FALL MEETING OF THE FACULTY
Wednesday, November 3, 2010, 11:00AM
Performing Arts Center, Main Theater
Table of Contents
Document Title Page
Agenda……………………………………………………………………………………….2
Minutes from Spring 2010 Faculty Meeting………………………………………………3
List of New Faculty………………………………………………………………………….11
List of New Professional Staff……………………………………………………………...13
2010-11 Department Chairs………………………………………………………………..14
Chairs Completing Service, 2009-2010…………………………………………………...16
2009-10 Faculty Promotion & Continuing Appointment Actions………………………..17
2009-10 Senate Report to Faculty…………………………………………………………18
Commencement Regalia Form……………………………………………………………..22
See http://www.albany.edu/commencement/faculty.shtml for additional information
FALL MEETING OF THE FACULTY
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
11:00 AM
Performing Arts Center, Main Theater
AGENDA
1. Call to Order (Eric Lifshin, Chair of the University Senate)
Refer to handout:
a. Minutes of the April 19, 2010 Spring Meeting of the Voting Faculty
2. Approval of Minutes from Spring Faculty Meeting, April 19, 2010 (Eric Lifshin)
3. Moment of Silence for Deceased Colleagues (Eric Lifshin)
v William Henry, Utilities Plant (May 5, 2010)
v Max Siporin, School of Social Welfare (May 27, 2010)
v Doris Creegan, Languages Literatures & Cultures (September 15, 2010)
v Anna Radkowski-Lee, University Libraries (November 1, 2010)
4. Report to the Faculty (George Philip, President)
5. Other Business (Eric Lifshin)
6. Adjournment (Eric Lifshin)
State University of New York
University at Albany
Spring Meeting of the Faculty
April 19, 2010
MINUTES
1. CALL TO ORDER
Senate Chair, Dr. Michael Range welcomed those in attendance and called the meeting to order at approximately 3:00 pm. He referred to the documents available at the door which included the meeting’s agenda and the minutes from the Fall Faculty meeting of October 15, 2009. Other informative materials are available on the Senate web site.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The first order of business was to approve the minutes of the Fall Faculty Meeting. A motion to approve the minutes was made and seconded, and the minutes were approved as distributed.
3. MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR DECEASED COLLEAGUES
Dr. Range read the names of those colleagues who had died since the fall meeting. A moment of silence was observed in their memory.
4. REPORT TO THE FACULTY
Dr. Range introduced President George M. Philip, who delivered the following message at the 2010 Spring Faculty Meeting:
President Philip thanked Senate Chair Range and welcomed everyone. The President commented that this was a busy time of year as we approach the end of the semester. Exams, commencement and a host of deadlines seem to govern our lives. He viewed this positive energy to be an encouraging sign of everyone’s dedication in carrying out UAlbany’s mission. President Philip expressed his deep appreciation to faculty and staff for their efforts in advancing the University which continues to make great progress. He thanked everyone for taking time to come together for this meeting.
President Philip began his remarks with an update on the budget situation for UAlbany. He commented that massive multi-year budget deficits facing the State of New York are having a devastating impact on the State University. UAlbany has already absorbed over $21 million in state tax reductions since the beginning of 2008, and the University’s future financial solvency remains in doubt. The Governor and the State Legislature are attempting to close a $9 billion budget gap in their effort to adopt next year’s State Budget. As a result, the Executive Budget and the Legislature’s one-house budget proposals call for yet another reduction of state tax support for the State University. This cut could exceed $150 million. If the proposal is approved, our campus would realize a cut in excess of $10.5 million on top of an already dramatically reduced State base. The President stated that while the final details of our situation would not be known until the State Budget is adopted, the bottom line is that the State’s eroding financial situation presents serious challenges for UAlbany, especially since there appears to be no end in sight. The President said he remains deeply troubled and concerned about the University’s ability to maintain the size of its faculty and staff, the breadth of its academic programs, and the overall size of the student body.
In light of our fiscal uncertainty, President Philip informed those present that he has taken the proactive and necessary step of appointing a budget advisory group to advise him on financial plans that anticipate a substantially lower resource base over the next two years. Given the State’s twenty year track record of disinvestment in SUNY, and the resulting structural imbalance of revenues and expenditures that again threaten our University, something needs to change.
That is why the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, landmark reform being championed by our Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, is so vitally important to our students, our faculty and staff, our community at-large and indeed our future. This pioneering legislation, along with sustained State assistance, would put us on an equal footing with public higher education across the country by literally “unshackling” and “empowering” SUNY with much-needed flexibility. This reform will mean flexibility and autonomy for tuition, land-use, public-private partnership, procurement, capital construction and more.
Before discussing the importance of the Act, President Philip provided some backdrop as to why the measure is so critically needed.
· First, the NYS Commission on Higher Education, in its Final Report in 2008, declared that the State University and City University have been and continue to be chronically over-regulated and underfunded.
· Second, since 1990, the State has increased tuition only during times of fiscal crisis when the State needed to address a budget deficit.
· Third, over these 20 years, tuition has increased six times for a total of 268 percent. Yet, not a dollar of these increases has benefited our students, our faculty, our staff or our University. Rather, the State has instead decreased state assistance by an equal, if not greater amount of each of the past six tuition increases, again, to balance the State budget and address fiscal crisis.
President Philip explained what this has meant for our University. In 1990, state assistance to the University was $79.8 million. Today, state assistance has declined to $73.8 million--$6 million less than it was 20 years ago. However, it is important to realize that when taking into account “mandatory salary increases” and “inflation”, the University has actually realized a cut of nearly than $60 million during that same time period. In 1990 we had 16,500 students; today we have over 18,000 students and a reduction of state assistance of over $60 million.
The President said the Empowerment and Innovation Act is an opportunity to “unleash” the Power of SUNY and our University. It is an opportunity to “empower” UAlbany with the flexibility and autonomy needed to take control of our future, even in times of fiscal distress. The Empowerment and Innovation Act would, for the first time, give UAlbany and other SUNY campuses the ability to implement “predictable” and “differential” tuition, while at the same maintaining access and affordability by protecting our neediest students from future tuition increases.
While tuition flexibility is the centerpiece of the Empowerment and Innovation Act, there are other critical flexibilities and autonomies which promise to power SUNY and the University at Albany forward. As many of you know, we are in the process of launching a new RNA Institute. Its mission is to discover novel therapeutics for diseases currently without treatment or cure. The Institute offers the potential to team up with industry and university researchers at the Life Science Research Building for the betterment of science, while at the same time, deriving a source of tenant income. However, under current state law, we are prohibited from leasing state property and cannot take advantage of such entrepreneurial opportunities. Under the Empowerment and Innovation Act, this would change.
The Empowerment and Innovation Act would also change the way the State University and our campus can procure goods and services, receive state revenue, and construct new capital facilities, all in a more efficient, cost-effective and timely manner.
Given the State’s severe fiscal decline, pattern of decreasing state support and a deafening silence regarding viable alternatives, the Empowerment and Innovation Act stands alone as the promise to propel SUNY and our University forward.
President Philip provided a list of supporters of the Empowerment and Innovation Act. The list includes voices of strong support on campus, throughout the Capital Region and across the State of New York:
The Governor and NYS Senate
The SUNY Student Assembly representing over 465,000 students
The University-wide Senate Executive Committee
The NYS Business Council
The NYS Conference of Mayors--including Mayor Jennings and the City of Albany
The NYS Association of Counties
The Center for Economic Growth
Our four Regional Chambers of Commerce in the Greater Capital District
Our University Planning and Policy Council (UPPC) of the University Senate
President Philip stated that these are just a few of the supporters joining our cause and we would be hearing from others in the near future. The President indicated that in discussions he has had with students, faculty, staff, and community members, most are shocked by the State’s historical treatment of SUNY, and they tell him something needs to change.
The President took the opportunity to discuss Chancellor Zimpher’s inspirational and successful kick-off of the SUNY Strategic Plan, entitled The Power of SUNY. The Plan is grounded in three mission-critical imperatives: To Learn, To Search, To Serve. The Plan maintains core values centered around our students, community engagement, diversity, integrity and collaboration. The Plan also seizes “Six Big Ideas” that will serve to revitalize the State’s economy and enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers. The President joined Chancellor Zimpher in New York City for the initial unveiling of her nine- city statewide launch of the Strategic Plan and thanked those who went to the Albany launch. President Philip was pleased to note that UAlbany is already deeply involved in realizing many of the “Six Big Ideas” the Chancellor has identified.
President Philip announced that we have initiated our own university-wide strategic planning process which will be aligned with the SUNY-wide strategic plan. Late last year, he charged Provost Susan Phillips to chair the University Strategic Committee, which has been hard at work since last December. The Committee is now taking a careful look at where we are today and the changing environment in which we operate. They have worked to craft and articulate a mission: “Expanding knowledge and transforming minds to shape the future of our community and our world.” The Committee has also worked to develop six strategic themes and corresponding goals:
For “Undergraduate Education”
For “The Undergraduate Experience”
For “Graduate Education”
For “Research”
For “Infrastructure and Environment”
For “Alumni and Community Connections”
The Committee has developed objectives and action steps to achieve each of these goals, and can be viewed on the strategic planning wiki, and are being discussed at a series of Town Hall Meetings. Two meetings have already occurred and four more are scheduled during the month. The President urged everyone to attend as many as possible to help inform the process.
President Philip took a moment to update everyone on our decennial Middle States self-study and reaccreditation process. The University received an outstanding review from the Middle States Site Visit Team. They were very impressed by the honesty reflected in our self-study as well as the achievements we have realized in the face of many challenges. It is expected that the reaccreditation process will be successfully concluded by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education when the University receives the final report sometime in June. The success of our Middle States process is yet another reflection of the collective strengths and thinking of our entire University community and a credit to each and everyone present. The President provided special thanks to Dean Sue Faerman, Bruce Szelest, Steve Messner and all who worked so hard on this critically important effort.
President Philip commented on our good fortune of having so many bright and productive thinkers across the humanities, arts, social sciences and all of our professional schools on campus. He further stated that we have much to be proud of as an internationally recognized, research-intensive, public university, even in times of fiscal challenge. He reported on the many faculty who have demonstrated enormous scholarly success and whose contributions have come in many forms, including major awards, honors and literary works. He highlighted the following:
Professor John Monfasani, in the History Department, has received a summer grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Professor Richard Cunningham, in Biological Sciences, has been awarded a $647,000 grant from the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory for research into the “Structural Biochemistry of DNA Base Repair.”
Professor Siwei Lyu, in Computer Science, has received a $500,000 early-career development grant from the National Science Foundation to develop new methods to detect digital images that have been altered.
Professor Frank Vellutino, in Educational and Counseling Psychology, will be inducted into the International Reading Association's Reading Hall of Fame later this month. Incidentally, Professor Vellutino will be the 5th inductee from our School of Education – the largest representation of any single institution.
Professors Victor Asal and Karl Rethemeyer, in Public Administration and Policy, received a $454,000 grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to study the detection of terrorist networks.
Cancer Researcher JoEllen Welsh, in Environmental Health Sciences, was featured on Good Morning America to discuss her research related to Vitamin D and its effect on breast cancer cells.
Professor Pradeep Haldar, Director of the Energy and Environmental Technology Applications Center in the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, won a prestigious $600,000 National Science Foundation grant for an energy sustainability initiative entitled, “Collaboration to Leverage Energy and Nanotechnology” or “CLEAN.”
Professor Ronald Toseland, in the School of Social Welfare, was selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare.
Distinguished Professor David Bayley, School of Criminal Justice, co-authored a recently published book entitled The Police in War: Fighting Insurgency, Terrorism, and Violent Crime.