UB Foundation Chairman Francis M. Letro recently rejected Philip Glick’s request for a faculty member, professional staff member and student to be added to UB Foundation’s board of trustees.
Glick, Faculty Senate chair, discussed this rejection and a number of other topics at the Faculty Senate Meeting in Center For Tomorrow on Tuesday. The Senate also discussed salary equity, the smoke-free campaign and faculty mentorship.
Robin G. Schulze, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, spoke at the meeting.
Schulze said her goal is to manage the college’s demand of credit hours now that certain majors are shrinking in size of students. Departments will not compete against each other for credit hours and finance problems will be taken care of.
“People working at all levels [will] have a completely transparent and accurate recording of all funds at all times,” Schulze said.
Schulze stressed that the departments need to work together and no one department can do it alone.
“We are an us, we are a collective and we are a we,” she said.
Craig Abbey, associate vice president and director of Institution Analysis, is conducting a study to see how much is would cost to give UB faculty tuition support if they send their children to UB, according to Glick. Glick said the study should be available by the end of the semester.
The university is currently revamping its smoke-fee campaign, according to Glick. The new plan should be introduced before graduation in the spring. The goal of the campaign, Glick said, is for parents to visit the campus for graduation and see that it’s “truly smoke-free.”
Robert Genco, an oral biology professor, notified Faculty Senate that UB is among the top universities giving money to the Closed-End Fund Association (CEFA). UB gives $1 million out of their $14 million budget, according to Genco.
CEFA gives people in need financial stability and this has a great impact on Buffalo because it is the third poorest city in the nation, according to Genco.
Robert Granfield, vice provost for Faculty Affairs, discussed UB’s current mentoring program. Granfield created an initial study reaching out to deans and chairs and found problems within the system. There was great mentoring taking place in some places and little to no mentoring taking place in others, he said.
Granfield said mentoring is open to all faculty working toward tenure and an amendment was made to make this clear. The Senate voted unanimously in favor of the amendment.
Salary equity between genders will be analyzed at the next executive committee meeting on Oct. 26. A co-committee will come up with a hypothesis for equity. The results of the analysis will be available the first Wednesday of next semester.
Victoria Hartwell is a news staff writer and can be reached at news@ubspectrum.com
