FAEC Meetings Minutes, November 3, 2021

FAEC MINUTES
11/3/21

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

Guests: President Cindy Jebb, Interim-Provost Susan Gaulden

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

Minutes Approval: The 10/27/21 minutes were approved. 

FA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Role of Faculty Assembly President: Questions brought to FAEC are addressed with the relevant campus constituencies.

Dean Searches: This semester there are ongoing searches for the Dean of the Library and the Dean of CA. Next year there will be national searches for the TAS and HGS deans (as both are currently interim deans). The deans of SSHS and ASB are permanent deans.

Provost Council: Provost Gaulden announced the dean searches and one for the Director of the Gross Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies as Michael Riff is retiring.

Course Delivery Modes Working Group: Representatives of FAEC and SGA will meet with Provost Gaulden tomorrow to discuss composition of the working group as well as timeline and other issues.

Provost’s Council Policies: Revised version of Policy 300T dealing with online/virtual delivery will be available soon for review.  Provost’s Council is in the process of updating all of its policies to align with current practices.

All-College Meetings During FA: The All-College Sabbatical Committee is scheduled to meet during FA, and there are many such examples. This is a difficult problem to address, but it must be addressed so that faculty are not excluded from participating and voting at Faculty Assembly.

FAEC DISCUSSION

IT Report: 3 weeks ago Bonnie and Thierry met with Rob Doster.

DUO: We have been using DUO to allow remote VPN access. The use might be expanded for library access when off-campus.

Banner Upgrade: Banner’s current 2008 system is being upgraded to Oracle. There might be some disruption in the availability of Banner on 11/20-21. Rob will make the announcement. ITS might consider connecting Canvas to the Registrar’s system for final grades. There are ways to make this connection. This is in the works to avoid faculty manual grade entry.

Office Laptops Instead of Desktops: ITS is considering replacing each faculty office desktop with a laptop and docking station. This would lead to higher utilization by faculty who also work from home. This may require a phased in process.

Faculty Handbook: Faculty Assembly voting was reviewed.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Economic Impact of NJASCU: President Jebb shared positive data from Trenton about the impact of Ramapo College, as well as the other six NJASCU schools, on the State economy. Ramapo was recognized as the 2nd highest in lifetime return on investment (career-long earning gains vs tuition).

Needs Statement: We need to focus on this approach to raising capital, as we are unsure of the State’s future contributions to the College’s budget. The State provided 70% of our budget in the 1990’s, and now provides only 25%.

Evening Dining Facilities for Faculty: Provost Gaulden followed up with The Pandemic Assessment Team, which is reviewing the Birch Tree Inn policies. It is likely that $11 to-go meals will be made available for faculty this semester. The policy will change for next semester based upon the recommendations of the Pandemic Assessment Team.

Search Committees: It would be great to have broader participation on search committees. Provost Gaulden recalled Nicole Morgan Agard’s (Chief Equity & Diversity Officer) email from last year which sought anyone interested in serving on a search committee. Diversity in search committees is the goal. Provost Gaulden puts together a first proposed committee, which is then reviewed by Nicole with various considerations in mind (such as whether someone is serving on another search committee, balancing of ranks, etc.). 

Remembrance Day: This is being held today and is a very important tradition at our College.

Founders Day: Founders and pioneers will be invited.

Be Kind: It is important that we all take a moment to breathe.

PROVOST’S REPORT

Learning Commons: 7 of 9 tenants are under the purview of AA

Course Delivery Working Group: The present planned composition of the working group (subject to change) includes: 2 deans, 2 FAEC members or designees, and 1 faculty member from each unit (including  the Library). Tenure is not required of faculty but they must be tenure track and not temporary. In addition, the Chair of the Graduate Council, a designee from the Office of the Registrar, a CSS representative, a representative from International Education, another from EDIC, one from OSS, and a non-voting representative from SGA (who may not be included in every meeting if sensitive topics, such as personnel issues, arise) will be included. The goal is to finalize the membership by 11/10 or 11/17 at the latest. In order to implement changes in Fall 2022, a first draft from the working group would be needed by the end of January or early February. The process will be deliberative and comprehensive. There might not be enough time to implement it in the fall, in which case we will target Winter 2022/Spring 2023 implementation.

Meeting adjourned at 12:07pm.

Categories: FAEC meeting Minutes 2021, RAMAPO FAEC, Uncategorized