Provost’s Council Minutes
Held: September 27, 2012
Attendance: E. Daffron, B. Barnett, G. Khaneja, G. Tabback, R. Adhikari, B. Levy, J. Jeney,
D. Crawley, L. Weems, E. Saiff, C. Romano, P. Rice, S. Perry, S. Rosenberg, M.
Cammarata, L. Chakrin, H. Nejad, E. Rainforth and D. Reed,
E. Daffron called the meeting to order initiated introductions and explained the policy
review and approval process.
Raj Adhikari – spoke about OPT or Optional Practical Training and work permits,
timelines and meeting graduation requirements. If students do not meet the 2.0 basic
requirement to graduate it can hinder their ability to work or apply for a work permit.
Applications for this program must be submitted 90 days prior to a work start date.
Students do not know if they meet graduation requirements since they apply for the OPT
program so far in advance. If a student is required to take an additional class they cannot
work and must complete the class and then reapply for the OPT. In addition, they now
have a shorter period of time in which they can work because the time of the first OPT
application is used as the start date. Suggestion to identify borderline students a semester
earlier so that they can get appropriate advisement before applying for the OPT training.
R. Adhikari plans to work with ITS to generate a list of international students and their
advisors and to contact advisors for their assistance in working with these students
proactively.
Minutes from May 17, 2012 approved unanimously.
Policy 300-GG – Independent Studies – (new policy and procedure) formerly just a
procedure – The procedure reflects suggestions from both Deans’ Council and ARC;
ARC drafted the policy to accompany the procedure. Suggestion to add under section:
To Whom Does the Policy changed wording to:
“Faculty, adjuncts, managers and unclassified staff who teach.”
E. Daffron activated policy into review.
Revised Academic Integrity Procedure – Only the procedure, not the policy, has been
revised. The only changes to the procedure are ones that affect operations in the Office
of the Provost: making more explicit students’ rights, responsibilities, and protections
under the Student Handbook and reunifying the process in Office of the Provost by
creating a new academic integrity board. This new board is parallel to the J Board in
Judicial Affairs and will enable academic affairs to respond to student cases with more
consistency. E. Daffron presented this procedure as an information item for council
members to share with their constituents.
Policy 300-BB – Terminal Degree for Adjuncts and Staff – Title changed to Degree
Requirements for Adjuncts, Unclassified Staff and Managers Who Teach. E. Daffron
activated policy into review.
Policy 300-EE – Student Classification on Admission – This policy, which was created
to show how admissions identifies and classifies students on admission to the college, has
been revised. Originally #4 in the procedure indicated that students must matriculate by
30 credits; the revision now requires students to matriculate by 28 credits. The change
reflects the College’s shift from three-credit to four-credit courses. E. Daffron activated
policy into review.
Policy 300-FF – Application of Transfer Credit – Suggestion to take into account
transfer credits from International students and schools as well as AP credits. E. Daffron
activated the policy into review with minor corrections noted.
Policy 300-HH – Overload Teaching - Purpose of policy is to lay out the normal
conditions for faculty teaching overload to ensure that faculty have sufficient time to
work with students outside the classroom and to pursue their service and scholarship
activities. Within the procedure, a discussion of assignment of teaching load concluded
with the Provost indicating that the school dean is responsible for assigning individual
faculty loads within the limits set by academic policies.
Comment made to add the usual wording under To Whom Does the Policy Apply:
Faculty, adjuncts, managers and unclassified staff who teach.
Add under related documents add procedure and Agreement: State of New Jersey,
Council of New Jersey State College Locals AFT 2274.
In the procedure, paragraph 1: take out ‘sole’ before discretion of the respective Dean.
Paragraph 2 – change ‘course’ to Curriculum Enhancement Plan.
J. Jeney to offer wording to be incorporated into procedure.
E. Daffron activated policy/procedure into review.
M. Cammarata – discussed procedures in Student Handbook. She would like to bring
various procedures to the provost’s council group for feedback, since many of them affect
faculty as well as students.