DRAFT<\/b><\/p>\n
Ramapo College of New Jersey<\/b><\/p>\n
Wednesday, February 5, 2020<\/b>
\n2 pm, Alumni Lounges<\/b><\/p>\n
FACULTY ASSEMBLY<\/b><\/p>\n
FA Minutes Approved<\/b><\/p>\n
\n
FA President’s Report<\/b><\/p>\n
1. Three Plus One Agreements [TPO\u2019s]<\/b><\/p>\n
A \u2018pilot\u2019 program with PCCC is starting Fall 2020.\u00a0 Students will start their 2rd year at PCCC. RCNJ is unsure of where the plus-one courses will be taught.<\/span><\/p>\n FAEC was given an overview of financial projections in a general sense but the specifics of the\u00a0 financial models were kept confidential. Assumptions are that TPO\u2019s in 1st year would only be with PCCC.\u00a0 Not other colleges.<\/span><\/p>\n It is unclear as to where the plus-one courses will be located. \u00a0 Some at RCNJ have been asked if there is interest to teach them but it is uncertain as to where they will be taught.<\/span><\/p>\n Financial projections demonstrate risk and loss unless there is a 20% surge in enrollments.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n FA has been informed that the plus one plan will improve minority enrollment.\u00a0 State funding would result in an increase in minority enrollments. However, these considerations were not baked into financial projections provided by Chris Romano.<\/span><\/p>\n Students were expected to pay two full semesters of tuition plus enroll during a summer or winter with 8 credits.\u00a0 This is no longer the case. State legislation mandates that students that graduate with an AA must be awarded 64 rather than 60 credits if entering the fourth year of a\u00a0 four-credit granting institution.<\/span><\/p>\n FA is concerned that concentrations are not being created but rather tracks are being created in the name of created TPO content\u00a0 in order to circumvent ARC review. Tracks created to avoid ARC review. Ethics of Marketing a Global studies or business program although this will not be indicated on their diplomas b\/c these are tracks.\u00a0 An ethical issue.<\/span><\/p>\n Passaic County Community College is closer to RCNJ than other county colleges. Therefore, if programs are developed within the TPO structure it is unlikely that they will be taught at RCNJ.\u00a0 They will have to be taught at the county\/local college due to their distance from the RCNJ campus.<\/span><\/p>\n 2. President Mercer\u2019s Report<\/b><\/p>\n The new RCNJ shuttle will link\u00a0 RCNJ with students commuting to and from\u00a0 Garden State Plaza The shuttle is free and has attracted attention.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Preparations for Middle states arrival will happen in the coming weeks and faculty should review the RCNJ Dashboard 2020 site that has been created for Middle States evaluation.<\/span><\/p>\n Faculty have raised some concern regarding sabbatical review and how sabbatical determinations are made by the Provost.<\/span><\/p>\n Sabbatical decisions have already been made there is elasticity in the determination of sabbatical assignment.\u00a0 This is something that can be determined by the President and Provosts office based on their review of the candidates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n President Mercer stated\u00a0 that Provost maintains residual authority in the decision-making process regarding sabbatical determinations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Faculty mentioned that any decisions taken should be based on criteria pre-established within the faculty handbook and that \\elevating research on this campus at high percentages should not be the norm.\u00a0 Custom is as much law as any legal framework. The work of the committees is therefore the customary practice for designating candidates for sabbatical considerations. Customs should be followed as part of the process.<\/span><\/p>\n Faculty asserted that the list of candidates was reassigned without any written criteria and that this should not have happened and should not be repeated in the future. Furthermore they\u00a0 mentioned that bottlenecks will grow and not shrink in the situation where criteria are applied without merit based criteria. Process is not fair on its face .<\/span><\/p>\n 3. Provost Becker’s Report<\/b><\/p>\n Provost Becker mentioned that the Sabbatical Committee is invited to communicate with the Provost and the President about the process and that the criteria were followed as laid out in the handbook but he would not not like to discuss further personnel actions during the FA meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n There is a renewed focus on student success<\/span>. \u00a0 <\/b>Retention rates at RCNJ as compared to national averages are good but The College can do better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A push for TPO programs is based on the fact that students can be poached by other institutions posing retention challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n The program review process will be changed from a one to a five-year process and has been implemented for two\u00a0 programs already.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The faculty were instructed to conserve paper usage on campus as the equivalent of 6 million pages per year are being exhausted costing RCNJ more than 140k per year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In response to Provost Becker\u2019s comment on Sabbatical Considerations faculty mentioned that they are not only referring to particular case study with sabbatical but rather a pattern that has occurred over time during Provosts tenure.\u00a0 Faculty asked the provost about why faculty input and expertise is being disregarded in the process. Faculty expressed that they have, \u201cnothing to lose\u201d in stating their case for the disapproval of the Provosts handling of sabbatical considerations.\u00a0 Faculty mentioned that they have no confidence in the process or in the provost.<\/span><\/p>\n 4. Information Items<\/b><\/p>\n Be sure to respond to online testing forms even if no exam is given or if faculty plan to proctor their exams.<\/span><\/p>\n Information about Dashboard 2021 can be obtained via the dedicated website.\u00a0 Please review the site to prepare faculty and student engagement during the Middle states visit.<\/span><\/p>\n 5. Voting Items Follow:<\/b><\/p>\n If the Provost and President make decisions that contradict the recommendation of the relevant Personnel Committee, a formal meeting must be convened with the Committee to explain the differences, to ensure that the same criteria was applied as outlined in the Faculty Handbook and guided by past Practice and Precedent.<\/span><\/p>\n The current Faculty Handbook should be followed in all personnel matters until a revised Faculty Handbook is adopted.<\/span><\/p>\n Charge a Faculty Handbook Revision Task Force<\/span><\/p>\n Note: Voting will be conducted online through a secure Qualtrics survey.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DRAFT Ramapo College of New Jersey Wednesday, February 5, 2020 2 pm, Alumni Lounges FACULTY ASSEMBLY FA Minutes Approved FA President’s Report 1. Three Plus One Agreements [TPO\u2019s] A \u2018pilot\u2019 program with PCCC is starting Fall 2020.\u00a0 Students will start their 2rd year at PCCC. RCNJ is unsure of where the plus-one courses will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1128,493,1129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fa-rcnj-minutes-2020","category-faculty-assembly-minutes","category-faculty-assembly-minutes-2020"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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