March 2010
Dear Colleagues:
Last week I sent you a message asking you to consider running yourself—or nominating active and interested colleagues---for three of the standing committees of the University Senate: Administrative Review Committee, Graduate Council, and the Research Committee. We received an encouraging response, so we are hopeful to recruit interested faculty for three other committees.
I will not bore you by repeating my previous description of the importance and usefulness of serving on these committees. I will only remind you that there are no qualifications for these committees except interest and energy, that we urge you to volunteer to run and/or to mention the names of colleagues who you think would be interested. If you nominate someone we will ask then them (without pressure) if they are interested in running, so you will not be committing them to anything by mentioning their name.
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)
This year, CAPRA has devoted attention to issues of the nature of the academic planning and allocation of resources for the Southampton campus, and is now doing the same for Stony Brook Manhattan. It has been considering what would be required to make the College of Business gain accreditation so as to benefit its graduates. The committee spent considerable time analyzing the proposed Songdo campus in South Korea and has developed a list of concerns that need to be addressed if this is to be a viable enterprise. CAPRA has been examining organizational structure of the campus and, in particular, the flow of funds among administrative offices and the effect of these allocation decisions on academic programs of the campus.
Vacancies will be contested in HFA, HSC, 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 University Affairs Committee has oversight responsibility for Advancement, Alumni Affairs, Publications, Athletics and Governmental Relations. This committee is charged with interaction with and oversight of each of these entities as they work to accomplish their stated mission, goals, and objectives within the Stony Brook University master plan. Although not limited to these actions, committee members meet periodically with directors of these units to address issues and concerns of budget, action plan, evaluation, communication and personnel. This spring and next year the committee’s agenda includes evaluating the budget allocations for the Sports Complex renovation and the timeline for the student recreation center. We will be considering the distribution of student fees to various activities around the campus, including the student fee contribution to intercollegiate athletics.
Vacancies will be contested in HFA, HSC, 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 University Environment Committee is an extremely active committee that has developed strong and productive collaborations with the University administration on broadly defined environmental issues ranging from transportation, safety, buildings and infrastructure, the living things of the campuses, and the impact of the University on the surrounding Community. Issues of current focus of the Committee include improving campus transportation efficiency and reducing the impact on the surrounding community of campus automobiles, obtaining protection of the Ashley Schiff Preserve and other potential "living laboratory" areas on campus, enhancing University energy efficiency, and the creation of a campus environmental master plan to guide the long range planning of the University.
Vacancies will be contested in HFA, HSC, 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 e-mail 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