University Senate
Minutes
April 13, 2009

I.  Approval of tentative agenda:  approved.

II.  Approval of minutes from March 9, 2009:  approved.

III.  President’s Report (D. Melucci)

  • President Kenny issued a statement on the budget to the campus on April 2nd.  A positive development since then is that the university-wide cuts that totaled $3.6 Mil. for Stony Brook will be restored by the legislature.  $1.25 Mil (of the $3.6 Mil) cut to graduate tuition waivers will be restored.
  • Budget adopted by the Legislature includes the Governor’s recommendation to have the state retain 80 percent of the tuition increase.  New wording in budget is that the piece we retain will go from 20% in 09/10, 30% in 10/11, 40% in 11/12 and will ultimately reach 50%. 
  • Dr. Kenny wrote an op ed about the tuition increase to the Daily News and Newsday.
  • Campus Budget:  official numbers from SUNY will not be available for a few weeks.
  • Shifts in the amount of cuts we will have to absorb are subject to the distribution methods determined by system administration.

IV.  Report from the VP of the Health Sciences Center (C. Lehmann)

  • As Executive Director, Dr Lehmann represents the School of Health Technology and Management, the School of Social Welfare, the School of Nursing and the School of Dental Medicine.  Other than the School of Dental Medicine, the rest of the schools rely heavily on funds that come from Albany.  Do not have a lot of IDC funds. 
  • The School of Nursing has a new Doctor of Nursing program.  They are working on a potential Ph.D.
  • School of Social Welfare is increasing their M.S. program.
  • The School of Health Technology and Management has a Doctor of Physical Therapy program, starting with a B.S. and worked it’s way to an M.S. over a short period of time and has gone on to the Doctoral level.  The Occupational Therapy program is a B.S. /M.S. program and the Physician Assistants program is an M.S. program (which is #11 in the country and #1 in the Northeast).
  • Search is on for a director of the nursing program.
  • Should be able to absorb cuts in a couple of years.

V.  Provost’s Report (M. Aronoff)

  • Discussed the history of the Provost’s Lecture Series.
  • Earthstock 2009 to be held from April 17-22.
  • Course offerings:  given the budget cuts, it is inevitable that there would be a reduction in Undergraduate course offerings.  The great news is, through the good work of the Arts and Sciences, is that we have managed to keep the reduction in the number of actual seats to 4-5% next year.
  • Honors College had 2700 applicants (for 65 seats).

VI.  Senate President’s Report (M. Schwartz)

  • Lobby effort:  put together three teams that will see three different legislators.
  • Focus on 20/20 legislation (modeled after bill filed on behalf of University of Buffalo) which would give the local university campuses greater flexibility and autonomy and eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that impede operation of campus.
  • Hopefully by the next senate meeting we will have some sense of a program to continue the efforts to meet regularly with people on LI and NYC regarding the budget and 20/20 legislation.
  • The Southampton Task Force has been meeting regularly.
  • Newly formed Joint Committee with the Provost on IP and Distance Learning.

VII.  Change in Charge and Name for the Campus Environment Committee (constitutional amendment) (M. Schwartz)

  • Second reading of amendment.
  • Suggested change:  Change “historical artifacts” to “historic sites and artifacts”. 
  • To be voted on electronically.

VIII.  Two new institutes:  Confucius Institute and CASE Institute (M. Schwartz)

  • Senate only has to be officially notified of the two new institutes.
  • The CASE Institute is devoted to accelerator physics and instruction.  It is a Type I institute and will be a BNL/SB institute.
  • The Confucius Institute was formed to further strengthen the Chinese culture influence on campus.
  • The EC has one outstanding issue on the institutes that needs to be clarified.

IX.  Old Business:  No old business.

X.  New Business:  The Department of Theatre Arts has two students that have run out of money to eat so the department established a food pantry.  Food is very expensive on this side of campus.  A Power Bar at 7-11 costs $2.75 and on campus they charge $4.50 for the same bar.  Students are swiping their meal cards without knowing the price of items.  Laura Valente will speak with the Student Life Committee about putting this on their agenda.

Meeting Adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Submitted by:
Laurie Theobalt
Secretary