College of Arts and Sciences

Council of Chairs

May 13, 2009

2:30 p.m., AS 122

Meeting Minutes

Present: E. Acosta-Belen (for Griffith), J. Berkowitz, J. Brière, A. Broadwell, A. DeBlasi, R. Dressler, E. Gaffney, S. Galime, K. Gersowitz (recorder), D. Goodwin, T. Harrison, D. Hernandez, J. Hobson, M. Jerison, C. MacDonald, J. Mower, S. North (for Hill), B. Steinbock, G. Stevens, M. Sutherland, C. Thorncroft, P. Toscano, K. Williams, T. Wormwood, E. Wulfert, A. Zak, K. Zhu, R. Zitomer

Introductory Remarks: Dean Wulfert called the meeting to order at 2:35 p.m.

Minutes of April 22, 2009: A motion to approve the minutes was made by J. Mower, seconded by P. Toscano. The meeting minutes for April 22, 2009 were unanimously approved.

Announcements:

·  Completed assistantship appointment forms are due by 5/15/09 to Kathy Gersowitz in AS-217. The Dean noted that no turnover lines will be filled after June 1.

·  CAS Ice Cream Social is 5/19/09, 2:30-4:00 p.m. in the Campus Center Terrace Lounge. Please RSVP by May 15, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. to Jaime Galusha at .

·  From the Registrar: The DUE DATE for submission of ALL grade rosters is 5/18/09 at 11:59p.m. Any faculty member submitting grade roster(s) after 11:59 p.m. on 5/18 must notify the Registrar’s Office by calling 442-5546 with the catalog number and class number. Grades will be posted to student records upon receipt of the phone call. A question was raised about where this deadline was posted.

After the meeting the following e-mail was sent to the Chairs from Dean Wulfert: Since a question was raised at our last Chairs Council meeting whether PeopleSoft could make the dates for submitting final grades more prominent, G. Stevens contacted the Registrar's Office and they have now modified the Faculty Portal so that the dates are more visible. (Faculty still need to actually logon with the intention of posting their grades. The departmental assistants could ensure this by sending out reminders to the faculty). The final grade rosters need to be completed by Monday, May 18th, 1 minute before midnight.

·  Course scheduling for spring 2010 is underway. College Office review starts August 17. The Chairs were encouraged not to leave the entire job of spring scheduling to the summer chairs.

·  Faculty Activity Reports: The new web version of the FARS is the only available option for the coming year. Assistance will be provided via the HelpDesk, FAQs, and Video.

In response to questions raised by the Chairs, S. Galime sent the following e-mail: As follow up to a question about the FAR due date from the Chairs' meeting, the College due date for faculty to have submitted their FARs on-line is June 30, 2009. You may set an earlier date for your own departmental purposes should you desire. Regarding the issue of journal abbreviations, the College asks that the names of all journals and granting agencies be written out without abbreviations in the new on-line system.

·  Please identify advisors for this summer’s planning conferences and forward names to G. Stevens.

·  Reminder: This weekend is Commencement.

·  J. Hobson, chair of Women’s Studies, distributed a flyer about the online journal, transcending silence …

Old Business: – As follow-up to earlier discussions, G. Stevens reported on the new committee that will be formed to work with the Council on Assessment to simplify the gen. ed. assessment forms. It was noted that in addition to being mandated by SUNY Central, the data, which are reported in aggregate, are important for the upcoming Middle States accreditation.

New Business: – Dean Wulfert updated the Chairs on the status of faculty term renewals. Under normal circumstances the renewals would have been completed by now; however, legally the University has until the end of August to act on these renewals. Dean Wulfert stated that at the recently held “Tenure & Promotion Bootcamp” the Provost said that she does not intend to make tenure decisions based on the budget because junior faculty members are the future of the University. If there are any concerns with the renewals, the Dean will discuss this with you. Although there is a great deal of uncertainty, the Dean asked the chairs to reassure the junior faculty members.

The question of how many external reviewer letters should be included in a tenure and promotion file was raised. According to University guidelines, the minimum is 4 letters; however, it was strongly suggested at the Tenure Workshop that 6-8 letters should be included. Dean Wulfert noted that 4 letters can be dangerous because if one of these letters is negative it may carry too much weight in a case. T. Harrison suggested that next year we devote a chair’s meeting to the preparation of tenure and promotion cases, adding that it would be very helpful if the chairs could share their experiences. Dean Wulfert noted that over the summer the College will be drafting some suggested guidelines as well.

J. Berkowitz noted that there is alarm among the junior faculty as some felt they received a different message at the workshop than they had been receiving from their mentors, and now they feel unsure of what they need to do to get tenure. A comment was made at the workshop that tenure would not be granted to someone who had simply “slapped a cover on the dissertation.” This statement itself has caused alarm among junior faculty. B. Steinbock noted that a quality dissertation could certainly be turned into a monograph; however, the quality of the publication would be what would ultimately be judged. It was reported that junior faculty are also concerned that the budget situation is causing the University to drive up standards as a way of winnowing out the faculty.

Dean Wulfert noted that the committee members (both on the CAS Tenure & Promotion Committee and on CPCA) take their responsibilities very seriously. She suggested that both she and K. Gersowitz were available to meet with junior faculty to discuss concerns and assist them in preparing their tenure files.

Dean Wulfert distributed the Doctoral Program Quality Indicators Algorithm used in the 09-10 funding decisions. She invited the chairs to contact her if they wanted her to identify their program among the 37 doctoral programs listed. Dean Wulfert reported that she had suggested names of possible committee members for the upcoming doctoral program review as it was important that the composition of the committee be balanced. Many of the members will also come from the University Senate.

Dean Wulfert recently joined the “Entrepreneurial Group,” comprised of deans from the professional schools who meet to discuss revenue-enhancing measures (e.g., online courses, continued education, contract courses, certificate programs). She spoke about efforts underway in the School of Education and School of Business and encouraged chairs to think about ways we might bring additional funding into the College.

The Dean then asked the Chairs for feedback on the suggestion of asking adjunct professors to teach a 4:4 load, rather than the customary 3:3 load, noting that in many universities this is the standard. A. DeBlasi noted that the current starting salary is low, and if the workload were increased we would no longer be competitive. J. Briere agreed, noting that in his field we pay less than other research universities. T. Harrison added that the size of classes taught would matter as would the number of class preps. D. Goodwin noted that, from his experience, 4 preps are extremely difficult to manage.

K. Williams asked the chairs if they had seen an increase in the number of students requesting late withdrawals. The question of whether or not students were being instructed to make these requests by the Office of Undergraduate Education was raised and Dean Wulfert noted that she would follow up on this issue.

Dean Wulfert thanked the outgoing chairs (B. Steinbock, A. Zonder, D. Hernandez, J. Hobson, M. Jerison, and J. Mower) for the fine work they had done during a very difficult year. She also announced that Associate Dean Rachel Dressler would be returning to the faculty and thanked her for her service to the College over the past two years.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 3:40.

Handouts:

Agenda

Minutes of April 22, 2009 Council of Chairs Meeting

Transcending Silence Journal (www.albany.edu/ws/journal)

Doctoral Programs Quality Indicators Algorithm