College Senate Bulletin
| Bulletin 28 Pages 904 - 911 5 May 2000 | |
| Contents |
| Page | Topic |
| Call for Nominations | |
| 905 | Excellence Awards and Distinguished Ranks |
| Announcements | |
| 905 | Next Senate Meeting |
| 905 | Sabbatical and Professional Leave Deadline |
| 906 | FPC Eligibles: Please reply to NomCom's letter |
| Messages from Chair | |
| 906 | A Tribute to the Campus Community |
| 907 | A Message About College Senate Minutes |
| 907-911 | University Faculty Senator's Report of 125th Plenary |
To those eligible to serve on Faculty Personnel Comm:
Please respond to NomCom's letter asking about your willingness to be nominated.
If you believe you're eligible, but have not received a letter, contact
C.R. Bailey, History Dept.
____________________________________________
Correspondence: Becky L. Glass, Department of Sociology, Sturges 122C
E-mail: senate@geneseo.edu Phone: 245-5336
__________________________________________________________________
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
I. Excellence Awards and Distinguished Ranks
Nominations are now being accepted for the following SUNY Ranks
| Distinguished Teaching Professor | |
| Distinguished Service Professor | |
| Distinguished Librarian | |
| Distinguished Professor |
And for the following Chancellor’s Awards:
| Excellence in Teaching | |
| Excellence in Librarianship | |
| Excellence in Professional Service |
Nominations for these ranks and awards must be submitted in writing by Monday,
September 18, 2000 to Jan Lovett, College Senate Vice Chair, Bailey 210. Confidential nominations should consist of a 1-2 page nomination letter describing the nominee’s qualifications for the award or rank.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Next Senate Meeting
Sometime next September!
Reminder of Deadline for Professional Leave Requests
Proposals for Sabbatical Leaves and Title F Leaves should be submitted to departments by September 15, 2000.
Faculty Personnel Committee
Request for Self-Nominations
Those eligible to serve on the Faculty Personnel Committee for 2000-2002 have been sent letters from C.R. Bailey, Chair of the Nominations Committee, asking that they respond whether or not they are interested in being nominated for the FPC.
Please take a moment sometime in your busy schedule to reply to this letter.
Four positions need to be filled by the Fall elections. The four newly elected members will join Margaret Matlin, Dan Strang, and Jim Willey on the committee.
If you are eligible and haven't received a letter, please contact C.R. Bailey, History.
You are eligible if you are an Associate or Full Professor/Librarian with continuing appointment, are not a department chair, and are in a department other than School of Business, Psychology, or SOPA.
MESSAGES FROM CHAIR
A Tribute to the Geneseo Campus Community
In my months as Senate Chair, I have had a greater opportunity than most to interact with various constituents of our campus community, including faculty, administrators, students, college council members, and the night shift custodial staff!
These interactions have left me with a greater appreciation for the people here at my workplace than I've ever had before. I encountered a high degree of level-headedness, interest in the common good, willingness to go "the extra mile" to do a good job, ability to see all sides of issues, good humor, good sportsmanship, dedication (it was especially gratifying to see this among the students, whose time here is limited), and commitment to high quality education.
Maybe I shouldn't admit it, but I used to wonder if some of our claim to excellence simply reflected effective advertising by the Admissions Office and the Division for College Advancement. I no longer have those doubts. This community deserves and earns its reputation for excellence. Thank you for the opportunity to serve in such a context.
May 2 College Senate Minutes
Trying to keep priorities in order, the Senate secretary is grading and will have the May 2 minutes ready for the next Bulletin.
Report on University Faculty Senate Meeting
April 28-29, 2000
To: College Senate
From: Ed Wallace, University Faculty Senator
Date: 29 April, 2000
Re: Report of the 125th Plenary Meeting of the University Faculty Senate
The University Faculty Senate held its 125th Plenary Meeting at the SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome on April 28th and 29th. This report outlines items that may be of interest to the members of the Geneseo College Senate.
To begin the meeting, Senate President Joe Flynn moved to amend the agenda so that Friday morning could be devoted exclusively to a discussion of recent developments in the implementation of the system wide General Education requirements.
Richard Collier, from SUNY Albany, led the discussion. Collier serves as a member of the Provost’s Advisory Council on General Education (PACGE). PACGE is in the process of reviewing the General Education proposals from each campus and will make recommendations to Provost Salins shortly. Collier reviewed the set of guidelines that PACGE has established for judging whether or not campus proposals satisfy SUNY requirements in each general education area. PACGE established 10 Knowledge and Skills Areas, and two Competencies. The Knowledge and Skills areas are: mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, American history, western civilization, other world civilizations, humanities, the arts, foreign language, and basic communications. The two competencies are critical thinking (reasoning) and information management. The guidelines specify knowledge and skills that students must demonstrate to satisfy the requirements. In addition, indicators of "prior achievement" are specified. For example, the mathematics requirement would be satisfied by an entering student who achieved a score of 85 on the Course III Regents Examination. I have place this memorandum on reserve in Milne Library.
Needless to say, a lively discussion ensued. Several campus governing bodies have passed resolutions asking that implementation of the general education requirements be delayed in order to allow campuses to formulate and implement well conceived gen-ed programs. Collier thought that such a delay in implementation was "not likely." There are particular problems in implementing the requirements in American history and foreign language. These requirements have significant staffing implications, but appear to be in the form of "unfunded mandates."
A concern shared by many senators was that for the first time SUNY appears to have established a system-wide curriculum review committee (PACGE). The "camel’s nose under the tent" metaphor was used more than once. And while there was consensus that PACGE had put forth a laudable effort to defend the integrity of the curriculum, there was significant distrust of the trustees’ larger agenda. Several senators worried that an "attitude of acceptance" of this type of curriculum review would have a long term negative impact on SUNY.
This discussion was the impetus for the following resolution that was passed during the business session on Saturday morning (4/29/00):
WHEREAS the Board of Trustees in its own policies gives the responsibility to the faculty to determine the curriculum of the individual campuses; and
WHEREAS the faculty have made every reasonable effort to develop on their campuses general education programs that are in compliance with the Provost’s guidelines for implementation. Delays in the review and approval of these efforts at the level of the Provost’s office may require last minute changes of a significant nature that may disrupt fall semester offerings and discredit the professional image of each campus in the eyes of incoming students and their parents.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
- No SUNY campus should further disrupt its current fall schedule to accommodate implementation and thereby jeopardize the professional quality of its planned curriculum, and
- The faculty of the SUNY system urges the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor and the Provost to follow a reasonable timetable and a professionally appropriate consultative process that recognizes the professional competence and responsibility of the SUNY faculty for its own curriculum.
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- Mission Review — The process is nearing completion. Campus reviews will be reviewed by "regional trustees" and later by the entire board. According to Salins, "I’ve made it clear to the Board that all of this work (review process) represents a consensus that I do not want to see unraveled." He anticipates the process will conclude within a month or so.
- General Education — Salins ducked this question by saying that he was aware that extended discussion had already taken place in the morning session.
- Teacher Education — "I am enormously pleased with the Advisory Council on Teacher Education. Had no comment of the committee that preceded ACTE.
- Assessment — Made reference to a report by the Provost’s Advisory Task Force on the Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes. There is a Working Draft Report from this task force on reserve at Milne.
At about 2PM Chancellor King addressed the Senate. While still upbeat, King was far less enthusiastic than at the previous meeting at Buffalo in January. He reported a restructuring at System Administration. There is a new Vice Chancellor (Miller) who will undertake a mission review for the Central Administration. The intention is to make Central Administration more responsive.
There will be a new President of the Research Foundation (O’Connor). Hi charge will be to increase the emphasis of obtaining external funding.
King plans to create a new position in Central Administration that will focus on a more extensive utilization of the resources of SUNY for economic development of New York State.
King indicated that Central Administration has a serious concern about teacher shortages in NYS. There will be an emphasis on teacher preparation and recruitment in order to meet the upcoming needs, particularly in the urban settings.
King then played a video that he is using to show state legislators the magnitude of SUNY. It scans the state by region and includes a "bite" from each of the centers and 4-year campuses. The Geneseo piece includes shots of Jeff Over and Steve Padalino, and plays off the fact that Geneseo produces more physics majors that any other campus in the state. King hopes to gain support for the system by making legislators more aware of the scope of the system.
Following King’s remarks, there was a panel presentation on the topic of teacher education. Included on the panel were Richard Mills - NYS Commissioner of Education, Shari Francis — Vice President of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and Hubert Keen, special assistant to Provost Salins. Of interest to Geneseo was the clear indication that NCATE will very likely be the vehicle by which all SUNY teacher education programs become certified. While there are a couple of other options, none seem to be viable within the proposed timeframe. This could have significant implications in terms of staffing. The Brockport Senator indicated that in complying with NCATE requirements there appeared to be a shift of three faculty lines from the Political Science Department to the College of Education. Panel members all agreed that NCATE certification involves a great deal of work, and is expensive. However, each also said that in the cases they have seen it also improves the program.
One comment from Hubert Keen, the Special Assistant to Provost Salins, is worth considering. When questioned how students could complete the increased certification requirements from the state Board of Regents, potential increased requirements from programs required by NCATE, and the new general education requirements, Keen indicated that perhaps we’ll see "5-year programs for teacher education."
The final presentation on Friday was by the Co-chairs of the Provost’s Advisory Task Force on the Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes. They reported on their working draft report, dated 24 April 2000. This document is on reserve at Milne Library. Items worth noting here include:
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- The task force feels that University-wide assessment should not attempt to assess all students in all areas of general education. Rather, a representative sample will be tested on certain areas. The skill and knowledge areas identified for university-wide assessment are: mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, and basic communication. Both competencies (critical thinking (reasoning) and information management would be assessed system-wide.
- There will be campus based assessments of academic majors. However, the task force does not propose a system-wide review of academic majors.
- The task force sees the process addressing two aspects, assessment and accountability. This causes some concern. While assessment and accountability are both important to implement, many senators felt that the two processes should be addressed in separate processes. The task force feels that there is no "conflict of interest" by using the results of assessment to promote accountability. The question was not resolved.
The Saturday session involved the business meeting. Several resolutions were introduced. They are summarized below:
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- The Executive Committee moved in favor of a resolution concerning assessment. The motion called for assessments to be comprehensive, comprehensible, complex, cost effective, collegial, constructive, and (primarily) campus based. (Passed unanimously)
- The Executive Committee moved in favor of a resolution concerning the composition of the Provost’s Advisory Council on General Education. The resolution urges the Provost to augment the council so that the faculty are the "predominant constituency" and to consult with the Senate President in identifying additional members of the council. (Passed unanimously)
- The Awards Committee moved to establish a new Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. (Passed unanimously)
- The Graduate Studies and Research Committee moved in favor of a motion to recognize and re-emphasize the importance of international programs. (Passed unanimously)
- The Operations Committee moved in favor of a motion that endorsed the principle that all members of the SUNY community have a right to expect access to appropriate technological resources. (Passed unanimously)
- The Operations Committee moved in favor of a motion that endorsed the report "The Changing Face of Diversity: Minority Enrollment Trends in the State Operated Campuses of SUNY" and to extend the charge to the committee for another year. (Passed unanimously)
- The ad hoc committee on the Distinguished/Senior Professors Project moved in favor of a motion that would increase the exposure and utilization of professors in distinguished ranks. (Passed unanimously)
- Senator McGuire of Binghampton moved in favor of the motion concerning general education described earlier in this report. The resolution passed on a voice vote, but was not unanimous.
Respectfully Submitted
Edward C. Wallace, University Faculty Senator