Members Absent: J. LeFlore, J. Brunson, Z. Bedy, W. Silky, S. Moore, T. Lewis, K. Macey

Meeting called to order at 3:10 PM.

I. Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved unanimously.

II. Approval of FA minutes for September 10, 2001

Under New Business, number 2, letter D: T. Loe should read M. Loe. The minutes were approved unanimously.

III. FA Chair's Report — D. King

D. King began by asking the Assembly to check their FA membership and council lists to see if any corrections need to be made. If there are any corrections, please let him know as soon as possible. D. King has asked Personnel Policies Council to meet regarding procedures for electing the Presidential Review Committee. The Review Committee will need to organize a process for administering a survey.

D. King then began to give a summary of what happened at the Faculty Senate Fall Planning meeting on September 20 - 22, 2001 in Albany.

As campus governance leader, he attended the Faculty Senate's annual planning meeting for members of the Senate Executive Committee, committee chairs, new senators and governance leaders. It was a very full agenda addressing a number of important issues. The group was addressed by Chancellor King, Provost Salins, Associate Provost Postkanzer, Vice Chancellor for Finance Brian Stenson, Vice Chancellor Dick Miller (the Chief Operating Officer), and Joe Hildreth the new President of the Faculty Senate.

In his Faculty Senate report, President Joe Hildreth expressed satisfaction that Chancellor King's Teacher Education Action Plan had been approved by the SUNY Trustees. In discussing the work of Provost Salins' General Education Assessment Review (GEAR) group, he urged that local campuses be able to maintain control over the assessment process. The timetable for developing campus assessment plans seems unrealistic. He has been participating in the SUNY Central administration strategic planning process. President Hildreth's priorities for this academic year will focus on enhancing academic quality related to faculty recruitment, retention and salaries, professional development issues, the treatment of part-time faculty, and concerns about transfer articulation.

The chair of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Dick Collier, stressed the goal of improving relations between members of the Senate and campus governance leaders.

In the report of Associate Provost, Steve Postkanzer, many issues were addressed briefly and a number of questions were asked. He outlined the 10 themes of the SUNY Strategic Plan being directed by Vice Chancellor Dick Miller. All SUNY Campuses have now signed memorandums of understanding with Chancellor King. Provost Salins will monitor progress and selected initiatives will hopefully be funded on each campus. There are significant issues related to transfer articulation in light of the new Trustee's Gen. Ed. requirements; the SUNY Provost's office is seeking "seamless transfer".

Provost Salins is also placing a high priority on enhancing research funding and activity. In central administration, new directors have been appointed for institutional research and public relations. Considerable concern was expressed by everyone from central administration regarding the impact of September 11th on the state budget this year and in the future.

The SUNY campus governance leaders met independently to discuss issues related to general education (PACGE) and assessment (GEAR). There was also discussion regarding general education transfer articulation, campus faculty bylaws and relations between the Faculty Senate and the Campus Governance Leaders.

Provost Salins, in his report to the Faculty Senate leadership, reviewed some of the issues addressed by Assoc. Provost Postkanzer, and then went on to discuss the impact of the state's "bare-bones budget" and the long term consequences of the events of September 11th. In describing SUNY Connect, he pointed out the enormous cost of moving to a SUNY online library network for most major journals. He characterized the growth of the SUNY Learning Network as remarkable and he is committed to continued growth in the number of online courses offered.

Peter Salins pointed to the need for $6 - 7 billion in capital fund allocations in the years ahead to renovate aging facilities in SUNY. He also claimed to be promoting earlier budget allocations for SUNY campuses and more local control over priorities for capital projects.

Brian Stenson, the SUNY Vice Chancellor for Finance, then reviewed in more detail the elements of the current SUNY budget allocation before analyzing the fiscal difficulties that will likely develop as a result of September 11th events.

In his report as Chief Operating Officer of the university, Richard Miller ranged widely over many issues including the strategic planning process, enhancing the work of the SUNY Research Foundation, renewing a large capital projects appropriation for the next 5 year plan, and the need to grow our applicant pool, student profile and enrollments. He proposed a much more ambitious public relations campaign for SUNY. There is a central office study underway to review faculty salaries, inequities, as well as recruiting and retention issues. SUNY is also appointing new administrators to promote philanthropy and economic development partnerships with business and industry. There are still serious funding problems for the hospitals in SUNY. Other groups are looking at ways to recruit more foreign students to SUNY, and to address intellectual property issues.

The campus governance leaders proposed that the General Education Assessment Review (GEAR) group be expanded to include more teaching faculty and that more time be allowed for campuses to develop their Gen. Ed. assessment plans. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee approved the resolution and forwarded it to Provost Salins.

That concludes the report on the Senate's Fall Planning meeting.

IV. Reports of Councils, Committees and Task Forces

A. Academic Policies Council met May 7th to discuss the proposed change to the college policy on incompletes. There is one letter missing in the second paragraph, it should read "E Grades". They will probably be reporting this out in two weeks.

B. Priorities and Planning Council met on Friday, September 21st. They elected Al Stamm chair for the fall 2001 semester. During the second semester when Al Stamm is on sabbatical, Barbara Beyerbach will be chair. Al Stamm is also the representative to the Advisory Council for the fall semester, and when he is on sabbatical John Presley will take over as the representative. Richard Bush was elected recorder, but the FA reporter slot is still open. They need to fill the humanities slot with an FA representative, and also replace Roberta Lipsig's position as the school of business representative.

C. Student Association was represented by the president of the Student Association, Timothy Barnhart. He wanted to let the Faculty Assembly know about the work of the Student Association. Every semester each student pays $73 dollars as their SA fee; the expenditure of this money is completely decided by the Student Association. Almost every seat on the Student Association Senate is filled, and every residence hall now has a representative. He has sent letters to faculty, staff, RA's, hall directors, etc., to increase student involvement. He asked the Faculty Assembly to help the Student Association by encouraging faculty and staff to get involved as much as possible with student government.

V. Unfinished Business:

1. Elections for vacancies on FA Councils and Committees:

2. Reconsideration and voting on Faculty Bylaw Amendments- There was a brief discussion of procedures related to the Bylaw amendment process. W. Opello, chair of Personnel Policies Council presented an overview of the status of Faculty Bylaw amendments. Members were asked to review the amendments proposed by PPC and the procedures set forth last year. Final votes on main amendments require a 2/3 majority of the full membership of the Assembly, or 29 votes. At our next meeting we will begin again with deliberation on Article XVI, the proposed FA Executive Board.

VI. New Business:

None

The meeting was adjourned at 4:55 PM.