Farmingdale Executive Committee

Minutes of February 11, 2011

Ward Hall, Conference Room

Present: Dr. Lloyd Makarowitz, Chair FEC; Dr. Hubert Keen;Dr. Lucia Cepriano; Dr. Kathy Jacquette;Dr. Jeff Gaab; Dr. Matthew Bahamonde; Dr. Marie-Helen Maras; Dr. Bahar Zoghi;Dr. Elizabeth Sullivan; Prof. Mary Stedman; Prof. Sharon Struminger; Prof. George Fernandez;Prof. Mary Villani; Prof. John Browne; Ms. Karen Gelles; Ms. Saundra Lory-Snyder.

Regrets: Ms. Debbie Nilsen.

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m.

Approval of Minutes / The minutes of February 4, 2011 were approved as amended.
Reports of Liaisons / International Education. The committee will meet at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 15, 2011.
Promotions: The next meeting is scheduled for February 28, 2011.
Sabbatical and Reduced Loads. For clarification,Dr. Bahamondestated that the dates for submitting applications for reduced loads have always been October 1 and February 15. These dates are included on the form.
Multicultural. The committee met on February 8, 2011. Dr. Zoghi suggested that the committee collaborate with the International Education committee. Prof. Stedman will be contacted by a committee member about merging the Multicultural committee with the International Education committee. The committee is seeking to provide assistance to campus events, such as the STEM Diversity Summit and the Asian-American Cultural Festival.
Student Affairs.The committee met on Wednesday, February 9, 2011. There are two student vacancieson this committee: one position is to be filled from FSG and the other from the student body at large. Ms. Gelles informed FEC members that if they have any suggestions as to students that might like to fill these vacancies, they should contact the committee. The Provost recommended that the committee should contact the VP of Student Affairs as he may be able to suggest students to fill these positions.
Ms. Gelles stated that the committee membership is skewed. Bylaws do not restrict membership by school or departments. Ms. Gelles further noted that the committee believed that its members should include one representative from each FSC school; except the School of Arts and Sciences, which has one representative for Arts and one for Sciences.Chairperson Makarowitz stated that if the committee feels that it would be more appropriate to have representatives on it from every FSC school, the committee should recommend a bylaw change. Chairperson Makarowitz also informed Ms. Gelles that someone from the committee must write the bylaw change. Next, the committee must approve the change. The bylaw change will then be placed on the agenda for the Governance meeting. The committee could also send the bylaw change to the Rules committee for review before it is placed on the agenda for the Governance meeting. However, this is not a requirement.
The committee reviewed the Student Activities Manual and Advisor Handbook. The committee was in agreement that sections of the Advisor Handbook needed to be clarified.
Report of the President / FSC Hockey Club. FSC Hockey Club had a fundraising event for breast cancer. Additionally, the college team won its game against the team from the University of Albany.
The Dominic Murray Foundation. On February 8, 2011, a fundraising event was held at the FSC basketball game to sponsor the Dominic Murray Foundation, which advocates knowledge of sudden cardiac arrest among athletes.
FSC Blood Drive. The President informed FEC members that there was a great turnout for the blood drive on campus on February 10, 2011.
SUNY Budget. The 2011-2012 Executive budget for the SUNY system represents a cut of $362.3 million from the 2010-2011 budget. The proposed reductions include: $150 million to state operated and statutory campuses, $33.2 million to community colleges, and $179.1 million to hospitals, which essentially means that the hospitals will lose their entire state subsidy.
SUNY Tuition Increase. SUNY is seeking a five-year plan beginning in the 2012 academic year for tuition increase. SUNY is seeking approval to adopt a rational tuition policy that would implement modest annual tuition increases.
Procurement Reform. SUNY supports the Governor’s plan for procurement reform. This would give SUNY campuses flexibility in purchasing. Currently, a three stage approval process is required for all purchases.
Public Private Partnerships. SUNY supports the Governor’s plan togive the SUNY Board of Trustees authority to approve public-private partnerships.
Report of the Provost / Non-matriculated Students at FSC. FSC has a rather large number of non-matriculated students. This number needs to be reduced. To do so, AAS has agreed to create a non-matriculation application form. This form should take into consideration the level of preparedness of students to take FSC courses. This will be done to ensure that non-matriculated students have similar academic backgrounds with matriculated students at FSC.
Cluster Courses. A form has been created for cluster courses. This form is used to schedule cluster courses for the upcoming semester and will need to be signed by the Chair and Dean of the faculty members before it is sent to the Registrar’s office. The form will be sent out, shortly, to department Chairs to be distributed to faculty members.
Change to Grading System. Last semester, the Governance body approved changes to the grading system. The Provost stated that these changes should be communicated to students this semester. The changes to the grading system should be in effect in Fall 2011.
Grants. FSCfaculty have submitted grants for cluster courses,which have been provided for by the Title III grant. Thus far, there have been about 29grant applications. Only 12 faculty grants are funded by Title III. FSC is currently working on finding additional sources of funding to fund more faculty grants (15 or 16 grants in total). A committee was assembled to review the grants, which included representatives of each FSC school, the Dean’s Council and various other campus constituents.
Advisement Center.The Center is gearing up to start advising new students for Fall 2011.
Summer Orientation Program.FSC staff that will handle student orientation in the summer (July 2011) are members of Student Affairs, academic counselors that will be hired for the Advisement Center, and faculty members. Ideally, the individuals that will be involved with the Summer Orientation Program will attend a national conference on student orientation in Providence, Rhode Island on February 25-27, 2011. The Title III grant has funds allocated to pay for faculty involvement in student orientation in the summer. This grant also has a 600 dollar tuition incentive for students that will participate in the Summer Orientation program.
Survey of Faculty Satisfaction. Title III grant also calls for a survey of faculty satisfaction. This survey measures the level of faculty satisfaction with FSC academics and student engagement.
Report of the Chair / Nomination Form for Standing Committees. Chairperson Makarowitz is in the process of updating the Nomination Form for Standing Committees and will be distributing it to FEC members in the next week.
Old Business / Issues from Dr. Capella concerning evaluation of tenured faculty in the English Departmentby Prof. Vainder. Dr.Jacquette and Dr. Sullivan informed FEC members that the English Department amended its minutes to specify which faculty members’ qualifications would be evaluated by Prof. Vainder to determine their eligibility in teaching speech courses; namely, adjuncts.
New Business / Health and Safety Committee. Prof. Struminger informed FEC members that the Health and Safety Committee will meet on February 15, 2011 to discuss issues that arose with the opening of the school after the snowstorm, such as handicapped students’ inability to enter buildings due to the snow in front of building entrances and the sidewalks.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Dr. Marie-Helen Maras

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