Governance Meeting of Friday, March 4, 2016, 1:00 p.m.

Little Theater, Roosevelt Hall.

I.  Approval of the minutes of November 6, 2015.

Approved.

II.  Report of the President, Dr. Hubert Keen

  1. Performance Improvement Plan. The plan was approved, after some minor modifications and discussion with System staff, by the Chancellor and Board of Trustees.
  2. Funded Grants. We are fortunate that a number of grants, totaling more than $13 million have been funded over the past few months. Thanks to Beverly Kahn, Lou Reinisch, Robert Coleman, Mostafa Arkadani and Nasrul Islam and others for their special efforts in acquiring these funds.
  3. Safety and Preparedness. Several topics were discussed:
  4. Active Shooter Training. Emails were sent in Fall 2015 regarding two available videos on preparedness for an active shooter. The college also held a one-hour training session at the beginning of this term with the Administrative Council, about 75 administrative leaders on campus. Members of the council were asked to brief faculty and staff in their units and encourage their participation in available training. On March 1, Dr. Keen sent a campus-wide email with three options for further training, one of which is a training module to be made available by HR next week.
  5. The Town of Babylon and the college have now agreed on a reconstruction of the intersection of Melville Road and the campus entrance by Nold Hall. Funding has been committed and the town anticipates completing the project in summer 2017.
  6. Intra-campus Pedestrian Safety. The campus has been working to cut down on cars in pedestrian areas. As a part of the plan we moved a through road out to the perimeter, and a new parking lot with an increased number of handicapped spaces was opened. This required eliminating of handicapped spaces by Gleeson. We are considering ways to serve the needs of those with special mobility limitations who must reach the interior buildings.
  7. Implementing Polices to Prevent and Respond to Sexual Violence. Dr. Veronica Henry has just submitted a progress report to SUNY System on work we have done to implement the federal, state and SUNY System policies on sexual violence.
  8. Civility Policy. The administration and UUP leadership have written a draft policy for civil behavior. It will be reviewed with the FEC at the next meeting, and will be announced soon thereafter. Thanks to Vicki Janik, Veronica Henry and Marybeth Incandela for their extensive work in developing the policy.
  9. Death and Funeral Notification. A revised policy for funeral notifications was sent to the campus. Thanks to the Office of Institutional Advancement for overseeing this.

III.  Report of the Provost

  1. Dr. Michael Goodstone, Acting Associate Provost, spoke on behalf of Dr. Joseph. He reported that the Middle States Periodic Review Interim update was available in draft form on the Intranet. There is a town hall scheduled for March 17 to discuss the report. The campus must submit the report to MSCHE by June 1. The campus is also working on a report of Verification of Compliance with federal requirements, spearheaded by Drs. Vogel and Miranda, to be submitted with the Periodic Review. There is also a “substantive change request” being pursued related to our offering of Master’s degrees.
  2. The SUNY Tools of Engagement Project is seeking participants.
  3. The new Time and Attendance system is now live, and training is ongoing. The Feb 2015 time cards for faculty will be electronic only.

IV.  Reports of Standing Committees

  1. FEC: Dr. Lloyd Makarowitz reported on difficulties getting fully promoted and tenured faculty members to serve on the CAFPC. Because of this there will be discussions about relaxing the requirements to be elected to the CAFPC. FEC also has vacancies.
  2. Curriculum Committee: Dr. Martin Lewison reported on the numbers of CCPs and GEPs processed by the committee. The deadline for this semester is April 1. He asked applicants to be sure they use the newest form, found on the Intranet. He also asked that if prerequisites are not clear that a paragraph describing them be submitted.
  3. The Elections Committee: Dr. Rita Austin opened nominations for all vacancies, and took names from the floor. The nomination period will end at the next governance meeting.
  4. Bylaws Committee: Dr. Jill O’Sullivan discussed the new bylaw change form, which will help streamline bylaw changes and will help committees keep track of changes that need to be made in the Bylaws.
  5. A bylaw change to 10.5.3 regarding the election of Alternate Senators was proposed by Karen Gelles. The bylaw passed unanimously.

V.  Old Business

VI.  New Business

  1. Dr. Beverly Kahn reported on the First in the World grant, which will run from October, 2015 through September, 2019. The grant is a partnership with Bowie State, Central Connecticut State University, Kean University, and SUNY College at Old Westbury with an organizing theme of “Unity in Diversity.” The goal of the program is to increase graduation rates among high-need students through a variety of interventions under the umbrella of Research-Aligned Mentorship (RAM). Farmingdale will have 250 students in the treatment group. Opportunities for faculty involvement will be announced.
  2. Dr. Kahn also distributed a list of the faculty who were awarded 2016-2017 Students First grants.
  3. Faculty Senate, Prof. Lou Scala reported on the recent Senate meeting held at Stony Brook on Jan 21, 2016. He quoted H. Carl McCall as stating that Chancellor Zimpher “encourages Presidents to be responsive to shared governance.” All reports, resolutions, and presentation materials from the meeting are available at the Senate website.

VII.  From the Floor

  1. A service learning conference will be held at Brockport May 5-7.
  2. UUP Meeting on 3/17, IDAP committee working and will soon announce.
  3. Technology Fair 3/10 with 48 companies coming.
  4. Conversations in the Disciplines application deadline is 4/8.

The meeting adjourned at 2:11 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Karen Gelles, for Jack Harris, Secretary