October 26, 2021Faculty Assembly Meeting Minutes, October 6 2021

Faculty Assembly Minutes (draft)
October 6, 2021
Hybrid ASB & via Webex

 Presenters: President Jebb, Provost Gaulden, Virginia Galdieri (Assistant Vice President, Human Resources and Benefits Administration), Sandra Suárez (Director Upward Bound  Math-Science Program), Michael Bitz (Director, Instructional Design Center), Tammi Redd (Director, Faculty Development Center), Peter Campbell (Dean, CA)

Meeting began at 1:06pm.
Assembly Minutes: September minutes will be approved via Qualtrics.

In attendance: 126 individuals.

Guests: Susan A. Vallario, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Angelina Farallo, SGA representative

FACULTY ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT’S REPORT

FA Meeting Guidelines: Comments or questions will be answered after reports are given. Speakers can comment for 90 seconds. After all have participated, 2nd comments will be possible as time permits.

Shared Governance: Naseem has been meeting with President Jebb about improving shared governance.
Collaboration on Future Vision of the College: Meetings have gone well regarding shared ideas.
Spring 2022 Schedule: Provost Gaulden will speak more about this. The goal is to keep the students in mind and preserve the quality of education at the College.
Collaborations: Meetings have been held with Chris Romano (Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs) and Kirsten Loewrigkeit (C.P.A, Vice President for Administration and Finance) about recruitment, retention, facilities, etc. We need to understand more about changes in policies to know which are temporary versus permanent. Such questions might include the new printer policies.
Outside Spaces: Thank you to Mike Cunningham for providing photos of places for faculty to meet outside with students.
Faculty Handbook: Thank you to our diligent colleagues for all of their efforts and service on our behalf.
Service: Thank you to everyone who contributes, which allows the College to work as smoothly as it does.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Thank you: Dr. Jebb thanked FA President Choudhury for all of the faculty’s collaborative efforts on behalf of the College. Similarly, Dr. Jebb thanked faculty as students have reported they have been very understanding and students feel cared for.
Culture of Dignity and Respect: Many meaningful activities were held on Diversity Day. Is more needed to help foster this climate? The goal is to move the community forward through attentiveness and empathy.
Needs Statement: Angela Cristini (Interim Vice President Institutional Advancement and Executive Director Ramapo College Foundation) will explain this in more detail. The faculty is the source of many creative ideas. Offer ideas and these passions might be shared with donors who wish to invest in areas of similar interest. Centers are also a way to invite interdisciplinary work. We need partners and resources to make these things happen.
Shared Governance:  Can we include more of the stakeholders in decision making? The most recent example is the Career Development Reports. The Provost is already working on this issue.

PROVOST’S REPORT

Thank you: The semester has been going very smoothly. We were thanked for all of our efforts in this regard.
Data and Decisions: Ask questions, visit Provost Gaulden. Data is gathered and decisions are made while rationales are explained.
“Play”: We cannot only work. Try to find something that sounds interesting not necessarily work related.
NJ Lecture Series: This is virtual, in the Daily Digest. Squonk Opera
Squonk Opera: The last performance is today at 3:30pm. Buy a $0 ticket Berry Center ticket.
Tenure Track Faculty Hires: 8 new faculty members will be hired for fall 2022. Decisions were based on program reviews. The full picture of all programs was evaluated.

REPORT: VIRGINIA GALDIERI, AVP for HR

Outstanding Unemployment Claims: This has been a struggle for many due to the volume of applications and fraudulent claims. Recently, Jill Brown attended a conference and found a high level person who was provided with a list of those known to be having issues. Continue to contact ER if you have difficulties. File appeals by indicated deadlines if you have received such a result.
Faculty Handbook: The subgroups are working on revisions. This is a collaborative process. Everyone will have a chance to provide feedback.
Career Development Timeline: Employee relations and AFT met yesterday to extend the deadline to December or January when we return from Winter Break based on feedback about the original deadline. The deadline is being extended. Faculty asked for this to be due in January as December is our busiest month.
COVID-19 Vaccination Rates: 95% of faculty; 81% of staff; 70% adjunct of faculty; 71.25% of students overall; residential students are close to 97% vaccination rates. 96% of students in the classroom are vaccinated.
Contract Tracing Protocols: Ramapo College’s protocols are in line with CDC guidelines. We have not yet had in-class transmissions. Updated protocols from the CDC are being monitored. ER is listening to and addressing our concerns. The contact tracing protocols have been of concern. Virginia can share these with us in a separate meeting if we wish. Federal and State guidelines are being followed. The Bergen County Board of Health also guides us.
COVID-19 Positive Student Reports to Faculty: Have students report to Debra Lukacsko or her designee who will advise the student. If after hours, students can reach out to Public Safety. Student Health Services should be contacted during their operating hours.
Career Development Funds: If unused in 2020, do people have to reapply. Contact the Provost and inform her you were unable to use the funds. CC: Janet Faber.
Registration/Vaccinations: November 8th registration begins. Students will not be able to register for in-person courses if they have not been fully vaccinated so they need to do this now. A standard letter can be shared with the Deans from the Provosts. This will be shared with the faculty to inform our advisees.

Announcements

SANDRA SUÁREZ REPORT: UPWARD BOUND GRANT. For more information, contact Sandra. Eligibility criteria are: neither parent is a first generation higher education or low income. Students must be a Paterson, NJ residents.  They come to Ramapo College for  the summer and certified high school teachers and services are also provided year round. The counselors have room and board. Recreational activities are plentiful. The program’s focus is on math and science. There will be a Qualtrics one question vote; please participate when Naseem sends out the link.

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT DAY: Michael Bitz (Director, Instructional Design Center) & Tammi Redd (Director, Faculty Development Center)
FRC and IDC Combined Faculty Development Day: ITC and FRC will be running these together. Perhaps this will be in-person in the spring semester. The IDC will be moving to the Learning Commons in the next few weeks. Deb O’Connell is a new member. Tammi Redd said there will be 4 sessions. The FRC will eventually move next door to the IDC.

Faculty Assembly Openings for the Next Academic Year. (Self-)nominations are due by March 30th to Kim Lorber, FA Secretary. The February Unit Council Meeting is when decisions will be made. The new President and Secretary must also be elected.

VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION: Dean Peter Campbell announced this will be opened for 3 weeks.

 Meeting Adjourned at 2:08pm.

 

 

 

 

Categories: FA RCNJ 2021, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, Faculty Assembly Minutes 2021

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June 15, 2021Faculty Assembly Minutes, April 28th, 2021

Faculty Assembly Minutes
April 28, 2021

 Presenters: Naseem Choudhury (President, SSHS), Katie Cohen (Library), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Lysandra Perez-Strumolo 

 Guests: President Peter Mercer; Susan Gaulden (Interim Provost, VP Academic Affairs); Chris Romano, (Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs); Kirsten Loewrigkeit (Vice President for Administration and Finance); Stephen Rice (Academic Review Committee, Chair); Sarah Carberry (GECCo, Chair); Nicole Morgan-Agard (Chief Equity and Diversity Officer); Rob Doster (CIO)

 

Meeting began at 1:02pm.
FA Minutes: April 7, 2021 minutes were approved via Qualtrics.

  

FACULTY ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Faculty Handbook Task Force: This is working well. We expect a revised schedule with a goal of having the revisions completed by the end of the calendar year.

 Nominees for Faculty BoT Positions: Candidates (Prof. Rikki Abzub, Human, Capital and Financial Resources Committee, and Prof. Kathryn Yeaton, Audit Committee) will be voted on in the next FA survey.

FA Bylaw Survey: Please complete it.

 Thank You to President Mercer: Naseem thanked President Mercer for his service. Katie Cohen presented a thank you from the faculty assembly. Unit representatives shared their gratitude and memories, as well.

 Thank you to IDC and FRC: Lysandra presented the gratitude of the faculty for all Michael Bitz, Trish Williams, and Tammi Redd have done to support faculty during these trying times.

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT
State of The Union Address: President Biden will be announcing a plan for up to two years of free tuition, which will result in a total of 4 years (2 from the federal government with 2 from the Garden State Guarantee). By the end of May we should know where we stand budgetarily. Funding for these programs is of concern.

President Mercer: Shared sentients about his and Jackie’s time at the College.

 

PROVOST’S REPORT

Provost Announcement 4/27: April 21st enrollment in the graduate and undergraduate programs was presented. Registration began on April 12th. First year students have not yet registered which will result in more than half of undergraduate students having some F2F courses. The most enrolled mode at present is: Hybrid In-person-Virtual-Synchronous; online was the least preferred.

Technology Needs for Return to Campus Teaching. Contact your technology-needs unit representative so the proper items can be procured for the fall.

COVID Dashboards: Data information faculty helped develop this. One quarter of all residential students are tested each week. One of 179 student tests was positive for the week ending April 23, 2021.

Faculty Awards: Dr. Ellen Kaiden was awarded a much deserved award for all she has contributed to Ramapo College. This was granted remotely. Dr. Lisa Lutter was also recognized for her wonderful service and choral performances throughout her tenure at Ramapo College. She was presented with her award in person.

 

EMSA REPORT (Chris Romano, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs)

Enrollment Update: Graduate programs have continued to increase in enrollment (13% Spring 2021 versus 2% Spring 2020). Ramapo College is outperforming other institutions in New Jersey.

Fall 2021 Admissions Statistics: Applications are down, as they are nationally. New Jersey is down 22.5%, SUNY enrollment is also down. Transfer and readmission applications come in later in the year. Community college enrollment has been declining 14% year after year. The State and Federal governments are working to help students afford higher education.

Student Deposits: We are 1.1% ahead of where we were a year ago. There are 670 deposits.  

Housing: The target is to 1,250 students in residence.  We are at 63% of our goal.

Continuing Student Deposits:  These total 1,110 of a 700 student goal representing 159% of the goal. Part of this may be due to the reduction of the deposit amount from $500 to $100. Some changes are expected. There is cautious optimism about the incoming class. There are more Presidential Scholarship recipients coming in than ever before; this may be due to having removed the SAT requirement.

Weekly Updates: These are sent to deans; contact them with questions about enrollment in your convening group.

 

 KIRSTEN LOEWRIGKEIT REPORT (Vice President for Administration and Finance)

 FY21 and FY22 Outlook:

Housing Occupancy Fall 2021: This is at 48% occupancy as compared to 16% this academic year.

Grant funding: This is expected to be approximately $19.9 million. This will help with lost revenue and additional expenses due to COVID-19. A 3.8 million deficit was expected; we received $15 million that was unanticipated. Now there is a surplus but it will be needed next year as such additional revenues are not expected next year.

FY20: This started as a stellar year but refunds changed the anticipated income. Net revenue comes from room and board.

Structural Deficit: Why are we focusing on this? In the past, tuition increases could be made to meet the budget needs. Tuition increases are approximately 2%. If anyone receives a COLA/step, the College will have expenses higher than the revenue stream.

How The College Addresses These Issues: Residence Life and Food Services has resulted in financial strain at many other institutions. Despite having $7.4 million in debt services there was still a net profit generated of $3.9 million for the College despite student refunds given. Graduate programs are net revenue generating. 

Takeaway: We are grateful for governmental support but we still have to work towards having a long-term sustainable financial model.

 

Prof. STEPHEN RICE (Academic Review Committee, Chair):

New Program Proposals: ARC is advancing the following with the recommendations that they be approved via a FA Qualtrics Survey:
1) Proposal for a New Major in Neuroscience (SSHS)
2) Proposal for a New Minor in Climate Change, Policy and Action (SSHS)

Thank you: Stephen thanked the committee, which has held 25 meetings this year 

Paperless Submission Procedure: This is the plan for the next academic year.

 

Prof. SARAH CARBERRY (GECCo, Chair)

Submit Gen Ed Syllabi: Please send these to your representative if you will be teaching a course in the fall.

Three Open Positions: The current representatives have agreed to stay on. We will vote in the fall.

 

NICOLE MORGAN AGARD (Chief Equity and Diversity Officer) EDIC Announcements:

Introduced Rachel Sawyer who has been hired to as Associate director for EDIC

Rites of Passage Pre-Commencement Ceremony: This will be on May 12th via Webex from 5:30-6:30pm. The Webex link will be provided in the Daily Digest.

Staff Recognition Awards: Faculty was asked to thank staff who have gone above and beyond. The deadline is May 14th.

Diversity Training: A new training is being planned for next year.

CIO REPORT (Robert Dossert)

Password Changes: the screen has changed and will make us more secure.

 

Meeting Adjourned at 2:27pm.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: FA RCNJ 2021, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, FAEC meeting Minutes 2021

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April 22, 2021Faculty Assembly Meeting, April 7, 2021

Faculty Assembly Minutes April 7, 2021

Presenter: Naseem Choudhury (President, SSHS); Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ed Shannon (HGS)

 

Meeting began at 1:02pm.

Minutes 

Approved: 2/24/21 minutes were approved.

March 3, 2021 minutes will be approved via Qualtrics.

 

Guests: President Peter Mercer and Interim-Provost Susan Gaulden

 FACULTY ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Transition Team: Naseem was invited to participate by BoT Chair, Susan Vallario, as FA President. The charge of the team is available on the College website for the President Elect: https://www.ramapo.edu/president-elect/transition-team/ The transition team is working with the search consultants to assist with a smooth change.

Faculty Assembly Calender: This has been set up for the next academic year and it has been shared with our next President, Dr. Jebb.

              Survey: To inform the development of the transition year calendar. This information gathered is shared with the Transition Team and Dr. Jebb.  This will be distributed mid-to-late April. The survey will be in an All-College announcement and links distributed via that and the Daily Digest. 

 Health and Safety:  Ongoing conversations with Provost Gaulden about vaccines, safety, etc.,.  There are  many moving parts with regard to CDC and New Jersey’s guidelines, and Ramapo’s own internal needs. The Provost will keep us informed.

 Next Faculty Assembly Meeting: April 28th: We have invited Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Chris Romano and Vice President for Administration and Finance Kirsten Loewrigkeit to present and discuss concerns.  All College Budget Meeting is on May 11th.

Center for Reading and Writing: The CRW is coming back to Academic Affairs by the end of this AY. Thanks to Provost Gaulden and VP Romano. Thanks to Todd Barnes, Hugh Sheehy and Monika Giacoppe for your work with CRW this year, and for leading the initiative to bring CRW back into Academic Affairs

BoT Committees: Does anyone wish to serve? Current faculty serving have done this for 3+ years and are open to continuing. If you would like to serve, nominate yourself. Professor Larsen and Professor Kim serve on the Human Capital and Resources committee and the Audit committee.

 Campus Leadership Survey: A Qualtrics survey is coming up.  Includes the President, Provost, Deans and all FAEC Unit-representatives and FA President.

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

 Budgets: The Governor has made a budget but Ramapo College does not know what it will receive. In the absence of the federal bailouts, we would be in dire shape. Some institutions would not have survived without that support. We are pleased and grateful for the support we received. Questions remain. We have 1,100 signed up to live on campus. This is half of our capacity. We can expect this decision will be based on more in-person course delivery. We all wish to migrate to a model with more face-to-face activities. This will begin with commencement activities in May which will allow more interactions than last year but less than our traditional events and exercises. We will need to do some ceremonies several times due to the number of students being recognized and graduating.

 Dr. Jebb: President Mercer is very pleased with the selection of Dr. Jebb with whom he has spoken several times and will tonight. She deeply supports liberal arts education and shared governance. 

 Faculty Concerns About In-Person Teaching: Many remain uncomfortable with teaching full-time in-person and having split classes half in-person and the others remotely.

 

PROVOST’S REPORT

 Provost Awards:  These will be given to Dr. Ellen Kaiden and Dr. Lisa Lutter for all of their contributions on 4/28.

 Commencement Exercises: These will be held on May 12th with a rain date of May 14th. If it rains both days, certificates and awards will be mailed. Arching Day will be on campus. The Academic Achievement Ceremony (9am) will recognize the Honors Program, the Nursing Pinning Ceremony, and Rites of Passage. Each student who is being recognized can bring 2 guests. This will be livestreamed and recorded.

 Classroom Logistics: Waiting for OSHE guidance for the Fall. Current guidelines remain in effect: 6 ft distances etc.  Governor Murphy has said K-12 will be hybrid or in-person; virtual will not be offered.

Fall 2021 Technology Needs Committee: Michael Bitz will be the chair. Faculty reps will be included as well as IT people. Remote teaching works better for some courses than others. Many of the courses have not yet been roomed in the fall semester as we are waiting to see what the enrollments are in classes and match these to room size. Delivery mode changes can happen. From a planning perspective, it is easier to plan to be on campus and pull back than to tell the Provost in July or August of a plan to move to in-person delivery.

Shuttle Buses: These will be back in service in the fall for students to use for the regular stops. The Road Runner buses have been running.

New State Legislations 

        New Courses and Programs: One has been signed into law: This has to do with the new program approval process and establishing a branch campus. We need to provide a rationale for adding these. The process is to be tied to the institutional mission and provide that type of evidence going forward.
        Substitute teaching; instead of the 60 college level credits previously required, a reduction will be made to 30 credits for K-12 substitute teachers.

 Vaccinations of Students: The vaccines are only approved for emergency use so we cannot require mandatory vaccinations; we must wait for the State’s guidance. The standards for higher education have not been announced. Inquiries have been sent. 

Webex Meetings:  We might be able to use the room kits to facilitate on and off campus participation.

Conference Travel/Virtual: The Provost is working on this regarding possible funding and allowing faculty to attend more than before.

Fall 2021 Courses: FYS are 64% in-person. Susan will run a report. 

Registration: Begins on Monday (April 12th)

FYS Peers: Will they all be working in-person on campus? Some virtual sections will be allowed. If there are faculty who consider themselves at risk, they must be accommodated. First-years are looking for an on-campus experience. Peers are going beyond what they were doing to assist in provided on campus courses, supporting the faculty with whom they work.

AFT Adjunct Concerns: There is concern among adjuncts that they will be expected to teach first year courses. Many courses they teach FYS, CRW courses are being prioritized as in-person and adjuncts teach many of these. If they can and feel comfortable coming to campus, they can or they can be assigned a different section. 

School Field Trips: There are a limited number of trips. If there is funding in your school or the FYS budget, assistance may be provided. Many trips would require students to travel on their own to meet at the destination.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

SCHOLAR’S WEEK (JOEL WEISSMAN): This begins next week, Monday, April 12, 2021, and there are 4 days of programming. Anyone interested, including family and friends, can attend these Webex live events. Thursday, the deans will offer their recorded comments regarding research. https://www.ramapo.edu/scholarsday/

 

Meeting Adjourned at 1:54pm.

 

 

 

Categories: FA RCNJ 2021, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES

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January 27, 2021FA Minutes December 2, 2020

FACULTY ASSEMBLY
12/2/2020

Presenters: Ed Shannon (HGS, Moderator), Naseem Choudhury (President), Scott Frees (Vice President)

Guest Presenters: Susan Vallario (Board of Trustees Chair), Peter Mercer (President), Susan Gaulden (Provost), Eric Karlin (Presidential Search Committee), Nicole Morgan Agard (Chief Equity and Diversity Officer), Joel Weissman (Chair/Member of the Scholar’s Week Committee)

Kim Lorber (Secretary)

Meeting brought to order at 1:07pm.

Assembly Minutes: November minutes were approved via Qualtrics.

FACULTY ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Personnel Matters: Promotion, Reappointment, etc. has been something FAEC has been working on with the various constituencies on campus. Contact Janet Faber in ER if you have any questions. Tammi Redd is offering Faculty Development workshops. Send other questions to Jill Brown in HR.

PROVOST’S REPORT

Appreciation: The Provost reported on how well the faculty has worked to solve unanticipated problems. We seem to be on top of everything at this moment.

Student Evaluations: Will these be adjusted for remote teaching? Provost Gaulden has asked the faculty to review the current evaluation document.

Pass/Fail Fall 2020: Currently, we will not use this model. The date for withdrawal has been pushed back. The Provost Council is looking at the R/F grading policy (including repeating a non-failing grade). This is possibly going to be expanded to allow use for 4 courses or 16 credits. We are not looking at the Pass/Fail grading policy right now. Be flexible about Incompletes as requested. GPAs without data due to Pass/Fails can compromise financial aid, visas, and more. NJIT is allowing 2 courses to be pass/fail this semester. Last spring, Provost Gaulden found 1,000 students requested 2,000 grade changes; many were Bs or higher; some who earned As took a Pass grade, instead.

In-person courses Spring 2021: 185 courses will have some portion of meetings in-person of approximately 1,200 courses.

Incompletes: Extenuating circumstances can make students qualified, with justification, if needed; the usual requirement is completion of 2/3 of course work to qualify for an Incomplete. Faculty should use their best judgment.

Faculty Burnout: President Mercer acknowledged faculty burnout.

COVID-19 Positive Students: If they wish to have a medical incomplete, will they automatically qualify? What sort of documentation would be needed and to whom should it be sent?

Student Study Space: Why did 80% of students not know about the study spaces on campus? It is likely emails were not read; there will be more promotions of these spaces which will also be promoted via social media.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

COVID-19 Vaccines: These will not be available to the campus community unless someone is a first responder.

Budget: A cataclysmic event is not expected. We have 400 students in-residence and had hoped for twice that of 3,300 beds. Applications look good; these are down approximately 35% nationally, and ours are down by 18%. It is hoped this gap will be closed with incoming applicants.

New Board of Trustee Members: There are retirements coming up. Are there new trustees lined up?

BOT ADDRESS: Chair S. Vallario

Thank you: Chair Vallario has offered to the faculty the gratitude of the Board of Trustees for how we have managed during the pandemic.

New President: The Board of Trustees looks forward to working with the new president and to making a smooth transition.

ERIC KARLIN PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH REPORT

Search Update: Dr. Karlin provided an update about the search. More than 100 candidates were reviewed. Committee members voted for their top 5 candidates. The top 9 were interviewed remotely.  Finalists will be announced in December or early January.

NICOLE MORGAN AGARD REPORT, Chief Equity and Diversity Officer

Tamika Quick: Resigned. A Search Committee of 6, including Dr. Leah Warner as the faculty representative, is ongoing. A new hire is hoped to be announced soon.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: There is a task force of student, faculty and staff; more information will come.

Diversity Training: In Spring 2018, a training was held for faculty (not mandatory) and staff (mandatory). There was a lot going on in 2020 and it is hoped to be held in 2021.

Diversity Convocation: An announcement will be made in the Daily Digest. A strong keynote speaker is being sought. Updates will be provided soon.

FACULTY QUESTIONS

COVID-19 Cases on Campus: President Mercer said most cases are commuters. Provost Gaulden explained those who receive notification of a possible exposure does not mean those who are self-quarantining have tested positive; in fact they did not and are complying with CDC requirements.

 ANNOUNCEMENTS
Joel Weissman (Chair/Member of the Scholar’s Week Committee): The Scholar’s Week website has a few additional resources as compared to the past. This is to celebrate all types of scholarship by our students. It will be held for a week in April. Posters, recorded presentations, panel discussions, and other possible programming are forthcoming. Please let students in your classes know. See the Scholars Day FAQ General link. See the website: https://www.ramapo.edu/scholarsday/

Snow Days: This is being considered for mental health days. The Provost will get back to us. In-person courses would be snow days per the usual policy.

Dead Name Issue: Provost Gaulden is committed to finding a solution to this for students who wish to be called by their new/preferred name. Dr. Leah Warner is on this committee, which is working on a comprehensive policy to allow students to update their names. They are finalizing the draft, which will be presented to the Provost’s Council in December. There are a few places where the legal name is needed; otherwise the USED NAME would be implemented elsewhere throughout the College. Nicole Morgan Agard asked the faculty to respect and use the privately or publicly requested name.

 VOTING ITEMS

Academic Review Committee: Stephen Rice, ARC chair presented two voting items.
1.Name change: The Integrative Science Studies major has minor changes. Emma Rainforth is the convener. The proposal is to change the name to Business Studies concentration from Business Administration concentration.  2. A new minor in ASB is being created relevant to all academic studies. Entrepreneurship minor  includes Entrepreneurial Essentials, two other courses and a Capstone.

General Education Coordinator: A Qualtrics survey will be sent out including a third voting item. Emily Leskinen has volunteered to be the coordinator of the Systems, Sustainability, and Society category.

Meeting Adjourned at 1:56pm.

 

Categories: FA RCNJ Minutes 2020, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, Faculty Assembly Minutes 2020, Uncategorized

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January 26, 2021FA Minutes, November 4, 2020

Faculty Assembly Meeting
November 4, 2020,
1:00-3:00 pm
(WebEx- link to be distributed via email)

Faculty Assembly
(The FA is open to a general College audience, including administrators, but only FA members may vote.  Faculty, including library faculty, and all full-time employees contractually obligated to teach are FA members as defined by our bylaws.)

 

Presenters: Naseem Choudhury (FA President), Scott Frees (Moderator), Ed Shannon (Moderator)

Guests: Peter P Mercer (College President), Susan Gaulden (Provost), Rob Doster (CIO), Sarah Carberry (Chair, GECCo)

Started 1.05 due to webex issues.

 

Approval of Minutes (via Qualtrics)— October 7, 2020

will be posted after meeting 

Faculty Assembly President’s Report

• Faculty voted for Ashwani Vasishth as FA representative to Graduate Council: 
• Presidential Search: progressing as expected
• Spring Break announcement—we look forward to hearing from Pres. Mercer 

 

College President’s Report:

• Spring Break canceled over concern for student/ faculty staff safety.  Value of eliminating break outweighs the value of having it. Other NJ colleges have eliminated the break.
• Second wave of Covid predicted to peak around March: S. break time. 
• SGA is not happy with the decision. Pres. Mercer will meet with them Thursday.
• So far students are handling things well, but we are all concerned about tension, anxiety, and depression as well as their physical health.
• Pres. Mercer thinks college has handled it well.

 

The Provost’s Report

• COPLAC is being held on Sat. 8 students from Ramapo presenting their work. Student work is online; faculty can join Zoom session.
• Fall 2020 student survey status: 1400 responses/ all demographics well represented

Results of the survey will be distributed to faculty.

 

Spring schedule: trying to make language clear and consistent (re: hybrid, asynchronous, etc.)

 

Provost Council: dealing with the appropriate vocabulary for curriculum: terms like concentration, track, etc. are applied inconsistently across campus. 

We need to develop guidelines and policies not just for “online” courses, but for “remote delivery.” We have reports of some students taking courses while driving and of non-students in the “classroom” during class.

 

Comments Period (Open to all)

 

Announcements


Robert Doster, CIO

• Understands the frustration with the new “dynamics in the modalities.”
• Help desk has been updated. will add url here
• Faculty can see the list of your requests in the help page: will add url here 
• After new year, faculty will all have to change passwords due to security issues. Afterward, every 180 days from now on we will need new passwords.
• When filling out help desk tickets, please indicate how help desk can get in touch with you.
• To create name change in g-mail: technically, g-mail is difficult for this.

 

Voting Items


GECCo: new representative needed for Systems & Sustainability. Ideally this representative should come from SSHS. It is not a requirement, but SSHS needs another person on the committee regardless. If no representative from SSHS, they will need to elect an at large member.

You should have heard back if you submitted a course. Faculty have until next Monday for revisions.

 

New Business

 

Q&A 

Promotions: Provost Gaulden working with ER to finalise calendar and process

EDIC Associate Director Position: there is a search.

Deadline for Housing applications for S2021 will be discussed at the town hall with students

Concerns about dead names were voiced.

Funding via CARES act for equipment such as webcams was discussed

 

Categories: FA RCNJ Minutes 2020, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, Faculty Assembly Minutes 2020

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November 30, 2020Faculty Assembly Minutes, November 4, 2020

Faculty Assembly Meeting
November 4, 2020,
1:00-3:00 pm

(WebEx- link to be distributed via email)

Faculty Assembly
(The FA is open to a general College audience, including administrators, but only FA members may vote.  Faculty, including library faculty, and all full-time employees contractually obligated to teach are FA members as defined by our bylaws.)

Presenters: Naseem Choudhury (FA President), Scott Frees (Moderator), Ed Shannon (Moderator)

Guests: Peter P Mercer (College President), Susan Gaulden (Provost), Rob Doster (CIO), Sarah Carberry (Chair, GECCo)

Started 1.05 due to webex issues.

Approval of Minutes (via Qualtrics)— October 7, 2020 were approved via Qualtrics
These minutes will be posted after meeting

Faculty Assembly President’s Report

• Faculty voted for Ashwani Vasishth as FA representative to Graduate Council: (92% Approve, 8% abstained)
• Presidential Search: progressing as expected
• Spring Break announcement—we look forward to hearing from Pres. Mercer

College President’s Report:

• Spring Break canceled over concern for student/ faculty staff safety.  Value of eliminating break outweighs the value of having it. Other NJ colleges have eliminated the break.
• Second wave of Covid predicted to peak around March: S. break time.
• SGA is not happy with the decision. Pres. Mercer will meet with them Thursday.
• So far students are handling things well, but we are all concerned about tension, anxiety, and depression as well as their physical health.
• Pres. Mercer thinks college has handled it well.

The Provost’s Report

• COPLAC is being held on Sat. 8 students from Ramapo presenting their work. Student work is online; faculty can join Zoom session.
• Fall 2020 student survey status: 1400 responses/ all demographics well represented

Results of the survey will be distributed to faculty.

Spring schedule: trying to make language clear and consistent (re: hybrid, asynchronous, etc.)

Provost Council: dealing with the appropriate vocabulary for curriculum: terms like concentration, track, etc. are applied inconsistently across campus.

We need to develop guidelines and policies not just for “online” courses, but for “remote delivery.” We have reports of some students taking courses while driving and of non-students in the “classroom” during class.

Comments Period (Open to all)

Announcements
Robert Doster, CIO

• Understands the frustration with the new “dynamics in the modalities.”
• Help desk has been updated. will add url here
• Faculty can see the list of your requests in the help page: will add url here 
• After new year, faculty will all have to change passwords due to security issues. Afterward, every 180 days from now on we will need new passwords.
• When filling out help desk tickets, please indicate how help desk can get in touch with you.
• To create name change in g-mail: technically, g-mail is difficult for this.

Voting Items
GECCo: new representative needed for Systems & Sustainability. Ideally this representative should come from SSHS. It is not a requirement, but SSHS needs another person on the committee regardless. If no representative from SSHS, they will need to elect an at large member.

You should have heard back if you submitted a course. Faculty have until next Monday for revisions.

New Business

Q&A 

Promotions: Provost Gaulden working with ER to finalise calendar and process
EDIC Associate Director Position: there is a search.
Deadline for Housing applications for S2021 will be discussed at the town hall with students
Concerns about dead names were voiced.
Funding via CARES act for equipment such as webcams was discussed

Categories: FA RCNJ Minutes 2020, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, Faculty Assembly Minutes 2020

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October 28, 2020FA Minutes, October 7, 2020

Faculty Assembly
Webex
10/7/2020 

Presenters:  Roark Atkinson (HGS, Moderator), Mia Serban (SSHS, Moderator), Ed Shannon (HGS, Moderator), Naseem Choudhury (FA President),

Guest Presenters: Peter Mercer (College President), Susan Gaulden (Provost)

Kim Lorber (Secretary)

Meeting brought to order at 1:04pm.

Assembly Minutes: September minutes were approved via Qualtrics.

FACULTY ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Faculty Assembly Agenda: This is available online.

Councilor-at-Large Over 11: Bonnie Blake was elected to serve in this position.

FA Representative to the Graduate Council: We are seeking faculty interested in serving.

CRW/EOF: A faculty liaison position was created. Todd Barnes has accepted and will serve in this role. FAEC has been in discussion with administration regarding the merger of EOF and CRW, and has made it  clear that faculty are nearly unanimous in opposition to the merger and resolute that CRW belongs in Academic Affairs. We are in contact with the Administration about this; our feedback has been well received.

Faculty Handbook: We have asked to reconvene the committee. We would like it worked on and revised by the end of the academic year with a revised draft version distributed in February to be reviewed by the various constituencies.

President Mercer’s Last Year: FAEC has asked the President to make few changes at the College and with committees as a new president will soon arrive which could result in reversing some and implementing other changes.

PROVOST’S REPORT

Thank you: Provost Gaulden thanked the faculty for their hard work. She has received a minimum number of complaints from parents.

Academic Integrity: If there are cases of academic integrity issues, inform the Provost.

Course Schedule: Behind the scenes the spring schedule is being reviewed; there will be five weeks for advisement and schedule tweaks.

Virtual Courses: Student survey results suggest students expect courses to be offered synchronously on Webex. All courses are asked to have a few synchronous sessions. Other courses, without any synchronous sessions, are categorized as online offerings.

Student Survey: Provost Gaulden has shared initial responses to the student survey, which the deans and Naseem have. Naseem will share this information with the faculty.

Spring Break: Concerns are students who may travel and might bring contagion risks to campus. The Administration is weighing the possibility of altering or cancelling Spring Break

Sabbaticals AY 21/22: There will be 6 sabbaticals offered for the next academic year.

Student Attendance and “No Shows”: Provost Gaulden thanked the faculty for reporting these.

Graduate Council: Scott Frees will chair this committee.

AACSB Accreditation/ASB: Site visitors found the ASB faculty created a very engaging environment, have excellent teaching relationships with students. Teacher Education and the Nursing Program have their accreditations happening soon.

Bischoff Award Winners: Michael Bitz and Daniela Buna. There will be a small in-person on October 28th at 3:00pm and it will be a live streamed Webex event.

Webex Room Kits:  One can see how this technology works on campus. There are 34 set-ups so far; more may be purchased if needed.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

AACSB: The ASB accreditation body met today with President Mercer and Provost Gaulden. There was universal approval of the College, students, and faculty. It was sincere. They highlighted the degree of cooperation in the faculty, as well as the amount of time being spent reviewing the curriculum and pandemic delivery models.

Next Round of Funds: It is hoped we will get something that will help towards our $5.4 million deficit. Most previous funding did not go to private higher education institutions.

Campus Buildings: We do not have a big mortgage on the dormitories; our biggest project is the Learning Commons.

Spring Break: Should students travel as normal during spring break? Should the winter break be made a week longer and not have Spring Break in order to reduce COVID-19 infection risks. Yesterday there were 700 new cases in New Jersey and 9 deaths. There is increasing evidence our students’ age,  allows them to often withstand the initial infection, however, symptoms can be impactful to them for coming years. Another possibility is to sprinkle out the 5 days of the break across the semester, one each week (a Monday, a Tuesday, etc.).

Q & A

ARC REPORT BY STEPHEN RICE

Documents and Dates: These are available on the website. These are PDFs. Download to your desktop, complete, and then forward. Set up a digital signature. The deadline for all GECCO and WAC submissions is 10/15/20. Other can be made to ARC until November 1st. Work with your rep to submit your document and after the review send it to: arc@ramapo.edu. Conveners need to provide digital signatures for new courses. There is a digital signature instruction on the same ARC page as the forms. It can be useful for conveners regarding other documents, as well. New General Education courses should go to GECCo first and only one form should be completed as it will be forwarded to ARC. You should not have to pay to complete a form; use Adobe Acrobat Reader and not Pro.

GECCo:  Send any submissions to: gecco@ramapo.edu and cc the person who is in charge of the category. Sarah will forward the document, otherwise.

Meeting Adjourned at 1:56pm.

 

Categories: FA RCNJ Minutes 2020, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, Faculty Assembly Minutes 2020

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September 26, 2020FA Minutes, Sept 9, 2020

Faculty Assembly
 9/9/2020

Presenters: Naseem Choudhury (FA President),  Peter Mercer (College President), Susan Gaulden (Provost), Roark Atkinson (HGS),Scott Frees (FA, Vice President)

Kim Lorber (Secretary)

Meeting began at 1:08pm.

Assembly Minutes: April and September minutes will be approved via Qualtrics.

Faculty Assembly President’s Report

Congratulations: to all for the hard work of the faculty to make this semester a success. Faculty twisted themselves to accomplish new course delivery without knowing they could do it. They did.

Colleagues Gone: It is with a heavy heart we learned about the terminations of some colleagues and being unable to celebrate them.

Courses: Classes are full, we seem to have retained our enrollment numbers.

New Faculty: Welcome to 9 new faculty members.

Fundamental Truth: We want to be a vibrant community, supporting our students, the hallmarks of a liberal arts education. We have a lot to be proud of, to recommit ourselves to, and to keep working hard.

Presidential Search Committee: Trustee Valerio said we are on track as expected and she will provide an update today or tomorrow.

Human Resources: We are working with HR in coming up with exact dates and times regarding a sabbaticals, tenure and promotions calendar for this year.

FAEC Opening: The Councilor-at-Large Over 11 is open. Ashwani Vasishth has served admirably all summer and now.

EOF/CRW Position: This will be discussed at the Faculty Forum.

GECCo Voting Item: Professor Sarah Carberry discussed a vote for the Global Awareness representative position. If you have a course to add to the Gen Ed program, the ARC submission deadline is 10/15. If you are considering submitting a course, please let her know (and Steve Rice for ARC) so they can plan. Member names were given. The first meeting will be held soon.

PROVOST’S REPORT

Welcome: This is a very exciting atypical academic year. It is amazing to have started this year after an incredible amount of work. She expressed her appreciation of the faculty.

Class Teaching Formats: We have approximately 100 lab/hands-on/studio type classes holding some face-to-face meetings enrolled with 1000 unique students.  The schedule includes time for cleaning between classes and the outfitting of 34 classrooms with kits to be able to have a live WEBEX session while conducting a live class. Instructions/videos for faculty will be provided. Assuming we will be remote this spring, she will make sure there are photos so all can see what Ramapo is doing to keep people safe. Returning face-to-face is not as it was. The number one goal right now is to do the course schedule to represent exactly how courses will be held in the spring in advance of registration; students will know how their course will be held in advance as opposed to format changes since the time of registration and the start of the fall semester. Letters from students and parents note some students are uncomfortable coming to campus to participate online. Parents are not happy with asynchronous courses. A balance is needed. A census will be conducted of how people prefer to teach for next semester. Some faculty are meeting face-to-face once a month and it is possible to give exams in-person. In the spring, we need to look at space availability for conducting classes and possible occupancies in order to know the space inventory before deciding which courses will be face-to-face.

Black Lives Matter: There are many campus events to support this. Everyone should come as these will benefit all of us as a community.

Tenure Binders: HR is scanning applications and will make them available digitally to committee members.

Promotion Binders: HR is scanning applications and will make them available digitally to committee members.

Promotions/Sabbaticals: The number of opportunities is being determined for each.

3/1: has begun and there are at least 10 students in each program.

Social Work Spring 2021 2/2 at PCCC: The BSW program had to be approved by the social work accrediting body and Middle States to offer a BSW program at Passaic County Community College. There is an enormous amount of interest in this program.

Student Health Insurance: Students can opt out of Aetna’s student coverage ($2,000 undergrads/$5,000 grads) by 9/18 or they will be billed).

Pass/Fail Emergency System: We are not planning this for this semester as we have had much time to prepare.

Class Delivery Model Vocabulary: We are not conducting online courses by majority; instead most are virtual via Webex, synchronously and asynchronously. Existing online classes remain as they were.

Spring Stage: Will we be moving to stage 3? The governor seemed to merge stages 2 and 3 procedures so we are at stage 2+. But there is more we can offer under Executive Order 175. Another executive order can be made. We need an inventory of campus space. We may not be able to accommodate a huge request for face-to-face courses while maintaining safety requirements. Requests to teach freshmen face-to-face will likely be a priority to provide them with the campus/college experience non-virtually.

Teaching Style/Student Learning Style: It is challenging to find what fits. Some parents are asking for more synchronous time versus part asynchronous (hybrid formats). Students had a half semester of experience. Right now students do not feel face-to-face classes are critical.

Requests for Faculty to Be on Campus: We haven’t had a survey yet this semester but we want to match what students want with what we deliver. The Provost will not require anyone to teach in person if they feel unsafe. This semester is different from last as we had known our students for 6 weeks; this semester we are meeting our students virtually. Be flexible.

Computer breakdowns/Webcams for Staff: There is some balance of the $2.3 million for student use still available (per Chris Romano). Students who need money now can seek help from the Finance Office. The second round of funding will be distributed once it is better known who is staying and who might drop classes. Let ITS, your dean, and the Provost know if students have technology issues. There is a big effort to help refurbish computers and work with an organization that helps upcyle repaired computers for students in need. Some students on campus are also participating in repairing and upcycling computers.

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Budget: President is hopeful we will get additional money from the state in base funding with designations for which we applied. The deadline was yesterday. We wait anxiously for information about the government appropriations for this year. We had many expenses and revenue losses due to the pandemic costs of the last 6 months and government funding cuts. These resulted in layoffs, the first time since President Mercer came to Ramapo College. The numbers are good regarding enrollment despite limited numbers of residential students.

VICE PRESIDENT OF ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT AND STUDENT AFFAIRS REPORT (CHRIS ROMANO)

Wait list: Enrollment is strong and the usual level of wait list applicants was accepted (as last year). Graduate enrollment is at 120%. First year class has seen similar melt as previous years, roughly 5%. We have about 52 students who have deferred enrollment to S21 or F21. We have 1,021 first year students this semester with another 50 starting in the spring.

Demographics of Entering Student Body: File freeze is September 17th, which finalizes the counts on enrollment for Fall 2020.  Chris can send a report to Naseem to distribute to us.

OSS Emails: OSS emails and communications should reflect challenges of remote learning for some students.  Chris will share feedback with OSS.

Enrollment: VP Romano offered thanks for everything everyone did.

Test Optional for The Next Semester: This is not a COVID-19 decision or because of enrollment concerns. This is a data driven decision. Jeremy Teigen (HGS) is the Faculty Fellow for Enrollment Data and has been crunching the data for several years. This is about student retention. High school GPA has almost an 8 fold predictive power compared to the SAT, which is a very poor predictor of student success for students who self-identified minority students.  Some joint programs in TAS, HGS, and SSHS have programs with other schools requiring standardized testing. This year a review will be conducted of nursing applicants about the merit of SAT scores. These scores can be submitted but will not have the weight of the high school GPA. Jersey City University remains the only NJ institution that requires SATs. Ramapo was one of the last two to move to this model (TCNJ). EOF is reviewing their programs to see if there are any implications on their processes.  When more information is available, it will be shared. The deadlines remain the same.

Scholarships: Scholarships awarded this year were more focused on need versus merit. This model will be continued. Many schools are moving in this direction.

Joint programs: We hope some of our partners will drop standardized test requirements. There have been logistical problems for some in taking the test this year. It is likely more schools will move to this model.

3+1 Numbers: Passaic is starting classes today so a final account should come in a few days.

Meeting Adjourned at 2:01pm.

Categories: FA RCNJ Minutes 2020, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, Faculty Assembly Minutes 2020

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September 1, 2020FA minutes April 29, 2020

Ramapo College of New Jersey
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
2 pm, Online/remote

FACULTY ASSEMBLY

FA Minutes Approved

Report: FA President

On May 19th from 10-2 there will be a Faculty Teaching Workshop featuring faculty that have excellent remote/online learning practices and experiences to share. It will focus on best practices and will be hosted by Lysandra Perez-Strumolo, Tammy Redd, and Michael Bitz,

Students Survey

Over 100 students responded and 106 faculty responded. Students prefer pre-recorded video and zoom video conferencing but did not want an increased workload.  The notion is that they valued faculty engagement but that not additional work. Was not helpful given the circumstances.

Attendance requirements are a concern as some students were unable to attend or not comfortable having the Webex/conferencing sessions.  Students are also concerned about taking exams and exam delivery. 

The Provost suggested that it would be helpful to have a debriefing session about these experiences.

Online Teaching Concerns

Class seat limits are capped at 25 due to the remote delivery process during the summer.  Each course is waitlisted for the summer.  Encourage students to take summer courses.

Webcams are on backorder.   The bookstore needs adjuncts and fulbrights to be informed about any possible. tech needs for remote teaching.

Moodle will not be offered after the Spring and everyone will need to transition to Canvas.

In case students have difficulty securing resources to facilitate online access please be informed that the Laptop Upcycle organization can donate laptops to students which they can keep.  It may be difficult to require students to secure certain technology for remote learning and this may not be coordinated easily even if students do obtain laptops and internet access.  The Provost mentioned that the Fall instruction could potentially take on a hybrid model.

Fall 2020

A working group has formed to strategize about returning to school in the fall.  They have identified 21 different scenarios to be considered as viable options for instruction for the faculty based on the specific needs and requirements of their courses.  There is a need to determine how to improve the online delivery of courses.   There must be an emphasis on low-cost or no-cot IT or technology if students will be required to use them for courses.  Faculty expressed concern that there is no AFT representation on the working group.  There is concern that this absence bears collective bargaining implications.

There will be course caps for online instruction in the Fall.

A hybrid model of in-person and remote teaching may need to be addressed. A decision will be made by mid-July.  The sooner the working group comes to a decision for the array of options that we will use this will be communicated to faculty. Some colleges have already agreed to opt for fully remote teaching in the Fall,  However their students have asked if they will be granted a discount in tuition if the institution adopts this model.

We need a contingency plan for the Fall in case we need to start on campus and then transition to remote teaching.  This can be included in  the language of syllabi if we do go this route.  All plans for the fall will be made within weeks and months ahead.

New Programs

DNP Doctor of Nursing Practice program and Data Science Management programs will be off to a start at the BS and MS levels this fall.

Reappointment and Tenure

There will be a new timeline for 4th and 5th year reappointment portfolios to be developed.  Promotion process timelines will need to be re-established but is on the agenda for AFT.

CARES ACT and Tuition Refund Issues

Be sure to inform students about the CARES act and especially eligibility requirements.  The act provides that half of the relief funds goes to students and the remaining half is allocated to the teaching institution.  Undocumented or international students are ineligible for this funding. The funds cannot be used to pay any balances at the school and it cannot be used to pay for summer or fall courses.  It can be used for rent, mortgage that is past due, or to purchase technology.  As soon as the structure and protocol for the CARES is availed this will be shared with students. Awards will be 1K to 2K and students but they need to provide proof of their need for the support.

If refunds can be offered as a credit this can be used in FAFSA reporting.

Faculty Development Fund

100K will be awarded for stipends or grants.  There can be discussion of rescheduling the awards and further decisions will be communicated with the FA President.

Budget and Enrollments

Chris Romano noted a 12% increase in enrollments for the summer.  Until the College has a handle on what actual enrollment will be in the Fall it is unclear as to how the budget can be used to fund certain programs or faculty funding support.  Residence halls and auxiliary income cannot be factored into the budget.

OER taskforce

Be mindful of creating assignments or course materials requirements that require students to spend.  Consider low or no-cost options for software.

Materials are being offered for free but will not be continued indefinitely so this is the time to consider what needs to be done for students for the Fall based on course requirement and certain needs.

The Mahwah Public Library can be used as a resource for students and further information about how they can access these resources will be made available soon.

Concerns about International Students

Any students with concerns about immigration or visas must meet with Rajesh Adhikari. The FA budget was donated to the WE Care program.Students will not be asked to leave campus but there is a low cost fee that students must pay for room and board.  Some students may need assistance and if so We Care donations can be used to support them. There is concern for Nepalese students’ ability to travel since the Nepal Border was closed and scheduled to open May 1 but moved to May 7.  Many students from Nepal worried that if they return home they will not be able to return.  Students that can get on campus jobs normally receive free housing for the summer. The dean of Students offered a 50% rate for summer for international students May 9th – July 1.  The Provost stated that she is trying to find ways to care for students in a balanced manner and that We Care donations will be honored when students request assistance.  Will be careful about decisions made.  

Faculty Questions and Concerns raised during the meeting:

Can the balance for room costs be collected later or can students have reduced room charges?

How can students access refunds for room and board and parking?

What about use of funds in reserve?  

What about bringing students on campus that require in-person instruction?

  

 

Categories: FA meeting agenda archive 2020, FA RCNJ Minutes 2020, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, Faculty Assembly Minutes 2020

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August 27, 2020FA Meeting July 22, 2020

Faculty Assembly Minutes
7/22/2020

Location: Online
Link:https://ramapo.webex.com/ramapo/lsr.php?RCID=1876dbe847664b8780edce28d98d01e9)

Begin: 1:00
Adjourned: 2:30pm

Presenters: Roark Atkinson (HGS), Naseem Choudhury (President), Christina Connor (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11) Scott Frees (TAS), Lisa Lutter (CA), Thierry Rakotbe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11)

Secretary: Kim Lorber

Faculty Assembly Minutes for April 28^th, 2020: These will be approved on September 9th.

Opening Remarks: This an “off calendar meeting” and while most faculty are off-contract we are pleased that a significant number chose to join (attendance: 180)

FAEC Reps and Secretary have been meeting every other week all summer. Again, our thanks to them as this is above and beyond for FAEC. Members are off during the summer on a typical year.

PROVOST’S REPORT (Susan Gaulden):

Black Lives Matter: Academic Affairs posted RCNJ’s Black Lives Matter statements from each school have been posted on this web page. There will be many Berry Center events relevant to this. Baltimore, a play about this on a college campus, will be offered remotely or performed in person. Dean Peter Campbell said to send questions to him about the BLM programming.

Outreach to New Students: 2 credit courses were developed for the summer to introduce students to the college through Ramapo Virtual. These courses are being offered in summer 2 as 1-hour seminars and are free to all students.

Reopening Concerns:

            NJ Pandemic Stages 2 and 3: In stage 2, we are only able to offer labs, clinical rotations, etc. If we are at stage 3 we are not restricted about classes but reduced occupancy will determine this. These percentages have not been determined by the state yet. It could be determined by the state or left to each institution to determine on its own.

Governor’s Extension of Executive order 103, July 2^nd: Extended the decision to August 3^rd. If the state has not moved to stage 3 by August 3^rd, Ramapo will stick with stage 2 planning. We have 182 sections of labs, studios (mostly hands on and nursing clinical rotations). Based on the census faculty has responded to 87 of faculty assigned to teach these classes planned to have some F2F meetings. F2F this fall is not required twice weekly. Provost Gaulden suggested having students come in for the entire month of September, meet with them and then transition the class to virtual delivery. Maybe once a week, a half hour, or half the class on alternating weeks or some other classes opportunities to meet everyone before going fully remote is a possibility. If anyone else is planning to teach online, let her provost@ramapo.edu) and Diane Couzens (dcouzens@ramapo.edu) know so they can update the Census. People would be happy to meet outdoors. Can you come to campus to teach some of your sections as planned? Many students have been calling admissions about deferring for a year. If we can give some sessions in person, it may make an enrollment difference. If the Governor moves us to Stage 3 before our August 3 deadline, we will have more F2F classes by faculty who said they would at this stage. If the Governor’s decision to move to Stage 3 comes after 8/3, we will stick with current 8/3 plan.

Campus Protocol: Everyone will have to self-access every day for being safely on campus.  Adequate masks will be given but not N95 as only COVID19 hospital units are utilizing these; surgeons are not.

No testing to return to campus: You would only address testing if someone had symptoms.

            Adjuncts Offices: Space will be found including any labs and other empty spaces.

            Faculty Office Hours: These should all be held remotely unless you decide to have a socially distanced walk and talk.

Banner: We are moving to Stage 2. If the Governor moves to Stage 3, we will have more work to do. It seems unlikely we will move to Stage 3 before August 3.

Dates: Registration deadlines, etc. will be made as flexible as possible for students.

            Pass/Fail Grading: No P/F for the Fall; we return to the normal model. IF another crisis arises the model may change for the few classes that may be forced to go remote. This decision will be made as/if needed.

            Respondus/online proctoring: These do not work on tablets and require hard to acquire webcams even when money is available.

Webcams: Many students for numerous reasons may be uncomfortable with being seen on camera.

            Winter/Spring Reopening Decision: We will have to wait until approximately a month before each term.

            Thanksgiving Decisions: Faculty teaching F2F can give in person exams ensuring they have informed the classes of the format change.

            Remote Teaching Unit Experts: There will be one for each unit. These are: Nikhil Varma, Ruma Sen, Paramjeet Bagga, Jackie Braun and Karl Johnson (5 total) who will be unit remote teaching mentors for the Fall. They will connect questions from faculty with IT people who can help.

FRC/IDC Training: Will hopefully continue as these were excellent trainings including the 2-day event in the spring.

Concerns regarding requirements to be present on campus during the fall: Faculty will not be pressured to be on campus. For our surveys 50% of our students do not like online classes. Likely F2F courses: labs, nursing clinical rotations, hands on instructions, and trainings like welding in the community colleges.

Non-compliance with COVID prevention guidelines: The pandemic assessment team has a clear Code of Conduct for violations and HR is developing consequences for employees who are not in compliance. Videos will be provided explaining how to be compliant. This is in draft form but training will be rolled out in early August. Expectations in are in the Restart Plan.

Report of a Concern Website: Some committee members will monitor this and the well-being of others will be addressed. Reactions to first time offenses will inform penalty.

HVAC: There will be more fresh air from the outside; this is a CDC guideline and we will be in compliance.

Phase 3 Occupancy Library: Library patrons will work with appointments which is necessary for contact tracing. Phase 2 will allow curb side pick-up only; this is in process and being developed. THE LIBRARY BOOK DROP HAS BEEN RELOCATED AND IS NOW IN FRONT OF DUNKIN’ DONUTS.

            Computer labs: Those who need these for lack of their own technology and/or need guidance would have priority.

            International Students: They will be a priority for housing and there will be no issues if we pivot. Will there be work study options as others have documentation to work off campus? If they have no other place to live in the US, they will be given priority. Budget cuts will likely reduce the number of student jobs.

Personnel Issues

Faculty Handbook: This is a priority and is on hold due to furloughs, employee leaves, and the pandemic planning priority.

Sabbatical Deadlines and the Submission Process: Five promotion binders from 2019-202 have not been looked at and everything is being scanned.

The Sabbatical submissions will likely be made online. Time will be posted by ER for all other personnel decisions.

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT (Peter Mercer)

Higher Education: Peter has noted 3 waves in his career. Higher education was important and

should be funded. The second iteration (the envelope phasing stage): Each year the institution would get increased funding to do what it needs with the enveloped funding. Now we are in the 3^rd stage: Public higher education is valuable but funding is not equitable; we have 4 research universities in New Jersey. We are trying to identify the real criteria for the government’s dispersal of funds, which has become more complicated. There are a variety of possible revenue streams and grant funding will be tightened. Base appropriations will be reduced from what colleges are used to. In 2005 about 45% of the operating budget was from the government. This second half of the academic year is about 1/6 of what we were promised. They cut in half what is promised now and removed entirely the next round of funding. We do not know what will come back. The governor signed a $9.9 billion loan agreement. It has been difficult to think of what the college should look like.

We should not lose our roots as a liberal arts college; there is a real need for this. We have to be entrepreneurial: the 3/1 program has 70 students for the fall and is expected to expand. No dire prediction for the College beyond a few difficult years. We will work closely as a faculty, administration and BoT.

Budget Meeting Update: This morning’s presentation by the VP for Administration and Finance (Kirsten DaSilva) gave a many slide presentation. There are still so many variables like enrollment, number of students in the dorms, students deferring, etc. We have no way of knowing. President Mercer’s goal is we will have about 1,000 students in residence. Debt was reviewed and has been well controlled. We have to raise money for the Learning Commons; he is optimistic we will raise those funds. Kirsten said we do not know the COVID19 phase and projections are therefore difficult.

FA PRESIDENT (Naseem Choudhury)
FAEC has been engaged all summer and working with administration to ensure a smooth transition to the Fall and next AY. We will send chat questions that cannot be addressed in the remaining time. Restart Plan: It would be beneficial for all faculty to read this in detail.

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERSHIP (please see document from Provost Gaulden).

 

CDO’s RERPORT (Nicole Morgan Agard)

Forum in June: was well attended with approximately 178 faculty members. Another will be offered to faculty and students in the fall. The student forum was co-hosted with the Office of Counseling Services. In particular, black students are very anxious, concerned about what the campus will be like in the fall.

Everfi: This is an outside consulting firm to administer online diversity, equity and inclusivity courses/modules for all first year and transfer students prior to the start of the year. If students cannot/do not, there will be a registration hold placed.

Diversity Strategic Plan: Late August/early September stakeholders are being identified for the Diversity Strategic Plan.

Title IX Changes: The office is working on the changed mandates for Title IX, which must be completed by mid-August. All officers have to attend weekly trainings and the new process will include a hearing panel.

Racist Incidents in May: Nicole will send out information regarding the completed investigation. This is now with Student Affairs. When it is concluded, she will update the campus.

OER Resources presentation by Hillary Westgate (Reference Outreach Librarian)

            A reminder and the Library subscription guide will be distributed to give all of the contact information for the fall. Librarians work during the summer and can help. They are also looking to create a forum/database of information of information faculty finds to be useful.

link to the recording of FA meeting 07/22/2020
https://ramapo.webex.com/ramapo/lsr.php?RCID=1876dbe847664b8780edce28d98d01e9

Password: ZxDT9nxE

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: FA RCNJ Minutes 2020, FACULTY ASSEMBLY MINUTES, Faculty Assembly Minutes 2020, RCNJ Faculty Assembly Minutes 2019

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