Faculty Assembly

February 9, 2023FA Minutes 02_01_23

Faculty Assembly Meeting

February 1, 2023

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

Approval of Minutes (12/7/2022)

Reports:

Faculty Assembly President’s Report:

The Bite-Size Research Talks have been going well, please consider attending future events.
Diversity Convocation has moved to March 23.
In-Service for professional staff, March 9th between 9am – 1pm, coming out of the pandemic. Looking for faculty volunteers to also participate.
FA Social Events: Wednesday March 8th and an end of the year celebration as well.
Moral Survey: progress is being made on analyzing the data and approaching various constituencies to work on identified areas for potential improvement. FAEC is creating mini-reports to share with different relevant administrative offices.
Renewed bylaw revisions are underway.
Acknowledged tensions surrounding ARC recently and asked everyone to strive for collegiality in resolving these tensions.

College President’s Report:

The Board of Trustees approved the strategic vision statement on Monday night. The new task is developing KPIs for the strategic vision statement. The process is ongoing with the strategic plan.
The Academic Master Plan is ongoing and moving forward.
Discussion of budget and financial matters.
Provost transition with Michael Middleton on May 1. Discussion of the transition plan.
Strategic Communications: new hire.
Discussion of recent tragedies across the country in recent weeks. Important to support our students and each other through these difficult times. Please attend upcoming events and programming related to these matters.

Provost’s Report:

Congratulations faculty who were granted tenure by the Board of Trustees on Monday night.
Discussion of relationships with community colleges and high schools.
Adam Fried: new assistant dean of teacher education
Region 6 Poetry Out Loud event at Ramapo College
TLC Calendar – google calendar that people can add to their own google calendar
Provost Council: policies are up for review, please consult the Provost Council website for details.
Jeneen Kelly – new registrar

Introductions:

Leiah Heckathorn, Director of the Roukema Center

Michael Yankovich, Interim VP for Operational and Administrative Integration

Announcements:

Two Factor Authentication (with Q & A) – Rob Doster, CIO:

Cyber Insurance: college is in the process of obtaining
Two Factor Authentication is necessary for obtaining the Cyber Insurance
Email was sent by Rob Doster last week on Two Factor Authentication,
please consult the email and follow instructions.
Can get a fixed code if traveling abroad (for example).
Can get a code texted to your phone instead of installing the app on your
phone if you prefer.

Instructional Design Center (IDC) – Michael Bitz, Director:

Please come visit the lab! We are here to help you with a wide variety of matters.
IDC has virtual office hours in addition to being physically open at the lab.
IDC:

o Ray: Canvas Administration, Respondus, Turnitin, Linkedin Learning
o Deb: Canvas Development, YuJa, Qualtrics, WebEx, Google Workspace
o Lauren: Instructional Design

TechFest: 1983 next Wednesday – announcement by Sharon Leathers
ChatGPT: announcement by Tammy Redd (FRC) – February 15 round table discussion

Enrollment Update – VP Chris Romano, update presented by Ken McMurdy:

Enrollment numbers exceed revised goals

Discussion Items:

Budget Overview – Colleen O’Keefe, Interim CFO/VP for Fiscal Health:

Overview of current budget status for the college.

Academic Master Plan Task Force – Stephanie Sarabia and Ken Goldstein, co-chairs:

Thank you to everyone for engaging so meaningfully with the data collection of the Academic Master Plan!!!
The Task Force is currently processing all the gathered materials to prepare an initial draft of proposals. Once an initial draft is prepared the faculty will once again be engaged for feedback.

Counselor-At Large: part time faculty – voting issue

Monika Giacoppe

Meeting Ended 2:30pm

Categories: Uncategorized

January 30, 2023FAEC MINUTES 01/18/2023

FAEC MINUTES 01/18/2023

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malavika 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 10:05am.

FA President’s Report:

‒ FAEC contacted the ITS to inspect all classrooms and ensure all work stations and classroom facilities are functioning well.

‒ SGA survey results on faculty advising will be shared with the FAEC

‒ Two FAEC Councilor-at-Large positions still need to be filled as soon as possible

‒ BOT Committee Report

– Operational and Administrative Integration (Michael Yankovich, Interim VP)

– Fiscal health

– Strategic plan

‒ Transparency on the College’s compensated service (Provost Office)

‒ Ramapo letter in support of fellow COPLAC institution, the New College of Florida in Sarasota

FAEC Discussion:

‒ Morale survey

– Sharing non-unit specific report with faculty

– Discussing and addressing areas/issues of concerns with managers responsible for: ITS, Facilities, HR, ER, teaching & service, faculty & equity, student mental health, and public safety

‒ Bylaws revision (Dean Chen and John McTighe)

– Planning on meeting with ARC, WAC, and GECCo

FAEC Guests: None

Meeting adjourned at 12:05 pm

Categories: Uncategorized

January 17, 2023FAEC MINUTES 11/30/22

FAEC MINUTES 11/30/22

*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:

Document provided from administration of all task forces and committees to have a centralized composite list available to FAEC.
Minimum and maximum course enrollment policy: new proposed version from provost’s council will soon be available for public comment.

FAEC Discussion:

Discussion of registrar matters: some courses’ course caps changed due to a technical glitch, also some problems with course permits not being included.
Discussion of the morale survey, processing of data collected, and planning for development of actionable items.
- Discussion of whether executive summary should be presented at next FA meeting on Dec 7.
- Proposal to do the moral survey on an ongoing basis to be able to track potential progress – possibly every other year
- Discussion of short-term to long-term action items regarding potential timelines to attempt to address.

Meeting adjourned at 11:40 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

January 17, 2023FAEC MINUTES 11/16/22

FAEC MINUTES 11/16/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Elizabeth Siecke (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malavika 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 tomorrow – 1pm-2:15pm Alumni Lounges
Lisa Lutter – Campus Facilities Master Plan update provided to Ken
Provost Search – ongoing

FAEC Discussion:

FAEC Guests: Faculty Athletic Representatives – Matthew Jobrack and Alexandre Olbrecht

Faculty Athletic Representatives (FAR) – represents Ramapo at NCAA events
Oversight for well being of student athletes
Liaison between athletics and academia
Final Exams and post-season tournaments – schedule is not known beforehand; if a student qualifies for a tournament then faculty are expected to accommodate the student’s needs to attend the tournament.
At a future FA, probably in the spring, presentation will be made on these matters to FA

Meeting adjourned at 11:40 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

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

Categories: Uncategorized

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
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.

Categories: Uncategorized

December 5, 2022FAEC MINUTES 11/02/22

FAEC MINUTES 11/02/22

*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.

Categories: Uncategorized

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.

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.

Categories: Uncategorized

November 9, 2022FAEC MINUTES 10/26/22

FAEC MINUTES 10/26/22

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.

Categories: Uncategorized

November 9, 2022FAEC MINUTES 10/19/22

FAEC MINUTES 10/19/22

*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.

Categories: Uncategorized

Faculty Assembly

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