March 14, 2021FAEC meeting minutes Feb 24, 2021

FAEC MINUTES 2/24/21

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

 

Guests: Todd Barnes (CRW), Monika Giacoppe , Hugh Sheehy,

Christopher Romano (Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affair)

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

Minutes Approval: The 2/17/21 minutes were approved. 

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

EMSA: We await information about a report of fall 2021 101% enrollment.

 

Discussion with Todd Barnes, Monika Giacoppe and Hugh Sheehy

Center for Reading and Writing: FAEC invited Todd Barnes, Monika Giacoppe, and Hugh Sheehy to clarify current CRW concerns. Todd Barnes served as the CRW liaison. He helped to clarify questions about recent data. Faculty remains committed to CRW returning to Academic Affairs. Tom Kitchen created a structure and handbook 10 years ago, which is still the model used. 

 

 

HR Employment Question Dedicated Email Address:  hr2020@ramapo.edu.

New President: We await the final decision.

 FA President/VP Meeting with President Mercer: They discussed the state of the state appropriations.

FA President/VP Meeting with Provost Gaulden:

    Cleaning Schedule: High demand classrooms are not being cleaned in order to not lose teaching slots. The conversation is continuing. Naseem has written to the deans. ASB135 does not get cleaned, for example. Why are some classrooms required to be cleaned and others not?

    Covid Vaccines: Provost Gaulden has asked the state to make us a vaccination distribution center. There has not been a response. Is there consideration of whether or not all faculty will be able to be vaccinated in advance of teaching in-person?

    CARES Act Technology Reimbursement Funds for Faculty: Naseem has not heard anything about this. Are funds available for the faculty as at other colleges?

   Alert Me Now: Why are text messages directing us to emails? Can we please return to having the complete alert in the first text?

 

VICE PRESIDENT FOR EMSA REPORT (Chris Romano)

Enrollment Goals: EMSA froze Spring 2021 file on 2/13/21. We are having a strong semester. Grad enrollment was the strongest of all: 131% of its target. Many programs exceeded their projections. Undergraduate enrollment was 98% meaning Ramapo has met its 100%, overall. Program interest and enrollment information has been shared with deans. More student payment plans have been added. It has been a strong enrollment year, especially during a pandemic.

 

Total Number of Ramapo Students: We do not have a cap. There are first year and transfer goals, which contribute to the undergraduate total. Scott just enrolled 41 high school students taking a computer science class (dual high school/college enrollment). Graduate programs are done differently, as well. Elements reviewed: what is of interest in the market and how was enrollment last year? The 4+1 programs also contribute to increased enrollment. The budget does not drive enrollment numbers.

 

Comparison to Other NJ State Colleges and Private Schools: It is hard to get enrollment goals from other institutions. Nationally, the average school enrollment is down because of online learning fatigue, challenges in high school counseling, etc. Urban schools are suffering the most for enrollment. Nationally, colleges are down 40% in applications. New Jersey is 25-27% down, and Ramapo is 15% down. Applications to Ivy League schools remain the same while private schools’ enrollments are down the most. SUNY enrollment is down 20%. Applications have never been a primary indicator of enrollment. The common application allows students to easily apply to many schools. Ramapo does not have free applications. Most applicants choose to pay the $60 application fee; those who need assistance do not pay to apply. Two of 3 majors’ deadlines are done. Going test optional made a difference; students can be looked at more holistically. This helps CA and HGS as some students did not always do well in math. TAS enrollment has gone down, which has balanced programs a bit. Over than 200 deposits have been received which is equivalent to last year. We have accepted 50 more students than last year despite having fewer applications. The focus is on demonstrated interest. Ramapo is one of the few state schools offering tours during the week and on Saturday; these are booked through June. The important target is the total of May/June deposits. Early decision acceptances increased by one. Recruiting opportunities are reduced due to lack of in-person school and community events. Marketing is up.

 

Dorming: More students live on campus as compared with last semester?. We opted out of some sports related to COVID-19 risk so some athletes chose to not live on campus. There has been a fluctuation of 475-500 this year. We will target 1,200 residents for the fall, which allows one student per bedroom. 57% of first year students who have given deposits have expressed interest in dorming. 500 freshmen are planning and 700 higher classmen are anticipated. Priorities are freshman, EOF, foreign, geographically distant students, etc. Some dorming decisions will be based on which courses are offered in person.

 

CRW/EOF Decision: FAEC sent a letter to VP Romano and Provost Gaulden. We did not receive a reply and retain the same position that the move and eventual moving of these program was made without discussion by the previous Provost and CRW, at least, should be in Academic Affairs, where it was previously. Chris said there were assertions in the letter without data, which is untrue. Two assertions were based on who uses these and one argument was philosophical and how it was moved. There was no data used to move it to Student Affairs, a temporary move, thus why is there discussion of data to move it back? A request has been made to know which assertions are believed to be false.

 

There will be a meeting on Friday; Todd, the Provost and Dean Hangen will attend from Academic Affairs. This will be re-evaluated by the end of the year. The data behind the conversation is important. Who is using the CRW?  Friday’s meeting is about understanding the strategy of academic success at Ramapo and not about moving it back. A centralized resource for a variety of needs is not available at RCNJ. Students are sent to different places across campus to find out where to gain assistance other than CRW. FAEC does not disagree and feels this is an Academic Affairs discussion. A discussion was held about where this should lie and who would centralize these resources.

 

 

FAEC DISCUSSION 

Course Delivery Modes: Provost Gaulden distributed an email with very clear guidelines. There is much interest in in-person courses.

 

All of the above noted topics were discussed.

Meeting adjourned at 11:51am.

 

 

 

 

Categories: FAEC meeting Minutes 2021, RAMAPO FAEC, Uncategorized

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February 26, 2021Faculty Assembly Meeting, Feb 3, 2021

Faculty Assembly Minutes February 3, 2021

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

 

Meeting began at 2:17pm.

 

Assembly Minutes: December minutes will be approved via Qualtrics.

Guest: Provost Gaulden

Faculty Assembly President’s Report

New Meeting Format: Today’s meeting is being presented for open participation instead of an event to allow easier interaction. Please mute yourself upon joining the meeting. Please remain muted unless you are the speaker.

President Mercer: is unable to attend today. He is fine following an automobile accident.

SGA Rep: Angelina Farallo joined today.

BoT Chair Vallario: is attending. BoT members have been invited to attend Faculty Assembly meetings.

ARC Voting: will take place via Qualtrics.

January Faculty Assembly Retreat: A summary document has been distributed to the faculty and administration. The notes are also available on the FA website.

Faculty Handbook:  We discussed this at our last meeting. We are attempting to move this forward with the task force.

Presidential Search: This is ongoing. Naseem sends the faculty a link for the faculty presentation. The presidential website search has the links for the Town Halls.

 

 

PROVOST’S REPORT

Welcome:  Provost Gaulden welcomed us to the spring 2021 meeting.

Spring Operations Plan: This has been updated as of this morning with new language.

Cameras On: Students should meet with professors if they are unable to have a camera on. Be flexible and find ways to help students participate.

Recording Classes: This cannot be done with video unless the distributed release form has been completed and received from everyone.

Course Schedule:

•     App: Thank you to Scott Frees for creating the course modifications app. Paper no longer needs to be filled out. It will allow instantaneous updating in Banner. It is very difficult to set up courses in banner requiring 5+ steps for each change.
•     In-person courses: Labs and studio courses may need more in-person time. First year students would benefit from some on-campus in-person courses. Hybrids are encouraged with one day in-person/hybrid and the other synchronous allowing two courses to share a single class slot.
•     Cleaning of classrooms: CDC guidelines require specific cleaning between meetings limiting the number of available hybrid classrooms.
•     Fall 2021 Courses: While we do not know what is happening in September, we need to put a course schedule together. There are many unknowns. We will be able to make changes to course delivery methods as students will not commit to housing until August. Some forms of our course delivery methods will be retained after we return to normal.

Presently, many factors like CDC guidelines will inform how courses are delivered. Provost Gaulden has been receiving many suggestions from faculty. Once we are closer to normal, a task force may be involved. Students will be informed of the various course delivery formats.

In-person Room Priorities: Which courses will be prioritized? Enrollment was utilized to determine which classes needed the bigger rooms. Social distancing and wearing masks will be ongoing for the indefinite future. Unless one has a specific need for a larger room, speak with your dean.

Executive Order Requesting Remote Courses: How does this work with labs? K-12 parents can tell their district if their children will be fully remote. This executive order requires anyone who is immuno-compromised to be accommodated. What if a student does not want to come in? We cannot force a student to take an in-person course. Sometimes we can tell them to take another section or take it during another semester. We cannot tell them they cannot come to Ramapo College. We want all of our students to have their full academic experience.

Academic Integrity Concerns: There has been an increase in violations. Cheeg Study offers itself as a tutoring service; now they offer a premier option offering answers to questions within the hour. Unless a student uses a Ramapo email address, it is hard to know where those questions come from.

Hybrid Room Kits: These are working well.

 

Academic Review Committee Report (ARC): Chair Stephen Rice presented three proposals for faculty approval. 

ARC Voting Items

1. Name Change: M.S. in Educational Technology (MSET) to an M.S. in Contemporary Instructional Design.
2. New minor program in Graphic Communication
3. New graduate program: M.S. in Applied Math and
4. New graduate program: M.S. in Computer Science

 

Meeting Adjourned at 2:52pm.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: Uncategorized

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February 23, 2021FAEC Meeting Minutes, Feb 10th, 2021

FAEC MINUTES 2/10/21

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

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

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

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

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

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

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

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

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

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

Meeting with Interim-Provost Gaulden:

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

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

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

FAEC DISCUSSION

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

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

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

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

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

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

SARAH CARBERRY’S GECCo REPORT

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

JEFFREY ELSWORTH’S WAC REPORT

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

Meeting adjourned at 11:34am.

 

Categories: Uncategorized

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February 9, 2021FAEC Meeting Minutes, Jan 27, 2021

FAEC MINUTES 1/27/21

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

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:04am.

 Minutes Approval: The 12/2/20 minutes were approved.

 FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

 President Mercer:  President Choudhury and VP Frees will be meeting with President Mercer on Friday.

Provost Gaulden: President Choudhury met with the Provost.

Academic Integrity: Can we standardize this more across the college?

Fall 2021: What will be the delivery method(s) for fall 2021? In-person courses for the last few semesters were as follows: Fall: 100 courses, Spring 2021: 170-180 courses, Fall will likely be higher.

 Student evaluations: The email to remind faculty to encourage participation will be revised. Bullets that discuss incentivizing students and/or making evaluations part of assignments will be removed. 

AFT: Naseem will meet weekly with Martha Ecker, AFT Local President.

FAEC DISCUSSION

 Presidential Search: We discussed the candidates’ schedules and who would be attending from FAEC. A google document with possible questions will be solicited from faculty.

•       President Maria Gallo: Monday, Feb. 1 and Tuesday, Feb. 2
•       Dr. Lisa Vollendorf: Wednesday, Feb. 3 and Thursday, Feb.4
•       Dr. Cindy Jebb: Monday, Feb. 8 and Tuesday, Feb. 9
•       President Laurie Carter: Wednesday, Feb. 10 and Thursday, February 11

 https://www.ramapo.edu/presidential-search/finalists/

Faculty Handbook: We have waited a year and have not received anything. FAEC Task Force members are: Donna Flynn and Mia Serban. It seems unlikely we will have anything ready for a final vote this academic year.

 FA Bylaws: Members are Ed Shannon, Mia Serban, Christina Connor, and chairs of ARC, GECCo, and WAC, Steven Rice, Sarah Carberry, Jeff Elsworth, respectively. Revisions are needed. Discussions will be held in Unit Councils to start. Some sections are easier to revise and update.

 Covid-19 Testing & Missing Class: Naseem will follow up with Provost Gaulden regarding how this should be addressed; students have appointments with campus health services and need to miss classes. 

 College Archivist: FA may propose creating a position like this to keep records henceforth.

 Brown Bag Lunch Discussions: Perhaps we will introduce these to begin some discussions of topics between Faculty Forums.

 Student Academic Resources Support: Some students seem to not have been taught certain academic skills in high school. They would benefit from more campus resources.

 Academic Integrity Resources: The library has several resources to help students understand what is expected of them and why.

 https://www.ramapo.edu/library/citation-help/

https://ramapo.libwizard.com/f/FYSAITutorial

 Final Exam Schedule: The schedule is being revised.

 Graduation Applications: We have requested to have these streamlined.

 FA Funds: These will be donated to the student aid / relief, FAEC will contact Brittany Goldstein to begin this process.

Faculty Assembly: We will ask attendees to raise their hands, which will prioritize those individuals to the top of the participants’ screen so they can be called on.

 Faculty Retreat: A summary will be distributed.

Unit Council: Faculty should have Provost Council unit rep reports if they are not already being provided.

 Faculty Assembly: Chair of the Board of Trustees, Susan Vallario ,will be attending these meetings.

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:16pm.

 

Categories: Uncategorized

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February 2, 2021FAEC Dec 16, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 12/16/2020

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

 Guests: Ashwani Vasishth (SSHS)

 Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:04am.

 Minutes Approval: The 12/2/20 minutes were approved. 

 FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

 Meeting with President Mercer: Scott and Naseem had a brief meeting with the President. They thanked the President for limiting layoffs this semester even though even one round was too many.

 Meeting with Provost Gaulden:

 Provost Council: Faculty would benefit from reading the minutes and policies. An example of an important policy is about remote teaching and course delivery guidelines. Some policies were voted on. Items included number of credits for Latin Honors, course caps, concentrations versus tracks, etc. Clarification is needed regarding concentrations and tracks for course and program design by faculty,

 Student Evaluations:

•     This is not the same as the revised paper version; it is close but not the same. Hopefully, this will be fixed for next semester.
•     Janet Faber was going to organize a folder for each promotion candidate but Fall 2019 is missing due to a scanning issue. Naseem will check.

 Sabbatical Announcements: These were due 12/3. FDF announcements were due 12/11 and have been moved to 12/18.

 Committee Decision Rationales: The Provost will ask committees to have rationales for recommendations.

 Personnel Decisions: The Provost wants to make sure there is enough time and to know more about applications, reviews, how often candidates have previously applied, as well as the rank of applicants. She will ask questions and not rubber stamp. 

 Personnel Handbook: The meeting has not been scheduled nor has an email been sent. Possible that ER plans to submit a completed draft without input from faculty. 

Connect/Advisement/CSS: Who does advisement? We need to discuss this.

GUEST ASHWANI VASISHTH:

Sustainable Development Goals: A two-fold program curricular co-curricular hub idea was proposed. One is a UN sustainability plan to be achieved by 203: Sustainable Development Goals (STGs) A number of colleges are using STGs linking courses to these goals. Ex: If a student wants to study poverty, they would have a master list of courses relevant to this topic. Clubs can also be mapped to STGS to create alliances. A second part would be to reach out to Bergen County to include STGs as well. This would include business management. ASB is working hard on this.  A faculty presentation is being considered. SGA involvement is very important.

FAEC DISCUSSION

Advisement: Faculty accountability seems to be part of the agenda. Students have more resources than ever with U.Achieve. There are competing opinions about documenting on Connect, for example. We need to discuss this with the Provost.

Mandatory Diversity Training: Nicole Morgan Agard made an announcement at FA. Faculty has questions. Timely announcements are needed and not 2 days before Unit Council, which likely has an agenda. Many instructors, adjuncts, etc. do not come to Unit Council; this is not the best way to reach all. Naseem will email Nicole about the weaknesses of using Unit Council and to find another way to make these announcements.

Susan Vallario: She asked if she could come to the Faculty Assembly’s open meetings. She will be invited. She attends SGA meetings and others on campus.

FA Morale Fund: If we donate the funds, will we lose our budget for future in-person meetings? Naseem will talk to Brittany.

January Retreat: planning in progress. 

Meeting adjourned at 12:32am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: Uncategorized

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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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November 19, 2020FAEC Minutes, November 11, 2020

FAEC MINUTES
11/11/2020

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

Excused: Thierry Rakotobe-Joel

Guests: Martha Ecker (AFT Local President)

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

Minutes Approval: The  10/21/20, 10/28/20, and 11/4/20 minutes were approved.

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Personnel Processes Deadlines and Details: These have not been provided and are needed in order for the FA President to set up the spring schedule. The new dates require MOAs. The process by which packages will be submitted also needs an MOA.

FAEC DISCUSSION

Snow Days: What will the College’s policy be this year? These could be good for morale, especially in light of cancelled Spring Break. Make up assignments would be required as usual.

CRW Letter: Multiple groups have contributed to a letter being sent to President Mercer about the needs of our students from the Center for Reading and Writing as relevant to specific courses, and students, overall, in light of diminished support for this important student service.

Help Desk:

·      A meeting will be held with Robert Doster about faculty needs. FAEC will send representatives.

·      Can students seek help with VPN and such issues from the Help Desk? Faculty have been told requests have not received responses.

Canvas: This is linked to Banner in keeping accurate student access to currently enrolled students, only. Also, will we be getting a more advanced version of Canvas with additional options available?

Faculty Retreat: Should we have this as well as a Faculty Forum? Perhaps we could have one and not both? Topic suggestions will be solicited at Unit Council next week.

Student Survey Responses: FAEC agreed to distribute to faculty.

U.Achieve: 4 year plan. Who should be developing these plans? They should be completed by faculty advisors.

AFT LOCAL PRESIDENT REPORT
Furlough Days:  We await final dates from HR.
HR/ER: Clarification is needed about who is responsible for what and timely guidelines and information are needed. The AFT President has sent a letter to President Mercer about specific concerns.
Promotion Guidelines: Information is needed regarding what should be submitted in an application and how. A new submission process requires an MOA. When will the number of promotion opportunities be known? Friday, 11/13/2020,  is currently the deadline and the faculty does not have information.

 

Meeting adjourned at 11:45am.

 

 

 

Categories: Uncategorized

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November 17, 2020FAEC Minutes October 21, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 10/21/2020

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

Guests: Sarah Carberry (GECCo Chair), Virginia Galdieri (HR), Janet Faber (ER)

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

Minutes Approval: The 10/14/20 minutes were approved.

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Spring Schedule: Naseem met with the Provost. Corrections to the schedule are being made. Confusion around terminology, course descriptions and meeting dates persist.

Graduate Council Rep: Faculty voted and Ashwani Vasishth (SSHS) has been elected to this position.

Survey Voting Feedback: Anonymous feedback has been received asking why it seems the same faculty members serve in so many capacities while others do not. The concern here can be read as a worry that some have too much input. Efforts for equity should be made.

SARAH CARBERRY (GECCo)

A discussion regarding assessment and participation in the assessment process ensued. Questions regarding the role of GECCo, administration, and what is acceptable as part of the assessment process is being discussed. For instance, in the past, GECCo had been told syllabus audits were not acceptable for assessment. The current administration has reversed this policy. Different categories find more or less assessment information provided by adjuncts. It is hoped working remotely might make this more possible for them. The Provost has some funds to help adjuncts who wish to be on the assessment committee (not for submitting their requested course information).

Connect Integration with Canvas: Issues with Connect persist. Gradebook data has been open to staff outside the classroom. This leads to confusion and misinformation, as well as privacy issues

Canvas Notifications: If Canvas modifications are made, some students are receiving emails for each. They should be informed to modify their notifications to no longer receive them.

Tech Support: If the system involving urgent requests to the dean to contact Robert .

Access Program:  Proposed bookstore subscription system. Students would pay a set amount for a subscription and get their textbooks for that price. Current plans are for an “opt out” model. This could lead to inequity. Some courses have few if any textbooks. This also goes against the campus goal, with the State’s encouragement, to provide open access/free texts. This did not work well with healthcare; many paid because they did not know how to opt out. We strongly recommend an “opt in” model if this goes forward.

Financial Aid: Students have reported the requirement to buy their textbooks from the bookstore which is more expensive than many other online book distributors.

BoT Fiscal Responsibility: FAEC engaged in a conversation about the BoT and their fiscal responsibilities to the college.

COPLAC: Some of our courses will be open to other COPLAC schools.

Service:  How do new faculty members find suitable committees to serve on towards their tenure applications and after?

Convener Roles: This was originally about scheduling but now there are more and more expectations of free labor. ASB has a wonderful mentoring process.

Guests: Virginia Galdieri and Janet Faber

Faculty Handbook:  The taskforce needs to be re-energized. HR/ER committed to submitting a rough draft by  February.

-FAEC asked if there can be a road map. This is a collaborative process; faculty has a wealth of knowledge about this process going back decades.

-Virginia stated it is likely revisions can be ready for review by March and April. Naseem noted prioritizing and releasing sections across the semester would be helpful as it will take 2-3 Faculty Assembly meetings for everyone to vote.

Personnel Committees: How can faculty mirror their hard copy binders and submit everything digitally for promotions, etc. Promotions is coming up mid-November. Guidance is needed prior to submission.

Electronic Submissions: The sections did not break down when more recently tried. Many submissions did mirror a binder. The committee consensus said it was ok from the outside but it was not broken down. This was a problem with scanning.

-FAEC is requesting that the personnel procedures be announced, so faculty can prepare their digital application packages.  Concerns about who has access to digital applications was also relayed?  Typically, faculty may see their colleague’s applications, and typically changes can be applied while the applications are still within the Unit.  These access issues must be clarified quickly.

Several FAEC members listed software applications that are commonly used for similar document tracking activities:

• Sedona
• Interfolio
• Weave

Meeting adjourned at 12:19pm

Categories: Uncategorized

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October 7, 2020FAEC Minutes Sept 23, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 9/23/2020 

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

Guests: Virginia Galdieri (Assistant Vice President of Human Resources; HR), Janet Faber (Assistant Director, Employee Relations & Faculty Services (AFT; HR)

Vote to begin meeting to order at 10:04am.

Minutes Approval: The 9/9/20 minutes were approved. One abstention. The 9/16/20 minutes were approved.

Councilor-at-Large Over 11: We have two candidates. The vote will go out on Monday. A quorum will require a minimum of 50 votes. The candidates are: Bonnie Blake and Alexandre Olbrecht.

As a future discussion:  The roles of the Councilors at large needs to be defined. Should these be tenured/untenured, other time breakdowns (less than 15 years and over), etc.

President’s Council: The President’s Committee On Campus Sustainability (PCCS)- Dr. Ashwani Vasishth has been the chair. Dr. Vasishth was notified by President Mercer he would no longer be chair. Faculty have a unique opportunity to push for more sustainability practices than Facilities or another campus group due to job security. Faculty on PCCS believe it is essential to have a faculty chair.  Dr. Vasishth asked that FA support having a faculty member as the chair of this and be in charge of the committee? FAEC feedback was invited. Some examples are below:

• An example was given about recycling bound journals from the library. Facilities said it was too expensive to remove the bindings for recycling. Dr. Vasishth asked for a few students to be hired and very inexpensively to prepare the volumes for recycling. This could have been a press opportunity showing student volunteers doing this to maintain our sustainability mission.
• Sustainable and beneficial trees should be planted as recommended by the committee; instead, others have been planted, which die, requiring reinvestment. Expertise about sustainability should be utilized.
• The FA President and Vice President will ask President Mercer to consider during his last year to not make these changes before a new president is installed in less than a year. What are the bylaws, how are decisions made for presidential committees?
• Can the PCCS be moved from under the President as sustainability issues have changed since it was established and perhaps another body on campus can do more? The committee can seek members with expertise from all campus bodies and address this under FA, for example.

Good News:

• Pre-requisites: The pre-requisite issue is being resolved by the Registrar regarding students being dropped from courses due to pre-requisite courses not having been completed or passed. This semester will be a trial period following the recommendations of TAS. The goal is to remove from faculty the need to find out who was missing the pre-req and should be in their class.
  
• ITS immediate issues: Contact your dean, who will contact Rob, who will dispatch immediate assistance. This means the dean would need to give their cell numbers to all faculty and adjuncts in their units.
  

SGA: Would like information on how to access help for mental health issues included in all syllabi. ARC is in discussion with SGA regarding this.

Spring Schedule:  The Provost is finalizing the spring schedule. There are 200 live classes and a variety of formats will be used for the others.

Spring Break: It is possible spring break may be cancelled this year to allow faculty to have more time to prep for the spring during a longer winter break while also minimizing the risk of students leaving campus for spring break and bringing COVID-19 back upon return.

ITS Issues: Assistant Dean Kathy Burke has been advocating with ITS for assistance in the Respondus exam process. For the moment, Jefferson Sampson will be available by phone for the indefinite future. A shortage of student assistants (due to student job budget cuts) has resulted in great delays and the needs for more immediate response opportunities. There is a proposal to divide help desk requests into urgent and non-urgent. Is there a hotline number we can call if something is happening in class and must be addressed immediately? Contact your dean for the immediate future regarding urgent ITS needs (such as in-class tech issues).

HR Report by Virginia Galdieri and Janet Faber:

Promotion Process: All of the binders have been scanned to make the process electronic. Candidates’ can give their final approval of their binders by the end of day tomorrow; at least 7 of 9 have approved.

Spring 2020 Promotion Schedule: 

• Candidates complete their electronic application by close of business tomorrow.
• Committee reviews 9 applications through 9/29 and will be asked to meet on 9/30.
• Then allow candidates to submit additional information.

Virginia will send an email to see if this schedule is viable. It is hard to fit another committee into the fall schedule: Sabbatical, Tenure, FDF are already taking up most Wednesday meeting slots. Since we are working remotely, it may be possible to have meetings on other days at other times.

Once the committee begins, candidates cannot add further information to their application packets.

10/14 or 10/15 might be the deadline for adding anything to the tenure packages.

Virginia will ask if the tenure committee can have an extension. The HR calendar is coordinated with others on campus. Perhaps working backwards from the final deadline will provide more time than the 9/29 deadline for the Promotions Committee from the last academic year. The committee will be solicited.

Faculty Handbook: Can this be revised this academic year? In our digital world, much is not addressed in the handbook. Units function differently.

• A timeline is needed. The last Faculty Assembly meeting will be in April, at which we would vote. A final draft received by February or March would be very helpful.
• The promotions section is almost ready for the committee to review.
• There should be guidelines about digital binders and remote committee meetings.
• It is planned to reconvene the faculty handbook task force by the middle of October.

Faculty Handbook Concerns: 

• Streamlining rules for how to conduct promotion and other votes; in some schools one can vote for oneself. In other units, the candidate leaves the room and cannot vote in support of their own application. If someone has a partner in a unit, should they stay in the room while their significant other is being discussed? The Faculty Handbook is silent regarding these and other matters.
• Guidelines for applications for promotions to different ranks are unclear or missing in the handbook. Some details are in the checklist but not in the handbook. If the checklist is not known to an applicant, their handbook may be missing peer observations or something else. This compromises their application due to the gaps in the handbook.

Meeting adjourned at 11:57am.

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC, Uncategorized

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September 26, 2020FAEC Minutes Sept 16, 2020

FAEC MINUTES 9/16/2020 

Present: Roark Atkinson (HGS), Naseem Choudhury (President), Katie Cohen (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11), Scott Frees (TAS), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Lisa Lutter, (CA), Thierry Rakotbe-Joel (ASB), Mihaela Serban (SSHS),  Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11)  

Guests: Sarah Carberry (GECCo) and Stephen Rice (ARC)

Vote to begin meeting to order at 10:06am.

Minutes Approval: The 9/9/20 minutes will be approved at the next meeting.

Faculty Assembly Qualtrics Votes: GECCo and the Councilor-at-large over 11 positions will be voted on by the faculty via Qualtrics.

Targeted List for Faculty and Adjuncts: Naseem will be working with other campus constituencies to make sure we have a completely up-to-date list. There is a great need to have an easily accessible and up-to-date list at all times from administration.

Graduate Council: Scott Frees is the chair of the committee. We need clarification of the FA role and we should have an FA member who is involved with graduate programs. Ashwani Vasishth has volunteered.

SGA: We will invite the president of the student government to come to Faculty Assembly. Our Unit Council meetings are at the same time as those of SGA. FAEC members will rotate attending SGA meetings.

Student Insurance: The opt out option was confusing to students as there was also mention of revisiting this in the spring; it should be once each year except for new students who come to Ramapo College in the spring. There were conflicting explanations and information given to students regarding the health insurance billing and opt-out procedures, which must be addressed. 

Spring 2021: We do not yet know what the spring will be like regarding the number of face-to-face courses. Naseem will seek clarification.

Committees on campus: Naseem will see who is serving in the following committees each of which should have a 2-year term: Mission Fulfillment Committee, Human Capital and Financial Resources Committee, and the Audit Committee. Clarification is needed of whether tenured faculty should serve on these. 

Committees: The campus has many committees at many levels, charged by different bodies on campus and it would be helpful to have a central location with an up-to-date master list with the members identified.

EOF/CRW: Provost Gaulden and Vice President of Enrollment Management Chris Romano notified Faculty Assembly President Naseem Choudhury of a faculty liaison position that will be created for the CRW; the person hired for this combined position would handle the management part of CRW. This means we will not have a director of the CRW; it is no longer part of the budget. 

ARC: 

• ● Stephen Rice, ARC Chair will work closely with FAEC. Two of the unit representatives are new to the committee. Meetings will be on Wednesdays at 11am. Stephen is working with Sarah Carberry to streamline the online submission of materials. Signature management is needed. Hyland is a document management system, not yet operational. The committee will use Google Drive folders until it is. The ARC manual will be reviewed for revisions with a particular focus on procedures. Stephen will work with Naseem. ARC’s presence in the bylaws does include functions not currently being performed. Perhaps WAC and GECCo should also be included in the ARC bylaws. Another goal is to make the submission process easier.
• ● 3/1 Programs: Under Provost Becker, these were called ongoing programs and not new. 

3/1 Programs: Naseem is part of the Psychology 3/1 committee, which worked with our partner institution to ensure the curriculum they cover is comparable to the courses we have here. Some courses are easy substitutions. There are other courses like Research Methods they are not set up to teach.

New Gen Ed: Part of the goal was to make GECCo a standing committee per the GECCo bylaws. It is not in the FA bylaws. In some ways GECCo is an FA committee running parallel to ARC doing pre-reviews. There is a bit of overlap. The ARC bylaws say GECCo reports to ARC. The ARC bylaws need to be revised. 

Bylaws: The various bylaws of major committees need to be reviewed, updated, and synchronized. This will be a big project. In particular, these will concern the relationship of WAC, ARC and GECCo. This will involve a conversation with the Provost. Ed Shannon (FAEC), WAC Chair (TBA), Stephen Rice (ARC), and Sarah Carberry (GECCo) will work with Mia Serban (FAEC) on coordination.

Mission Fulfillment:  This is a BoT subcommittee attending specifically to the activities of: Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, Institutional Advancement, and Student Affairs. There is one faculty member, Stephen Rice, who has had his first orientation and was invited because he is the ARC Chair. The following document describes the three BoT subcommittees faculty participate in:  https://www.ramapo.edu/board/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2018/05/Committee-Charter-ao-April-30-2018.pdf

Strategic Resources Allocation Budget (SRAB) Committee: Sarah Carberry is the only faculty representative. This committee makes budget recommendations to Cabinet. At least one more budgeting expert faculty member might be a beneficial addition joining Sarah. The following document contains information about this committee:  https://www.ramapo.edu/iec/srab/

Personnel Issues: These seem to be resolving and dates are appearing for the different committees.

Meeting adjourned at 11:57am.

Categories: FAEC MEETING MINUTES 2020, RAMAPO FAEC, Uncategorized

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