Deans’ Council
December 1, 2011
Attendees: B. Barnett, E. Daffron, L. Chakrin, H. Nejad, S. Perry, E. Siecke, E. Saiff, S.
Rosenberg, C. Romano.
Strategic Planning Committee - B. Barnett opened the meeting and announced the need to
elect a dean as representative to the Strategic Planning Committee. This must be done by
December 7; a faculty representative is also needed.
The meetings for this committee will start soon. The committee will meet every week and a final
report is due by June 2012.
S. Perry volunteered to serve as dean representative with E. Saiff as an alternate for both the
dean and provost should the need arise.
Grade Changes –E. Daffron has been working with the registrar regarding grade change
submissions. Anything that falls within policy sent by deans will be accepted by registrar’s
office. Anything that falls outside of policy must have a substantial written explanation
accompanying the grade change. Permanent records , cannot be altered once they are closed.
Tenure Slots Discussion – Under current Board policy, the current slots that are available are
based on two planned retirements this year. There will be no slots after 2013if there are no
additional retirements; the only way to tenure someone after 2013 will be dependent on a
scheduled retirement. Questions were raised on the original of the tenure cap; is it state stature
or Board Policy? B. Barnett and J. Jeney will investigate.
Hire and promotion letters – deans were cautioned to make certain that they are speaking to
programmatic needs in addition to the talents or achievements of the individuals when crafting
their letter.
CEP Assessment – E. Daffron continued goal review.
Goal 4 –

Decrease the adjunct rate which is currently rising.

B. Barnett would like to look at data differently in terms of student credit hours rather
than headcount of adjuncts

Discussion on FLEX and reassigned time with possible review of both in the future.
Goal 5: Revise course syllabi to include course objectives and outcomes. This goal will be
revised and clarified to emphasize that only in the last couple of years have outcomes on Ramapo
syllabi generally been outputs rather than inputs.
Goal 6: Enhance faculty scholarship. Analysis/assessment is incomplete at this time. This will
be a future step.
E. Saiff discussed faculty/student research and how it affects his unit and faculty productivity.
C. Romano – reviewed summer course offerings and course cancellations and their history. He
also reminded everyone about the upcoming open house which is the last for 2011.
Teaching Online – the previous contract gave faculty a credit for the first time they taught a
course online; this is no longer in effect since there is no contract for faculty. Deans should
encourage faculty to move courses to an online format and apply for a $1,000 stipend. There is
money available for this from last summer’s online course proposals.