State AFL-CIO offers scholarship

The New York State AFL-CIO is awarding a four-year scholarship to a 2000 graduating high school senior who intends to pursue a career in labor relations or an associated field.

Applicants must have a parent or guardian who is a member of a union affiliated with the state AFL-CIO. The scholarship will be $2,000 a year for four consecutive years, for a total of $8,000.

In addition, applicants must submit a letter of recommendation by a teacher or counselor, an official transcript and SAT scores. An essay of between 400 and 500 words on the topic, "Why should a working man or woman choose to become a member of a labor union?" is also required.

Applications are due by May 15 to: New York State AFL-CIO Scholarship Selection Committee, c/o Lois Gray, Cornell University, ILR School, 16 E. 34th St., 4th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10016.

Binghamton to Bulgaria: Six faculty teach one distance learning course for several foreign students

Bulgaria by bandwidth: This is SUNY Binghamton's way to connect a country on the Black Sea with one of New York's public universities.

In the fall of 1999, the university center offered an international distance learning course for the first time, using several innovative approaches. The principles of management course was taught by six faculty members, all presenting modules specializing in their area of expertise - organizational management, leadership, e-commerce, etc.

All of the classes were put on a video stream, explained Richard Reeves-Ellington, project coordinator and a former UUPer who is now associate dean of the School of Management. Students could call into the web site and choose which lecture they wanted to see. During "office hours," they could talk with their professor in a chat room. Professors also sent students CD-ROMs, which work like a digital video but are made of bits and bytes in the computer memory. This enabled students to watch a presentation on the computer, at their own pace, with the faculty member lecturing on half the screen and a customized PowerPoint presentation on the other half. Presenta-tions had to be shortened into segments because faculty found students' attention spans were shorter when watching a screen, particularly with a foreign language.

Other classes involved live streaming via the Internet. Students would be at their browsers seeing the professor lecturing to them live from Binghamton, during a traditional class. At the bottom of the screen was room to type questions that faculty could answer on the spot. The time difference between Binghamton and Bulgaria is eight hours, so the synchronous presentations were not too difficult to arrange.

UUPer Francis Yammarino, a professor of management at Binghamton and a fellow at the Center for Leadership Studies, was one of the faculty members who signed on for the innovative project. Yammarino said the collaboration of both teachers and students appealed to him: All assignments were coordinated among faculty (one person was assigned to grading) and were based on learning outcomes. Students worked in project teams.

Each learning module presented had a clearly identified learning outcome, which was reinforced using experiential exercises and assignments, said UUPer Nagaraj Sivasubramanian, an assistant professor who produced the multimedia content for the class and maintained the technological infrastructure. Completed exercises, as well as reactions to the module, were posted on a course bulletin board that all participants could access.

Modern technology, of course, brings its own version of headaches. Sivasubramanian said the computer lab at Sofia University in Bulgaria had unreliable access to the Internet and poor quality. Desktop videoconferencing sessions had to be scrapped because of technical weaknesses. But providing content on CD-ROM, as well as preparing content for the low-bandwidth connections available in Bulgaria, opened up other options.

Faculty did not take on this project as part of their regular course load, Yammarino said. "We did it as a demonstration of our service. Faculty got the opportunity to work with each other, learn, stretch and develop pedagogical skills in new areas," he said. Initially, a foundation was going to underwrite the total cost of the international project, but tight restrictions over intellectual property rights and reselling the material gave faculty enough pause to reject the offer, he said.

Contacts with Bulgaria were first established by Reeves-Ellington, who met a lot of people during an extended management-related Fulbright program in Bulgaria in the mid-1990s. From Roumen Nikov of Sophia University, he learned that business courses were hampered by the teaching of East European economics, and so the two spent the next year planning a distance course centered around U.S. business practices.

Concepts of a marketplace and advertising were foreign to Bulgarians because of the history of their Slavic country. Reeves-Ellington provided Binghamton faculty background information on culture, country and university.

Other UUPers participating in the project are Bruce Avolio, Rex Dumdum and Surinder Kahai.

COLA rally scheduled for May 9 in Albany

State workers and retirees are planning to demonstrate in Albany for a permanent cost-of-living (COLA) adjustment for all employees in state public retirement systems.

The rally - slated for Albany's East Capital Park on May 9 - is being organized by the state AFL-CIO Pension Task Force to help enact permanent COLA legislation (S.5703-A/A.8516-A.)

NYSUT buses will leave from the union's regional offices around the state. Call NYSUT at (518) 459-5400 or (800) 342-9810 for a registration card.

Demonstrators will begin to assemble at 12:30 p.m.

For more information, call Amy Ritchie, state AFL-CIO, at (518) 436-8516.

SUNY in cyberland

By the time you finish reading this magazine, technology will have changed again. Something will have been upgraded; something else will be outdated. While we're whistling in amazement at the growing use of computers that can rest on our laps, suddenly there are computers that can fit in our palms.

And that's just computers. There are also digital cell phones and fiber optics and expanded bandwidths that can connect faculty and students in different countries. There is transmitter equipment that can carry signals from computers to the Internet, allowing users to have "wireless" computers. And if you think cyberland is something, consider the technology that created a rapid prototype - a printer, of sorts, that can build a 3-D object right before a student's eyes.

The Voice takes a peek at some of the ways technology is affecting faculty and students, and how it is being used to educate. SUNY's University Colleges of Technology (UCTs) are taking the pledge to prepare students to be technically savvy in fields as diverse as travel, engineering, criminal justice and hotel/restaurant management. Technology is being used by other SUNY colleges and universities to reach students in rural areas and in other countries. Stay tuned.

Buffalo's dentistry program goes digital: Entire curriculum will be available on DVD; paper to become passe

When members of SUNY Buffalo's School of Dental Medicine's class of 2004 arrive on campus this August, they will purchase no textbooks, no laboratory manuals, no workbooks. They will pick up no course outlines or lists of recommended reading.

They will receive, instead, one inauspicious-looking compact disc. This digital videodisc, or DVD, will contain the full content of 90 textbooks in 28 topic areas, ranging from basic anatomy to oral surgery, as well as the full text of six to 10 journals and the curriculum for all four years of dental school, including course syllabi, class notes, laboratory manuals and lecture slides.

The Age of the Electronic Curriculum has arrived at SUNY Buffalo. By the time the class of 2004 graduates, the dental school educational program will be completely digital.

"This is a very exciting program that puts educational materials immediately in the hands of students," said UUPer Pamela Jones, co-director of the project with fellow unionist Joseph Zambon, a professor of dentistry and the dental school's associate dean for academic affairs. "It allows them to tailor the way they learn to their individual style, while maintaining the freedom of faculty members to teach in their style," Jones added.

Zambon said the electronic curriculum, at its simplest, is a much more efficient way for students to get access to the ever-increasing amount of materials they are expected to learn and has important implications for the art of teaching.

"It will enable both faculty and students to break out of the traditional discipline-based modes of instruction and to integrate, to a much greater degree, the basic, behavioral and clinical sciences," he said. SUNY Buffalo is one of seven dental schools in a consortium that has been meeting quarterly with Vital Source Technologies Inc. to develop the electronic curriculum project. The consortium has had a lot of input into what the program will look like and how the software will work, Jones said. Information from this project likely will be used to develop electronic curricula in other medical fields.

The consortium includes Boston University, University of Texas at San Antonio (where the project was piloted), New York University, the University of Medicine and Dentistry at New Jersey, the University of Iowa and the U.S. Navy Postgraduate Dental School.

The price of the DVD has not been set yet, but it is expected to cost about the same amount as students would spend on required or recommended textbooks, lab manuals and other materials. Students will have to own a personal computer, however. The dental school will decide on a software platform and the DVD will be formatted to work on that platform. Students also will be able to access the school's clinic-information system through their computers to order instruments, set up appointments with dental school patients in the clinics, send e-mail, search the World Wide Web, etc.

Each DVD will include everything that is now distributed to students on paper, as well as lecture slides, videos and anything else an individual faculty member wishes to include.

"First-year students will have course material from all four years so that they can, if they wish, use the built-in search engine to look for links between the material they are studying in the first year, which is mainly basic science, and material offered later in the clinical years," Zambon said. For example, while they are studying the anatomy of the skull, they could also see how this anatomy relates to the administration of local anesthesia.

The DVD will be updated twice a year, with each student receiving a disc in January.

The electronic curriculum has multiple advantages for students and faculty over a traditional paper-based curriculum, Zambon said. Each student will have all the textbooks and other instructional materials that the course director deems essential, and inclusion of material from journals will make course content more timely. The students will have access to all, not just part, of the course content. The software's search engine will allow students to "cut and paste" to create their own virtual text.

"Instructors will be able to integrate a much larger variety of instructional materials into their courses," Zambon said. "All of the text and graphics from the primary textbook in each topic area will be available to them to use as they wish, either in the classroom or in computer-aided instruction."

Other advantages are more far-reaching, Zambon noted. Licensing the electronic rights to textbooks and journals will largely eliminate concerns over copyright infringement. Dental schools in the consortium will be able to share instructional materials.

In addition, development of the electronic curriculum will enable the SUNY Buffalo dental school to expand its continuing education program and will speed the development of distance learning programs for SUNY Buffalo graduates and other health professionals.

The dental school also may develop special versions of the DVD in the future, which are expected to be tailored to the needs of individual postgraduate specialties and to SUNY Buffalo dental alumni.

Grants can advance integration of technology into state university

Technology continues to advance more quickly than many ever imagined. With the arrival of these new technologies comes significant implications for higher education: How will technology affect teaching? Schol-arship? University services?

The best people to answer these perplexing questions are UUPers - the academics and professionals who are in the trenches, seeking solutions that will benefit the state university and the larger higher education community.

Henry Steck, UUP vice president for academics, hopes these creative and visionary members will take advantage of grant money available through the Joint Labor/Manage-ment Committee on Technology. The joint group - one of six committees negotiated by the union and funded by the state - provides seed money for campus committee, group or individual projects that meet the needs of employees in the UUP bargaining unit.

The first round of awards in the 1999-2003 contract covers activities occurring between July 2, 1999, and June 30, 2001. Applications will be reviewed continuously, but must be postmarked no later than the following deadlines: March 15, 2000; May 15, 2000; and Sept. 30, 2000.

The joint committee, headed by UUPer Janet Nepkie of Oneonta, is encouraging applicants to think in challenging ways about the application and implication of technology on academic and professional work.

"The advent of new technologies, especially information and electronic technologies, will have, and is already having, significant implications for the teaching, scholarship and service roles of SUNY," said Steck, the officer liaison to the joint technology committee. "We hope that, working together, our academic and professional employees and campus administrations can produce results that will benefit SUNY and, indeed, the academic community generally."

Examples of previously supported activities include: the introduction of technology to the curriculum, as well as to library, public and student services; conferences that address issues of technology to a broad audience; new approaches to teaching, learning or service; publication of campus materials on technology issues related to academic and professional work; support for cross-campus or multicampus workshops or collaborative efforts across academic curricula; and the creation of campus perspectives for development, use, evaluation and understanding of technology.

"We know the tremendous, positive potential of technology for teaching, research, scholarship and service," Steck said. "As much as we applaud that, we have to listen to those voices that warn us that the new electronic technologies may change the university as radically in the years ahead as the moveable type altered the medieval church.

"The university is ... a community that seeks to advance knowledge," he added. "While new technologies can bring people together, they may also erode the special community that the university has been since the 13th century."

UUPers interested in applying for limited technology grants should contact Nepkie at nepkiej@snyonva.cc.oneonta.edu or Steck at hsteck@uupmail.org. Campus grant guidelines and an application form are available on the Internet at http://www.albany.net/~nysuup or by calling Steven Moskowitz, Joint Labor/Manage-ment Committees, at (518) 457-1198.

Instructional technology conference set

More than 700 university and college faculty, staff and administrators will converge on the SUNY Buffalo campus for the system's largest annual Confer-ence on Instructional Technology (CIT) in education.

The conference, set for May 30 to June 1, is sponsored by SUNY and Faculty Access to Computing Technology (FACT). The "New Partners/New Possibilities" conference will focus on using instructional technology to provide new opportunities for cooperation in the traditional classroom, as well as for distance learning.

Workshops, demonstrations, panel discussions and papers on the latest advancements in instructional technology are on the agenda. Participants will explore the larger questions surrounding instructional technology - including its appropriate use, its impact on learning and projections for student success.

CIT is co-sponsored by the SUNY Faculty Senate and the SUNY Council of Community Colleges. Registration continues through May.

For more information, contact Leslie Mayville, CIT conference director, at the SUNY Training Center at (315) 464-4114 or check out the CIT web site at http://cit.suny.edu.

The Last Word

Supreme concerns: Court upholds 11th Amendment immunity in age discrimination suits

In 1995, J. Daniel Kimel, other faculty members and librarians filed a lawsuit against the Florida Board of Regents in federal court, claiming that the board and its policies discriminated against them on the basis of age, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The defendants asked the court to dismiss the case on the grounds that, since the defendant was a state agency, the lawsuit violated the 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

On Jan. 11, the U.S. Supreme Court, agreeing with the defendant's argument, held that the case should be dismissed because the 11th Amendment grants states immunity from such lawsuits. The court acknowledged that Congress had intended for individuals to be able to sue states and state agencies for violating the ADEA, but held that Congress lacked the power to abrogate the 11th Amendment with respect to age discrimination.

In one way, the holding in Kimel is not as problematic for UUP members as it would be for employees in other states. The New York State Human Rights Law provides:

• 296. Unlawful discriminatory practices
  1. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice:
     1. For an employer or licensing agency, because of the age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, disability, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or marital status of any individual, to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or to discharge from employment such individual or to discriminate against such individual in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment.

Since the Human Rights Law clearly applies to the state as an employer, UUP members/state employees would be protected from employment discrimination committed by the state.

Notwithstanding the existence of the state Human Rights Law, however, Kimel does present some reasons for concern. For one thing, an employee might prefer to sue under federal rather than state law (i.e., the right to a jury trial, the desire to be in federal as opposed to state court). Furthermore, if New York state law were to change and the protections afforded to state employees were to be decreased, UUP members would be constrained from resorting to the ADEA for relief.

In addition, the Kimel decision may have even greater implications. Also in 1995, Janice W. Anderson, a professor at SUNY New Paltz, sued the University under the Equal Pay Act (which prohibits pay discrimination based on sex) and SUNY moved to have the case dismissed on 11th Amendment grounds. On Jan. 18, the U.S. Supreme Court remanded the Anderson case to the lower courts and directed them to reconsider the 11th Amendment question in light of the Kimel decision. A pro-defendant ruling in the Anderson case would deprive SUNY employees of a protection provided by federal law that has no counterpart under New York's Human Rights Law.

It should be noted that the holding in Kimel would not appear to apply to lawsuits alleging discrimination based on race, color or gender (and possibly national origin) under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The court's majority in Kimel drew a clear distinction between discrimination based on age (the issue in Kimel) and discrimination based on race or gender; it also indicated that states would not be immune from suits alleging race or gender discrimination.

In sum, the Supreme Court's decision in Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents presents a number of concerns for UUP members. This is especially so because there are a number of unresolved questions regarding how far the Supreme Court will extend states' 11th amendment immunity. And each time the Amendment is extended, protection for state employees might be lessened.

(Steven E. Abraham is an assistant professor in the School of Business at SUNY Oswego. He specializies in employment law and labor relations. He can be reached at abraham@oswego.edu.)

(Editor's note: Mr. Abraham's views are his opinion and should not be construed as legal advice. UUPers with questions regarding discrimination issues should contact their chapter representatives or their UUP/NYSUT labor relations specialists for further information.)

April is Link Fund Drive Month

The images of the poor and destitute are shown to us on our television screens every night. It is paradoxical that the very fact these images are seen so often makes it easier to ignore them; like a drug, we have built up a tolerance to them. I believe that the key here is to find a way to present these people's stories in a way that sensitizes rather than desensitizes. ... Through journalism and music, I hope to do this.

- Elizabeth Swigar, 1997 Link

scholarship recipient

My foremost goal [as a social welfare major] is to educate the public through exposure that people with disabilities are productive, valuable citizens.

- Lisa Easterly, 1996 recipient

UUP's Eugene P. Link College Scholarship Trust Fund has helped make it possible for these and 35 other exceptional SUNY undergraduates to pursue their dreams of a college education.

For more than a decade, UUP has turned to its members to raise money for its scholarship program, which is named after a founding member of the union. Eugene Link, a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Plattsburgh, continues to play a role in selecting scholarship recipients. Scholarships of $650, for two semesters a year, are given annually to as many as four SUNY students who maintain a 3.75 grade-point average and who exhibit a dedication to the goals of the labor union movement.

The statewide Link Scholarship Development Committee - headed by Honorary Link Trustee Gertrude Butera of Alfred - has held silent auctions, raffles and other giveaways to entice members to contribute. The newest fund-raiser is a limited-edition, pen-and-ink, all-occasion card drawn by UUPer Fred Miller of Oneonta. Sets of 10 cards, which are still available at the UUP Administrative Office, can be purchased with a minimum donation of $10.

The union has also named April "Link Fund Drive Month" to increase awareness of the scholarship program.

"We want all UUP members to have the opportunity to donate to our scholarship fund," Butera said. "It's one of the most important things we can do for our students."

Butera reminds members that they can make memorial contributions in honor of family members, friends or colleagues, as well as donate to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, retirements and other commemorative events.

Checks or money orders, made payable to the Eugene P. Link College Scholarship Trust Fund, may be sent to the attention of Katherine Trudeau, UUP comptroller, c/o United University Professions, 159 Wolf Road, Albany, N.Y. 12205-1177.

Union lobby days pay off

A series of recent lobbying events in Albany have worked to UUP's advantage, with a majority of members in both legislative houses endorsing two key components of the union's political program in their spending plans.

In budget resolutions passed in mid-March, both Senate and Assembly lawmakers expressed support for UUP's legislative agenda items seeking more faculty lines and a limit to the negative impact of SUNY trust-ees' Resource Allocation Methodology (RAM) "rewards."

The Assembly's funding plan included $4,590,000 for full-time faculty lines at the University's state-operated campuses, while the Senate recommended $10 million for new lines at all SUNY schools, including its community and statutory colleges.

"These legislative resolutions are a triumph for UUP," said union President William Scheuerman. "We have been asking state lawmakers to continue the restoration of full-time faculty lines at SUNY that they began last year. Despite the University's failure to request this funding, UUP's persistent lobbying efforts have paid off, to benefit the system."

The Assembly also eliminated some of the trustees' spending choices by grouping the $47.7 million in discretionary funds into three specific program allocations: $23.6 million for negotiated salary expenses, $10.7 million for inflationary increases and $13.4 million for campus missions and academic needs.

Under the Assembly's plan, no state-operated campus will receive less support than it got in the last fiscal year. "This approach - which is the direct result of our lobbying efforts - will weaken the negative effect of the mechanistic RAM," Scheuerman said.

The Senate proposal would redirect $5 million from mission review to fund full-time faculty lines.

"This widespread sponsorship sends UUP a clear signal that members on both sides of the aisle have heard the union's message," Scheuerman said.

Each week since the onset of the 2000 legislative session, members of the Legislation and Political Action committees have been spreading UUP's word to numerous state lawmakers and their staffs. The unions' volunteer lobbyists have also participated in NYSUT-coordinated events, including its Higher Education Lobby Day and Committee of 100, when the "K-through-16" public education message was delivered at the Capitol.

The next step is garnering an agreement in the joint Higher Education Budget Conference Subcommittee. According to one member, it's apparent that the union is gaining ground.

SUNY "was once, and will be again, the envy of the world for scholarship, affordability and access," said Assemblyman Chris Ortloff (R-Plattsburgh), a conference subcommittee member. "Working together, we will remain true to this great legacy."

Negotiations update: UUP, state discuss salary improvements

A state budget surplus no one really expected may translate into more money for UUPers and New York's other public employees.

Gov. George Pataki recently told the Albany Times Union that the state's financial situation has "improved significantly," adding he "thinks it's fair" for state workers to benefit from this monetary surplus.

Union President Scheuerman said UUP and the state "have agreed to enter into discussions to improve salary provisions" of the 1999-2003 contract, which was ratified last September. Among a host of other salary and benefit provisions, the initial deal included a 12.55 percent pay increase over the life of the four-year pact.

"If we are successful, UUP members will receive a salary larger than the existing contractual provisions," Scheuerman said. In the same March letter to the membership, he also pointed out that discussions will focus on getting more money and getting it sooner than originally planned.

Scheuerman credits the improved economy and a united membership with opening the doors to a better deal.

"Our relationship with the governor and the Governor's Office of Employee Relations, combined with the support of our members, have made it possible to modify our agreement in a positive way," he said.

Discussions are expected to continue through the end of the spring semester.

In a related matter, the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) last month reached a tentative four-year deal with the state. This is CSEA's second go 'round. Its first agreement was rejected by the union's 77,000 members in February 1999. A ratification vote on the new tentative agreement is slated for this month.

Rockefeller report findings

-- Consultants hired to research SUNY campuses' teacher education programs noted the "high-level" use of adjuncts at the University, particularly as supervisors to mentor the classroom experience of new teachers and in providing clinical training as part of the teacher-preparation process.

-- The institute recommended flexibility and rewards for campus initiatives regarding teacher preparation. While this recommendation seems to support the trustees' arbitrary and mechanistic funding allocation methodology, in making its point, the institute noted that less reliance on adjuncts is a challenge SUNY faces as it strives to strengthen its education faculties.

-- Emphasizing that student teaching and other field experiences are probably the "most important part of teacher preparation," the report cited new regents regulations that require universities to provide "sufficient numbers of qualified, full-time faculty" to supervise these experiences.

SUNY consultants back UUP's claims on cause of hospital ills

PricewaterhouseCoopers has issued its $1.2 million assessment of the SUNY teaching hospitals at Brooklyn, Stony Brook and Syracuse and its conclusions support what UUP has been saying all along - that the facilities are well run, are staffed with highly qualified employees and provide a critical level of clinical care in their communities.

UUP President William Scheuerman said that the report, commissioned by SUNY System Administration to examine the $116 million hospital deficit, does not directly address the root of the problem: that the University has continued to use the hospitals as "cash cows" by transferring revenues from the three teaching hospitals to support academic programs at state university campuses.

"UUP has said from the start that this is a hollow crisis," Scheuerman said. "It surfaced when the hospitals were unable to generate the level of income that SUNY demanded in order to subsidize other campus programs that SUNY did not adequately fund."

This "isn't a problem created by the hospitals. It's a deficit created by almost a decade of misguided budgetary practices," Scheuerman remarked.

Despite the financial drain imposed on them, the three hospitals "compare favorably" and "operate more efficiently than 75 percent of their peer medical centers," the report said.

But, "it is not anticipated that the financial results of the hospitals will improve," it said, which confirms the union's position that the state underfunds SUNY's medical schools, as well as the public mission of the University hospitals - both of which it is obligated to support, Scheuerman said.

"These findings substantiate UUP's assertion that the hospital deficit is not the result of mismanagement but the consequence of the state's resistance to adequately invest in its University system," Scheuerman said.

In response to the consultants' report - and as a result of UUP's persistent emphasis on the hospital deficit throughout the fall and at the outset of this legislative session - state lawmakers have asked the University and governor to submit a plan to resolve this budget shortfall.

So, the union president once again called on the SUNY Board of Trustees to finally meet its fiduciary obligation to the University by soliciting sufficient funds to fill the current budget gap. Moreover, "the state must commit to a more permanent solution by redressing, once and for all, its approach to funding SUNY," Scheuerman remarked.

Noting that SUNY's own consultants criticized University leadership for its lack of advocacy for the hospitals, Scheuerman said that the trustees' "continued failure to promote the system is particularly inexcusable during this period of fiscal prosperity - and during a session when both houses of the Legislature agree that there is at least a $1 billion surplus."

The trustees "must have been disappointed with this report," Scheuerman said, pointing out that PricewaterhouseCoopers did not recommend that the hospitals be privatized or spun off into public benefit corporations - possibilities previously discussed by SUNY management.

Administrative spokesperson Jon Sorensen, continuing to echo SUNY sentiments, told the Albany Times Union that "critics" shouldn't read too much into the report's "omissions." During budget negotiations, "everything will be on the table," Sorensen said.

"We will work with our supporters in the Legislature to ensure that the solution to the budgetary deficit does not include these SUNY-suggested options," Scheuerman countered. "Under no circumstances will UUP allow this contrived crisis to jeopardize the jobs of our members."

Survey shows The Voice is hitting the mark

Results of a readership survey are in and one thing is evident: The Voice is well-received by its readers.

More than two-thirds of those responding gave UUP's monthly membership publication an approval rating of 80 percent or better.

Among the other findings:

• 92 percent of the respondents believe Voice stories to be accurate;
• 90 percent found the stories timely and said they like the magazine format;
• 90 percent said the magazine is aesthetically pleasing, 88 percent said the overall appearance is good, and 87 percent believe photographs and graphics are used effectively;
• 86 percent said stories are interesting;
• 84 percent gave The Voice the top score for clarity; and
• more than one-quarter said they read the magazine from cover to cover.

According to the survey, readers are most interested in member benefits, followed by "Capitol corner" legislative updates, UUP President William Scheuerman's column "To the Point," "UUP-to-date" news briefs and cover stories. Campus features, "Labor notes," letters to the editor, in-the-news tidbits and commentaries round out the top 10.

Readers also suggested story ideas, with topics ranging from retiree issues and part-time concerns to SUNY governance and contractual benefits. Other story ideas dealt with libraries, discretionary money, cultural diversity, discrimination against women, workload issues, teaching hospitals, academic freedom, SUNY's image in New York state, education standards and reform, and distance learning/technology.

Frank Maurizio, UUP director of communications, said many of these topics will be covered in future issues of The Voice.

Respondents also suggested the magazine publish more e-mail and Internet addresses, as well as shorter articles and reprints from other publications.

So, who answered the survey? Responses were nearly split between professionals (52 percent) and academics (48 percent), while 49 percent are full-timers, 38 percent are retired and 13 percent work part time.

Most of the respondents are from university colleges (35 percent) and health science centers (28 percent); 19 percent work at university centers, 11 percent work at the colleges of technology and 7 percent are from specialized colleges.

While the survey results were generally positive, there were some criticisms. Only 66 percent of the respondents believe they have an opportunity to contribute to The Voice, while 5 percent claim the magazine is not very useful.

Others believe the magazine format is too slick and some of the stories lean too far to the left, politically.

SUNY: Teacher ed needs more full-timers

SUNY's 15 state-operated teacher education programs continue to be subject to a great deal of attention by University administrators. The current focus is a response to recently imposed state regulations on teacher preparation, and is also part of an ongoing, nationwide debate about how to increase learning standards in American society.

"Teacher Preparation," the latest Rockefeller Institute report prepared for Provost Peter Salins, cites SUNY's extensive use of adjunct and part-time professors in University education programs. This citation bolsters UUP's millennium message to the Legislature to stay on course in continuing to restore full-time faculty lines at SUNY.

The institute's findings also reveal that, while reforms to SUNY teacher ed programs are in the works, many of the campuses' programs already make the grade.

This conclusion has been echoed by Salins, who praised the past performance of SUNY teacher education programs during a meeting of his Advisory Council on Teacher Education - a working group that will address SUNY policies and issues affecting teacher preparation. The provost's commendation was based on the strength of state certification examination pass rates, the graduate employment rate and successes in classroom teacher performance.

Under the new rules, no more than 50 percent of education courses can be taught by part-time faculty.

Hubert Keen - special assistant to Salins and a co-convener of the provost's advisory group - expressed concern at a recent trustees' meeting that "this is where" SUNY is "coming up short in terms of resources."

UUPer Betsy Balzano, a member of Salins' advisory group and co-chair of the union's Teacher Education Task Force, said meeting the new 50 percent requirement will be very difficult.

"We are not finding, systemwide, an adequate pool of qualified candidates to fill these full-time positions," she said.

The Executive Budget proposal for the University leaves this critical issue unresolved by failing to support last year's legislative initiative that began to restore the more than 1,000 full-time faculty lines lost since the 1995-96 academic year, according to UUP President William Scheuerman. The Legislature added $2.23 million for more full-time faculty at the end of the 1999-2000 session.

"Because the trustees have been derelict in their duties to SUNY, by abandoning their fiduciary obligation to advocate for adequate funding for additional full-time faculty, UUP has once again sought legislative support to enhance these lines," Scheuerman said. "The lawmakers are listening."

The new state regulatory reforms require, among other things, that secondary education students complete full subject-area major equivalents of non-education majors. The institute found that several SUNY programs - such as those at Brockport, Stony Brook and Albany - already comply with the requirement. The report said most other University programs contain academic mandates that are substantially the same as full academic majors.

While the institute did report that some SUNY programs will need to begin calling for more rigorous majors, Keen was confident that the requirement will be met. University campuses "will be able to comply with regents' requirements without a great degree of difficulty," he said.

The Rockefeller report also identifies current teacher shortages in certain subjects and inner cities, and suggests that SUNY should seek creative ways to encourage students to teach in urban areas. This finding supports the movement to encourage teacher placement in urban settings, which, as outlined in the November 1999 issue of The Voice, is part of the innovative course already in place in several University teacher education programs.

"Our programs are strong, but what the University needs," according to Balzano, is a "senior-level official from SUNY System Administration who is solely responsible for teacher education." This, emphasized the distinguished service professor in education and human development at Brockport, "would bring an understanding of teacher education to SUNY - and someone who would promote teacher education within the administration."

Technology checklist available online

The explosion of new electronic technologies presents enormous opportunities for education, scholarship and public service. At the same time, technology presents real challenges to academics and professionals in terms of their work responsibilities.

To help members examine the impact of technology in the workplace, the UUP Committee on Technology in Higher Education has drafted a checklist designed to provide a series of questions for UUPers to review as they use the new technologies. The checklist - which was approved by the statewide Executive Board last month - can be found on the UUP web site at http://www.uupinfo.org/TechnoChecklist.html.

The checklist is comprised of broad questions on the current and future use of technology, as well as on faculty involvement, workplace rights, academic standards, intellectual property rights and distance learning.

Making the connection, making the grade: Distance learning degree is the pulse of upstate New York nursing

Improvements in available technology, coupled with a federal grant, have enabled SUNY Plattsburgh to develop a rural telenursing program that allows nurses in nine widespread counties to earn their bachelor's degrees without coming to campus.

Prior to the telenursing program, which debuted in 1994 after the college received a $1.5 million grant, Plattsburgh offered its bachelor's of science in nursing degree only on campus and at one extension site in Glens Falls. The instructors drove 100 miles each way from the main college. No other college in this entire upstate area offers a bachelor's in nursing, Plattsburgh officials said, so students living too far to drive to classes were unable to earn their bachelor's degrees.

After a needs assessment of the rural counties tucked away in this part of northeastern New York, the nursing department determined that an interactive videoconference-classroom program could be successful.

"We cover from Watertown to Johnstown in northern New York," said UUPer Cheryl Marshall, coordinator of the Plattsburgh distance learning office, referring to a wide band of land that includes many small towns.

The college has now added a site in Auburn, in central New York. The five distance sites are located at SUNY Potsdam and at four community colleges.

At Plattsburgh, the instructor can see all of the students at four sites on a split screen, according to UUPer Gretchen Beebe, chair of the nursing department and a professor of nursing. The fully interactive system is voice activated; students can see the instructor on the screen while s/he is talking, but as soon as a student from another site asks a question, the screen switches to that location.

At each distance learning site, SUNY Plattsburgh provides the equipment, sets it up, pays the telecommunication charges, and hires a technical assistant to proctor the class, perform equipment trouble-shooting and collect exams.

"The program is my pride and joy," Beebe said. One of the benefits of distance learning is that students are talking with other students who are nurses in other parts of the state, so they get a different perspective on the nursing profession, she said.

"It's helpful to us who live in isolated, rural areas, who tend to think maybe there's only one way to do something," Beebe said. "A program like this connects people and dispels that."

Beebe said faculty thought they would have to use a lot more graphics and present classes more along the lines of broadcast television, but that did not prove to be true.

"Students don't need to be entertained," she said.

If there are technical difficulties, the class is videotaped at Plattsburgh and later sent to the distance site, so class can be rescheduled.

Faculty try to get to each site once a year to meet students in person.

Marshall also does student advisement at the different locations, traveling to each site once a month.

As part of the SUNY Learning Network, nursing students can meet general education requirements with classes on the Internet. They can also take proficiency exams or sign up for general education classes at other colleges.

Since the telenursing program was developed, there have been 125 nursing graduates; 78 of whom have graduated from the distance learning sites.

When the program first began, nurses had access to three courses by videoconference; now they can tap into 14 courses, for nursing and general education, both by video and over the Internet.

One of the possible advantages to tele-nursing is the waiver of the on-campus residency requirements, pointed out UUPer Keith Tyo, director of communications at SUNY Plattsburgh. In January 1996, the SUNY Board of Trustees and the state Education Department exempted telenursing students from the normal stipulation that a student earn 36 credits on campus in order to meet residency requirements, he said.

To the Point: UUP ad exposes public to the truth

The other day I received an e-mail from a UUPer who found our "OUCH. Cutting $121 million from SUNY hurts us all" ad campaign too negative. Why can't UUP and SUNY work together, he wanted to know. I had a pleasant e-mail exchange with our colleague and told him I was glad he brought his concern to my attention because the question of negativity, more than any other, illuminates both the changes that have taken place within SUNY and UUP's emerging role as the University's staunchest advocate.

What kind of world is it when UUP's advocacy for more money for the University might come across as taking a negative position? It is the Orwellian world of SUNY, in which budget cuts are peddled as budget increases, reducing academic standards is hailed as increasing academic rigor and political meddling is called free speech - while people who speak freely are choked by a growing bureaucracy that's run by anti-bureaucrats. The facts behind our advocacy may contradict the snake oil spins of SUNY's spin meisters, but that's not necessarily negative. Look at the issues underlying our ad campaign to see what I mean.

When the governor presented his proposed budget, SUNY's spin meisters immediately celebrated the proposal as a big-growth budget. They neglected to say that the bulk of the additional monies is designated to pay for contractual obligations for this year and last and, while there's some money for inflation, there's no money for new programs or growth of any kind. In fact, the proposed budget does not fund the new faculty lines UUPers convinced the Legislature to add to last year's budget. The budget also cuts last year's enhancements for child and elder care and for Educational Opportunity Programs.

But that's the least of the problems with SUNY's spin. The nastiest issue is a structural hospital shortfall of $116 million that SUNY said didn't exist. SUNY admitted there was a problem only after the state comptroller raised the issue in The New York Times and the Legislature held public hearings on financing SUNY's hospitals.

Why the shortfall? And why would SUNY deny it exists? Are the hospitals poorly managed? Is competition the main cause of the shortfall? Not according to a consultant's report commissioned by the state Division of Budget. The problem stems from SUNY's reliance on the hospitals as cash cows to raise revenues for academic programs in the state-operated campuses. Instead of putting state dollars into the University, the Division of Budget and the trustees require the hospitals to generate increasingly larger amounts of money which are taken from the hospitals to finance the University's academic programs. After years of upping the hospitals' revenue requirements, they've finally reached the limit. The cash cows have run dry. They simply can't produce any additional cash.

The way to fix the problem is to stop using such gimmicks to fund the University. The state has to come up with public dollars for SUNY. If this doesn't happen, the hospitals and academic programs throughout the University will suffer. SUNY is still trying to say that all is fine. But it isn't. We can't fix what's broken if no one knows it's broken.

That's why UUP wants to expose the public to the facts. It's sad but true. In the wacky world of SUNY, the trustees have abdicated their responsibilities to bean counters and budget cutters in the Division of Budget. They can't do this if people understand what's going on. To put it more bluntly, if SUNY's trustees rely on their spin meisters to paper over their lack of advocacy, is it negative for us - or anyone else, for that matter - to present the facts? I don't think so.

Alliance of technology colleges moves into brave new world

Poised for growth, the University Colleges of Technology (UCT) - for years known as SUNY's ag and techs - are toning their muscles with more management and more technology. In March, UUP chapter presidents and campus presidents met to network, and scheduled a legislative breakfast to meet lawmakers.

William Murabito, executive director of UCT for SUNY System Administration, said the technology colleges - Morrisville, Canton, Delhi, Alfred and Cobleskill - are moving toward a role as public polytechnic institutions offering bachelor's degrees.

"There will be a full range of technical programs where students can access technical careers," he said. "We're awaiting approval of a baccalaureate information technology degree at each campus."

Campus and chapter presidents lauded the plans for technology-based baccalaureate programs, but expressed growing concerns that SUNY is not providing funding for the colleges to make the transition to four-year schools. Money has also not been made available to support technology programs, some said.

Alfred, for example, whose moniker is synonymous with engineering, has 75 labs, which need constant upgrading of computerized instrumentation. It already offers six four-year degrees and has plans for more, but it needs SUNY backing it with bucks.

Murabito said UCT proposals for the four-year technical management degree call for an umbrella degree that would be available for each campus to build on its technical specialty. The degree would offer a management component to the technology specialty.

The UCTs will also be riding the wave of the new millennium's premiere technology - going wireless. Murabito said buildings on each of the five UCT campuses will be equipped so that students, faculty and staff can have either wireless or wired access to information technology on every other UCT including, as appropriate, administrative offices, databases and library holdings. They will also be able to communicate with students and faculty at the other campuses.

In the coming year, Murabito said, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be appropriating a $700,000 federal grant to the UCTs to provide technology education to rural areas. The colleges will be working to develop asynchronous degrees in place-bound situations, such as farms, remote towns or small-industry plants.

At the March meeting, concern was also expressed about the lack of a UCTwide policy on distance learning. The group was told that SUNY Learning Network II, in a just-completed white paper, reports it is making assessment and quality the keynotes of its growing distance learning program.

While all of these two-year colleges will be changing under this new technology alliance, each is forging ahead on its own. Some are tiptoeing into technology, while others are blasting forward.

It is no surprise that Morrisville is again charging ahead. As UUP chapter President Bert Hundredmark said, "Morrisville is the only SUNY college that provides wireless technology to students." With students in 27 majors using laptop computers, nearly the entire campus is outfitted for wireless computer access.

That's not all the technology Morris-ville is testing. The central New York college has ordered a rapid prototype - which works like a 3-D printer - to be in use by fall 2000.

Wayne Hausknecht, dean in the School of Science and Technology, said this piece of equipment can transform a solid model drawn on three-dimensional CADD (computer assisted drawing and design) into an actual product, using layers of starch or plastic. If a student designs a telephone, for example, the rapid prototype can create it from the drawing. In fewer than five hours, students can be holding their designs to see and handle what they've drawn, finding its strengths and flaws. It also demonstrates to a customer what a product will look like. Students in mechanical engineering technology, design and drafting, and plastics technology will be using this gadget.

At Delhi, UUP chapter President Joseph Greenfield said a new technology center has just opened on campus, housing academic computing labs. It is staffed 100 hours a week. Students also have access to specialty computer labs for CADD, math and desktop publishing, and have additional access to "cyberland" when they want to use computers for chat rooms, e-mail and games.

Some Delhi faculty members have been outfitted with laptops, and they are using them in Delhi's SMART classrooms to do PowerPoint presentations. The college itself offers 15 distance learning videoconferencing courses, according to Greenfield, and students pick up incoming courses from SUNY's other technical colleges.

"We're all sharing and that's the beauty of this," Greenfield said. "It's the UCTs working together."

Gearing up for the zippy world of technology, Canton is introducing a laptop pilot program for students in electrical engineering technology in fall 2000, according to UUP chapter President Fred Monaco.

Canton sends out three videoconference courses to the other technical colleges, and receives eight. As with most of the UCTs, Canton transmits its specialty courses; in this case, criminal justice.

As the colleges move to four-year schools, students can sample courses in different majors via videoconferencing to see if they want to continue their education at another UCT. Canton will have its first graduates in its bachelor's of technology program this December from the criminal investigation major.

Last year, Canton received a $29,500 joint labor/management grant to fund eight faculty technology ambassadors to purchase laptops and incorporate laptop technology into their instruction.

At Cobleskill, UUP chapter President Fred Kowal reports that a growing list of programs - including food service, hospitality, business, graphic design and computer programming - are requiring students to use laptops. Faculty who use laptops in the classroom receive training and release time.

And at Alfred, which shadows the Pennsylvania border, UUP chapter President Herbert Ehrig said faculty is being trained to use laptops, and plans are under way to open wireless computer labs. Laptops are already used in some curricula, he said.

The school offers five four-year degrees, all of them technology related, and more are planned.

Resurrecting urban life: UUPer discovers why cities declined

City born and city bred, Emanuel Carter believes in the life of the city, and believes cities deserve a life. Long after his day of teaching and research is over, one can expect to find the associate professor of landscape architecture in his office, volunteering on a project to help the urban planners and economic developers who have come knocking. His dreams are a collage of stained glass, restored woodwork, botanical parks and thriving downtowns. He dreams of the return of the American city.

So long, suburbs.

A few years ago, Carter - a UUPer who works at Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) - found some material in a textbook that explained how, in 1937, American cities were color-coded under a Federal Homeowners Loan Corporation plan instituted by Franklin Roosevelt. Every city was marked with four colors: green meant residents of that neighborhood could receive mortgages with full federal backing; blue meant residents could obtain mortgages with 85 percent federal backing; yellow meant the area was going downhill; and red, Carter said, meant "don't even think about it."

A yellow or red coding, therefore, essentially meant that anyone who had money to buy a house moved out of that neighborhood and into what would become the suburbs, where mortgages were available, Carter said. Those without money had no choice but to stay. Neighborhoods that were red-lined, he said, were filled with Jews, blacks and foreign-born whites. They were left without means to buy or renovate homes or businesses. Scant public money was being reinvested in cities. Cities deteriorated. The green areas were almost always in outer regions with a hearty Anglo-Saxon population.

At the National Archives in Washing-ton, D.C., Carter found information showing that, when compiling the loan plan, government planners asked citizens questions about ethnicity, income, if they were foreign born and what their job skills were. This was then used to determine if mortgages would be made available.

This plan, Carter said, is "almost single-handedly responsible for the condition of our cities today. ... We are the only nation on the planet that has degraded cities as a signature of its culture."

He channels his anger about the scars left by this plan into an effort to help cities recover. He has assisted with revitalization plans in Philadelphia, Washington Heights, N.Y., Syracuse, Utica, Watertown and Plattsburgh. He works with residents and helps to design aspects of city planning, including parks, plazas, botanical gardens, streetscapes and economic development.

"He's helping citizens visualize in a graphic way some of the thoughts they have," said Vito Sciscioli, director of development for the city of Syracuse. Currently, Sciscioli said, Carter is helping Syracuse with mapping and graphic presentations for a project in the South Avenue area of the city, a commercial and residential mix corridor.

It is a misconception that privacy is lost when choosing city living, Carter said. At ESF, students travel abroad and come back from cities and countries all over the world with design vocabulary for creating privacy in urban living. They see possibilities for vibrant, safe city living.

In Mediterranean areas, Carter cited, the homes have courtyards in the center of the house, affording the family complete privacy. In southern Germany, city dwellers rely on tree-lined sidewalks and hedgerows for private space.

He said many people shun contact once home in the suburbs because they are exhausted from lengthy commutes by car or train. "It's a bit of a myth that we don't want to know our neighbors," Carter said. "We long for the contact."