A c a d e m i c S e n a t e
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th
Immediately following the College Council in Room S658
I.
CALL TO ORDER at 2:45 pm
II.
ATTENDANCE A quorum was achieved. The following senators were marked absent: Sharon Avni; Joel Barker; Phil Belcastro; James Blake; Namar
Brown; Arthur Cain; Yan Chen; Sophia Clark; Keneisha Durrant; Joel Evans;
Everett Flannery; Anne Friedman ; Toby Ginsberg ; Alexander Gosslau; Joyce
Harte; Dominic Henry; Joel Hernandez ; ShuHuey Jenner; Joosik Kim;Michael
Nazzaro;Jacqueline Nichols; Crystal Palacios; Angel Panora; Alicia Perdomo;
Antonio Perez; Lesley Rennis; Rimel Smith; June Soto; Chris Stein; Rayon
Vangenderen; Josh Wolfson; Zhana Yablokova; Hasan Yumak; Annzalena
Yusuf and Joanne Zak
III.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS FROM REPRESENTATIVES: a.
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE – The following items were unanimously approved by the Curriculum Committee: i.
Social Sciences and Human Services department name change proposal to Social Sciences, Human Services and Criminal Justice department. ii.
Social Sciences and Human Services new course proposal, HIS
226 – Conflict in the Middle East. This is not a pathway course. iii.
Course number changes from SPE 240 to COM 240 (Interpersonal
Communication), and SPE 245 to COM 245 (Mass Media
Studies). iv.
Media, Arts, and Technology changes in the prerequisites for the following courses:
1.
VAT 301 Introduction to Video Graphics; VAT 161 TV
Studio Production; VAT 165 Sound for
Performance/Digital Media I; VAT 171 Remote
Production/Digital Video Editing. For all of the above the changes in the prerequisites from VAT 161 or VAT 171 and CIS 100 to VAT 161 or VAT 171 or MMP 250.
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b.
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE – The Joe Dr. Colloquium will be held on April 15 th
. Applications for Faculty Development grants are due Feb. 13 th . c.
INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE – The committee is examining the implications of changes to the summer session structure; the electronic evaluation of faculty; and administrative pressure to offer WI classes in the winter term. d.
ACADEMIC STANDING COMMITTEE – The committee read 800 appeals over the break. e.
COMMITTEE ON STUDENT AFFAIRS- Committee members are piloting the Early Alert warning system and are examining the potential to have faculty serve as volunteer Coaches in an effort to improve student retention. f.
ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE – Thirty faculty members have volunteered to work on Open Houses. The committee continues to develop a video to be shown to prospective students. g.
ACADEMIC FREEDOM – no report
IV.
CHAIR’S REPORT - The chair gave an update on a meeting she attended at the Community College Caucus where Julia Wrigley and Erin Croke provided an update on the assessment of Pathways. Information gathering will begin in the spring. Items mentioned at the Caucus meeting are listed below. At the
AS meeting there was additional discussion and a request was made to the registrar, Mohammed Alam, that we make available a list of all courses approved in Pathways CUNY wide. There was a belief that this information might be available on the web (but it couldn’t be located), but the Registrar advised that he could capture the info in CUNYFirst. Provost Wilkes advised that BMCC plan to hold student focus groups surrounding Pathways. a.
Central does not plan to assess individual courses; their focus is system wide; b.
Degreeworks accuracy; c.
Confusion about the College Option; d.
The success of the Major Gateways transfers; e.
An examination of whether there was an FTE reduction or a change in who is teaching courses because of Pathways; f.
Whether there is fidelity to the model; do overlays exists (eg additional graduation requirements such as WI); are there hidden prerequisites
V.
NEW BUSINESS – The Provost announced that the COACHE survey (to gauge faculty satisfaction – it is a tool, created by Harvard’s School of
Education and in use presently by the senior colleges) will be administered later this year. More information will be forthcoming.
VI.
OLD BUSINESS
VII.
ADJOURNMENT at 3:30 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Kay Conway
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