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                                                              FACULTY SENATE MINUTES #13

                                                              April 20, 2010

The thirteenth meeting of the Faculty Senate 2009-2010 was called to order by Chair Kathleen Lawrence on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 1:15 PM in the Hall of Fame Room, Park Center.

SENATORS AND MEMBERS PRESENT: K. Lawrence, D. Miller, T. Vigars, D. Driscoll, W. Miller, D. Berger, R. Grantham, S. Wilson, O. White, B. Buxton, J. Kim, R. Borden, L. Klotz, K. Pristash, E. McCabe, J. Walkuski, M. Ware, P. Schroeder, G. Magnanti, A. Batchelder, J. Campanaro, E. Bitterbaum, M. Prus, R. Spitzer, J. Hendrick, R. Colling, S. Anderson, T. Phillips

SENATORS AND MEMBERS ABSENT:  D. Videto, R. Kendrick, M. McGuire, J. Reese, S. Rayl, D. Harrington, T. Slack, B. Schecter, R. Franco, G. Sharer, W. Shaut, G. Clarke

GUESTS PRESENT: P. Koryzno, M. Holland, M. Murphy, M. Chandler, J. Dangler, M. Agen

I.  APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:  There was a motion for approval of the minutes from April 6, 2010 (Approved)

II. SENATE ACTIONS:

There was a vote to approve the “Proposal on Withdrawals, Leaves, Readmission*” from the Educational

Policy Committee (Approved)

There was a vote to approve the “Proposed New Text for College Catalog: Awarding of Dual Degrees:

Degrees, Minors, Concentrations, Programs of Study and HEGIS Codes Degrees” from the Educational

Policy Committee (Approved)

There was a vote to approve the “Proposed Addition to be Inserted in the College Handbook

(Chapter 415) Posthumous  Degrees” (Approved)

There was a vote to approve the “Proposed Change to the College Handbook Chapter 210.05”

regarding external review from the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee (Approved)

III. CHAIR’S REPORT:  The Chair reported on the final meeting of the Faculty Senate on May 4.

Jeff Lallas and Nasrin Parvizi from Facilities have been invited to attend along with Pierre Gagnon

from ASC.

Chair Lawrence introduced the Proposal to amend the College Handbook to include the Committee on

Teaching Effectiveness as a Standing Committee of the Faculty Senate. The proposal will be listed

under Old Business at the final meeting of the Faculty Senate on May 4 where it will be discussed and

voted on.

IV. FAST TRACK:

The “Proposal on Withdrawals, Leaves, Readmission*” from the Educational Policy Committee was discussed and voted on.  {SEE Senate Actions}

The “Proposed New Text for College Catalog: Awarding of Dual Degrees: Degrees, Minors,

Concentrations, Programs of Study and HEGIS Codes Degrees” from the Educational

Policy Committee was discussed and voted on {SEE Senate Actions}

The “Proposed Addition to be Inserted in the College Handbook (Chapter 415) Posthumous 

Degrees” was discussed and voted on {SEE Senate Actions}

The “Proposed Policy Chapter 150, Article VII, Section C” from the Academic Faculty Affairs

Committee was introduced and will be an agenda item under Old Business at the last Faculty Senate

meeting for discussion and vote on May 4 and for faculty referendum, if approved.

The “Proposed Policy Chapter 150, Article VII, Section c3b” regarding personnel investigations

was introduced and will be an agenda item under Old Business at the last Faculty Senate meeting

for discussion and vote on May 4 and for faculty referendum, if approved.

V. VICE CHAIR:  D. Miller – No report.

VI. TREASURER’S REPORT – D. Videto – No report (absent)

VII. SECRETARY’S REPORT: - T. Vigars – Secretary Vigars gave the report for the Committee on Committees.  Nominations were taken from the floor for Faculty Senate Committee vacancies and one seat.

She reported on the electronic voting which will be utilized for the upcoming elections.  An e-mail will be sent out on the faculty listserv alerting everyone to the new voting process.

VIII.  PRESIDENT’S REPORT:   The President gave a brief report.

IX.  STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Student Affairs Committee  - T. Phillips – No report

Academic Faculty Affairs Committee – R. Collings – The “Proposed Change to the College

Handbook Chapter 210.05” regarding external review from the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee

was discussed and voted on {SEE Senate Actions}

The Recommendation to Create an Ad Hoc College Handbook Review Committee from the

Academic Faculty Affairs Committee was introduced and will be discussed and voted on at the

last Faculty Senate meeting on May 4.

Long-Range Planning Committee – No report (absent)

Educational Policy Committee –  R. Spitzer – No report.

Professional Affairs Committee – G. Clarke, Chair – No report (absent)

X. OTHER COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Committee on Committees -  J. Barry, Chair – Secretary Vigars gave the report for the committee.  Nominations were taken from the floor for committee vacancies {SEE Secretary’s report}

College Research Committee – L. Klotz – No report.

General Education Committee – J. Hendrick, Chair – The Proposal for 400 level courses as GE courses was introduced and will be an item under Old Business at the last Faculty Senate meeting on May 4.

XI. AREA SENATOR’S REPORTS:  There were no Area Senators Reports.

XII. SUNY SENATOR’S REPORT – M. Ware – The SUNY Senator gave a brief report

regarding participation on the University Faculty Senate committees and encouraged anyone who was interested to contact her or other committee members on campus, J. Hendrick and D. Berger.   

XII. STUDENT SENATOR’S REPORTS: The students gave a brief report.

XIII. OLD BUSINESS:  The EPC Proposal regarding Withdrawals, Leaves and Readmission was discussed and voted on {SEE Fast Track/Senate Actions}

The “Proposed Change to the College Handbook Chapter 210.05” regarding external review

from the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee, was discussed and voted on {SEE Academic Affairs

Committee Report/Senate Actions}

XIV. NEW BUSINESS: There was no New Business.

The rules were suspended at 2:00 and an Open Forum regarding the budget was conducted.

The following reports are appended to the minutes in the order they are submitted:

(1) Proposal to amend the College Handbook to include the CTE Committee as a

      Standing Committee of the Faculty Senate, submitted by K. Lawrence

(2) “Proposal on Withdrawals, Leaves, Readmission*” submitted by R. Spitzer, EPC Committee

(3)  “Proposed New Text for College Catalog: Awarding of Dual Degrees:

        Degrees, Minors, Concentrations, Programs of Study and HEGIS Codes Degrees”

        submitted by R. Spitzer, Chair, EPC Committee

(4)   “Proposed Addition to be Inserted in the College Handbook (Chapter 415) Posthumous

  Degrees” submitted by R. Spitzer, Chair, EPC Committee

(5)  “Proposed Policy 150 Article VII, Section C” submitted by R. Collings, Chair, AFAC.

(6) “Proposed Policy 150 Article VII, Section C3b” regarding personnel

        investigations submitted by R. Collings, Chair, Academic Faculty Affairs Committee

(7)   Committee on Committees report, submitted by J. Barry, Chair

(8)   The “Proposed Change to the College Handbook Chapter 210.05” regarding external review from the   

       Academic Faculty Affairs Committee, submitted by R. Collings, Chair

 (9) Recommendation to Create an Ad Hoc College Handbook Review Committee, submitted

        by R. Collings, Academic Faculty Affairs Committee

(10)  400-level courses as GE courses, submitted by J. Hendrick, Chair, GE Committee

Respectfully Submitted:

Barbara Kissel

Recording Secretary

APPENDIX 1

Proposal to amend the College Handbook

to make the CTE Committee a Standing Committee

of the Faculty Senate, submitted by K. Lawrence

Cortland College Handbook

Part One: University and College Governance

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CHAPTER 150: Cortland Faculty Governance

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150.03 SUNY CORTLAND FACULTY BYLAWS

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ARTICLE VII: COMMITTEES

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Section A. Duties of Committees

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Section B. Committee on Committees

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Section C. Policy Committees

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Section D. College Research Committee

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Section E. Steering Committee of the Senate

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Section F. College Curriculum Review Committee

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Section G. General Education Committee

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Section H. Committee on Teaching Effectiveness

Membership

a.  Committee membership shall be as follows:

one member representing mathematics/science

one member representing social/behavioral sciences

one member representing fine arts/humanities

one member representing education

one member representing professional studies

two student members

b.  The five academic faculty Committee members shall be nominated by the Committee on Committees and appointed by action of the Faculty Senate.

c.  The two student Committee members shall be elected by the students, with the consent of the Senate.

d.  Terms of office:

1.  Academic faculty members’ terms of office shall be four years and shall be staggered. Faculty shall not be allowed to serve consecutive terms.

2.  Student members’ terms of office shall be one year and shall be renewable.

e.  All of the College’s Distinguished Teaching Professors shall be permanent on-call consultants to the Committee.

Duties

a.  To oversee the development and implementation of the teaching evaluation system.

b.  To oversee departmental compliance with the teaching evaluation system.

c.  To ensure that quantifiable data drawn from Course Teacher Evaluations (CTE’s) are used on a longitudinal basis.

d.  To ensure that departments are making qualitative judgments about teaching based on all documentation that is presented, not just the quantifiable data drawn from CTE’s.

e.  To approve departmental alternatives to the standard College CTE form.

f.  To act as an ombudsman with whom faculty and students can discuss complaints about the teaching evaluation system and to make recommendations to the departments and division deans to resolve problems.

g.  To work with the evaluation system administrative support staff to ensure the availability of adequate administrative resources (e.g., GTE forms, clerical assistance, computer time, etc.).

h.  To make recommendations to the administration regarding resources needed by faculty to improve teaching.

i.  To implement seminars, talks, and consultant meetings with individuals and the general faculty to discuss teaching strategies and problems of evaluating students.

j.  To make recommendations to the Senate to improve the quality of the teaching evaluation system.

Section H. Ad Hoc Committees

Section I. Ad Hoc Committees

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APPENDIX 2

PROPOSAL ON WITHDRAWALS, LEAVES, READMISSION*

Submitted by R. Spitzer, Chair, EPC Committee

Withdrawal from College

Students withdrawing from the College will be assigned a grade of W in all courses in which students are enrolled. It is the student’s responsibility to clear all records and obligations to receive official separation. The official withdrawal form and procedures for filing may be obtained from the associate dean in the school of the student’s major.

Students who decide not to return to Cortland are responsible for notifying the Registrar’s Office in

writing to avoid tuition and fee liability problems and to release seats to fellow students. Nonattendance does not constitute a withdrawal. Students who withdraw from the college, or who fail to register, will be required to readmit before being allowed to register.  If the College is in session, the withdrawal form should be completed with the associate dean. Failure to do so will delay any refunds the student may be eligible to receive.

Students who have withdrawn after midterm or failed to register ordinarily will not be considered for

readmission until the passage of a full academic year a minimum of one full semester (fall, spring, summer) has passed.

Leave of Absence

Leave of absence for a specific period of time may be granted to a student in good academic standing — not subject to academic suspension, dismissal or probation. A student applying for a leave of absence must give a definite date for return to the College and must register within one academic year of the date of leaving the College. A student not returning to register within a specified time will be classified as an official withdrawal.

Application for leave of absence must be made to the associate dean of the school in which the student is enrolled. To affect the current semester the application must be made by the last day of classes.

Readmission

Candidates matriculated for undergraduate degrees who interrupt their education at SUNY Cortland and later wish to return must formally apply to be readmitted. An official leave of absence is not considered an interruption in enrollment. A student who has applied to graduate and has not completed degree requirements, and fails to register for a full calendar year from the end of the last semester of enrollment, must seek readmission before returning to classes at Cortland, or seeking graduation from Cortland.

Readmitted students re-enter SUNY Cortland under the catalog at the time of readmission and are, therefore, responsible for all College requirements, including the Cortland General Education requirements, SUNY and NYSED requirements, and all other major requirements in effect at the time of readmission. Students readmitted to Cortland are not eligible to waive additional general education requirements. Appeals concerning readmission questions can be made to the appropriate dean.

Students who have been dismissed for academic reasons ordinarily will not be eligible for readmission until at least three years have passed since their dismissal. Previous academic achievement at the College, grades received for college work completed elsewhere, and the circumstances under which the student left Cortland are all considered in the readmission process. Also considered may be length of time away from Cortland, military service, and/or employment experience. A condition of readmission may be “successful academic performance” — 2.75 cumulative grade point average — at another regionally accredited institution. Transcripts from other institutions attended must be included with the readmission application.

*These changes should be inserted both in the College Catalog and in the appropriate places in the next edition of the College Handbook.

APPENDIX 3

PROPOSED NEW TEXT FOR COLLEGE CATALOG: AWARDING OF DUAL DEGREES

(new wording in italics):

 Degrees, Majors, Minors, Concentrations, Programs of Study and HEGIS Codes Degrees

Degrees offered are Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and Bachelor of Science in Education (B.S.Ed.).  Students pursuing curricula leading to the conferral of multiple degrees must complete all the degree requirements for each program as delineated in the College catalog. The conferral of multiple baccalaureate degrees is reserved as a means of recognizing that a candidate has competencies in essentially different areas. To establish that competency the student must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours that are unique to each program.

Questions or interpretations regarding this policy will be resolved by the deans of the respective schools and the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Approved by Educational Policy Committee, March 26, 2010

APPENDIX 4

Educational Policy Committee

Submitted by R. Spitzer, Chair

PROPOSED ADDITION TO BE INSERTED IN THE COLLEGE HANDBOOK (Chapter 415):

Posthumous Degree  
 
SUNY Cortland may award a degree posthumously when a student has completed a substantial portion of the requirements for the degree and was in good academic standing at the time of death, as determined by the student’s major department and at the discretion of the President of the College. The degree would be awarded in recognition of the student’s work and as a source of solace to the student’s family. 

Approved by EPC:  April 9, 2010

APPENDIX 5

Academic Faculty Affairs Committee

R. Collings, Chair

APPENDIX 6

Academic Faculty Affairs Committee

R. Collings, Chair

Recommended changes to the College Handbook regarding personnel reviews by the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee.

Background

Over the last year, the Academic Faculty Affairs Committee has been asked to investigate a number of personnel reviews of individual faculty members applying for various personnel actions. Since it had been sometime since the last investigation had requested, our committee was placed in the position of needing to determine what our responsibilities and duties were in such investigations. Unfortunately, the College Handbook currently provides little guidance in this area. Based on our reading of the college policies, we finally derived the following set of informal procedures. To avoid confusion in the future, we are proposing that these policies be added to the College Catalog. Our intent is two-fold. First, we hope to provide guidance to subsequent members of the AFAC as to how such reviews should be conducted. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we hope to provide clear guidelines to both committee members and to individuals who might request such investigations as to the scope of such reviews. 

APPENDIX 7

Committee on Committee Report

J. Barry, Chair

                                          Committee on Committees – Report to the Faculty Senate

April 20, 2010

Item #1

A call for nominations has been issued for Faculty Senate Officers and Committees for terms beginning 2010.  The slate of nominations is being presented at the floor of the Faculty Senate today.  Additional nominations will be accepted from the floor.

SLATE OF NOMINATIONS (outgoing member noted in parentheses)

I.     At Large (10 vacancies): 

1.     Senate Steering Committee - elected, 1-year term

      Vice-Chair (Miller)  - Phillips       

Secretary (Vigars)  - Vigars       

Treasurer (Videto)   - Videto 

2.     Auxiliary Services Corporation – elected, 3-year term – 2 seats (Patrick, Ritchie)  - Boland,  Lenhart, Patrick , Ritchie 

(NOTE:  ASC holds a NYS Liquor License.  If elected to the Board of Directors, the State Liquor Authority requires the completion of a Personnel Questionnaire and finger-printing.  For more details, click on the following link:  http://www.abc.state.ny.us/system/files/SLA_personal-question-011310.pdf)

3.     Faculty Representatives to the Student Senate - 2 seats - elected, 1-year terms (Boland, Shi)  - none received 

4.     Facilities and Master Plan Oversight Committee – appointed, 3-year term (Sternfeld)  - Kahle , Ouellette 

5.     Educational Policy Committee (Academic At-Large) – appointed, 2-year term (Barclay)  - West 

6.     General Education Committee (Academic At-Large) - appointed, 2-year term (West)   - Hokanson  

II.    School of Arts & Sciences (14 vacancies): 

A.    Arts & Sciences At Large (1) 

1.          Educational Policy Committee - appointed, 2-year term (Spitzer)  - Spitzer  

B.    Fine Arts & Humanities (4)  

1.        College Curriculum Review Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Zimmerman)   - Kelley, Zimmerman

(no more than two consecutive terms)

2.        Committee on Teaching Effectiveness – appointed, 4-year term (Stearns)  - none received 

3.        General Education Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Hartsock)  - Kelley

4.        Student Affairs Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Barnaby)  - none received 

C.    Math/Science (6) 

1.          Academic Faculty Affairs Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Emam)  - none received 

2.        College Curriculum Review Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Pittman)  - none received 

(no more than two consecutive terms)

3.         Committee on Committees – elected, 2-year term (Gleason)  - none received 

4.        General Education Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Schubert)  - none received 

5.        Long Range Planning Committee – appointed, 3-year term (vacant)  - none received 

6.        Student Affairs Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Ahmadi)  - none received 

D.    Social/Behavioral Sciences (3) 

1.          College Research Committee – appointed, 3-year term (Kraebel) (qualifications:  should have received grant from external funding or reviewed grants from an outside agency)  - Kraebel 

2.        Committee on Committees – elected, 2009-11 (complete unexpired term; vacant)  - none received 

3.         General Education Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Miller)  - none received 

III.    School of Education (6 vacancies): 

1.          Academic Faculty Affairs Committee - appointed, 2-year term (Rayle)  - none received 

2.        College Curriculum Review Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Cohen)  - none received 

(no more than two consecutive terms)

3.         College Research Committee – appointed, 3-year term (Stratton) (qualifications:  should have received grant from external funding or reviewed grants from an outside agency)  - Benton , Shi  

4.        Committee on Committees – elected, 2-year term (Kudela)  - Kudela

5.        General Education Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Rayle)  -  White 

6.        Long Range Planning Committee – appointed, 3-year term (Rombach)  - none received  

IV.    School of Professional Studies (5 vacancies):    

1.    College Curriculum Review Committee - appointed, 2-year term (Reese)  - Grantham

(no more than two consecutive terms) 

2.        Committee on Committees – elected, 2-year term (Coffey)  - Coffey 

3.         Educational Policy Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Anderson)   - Trunfio    

4.        General Education Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Hendrick)  - none received 

5.        Student Affairs Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Davis)  - none received 

V.    Library ( 1  vacancy)  

1 .       Educational Policy Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Douglas)  - none received  

VI.    Professional Staff (5 vacancies)

1.       College Curriculum Review Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Costell Corbin)  - Costell Corbin 

2.       College Research Committee – appointed, 3-year term (Klotz) (qualifications:  should have received grant from external funding or reviewed grants from an outside agency  -  Klotz 

3.       Committee on Committees – elected, 2-year term (Janes)  - Ruoff 

4.       Educational Policy Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Yacavone)  - Jordak

5.       Student Affairs Committee – appointed, 2-year term (Zhe-Heimerman)  - Zhe-Heimerman

Item #2

Voting for elected officers/committee seats will be conducted electronically.

Respectfully submitted,

Joanne Barry

Chair

APPENDIX 8

Academic Faculty Affairs Committee

R. Collings, Chair

Proposed Change to College Handbook 210.05

APPENDIX 9

Academic Faculty Affairs Committee

R.Collings, Chair

                            Recommendation to create an ad hoc College Handbook Review Committee

 The AFAC recommends that an Ad Hoc Committee be appointed to review the College Handbook, to review for inconsistencies and redundancies. Specifically, the committee should seek to make recommendations that would lead to a clearer, better organized, and more concise statement of college policies. Given the scope of the task, we would recommend that the membership of the ad hoc committee consist of former chairs or members of the Educational Policy, Academic Faculty Affairs, Student Affairs, and Long-Range Planning Committees, as well as the current chair or members of the Professional Affairs Committee. Furthermore, we would recommend that the Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, be appointed to the committee.

Background

During interactions with department chairs and personnel committees regarding department personnel policies and personnel reviews, we have found that the policies articulated in the College Handbook are often misunderstood or ignored simply as a function of the organization of the Handbook. For example, critical policies directly related to the review of an application for promotion for academic faculty members are distributed between both sections 220 and 230, and often in multiple sections of 220. This sometimes leads to confusion on the part of both faculty and administration during reviews. Furthermore, we have recently identified instances where the redundancy in the handbook has lead to inaccuracies when one section is amended without the change of corresponding policies in other sections of the handbook. Finally, a careful review of the handbook will identify areas in which the numbering is inconsistent and confusing.

We believe that many of these problems stem from the piecemeal fashion in which the handbook has evolved over the years, without sufficient attention being given to the impact that each revision may have on other policies articulated in the document. Although there is an assumption that faculty members and administrators would take the time to be sufficiently familiar with the policies in the College Handbook, the number and nature of violations of handbook policies, frequently during personnel reviews, suggest that such an assumption is unfounded. We believe that many of these problems would be eliminated with a better articulation of college policy.

We are concerned that the scope of this task would be sufficiently large that no single standing committee would be able to conduct such a review. The global nature of this review would demand a wide range of expertise, hence our recommended committee membership.

APPENDIX 10

GE Committee

J. Hendrick, Chair

To:  Kathleen Lawrence, SUNY Cortland Faculty Senate Chair

From: Joy Hendrick, General Education Committee Chair

Date:  4/9/2010

Re:  400-level courses as GE Courses

The current Guidelines for Review of Courses that appear within the GE course proposal form include the following item:

4.     Four-hundred level courses and above shall not be considered appropriate for inclusion in GE.

The GE Committee has discussed 400-level courses several times in recent years and feel that some 400-level courses are very appropriate to include in the Cortland GE program.  Some of our rationale includes:

• Some 400-level courses are already included in the new Cortland GE program.
• Not all 400-level courses are interpreted the same (some 400-level course offered at

      SUNY Cortland are truly senior-only, senior-level courses, but others are not).

• The philosophy of having some GE courses that are more challenging than just introductory

      courses is not a bad thing.

• Expanding offerings within categories (as suggested by the GE Task Force in 2007) allows

      students more variety, as long as the course still meets the established student learning

      outcomes for the category. 

Therefore, in order to better reflect the practice of the General Education Committee in recent years and to better reflect the philosophy of the new Cortland General Education Program, we recommend that guideline #4, be rewritten as follows:

4.     Four-hundred level courses and above shall not normally be considered appropriate for inclusion in GE.

Criteria considered in allowing some 400-level courses in a GE category include:

• The course meets the goals and student learning outcomes.
• The course is not intended to be limited to only seniors
• The course is not a cross-listed and/or shared-resource course with a graduate course.
• The course does not have an extensive amount of prerequisite courses and/or experiences.
• The population served by the course is diverse (not limited to just majors in one department)
• The GE program still remains distinct from major (or minor) program requirements, As noted in the College Catalog, students can take no more than two courses in any one discipline to satisfy their GE requirements.

There are likely other faculty teaching 400-level courses that would be ideal to be included as GE courses.  With the current wording of the guidelines, they may not submit the course(s) thinking that they are not eligible.  Therefore, we urge the Faculty Senate to accept this minor change in the GE Guideline.  We believe this change will more fairly convey to faculty the criteria being used to review GE course proposals.