UPDATED: March 30, 2018 at 1:35 p.m.

Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud and Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly both provided several updates to the University Senate during the faculty body’s Wednesday afternoon meeting. Here are three key takeaways from their presentations.

Faculty salary adjustments

SU is on track to make appropriate salary adjustments proposed by its deans, Wheatly said. All schools and colleges have submitted their individual reports, so salary adjustments will be evident at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1, the provost said.

“The data analysis that brought the inequities to light has laid a foundation for changes yet to come,” Wheatly said. “We are committed to keeping track of trends and ongoing conversations with deans as they go through the budget process each year.”

The provost added that meetings with deans are being held to discuss what factors may have contributed to the pay disparity.

The university has provided bias training to all deans and has hired additional staff members in the provost’s office that have expertise in diversity, inclusion and women’s issues, Wheatly said. These new staff members will assist with identifying implicit bias in search committees for faculty promotion or tenure, Wheatly said.

SUNY-ESF strategic plan

“There’s been a lot of news coming out of SUNY-ESF recently,” Syverud said.

In addition to President Quentin Wheeler announcing he will step down at the end of June, Syverud said SUNY-ESF has also released its strategic growth plans. The plans have potential implications for SU, he said.

In the plans, SUNY-ESF announced its intention to grow its undergraduate population by as much as 50 percent, or about 1,000 students. SUNY-ESF said it also wants to create a general education school to shift topics of instruction from SU’s College of Arts and Sciences to SUNY-ESF.

“Given the long-standing partnership between SU and SUNY-ESF, this newly announced strategy requires us to seriously consider and reflect on our relationship with SUNY-ESF,” Syverud said.

The chancellor added that he has asked senior leaders at SU to make recommendations that are mutually beneficial for both SU’s Academic Strategic Plan and SUNY-ESF’s strategic initiative.

One faculty member asked Syverud for a timeframe of when SUNY-ESF will make these enrollment changes. Syverud said he couldn’t speak to a specific timeframe, but the anticipated changes at SUNY-ESF will have effects on enrollment at SU.

Ruth Yanai, the sole SUNY-ESF representative on the University Senate, spoke up during the meeting to provide some insight into SUNY-ESF’s side of the issue. During her time at SUNY-ESF, Yanai said she has already seen a decrease in the college’s dependence on SU for general education instruction. The one class SUNY-ESF still relies on SU for is physics because SUNY-ESF does not have a proper lab.

The current administration, Yanai said, has not been involving faculty in a lot of discussions, especially ones related to increased enrollment or strategic plans. She added that she’s not sure how well thought out SUNY-ESF’s plans are or how confident SU should be in them.

Swimming pool changes

The chancellor said he has heard a lot of concern regarding the number of lap lanes for the pool in the newly redesigned Archbold Gymnasium. Archbold is currently under renovation with plans to reopen in fall 2019 as “The Arch.”

Syverud said there was “considerable engagement” with the university community about the redesign of Archbold, including a survey of 5,000 students, faculty and staff.

Once renovations at Archbold are complete, SU will have two swimming pools, both with lap lanes. The number of swimming lanes for the pool in Archbold, though, will continue to be discussed among the SU community, Syverud said.

The current plan for Archbold’s swimming pool, and the reason behind having less lap lanes, is to incorporate modern, inclusive and accessible options for the university community, Syverud said. He said this approach was a result of feedback from undergraduate students in particular.

Svyerud added that he’s asked SU’s recreation services and campus planning, design and construction to revisit the design plan and ask for more feedback from the community.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the sole SUNY-ESF representative on the University Senate was misnamed. Ruth Yanai is the SUNY-ESF representative who spoke during Wednesday’s Senate meeting. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on March 28, 2018 at 10:31 pm

Contact Sara: smswann@syr.edu | @saramswann