January 17, 2023FA 12/07/22

Faculty Assembly Meeting

December 7, 2022

1:00 pm

Trustees Pavilion

Faculty Assembly 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.

Agenda

Call Meeting to Order: 1:05pm

No objections to the minutes.

FA President:

• Provost search – ongoing. Summarize feedback from faculty for President Jebb. Ken wants to give a shout-out to the search committee members and the college community for their level of engagement and feedback.
• Quick Announcement: three academic policies out for public comment on the Provost’s website. This includes the minimum and maximum course caps. Important for faculty to keep apprised on ongoing matters being addressed by Provost’s Council.
• FAEC is still trying to fill the Councilor-at-Large positions. If you want to volunteer, please reach out.
• If you have not completed the AMPTF survey, please do so soon.

Provost Report:

• Discussed Provost’s Council and policy review ongoing there.
• Please accommodate student athletes and their ability to participate in conferences.
• Discussion of AMPTF. Ongoing and making progress.
• College has hired a registrar and an assistant dean of teacher education.
• Two-factor authentication: will be coming soon for all college system sign-ins regardless of whether you are on campus or off-campus.
• McCallister & Quinn: external grant firm – has been engaging regarding the prioritized PNP’s.
• The Annual Middle States Conference is about to start. Provost and a small team are going to the conference in Philadelphia. December 7-9, 2022.
• Faculty Question to Provost regarding faculty travel fund to conferences.
• Faculty Question to Provost: what is the travel funding for the entire college because of past discrepancies regarding the entire college travel budget versus a tiny travel budget for faculty for scholarship.

Follett: Bookstore

• Access Program: discounted digital materials, the cost is included in tuition rather than a separate cost. Does have an opt out for students to choose not to participate. For more information please contact the Bookstore as soon as possible, thank you!
• If students opt-out and change their mind there is an opt-back-in, however a deadline.

President Jebb’s Report:

• Congratulations and encouragement to faculty for a good semester!
• President will be co-teaching a course next spring.
• PNP’s have garnered over $800K in donations so far.
• Overview of all the advancing task forces and plans progressing across the college.

Naseem:

• Strategic Plan Writing Team presentation
• Discussion and questions: a further conversation will take place at 4pm today.

Stephanie:

• AMPTF: update

Ken:

• Morale Survey Executive Summary

Meeting ended 2:52pm

 

 

 

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December 5, 2022FAEC MINUTES 11/09/22

FAEC MINUTES 11/09/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malakiva Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit individuals.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:03am.

FA President’s Report:

– Communications meeting is November 17, @ 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm in the Alumni Lounges. Everyone should try to be there.

FAEC Discussion:

FAEC Guests: Cindy Jebb (President of Ramapo) and Susan Gaulden (Interim-Provost), and Naseem Choudhury (Co-Chair of Strategic Writing Team, Faculty)

• Naseem Choudhury: updated on the Strategic Writing Team’s process and progress.

 

• Cindy Jebb: Has been attending a couple classes that she was invited to attend and has greatly enjoyed getting back into the classroom.
• Ramapo Alumni – panel discussion upcoming.
• Black Solidarity Week. Consider visiting Hopper Cemetery.
• Veteran’s Day Program (tomorrow) – county executive is coming to speak and present a county medal.
• Table Top: safety and security – increasing lighting, more cameras, more public safety officers. Layered approach – arm at the south gate. Potential swipe access.
• 16 November: First-Gen Day. There is a new director for First-Gen Center
• Encouraging more engagement with students about Rhodes and Truman scholarships for students.

 

• Susan Gaulden: Wellness Day is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, November 23, 2022, there will be no classes.
• How to connect under-enrolled programs with enrollment pipelines. Discussing potential linkages with community colleges, more robust.
• Investigative Forensic Genealogy Certificate Program – upcoming tv coverage. MOA with Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office
• Gross Center has been having many events and has been very active.
• The Teaching and Learning Core Calendar has been created and is accessible.
• Bite-Sized Lecture Series – doing well and more events will be held in future semesters

– FAEC raised concerns for more coverage for exam monitoring by OSS or testing center with Provost. Asked about the possibility of having a robust testing center for the college that would also allow for students to complete make-up exams.

– FAEC raised the inclusion of Title IX information in course syllabi. Currently, it is encouraged, but not required.

– FAEC raised line allocation and transparency. Provost met with a program that was denied a line and explained data and rationale used in making the determination.

– Provost said that accreditation of programs can bump a program ahead of non-accredited programs in getting lines to satisfy accreditation requirements. Further, programs sometimes take pride in not relying on adjunct faculty, however such is not sustainable moving forward.

Meeting adjourned at 11:58 pm.

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December 5, 2022FAEC MINUTES 11/02/22

FAEC MINUTES 11/02/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malakiva Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:03am.

FA President’s Report:

– Senior Living Center – community on campus is tentatively being explored. Long-term project.

– FAEC Social Event: Organization is ongoing. Individuals are signing up to bring food and drink. Need to consider napkins, plates, utensils, cups.

– Next Week: Faculty Forum is going to largely focus on AMPTF round table

FAEC Discussion:

– Discussion of ARC and ARC’s function at the college.

– Discussion of open Councilor-at-Large positions and the need to fill them.

FAEC Guests: Virginia Galdieri (Vice President for People Operations & Employee Resources)

• Faculty Handbook: Administration has completed its review, meeting with the faculty taskforce today to go over the comments. It still has to go to Legal. Aiming to present revised version at a future FA, perhaps the December 17th FA or the first FA of the spring semester.
• Reorg – PO/ER – hiring a replacement for director ER, but there will be a new senior director of ER as well. PO/ER business partner model – connected right to the Core – PO/ER member connected to the TLC, trying to create synergy.

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.

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December 5, 2022FA Minutes 11/09/22

Faculty Assembly Meeting

November 9, 2022

1:00 pm

Trustees Pavilion

Faculty Assembly 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.

Agenda

Call Meeting to Order: 1:05pm

Approval of Minutes (9/28/2022): no objections

Reports:

Faculty Assembly President’s Report:

–    The Provost’s Bite-Sized Faculty Research Series: is underway, please attend. Build community and collaboration opportunities.

–     Public Safety: FAEC met with Nicole and Sharon and were provided with steps that are being taken to improve safety on campus for the entire community.

–     RAVE Guardian Safety APP – smartphone app for everyone’s safety, please download

–    Planning happening on campus this year:

– college strategic plan: vision statement going to BOT at end of January

– academic master plan: ongoing

– campus facilities plan: ongoing

–    Communications Meeting on November 17 at 1pm. Please, everyone should try to attend.

–     Should there be a faculty retreat in January?

–     FAEC Moral Survey: please complete if you haven’t done so already, thank you!

–     FA Social Event today from 4:30-6pm in the Padovano Commons. RSVP is preferred, but everyone is still welcome.

 

College President’s Report:

–    Alumni Panel upcoming.

–    Black Solidarity Week – procession to the Hopper Slave Cemetery.

–    16th of November at noon – First Gen event – First Gen Center

–    Encouraging faculty engagement with students about national and international scholarship opportunities

 

Provost’s Report: Importance of grant funding and shoring up transfer students.

• Gross Center is hosting many events.
• Black Lives Matter presentation tonight
• Degree Completion is back in the TLC
• TLC calendar – please add it to your google calendar. Also ask your unit secretary to add your events to the calendar so everyone can attend.
• November 23 is a Wellness Day so there will be no classes held that day.

 

Adjourn the Formal Portion of the Meeting:

 

Once the formal portion of the meeting was adjourned, all members of the Teaching and Learning Core (TLC) were invited to stay for a round table focus group exercise led by the Academic Master Plan Task Force.

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November 9, 2022FAEC MINUTES 10/26/22

FAEC MINUTES 10/26/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malakiva Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS)

Excused absence: Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Meeting minutes taken by Dean Chen

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:03am.

FA President’s Report:

–          Provost Search Committee

–          Academic Strategic Writing Team Plan

–          Academic Master Plan Task Force (AMPTF): focus groups roundtables will be held at the next FA meeting on 11/09/2022

–          ARC and SSHS

FAEC Discussion:

–  Morale survey: FAEC agreed to edit and finalize before sending them out on Monday, October 31, 2022.

–   FAEL(FAEC) Fall social

–  Meeting with Sharon McLaurin (Director of Public Safety) and Nicole Morgan Agard (Chief Equity and Diversity Officer) to discuss recent incidents happening on campus (bias incident; public safety incident) and ways to enhance public safety measures in order to better prevent/deter crimes while reassuring the campus community. Discussed ways to increase awareness and participation in workshops and training sessions.

FAEC Guests: Sharon McLaurin and Nicole Morgan Agard

Meeting adjourned at 12:05 pm.

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November 9, 2022FAEC MINUTES 10/19/22

FAEC MINUTES 10/19/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malakiva  Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:07am.

Minutes Approval: The 10/12/22 minutes were approved.

FA President’s Report:

• Provost Search: Meeting again this afternoon, work is progressing well.
• Academic Master Plan: Meeting again this afternoon, work is initiating.
• Strategic Vision Statement: Discussed current proposed version, it will be taken to unit councils soon.
• Campus Facilities Master Plan Taskforce: Eric Weiner – they are having their first meeting tomorrow. Nicole and Sharon are coming next Wednesday at 11am.
• Line-Allocation: how are lines being allocated? Faculty would appreciate transparency.
• ARC and SSHS: ARC is lacking an SSHS representative. ARC has refused to review any SSHS materials until a representative is provided.

FAEC Discussion:

FAEC Guests: Kirsten DaSilva (Vice President for Administration and Finance) 

• Kirsten: Encourages everyone to attend the budget forum. Explained the structural deficit.
  • 2025 cliff, students graduating from high school will be dramatically less than before. National college enrollment will drop. How do we stay competitive?
  • Money comes from tuition, housing, and dining.
  • 73% of the budget is salary and benefits.
  • Tuition goes up 2%, expenses go up around 5%, structural deficit

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:08 am.

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November 9, 2022FAEC MINUTES 10/12/22

FAEC MINUTES 10/12/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malakiva  Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:07am.

Minutes Approval: The 10/05/22 minutes were approved.

FA President’s Report:

• Academic Master Plan Task Force: has been charged. Stephanie Sarabia and Ken Goldstein were elected as chairs. Unit Council reps will describe phase one of the process at Unit Council later today.
• Cindy Jebb is visiting SSHS and ASB Unit Council’s today as well. FAEC wonders if there should be a feedback mechanism afterward for follow-up communication. – We also wanted to note if we should be informed beforehand about the visits so that people can be prepared with questions/concerns
• Provost Search: ad is finalized and being disseminated today.
• Bylaw revisions: underway, John and Dean are heading the revisions
• Faculty Social Event: Wednesday, Nov. 9, 4:30-6, Padovano Commons. Considering BYOB for food and refreshments.
• FAEC Guests: who should we invite: Virginia, ARC/WAC/GECCo, Chris Romano once a semester, Nicole. Once a month, once a semester, and ad hoc – three types of check ins.
• Morale Survey: discussion and debate about function and content- as well as timeline

FAEC Discussion:

• David Nast: OSS Advisor Committee – was meeting remotely during pandemic.
• Discussion of exam proctoring on campus and different possible ways services might be extended in the future to cover evening hours. For the time being, there is no immediate way to extend coverage.

FAEC Guests: David Nast 

Meeting adjourned at 12:08 am.

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November 9, 2022FAEC MINUTES 10/05/22

FAEC MINUTES 10/05/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Malakiva  Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

* Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:03am.

Minutes Approval: The 09/28/22 minutes were approved.

FA President’s Report:

• Provost position description has been drafted and will be disseminated to start recruitment.
• AMPTF (Academic Master Plan Task Force) is being charged Thursday, October 6.
• Ken reported to the Board of Trustees Meeting – academic master plan, provost search, and faculty collecting student works to present at family day.
• RSA – Lisa Ambrose and Ken had a meeting to facilitate communication
• Discussed ongoing and potential future agenda items and additional planning for the year ahead. Including:
  • Transparency in service compensation at the college
  • FA bylaw revisions regarding ARC, GECCo, and WAC; and maybe other matters.
  • Convenor Compensation
  • Pay for graduate teaching at the college

FAEC Guests: N/A

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.

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October 5, 2022FA 09/28/22

Faculty Assembly Meeting

September 28, 2022

1:00 pm

Friends Hall (SC-219)

Faculty Assembly 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.

President’s Report (Ken McMurdy):

• John McTighe announced as Parliamentarian
• Provost Search Update: Search Firm meetings with constituencies at Ramapo were very productive and positive.
  • Themes:
    • Shared-governance
    • Passion for teaching
    • Personal investment in the institution by constituencies
  • Drafting provost position document
• President Jebb’s inauguration – October 14. If you want to bring your class, please RSVP. Streaming the inauguration to classes is also an option.
• Provost Bite-Sized Research Presentations are kicking off soon. October 3, it is listed on the FA calendar, please consult for more details.
• FAEC At-large councilors are still unfilled. We need people to step forward for these positions.

President Jebb:

• Acknowledgement of our concern for those in Florida as the hurricane approaches.
• Discussion of the Future Series and PNP’s. Strategic Planning process and master planning process is a priority for the college. Strategic writing team is in full swing
• Discussion of the reorganization and how it has been improving organizational functionality at the college.
• Discussion of the fiscal state of the college, steps the college has taken to improve matters, steps that we hope to take in the future, and intention for future collaborations.

Interim Provost Gaulden:

• Gave a shout out to “The Class of Covid-19”
• Faculty Resource Network: our level of membership has been raised back to level prior to the pandemic. Faculty are encouraged to engage with it.
• Director of International Education: Ruma Sen is chairing the search committee.
• BS in Neuroscience has been approved by the state of New Jersey for Ramapo College
• Faculty Handbook revisions – currently under review by the Provost’s office

VP Virginia Galdieri:

• Sabbaticals: 8 sabbatical semesters for the 2023-2024 academic year
• Promotions: 4 for associate professor, 3 for full professor
• Tenure/Reappointment/Promotion Process: employee relations has conducted two training sessions, one for career development and one for promotion. Recording of the promotion training is available online at the ER website. We are on track for the calendar for these matters.
• HR Reorganization: HR is split between a people operations division and an employee relations & strategic initiatives division. Several vacancies currently exist
• Faculty Handbook: discussion of potential timelines under consideration and especially when it will be implemented when ultimately approved
• Faculty with questions regarding ER matters can contact Virginia, as well as reaching out to ER in general.

Nicole Morgan-Agard:

• Bias incident occurred, but details cannot be shared
• Discussion of college response to incidents, how and when to distribute college-wide acknowledgement of events happening and condemnation of such events.
• Reviewing placement of cameras and patrols, should resources be shifted or expanded to provide security to campus community

Academic Master Plan Task Force (AMPTF):

• Faculty raised concerns over the method by which the membership of the task force was determined – selected versus elected. Faculty raised concerns over the term “low-hanging fruit” and what that exactly means as the task force moves forward.
• Faculty raised concerns over moving forward with the academic master plan task force while a provost search is underway.
• 5 Candidates for the 3 Elected Positions on the Task Force, candidates introduced themselves
  • Carol Bowman
  • Stephanie Sarabia
  • Emily Leskinen
  • Lisa Cassidy
  • Ruma Sen
• Voting will be done by Qualtrics survey after the meeting

Adjourned: 2:30pm

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October 5, 2022FAEC MINUTES 09/28/22

FAEC MINUTES 09/28/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malakiva  Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

* Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:00am.

Minutes Approval: The 09/21/22 minutes were approved.

FA President’s Report:

• Provost Search: Ruth and Fiona (search firm individuals) – excellent themes emerged through the engagement with the search firm last week. Ruth, Fiona, Chris Romano, and Ken McMurdy are crafting the profile statement.
• Provost Council: deliberation on a lot of academic policies. Minimum and maximum course capacity policy is under review.
• Ruma is the search chair for director international studies.
• Progress on the front of transparency regarding compensated service.
• Concerns raised regarding the time restrictions on when OSS provides exam proctoring – if faculty are providing exams later in the day/evening exam proctoring is not available.

FAEC Discussion:

• Susan Gaulden:
  • promotion and sabbatical discussion.
  • Commended “The Class of Covid-19” a work of collaboration between a Ramapo instructor, Shawn Adler (editor),  and high school students.
  • Provost is reviewing the proposed faculty handbook
  • Increased level of membership of the Faculty Resource Center, membership was decreased during the height of the pandemic.
  • McAllister and Quinn: firm that assists in applying for grant funding. The firm will assist primarily with applying for funding for the PNP’s. The firm may be able to assist with faculty in applying for other research grants, but this will be an add on cost at the approval of the college.
• Cindy Jebb
  • Thoughts for those in Florida where a hurricane is imminent.
  • Updates that will be shared at the Faculty Assembly this afternoon.
  • Discussion of COVID numbers, which are rising again as we head into the fall semester.

FAEC Guests: Cindy Jebb (President), and Susan Gaulden (Interim Provost) 

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 am.

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