FACULTY SENATE MINUTES #6
November 16, 2010
The sixth meeting of the Faculty Senate 2010-2011 was called to order by Chair David Miller on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 1:15 PM in Jacobus Lounge, Brockway Hall.
SENATORS AND MEMBERS PRESENT: D. Miller, T. Phillips, T. Vigars, K. Lawrence, D. West, W. Miller, J. Alemzadeh,
SENATORS AND MEMBERS ABSENT: D. Driscoll, D. Berger, R. Kendrick, R. Grantham, S. Rayl,
GUESTS PRESENT: J. Mosher
I APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: There was a motion for approval of the minutes from November 2, 2010 (Approved)
II SENATE ACTIONS:
The Draft Proposal for Transfer Credit Limits from the Educational Policy Committee was approved (Approved)
III CHAIR’S REPORT: Chair Miller announced that Dawn Van Hall will be attending the next,
Faculty Senate meeting to take pictures for the Faculty Senate Website.
IV. VICE CHAIR: T. Phillips – No report.
V. TREASURER’S REPORT – K. Lawrence – No report.
VI. SECRETARY’S REPORT: - T. Vigars – No report.
VII. PRESIDENT’S REPORT: The President gave a brief report.
VIII STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Student Affairs Committee - M. Connell, Chair – No report (absent).
Academic Faculty Affairs Committee – A. Fitz-Gibbon, Chair – Dave Miller reported on behalf of
Chair Fitz-Gibbon, who was unable to attend, that the committee is looking at promotion criteria in
the handbook, Chapter 230.03, the exceptional clause. At the next meeting the committee will be
looking at what satisfactory means as far as the exceptional clause to promotion. There will be a formal
report at some time in the future.
Long-Range Planning Committee – No report (absent)
Educational Policy Committee – R. Spitzer, Chair – No report (SEE Old Business)
Professional Affairs Committee – G. Clarke, Chair – G. Clarke reported that the committee will be meeting with Human Resources to look at how salaried levels are determined for different positions and if each salary level can have multiple levels. Chair Clarke stated that presently there are no promotional ladders and his committee is investigating a process to allow for that.
X. OTHER COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Committee on Committees – T. Vigars read the report for the Committee on Committees (SEE Appendix 2). The committee nomination was approved.
College Research Committee – P. Ducey, Chair – No report (absent)
General Education Committee – A. Thomas, Chair – No report (absent)
XI. AREA SENATOR’S REPORTS: W. Miller reported on behalf of O. White, who was unable to attend, that the search for a tenured track early Childhood position is going very well.
XII. SUNY SENATOR’S REPORT – T. Phillips, SUNY Senator Alternate, gave a brief report about the SUNY Plenary meeting at Alfred on October 22 and 23 (SEE Appendix 3).
XIII. STUDENT SENATOR’S REPORTS: The students gave a brief report.
XIV. OLD BUSINESS: The Old Business Draft Proposal for Transfer Credit Limits from the Educational Policy Committee was discussed, voted on and approved.
XV. NEW BUSINESS: K. Lawrence brought up issues regarding e-mail access involving advertising course offerings on campus and inequity of faculty lines promised to different departments across campus.
D. Miller reported on an item brought forth by D. Berger and J. Alemzadeh regarding CTE’s and reviewing the best practices in which they are used.
The following reports are appended to the minutes in the order they are submitted:
(1) Draft Proposal for Transfer Credit Limits submitted by R. Spitzer.
(2) Committee on Committees report, submitted by J. Barry, Chair
(3) SUNY Senator’s Report submitted by T. Phillips, SUNY Senator Alternate
APPENDIX 1
Submitted by R. Spitzer, Chair
Educational Policy Committee
Draft Proposal for Transfer Credit Limits:
New wording is in italics; text to be deleted is crossed-through
College Handbook 2010-2012
410.10 ACADEMIC CREDIT FROM OTHER COLLEGES
B. Credit From Other Colleges
SUNY Cortland students must complete at least 45 credit hours for the degree at SUNY Cortland to meet the College’s residency requirement. In addition, one half the credit hours for the major, minor and/or concentration must be completed at SUNY Cortland. Students matriculated at the College can receive credit for course work taken at other colleges if they receive prior approval from the appropriate associate dean.
Only course work satisfactorily completed at regionally accredited collegiate institutions will be accepted. Usually credit is allowed only for those courses in which a grade of C- or better has been earned. However, credit may be granted for D grades if the student has received an associate of arts (A.A.), associate of science (A.S.) or any bachelor’s degree at the time of first admission to SUNY Cortland. Transfer students from four-year colleges or universities may receive additional credit hours toward degree requirements at
2010-2011 Undergraduate College Catalog
Academic Policies section/Transfer Credit Policies and Evaluation
Transfer Credit Limits and Residency Requirement
SUNY Cortland grants the maximum number of transfer credits possible. The following guidelines and policies apply to transfer credit evaluation:
Under State University of New York policy, credit will be granted for published examinations from the following test series, provided that the specified minimum
Students may receive up to 64 credit hours of transfer credit from two-year colleges. This maximum credit-hour total includes any 100- or 200-level courses, Advanced Placement, College Level Examination Program, College Proficiency or International Baccalaureate credits. Transfer students from four-year colleges or universities may receive additional credit hours toward degree requirements at
A minimum of 45 credit hours of course work as well as half of the major, minor and/or concentration must be completed in residency at
APPENDIX 2
Committee on Committees – Report to the Faculty Senate
Submitted by J. Barry, Chair
November 2, 2010
Committee on Committees – Report to the Faculty Senate
November 16, 2010
Item #1
The Committee on Committees recommends the following appointment:
General Education Committee, Math/Science – Larry Klotz (complete unexpired term 2010-12)
This requires confirmation of the Faculty Senate.
Item #2
The Committee on Committees issued an electronic ballot for the part-time faculty senator seat. There were two nominations for this seat:
Elizabeth Owens
Barry Schecter
Election deadline is Tuesday, November 23, 2010, 4:00 p.m.
Item #3
A call for nominations has been issued for the following new vacancies:
- Academic Faculty Affairs Committee – Spring 2011 (sabbatical replacement for Raymond Collings)
- Arts & Sciences (at large) – 2010-12 (replacing Kathleen Lawrence, Treasurer - complete unexpired term)
Item #4
The Committee on Committees issued an electronic ballot for the Director of EOP Search committee. The four members of the academic faculty/professional staff elected are:
Marc Dearstyne
Sam Kelley
Susan Rayl
Mark Yacavone
Item #5
The Committee on Committees conducted the referendum on incorporating the Committee on Teaching Effectiveness under the Faculty Senate. The referendum passed (102 in favor, 13 opposed).
Respectfully submitted,
Joanne Barry
Chair
APPENDIX 3
SUNY Senator’s Report
UFS Plenary Meeting at Alfred
Submitted by T. Phillips, SUNY Senator Alternate
Report on the University Faculty Senate Plenary Meeting at Alfred:
October 22 & 23, 2010
Ken O’Brien’s Report:
The mid-year cut to SUNY was $23.5 million dollars as dictated by the DOB. It appears the Governor, through the DOB, is attempting to get savings that he had wanted to get through union concessions.
The Power of SUNY Plan is moving forward. Thirteen teams pursuing various initiatives – 7 are transformational groups and 6 are innovation groups. The plan is attempting to re-craft the relationship between SUNY and the public.
SUNY support is about 2% of the state budget.
Problems at SUNY: The raises and the flood.
The new freshman cap at campuses may be problematic for many campuses. The plan is to cap the entering freshman classes at fall 2009 levels. SUNY’s rationale is that at some point we have to make it clear to the legislature that we cannot do more with less and maintain quality. There is also concern with the quality of the freshman experience considering the excessive tripling etc.
Also, it appears that there is a push to direct more freshmen to community colleges and this will alleviate some crowding concerns at the comprehensives and the university centers.
Sector Concerns:
Many of the oft repeated concerns including but not limited to: budget woes, fear of retrenchment, program cuts (e.g. at SUNY Albany) budget transparency, faculty evaluation of administrators, excessive reliance on part-time faculty, accreditation demands, teaching loads, increased enrollments, poor relationships with administrators, decision making without consultation, administrative churn, summer school compensation, fear that administrators are reconfiguring campuses based on what they decide is core to the mission of the campus.
The Power of SUNY seems to focus more on
Is there a new metric in the new SUNY Report Card measuring how much money each campus gets from their logo, advertising, web site etc?
Provost Lavalee:
The work on student mobility with just 5 majors has captured almost 90% of all transfer students. The work on other programs continues.
Many campuses are down or flat in terms of preliminary enrollment – F ’07 to F ’10 essentially flat for 4 year institutions. CC’s are up and transfers are up.
Average transfer student to a 4 year school has 45 credits, not an A.A. or A.S. degree’s worth of 60 or more credits. If we accepted more students with more credits it would increase capacity by 20% immediately.
Some large programs have students that graduate with 135 or more credits! Some campuses have a large issue with this where others don’t – why? Do we need policies to make students take required courses? This would also increase capacity.
We need the cap on enrollment to show consequences to the budget cuts – such as the number of part-time teachers and tripling of freshman (some campuses have 30% of frosh tripled and have poor opinion ratings).
COO Monica Rimai:
Discussion of the budget – really fairly complicated and her PowerPoint is available via the University Faculty Senate web page.
Chancellor Zimpher:
SUNY is too quiet about telling its story. There are 88,000 employees, 465,000 students and 1.5 million alumni and we are not a powerful enough voice for the institution. We need to make the legislature and the public hear us and appreciate all that we do as a system. We need the legislature and the public to realize the importance of SUNY in the economy, in economic development, in innovation and in making the state be competitive and grow.
Respectfully submitted,
Tim Phillips
Alternate Senator
