Unit Name: ESF Outreach
Unit Mission: To foster, coordinate, and champion outreach efforts of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Work Sheet for Unit Level Institutional Assessment (Based on FY 2010-11)
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
Results of Assessment (Data)
1. Meet the
needs of our
learners
through
quality
educational
programs.
GOAL 1: Enrich
academic
excellence in both
undergraduate and
graduate education
Big Idea No.
1: SUNY and
the
Entrepreneuria
l Society
1.
An approach that will provide an
overall indication of participant
satisfaction across all credit and noncredit, for youth through professionals
is in progress. Current data indicate:
GOAL 2: Provide
an outstanding
student experience
Big Idea No.
2: SUNY and
the Seamless
Education
Pipeline
End of
course/program
survey statistics
(frequencies,
means &
illustrative
anecdotal).
GOAL 5:
Strategically build
and enhance
partnerships and
collaborative
relationships
Overall degree
of learner
satisfaction,
including
degree of
satisfaction for
individual
programs and
courses
offered.
 ESF Science Corps: 100% of
teachers ranked in-school
presentations and discussions very
high or high.
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
We anticipate a few
challenges and several
opportunities in the
2011-12 fiscal year.
These include
1.
Effectively meeting
all current and
ongoing program
and project
commitments
(including grantfunded efforts) in
the midst of a
major staff
transition,
including balancing
staff commitments
with grant
development,
submission
requirements and
timelines.
2.
Moving to the
Gateway Building
presents a once-ina-lifetime
opportunity to
fulfill ESF’s
commitment to
provide a true
“gateway” for our
diverse
community’s
 ESF SCIENCE: 99% of participants
will recommend program to a
friend.
Big Idea No.
3: SUNY and
an EnergySmart New
York
 On a five-point scale, with 5 being
“strongly agree”, ESF in the High
School science courses scored a
3.9 for course and subject matter
organization
GOAL 6: Respond
to the needs of
society
Analysis of
project/progra
m budget
reconciliations.
2.
Number and
percentage of
programs that
are, at a
minimum, a
“break-even”
venture,
including all
direct and
indirect costs.
Of programs that operated on a selfsustaining financial model, 98% at a
minimum broke even, including
payment of all direct and indirect
costs. While this is a high percentage
and, while budgeting for programs
that are reliant upon the marketplace
of registrants, exhibitors, sponsors
(i.e., those that are not ‘academic
conferences”) is not a simple science,
we are not satisfied. The single
instance of failing to break even was
taken very seriously. As a result,
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
Results of Assessment (Data)
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
internal controls and procedures have
been assessed and strengthened.
These will be monitored closely over
the next year with additional changes
as appropriate.
Project/progra
m leaders.
3.
Number of
learnercentered
innovations
introduced.
access to ESF’s
academic and
research programs.
Doing so requires
that Outreach take
the lead in
scheduling
conference and
training room use
in coordination
with other campus
priorities. The
Gateway Building
has the potential to
transform the
College’s ability to
respond to the
current and future
needs of society
through outreach
and service.
As a result of feedback from patrons
and collaborators, several approaches
were employed in order to better
serve program participants. These
include:
 A new professional education
program, Leading Sustainability,
responded to the need for
professional education in an
emerging professional practice
area. This program employed two
starting points for participants to
engage in a face-to-face workshop
(Tuesday/Wednesday or
Friday/Saturday), and blended
these face-to-face sessions with
webinars that enabled instructors
from Philadelphia to present and
interact with participants in
Syracuse and throughout New York
State. As a result, participants
hailed from public, private and
non-profit organizations, including
Monroe Community College, SUNY
Plattsburgh, Downstate Medical
University, Upstate Medical
University, and others.
3.
Aligning credit and
non-credit
programming with
community/societal
and College
strategic priorities
in an increasingly
competitive
marketplace
influenced by
cautious economic
conditions.
4.
Embedding
planning,
assessment and
quality control
within ongoing
commitments.
5.
Over the next year
 Four new ESF in the High School
courses were piloted at the
Syracuse City School District’s new
Institute of Technology at
Syracuse Central high school.
 One Sustainability And Green
Entrepreneurship (SAGE) webinar
was held in order to engage area
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
Results of Assessment (Data)
professionals with students and
educators at their home school,
during school hours, throughout
Central New York.
 Three webinars were hosted in
order to make ESF faculty
presentations on sustainability and
renewable energy available as a
professional development service
to members of the Science
Teachers Association of New York
State (STANYS)
 ESF Online credit courses have
reached an increasing number of
learners who are geographically
dispersed. We have served
learners throughout New York
State as well as in Michigan, North
Carolina, South Carolina,
Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Wisconsin, and Virginia.
 One ESF Online course, Concepts
in Watershed Hydrology, was
offered in a Hybrid Course Model
entailing both asynchronous and
synchronous online webinars.
 A two-day Advanced Solar Power
As Renewable Energy Training
course that had been offered in a
face-to-face format was
redesigned into a set of 4
weeklong fully asynchronous online
learning modules in combination
with a one-day face-to-face
session.
 A partnership with the New York
Academic of Science included ESF
serving as the Upstate host of a
webinar generated from New York
City. Over twenty people
participated from SUNY Oswego,
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
we intend to focus
on the following
areas:
A.
Growing credit
enrollment,
especially
visiting
(nonmatriculat
ed) students,
through
i.
ESF in the
High School.
We believe
we can take
steps that,
over time, will
allow us to
grow
enrollment to
1,000
students with
partnerships
in New York
State as well
as in other
states. To do
so, we will
-Expand our
repertoire of
courses.
-Employ
distance
learning
approaches
(e.g.,
Blackboard,
webinars) for
course
delivery.
-Employ
distance
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
Results of Assessment (Data)
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
University of Rochester, LeMoyne
College, Empire College, Syracuse
University, East Syracuse Minoa
School Distinct, Liverpool School
District, and others.
ESF Computing
Reports.
4.
ESF Computing
Reports.
ESF Computing
Reports.
Total nonmatriculated
credit course
and headcount
enrollments.
4.A. Nonmatriculated
credit course
and
headcount
enrollments
by program.
5.
ESF Computing
Reports.
Total
matriculated
credit course
and headcount
enrollments.
5.A Matriculated
credit course
and
headcount
enrollments
by program.
715




ESF in the High School: 610
Introduction to Green E-Ship: 20
Visiting Undergrad: 27
Visiting Grad: 58
ii.
275





Fall Global: 128
Spring Global: 122
Seminar on Teaching: 9
Centennial Seminar: 11
Bioprocessing: 5
Tally of
Appropriate
Programs.
6.
Number of
non-credit
programs
offered.
25
Registration
Data Tally.
7.
Total
registrations in
noncredit
programs.
3,244
learning
approaches
(e.g.,
Blackboard,
webinars) for
teacher
professional
development
and virtual
guest
presentations
(in order to
optimize
Outreach staff
and ESF
faculty time).
Ii. Summer
Session that entails
field-based, online,
executive
education and
other
courses/programs
that build upon
ESF’s strengths
and specialized
mission.
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
Results of Assessment (Data)
Compilation of
appropriate
data.
8.
4,234
Total
participation
(i.e., credit
and noncredit) in ESF
Outreach
programs.
[nos. 4, 5, 7]
8.A. Total
participation
including
“repeat”
participants.
2.
Connect our
communitie
s, our
partners
and the
College.
GOAL 5:
Strategically build
and enhance
partnerships and
collaborative
relationships
Big Idea No.
5: SUNY and
the Vibrant
Community
Count of
project/progra
m reports.
1.
Count of
project/progra
m reports.
2.
GOAL 6: Respond
to the needs of
society
Count of
project/progra
m reports.
3.
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
4,719 (estimated on incomplete data
due to records focused on headcount
enrollment for ESF in the High School)
Number and
percentage of
(a) ESF faculty
and (b)
academic
departments
involved in
organized
Outreach
programs and
projects
A) 43 / ~33% of ESF’s full-time
faculty
Number of
community,
corporate,
government,
and industry
partnerships
and regional
transformation
initiatives
established.
51
Percentage of
staff serving
on workrelated
College,
42%
We will focus on
A.
Faculty-driven
academic
conferences;
contract
training
programs
aligned with
ESF academic
and research
programs; and
selected
international,
national,
regional and
state-wide
conferences.
B.
Mutuallybeneficial
collaborations
with partners
outside the
academic
community
that result in
educational,
community,
B) 8 / 100%
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
Results of Assessment (Data)
community,
and
professional
committees
and boards.
Record of inprogress,
current, &
pending grant
proposals.
4.
Number and
amount of
collaborative
grant
proposals
submitted and
funded by ESF
faculty, staff
and partners.
We do not currently have a
mechanism for gathering College-wide
data; we will seek assistance from the
Research Office in this regard.
Survey of
Department
chairs, faculty
and staff.
5.
Number of
scholarly
activities
(teaching a
course, serving
on
thesis/disserta
tion
committees,
servicelearning
projects,
consultations,
presentations
and
publications)
based upon
ESF organized
outreach and
engagement
programs and
projects by
i.
i.
Outreach
staff
ii.
ESF
faculty
iii.
Jointly
ESF Outreach staff have been
engaged in the academic
program. For example Dr. Chuck
Spuches continues to teach the
Seminar on College Teaching and
to co-teach the Seminar on
Outreach. He also teaches a
graduate course at Syracuse
University and services on
doctoral dissertations
committees, having recently
chaired (or supervised) a
dissertation that received a
School of Education award.
Dr. Rick Beal continues to teach
Global Environment in traditional
classroom and online formats,
and co-teach the Seminar on
Outreach.
Ms. Ginny Williams has developed
and taught several offerings of
Concepts of Watershed Hydrology
online (in collaboration with Peter
Black).
ii.
We have not had a mechanism to
gather these data with respect to
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
workforce,
and/or
economic
development
projects such
our recent
USFS-funded
Green
Infrastructure
Training
Program in
partnership
with the
Northside
Urban
Partnership
and
CenterState
CEO.
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
Results of Assessment (Data)
with offcampus
partners
ESF faculty and recent efforts
have suggested that additional
effort will be necessary.
iii. Data are not currently available.
Comparison of
staff, student,
and participant
information
from program
evaluations with
statistics from
the greater
community.
6.
Extent to
which outreach
efforts reflect
the value of
diversity
(staffing,
students/partic
ipants served,
communities
served).
Participants in community
engagement programs such as GLUE
(see above) represented

9 nations

13 languages
ESF Outreach continues to engage a
significantly diverse group of
participants in youth programs. For
example, our close partnership with
the Syracuse City School District
(SCSD) entails the Environmental
Challenge which represents a student
population that is

Black: 54%

White: 29%

Hispanic: 11%

Asian: 5%

Native American: 1%
SCSD students enrolled in ESF in the
High School courses are:

Asian/Pacific Islander: 5%

Black/Non-Hispanic: 5%

Hispanic: 8%

White/Non-Hispanic: 80%
Qualitative
summary of
project
outcomes.
7.
Evidence of
impacts on
communities
and the
College as a
result of
engagement
projects.
We have determined that an effective
and efficient means for documenting
progress is needed. Nevertheless,
underpinning our efforts are ESF’s
Vision 2020 Strategic Priorities 5:
Strategically build and enhance
partnerships and collaborative
relationships and no. 6: Respond to
the needs of society.
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
Results of Assessment (Data)
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
To these ends, a diverse range of
programs entails collaboration with a
significant number of off-campus
people and organizations (near and
far) resulting in credit and non-credit
programming for students and
professionals.
Programs such as the US Forest
Service-funded Green Infrastructure
training programs have directly
resulted in internships and
employment for Syracuse City
refugees.
The post-baccalaureate Certificate in
Bioprocessing, which recently has
experienced low enrollment due to
industry trends, has nevertheless
supported a significant number of
professionals at Bristol-Myers Squibb,
one of Central New York’s
longstanding industrial cornerstones
and, at the same time, has resulted in
over a dozen full- and part-time
graduate students in Paper and
Bioprocess Engineering.
These brief examples underscore the
exchange value resulting from
outreach efforts and the value in
further gathering evidence and
documenting impact.
3. Strengthen
sustainable
Outreach
capacity.
GOAL 7: Invest in
ESF’s human
resources and
physical
infrastructure
Core Value
No. 3:
Diversity
makes us
stronger and
smarter
Faculty,
partner, and
staff surveys.
1.
Degree of
faculty,
partner and
staff
satisfaction
with program
and project
experiences.
Additional data and collection are
required.
Advisory
Council
2.
Establishment
of an ESF
Initial steps have been taken to
establish a formal ESF Outreach
We will continue to
engage our partners
and stakeholders in
review and discussion
of Outreach priorities,
results, and indicators.
The strategic priorities
and indicators we have
adopted are fulfilling
their purpose to
provide a framework
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
established and
launched.
Number
outreach
related
opportunities
afforded staff,
faculty, and
graduate
students.
3.
Expenditures on
technology
4.
Results of Assessment (Data)
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
Outreach
Advisory
Council that
includes onand offcampus
representative
s, and explore
potential
linkages to
faculty
governance
and programspecific
advisory
councils.
Advisory Council. Additional steps will
be taken this year.
for critical reflection
and informed planning,
and our selfassessment plan is
fundamentally a helpful
and appropriate way to
proceed. We are
working to identify a
more efficient
mechanism to enable
data collection and
reporting.
Investment in
professional
education and
development
opportunities
for staff,
faculty and
graduate
students
involved in
outreach,
including,
outreach
scholarship
and practice,
project
management,
consulting/facil
itating,
marketing,
interactive
learning
technologies.
Modest investment has been made.
Nevertheless, with respect to
Outreach staff, some have been
supported to participate in local
programs with modest registration
fees.
Investment in
technology and
Modest but significant investments
have been in technology to support
In the meantime, ongoing efforts
continue to engage and strengthen
participation on several advisory
councils that inform specific programs
(e.g., Green Building Conference,
Biotechnology Symposium).
Further consideration is needed for
data collection as well as to fulfilling
this aspiration.
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
efficiency
initiatives.
quality efforts
to improve
workplace
efficiency.
Results of Assessment (Data)
the Outreach office’s productivity.
After a concerted investigation (with
support from ESF’s webmaster,
director of administrative computing,
Bursar, and Business Director), we
made a multi-year commitment to an
annual service contract with a webbased, customizable, passwordprotected program registration and emarketing application. We have made
additional modest investments in
hardware and software.
Related expenditures total
approximately $18,721 for licenses,
services contracts and hardware.
Number and
amount of grant
proposals
submitted;
Number of
percentage of
grants awarded.
Implementation
of ongoing
quality
assurance and
improvements.
5. Capacity and
resources to
identify,
respond to, and
manage
externally
funding
opportunities,
along with their
successful
transition to
sustainable and
institutionalized
non-credit and
credit programs
and other
initiatives.
6.
Results of
ongoing and
annual selfassessment,
planning and
reporting
Beginning in 2001, the approach
employed to pursue grants entailed
staff identifying, writing and
managing grant-funded projects.
From 2003 – 6, active grants totaled
over $3 million dollars (total book
value). The range of grantors
involved, particularly the NYS and US
Department of Labor, along with the
requirement to develop within
Outreach mechanism to document
cost-matching stressed staff
resources, placed considerable
demands on staff time and attention
for the entire grant acquisition,
management and reporting stages.
This is an area for which a sustainable
model needs further investigation in
order to competitively and
successfully seek and manage grants.
A) $6,586
B) $238,980
C) i. $68,470 / Percentage not
currently determined
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
processes,
including
program-level
and aggregate
financial
analysis, e.g.,
A.
Amount of
faculty
technical
service
funds
generated.
B.
Amount of
indirect cost
generated.
C.
Percentage
of collegesupported
outreach
staff salaries
(i) costshared in
grants and
(ii)
recovered
from grants.
D.
Amount of
ESF faculty
extra service
and summer
salary
generated
(including
fringe).
E.
Number of
(i) staff and
(ii) graduate
students
supported
with
extramural
Results of Assessment (Data)
ii. $6,347 / Percentage not
currently determined
D) $120,116
E) 8 / 10
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)
Unit Goal
Link to ESF Goals
Link to The
Power of
SUNY
Strategic
Plan
Method(s) of
Assessment
Targets
funding.
Results of Assessment (Data)
Implementation
Plan (Changes
resulting from
Assessment)