Report & Announcements re:
May 24, 2004 Faculty Assemblies:  

Added FA; ASEC Poll; Mail Ballot;
Interim TEC Director, etc.

I.  Special Extra Faculty Assembly
Monday, June 21, 2004, 12-3, Pavilion

The Faculty Assembly on May 24 passed a resolution to add an extra Faculty Assembly to discuss the final report and formal resolutions of CLAIII on General Education and the school cores which they plan to have ready for posting by June 14, 2004 I urge everybody to be present for this critical discussion of the heart of our curriculum. We will meet in the Pavilion from 12-3 on Monday, June 21, 2004. I picked the time that blocked out the fewest people due to summer teaching but apologize to those who I could not avoid creating a conflict for. Sandy has agreed to fund lunch so we will sign-in and get lunch at 12 and then begin the meeting (even as we continue eating) promptly at 12:30. The agenda will be posted by June 14.

II.  ASEC REPORT AND UPCOMING MAIL POLL (Responses to be due July 1, 2004)

The Academic Structure Exploratory Committee (ASEC) report: [Carol Bonilla Bowman, Kai Fikentscher, and Brian Lofman, co-chairs; Rena Bacon, Joe Cataliotti, Martha Ecker (ex-officio) , Michael Edelstein, Ting Gong, Theresa Hutchins, Susan Kurzman, Richard Morales-Wright (PSA), Steven Rice, Babs Varano, ex-officio, Warner Wada] presented their final report to the afternoon Faculty Assembly on May 24. That report can be viewed in both full form and executive summary form through the ASEC page at http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/asecpage.html A lively discussion ensued with a variety of excellent questions, responses, comments. Some specific additional background information was requested and we will be working on posting to the FA website as much as possible of the background documents and data that ASEC mined.  Brian Lofman has provided me with a number of documents for scanning and uploading over the coming weeks.  As a starting place I have scanned in and posted the List of Majors and Minors as of Fall 2003; the enrollment by minors as of Fall 2003; the job description for conveners; and the job description for deans.  Extensive additional data about enrollment etc. is available through the Office of Institutional Research Institutional Profile site at http://orion.ramapo.edu/~oirp/oirp_reports.htm#Profile  .  The ASEC committee having fulfilled their charge remarkably with their extensive work, research, thought, analysis and presentation of their final report (in multiformats!) has now completed its work. Our great thanks to them for this enormous effort. The next step is a poll of the faculty which will be mailed out shortly and which will be due back to Barbara Trottere by July 1 (extra time is being allowed because of magnitude and importance of the issues and the exigencies of summer schedules). (A special note: Wayne Hayes, Pres. AFT has rightly reminded the group that however we respond to these recommendations in the ASEC report, some of the specifics -- especially changes in personnel procedures would need to be negotiated through the union.)

The ASEC mail Poll and next steps: On the mail poll you will be asked to respond -- anonymously -- to the following statement:

I generally support the recommendations in the ASEC 5/17 Final Report.Yes                     No                     Abstain

I wish to add the following comments regarding the report:

Note: most importantly, you are being asked to provide specific and detailed -- but anonymous -- comments on your thoughts on this report and the recommendations contained within it whether or not you generally support the report. Along with the numbers of Yeas, Nays, and Abstentions, these narrative comments will be collected, transcribed, and posted to the FA website for your information and they will be transmitted formally to both the Provost and to the Faculty Advisory Council and myself. We will be studying these responses with care and discussing them with the Provost and the President as well as working toward the creation of CIRCUIT (still in the design stage) to develop and take the next steps. We will also be considering the responses in the light of whatever decisions are reached regarding the resolutions presented to us by CLA at the June 21 meeting which will -- we expect -- go to mail ballot following June 21 with responses to be received by Aug. 1.

III.  Upcoming Mail ballot on BOT Reps and ACR reps (Responses to be due July 1, 2004): Nominations on BOT representatives and representatives to the All College Research Committee closed at this meeting and you will be voting shortly by mail ballot on the following candidates:

BOT reps: BOT Capital Improvements Committee Reps: Roger N. Johnson, TAS OR Bill Makofske, TAS
BOT Finance Committee: Murray Sabrin, SAB
BOT Institutional Affairs Committee: Angela Cristini, TAS OR Ira Spar, AIS
BOT Student Affairs Committee: Sharon Rubin, AIS

All College Research Committee (Marshall Harth, SSHS is returning for a second year on the ACR and will be chairing the committee.) All other nominations for representatives are running unopposed.

Arts rep to ACR: Jay Wholley, Visual Arts
Business rep to ACR: Mary Ellen O'Grady Harvey, Busines
Humanities rep to ACR: Ellen Ross, History
Sciences rep to ACR: Carol Frishberg, Chemistry
At Large rep to ACR: Valerie Scott (Scotty) Massimo, Social Work

A representative will also need to be named by PSA as well as an exofficio rep. from the Provost's Office.

IV.  Interim TEC Director Position: Announced at the May 24 meeting was a interim TEC Director position to replace Phyllis Pickens who is retiring for the upcoming academic year. During that year a job description will be formalized for a permanent position and a search committee put in place for an external search, etc. The job description for the interim position is linked here. Applications are due to Kwesi Aggrey, Vice Provost/CIO by June 15, 2004. The position invites a faculty member to serve with half-load reassigned time. You will need to check with your convening group/dean that there are not insuperable objections to your serving in this role for a year.

V.  Reminders:
The All College picnic is Friday May 28 11-2 in the Pavilion, rsvp Shirlee Caruso.  

Grades are due June 1.

VI.  Other decisions made May 24 at FA:

Deans/Provost Evaluation Process: Passed at the May 24 morning Faculty Assembly were the new Dean's Evaluation Form and Process and the new Provost's Evaluation Form and Process. Those will see their first implementation in Spring 2005.

Student Housing Selection: Also passed at the May 24 morning Faculty Assembly was the following resolution presented by Ray Rigoli regarding student housing selection.

Resolved : That the Faculty Assembly urges Student Affairs from this point on to schedule housing selections during non-peak classroom times( ie evenings and/or weekends).

Math Requirement for Gen ED?: A motion was made by Gio Viglino under New Business regarding the math requirement for General Education, to wit:  "The Quantitative Reasoning Category should be eliminated and the current 100 level General Education Math requirement be maintained, with the understanding that such math courses would contain a quantitative reasoning component." This motion was -- by a vote of the FA-- committed to the CLA group for careful consideration in light of the Gen Ed proposals they are currently developing.

VII.  03-04 FA status reports: The President's report which I gave at the meetings is posted at http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/presreport05_24-04.html and you can refer to it for various details and for much deserved thanks to a number of people.  Please also visit our Final FA Project Status Report  (see http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/fafinalprojectstatus504.html ) to see the staggering number of things we have addressed and accomplished or made huge headway on this past year and their status as of May 24. Those reports -- and this report out -- are also linked to the President's Reports page http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/presreports.html  so that you can revisit this information whenever you wish.

Fall Dates:  Some key fall dates to get in your PDA now:  In-service Day for faculty is Thursday, Sep. 2 10-4:30.  Classes begin Sat. Sep. 4 but will not meet Monday, Sep. 6.  Sep. 8 is the first Faculty Assembly from 2-4 in SC136-8 followed by the New Faculty Tea at 4 in the York Room. Convocation will be held from 2-3:30 on Sep. 22.  A more detailed calendar will be posted and mailed out in August.

Cordially, Kay Fowler, FAP