FA Minutes 4/2/25

Faculty Assembly Meeting Minutes
April 2, 2025
1:00 pm
Alumni Lounges

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.

Meeting minutes taken by FA Secretary Matthew Jobrack.

Agenda:

Approval of Minutes (2/26/2025)

Reports:

Faculty Assembly President’s Report: (slides)

• Announcement of upcoming Faculty Awards Ceremony
• Announcement of dates for upcoming student research showcase events
• Spring 2025 RCNJ Leadership Survey will be sent out by the end of the week
• Ramapough Munsee Indigenous Partnership Project Scholarship announcement
• Assessment workshops on April 9 and April 16 at 1pm

Provost’s Report:

• Thank you to presenters and attendees of Faculty Scholarship Symposium Series this AY; will be continued next year
• Liberal Arts Curriculum Task Force
  • Thank you to current members of the task force
  • Currently meeting weekly on Friday mornings
  • Charge for this task force and reports from previous task forces are available on Provost’s website
• Acknowledgement of faculty scholarship and teaching achievements
• Faculty Awards Ceremony on April 9 at 3pm: Thomases Award to Stephen Rice (HGS) and Provost’s Service Award to Catalin Martin (TAS)

College President’s Report:

• Acknowledgements of faculty work
  • Encouragement of faculty to attend Ramapo athletic events
  • Successful Civic Engagement Teach-in on March 27; next teach-in on April 22
  • Successful Relay for Life event
  • Successful Admitted Student Day
• Fiscal Year 2026 budget updates
  • Update on state higher-ed budget situation
  • Upcoming feasibility study on donor campaigns
• Fireside chat and Q & A with President Jebb and Charlie Lewis on “Humanity in the Age of AI & Cybersecurity” on April 7, 1pm, as part of the Presidential Speaker Series
• Thank you to Edward Saiff for work as Dean of TAS
• Question and answer session with faculty

Announcements:

• FYS Updates (slides)
  Peter Campbell, FYS Director
• Transition from U.Achieve to Degree Works and Implementation of CourseDog Catalog/Curriculum Platform (slides)
  Vanessa Arriola, Interim Assistant Provost for Administration, Budget and Planning
  Jeneen Kelly, Registrar

Presentations/Discussion Items:

• Faculty Handbook Revision Committee
  Handbook Revision and Sabbatical Program – Progress Report (slides)
  Ken McMurdy, FHRC Co-chair
  • Addressed parking lot issues from last AY
  • Partially addressed issues from faculty survey
  • Progress on sections regarding evaluation of service and scholarship
  • Sabbatical policy updates toward non-competitive model
  • Question and answer session

Formal meeting adjourned at 2:45 pm. Followed by General Education Town Hall event, led by GECCo, including:

• Presentation and discussion of Faculty Gen Ed Survey results
• Facilitated round table discussions and feedback gathering

Slides for the Town Hall presentation are available here.

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