bowser recommended this time frame since the policy would have effect in the window between the student drop deadline and the add deadline. Rywick said the committee recommended the two-class meeting minimum as a functional mini- mum. Bowser said her office would check with Student Affairs Office to rule out legitimate excuses before dropping a student, and also that the registrar would not drop students when it would result in changing from full-time to part-time status. Hess - add "request in writing" to establish paper trail. J.Hurtgen inquired how this policy would be promulgated to the students. Bowser said the registrar sends mailings to all students several times a semester concerning deadlines, etc., and that the students could be informed through that means.
Motion to adopt the policy passed.
7c. Karen Mills-Courts, vice chair, reported on Planning & Budget Committee's methods in making recommendations on line allocations during October. She said committee members abstained from participating in discussions of their own departments' requests. She said the departmental requests were divided into: those for retaining lines, those for new lines, and finally, new lines for new programs. At the president's direction, each request was ranked in four priorities groups according to its apparent ability to support the Institutional Plan. Each recommendation was accompanied by a narrative explanation for the ranking of the proposal. On Nov. 8, the president thanked the committee for its work and indicated he would announce his decisions soon. Mills-Courts said the committee would be meeting with Zablotney in December to become better informed on the informational technology plan. Chairperson Steinberg thanked the committee for its fine and extensive work on the other issues on its agenda; and in light of that agenda, the committee would be excused for not having yet dealt with the technology plan.
7d. Professional Service Committee made no report.
7e. Student Affairs Committee, Lisa Naslund chair, reported through Chairperson Steinberg commending the Computing Services Planning and Advisory Board for developing the information tech- nology plan. The following concerns were noted by the Student Affairs Committee: (1) staff support for the plan - current Computing Services staff working past their limit. (2) training for users - long-standing need for more training for PC users will increase with hundreds of new computers, standardized soft- ware, and increased reliance on networks. (3) coordinator needed for a plan of this magnitude - implementation could not be easily supervised by a committee. S.Zablotney noted that these issues had been raised in most of the forums. These are critical points. She said that John Hansen would be appointed director of Academic Information Tech- nology for the coming year, released from his duties as chair of economics, specifically to supervise the implementation of the plan.
8. David Kasper, chair, submitted a two-page report for the Commencement Committee. Chairperson Steinberg called attention to the reported problem of families leaving before the ceremony is completed. Steinberg noted that it would be good to have a few faculty members serving on the committee. L.Maheady commented that the college should make the guests aware that they are expected to stay. M.Nelson noted that it is a very long ceremony; but it is a better occasion than it used to be. Mills-Courts commented that parents find the bleachers uncomfortable to sit on for that length of time.
9. Report of the Affirmative Action Committee was postponed to December FC meeting.
10. The Subcommittee on Improvement of Undergraduate Instruction, Larry Maheady chair, reported that they had met four times this semester. He said the committee had compiled a seven-page summary of new faculty responses to orientation, in general expressing high levels of satisfaction; many useful suggestions received from new faculty. The committee received $3,000 grant to develop a handbook on instructional resources available; this is sched- uled for completion in spring semester. Maheady said the committee was consulting with Dean Zablotney concerning a possible role for the subcommittee in the profes- sional development component of the information technology plan. He said the committee plans to purge the information packet provided to new faculty since it has become so voluminous. Maheady announced a new series of brown bag sessions, at multiple sites, on improvement of undergraduate instruction.
11. Joanne Martonis distributed copies of a one-page report [included in Archive minutes] on the Portfolio Development Course SS 197 (Special Services) which provides a way to measure and reward the experiential learning of non-traditional students. Students typically receive from 5 to 30 credits, averaging about 15. N.Bowser clarified that SS 197 itself is a one-credit course, but that the resulting portfolio could be evaluated to yield several credits, which appear in the transcript specially annotated. S.Zablotney inquired whether students pay for the full number of credits awarded for the portfolio. J.Hurtgen responded that they do not.
12. New Business:
M.Nelson distributed calendar for summer sessions in 1996 and 1997. T.Rywick asked whether the Calendar Subcommittee could report on the number of Mondays, Tuesdays, etc., in the new calendar, now that redefined days have been eliminated. Nelson said the committee would do so.
K.Lucey commented that current instructions to chairs provide that no honors student, 3-1-3 student, or continuing ed student may be purged from a class. He asked whether there is any per- centage limit for enrolling these students. M.R.Amiran said there are some classes to which those conditions do not apply, such as classes for only majors. Rose Klassen commented that in Communi- cation, students in the major would have to come first. N.Bowser said she was unaware of a policy on this and that such would require the approval of the vice president for academic affairs.
13. Motion (M.Nelson/K.Lucey): to adjourn. Motion passed at 4:57.
Attendance:
Professional Staff/Management:
[E] K. Bonds (95)
[x] S. Clarke (96)
[E] V. Conover (96)
[x] D. Danielson (95)
[3] K. Harrington(94)
[3] R. Hart (96)
[x] A. Jackson (96)[2]
[x] T. Malinoski (96)[1]
[x] T. Murphy (96)[1]
[x] C. Niles (94)
[1] M. Pabst (94)
[ ] vacant
[ ] vacant
Arts, Education, Humanities:
[x] M.R. Amiran (96)
[2] C. Brown (95)
[3] J. Burke (94)
[1] J. Gillette (96)
[3] 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)
[x] M. Nelson (96)
[E] J. Parla (95)
Natural and Social Sciences:
[2] S. El-Mofty (96)
[x] J. Hansen (94) [1]
[1] D. Jelski (94)
[1] J. Kraus (95)
[x] G. Lash (96) [1]
[1] 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:
[3] N. Crino
[3] S. Downey
[3] R. Kerr
[x] S. Kraus
[x] N. Merkel [1]
[ ] vacant
Ex Officio:
[x] D. Burdette
[x] J. Crowley [2]
[x] M. Dimitri
[x] D. Hess
[x] J. Hurtgen [1]
[E] S. Lewis
[x] D. MacPhee
[x] T. McNeil
[x] J. Romal
[x] T. Steinberg
[x] J. Straight
[E] A. Wheeler
[x] S. Zablotney
Guests:
Nancy Bowser
Richard Larson
Ronald Ambrosetti
Thomas McNeil, College Senate Secretary