March 2010
Dear Colleagues:
The University Senate is the official vehicle for faculty, staff, and student input into university decision-making. The Senate governance structure that involves several hundred active office holders, including department and at-large senators representing all divisions of the university, and members of a dozen standing and several ad hoc committees. We are currently soliciting candidates for three year terms on the 12 standing committees, which are the main venue where the senate discusses and develops new policies, works with the cognate administrators in assessing and changing current operations, developing new policies, and overseeing administrative performance in their designated area.
The Senate works best when candidates for positions on the standing committees have energy and interest in the issues under consideration, and bring to the committee their own fresh ideas and those of their colleagues about how that area should continue to operate or change in order for the University to function at the highest level. These committees generally meet once a month and consider important current issues related to the general functioning of the University. While these meeting are often intense, only some of the issues considered require outside work by the committee members.
We therefore ask you to consider running for a standing committee in an area that you have interest and energy. We assure you that service on these committees will be fruitful in terms of concrete contributions to the current and future welfare of the University.
We also urge you to suggest colleagues who you feel would be excellent candidates for specific committees. Your suggestions will not be considered nominations; we will write directly to all faculty mentioned and ask if they are willing to run. If you suggest to us the names of qualified colleagues, we can then approach them directly, highlighting the usefulness of service on a specific committee for which they are particularly qualified.
Below are three of the committees for which we are currently soliciting candidates. For each we offer a brief description of the committee’s current concerns, to give you a sense of the substantive issues it considers. (You can find more complete information about the committee’s charge, recent activities, and current membership at the Senate Website {http://stonybrook.edu/univsenate }and clicking on “Standing Committees”) For each committee, we also indicate the University divisions for which vacancies will be contested in this year’s elections. The five divisions within which elections will be contested are Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA), Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS), Natural Sciences and math (NSM), Health Science Center (HSC) and Library (LIB).
The charge of the Administrative Review Committee is to evaluate and recommend changes in the performance of the various administrative units on the campus.
In the spring 2010 semester the Administrative Review Committee will be administering a comprehensive faculty/staff survey evaluating administrative performance. After a semester of careful preparation and review, it will be administered online to all Senate eligible faculty and staff. We will process the results of the survey this semester, and prepare a report summarizing the results for the Senate. The committee will also examine the issue of department chair appointments by comparing actual practice to official policy. In the fall, we will be making specific recommendations regarding procedures and performance of administrative units.
Vacancies will be contested in HSC, HFA, NSM and SBS. Please recommend qualified colleagues (including yourself) for this committee by replying to ltheobalt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu with their names, departments, and the committee name.
The basic responsibilities of the Graduate Council are to "advise the Dean of the Graduate School and monitor all aspects of the University's graduate program." This year we have devoted considerable time and energy reviewing new Master programs which, because of the recent emphasis on revenue sharing, have been proposed by most departments and programs at SBU. We seek to help departments perfect their proposals: to insure successful start-up, smooth operation, financial viability, and approval without further problems by the SUNY system. The committee also regularly reviews and updates regulations for graduate programs, with a special focus on addressing problems that hinder student progress. The Graduate Council Appeals Committee serves as a final appeal for resolving otherwise intractable friction between graduate students and their programs.
Vacancies will be contested in HFA and SBS. Please recommend qualified colleagues (including yourself) for this committee by replying to ltheobalt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu with their names, departments, and the committee name.
The charge to the Senate Research Committee is to consult with and advise the Vice President for Research, the Provost, and other administrators, on all aspects of the research enterprise and scholarly activities on campus.
In the past semester, the Committee has conducted an online "Faculty Research Survey", which was open to the more than 2700 faculty members on all Stony Brook campuses, and generated more than 630 individual responses. The topics ranged from matters pertaining to start-up packages, funding opportunities, proposal writing and submission, grants and research support, to general questions on the research atmosphere on campus. The committee is presently evaluating the survey responses, and preparing a report for discussion and distribution by the end of the spring semester. The report will assess weaknesses and strengths in each of these areas, and recommend ways to facilitate the proposal and submission process, streamline grant administration, and remove barriers to research productivity. This work will continue into next year, when we will seek to implement these recommendations, in campus procedures and in the strategic plan.
Vacancies will be contested in HSC, HFA and SBS Please recommend qualified colleagues (including yourself) for this committee by replying to ltheobalt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu with their names, departments, and the committee name.
You may make nominations by replying to the Senate office secretary, LTheobalt@notes.cc.sunysb.edu. Please write the nominee’s name and department as well as the committee’s name. In order to get names on the ballot, we will need nominations by March 22, 2010. We appreciate your willingness to serve as well as your suggestions of people we might contact to consider running.
Sincerely,
Michael Schwartz, Ph.D.
President
University Senate