Deans’ Council
December 15, 2011
Attendees: B. Barnett, E. Daffron, L. Chakrin, H. Nejad, S. Perry, E. Siecke, E. Saiff, S.
Rosenberg, C. Romano and B Goldstein.
Commencement – B. Goldstein gave update on commencement 2012. Event will now be
moved off the Ramapo campus. Reasons for move include:
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Event is getting too big to handle on campus
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Parking spaces will be lost due to G Wing Renovation.
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Students want to bring additional guests to see the ceremony.
Commencement will now be held May 16, 2012. One of the sites being considered for use is the
Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. More information will be posted on the commencement
website.
Revised Service Criteria – J. Jeney gave report --starting in Fall 2012 activities that have been
paid (stipend or reassigned time) should not be considered in service.
SBR and reassigned time are not service.
B. Barnett stressed to deans that they must make certain that faculty are aware of service
requirements.
Tenure slots – If there are no changes, no additional lines, and no retirements the college will be
left with the following ratio:
12/13 – 68.12
13/14 – 74.67
14/15 – 83.84
15/16 – 91.7
16.17 – 93.45
President Mercer has given notice to the Board of Trustees that he will ask for reconsideration of
the tenure cap policy.
College Board Statistics - C. Romano – gave a report on college board statistics on chosen
student majors. This report may eventually be presented to faculty assembly.
Findings: The Undecided major is growing.
Overall marketshare has declined, the marketing campaign that has been launched is to increase
marketshare.
Program Review – E. Daffron led discussion on program review, training for new faculty and
working with Michelle Johnson to get workshops scheduled.
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Data will be collected in Provosts’ office by S. Zhang and S. Murchio.
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E. Daffron will work with conveners from each unit.
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ARC has passed the adult degree completion major and will not recommend 120 credit
hours; the program will stay at 128.
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B. Barnett noted that the major will move forward at 128 credit hours and students will
be given the opportunity to plex at least 2 courses.
Program Review – E. Daffron went over the changes and feedback from Conveners on ways to
improve the document. Grammatical comments on report were noted. Faculty will be
encouraged to sign up for advising workshops.
CEP Assessment – Goal 7 and 8 – Redesign majors and courses to reflect the reduced number
of courses but increase depth in courses. Conclusion – (based on multiple assessments) Ramapo
courses appear to be at the appropriate level and most courses appear to include CEC which
should have provided the increased depth as credits increased from three to four. Many majors
and minors exceed CEP limits but a review already underway has reduced the size of a handful
of majors.
Goal 8 – Reduce faculty reassigned time – this is based on faculty data on whether or not a flex
obligation was completed. Faculty reassigned time is on the rise -- as a result course delivery
costs may increase.
There is a need for better criteria for reassigning faculty.
B. Barnett asked everyone to bring a list of FLEX to the retreat in January. Faculty who have
not completed this assignment must pick up a fourth course.
Review flex for faculty projects and revised reassigned time.
CEC – E. Daffron noted the design team is working on CEC and exploring ways to reward
faculty and students for really good work. Yearly awards to students could be given during
honors convocation.
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Deans council would define criteria and process for this award. E. Daffron will report
back to the design team that the deans would like more details about the award
ceremony, he will also offer alternative ideas like CEC day.
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E. Daffron would like to do a CEC syllabi review for spring 2012.
S. Rosenberg reminded everyone of NYU interdisciplinary workshops and the great programs
that are provided.
B. Barnett reminded everyone to get in their online course proposals as soon as possible.