FAEC Meeting Minutes, Feb 10th, 2021

FAEC MINUTES 2/10/21

Present: Naseem Choudhury (President, SSHS), Katie Cohen (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11, TAS), Scott Frees (Vice President, TAS), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Lisa Lutter, (CA), Thierry Rakotobe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ed Shannon (HGS), Bonnie Blake, (Councilor-at-Large over 11, CA)

Guests: Sarah Carberry (GECCo Chair), Jeffrey Ellsworth (WAC Chair)

Vote to bring meeting to order at 10:02am.

Minutes Approval: The 2/3/21 minutes will be approved next week.

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Meeting with President Mercer: Naseem and Scott met with President Mercer last week.

· Equal State Funding Per Student: President Mercer met with the NJ College Presidents about the formula for funding provided differently to each college. Ramapo has the 2nd lowest fund per student of all state schools.

· Review of Previous Week’s Meeting: Naseem and Scott shared with President Mercer what was reviewed with the Interim-President.

· Enrollment/Finances: We will know more over time. In-person courses will impact campus housing. The goal is 500-600 in-person courses.

· Vaccinations on Campus: President Mercer said with shortages, it is unlikely to happen until there are more vaccinations available. This would likely be a state site and it may not assure vaccinations of the entire Ramapo community.

Meeting with Interim-Provost Gaulden:

Spring Schedule Course Delivery Mode: A discussion was held about the email sent regarding the Rutgers plan. Faculty would appreciate a more structured plan of which courses/programs for which students the Provost determined would be best taught in-person. Which models would be best and how flexible are they? Ex: If someone commits to in-person and becomes ill, can the delivery model be changed? Much depends on vaccine availability. Provost Gaulden will send a detailed email on Monday to clarify some of the faculty’s questions.

Course Delivery: Registration may be pushed back a bit to allow clarification and delivery selections. We need more information provided to our deans at Deans Council. Faculty may be erring on the side of caution and selecting remote options. Deans are asking for more in-person offerings. If first year courses are prioritized, this means adjuncts and specific faculty will be more impacted than others. What happens if these professors need to remain remote for health reasons? Smaller convening groups have a harder time trying to meet the suggested percentages of in-person courses. There are many moving parts and we welcome clarification so faculty can understand and provide courses in needed models. Faculty would like the administration to prioritize Senior level course in the return to face-2-face or hybrid f2F delivery modes.

Faculty Assembly Committee Memberships: Faculty Assembly has a variety of committees, which will be reviewed to facilitate consistent reporting to each unit. FAEC will be asking FA representatives to committees to report out to FA on a regular basis.

FAEC DISCUSSION

Course Module Application: 1,800 more sections need to be added; 780 have been entered. The goal was to complete this by the end of the week. The Provost said Diane Couzens has made a presentation to show how this works; it will be shared.

In-person Course Limitations: We do not have the space to completely come back to campus and maintain CDC social distancing and cleaning guidelines. Some faculty are doing this already by splitting who comes to each in-person section.

Cleaning: Can classroom cleaning protocol be clarified? It is not happening consistently between classes. This constrains how many courses we can have in-person.

Remote course cap limits: Caps should not be increased as this would be problematic.

Facebook Vaccine Location Group: The New Jersey Covid-19 Vaccine Sites is a great resource.

Unit Council and Presidential Candidate Meeting: Next week promotions and reappointments are scheduled. This is at the same time as the faculty meeting with the candidate. Perhaps the deans can speak with the faculty about this. A shorter Unit Council meeting at noon would allow faculty attendance at 1pm and reconvening after. Reach out to your deans.

SARAH CARBERRY’S GECCo REPORT

GECCo will be meeting soon; the first was scheduled during the furlough week. This semester the plan is to do a syllabus audit of every course in the general education program. The syllabi will be solicited from faculty at the next Faculty Assembly. Feedback will be given to make sure there are appropriate assignments for assessment, etc. Changes can then be made for fall delivery.

JEFFREY ELSWORTH’S WAC REPORT

Jeffrey Elsworth is the new chair as of fall 2020. Bylaws are being reviewed to see if it is possible to follow-up syllabi updates to ensure they are being implemented.

Meeting adjourned at 11:34am.

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