Borough of Manhattan Community College
The City University of New York
Academic Senate
________________________________________________________________________
Minutes
September 25, 2013
N451
I.
II.
CALL TO ORDER at 3:30 pm
ATTENDANCE A quorum was achieved. The following members were marked absent: Sophia Clark;
Sidney Eng; Meghan Fitzgerald; Toby Ginsberg; Joyce Harte; Geoffrey Kurtz; Jacqueline Nichols; Antonio
Perez; Charles Ray; Lisa Rose; Erica Seidel; June Soto; Mike Vozick; Zhana Yablokova
III.
THE MINUTES OF THE May 22nd meeting (both the Organizational meeting for Session Seven, and the
final meeting of Session Six) were approved unanimously.
IV.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS FROM REPRESENTATIVES (Most standing Committees have not
met – first meeting on 10/2 – the exception being Academic Standing)
A. CURRICULUM COMMITTEE – no report
B. FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE – no report
C. INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE – no report
D. ACADEMIC STANDING COMMITTEE - the Committee Chair, Prof. Miller, reported that the
Committee has read almost 2,000 appeals in the current term.
E. COMMITTEE ON STUDENT AFFAIRS – no report
F. ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE – no report
G. ACADEMIC FREEDOM – no report
a. CHAIR’S REPORT – Welcome from Senate Chair and Discussion of role of Senate members. The Chair
stated the importance of active committee participation, as well as prompt attendance at the College
Council meeting which precedes the Senate meeting. The Chair also reported that the Pathways lawsuit
hearing scheduled for Sept. 18th was cancelled by NYS Attorney General and has been rescheduled for
November.
V.
NEW BUSINESS –
a. Update on CUNYfirst implementation/Degree Works changes re Pathways from Dean Wong. Dean
Wong suggested that despite problems, the CUNYfirst implementation is going well (and used as a
comparison the college’s migration to CUNY VM twenty years earlier). The Dean said that Fall
enrollment is off by approx. 2%, in contrast to the 10% decline experienced by other CUNY campuses in
the semester that CUNYfirst was implemented.
b. CUNY Budget Priorities – The body took a brief poll, listing from among the following choices the areas
CUNY should prioritize for additional funding:
AREA
VOTES
More Full-time faculty
Improved facilities (labs, equipment, space)
Increased Counselors/Academic Advisors
Additional Student Support Programs (ASAP, Fr...
More Student Scholarships
Increased Faculty Research (reassigned time)
Totals
25
34
25
20
16
29
149
Write in suggestions included Faculty Development, Reading Across the Curriculum, Tutoring,
Reduced Faculty Workload, Compensated Student Research, and Campus Research Space.
These recommendations will be forwarded to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget and
Finance, Matthew Sapienza, in preparation for CUNY’s request to NYS.
VI.
a.
UFS Update – Prof. Salam provided the following update from the most recent UFS Plenary:
Acting Chancellor Bill Kelly addressed the first meeting of the academic year with a summary of central
office initiatives and activities. His focus includes reviewing PMP outcomes with college Presidents;
searches for a new Chancellor and several campus Presidents or Provosts. The Chancellor also stated that
VC for Academic Affairs, Alexandra Logue would be taking a study leave in the spring and her post will
be filled by Asst Provost Julia Wrigley.
There was some discussion of changes in the doctoral programs and it was announced by UFS Chair
Terry Martell that the fall UFS Conference (December 6th) would focus on doctoral education.
The UFS is designing a system to work more closely with CUNY IT decision makers, led by Brian
Cohen, to insure that the technology needs of faculty are made by faculty and not by experts in the central
administration who never enter a classroom.
Prof. Jack Levin (Graduate Education, Queens) described the new requirements for teacher certification
instituted by the NYS Board of Regents. Teacher Ed students will now be required to fund almost $1500
in certification related expenses.
VII.
OLD BUSINESS
VIII.
ADJOURNMENT