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Chair: Dr. Susan Camp
Recorder: Sarah Lewis
The meeting
was called to order at 4:00
P.M.
I. Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved unanimously with
the switching of the Faculty Senate Report and the President’s Report.
II. Approval of Minutes of
General Faculty Meeting of April 27th, 2009
The
minutes were approved unanimously.
III.
FA
Senate - G. Kay
On October 22nd, she and Dr.
Camp will be traveling to SUNY IT for the first Faculty Senate Plenary meeting
of the year. The Chancellor will
be there and a full report coming in the near future.
IV. President’s Report– D.
Stanley
President Stanley
began her report by stating that it is the 2nd year of a campus update at the
General Faculty meeting. She then began her
campus update with the exciting
news that Oswego was honored as one of the “Top up-and-coming” schools in
America’s Best College 2010. Oswego was the only public school in New York to
receive this honor and it was awarded due in part to our innovative academic
program offerings and the new and renovated campus facilities.
She then moved on
to enrollment for this academic year. There was no growth in the size of the
student population but stated that this class is the most talented class in
this school’s recorded history. President Stanley did note that the numbers of
high school students that are enrolled in the Modern Language program offered
here at Oswego are removed from the number of enrolled students, because they
negatively impact our funding formula. This is because these classes are
offered at a reduced rate than the normal tuition. She continued to report that
there were 7200 students enrolled in both full-time graduate and undergraduate
programs here at Oswego. This is an increase in full time students, but
however, there was a decrease in the number of part-time students enrolled in
Oswego. There are only around 1,000 students enrolled part-time on campus.
President Stanley stated that she wanted a hard look at this problem, and that
Oswego is not alone in this trend. Public and private institutions in the Northeast
have been having the same issue, and it could quite possibly be a national
trend. The economy might play a factor in the increase in full time enrollment.
President Stanley
then reported that applications that are sent to this campus have been on the increase
since 2005. This is a 38% increase since 2005. She then began to talk about the
demographics of New York State, since there is a steep decrease in the 18 year
olds in high schools. However, there will be a concentration of these 18 year
olds primarily around metro areas. Since there will be a concentration of
18-year olds in metro areas, President Stanley reported that Oswego has begun
recruiting heavier in downstate areas since those areas are in a growth mode
for 18-year olds, when areas surrounding Oswego will see a sharp decline in the
number of 18 year olds. She then continued to report that there has been a
decline in acceptance rate, and this is due to the fact that the campus is not
growing, and applications are on the rise. This makes this school more
competitive and is good for the university. She then reported on the
demographics of the incoming first time-full time students in Oswego. We
currently have 887 students from the underrepresented racial groups on campus.
This is 13.8% of this year’s incoming new class though a self-report of these
first time-full time students. She stated that Oswego should maintain the
increase of underrepresented racial groups here in the future. She then
stressed again that the incoming class is the most talented class in recorded
history of the College.
The reputation of
the college is strong, the rankings are good, and the college is seeing that it
is attracting different group of students, and she believed that the current
economic state might be playing a role in these trends. She continued to report
that this year’s incoming class had 198 Presidential Scholarships. Admissions
have also moved towards having 60% in the top 2 categories that are used in the
selection process. This year 67% of incoming students were in the top two
categories, and 33% were in the third category. She also was happy to report
that in one year, the retention rate of the college had moved from 78% in 2008
to 81% in 2009. This is a substantial increase in one year, and she attributed
that to faculty and students around campus, and the environment that is
provided in the academic and residential halls, which included activities that
are around campus. President Stanley suggested that the economy may be an
important factor in influencing improvements in retention rates. President
Stanley then continued to report that on-campus housing is at an all-time high.
She hopes that the current housing situation will be alleviated when 350 new
beds for upper class and graduate students become available next fall with the
opening of the Village. She then stated that the region of freshman here on
campus has included an increased amount from the metro areas, and a decreasing
amount from Oswego County and the surrounding counties.
She then talked about
how the study abroad program slipped last year. She once again contributed the
economy for this slip. She stated that the campus as a whole has become more
globally aware so she felt that the economy was a strong factor. She then
talked about the new faculty here on campus. The amount of new hires went from
61 in 2008 to 20 new hires in 2009. Eight of these new hires are from
underrepresented groups. She also said that only 17 of the original 28 tenure
track searches are being completed. She then moved on to talk about the
upcoming construction projects that are going to be starting on campus again.
These included the Sciences Project that will begin in the spring, and will
include the remodel and demolition of Piez and Snygg respectively. The Sciences
project will cost about 115-120 million dollars along with the countless hours
of planning from staff and faculty. There will also be a School of Education
remodel, hopefully including a plan to connect Park and Wilber to Piez. A
library remodel is also in the works, and they are looking at designs and
concepts of libraries around the country to modernize Penfield Library. Tyler
Hall and Waterman theatre is in the works to be reconceived, and are trying to
think through a new lens. There is also elevator, communication and fire alarm
work being done around campus, along with The Village that is being built in
West Campus.
The President then
began to talk about the Possibility Scholarship. The Possibility Scholarship is
truly a need based scholarship, and will include Oswego City High School and
Syracuse City School district. These scholarships are for students that are
going to major in the STEM fields, and the money will go to residence, board,
global lab experience, a summer research program, and the first “Possibility
Scholarship” will be awarded to the Class of 2010. When developing the
Possibility Scholarship, they included a talk with a local business in Syracuse
and asked them what their ideal engineer would be. Their responses included
that they wanted to grow engineers from the area and that already have an
attachment to the area. Some questions that were asked by Faculty included what
happens to the scholarship if someone changes their major and moves outside the
STEM fields. She answered that this is some of the items that are being worked
out by the scholarship committee.
She then moved on
to talking about the Academic Architecture Plan. This is a campus-wide
“think-tank.” She stressed that it was important to recruit people in and move
in direction so that it pertains to the future of the school. This is an act of
generosity to act in the discussions, since most of the faculty will not be
here 15 years from now. President Stanley then talked about the Chancellor’s
Vision of SUNY. This is a 4-tiered process. This first tier was the campus
tours that took place over this past summer. The second tier is the planned
statewide town hall meeting, 7 in total, to discuss different themes. There
will also be 200 people from various SUNY schools that will travel to each of
these meetings to listen to what the public has to say. This group of 200
people will then report to a statewide trustee committee that President Stanley
was asked to sit on by the Chancellor herself. Oswego has the chance to
nominate 9 people to the group of 200 people, which includes 3 administrators,
3 faculty, and 3 affiliates, which include friends, alum, and donors to Oswego.
The Chancellor also asked the president’s of each of the SUNY schools to submit
themes that will be talked about at these town hall meetings. The third tier is
the launch of strategic plan, and the forth tier will be the implementation.
Lastly President
Stanley talked about some upcoming events on campus. This included a
presentation given by John Zogby at the Metro Center, and he will be discussing
his book /_The Way We’ll Be_/. This will take place on October 28. Also there
will be the Ke-nect’ Concerts held here at Oswego as well.
V. UUP Report- S. Abraham
Steve Abraham
began his report by telling everyone that the UUP Picnic is this Friday at
Fallbrook from 3-7 p.m. Tickets cost $5. Dinner will be served
around 5 and there will be an open bar with hors doeurves starting at
3:00. He encouraged everyone to come and said that they could get tickets
from him or Winfield Ihlow.
Next, he reminded everyone that
there will be a 3% increase in pay sometime in September, which is 3 out of 4
increases due under the union contract currently in effect. He encouraged
everyone to check their paycheck or pay stub to be sure that they receive the
appropriate increase
He then discussed
the IPAP awards. In the past, there has been one round of awards with
applications due sometime in the spring. This year, however, there will
be two rounds, one in the fall and one in the spring. Details regarding
the due dates and the application procedure will be sent to eligible persons
soon.
He also mentioned
the ORP bill. Any employee in either tier III or IV of the pension system
who has been in the system for 10 years will have their contributions reduced
by 1% on April 1 of each year. In other words, an employee who had been
in the system for 10 years as of April 1, 2008 had his or her contribution to
the system reduced from 3% to 2% on April 1, 2008, from 2% to 1% on April 1,
2009 and will have it reduced from 1% to 0% on April 1, 2010. Employees
who had not been in the system for 10 years as of April 1, 2008 will have their
contributions to the system reduced by 1% each year once they reach 10 years in
the system. The 1% will be picked up by the state. He encouraged
employees to examine their pay stubs carefully to make sure that this is being
done properly
Steve Abraham then
stressed that everyone should do his or her best to contact state legislators
about the budget. The UUP board will be able to help you determine whom you
should be contacting from your district.
In closing, Steve
reminded everyone that UUP is here for them. He stressed that anyone with
a concern should e-mail him at abraham@oswego.edu
or could e-mail uup@oswego.edu and he would
do his best to look into the situation.
VI. Chair Report - S. Camp
The Chair began her report by addressing the upcoming SUNY Strategic Planning
process. She then showed the document that was sent out by John O’Connor. She
then stated that anyone that wanted to put any input into the process should go
to the website: http://www.suny.edu/chancellor/shareyourideas.cfm
She then addressed the Assembly that the newest
task force, the Admission to Major Task Force) may be asking for input from
faculty and staff, and to be on the lookout for them. She lastly talked about
the Turnitin pilot that was run during the Spring 2009 semester. She showed the
faculty the document from Dave Bozak and summarized the findings from the task
force. The task force recommended that we do not purchase text matching
software at this time.
VII.
Unfinished
Business
There was no unfinished business.
VIII. New
Business
There
was no new business.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00
P.M.
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