Address any questions or comments on the content of this update to the Faculty Senate Chair at a Senate meeting or via email at faculty-senate@buffalo.edu. Suggestions of items to include in future Updates are welcome.
I hope everyone has a restful and happy Thanksgiving break and a successful end to the semester. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee meets once more this semester, on December 9, and the Senate itself once more on December 16. Both meetings have full agendas, but if there is anything you’d like the Senate to take up, please let your senators know.
This update focuses on four issues of concern to faculty:
The search committee and search firm encourage all members of the UB community to participate in conversations about the qualities we would like to see in our next president. The sessions take place at the following times and places:
I hope to see you there!
The SUNY Chancellor has launched an initiative to improve such measures of student success as the rate at which first-year students return to their campuses in the fall of their second year and four-year and six-year graduation rates. UB is participating in the campaign, and I will represent the Senate on the committee overseeing the work here. As part of the effort, the Provost devoted most of the recent annual “Senior Leadership Retreat” to the topic of student retention. The presentations from that day include much interesting data and a timeline of all of the resources UB has devoted to student success over the past twelve years. With authorization from the Provost, I have made the presentation available in the Senate’s UBLearns course (in the “Resources” module). If you would like to see it, please ask one of your unit’s senators to send it to you. In the same UBLearns module is the 2021 report of UB’s Student Retention Task Force.
SUNY invites applications from faculty interested in joining a community of practice devoted to promoting the goals of the Academic Momentum Campaign. Those chosen to be Academic Momentum Fellows will receive a stipend of $15,000 for their service. If you have great ideas about how to improve retention and graduation rates, please nominate yourself via this application form. The deadline for nominations is December 15, and your department chair has to sign off on the nomination. Whether or not you are selected, please share your ideas with me to help inform our planning.
Thanks to everyone who voted in the election for a new Secretary of the Faculty Senate, who will begin a two-year term beginning July 1, 2026. And special thanks to the two candidates who stepped up to run for the position. The election result will be announced by current Secretary Turquessa Francis, who chairs the Election Committee, next week.