March 1, 2023FAEC MINUTES 02/08/23

FAEC MINUTES 02/08/23

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 10:08am.

FA President’s Report:

• Discussion of Boldly Ascending series upcoming. Faculty are encouraged to attend and participate. 
• Administration is interested in building up and improving our overall summer programmatic offerings. Mike Yankovich (Interim Vice President for Operational & Administrative Integration) will take the lead on this initiative. FAEC will maintain communication on this issue and ensure that faculty are informed on and involved in any changes that will impact curriculum.

FAEC Discussion:

• Discussion of the academic schedule – need for adequate meeting time and possibly a common hour every day. Limited classroom availability for student and faculty preferred class times. Questions about mechanisms for assigning classrooms and the use of space. 
• Discussion of Summer/Winter schedule and how to maximize course offerings and student enrollment. 
• Discussion of ARC regarding criteria and process. 

Visitor:

CIO Rob Doster was invited to discuss results of the Fall ‘22 Faculty Morale Survey related to ITS and tech support.

• Full sweep of classroom tech before semester started this spring massively reduced tech problems in the first few weeks of the semester. This will be an ongoing practice moving forward.
• If a faculty member has a classroom emergency, they should call x7777 and report it. The information will then immediately be disseminated to all ITS personnel for assistance.
• Last summer ITS replaced forty projectors/bulbs in classrooms and will be replacing and upgrading the remaining classroom projectors in the near future.
• Faculty are encouraged to open a ticket whenever there is a problem, and if it isn’t sufficiently addressed please follow-up. The ticket process is crucial because it enables ITS process reviews that can lead to improvements.
• If there are software licenses needed you can email Rob Doster.
• A follow up with ITS to prepare FAQs for classroom equipment use, contact names and numbers for specific areas, and flow charts will be finalized and distributed.
• Work completed and addressed by Rob and his team will be shared by Unit reps at a subsequent Unit council meeting.
• Malavika and John will be the liaisons between FAEC and ITS for ongoing engagement and further follow-up.

Meeting adjourned at 12:03 pm.

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March 1, 2023FAEC MINUTES 02/01/23

FAEC MINUTES 02/01/23

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malavika Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit individuals. 

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

FA President’s Report:

• Discussion of whether FAEC should break down the Moral Survey data in a unit specific way or maintain it at an all college level. 

FAEC Discussion:

• Guests: David Oh (ARC Chair), and Susan Gaulden (Interim Provost) 

ARC Chair David Oh was invited to FAEC in response to concerns voiced by faculty regarding the course proposal review process.

Faculty concerns center around:

• autonomy with respect to content
• strict adherence to the ARC Manual with respect to suggestions vs requirements
• clarity and collegiality in communication and interaction
• role of ex officio members in the review process

ARC Chair’s perspective on these and other issues were expressed as follows:

• ARC avoids reviewing content except in extraordinary circumstances. In these cases, it makes recommendations that are not required for approval.
• Ultimately, no course proposals are rejected, which may be a cause for concern.
• ARC committee members have a difficult job and are often the targets of criticism
• Some tension between ARC and faculty is due to misunderstandings and miscommunication. ARC is working on improving communication, for example relying more on phone calls instead of emails.
• Stricter review by convenor and dean prior to ARC submission would simplify and shorten the ARC review process.

An overriding view, which has been expressed by current and past ARC Chairs, is that the ARC course proposal process is inefficient, and that it has forced ARC’s function to become largely technocratic. However, accountability in curricular oversight is essential. It is the position of FAEC that curricular oversight should continue to reside with ARC, if Faculty are to maintain a high level of autonomy over the curriculum. FAEC is currently preparing FA bylaws revisions that will, in particular, clarify and improve the role of ARC in this regard. These bylaws revisions will be brought to FA later this semester.

• Susan Gaulden (Interim Provost): 
  • Discussion of Morale Survey. 
  • Discussion of travel funding and FDF funding. 
  • Discussion of sabbaticals and career development funds.
  • County College of Morris: articulation agreement in computer science
  • Liaising with high schools to facilitate enrollment 
  • New book in the works involving stories from high school students, following in the footsteps of the book on COVID stories, but this volume will not be COVID related. 
  • February 10: Poetry Out Loud event will be hosted at Ramapo College.
  • February 14: Bite-Sized Research Talk 
  • Schomberg Visiting Scholar Program: some small funds are still available. 
  • Faculty Awards are coming up! Get your nominations in now. 
  • TLC Calendar: Google calendar available for use 
  • Considering new software for online student course evaluations

Meeting adjourned at 11:53 pm.

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February 9, 2023FAEC MINUTES 01/25/23

FAEC MINUTES 01/25/23

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit individuals. 

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

Excused Absence: Malavika Sundararajan (ASB)

Approval of the minutes from 01/18/23

FA President’s Report:

• SGA did a faculty advisement survey to the students. Limited responses, only 25 students completed the survey. However, initial data to be considered. 
• SGA leadership will be invited to attend some FAEC meetings during the semester. 
• Rob Doster will attend on 02/08/23. 
• Colleen O’Keefe will be meeting with FAEC on 02/01 regarding the budget. 
• Diversity Convocation: March 22, 3:00 – 4:30 pm.
• Removing the March 22 minor convening meeting. 
• Four forum events scheduled for the strategic plan for the spring semester. The strategic plan will be approved at the next BOT meeting. The next matter will be making the strategic plan actionable and proceeding with implementation. The four forum events are scheduled for Feb 16, 27, March 20, and April 17: 12:30 pm to 2pm. Boldly ascending: (1) overview and KPI’s; (2) campus facilities master plan; (3) draft unit plans; (4) continuous learning through meaningful assessment.

 

FAEC Discussion:

• Morale Survey: planning for how FAEC is going to move forward meeting with different constituencies on campus to address problematic themes that were raised by the faculty.
• FAEC is going to revise a report on the Morale Survey for dissemination by the end of the week. Revisions are to be done by Friday by 5pm. 
• March 8th faculty and staff social event, potentially a second social event on Arching as well. FAEC will invite retired faculty. 
• Dean Chen and John McTighe are working on potential revisions of the FA bylaws. 

Meeting adjourned at 11:40 pm.

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February 9, 2023FA Minutes 02_01_23

Faculty Assembly Meeting

February 1, 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 (12/7/2022)

Reports:

Faculty Assembly President’s Report:

• The Bite-Size Research Talks have been going well, please consider attending future events. 
• Diversity Convocation has moved to March 23. 
• In-Service for professional staff, March 9th between 9am – 1pm, coming out of the pandemic. Looking for faculty volunteers to also participate. 
• FA Social Events: Wednesday March 8th and an end of the year celebration as well.
• Moral Survey: progress is being made on analyzing the data and approaching various constituencies to work on identified areas for potential improvement. FAEC is creating mini-reports to share with different relevant administrative offices. 
• Renewed bylaw revisions are underway.
• Acknowledged tensions surrounding ARC recently and asked everyone to strive for collegiality in resolving these tensions. 

College President’s Report:

• The Board of Trustees approved the strategic vision statement on Monday night. The new task is developing KPIs for the strategic vision statement. The process is ongoing with the strategic plan. 
• The Academic Master Plan is ongoing and moving forward. 
• Discussion of budget and financial matters. 
• Provost transition with Michael Middleton on May 1. Discussion of the transition plan. 
• Strategic Communications: new hire. 
• Discussion of recent tragedies across the country in recent weeks. Important to support our students and each other through these difficult times. Please attend upcoming events and programming related to these matters.

Provost’s Report:

• Congratulations faculty who were granted tenure by the Board of Trustees                       on Monday night. 
• Discussion of relationships with community colleges and high schools. 
• Adam Fried: new assistant dean of teacher education 
• Region 6 Poetry Out Loud event at Ramapo College
• TLC Calendar – google calendar that people can add to their own google calendar
• Provost Council: policies are up for review, please consult the Provost Council website for details.
• Jeneen Kelly – new registrar

Introductions:

Leiah Heckathorn, Director of the Roukema Center

Michael Yankovich, Interim VP for Operational and Administrative Integration

Announcements:

Two Factor Authentication (with Q & A) – Rob Doster, CIO:

•   Cyber Insurance: college is in the process of obtaining
•   Two Factor Authentication is necessary for obtaining the Cyber Insurance
•   Email was sent by Rob Doster last week on Two Factor Authentication,
  please consult the email and follow instructions.
•  Can get a fixed code if traveling abroad (for example).
•  Can get a code texted to your phone instead of installing the app on your
  phone if you prefer.

Instructional Design Center (IDC) – Michael Bitz, Director:

•     Please come visit the lab! We are here to help you with a wide variety of matters.
•     IDC has virtual office hours in addition to being physically open at the lab.
•     IDC:

o   Ray: Canvas Administration, Respondus, Turnitin, Linkedin Learning
o   Deb: Canvas Development, YuJa, Qualtrics, WebEx, Google Workspace
o   Lauren: Instructional Design

•  TechFest: 1983 next Wednesday – announcement by Sharon Leathers
•  ChatGPT: announcement by Tammy Redd (FRC) – February 15 round table discussion  

Enrollment Update – VP Chris Romano, update presented by Ken McMurdy:

•     Enrollment numbers exceed revised goals

Discussion Items:

Budget Overview – Colleen O’Keefe, Interim CFO/VP for Fiscal Health:

•     Overview of current budget status for the college.

Academic Master Plan Task Force – Stephanie Sarabia and Ken Goldstein, co-chairs:

• Thank you to everyone for engaging so meaningfully with the data collection of the Academic Master Plan!!!
• The Task Force is currently processing all the gathered materials to prepare an initial draft of proposals. Once an initial draft is prepared the faculty will once again be engaged for feedback.

Counselor-At Large: part time faculty – voting issue

•     Monika Giacoppe 

Meeting Ended 2:30pm 

 

 

 

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January 30, 2023FAEC MINUTES 01/18/2023

FAEC MINUTES 01/18/2023

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malavika Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS)

Excused absence: Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Meeting minutes taken by Dean Chen

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open.

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

FA President’s Report:

‒   FAEC contacted the ITS to inspect all classrooms and ensure all  work stations and classroom facilities are functioning well.

‒     SGA survey results on faculty advising will be shared with the FAEC

‒     Two FAEC Councilor-at-Large positions still need to be filled as soon as possible

‒     BOT Committee Report

–       Operational and Administrative Integration (Michael Yankovich, Interim VP)

–          Fiscal health

–          Strategic plan

‒     Transparency on the College’s compensated service (Provost Office)

‒     Ramapo letter in support of fellow COPLAC institution, the New College of Florida in Sarasota

 

FAEC Discussion:

‒ Morale survey

–          Sharing non-unit specific report with faculty

–          Discussing and addressing areas/issues of concerns with managers responsible for: ITS, Facilities, HR, ER, teaching & service, faculty & equity, student mental health, and public safety

‒ Bylaws revision (Dean Chen and John McTighe)

–   Planning on meeting with ARC, WAC, and GECCo

FAEC Guests: None

Meeting adjourned at 12:05 pm

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January 17, 2023FAEC MINUTES 11/30/22

FAEC MINUTES 11/30/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malavika Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit individuals.

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

FA President’s Report:

• Document provided from administration of all task forces and committees to have a centralized composite list available to FAEC.
• Minimum and maximum course enrollment policy: new proposed version from provost’s council will soon be available for public comment.

FAEC Discussion:

• Discussion of registrar matters: some courses’ course caps changed due to a technical glitch, also some problems with course permits not being included.
• Discussion of the morale survey, processing of data collected, and planning for development of actionable items.
  • Discussion of whether executive summary should be presented at next FA meeting on Dec 7.
  • Proposal to do the moral survey on an ongoing basis to be able to track potential progress – possibly every other year
  • Discussion of short-term to long-term action items regarding potential timelines to attempt to address.

Meeting adjourned at 11:40 pm.

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January 17, 2023FAEC MINUTES 11/16/22

FAEC MINUTES 11/16/22

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), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit individuals.

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

FA President’s Report:

• Communications Meeting tomorrow – 1pm-2:15pm Alumni Lounges
• Lisa Lutter – Campus Facilities Master Plan update provided to Ken
• Provost Search – ongoing

FAEC Discussion:

FAEC Guests: Faculty Athletic Representatives – Matthew Jobrack and Alexandre Olbrecht 

• Faculty Athletic Representatives (FAR) – represents Ramapo at NCAA events
• Oversight for well being of student athletes
• Liaison between athletics and academia
• Final Exams and post-season tournaments – schedule is not known beforehand; if a student qualifies for a tournament then faculty are expected to accommodate the student’s needs to attend the tournament.
• At a future FA, probably in the spring, presentation will be made on these matters to FA

Meeting adjourned at 11:40 pm.

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January 17, 2023FA 12/07/22

Faculty Assembly Meeting

December 7, 2022

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

Call Meeting to Order: 1:05pm

No objections to the minutes.

FA President:

• Provost search – ongoing. Summarize feedback from faculty for President Jebb. Ken wants to give a shout-out to the search committee members and the college community for their level of engagement and feedback.
• Quick Announcement: three academic policies out for public comment on the Provost’s website. This includes the minimum and maximum course caps. Important for faculty to keep apprised on ongoing matters being addressed by Provost’s Council.
• FAEC is still trying to fill the Councilor-at-Large positions. If you want to volunteer, please reach out.
• If you have not completed the AMPTF survey, please do so soon.

Provost Report:

• Discussed Provost’s Council and policy review ongoing there.
• Please accommodate student athletes and their ability to participate in conferences.
• Discussion of AMPTF. Ongoing and making progress.
• College has hired a registrar and an assistant dean of teacher education.
• Two-factor authentication: will be coming soon for all college system sign-ins regardless of whether you are on campus or off-campus.
• McCallister & Quinn: external grant firm – has been engaging regarding the prioritized PNP’s.
• The Annual Middle States Conference is about to start. Provost and a small team are going to the conference in Philadelphia. December 7-9, 2022.
• Faculty Question to Provost regarding faculty travel fund to conferences.
• Faculty Question to Provost: what is the travel funding for the entire college because of past discrepancies regarding the entire college travel budget versus a tiny travel budget for faculty for scholarship.

Follett: Bookstore

• Access Program: discounted digital materials, the cost is included in tuition rather than a separate cost. Does have an opt out for students to choose not to participate. For more information please contact the Bookstore as soon as possible, thank you!
• If students opt-out and change their mind there is an opt-back-in, however a deadline.

President Jebb’s Report:

• Congratulations and encouragement to faculty for a good semester!
• President will be co-teaching a course next spring.
• PNP’s have garnered over $800K in donations so far.
• Overview of all the advancing task forces and plans progressing across the college.

Naseem:

• Strategic Plan Writing Team presentation
• Discussion and questions: a further conversation will take place at 4pm today.

Stephanie:

• AMPTF: update

Ken:

• Morale Survey Executive Summary

Meeting ended 2:52pm

 

 

 

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December 5, 2022FAEC MINUTES 11/09/22

FAEC MINUTES 11/09/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malakiva Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open. FAEC has consistently been reaching out to the faculty attempting to recruit individuals.

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

FA President’s Report:

– Communications meeting is November 17, @ 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm in the Alumni Lounges. Everyone should try to be there.

FAEC Discussion:

FAEC Guests: Cindy Jebb (President of Ramapo) and Susan Gaulden (Interim-Provost), and Naseem Choudhury (Co-Chair of Strategic Writing Team, Faculty)

• Naseem Choudhury: updated on the Strategic Writing Team’s process and progress.

 

• Cindy Jebb: Has been attending a couple classes that she was invited to attend and has greatly enjoyed getting back into the classroom.
• Ramapo Alumni – panel discussion upcoming.
• Black Solidarity Week. Consider visiting Hopper Cemetery.
• Veteran’s Day Program (tomorrow) – county executive is coming to speak and present a county medal.
• Table Top: safety and security – increasing lighting, more cameras, more public safety officers. Layered approach – arm at the south gate. Potential swipe access.
• 16 November: First-Gen Day. There is a new director for First-Gen Center
• Encouraging more engagement with students about Rhodes and Truman scholarships for students.

 

• Susan Gaulden: Wellness Day is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, November 23, 2022, there will be no classes.
• How to connect under-enrolled programs with enrollment pipelines. Discussing potential linkages with community colleges, more robust.
• Investigative Forensic Genealogy Certificate Program – upcoming tv coverage. MOA with Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office
• Center has been having many events and has been very active.
• The Teaching and Learning Core Calendar has been created and is accessible.
• Bite-Sized Lecture Series – doing well and more events will be held in future semesters

– FAEC raised concerns for more coverage for exam monitoring by OSS or testing center with Provost. Asked about the possibility of having a robust testing center for the college that would also allow for students to complete make-up exams.

– FAEC raised the inclusion of Title IX information in course syllabi. Currently, it is encouraged, but not required.

– FAEC raised line allocation and transparency. Provost met with a program that was denied a line and explained data and rationale used in making the determination.

– Provost said that accreditation of programs can bump a program ahead of non-accredited programs in getting lines to satisfy accreditation requirements. Further, programs sometimes take pride in not relying on adjunct faculty, however such is not sustainable moving forward.

Meeting adjourned at 11:58 pm.

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December 5, 2022FAEC MINUTES 11/02/22

FAEC MINUTES 11/02/22

Present: Ken McMurdy (President, TAS), Katie Cohen (Library), Amruth Kumar (TAS), Marc Gidal (CA), Malakiva Sundararajan (ASB), John McTighe (SSHS), Dean Chen (Vice President, HGS), Jeffrey Ellsworth (Secretary)

*Both Councilor-at-Large positions are currently open.

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

FA President’s Report:

– Senior Living Center – community on campus is tentatively being explored. Long-term project.

– FAEC Social Event: Organization is ongoing. Individuals are signing up to bring food and drink. Need to consider napkins, plates, utensils, cups.

– Next Week: Faculty Forum is going to largely focus on AMPTF round table

FAEC Discussion:

– Discussion of ARC and ARC’s function at the college.

– Discussion of open Councilor-at-Large positions and the need to fill them.

FAEC Guests: Virginia Galdieri (Vice President for People Operations & Employee Resources)

• Faculty Handbook: Administration has completed its review, meeting with the faculty taskforce today to go over the comments. It still has to go to Legal. Aiming to present revised version at a future FA, perhaps the December 17th FA or the first FA of the spring semester.
• Reorg – PO/ER – hiring a replacement for director ER, but there will be a new senior director of ER as well. PO/ER business partner model – connected right to the Core – PO/ER member connected to the TLC, trying to create synergy.

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.

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