Faculty Assembly Executive Council | Minutes 3/13/19

DRAFT

Ramapo College of New Jersey

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

1 p.m. Pavillion

FACULTY ASSEMBLY

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Faculty Assembly Minutes Approved

1. Faculty Assembly President’s Report

Snow Days

In the event of delayed openings, too few faculty and students are aware of the 60 minute rule whereby if a class has more than 60 minutes of time remaining, then it should continue to meet.  President Mercer clarified this by removing the policy from emergency preparedness site. Those classes that meet once per week and/or engage in clinicals or labs are impacted the most by delayed openings and early closings.  It becomes difficult if not impossible to make up the missed time. Although not mandatory, instructors should clarify in their classes that they may be meeting of that they can meet on or after the stated opening time. It is imperative that instructors understand that they should not start class before the official opening time.  

Provost’s discussion paper

The provost’s discussion document is not a timeline or agenda but rather an indication of matters that the Provost’s would like to discuss concerning RCNJ.  The document’s contents are open to faculty feedback and it can be discussed among the faculty on Wednesday, April 3 during the next faculty assembly.  

MFSA – Discussion of RCNJ’s Interim Suspension policy

Concerns were raised over the use of suspension as a means for corrective action upon students’ first offense.  Additionally, suspension from academic activity at RCNJ bears a significant detrimental unintended impact to RCNJ students that have less socio-economic means. It was discussed that students of color are disproportionately affected by the suspension policies related to campus residential housing and hosting events that serve alcohol.  A task force will be assembled to reevaluate the College’s interim suspension policy

Faculty Promotion Process

The bottleneck for associate professor promotions has now turned out to be a bottleneck at the full professor level.  Currently there are more Associate Professor slots than actual applicants. This will be examined and by the Dean’s Council (Provost and Deans).

Forthcoming Surveys

Surveys for the assessment of the Faculty Assembly Executive Council and the Provost will be distributed among the faculty shortly.

 

2.  President Mercer’s Report

The NJ Secretary of Higher Education will roll out the Strategic Plan at the end of March.  It was expected that it would initially be presented in February. Therefore, the plan will no longer precede the budget and thus inhibit a preview to budgetary priorities.  It is expected that the budget will increase by 675K.   The budget is scheduled to be publicized by the end of the week and is said to be allocated according to an equity system constituted by the following:

• The number of graduates that a school has
• The number of minority graduates that a school has
• The number of enrolled students that present financial aid eligibility per institution

Name Change for the School of Humanities and Global Studies [SHGS]

Ramapo College of New Jersey is officially dropping Salameno from the School of Humanities and Global Studies.  It was formerly the School of Humanities and Global Studies  The immediate action was determined as the Salameno’s have confirmed that they are unable to fulfill their pledged financial obligation of three million dollars to RCNJ.

 

3.  The Provost’s Report

Faculty are invited to have lunch with the provost on  Friday 3/29 at the Padovano Commons. The lunch is an informal time for faculty to  discuss anything that they have in mind.

Communication from Provost’s Office will transpire via the Provost’s Vlog.  This serves to enable the Provost and faculty to share ideas.

Student Opinion Surveys

Student opinion surveys will all be online and no longer on paper starting Spring 2019.  The Faculty Resource Center and IDC can share best practices for making sure that student response rates are significant or can be improved.  A panel discussion was conducted in reference to how to obtain better student response rates for online course evaluations.

The AFT noted that the content of the evaluations is not subject to negotiations and that the union has not been contacted about the procedure through which the evaluations will be implemented going forward.

The FA president indicated that if a change to a default delivery methods occurs there will need to be some assurance that there will be a statistically significant response rate.  

RCNJ Budget

The Provost pointed out that, while RCNJ is currently financially stable, due to the fact that the colleges expenses are increasing while the state appropriations and tuition revenue are not, the operational deficit is expected to be $6 million in the next fiscal year.  The provost does not desire to increase student tuition and suggests things need to be done to increase revenue and identify areas of growth to attract new students.  The Provost notes per Chris Romano’s suggestion that in order to maintain the traditional undergrad enrollment numbers RCNJ must increasingly recruit graduate, non-traditional, and minority students.  

The Provost pointed out that all divisions at Ramapo are charged with identifying measures that would result in 5% cost savings next year which translates to approximately $3 million for Academic Affairs.
He has begun speaking with deans about this and he also proposes to offer programs that are interesting to potential students including Ramapo online courses, a data science graduate program, and satellite campus engagement.  The Provost has identified these as strategic areas of growth to make RCNJ more attractive. Through satellite campus programs, RCNJ will be positioned to work with select community colleges so that RCNJ programs are offered via their campuses as a means to generate additional revenue.  

The Provost stated that if RCNJ functions from the sole premise of reaffirming its character through institutional identity then it risks closing its doors in the future.  

 

4.  Middle State Report, Stephanie Sarabia

The second draft of the Middle States self-study will be provided to the report’s lead writer John Mc Tye.  The content and supporting evidence has come together toward this process. On April 17th from 2:30 to 4:00 pm the  third draft will be presented by members of the middle states committee to the faculty. It will also be available via RCNJ’s self-study website:

RCNJ Self-Study 2020,  Middle States Commission on Higher Education Website:  https://www.ramapo.edu/self-study/

By Fall 2019 the document should be complete and by Spring 2020 the Middle States accrediting team will conduct their RCNJ campus visit. Faculty should anticipate that the team will pose questions such as: How do you live the RCNJ’s mission?  

 

5.  GECCo Report, Sarah Carberry

GECCo has openings for two positions: Coordinator and At-Large positions are available.  If interested, and for further information, contact Sarah Carberry by April 1, 2019: sbolton@rampo.edu

6.  ARC VOTING ITEMS, Jacquelyn Braun

ARC approval of the following new ASB minors:

The minors are open to all majors beyond students enrolled in ASB.  Student learning outcomes are assessable as they are tied to the major .

Finance minor:

The minor includes 6 courses that are 4 credits. each for a total of 24 credits.  The minor includes three electives.

Vote by estimated hand count: Overwhelming majority voted in favor of the finance minor.  Each vote was not calculated however, the vote outcome was determined by sight and the appearance of great support for the minor.

Marketing minor:

Student learning outcomes are assessable as they are tied to the major.  The minor includes 5 courses that are 4 credits each for a total of 20 credits. Three of the courses are required.

Vote by estimated hand count: Overwhelming majority voted in favor of the marketing minor.  Each vote was not calculated however, the vote outcome was determined by sight and the appearance of great support for the minor.

Business Analytics minor:

This is a free-standing minor with its own learning outcomes and assessment plan.  The minor includes 2 prerequisite courses at 4 credits each; two required courses at 4 credits each; and  2 electives [some of which have prerequisites] for a total of 24 credits.

Vote by estimated hand count: Overwhelming majority voted in favor of the business analytics minor.  Each vote was not calculated however, the vote outcome was determined by sight and the appearance of great support for the minor.

ARC approval of the following new minor:

Civic and Community Leadership minor

This is a stand alone minor with it’s own student learning outcomes and assessment plan.  It includes 5 courses that total 16 credits. The minor comprises 3 required courses at 10 credits; 1 elective at  4 credits and 1 upper level required course at 2 credits.

VOTE:  93 = yes  6 = no 8 =  abstain [107 votes]

 

ARC approval of the following new minor:

Contemporary Arts:  Music Education Concentration

• 32 credits in addition to required 20 credits of the music major
• Basic required courses total  20 credits
• 1 Techniques course totals 4 credits
• Group Performance courses total 8 credits
• Applied Music Lessons total 4 credits

VOTE:  98 =  yes; = no;  0 = abstain [109 votes]

 

ARC approval of the following convening group name change:

Literature convening group name change from Literature to English and Literary Studies

FA Approved the literature CG name change to English and Literary Studies

VOTE: 94 = yes; 5 = no; 5 =  abstain [104 votes]

 

ARC recommends approval of a Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP):

TAS Program: Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP)

The program has a three-year curriculum which focuses on clinical leadership, informatics, management, organization, and clinical nursing practice specializations. Incoming students will have obtained an advanced practice certifications and an MSN. They must have a 3.3 GPA and Nursing Practitioner Certification.  The program will employ hybrid courses and residencies at clinical institutions. 540 hours must be obtained through the DNP program.

The college’s Carnegie classification will remain the same and no new physical resources are required.  The program will require two new lines over two years. These lines have already been approved.

VOTE:  97 =  yes; 5 =  no; 4 = abstain [110 votes]

 

3:00pm – AFT meeting in the (Pavilion) – started at 2:42

3:00 pm – Memorial Service for Professor Joe Johnson (York Room)

 

Meeting Adjourned at 3 pm

Categories: FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES