FAEC Meeting Minutes, March 24th 2021

FAEC MINUTES 3/24/21

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

Vote to bring meeting to order at 10:32am.

Minutes Approval: The 3/17/21 approved with one abstention. 

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Presidential Transition Team: The team represents various groups across campus. Naseem is included in this as the representative of Faculty Assembly. The charge of this team is to plan a calendar of events for incoming President Jebb as well as anything we would like to do for Peter and Jackie Mercer as they depart from the Mansion and Ramapo College.

Draft Calendar: Naseem will send us an informational table, which will include our usual schedule, including the Bischoff and Thomas Awards. This will be submitted to the Presidential Transition Team.

Possible Meet & Greet with Dr. Jebb: Naseem will see if Dr. Jebb might be available for a meet and greet with faculty.

April Survey: BoT President Susan Vallario will distribute a survey. The College continues to work with the recruiting company, which is helping in facilitating the transition of our presidential change.

July Retreat: We will discuss specifics. This will be after President Jebb begins.  Retreat notes will be available for those who do not come. Last year’s retreat was audio recorded.

Faculty Forum: Naseem will discuss the Presidential Transition Team and Mia will discuss the Faculty Bylaws aiming for a vote in early May. If we distribute April 7, then have a live meeting on April 28th, there should be time for a review prior to a discussion or vote.

Chris Romano: will join us next week at 10am.

Bylaws: Mia discussed how ours compare with those of other institutions. This information was relevant to how we function. Mia is working on sorting out questions. Some changes are simple clarifications. The names of the schools, names and dates have been updated to represent what we do now. Considerations: maximum career service limits on FAEC, voting and quorums. Currently, we use a fraction (1/4) of the faculty to form a quorum, which can mean a limited number of faculty can vote about significant matters. Qualtrics removes the quorum issue. A new section was added explaining what the Faculty Forum is and that votes will not be held there. GECCo and WAC were added as standing committees; ARC’s section was shortened. A discussion is needed about the councilors and the need to retain the over and under 11 representatives and the importance of including adjunct representation. A short survey of the adjuncts would be helpful. FA cannot pay and the time commitment makes this not necessarily convenient for adjuncts.  Should a Councilor at Large represent adjuncts, for example?

Adjunct concerns: Most are not observed. There aren’t teaching awards. If new positions will be full-time non-tenure track requiring a terminal degree, this will impact adjuncts. We should have a Faculty Forum about this allowing a few weeks for discussion and possibly having a vote by the end of May. It would be best to complete the By Laws before the new academic year. A copy with highlighted changes of new provisions and big changes will be referenced for voting. This will be presented at our next Faculty Forum. We have approximately 210 full-time faculty and 250+ adjuncts. If we have adjunct representation, Naseem will ask for compensation for the 2 year term.

Councilors:  Should we keep the Councilors at large under 11, as there are few faculty who qualify for this position? We can add more or make them representative of different constituencies on campus.

Distribution Lists: One is only for voting: full-time faculty and adjuncts not on leave. The other comprises 510+ teaching faculty as F1, F2 and AF. Librarians are included. The professional staff who teach were not included. FAEC information will be distributed more efficiently with this new updated system..

Budget Meeting is on May 24th.

BoT meets on April 26th and June 28th.

Distinguished Professor: More research is needed.

SGA: They will be issuing a statement of support for the AAPI community against Anti-Asian violence and discrimination 

Meeting adjourned at 11:29am.

Categories: FAEC meeting Minutes 2021, RAMAPO FAEC, Uncategorized