Senate Minutes

University Senate

October 15, 2007
Open as pdf

I.  Approval of Tentative Agenda:  approved

II.  Approval of Minutes from September 10, 2007:  Approved.
Norman Goodman noted that the Provost’s report left out his colleague, Stephen Cole who had also been designated Distinguished Professor.

III.  President’s Report (S. Kenny)

  • Welcomed the new Provost, Dr. Eric Kaler.
  • State Commission on Higher Education:  Five working committees.  Report expected December 2007.
  • Three new Trustees have been proposed.  Appointments are held up until the senate meets to approve the Governor’s news appointments.
  • The Stony Brook Homecoming will take place with plenty of activities this coming weekend (Oct. 20th).
  • President Kenny recently came back from a trip to Korea.  Stony Brook has a number of agreements with several Korean Universities.  Korean hospitals are state-of-the-art with computers at hospital beds with patient information. 
  • Gary Kaczmarczyk (Interim Director of Emergency Management), Barbara Chernow (VP for Facilities) and Douglas Little (Asst. Chief of Police) are working hard on the total Emergency Management Plan.

Questions:  Norman Goodman was concerned about the Commission on Higher Education’s five working groups, none of which mentions students or academics.  Luckily the Chancellor set up working groups with students (to look at transfers, research, etc.) none of which was mentioned in the Commission.
Dr. Goodman:  What is happening with the search for VP for HSC? 
President Kenny:  Just getting started with the search. A member of the committee had a personal illness in the family and it was put on hold for a month. 

IV.  Provost’s Report (E. Kaler)

  • Reviewed faculty and student awards (see written report).
  • The New Literacy Program is up and running.
  • On the Undergraduate level:   Embarking on a program called First Year Matters. The First-year Matters committee (consisting of up to one hundred students, staff and faculty) will undertake a comprehensive assessment of the first-year undergraduate experience.
  • Update on buildings:  See written report.  Encourages participation in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Energy Center in the Wang Center on Oct. 16th.
  • On the Graduate level:  There is a critical need for enhancement in graduate student support.  Looking forward to working with the Deans and as we  sort through the budget, we are beginning to identify some money that could be put into special graduate fellowships to recruit the best graduate students
  • Faculty hiring:  budget situation is not the best.  Working with Deans on critical needs for special opportunities for hiring/retention

V.  Critical Management Initiative (E. Feldman-Student Life Committee):

  • The Student Life Committee looks at all aspects of co-curricular life for students.  The Committee began looking at the impact of increased enrollment on various student services including health services, the Counseling Center, housing, food service, etc.  Plan to present a white paper to Senate on the recommendations.
  • Dr. Feldman is also the Chair of the Student Life Committee for the NYS Faculty Senate.  As a result of these responsibilities he was on the Chancellors committee to make recommendations for the response level at the SUNY campuses of Critical Incident Management.  The report can be found at:  http://www.suny.edu/facultySenate/Publications.cfm
  • Jerrold Stein:  Dean of Students:
    • Behavioral Assessment Committee is looking into risk assessment in terms of student disruptions on campus.  The Committee’s activity has increased over the course of the last ten years and are dealing with highly sensitive issues (e.g., mental health).  They make recommendations to the VP of Student Affairs.  Prior to Virginia Tech, a decision was made to do more in the area of student health services and counseling when it came to prevention. 
    • The Behavioral Assessment Committee is conducting Outreach Programs.  Dr. Jenny Hwang is going from Department to Department informing them of the many Outreach Program resources that are available.
    • In the last couple of weeks 340 students have been to peer educators in the University Counseling Center triage.  Some of the students have been referred to a Psychiatrist.
    • A center was created for Prevention and Outreach services.  Dr. Jenny Hwang serves as Associate Director of this unit.
    • Dr. Jenny Hwang:  A lot of faculty feedback was received after the Virginia Tech incident.  The faculty are the “front-line” to letting Student Affairs know if there is a student in distress.  Encourage Departments to have a liaison in their department.  This faculty member would always have a relationship with Judicial Affairs. 
    •  A question was brought up regarding what happens when student comes back to class after having been to counseling.  Dr. Hwang:  The Disability Support Services (which is a part of the Behav. Assess. Comm) are the sole offices on campus that has the authority to ask faculty to make certain accommodations.  There are also counseling services available 24/7.
  • Gary Kaczmarczyk (Director of Environmental Health and Interim Director of Emergency Management):
    • Now in the process of hiring a Director of Emergency Management as an addition to our team which has been working on building a very comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.
  • Please visit the new Campus Safety website to read more about our emergency management program and means of communication that we have in place (http://www.stonybrook.edu/sb/emergency/)
  • We have three new components to our Emergency Management system:

1.  Text messaging system (make sure that your cell phone number is in Solar in addition to your email address (for email notification of major emergencies)
2.  Siren system on campus
3.  Digital Display all over the campus

  • Lawrence Martin suggested using Ticker Tape at campus entrance when there are emergencies.  Barbara Chernow said that is now in the works.
  • The Hospital has their own Emergency Management System
  • Rich Reeder pointed out that we have started participating with other SUNY Schools in “NY Alert” which was an initiative that came out of the State Emergency Management Office.  We use the same service as St. Johns University and it is now in place and we can use it as long as we need it.

VI.  Senate President’s Report (B. Lane):

  • Getting the message out about Emergency Management infrastructure is in place on campus is critical.
  • Ed Feldman’s report on Critical Incident Management from the SUNY Faculty Senate is worth reading.  We will post it on the University Senate website
  • The Standing Committees are meeting and have good agendas for the year.  There are still open positions.  We will post the committee meetings times if you are interested in coming to a meeting either as a member or as a person of interest. 
  • The 50th anniversary convocation was enjoyable with so many activities.  Please go to the homecoming and wear red to show your support.

VII.  Old Business:  No old business.

VIII.  New Business:  No new business.

Submitted by:

Laurie Theobalt
Secretary