Faculty Assembly Minutes
\n<\/b>April 28, 2021<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Presenters:<\/b> Naseem Choudhury (<\/b>President, SSHS<\/span>), Katie Cohen (<\/b>Library), <\/span>Mihaela Serban<\/b> (SSHS), <\/span>Lysandra Perez-Strumolo<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Guests: President Peter Mercer; Susan Gaulden <\/b>(Interim Provost, VP Academic Affairs)<\/span>; Chris Romano,<\/b> (Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs<\/span>); <\/b>Kirsten Loewrigkeit (<\/b>Vice President for Administration and Finance); <\/span>Stephen Rice <\/b>(Academic Review Committee, Chair); <\/span>Sarah Carberry<\/b> (GECCo, Chair); <\/span>Nicole Morgan-Agard <\/b>(Chief Equity and Diversity Officer); <\/span>Rob Doster <\/b>(CIO)<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meeting began at 1:02pm. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n FACULTY ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT\u2019S REPORT \u00a0<\/span>Nominees for Faculty BoT Positions: <\/b>Candidates (Prof. Rikki Abzub, Human, Capital and Financial Resources Committee, and Prof. Kathryn Yeaton, Audit Committee) will be voted on in the next FA survey.<\/span><\/p>\n FA Bylaw Survey: <\/b>Please complete it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Thank You to President Mercer: <\/b>Naseem thanked President Mercer for his service. Katie Cohen presented a thank you from the faculty assembly. Unit representatives shared their gratitude and memories, as well.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Thank you to IDC and FRC: <\/b>Lysandra presented the gratitude of the faculty for all Michael Bitz, Trish Williams, and Tammi Redd have done to support faculty during these trying times.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n PRESIDENT\u2019S REPORT President Mercer: <\/b>Shared sentients about his and Jackie\u2019s time at the College.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n PROVOST\u2019S REPORT<\/b><\/p>\n Provost Announcement 4\/27: <\/b>April 21<\/span>st<\/span> enrollment in the graduate and undergraduate programs was presented. Registration began on April 12<\/span>th<\/span>. First year students have not yet registered which will result in more than half of undergraduate students having some F2F courses. The most enrolled mode at present is: Hybrid In-person-Virtual-Synchronous; online was the least preferred.<\/span><\/p>\n Technology Needs for Return to Campus Teaching. <\/b>Contact your technology-needs unit representative so the proper items can be procured for the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n COVID Dashboards: <\/b>Data information faculty helped develop this. One quarter of all residential students are tested each week. One of 179 student tests was positive for the week ending April 23, 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n Faculty Awards:<\/b> Dr. Ellen Kaiden was awarded a much deserved award for all she has contributed to Â鶹´«Ã½. This was granted remotely. Dr. Lisa Lutter was also recognized for her wonderful service and choral performances throughout her tenure at Â鶹´«Ã½. She was presented with her award in person.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n EMSA REPORT (Chris Romano, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs)<\/b><\/p>\n Enrollment Update: <\/b>Graduate programs have continued to increase in enrollment (13% Spring 2021 versus 2% Spring 2020). Â鶹´«Ã½ is outperforming other institutions in New Jersey.<\/span><\/p>\n Fall 2021 Admissions Statistics: <\/b>Applications are down, as they are nationally. New Jersey is down 22.5%, SUNY enrollment is also down. Transfer and readmission applications come in later in the year. Community college enrollment has been declining 14% year after year. The State and Federal governments are working to help students afford higher education.<\/span><\/p>\n Student Deposits: <\/b>We are 1.1% ahead of where we were a year ago. There are 670 deposits<\/span>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Housing:<\/b> The target is to 1,250 students in residence.\u00a0 We are at 63% of our goal.<\/span><\/p>\n Continuing Student Deposits: <\/b>\u00a0These total 1,110 of a 700 student goal representing 159% of the goal. Part of this may be due to the reduction of the deposit amount from $500 to $100. Some changes are expected. There is cautious optimism about the incoming class. There are more Presidential Scholarship recipients coming in than ever before; this may be due to having removed the SAT requirement.<\/span><\/p>\n Weekly Updates:<\/b> These are sent to deans; contact them with questions about enrollment in your convening group.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>KIRSTEN LOEWRIGKEIT REPORT (Vice President for Administration and Finance)<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>FY21 and FY22 Outlook:<\/b><\/p>\n Housing Occupancy Fall 2021:<\/b> This is at 48% occupancy as compared to 16% this academic year.<\/span><\/p>\n Grant funding: <\/b>This is expected to be approximately $19.9 million. This will help with lost revenue and additional expenses due to COVID-19. A 3.8 million deficit was expected; we received $15 million that was unanticipated. Now there is a surplus but it will be needed next year as such additional revenues are not expected next year.<\/span><\/p>\n FY20:<\/b> This started as a stellar year but refunds changed the anticipated income. Net revenue comes from room and board.<\/span><\/p>\n Structural Deficit: <\/b>Why are we focusing on this? In the past, tuition increases could be made to meet the budget needs. Tuition increases are approximately 2%. If anyone receives a COLA\/step, the College will have expenses higher than the revenue stream.<\/span><\/p>\n How The College Addresses These Issues: <\/b>Residence Life and Food Services has resulted in financial strain at many other institutions. Despite having $7.4 million in debt services there was still a net profit generated of $3.9 million for the College despite student refunds given. Graduate programs are net revenue generating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Takeaway: <\/b>We are grateful for governmental support but we still have to work towards having a long-term sustainable financial model.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Prof. STEPHEN RICE (Academic Review Committee, Chair<\/b>):<\/span><\/p>\n New Program Proposals:<\/b> ARC is advancing the following with the recommendations that they be approved via a FA Qualtrics Survey: Thank you: <\/b>Stephen thanked the committee, which has held 25 meetings this year<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Paperless Submission Procedure: <\/b>This is the plan for the next academic year.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Prof. SARAH CARBERRY<\/strong>\u00a0(GECCo, Chair)<\/b><\/p>\n Submit Gen Ed Syllabi: <\/b>Please send these to your representative if you will be teaching a course in the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n Three Open Positions:<\/b> The current representatives have agreed to stay on. We will vote in the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n NICOLE MORGAN AGARD\u00a0<\/b>(Chief Equity and Diversity Officer) <\/span>EDIC Announcements:<\/b><\/p>\n Introduced Rachel Sawyer who has been hired to as Associate director for EDIC<\/span><\/p>\n Rites of Passage Pre-Commencement Ceremony: <\/b>This will be on May 12<\/span>th<\/span> via Webex from 5:30-6:30pm. The Webex link will be provided in the Daily Digest.<\/span><\/p>\n Staff Recognition Awards:<\/b> Faculty was asked to thank staff who have gone above and beyond. The deadline is May 14<\/span>th<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Diversity Training: <\/b>A new training is being planned for next year.<\/span><\/p>\n CIO REPORT (Robert Dossert)<\/b><\/p>\n Password Changes: <\/b>the screen has changed and will make us more secure.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meeting Adjourned at 2:27pm.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Faculty Assembly Minutes April 28, 2021 \u00a0Presenters: Naseem Choudhury (President, SSHS), Katie Cohen (Library), Mihaela Serban (SSHS), Lysandra Perez-Strumolo\u00a0 \u00a0Guests: President Peter Mercer; Susan Gaulden (Interim Provost, VP Academic Affairs); Chris Romano, (Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs); Kirsten Loewrigkeit (Vice President for Administration and Finance); Stephen Rice (Academic Review Committee, Chair); Sarah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":261,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1331,493,1332],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fa-rcnj-2021","category-faculty-assembly-minutes","category-faec-meeting-minutes-2021"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/span>FA Minutes: <\/b>April 7, 2021 minutes were approved via Qualtrics.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Faculty Handbook Task Force: <\/b>This is working well. We expect a revised schedule with a goal of having the revisions completed by the end of the calendar year.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>State of The Union Address:<\/b> President Biden will be announcing a plan for up to two years of free tuition, which will result in a total of 4 years (2 from the federal government with 2 from the Garden State Guarantee). By the end of May we should know where we stand budgetarily. Funding for these programs is of concern.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>1) Proposal for a New Major in Neuroscience (SSHS)
\n<\/span>2) Proposal for a New Minor in Climate Change, Policy and Action (SSHS)<\/span><\/p>\n