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Faculty Assembly

September 24, 2023FAEC MINUTES 09/13/2023

FAEC MINUTES 09/13/2023

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Monika Giacoppe (Councilor-at-Large), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Councilor-at-Large), Stephen Larson (ASB), Elizabeth Siecke (Library)

*FAEC secretary position is currently open. Meeting minutes taken by Dean Chen.

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

Meeting with Jenn Hicks McGowan, Janelle Evans (POER):

Explained faculty personnel processes and clarified which processes fall under old handbook vs. new handbook for this academic year.
Highlighted some key changes made to the Faculty Handbook
- Common application form for career development, FSF, and sabbatical is now fillable and writable.
- Common application form requires the applicant to initial the pledge statement. (Renewed emphasis on follow-up reporting.)
Key dates reminder: career development training on 9/18; promotions info session on 9/21; and Faculty Handbook concerns will be discussed on 10/18.

Approval of FAEC Minutes (9/6)

FA President’s Report:

Planned FAEC visitors: Rob Doster (ITS), Shannon DeCicco (President, SGA), Eric Wiener and Lisa Lutter (Campus Facilties Master Plan TF)
AFT will co-sponsor FA social event on 11/8.
Cory Rosenkranz will make a short presentation at FA on RCNJ Roadrunner Collegiate Recovery Program.
Student textbook concern: if not available at bookstore, students may not be able to use financial aid to cover the expense.

FAEC Discussion:

CAP Town Hall: Will take place on 9/20 from 2:45-4:00 in ASB-136. Last forum prior to FA endorsement vote on 10/4. Survey is also open until 9/21 (midnight).
ARC Manual Revisions: Open forum at 2pm on 10/4 (after FA) to discuss possible changes to curriculum review process, as introduced at last FA. Vote on revisions would take place at 11/8 FA. In the meantime, we are following the existing process.
Voting Methods: Will coordinate with Mike Yankovich and Alexia Mavros to make the swipe-in process more efficient. Otherwise, the piloted method appears to be the best way to facilitate in-meeting/real-time voting while adhering to the restrictions of the bylaws.

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

September 17, 2023FAEC MINUTES 09/06/2023

FAEC MINUTES 09/06/2023

Excused Absence: Elizabeth Siecke (Library)

*FAEC secretary position is currently open. Meeting minutes taken by Dean Chen.

Vote to bring meeting to order at 10:05 am.

FA President’s Report:

Power Outage: Due to ongoing power outages on campus since 9/5/2023, the 1 pm FA meeting will be moved to H-129.
Mackin-Bischoff Parking: Public Safety is still assessing student parking needs and will announce an updated policy soon. FAEC will continue to stress the importance of faculty parking in this location.
Campus Facilities Master Plan: BOT approval now targeted for January 2024, in order to take into account the Comprehensive Academic Plan and additional feedback.

FAEC Discussion:

ITS: John and Amruth will continue to meet regularly with Rob Doster (ITS) in order to address faculty technology concerns.
Faculty Handbook: New handbook is now live on the POER website. FAEC will reach out to POER to request clarification on which guidelines should be followed for various personnel processes.

Meeting with President Jebb and Provost Middleton:

Discussion of agenda items for 1 pm Faculty Assembly meeting
- Comprehensive Academic Plan (CAP)
- Possible revisions to curriculum review process
- Faculty forum for under 11 faculty with Jeff Ellsworth
- President Jebb’s planned report
- Provost Middleton’s planned report
Need for improved marketing for specific programs
Need for increased funding for faculty travel due to rising conference/travel costs
Need for continued funding for student aids

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

May 2, 2023FA Minutes 04/26/23

Faculty Assembly Meeting
April 26, 2023
1:00 pm
Friends Hall

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

FA President’s Update (Ken McMurdy):

Leadership survey: within a couple days
Bite-Sized Research Talks
FA Socials were positive

President’s Update (Cindy Jebb):

Provided an overview of the many positive and encouraging matters that have recently transpired at the college.
Last year’s legislative add-ons have been included in the general state budget, therefore will not be done to be as add-ons in future years.
Discussion of the upcoming Arching and graduation ceremonies.

Provost’s Update (Michael Middleton):

Welcome and inspirational vision of where we can all go together to raise the college as we move forward together. Emphasizes the importance of building trust and continuing to lean into the values of the liberal arts.

Awards Ceremony:

Jack Richardson’s Award: Roark will announce the winner – Dr. Dean Chen! Congratulations!

Provost’s Service Award: Ken Goldstein and Michael Middleton will announce the winner – Dr. Stephanie Sarabia! Congratulations!

FA Faculty Service Award: Ken McMurdy will announce the winner – Dr. Stephanie Sarabia! Congratulations!

Parking Update: Sharon McLaurin and Nicole Morgan-Agard – the parking situation in Mackin and Bishoff is still being reviewed. Student population is increasing.

WAC Presentation: Mike Unger and Paula Straile-Costa – our students are reporting writing more than our sister institutions and our students are writing more than they have in the past.

Academic Master Plan: Stephanie Sarabia presenting – AMPTF will be distributing a qualtrics survey. Survey will be open until May 30th. Please provide feedback, thank you!

GECCo (Sarah Carberry): Presentation of voting matters. Overview of GECCO matters.

FAEC: under 11 all-college representative election – Jeff Ellsworth

Call for FAEC Secretary: Please volunteer – no need to be tenured

Motion Raised:

Malavika raises a motion to void the vote regarding the Graduate Certificate for Business Foundations due to technical irregularities where the qualtrics showed a ballot being disseminated accurately in the distribution history and yet the individual did not receive the ballot. In some situations, multiple attempts were made to send a ballot to an individual and it would still not appear in the person’s email. Everyone who raised an issue with FAEC regarding the lack of a ballot had their vote included. However, not everyone who was missing a ballot realized they were missing the vote.
Motion was raised and seconded. It was determined a vote was not necessary and that the previous electronic vote regarding the graduate certificate was invalid because it violated FA Bylaws because it was distributed to the entire FA voting membership and had not been properly presented to FA to begin with.
Upon reflection and discussion, determination was made that the recent vote on the program proposal for a graduate certificate for business foundations was invalid due to violations of the FA bylaws.

Meeting adjourned at 2:40pm

Categories: Uncategorized

April 25, 2023FA Minutes 04/05/23

Faculty Assembly Meeting
April 5, 2023
1:00 pm
Trustees Pavilion

Agenda

Approval of Minutes (03/08/2023)

Reports:

Faculty Assembly President’s Report:

Discussion of Facilities Master Plan.
Bylaw Revisions are being worked on
Seeking an at-large member
Transition from interim provost to new provost
April 12 memorial service: Mary Ellen Allison

College President’s Report:

Discussion of admitted students day
Discussion of NJASCU
Discussion of a Ramapo student who recently won a Fulbright Scholarship
Discussion of Ramapo sports teams
Discussion of the formation of the Integrated Calendar Task Force, presentation of the charge

Jenn Hicks-McGowen:

President’s Staff Recognition Award: please nominate people now until April 30. Three awards: Staff, Team, Leadership

Announcements:

Earth Day – Neriko Doerr: Farm to Table! April 18, H Wing Auditorium, there will be a series of lectures and much more going on! Please participate 🙂 Healthy world, healthy eating

Presentations/Discussion Items:

Campus Facilities Master Plan – Mike Yankovich (Interim Vice President for Operational & Administrative Integration): overview and explanation of what will likely be coming out of the campus facilities master plan. Emphasized stewardship of the campus built environment for the benefit of future generations. Reviewed college’s prior campus facilities master plan and guiding principles for the current campus facilities master plan task force.

April 26 and April 27 there will be more open sessions for community engagement
June: initial drafting
August: final draft* (depending on interaction with academic master plan)

Academic Master Plan – Stephanie Sarabia, Ken Goldstein: Update on the progress of the academic master plan task force.

ARC Annual Report / Q & A – David Oh (ARC Chair): Thanked committee members for their service. Discussion of enhancing software to facilitate the process.

Voting Items:

New Program Approval: Graduate Certificate in Business Foundations – Juan Cabrera (MBA Program Director), David Oh (ARC Chair): Presentation of the proposed certificate.

Integrated Calendar Task Force: Election of FA Representatives: Five candidates standing for two positions: Tae Yang Kwak, Lysandra Perez-Strumolo, Carrie Miller, John Peffer and Debbie Yuster.

Meeting adjourned: 2:30pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

April 19, 2023FAEC MINUTES 04/05/23

FAEC MINUTES 04/05/23

Present: Ken McMurdy (President), Elizabeth Siecke (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malavika Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Monika Giacoppe (Councilor-at-Large for Part Time Faculty), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Councilor-at-Large for under 11 years position is currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit.

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

FA President’s Report:

Updated FAEC

FAEC Discussion:

Discussion of Podium discussion.
Discussion of the FA Meeting in the afternoon. FA votes that are upcoming.
Revisited discussion of leadership survey.
Discussion of social event
Discussion of room distribution for classes.
Discussion of additional follow-up from Morale Survey.
Discussion of feedback from faculty regarding proposed bylaw changes.

Visitor:

Visitors: N/A

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

April 19, 2023FAEC MINUTES 3/29/2023

FAEC MINUTES 3/29/2023

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Monika Giacoppe (Councilor-at-Large)

Excused absence: Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary); Malavika Sundararajan (ASB); Elizabeth Siecke (Library)

*Meeting minutes taken by Dean Chen

*One Councilor-at-Large position is currently open.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:05am.

Approved FAEC meeting minutes from 3/22
FA President Ken McMurdy’s Report:
1. Virginia Galdieri (POER) said there will be greater clarification for Career Development Fund (CDF) guidelines in the new Faculty Handbook. FAEC still needs to investigate whether faculty on sabbatical is eligible for CDF; Virginia noted that faculty on sabbatical cannot get funding/compensation exceeding their salary.
2. Combined Social for FA and RSA on 4/26; FAEC is still planning for a social on the Arching Day
3. Podium Global Technology Virtual Internship Opportunity (INTD-290)
  1. The course will begin as a topic course but will need to go through ARC for formal approval next year. However, since it is a topic course (INTD), not an internship course/coop course (like AIID-380), concerns are raised that INTD-290 is not overseen by Ramapo faculty, essentially outsourcing curriculum to an external entity.
  2. FAEC will invite Deans Susan Hangen and Ed Petkus to FAEC meeting next Wed (4/5) to address some of these concerns and issues relating to INTD-290.
4. Campus Facilities Master Planning: faculty feedback will be collected by FAEC unit reps and put into a report, which will then be shared with the Anser Consulting Team in mid-April.
Faculty Assembly meeting on 4/5
1. ARC chair’s report will be sent to all faculty before the FA meeting.
  1. FA will vote on a graduate certificate program.
  2. ARC manual revision will be discussed.
Meeting with Melissa Van Der Wall (Dean of Students; VP for Students Wellbeing)
1. Student carpool support (Eddie Seavers of Center Student Involvement is working with his team): Use the Archway APP (a student’s community engagement tool) for information on carpools.
2. Are there precautions taken to ensure there is no prejudice or bias or cliquish behavior in fraternities and sororities? Amanda Riehl (Assistant Director for Student Involvement) is overseeing these clubs, fraternities and sororities, requiring training for members to prevent bad conduct and behaviors (i.e., discrimination, hazing, bullying-related activities, etc.).
3. Are there preferences given to student athletes, even if they behave aggressively with other students? There is no special treatment given to student athletes. All student aggressive behaviors will be reported to Public Safety and subject to further disciplinary actions.
4. Is the Food quality monitored for dining services? For example, is it intentional that the orange juice dispenser dispenses water and orange juice? Food quality is monitored and will continue to be improved.
5. Morale survey follow up:
  1. Students seem to become more unprepared and anxious after the pandemic (loss of resilience, unprepared, inability to solve problems, lack of communication, study skills).
  2. College needs to reengage students through co-curricular activities, provide remedial education, mandatory wellness programs and emotional support to help our students.

Categories: Uncategorized

April 19, 2023FAEC MINUTES 3/22/2023

FAEC MINUTES 3/22/2023

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), Monika Giacoppe (Councilor-at-Large)

Excused absence: Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Meeting minutes taken by Dean Chen

*One Councilor-at-Large position is currently open.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:05am.

FA President Ken McMurdy’s Report:

– Bischoff/Mackin parking lot: FA president spoke with Sharon McLaurin (Director, Public Safety) about email regarding the review of faculty and staff parking in these lots. Sharon had initiated the review as the parking lot was listed as student parking and was not aware of the history in terms of the agreement. She has assured the FA president that all faculty and staff may continue to park there and if such a review should be considered, it will begin with a conversation with all staff and faculty first in Fall semester.

– FA president will request the college to formally change the Bischoff/Mackin parking lot listing from students parking lot to faculty/staff/students’ lot).

– Inviting Mellissa Van Der Wall to FAEC next Wed (3/29) to talk about student wellness.

– Meeting with the Provost on 3/20: FA President and VP sought greater clarification regarding the Career Development Funding (CDF) decisions; Ken also consulted with Maxim Goldberg-Rugalev. It was concluded that POER should review the CDF applications over the past few years and if there was any faculty that was denied CD funding because they were on sabbatical, it would need to be retrofixed, as the faculty handbook does not explicitly state that those on sabbaticals cannot receive CD funding. It was suggested that the new Faculty Handbook should clearly delineate the standards and rules pertaining to what qualifies for CDF, FDF, Foundation, TAR, Platinum Funding, and Shomburg.

– Shared-Governance Meeting on 3/20: President Jebb will charge a new Task Force this semester to begin looking at the Yearly Calendar (this task force is not about changing the daily class schedule) to build in Wellness Days and, possibly, more common hours.

– FA President McMurdy received feedback and suggestions from FAEC members and will communicate them with the president.

– ARC’s annual report will be shared with faculty prior to the FA on April 5.

– The ARC chair will also be available at the FA for Q&A.

– ARC is also proposing some changes to the by-laws, which will be presented at the FA.

– Meeting with Anser Consulting Team, and Eric Wiener and Lisa Lutter on Campus Facilities Master Plan.

Categories: Uncategorized

April 19, 2023FAEC MINUTES 03/08/23

FAEC MINUTES 03/08/23

*Councilor-at-Large for under 11 years position is currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:08am.

FA President’s Report:

Campus facilities master plan: meeting with consultants 11:30 – noon on March 22nd, there will be a listening session with faculty afterward, noon to 12:45pm. FAEC will collect written comments from faculty and provide them to the consultants. April 5 FA will have a presentation from the master plan task force.
Discussion of whether to delay the FA leadership survey until next spring because we are still working on the Morale Survey

FAEC Discussion:

Discussion of career development matters and procedure involved.
Report from Jeff on AMPTF
Report from Monika on adjunct concerns and matters.
Discussion of FA in the afternoon
Discussion of FA-bylaw revisions

Visitor:

Visitors: N/A

Meeting adjourned at 12:03 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

April 19, 2023FAEC MINUTES 03/01/23

FAEC MINUTES 03/01/23

Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary) – absent due to AMPTF

* Councilor-at-Large for under 11 years position is currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:08am.

FA President’s Report:

Updates on administrative matters.

FAEC Discussion:

Discussion of ARC.
Discussion of Morale Survey.

Visitors:

Visitor: Susan Gaulden (Interim Provost)

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

April 19, 2023FAEC MINUTES 02/22/23

FAEC MINUTES 02/22/23

* Councilor-at-Large for under 11 years position is currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit.

Vote to bring the meeting to order at 10:08am.

Review of minutes for 02/15/23

FA President’s Report:

Boldly Ascending: second one on facilities master plan, third one – attendees should bring proposed outcomes and tasks that are derived from Strategic Plan goals and objectives and the purpose statement – March 20.
Deans will be facilitating this process at the unit level.

FAEC Discussion:

Discussion of Podium Global Tech Experience.
Discussion of faculty wellness.

Visitor:

Visitors: Virginia Galdieri, Jennifer Hicks-McGowan (POER): 10:15am

Jenn is the new Interim Executive Director of Employee Resources & Strategic Initiatives
Jenn is now the TLC HR point of contact person
Reviewed Morale Survey, raised faculty feedback with POER
FAEC raised the possibility of POER having a ticketing process similar to Facilities and ITS that creates a paper trail.
POER is enhancing clarity to pay stubs when faculty work extra duties such as independent studies, overloads, summer work, extra administrative duties. Code lists to identify the type of payment will be posted on POER’s website
Faculty Handbook – in process, hopefully rolled out by the end of spring semester so it will be up and running for next fall. In the future, yearly review of the faculty handbook. Will shortly go to Legal and AFT.
POER will have a follow-up meeting to discuss processes, FAQs and conflict resolution procedures as well as update FAEC about the items discussed.

Meeting adjourned at 12:03 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

Faculty Assembly

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