Baruch College Faculty Senate Plenary Meeting
Minutes of April 2, 2015
MINUTES
Senators Attending: E. Axelrod (Law), C. Bellamy (Soc/Anth), M. Carew (Eco/Fin), A. Croker (S/CIS),
B. Ferns (S/CIS), K. Frank (ENG), R. Freedman (ZSB), M. Goodman (COMM), A. Grein (Mkt/Int’lBus),
K. Guest (Soc/Anth), C. Hessel (Eco/Fin), D. Howard (Math), R. Jain (S/CIS), D. S. Johnson (PSY), G.
Jurkevich (ModLang), S. Korenman (SPA), C. Kulatilleke (NatSci), A. Levitus (CNSLNG/PSY), T.
Main (SPA), T. Martell (Eco/Fin), B. Murphy (HIS), J. O'Keefe Bazzoni (COMM), M. Ozbilgin (ACC),
A. Pearlman (PSY), L. Rath (LIB), M. Seltzer (SPA0, P. Sethi (MGT), ) M. Stark (SPA),A. Vora
(Eco/Fin), S. Wine (S/CIS), Yin (MGT).
Senators Absent C. Christoforatou (ENG), S. Dishart (COMM), W. Finke (ModLang), C. Gengler
(Mkt/Int’lBus ), D. Jones (PoliSc), W. McClellan (ENG), R. Ormsby (LIB), G. Petersen (Soc/Anth), J.
Weiser (Law), S. Wong (MTH), J. Ye (ACC) , R. Yue (S/CIS) .
An additional thirty one officers and staff were present.
The meeting was convened at 12:45 p.m. in VC 14-250 by Professor Chris. Hessel, Chair of the Baruch
Faculty Senate.
I.
II.
Approval of Agenda: The agenda was approved by assent.
Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of Plenary Meeting of March 5, 2015 were approved by
assent.
III.
Report from the Chair: Chairman Hessel Welcomed those attending and reviewed the Agenda
for the meeting. He reported the new mandate to the faculty to develop a plan for the adoption of
a resolution for the recognition of “experiential activities.” The details of this requirement will be
posted for faculty consideration. Provost Christy commented that it is his belief that Baruch is
already in compliance. In addition, the 2008 Baruch By-Laws set forth the policy of constraint of
assignment of faculty generated course requirements, and the reassertion of that policy as any
proceeds from such should be contributed to charity (see attached). A reminder that faculty
should attend the Baruch general faculty meeting on April 16th. Finally that the general faculty
will be asked to approve the proposed the changes to the Faculty Senate By-Laws. A question
was addressed of the P.S.C. dues for additional teaching was explained by Professor William
Ferns.
IV.
Report of the Provost: Provost Christie reported on:
A. Reminder about the COACHE Survey of Faculty Job Satisfaction, which closes on April 10.
Our current response rate is 51%. Thank you.
B. The committee that is developing the Baruch College Periodic Review Report to Middle
States Commission on Higher Education will release its report for comment in mid-April.
Comments from Baruch faculty and staff are welcome.
C. We are completing the development of this year’s ‘progress report’ on our Faculty Diversity
Strategic Plan.
D. The search committee for the new dean for WSAS will be formed soon and begin to meet in
May. Our goal is to release the position announcement in mid-August, and complete on1
campus interviews of finalists in December. This is important because our academic calendar
does not engage many of our faculty during January.
Professor Peterson raised question as to the Provost’s policy regarding the achievement
of the goal of twenty percent “hybrid” and “on-line”courses as set forth in the Strategic
Plan across the board in all Departments. Provost Christy responded with his
understanding of the “blueprint” in achieving the goal. Further, he asserted his belief that
adherence to the strategy would provide the best opportunity to accomplish the goal.
Professor Peterson implored the assembled faculty to be attentive to this discourse.
V.
VI.
Report of the President; President Wallerstein was not in attendance.
New Business:
A. The following Baruch representatives to the University Faculty Senate for the following year
were nominated and elected: Professors Matt Edwards, Lisa Ellis and Cliff Wymbs with
Professors Ted Henken and Nanda Kumar as alternatives.
B. Assistant Provost Dennis Slavin introduced the background and purpose of the subsequent
presentation on Student Evaluation.
On Student Evaluation: Arthur Downing presented on how instructors can use the
reporting features in SmartEvals, Baruch’s online course evaluation system. Users
can log into the system from the SmartEvals link under the “Login” tab on the
College’s home page or by going to www.smartevals.com, clicking “login”, and
selecting Baruch College. Faculty can provide students with these same login
methods during an evaluation period. The default screen for instructors in
SmartEvals is the EvalCenter. It contains a record of evaluations already completed,
those in progress, and those that are scheduled. During an evaluation period
instructors can see the response rates to date for their courses. The Preview link
displays the evaluation instrument. SmartEvals allows for multiple instruments,
although Baruch uses only one at this time. Under the See column the date for
scheduled evaluations is only a placeholder for the release of results; it is not the
actual release date. Clicking on the Reports link in that column retrieves the Custom
Report, which lists for each question, the instructor’s mean and the distribution of
responses in that class across the range of rating choices. By using the drop-down
menus at the top of the screen the instructor can combine surveys across her/his
courses and sections, which will recalculate these numbers. Any value that is
highlighted in blue can be used to restrict the presentation of results to that subgroup of responses. There are 3 types of values that can be used to filter results in
this way: (1) Responses to evaluation questions; (2) Data provided by Baruch – At
this time we are loading student GPA and transfer status; (3) Data provided by
SmartEvals – At the recommendation of faculty we are using student rating
tendency. SmartEvals categorizes an individual student’s rating behavior along a
range from very easy to very hard grader based on all evaluation ratings submitted
by that student to date. SmartEvals provides several types of charts to display data in
its reports. In the Custom Report there is a visual distribution of scores for each
question along with a bar chart that the compares an instructor’s means alongside the
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means for the department, school, and college. The Percentile Rank report shows
where an instructor’s mean for each question falls in the top 30%, bottom 30% or
middle range of the selected comparison group (i.e., department, school, or college
by course level, semester or year). The Individual Evaluations report represents each
evaluation submitted including the comments associated with it, while preserving the
student’s anonymity. By clicking on the Excel icon in any report, the instructor can
export it to PDF format to save or print.
Professor Frank commented upon the security provisions of the system. Professor
Peterson commented that the overall evaluation process tended to grade instructors
on average between 4.2 and 4.7 on a five point scale. Assistant Provost Dennis
Slavin and Professor William Ferns responded to these and several additional
comments on the process of Instructor Evaluation by students.
C. Announcements: None
Meeting Adjourned at 2:22 pm
Respectfully Submitted
Michael G. Carew, Baruch Faculty Senate Secretary
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Faculty Senate Plenary Meeting
Minutes of April 3, 2008
Baruch College Textbook Adoption Guidelines and Procedures
Generally textbooks are selected by the individual faculty member, though in some cases a
departmental committee or a committee composed of faculty teaching a course may select texts.
While the adoption of course textbooks is a function of the individual faculty member and his or
her department, certain College standards, CUNY policy guidelines and New York State Ethics
requirements must be met.
I. Textbook Selection and Pricing
Faculty are responsible for ordering their own texts and providing textbook information to the
Baruch College Bookstore in a timely fashion. In the event that a faculty member has not yet
been assigned to a class, the respective department chair is responsible for providing the
bookstore with the textbook information:
Faculty Responsibilities
1.
Faculty may not engage in direct sale of instructional materials to students.
2.
Faculty should be mindful of the cost of textbooks and strive to minimize the costs of
textbooks for students while maintaining the quality of education and academic freedom.
(See item 9 for the Bookstore’s responsibility to publicize comparative pricing
information.)
3.
Faculty are encouraged to provide access to required textbooks and other educational
materials, if applicable, through library reserves, EReserve or similar arrangements.
Faculty are also encouraged to consider electronic books, book chapters, electronic journal
articles, and other digital materials provided through the library or on Blackboard sites for
supplemental and core reading in support of classroom work.
4.
Faculty members are encouraged to limit their use of new edition textbooks when previous
editions do not significantly differ in content and the Baruch College Bookstore can ensure
that an adequate supply of the older edition books are available.
5.
When appropriate consideration should be given to adopting a common textbook for
courses with multiple sections. The use of common course materials may have beneficial
effects from both a pedagogical and market perspective.
6.
An academic course-pack is a collection of materials (usually photocopied) used in the
classroom, distributed either in book format or as class handouts. Most publishers grant
"clearances" for course-packs—that is, for a fee, publishers give permission for their books
or articles to be copied and distributed in educational contexts. Such clearances normally
last for one semester or for one school term. After that, the instructor must seek clearance
again. While the College encourages the use of course-packs, by placing an adoption for a
bundled package, the faculty member affirmatively confirms his/her intent to use each item
in the bundled package. If the faculty member does not intend to use all items in the bundle
he/she shall notify the bookstore of the items required, and the bookstore shall order the
individualized items when the store’s procurement is cost effective for both the students
and the institution and such items are available from the publisher.
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7.
The faculty member will indicate whether textbooks are “required” or “recommended.” A
textbook should be designated as “required” if, and only if, the faculty member intends to
use a substantial portion of the book during the course.
Faculty Relations with the Bookstore
8.
The Bookstore Manager will notify the faculty member promptly of any information
received regarding the delay in shipment of a textbook or of the inability of a publisher to
provide the textbook by a required date. The Bookstore Manager will obtain delayed books
or substitute books by the most expedient means. When requested, he will attempt to obtain
out-of-print books from alternate sources.
9.
Increasing the availability of used textbooks, at discounts of 25% or more, significantly
reduces the cost of textbooks. National demand for used textbooks far exceeds supply so
early acquisition is essential. Having the textbook adoption information early also enables
the bookstore to pay students the most for their used books and to acquire more used books.
To ensure textbook adoptions are made with sufficient lead time to confirm availability
and, where possible, to ensure maximum availability of used textbooks, the faculty,
departments or schools shall submit textbook and course material adoption information to
the Baruch College Bookstore as early as possible, preferably by the bookstore’s published
dates:
a. Fall semester adoptions by May 1
b. Winter intersession adoptions by October 1
c. Spring semester adoptions by Nov 1
d. Summer session adoptions by April 1
e. As soon as practical upon the late appointment of the course instructor
10. The Bookstore will provide to faculty and department chairs a list of the costs of their
books in the prior term, per course, as well as benchmark averages for the College and
colleagues nationally.
11. Though faculty members are responsible for reporting their best realistic estimate of the
number of students expected in each course and section, the Bookstore, in fulfilling its
contract, must make its own determination on the quantity of each text to stock. Factors
used in making this decision include: each faculty member’s estimated quantity needed,
sales history (if available), enrollment history (if available), student purchasing patterns,
such as use of other book suppliers, and publisher information (e.g., restrictions on returns,
minimum quantities required, discounts on volume purchases, response time to orders,
etc.). If the Bookstore plans to order less books than indicated by projected course
enrollment, they should notify the faculty of the potential shortfall in the supply of course
materials available through the Bookstore.
12. The school curriculum committees are encouraged to review and establish reading load
guidelines for undergraduate and graduate electives to ensure that course reading
assignments are reasonable. In addition these committees should develop recommended
guidelines for multi-section courses that would address the student cost of instructional
materials.
II. Pedagogical and Financial Considerations
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13.
14.
15.
16.
No employee at Baruch College shall demand or receive any payment, loan, subscription,
advance, or deposit of money, services or anything, present or promised, as an inducement
for requiring students to purchase a specific textbook required for coursework or
instruction. An exception to this rule provide for faculty receiving sample copies,
instructor’s copies, or instructional material from publishers for consider as potential
textbooks or course material. However, such material may not to be sold.
Publishers are not precluded from a business relationship with units of the College (above
the individual employee level) provided that relationship meets the standards specified in
Baruch College's Policy on Business Agreements with External Entities. This policy states
that
“Any relationship between the College and an external organization that involves an
exchange of money, goods, use of premises, and/or services requires a written
agreement properly executed by both sides.”
There are no restrictions on the adoption of textbooks written by faculty members. In fact,
Baruch College, as does CUNY, encourages faculty members to write and publish.
However, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest by adopting a textbook they have
written the textbook adoption process should be open and transparent. Faculty should
request formal approval to use a textbook they authored from a departmental committee,
such as the curriculum committee, charged with making an independent and objective
reviews of textbooks selected. The author(s) of the textbook should not be part of the
selection process. The existence of such a committee is necessary to prevent any conflicts
of interest, perceived or real, from occurring. The selection process should be well
documented with written critiques of all candidate textbooks.
Royalty payments a faculty member earns on textbooks used in a course taught by the
faculty member are subject to the rules and policies of the City University of New York.
Faculty are encouraged to consider donating royalties earned on books they use in courses
to charitable causes as a way of separating pedagogical consider that benefit the students
from financial consideration that benefit the individual faculty member.
Drafted by the Education Policy Subcommittee of the Faculty Senate, March 27, 2008
Approved by the Faculty Senate, April 3, 2008
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Draft CUNY Policy on Faculty Assigning for purchase their own works in classrooms
From Philip Pecorino and Karen Kaplowitz
The Faculty of CUNY affirm Academic Freedom in the responsibility and rights of faculty to
choose materials to assign to their students and to require for purchase by the students in their
courses. As professional educators, faculty should avoid the appearance and the reality of any
conflict of interest in making such determinations. When faculty create materials and derive
revenue from their sale and, either as individuals or as members of a group, make the
determination to use materials that they have created in their own classes, then that portion of
the revenue they derive from the sale of books to their own students should be directed to a
program for the use or support of students over which the authors have no control or
influence. Such programs may include but are not to be limited to student scholarships and
emergency funds at the college at which they teach.
Whenever materials that are created by a faculty member are to be used in multiple sections of
a course only some of which are taught by that faculty member, then the decision concerning
which work is to be used must be made by an official group of faculty of the department and
not by any single faculty member, not even the department chairperson. Even in these cases,
the portion of the revenue they derive from the sale of their own materials to their own
students should be directed to a program for the use or support of students over which the
creator has no control or influence.
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Th e F a c u l t y S e n a t e
The City College of New York
Resolution against profit-making
in the distribution of course materials
Whereas, the mission of City College is to serve economically disadvantaged students; such
students have great difficulty purchasing course materials such as textbooks, and
Whereas, the Faculty and the College Administration have an obligation to provide syllabi
and course information sheets at no cost to students,
Resolved, that faculty and departments in the College may not make a profit from course
materials sold to students, either directly or through the bookstore. Any monies collected
from students should be for necessary class expenses and should be so used, and,
Be it further resolved that the College should not enter into agreements with publishers or
vendors that provide profits to individual departments for course materials. Furthermore, any
existing contracts that provide profits to departments for materials should be cancelled at the
earliest possible time.
This resolution was adopted at the Plenary Meeting of the CCNY Faculty Senate on
April 24, 2014 by a vote of 33:2:2 (quorum = 32 senators, requires 32 votes for
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adoption.)
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This is the language on experiential learning. It was part of the budget bill which is now law. It
requires CUNY to pass a Board Resolution by June 1, 2015. The actual plan does not have to be
developed until June 1, 2016. Given what is involved, one year is not a lot of time. I would think
individual colleges would be starting to sort out the issues soon. There are many issues which
will have to be addressed at the individual campus level. I suggest you monitor this process
closely.
PART Q
Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 355 of the education law is amended by adding a new
paragraph f-1 to read as follows:
Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the city university of New York
board of trustees shall pass a resolution by June first, two thousand fifteen, to develop a plan to
make available to students enrolled in an academic program of the city university of New
York beginning in the two thousand sixteen--two thousand seventeen academic year,
approved experiential or applied learning activities.
Such experiential or applied learning activities may include completion of activities related to
students' program of study, including, but not limited to, service-learning activities completed
as part of a course, or unpaid internships, faculty-supervised undergraduate projects and
activities leading to publication of research in journals or similar publications, production or
performance of creative works, and iterative "co-op" partnerships that explicitly link the
curricula to a temporary paid position in industry or the public sector.
Such plan, to be completed by June first, two thousand sixteen, shall be developed in
consultation with university faculty senate, the university student senate and other
stakeholders. Such plan shall define:
approved experiential or applied learning activities, methods of faculty oversight and
assessment and collecting and reporting data associated with such experiential or
applied learning activities.
Such plan shall have each college examine the feasibility of including such experiential or
applied learning activities as a degree requirement.
Such college shall examine its ability to administer and provide such opportunities to students;
the local community's capacity to support such experiential or applied learning activities; the
impact such requirement would have on the local workforce, if any; potential
for such a requirement to enhance learning outcomes for students; and whether adding such a
requirement would cause potential delays in graduation for students.
This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to have been in full force and
effect on and after April 1, 2015.
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