OSS Advisory Council

Charge:
The OSS Faculty/Staff Advisory Council is primarily made up of faculty and professional staff.  College administrators are also asked to serve (or to send a representative) based on their department affiliations; faculty members either volunteer to serve or are invited to serve.  Currently, there are no term limits regarding membership; meetings are held 2-3 times each fall and spring semester.

The goal of the council is to provide regular structured communication between OSS staff, administrators and faculty. The communication focuses on issues, concerns, changes, and or developments regarding disability issues here on campus and beyond.

Members:

Faculty:

Erin Augis, Bonnie Blake, Peter Campbell,  Donna Crawley, Monika Giacoppe, Tim Haase, Eric Haye, Jason Hecht, Peter Heinze,  Ellen Kaiden, Kristin Kenneavy, Eileen Klein, Stephen Klein (ret.), Kim Lorber, Lisa Lutter, Donovan McFeron, Victor Miller, Julie Norflus-Good,  Maya Poran, Lysandra Perez-Strumolo, Edward Shannon,  Ira Spar, Sarah Stackhouse, Mary Starke, Leah Warner.

 OSS Staff: 

Abbe Benowitz, Ramona Kopacz, Missy Long, David Nast, and Barbara Stienstra,

Ramapo Administrator /Staff:

Tracey Bender (Center for Student Success) Rick Brown (CSI), Suzanne Calgi (Counseling Services), Beth Foster (Registrar), Danielle Graziani (Cahill Center), Judith L Green (Counseling & Health Services), Lisa Gonsisko (Residence Life), Robert Josic (Web & Digital Marketing), Katie Maricic Cohen (Library), Kat McGee (Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Compliance), Ivy Payne (Student Affairs).

Student Athlete Advisory Committee

Charge:
The mission of the Ramapo College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is to serve as a voice of the student athletes. This committee assists in recommending policies and procedures for the operation of the intercollegiate athletics program. The other goals are the following:

-Promoting community service with all our athletic teams.
-Create a vehicle in which our student athletes have a say in proposed conference and NCAA legislation.
-Promote a positive student-athlete image on campus
-Build a sense of community within all of the athletic teams

Membership: Take me to the Committee’s Website.

Athletics Hall of Fame

Charge:
The Hall of Fame committee has the responsibility to oversee both the selection of the Hall of Fame members and the annual induction banquet. The committee also sets the budget for the event and solicits donations for the silent auction and sponsorships/donations in support of the dinner.

The composition of the committee is faculty/staff/alumni that are knowledgeable of the overall athletic program.

Membership: Take me to the Committee’s Website.

College Disciplinary Review Board

Please visit the page on the Office of Student Conduct for more information.

https://www.ramapo.edu/student-conduct/

Sustainable Living Eco-stewardship (SLE) Program Committee

Please visit this page for more information

https://www.ramapo.edu/ramapo-green/sle/

Space Management and Allocation Advisory Committee

Role and Function

The goal of space management and allocation is to steward the optimization of space in furtherance of the mission and goals of the college. The Committee provides proactive input and feedback on space management and allocation strategies including space requests. It reports to the President’s Senior Cabinet care of the Chief of Staff.

Membership: Take me to the Committee’s Website.

—

President’s Committee on Campus Sustainability

Mission: The President’s Committee on Campus Sustainability defines sustainability broadly as meeting the needs of the present without compromising environmental quality and the wellbeing of present and future generations. The Committee will help Ramapo College put this definition into practice by exploring and developing sustainable options, coordinating and facilitating sustainability initiatives across the campus, and communicating about sustainability to the College. It will guide and assist the President in implementing sustainability commitments, and help ensure that the College considers the environmental, economic, and social impacts of sustainability-related decisions that are made as part of campus operations.

Membership: Take me to the Committee’s Website.

Administrative Assessment Committee

Mission

The mission of the Administrative Assessment Committee (AAC) is to support the Institutional Effectiveness agenda for various non-academic units at the College. The AAC will support the “Institutional Effectiveness Council (IEC)” by providing them with appropriately designed plans and outcomes that are assessed according to the standards of the Middle States Commission of Higher Education standards.

Working with “Division Effectiveness Committees (DEC),” the AAC will review, analyze and assess the plans and outcomes, as well as, close the loop on the assessment cycle for the participating units on the campus.

The AAC will also help the Strategic Resources Allocation Board (SRAB) by ensuring that they review the completed plan with the budgetary request for SPIF and Capital fund request.

Membership: Take me to the Committee’s Website.

First –Year Experience Board

Charge: 

The First-Year Experience (FYE) Board, chaired by the Coordinator of First-Year Experience and reporting through the Director of Student Success to the Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management and liaison to the Student Engagement Steering Committee is designed to improve student satisfaction and first-year retention at Ramapo College. The FYE Board is charged with the following duties and responsibilities:

• Oversight of the College’s first-year student key points of engagement including the promotion, support, and communication of those events to the first year students as well as reviewing the assessment data from each and making recommendations for improvement.
• Identifying first year student engagement goals and outcomes, identifying gaps and reviewing and recommending to the Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management new key points of engagement to enhance first year students’ attainment of those identified outcomes.
• Develop a shared vision of first-year experience at Ramapo and to clarify the roles of faculty, staff and students who serve first-year students.
• Provide feedback for the Center for Student Success’s initiatives for first-year students, specifically Orientation, Welcome Week and Family Day.
• Enhance the first-year experience through engagement that is early and often.
•  Improve and sustain communication and transparency among the different offices that serve first-year students.
• Review policies and programs meant to ease the transition and promote academic excellence of students in their first year at Ramapo.
• Understand and to advocate for the changing dynamic needs of first-year students.

Members:

International Education Committee

Ben Levy, Chair

The IEC Charge

The International Education Committee (IEC) is an advisory body to the Roukema Center for International Education (RCIE).  It is charged to uphold the mission for international education at Ramapo College, to “… create a holistic educational experience that enables our students to become literate, intentional and empowered global citizens,” and to enhance commitment to and help realize the vision of the “four pillars” of international, intercultural, interdisciplinary, and experiential learning at Ramapo. This structure should assure that all elements of the applied and educational missions of the RCIE that might be advanced through the advice of colleagues from throughout the College might have that advantage, and it should facilitate reporting back to the Schools and administrative units through the committee membership. Consistent with the overall College mission and Strategic Plan, the IEC recommends both immediate and long-term directions for the growth and development of international education at Ramapo and advises on fostering a campus climate conducive to an interest in international affairs and international education.

Chair(s): Ben Levy, Director of International Education, blevy1@ramapo.edu

Membership: International Education; 2 Faculty per Academic school; Library; Office of Prestigious Awards & Fellowships; EMSA-Admissions; EMSA-Student Success; EMSA-Career Services; EDIC; Foundation; Alumni Office.

International Risk Assessment Committee

Charge: The International Risk Assessment Committee reviews all sponsored international locations where Ramapo College has sponsored activities.  The committee will assess health, safety and security at each location. The charge of the committee is to review, assess and make recommendations to the President’s Cabinet as it relates to potential and real risks in locations of Ramapo College’s international activities.

Chair(s): Ben Levy, Director of International Education, blevy1@ramapo.edu

Membership: International Education; 1 Dean; College Risk Manager; Employee Relations/Human Resources; Student Affairs; 1 Faculty; Associate Dean of Nursing

International Programs Committee

Charge: The International Programs Committee advises on matters pertaining to credit-bearing study, intern, and research abroad programs, the National Student Exchange program, and select non-credit international and off-campus student programs. The International Programs Committee reviews proposals for courses or programs made by faculty on the RCIE Program Proposal Form.  Proposals are approved by the author(s)’s convening group(s) and Dean(s) before they reach the Committee.  The Committee’s review results in a positive or negative recommendation to the Academic Review Committee (ARC), or a recommendation to the author(s) to revise the course or program.  Committee members should be mindful of limitations and opportunities that might pertain to the course venue. Revision might be recommended, for example, in order to adapt pedagogy to site, enhance experiential components, or adjust operational elements of the program or program infrastructure, typically to assure appropriate management of risk, cost effectiveness, and compliance with professional “best practice.” Committee members shall recuse themselves from decisions regarding proposals that they have written. Furthermore, it is ethically incumbent upon all Committee members to make full disclosures with regard to potential conflicts of interest between themselves and the applicant(s). In some cases, the Committee may recommend recusal. In addition, the committee will review any student Petition Applications for student participation in a program not currently on the list of Approved International Programs by Ramapo College, based on best practices.

Chair(s): Kate Lamanna, Assistant Director of International Programs, klamanna@ramapo.edu

Membership: International Education; One Faculty per Academic School; EMSA-Student Success; EMSA-Residence Life; EOF

International Programs Scholarship Committee

Charge: Set guidelines & criteria for international program scholarships, review applications and determine awards.

Chair(s): Kate Lamanna, Assistant Director of International Programs, klamanna@ramapo.edu

Membership: International Education, EMSA-Financial Aid; EMSA-Student Success

International Students & Scholars Committee

Charge: The Committee shall serve in an advisory capacity to the Provost with a focus on strategies that enhance the experiences of all international students and scholars at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Chair(s): Rajesh Adhikari, Associate Director of International Students’ and Scholars’ Services, radhikar@ramapo.edu

Membership: International Education; 1 Faculty per Academic School; EMSA-Admissions; EMSA-Student Success; EMSA-Career Services; Foundation; EMSA-Residence Life

*For a full list of members for any of the International Committees, please contact Ben Levy – blevy1@ramapo.edu or Kate Lamanna – klamanna@ramapo.edu.

Ben Levy
Director of International Education / SIO
Roukema Center for International Education
Ramapo College of New Jersey
505 Ramapo Valley Road, ASB123
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 USA
+1 (201) 684-7533 main line
blevy1@ramapo.edu
http://www.ramapo.edu/international

Responsibilities: CWAAC collaborates with the Vice Provost for Academic Programs to coordinate college wide academic assessment activities. The committee provides oversight of academic assessment as well as assessment support for majors, General Education, College Honors Program, Library and minors and graduate programs.
For more information about CWAAC and its members, please see the committee’s website (CWAAC)

Committee on Student Complaints

Purpose

The purpose of this committee is to address the federal regulation on student complaints. That regulation requires the institution to provide:

• “Written description of the policy and methods used in handling student complaints.
• Documentation regarding the record of student complaints over the last five years, including the number, patterns in type of complaints, and their resolution.
• Written procedures for making modifications and improvements to the institution as a result of information obtained in handling student complaints” (Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Verification of Compliance with Accreditation-Related Federal Regulations
  http://middlestates.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/VoC-2017.pdf (page 9)

Relevant College Policies

• Student Appeals of an Academic Nature: https://www.ramapo.edu/provost/policy/student-appeals-academic-nature/
• Student Complaints of a Non-Academic Nature: https://www.ramapo.edu/policies/policy/student-complaints-non-academic-nature/

Members

• Vice Provost (chair)
• Deans of the five schools
• Dean of Students
• Representative of Public Safety
• Director of Affirmative Action and Workplace Compliance
• Director of Title IX
• Director of Employee Relations
• Director of Human Resources
• General Counsel
• Internal Auditor
• Director of Residence Life

Charge

The committee will meet towards the end of each semester or academic year to:

• Review existing policies and define ‘student complaint’;
• Review logs (kept by each committee member) of student complaints (name, type, date filed, date resolved, resolution);
• Identify patterns across the complaints;
• Propose policy and procedure changes to improve how the institution handles student complaints;
• Document in minutes all reviews and actions taken by the committee.

Honors Advisory Board

Charge:
The purpose of the Honors Advisory Board is to provide counsel to the Director of the College Honors Program for the development of faculty, academic, and co-curricular resources in support of the program, and to promote and strengthen the College Honors Program within the College and regionally.

Membership: Take me to the Committee’s Website.

Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable (TLTR)

Charge:
This is campus-wide round table. The TLTR echoes the mission of the TLT Group, which is to seek “to motivate and enable” campus constituents and individuals “to improve teaching and learning with technology, while helping them to cope with continual change

Membership: Take me to the Committee’s Website.

Deans’ Council

Charge:
The Deans’ Council is composed of Deans from each of the schools and the Library and meets twice monthly to discuss current issues in academic affairs.

Members:
Dean Edward Petkus – Anisfield School of Business
Interim Dean Peter Campbell – School of Contemporary Arts
Interim Dean – Susan Hangen –School of Humanities and Global Studies
Dean Aaron Lorenz –School of Social Science and Human Services
Interim Dean Edward Saiff – School of Theoretical and Applied Science
Interim College Librarian/Director – Leigh Cregan-Keller – George T. Potter Library

Graduate Council

Charge:
The Graduate Council formulates and institutes standards and regulations affecting graduate curricula. The Graduate Council is composed of the six Deans, the Vice Provost, AVP for Enrollment Management, Registrar, graduate program Directors, and representatives from ARC and Faculty Assembly. It meets monthly to discuss matters pertaining to the graduate programs.

Members: 

Constance Crawford
Anthony Dovi
Tae Kwak
Burke, Kathleen
Chris Romano
Edward Saiff
Julie Norflus-Good
Aaron Lorenz
Edward Petkus
Susan Hangen
Jacqueline Braun
Peter Campbell
Chinni, Brian
Fernanda Papalia
Timothy Casperson
Ray, Kathleen
Frees, Scott
Keller, Leigh-Cregan
Susan Gaulden

Provost’s Council

Charge:
The Provost’s Council is made up of campus wide representatives plus faculty representatives from all units with the charge to discuss academic policies.

Provost’s Council Members 2020-21

Office of the Provost/Academic Affairs:

Susan Gaulden                   sgaulden@ramapo.edu

Gurvinder Khaneja               gkhaneja@ramapo.edu

Fernanda Papalia                fpapalia@ramapo.edu

Deans & Director of the Library:

Ed Petkus                            epetkus@ramapo.edu

Peter Campbell                   pcampbel@ramapo.edu

Susan Hangen                     shangen@ramapo.edu

Edward Saiff                         esaiff@ramapo.edu
Aaron Lorenz                       alorenz@ramapo.edu

Leigh Cregan-Keller             lkeller1@ramapo.edu

Enrollment Management/Student Affairs:

Christopher Romano            cromano@ramapo.edu

David Nast                            dnast@ramapo.edu

Joe Connell                          jconnell@ramapo.edu

ITS:

Rob Doster                          rdoster@ramapo.edu

Faculty (School Representatives):

John Gronbeck-Tedesco     jgronbec@ramapo.edu

Ann Lepore                        alepore@ramapo.edu

Emma Rainforth                 erainfor@ramapo.edu

Nikhil Varma                       nvarma@ramapo.edu

Ashwani Vasishth               vasishth@ramapo.edu

Faculty Assembly:

Naseem Choudhury          nchoudhu@ramapo.edu

Academic Review Committee (ARC):

Stephen Rice                    srice@ramapo.edu

Graduate Council:  

Degree Completion Programs:

Trish Laprey                            plaprey@ramapo.edu

Student Representatives:    

Andrea Hofstra                        ahofstra@ramapo.edu

The charge of the Academic Affairs Efficiencies and Innovation Task Force is to generate recommendations for feasible short- and long-term, structural and curricular initiatives and adaptations within Academic Affairs that help contribute to an increase in the performance, productivity, and financial resources for the College at large and further the College’s Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives. Curricular and programmatic recommendations must align with the College’s mission, vision, and values.

It is expected that the Task Force will submit a recommendation report by the end of Spring 2020 to the Cabinet.

Volunteer members should be willing to actively participate in both in-person and online discussions, to conduct research, and be interested in shaping potential future initiatives for Academic Affairs. The Task Force will meet at least four times during AY19-20 and hold discussions on an online board during that time as well. Meetings will commence Fall 2019 and conclude Spring 2020.

The Task Force on Open Educational Resources (OERs) at Ramapo College is charged with developing a comprehensive plan for the implementation of Open Educational Resources (OERs) at Ramapo College. In accordance with S768, the College is required to submit this plan that addresses the College’s efforts to expand the use of open textbooks and commercial digital learning materials in order to achieve savings for students to the Secretary of Higher Education by May 1, 2020.

Therefore, The Task Force will:

• Raise awareness among the faculty about the benefits of OER and how OER can be implemented in their courses;
• Identify areas that will achieve the greatest financial savings for the most students; and
• Work with faculty and other stakeholders to transition course materials to OER or other cost saving materials in the areas identified.

The Academic Affairs Subcommittee met via WebEx on May 5. Starting from Ramapo’s Mission, Vision, and Values, it aims for openness, inclusion, support and sustainability in its process.

The Subcommittee, with representation from all five schools, the Library, FAEC, AFT, ARC, IDC, GECCO, and the Registrar, is tasked with considering a wide variety of possible Fall 2020 semester course delivery scenarios, ranging from fully remote to a “back-to-normal” Ramapo schedule. The Subcommittee has been asked to identify scenarios well-suited to the needs of the College, faculty, and students and to outline implementation plans. To achieve these goals, the Subcommittee plans to gather convening group-level data on the resources needed to optimize learning, teaching, and mentoring for the Fall 2020 (and potentially Spring 2021) semester.

The Subcommittee is preparing instruments (which may include email threads) to collect resource data for a matrix of potentialities as determined/constrained by the course of the COVID-19, guidelines set by applicable laws, and the recommendations of relevant public health officials at the county, state, CDC and WHO levels.

The Subcommittee will be asking for convening group-level input on best practices, concerns, constraints, accreditation and equity issues for delivering optimal learning in a wholly remote/online scenario through a continuum of Ramapo-specific possibilities up to the goal of back on campus.

The Subcommittee will be collaborating with the SGA (representing both residential and commuter students), the Pandemic Response Team, International Programs, Residential Life, Admissions, etc. as the matrix of possibilities comes into focus.

The Subcommittee plans to meet online weekly and plans to have outlines of scenarios drawn from widely gathered input, available to the campus community in June.

Rikki Abzug, Professor of Management
Michael Bitz, Professor of Teacher Education and Director of the Instructional Design Center
Bonnie Blake, Professor of Theater
Sarah Bolton Carberry, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Naseem Choudhury, Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience and Faculty Assembly President
Katie Cohen, Interlibrary Loan, Reference & Instruction Librarian
Susan Eisner, Professor of Management
Scott Frees, Professor of Computer Science
Marc Gidal, Associate Professor of Music/Musicology
Susan Hangen, Dean of the School of Humanities and Global Studies
Aaron Lorenz, Dean of the School of Social Science and Human Services
Ed Petkus, Dean of the Anisfield School of Business
Jill Pierson, Assistant Registrar
Stephen Rice, Professor of American Studies
Joan Richards, Director of the Nursing Simulation Lab
Jeremy Teigen, Professor of Political Science
Michael Unger, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Assessment
Leah Warner, Associate Professor of Psychology