SUNY Oswego - Faculty Assembly: Minutes 11/20/00

November 20, 2000

Members Absent: M. Santiago, R. Mandel, J. LeFlore, S. Saraydar, S. Oertling, J.Brunson, K. Shaw, H. Yang, A. Hurley, S. Atri, R. Dighe, W. Opello, K. Bisbee, K. Macey, M. Cole, J. Presley, J. DeSantis, J. Scharferbenger

Meeting called to order at 3:12 PM

Approval of Agenda

Agenda approved with two changes. The Task Force proposal was added as the fourth item under unfinished business, and Lifestyle’s Center report was also added to the agenda.

Approval of FA minutes for 10/10/00 (others to be distributed later)

The minutes were approved unanimously.

Lifestyles Center Report- C. Alexander

C. Alexander spoke to the FA about World Aids Day, which is Dec.1st. The Lifestyles Center is attempting to make the world’s longest human red ribbon at SUNY Oswego sometime later this semester. C. Alexander pinpointed the afternoon of Dec.1st as the most likely date of this event and asked faculty to facilitate by encouraging student involvement.

FA Chair’s Report

D. King had several announcements to share with the FA. A schedule of FA and FAAC meetings for the spring 2001 semester will be distributed through campus mail this week. The FA minutes for 10/23 and 11/6 are being finalized and they should be distributed this week. Work on the FA web page is in progress. D. King will sort out some web page access issues with the FA early next semester. He will begin discussion with FAAC about FA web posting policy, access concerns and distribution of FA minutes, by drafting some guidelines and bringing them to FA for review and approval.

D. King has discussed SUNY Oswego’s Memorandum of Understanding with the President and Provost. Provost Salins has still not approved ours. It has been in Albany for several months and the process seems to be on hold. D. King asked the President to present the Memorandum of Understanding to the FA next semester, assuming we have approval soon. The six institutional interlocutors involved in drafting the Memorandum of Understanding were D. Stanley, J. Presley, J. Grant, D. King, A. Stamm, and C. Sgroi.

D. King has been meeting with the President and Vice Presidents to discuss accountability for the various goals of the Strategic Planning Report (Engagement 2000). D. King is proposing which initiatives should be referred to governance. The majority of initiatives incorporated in this five year strategic plan will involve some consultation with faculty and/or governance at some stage. After a draft has been completed, it will be shared with FA and the Councils. Priorities have yet to be determined and recommendations made about funding strategic initiatives for next year.

Various workgroups have been meeting for the Middle States Self-study. D. King is working with the committee on "Administration, Organization, Governing Board, and Governance", and they are meeting weekly. The governance work group plans to conduct interviews, surveys and open forums early next semester to solicit input.

State Education Department guidelines have still not been distributed to the SUNY Schools of Education, so we are in roughly the same position as last year with regard to the revision and re-registration of Graduate Programs in Education. We have to await the guidelines, so program revisions are not likely to be forthcoming until early next semester. Therefore, the Graduate Council, Priorities and Planning Council, and FA will not get the program revisions until next semester.

D. King mentioned a few points as co-chair of Campus Concept Committee (CCC). CCC meets every week and subgroups work as liaisons for various program studies such as the Adv. Tech. Classrooms, Campus Signage/ Pedestrian and Traffic Planning, Swetman/ Poucher, School of Business, School of Education, Campus Center, etc. Chris Hebblethwaite is trying to update the CCC webpage for those interested in following it’s activities. CCC is conceptualizing almost $40 million in campus projects for this 5 year plan, and hopefully SUNY will fund a second 5-year plan. This Spring, CCC will start concept planning for the second 5-year renovation program. Frustration exists because of so much deferred maintenance accumulated over many years.. For example, there are major leaks in Mahar Hall although the building was just sealed and repainted this summer. J. DeSantis and T. Simmons are addressing this problem. CCC is now reviewing program and renovation proposals from the Sciences, Math and Computer Science; Humanities; Communication and Information Technology; etc.

D. King and S. Varhaus developed the "Task Force on Academic Quality and Expectations" proposal. The concept was reviewed by FAAC, the President and the Provost’s Council, all of whom made suggestions. The FA has a copy of the proposal for review and it will be on the 12/4 agenda for a vote.

D. King shared news about the condition of Herb Van Schaack, who is home and continues to improve slowly. He is currently receiving physical therapy, but is out and about.

The Personnel Policies Council has met a couple of times with the Provost and with D. King to discuss F A Bylaw revision and to discuss several aspects of the proposed changes in the Bylaws. W. Opello hopes to have revised Bylaw wording ready to distribute at the Dec 4th FA meeting. PPC members will walk us through the proposal changes in the Bylaws at the Dec 4th meeting. Deliberation on the proposed changes will begin on the first FA meeting next semester, Jan 29th.

V. Reports of FA Councils and Committees

A Academic Policies Council- APC met on the 10th and 17th of November. They approved four program proposals and made small changes in the proposed Child and Adolescent education programs. They also approved a new major in Global and Area Studies.

B Personnel Policies Council- PPC met on Nov 7th and Nov 14th and met with the Provost to discuss the F A Bylaw issues that W. Opello mentioned in his last report. PPC came to agreement about many of the proposed changes and at the Nov 14th meeting these changes were drafted and approved. The revised document will be forthcoming.

C Graduate Council- S. Abraham reported on the Nov. 17th meeting. There was a presentation from S. Ansara from the International Education Office to promote recruitment of international graduate students. They also met with B. Casper, Director of Career Services about facilitating job placement for graduate students by Career Services.

D Priorities and Planning Council- At the meeting on N ov17th, J. Grant presented some enrollment figures to the council. The overall news is good in that there are more freshmen than last year, they have higher grade averages, and there are more out of state students. S. Rosow from International Studies came to discuss the proposal for a new major in Global and International Studies. The importance of an African Studies concentration was brought up and discussed. Discussion will be continued at the Dec 1st Council meeting, and a report on it is expected for the Dec 4th FA meeting.

E Undergraduate Curriculum Committee -UCC Courses reported out at Nov 20th FA meeting are as follows:

EDU 200- Critical Thinking: Schools, Homes, and Communities
MET 315- Weather Disasters

There was also an approved course number change, TED 309- Technical Writing to TED 209- Technical Writing.

F Campus Concept Committee- CCC met Nov. 20th and discussed critical maintenance issues and set some general priorities for the next SUNY 5-yr Capital Plan (2003-2008).

VI. Unfinished Business

A Revision of Philosophy/ Psychology Major

S. Fettes stated that the revision would appear in the catalog though PHL 334 has not yet been given to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for approval. P. Liebenauer said that it would not go into effect until Spring 2003, and that it is possible for students to make good progress in this program until that time.

G. Auleta asked for a specific timetable; D. King suggested that the third track of the program should be deleted for the FA’s approval, then added back once the courses for that track actually exist at a later time. A motion was made to delete the third track. There was one opposed and one abstaining. P. Leibenauer asked if the credit hours would be altered if this program is approved. C. Echelbarger stated that they would not. There was a final vote on the changes to the Philosophy/ Psychology major. It was approved (with the deletion of track III) and one abstention.

B Elimination of Statement on Performing Groups from Music Major

E. Baer represented the music department and explained a brief history of the music major requirements, which once had no performance requirement for music majors.

P. Liebenauer noted that some students could "load up" on credits from performing ensembles. D. Baer said that was not realistic because of the hours involved in such classes. The music department wishes to reward those students who do sacrifice their time in multiple ensembles with the ability to acquire credits for those classes. A motion was made on S. Gosek’s proposal to eliminate the performing group credit hour cap. The motion was then reworded.

R. Ballentine pointed out that the elimination of the statement in the catalog would serve to confuse and mislead students into thinking that there would be no credits available for performing groups.

J. Shallit withdrew his amendment, moving to strike the first sentence and reword the statement to "students may participate in performing groups for 1 or 0 credits".

G. Auleta called for an indication of 0 credit in the catalog. There were two votes, one to enter the new wording and one to strike the two sentences in the original wording. The vote was approved unanimously.

VII. New Business-

All new business was deferred to the Dec 4th FA agenda.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:48 PM