Faculty Assembly

April 25, 2023FA Minutes 04/05/23

Faculty Assembly Meeting
April 5, 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 (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

April 19, 2023FAEC MINUTES 02/15/23

FAEC MINUTES 02/15/23

Present: Ken McMurdy (President), Elizabeth Siecke (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malavika Sundararajan (ASB), 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.

John McTighe (SSHS): unable to attend

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

Review of minutes for 02/01/23 and 02/08/23

FA President’s Report:

In-Service for Staff Panel: Stephanie Barlow (ResLife) – morning of March 9th (Thursday). How to work with students after COVID. Looking for a volunteer from the faculty.
There is no prescribed process for reappointment of lecturers. POER is currently working on developing such. This will have to be negotiated with AFT. There are currently 5 lecturers at the college currently, one is retiring and two additional are being hired for next fall.
College is looking into micro-credentialing programs. Podium Global Tech Experience – internship company – INTD – 290 – interdisciplinary studies, 10 week program for 6 credits focusing in one of three fields: digital marketing, coding, and data analysis.
The Academic Advisement Council has developed a Canvas module for faculty advisement of undergraduate students and would like to share it at a future FA meeting.

FAEC Discussion:

Discussion of proposed bylaw provisions and areas for future improvement.

Visitor:

Mike Cunningham, Facilities

Discussion of Morale Survey
Discussion of lack of resources.
Some student aides have been assigned to do ongoing classroom assessment to bring classroom problems to facilities attention.
Extension for facilities repairs, particularly for emergencies: x7660
Website for facilities repairs: https://www.ramapo.edu/facilities/service-request/
- http://repairs.ramapo.edu/
The person who puts in the fix-it ticket gets updates about it being addressed.
Faculty: please never clean a whiteboard with sanitary wipes. It makes it very difficult to clean off future marker ink.
Rather than moving classroom furniture, please contact events. They can potentially either rearrange the furniture for you or assign a different classroom for that day. Moving furniture can scratch up the floors or result in injuries.

Meeting adjourned at 11:57 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

April 3, 2023FA Minutes 03/08/23

Faculty Assembly Meeting

March 8, 2023

1:00 pm

Alumni Lounges (SC 156-158)

Agenda

Approval of Minutes (2/1/2023)

Reports:

Faculty Assembly President’s Report: (Ken McMurdy)

Announcements regarding Commencement
Announcements regarding facilities master plan task force
Schomburg Fellowship information on upcoming events
Provost Bite-Sized Research Talks: tomorrow 1pm-2pm in Padovano Commons
Multi-Cultural Center: faculty please consider donating books and resources that would be beneficial for the center
Boldly Ascending III: upcoming Monday March 20, 1pm Alumni Lounges

College President’s Report: (Cindy Jebb)

Commitment to the pillars and international education

IGG certificate

Student athletes are doing very well!

Mai Serban to receive the Thomases Award
Schomburg scholar: upcoming events
Michael Middleton is starting 17 April as Provost
Calendar task force – coming soon
Discussion of graduation. Planning and practicalities

Provost’s Report: (Interim Provost unable to attend)

Beth Smith (Assistant Director of Student Accounts): regulatory requirement of students signing form before registration

Introductions:

Jennifer Hicks-McGowan, POER

POER is pronounced “power” because the employees are the power of an institution.

Announcements:

Prestigious Scholarships/Fellowships – Faculty Mentor Program

Aaron Lorenz (SSHS), Dean Chen (HGS)
College wants to raise the number of student applications being put forward
Focus on enhancement of already stellar faculty mentorship on campus

Presentations/Discussion Items:

Faculty Advising Resources – Kevin Brenfo-Agyeman

Advisement Training Canvas Module: one stop resources for faculty on advisement
Find: select Academic Advisement Training for Faculty | Steinheimer after clicking on courses within Canvas.

Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) – Kathleen Hallissey, Office of Student Conduct Director

Discussion of faculty options when confronted with problematic classroom behavior.
Discussion of what resources faculty can suggest to students when students are in distress.
For more information or to make a referral: https://www.ramapo.edu/bit/
For information about counseling: https://www.ramapo.edu/counseling/

Meeting Ended: 2:30pm

Categories: Uncategorized

March 2, 2023FAEC MINUTES 02/15/23

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

John McTighe (SSHS): unable to attend

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

Review of minutes for 02/01/23 and

FA President’s Report:

In-Service for Staff Panel: Stephanie Barlow (ResLife) – morning of March 9th (Thursday). How to work with students after COVID. Looking for a volunteer from the faculty.
There is no prescribed process for reappointment of lecturers. POER is currently working on developing such. This will have to be negotiated with AFT. There are currently 5 lecturers at the college currently, one is retiring and two additional are being hired for next fall.
College is looking into micro-credentialing programs. Podium Global Tech Experience – internship company – INTD – 290 – interdisciplinary studies, 10 week program for 6 credits focusing in one of three fields: digital marketing, coding, and data analysis.
The Academic Advisement Council has developed a Canvas module for faculty advisement of undergraduate students and would like to share it at a future FA meeting.

FAEC Discussion:

Discussion of proposed bylaw provisions and areas for future improvement.

Visitor:

Mike Cunningham, Facilities

Discussion of Morale Survey
Discussion of lack of resources.
Some student aides have been assigned to do ongoing classroom assessment to bring classroom problems to facilities attention.
Extension for facilities repairs, particularly for emergencies: x7660
Website for facilities repairs: https://www.ramapo.edu/facilities/service-request/
- http://repairs.ramapo.edu/
The person who puts in the fix-it ticket gets updates about it being addressed.
Faculty: please never clean a whiteboard with sanitary wipes. It makes it very difficult to clean off future marker ink.
Rather than moving classroom furniture, please contact events. They can potentially either rearrange the furniture for you or assign a different classroom for that day. Moving furniture can scratch up the floors or result in injuries.

Meeting adjourned at 11:57 pm.

Categories: Uncategorized

Faculty Assembly

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