President’s Report to Academic and Professional Faculty
Donald P. Christian’s Report to the Academic and Professional Faculty, May 11, 2017
As the current year winds down and we look ahead to 2017-18, I want to express my admiration and gratitude for the dedication and hard work of members of our campus community who create the high-quality experiences for students that are at the heart of our mission. Thank you. I share here several news updates and key information about the College.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Budget Status – Key points of the May 3 budget forum are outlined in a presentation posted on the Budget Information Center on my.newpaltz.edu. We will continue to identify new sources of revenue and expenditure reductions for next year, as we wait for clarity on enrollment, possible tuition increase, and contractual salary agreements.
- Enrollment Update – New undergraduate student enrollment for fall is strong, for both first-year and transfer students. This promises to be the most racially and ethnically diverse incoming class in our institution’s history. Graduate enrollment remains down.
- Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service – Congratulations to Robert Guidi, Maintenance Assistant in Facilities, for receiving this award, to be presented at our classified staff event in the fall.
- Faculty Governance – Congratulations to the faculty for acting on what I believe will prove to be a historic change for the College in voting on April 28 to adopt a Faculty Senate model of governance. A special call out to Presiding Officer Anne Balant for her thoughtful and patient leadership of this effort, and to members of the Committee on Governance for their great work.
- “Consensual” Relations Policy – The Academic Affairs Committee and Academic Senate have approved an interim policy on “Consensual Relationships Between Faculty/Staff and Students.” It was shared last week with faculty, staff, and students and will be considered at this week’s faculty meeting (link or attach). This interim policy functions as our operative policy on romantic and sexual relationships between employees and students, effective May 5, 2017, until a final policy is approved.
- Strategic Planning and Assessment – Provost Arnold announced earlier in the year that we are developing a new structure that will bring assessment, strategic planning, and reaccreditation into tighter alignment. As the semester ends and we prepare to move into summer, we will begin the transition to this new structure, including the new Strategic Planning and Assessment Council (membership to be finalized soon), which will replace the current Strategic Planning Council; Dr. Laurel M. Garrick Duhaney will move into her new leadership role as Associate Provost for Assessment and Strategic Planning. Additional information will be forthcoming from Provost Arnold.
- Chancellor Transition – SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher is stepping down after eight years. Her successor is Dr. Kristina Johnson, who brings rich academic, business, and government experience to this key role; she will begin on September 5.
- Faculty and Staff Appreciation Picnic – Tuesday, May 23, 11 a.m.- 2 p.m., Old Main Quad (inclement weather alternative is Athletic and Wellness Center).
Budget Status. Thank you to the faculty and staff who joined us at the May 3 budget forum where we outlined key principles guiding the budget adjustments we must make, factors that have contributed to our current deficit, and actions identified to date to reduce expenditure and increase revenue next year. The presentation slides posted on the Budget Information Center on my.newpaltz.edu provide information on each of these points. We appreciate the thoughtful money-saving and revenue-generating ideas suggested by many members of the community, and the willingness of people at all levels of the institution to help with this budgetary course-correction. We will continue to identify new sources of revenue and expenditure reductions for next year, as we wait for clarity on enrollment, possible tuition increase, and contractual salary agreements.
Several points warrant emphasis here. With expenditures exceeding revenues this year, we will balance our 2016-17 budget by using campus reserve funds – one of the purposes for these “rainy day” funds. As Vice President Halstead emphasized at the forum, the “belt tightening” that we have seen across the campus this year has contributed to a significantly (about $1 million) reduced need to draw on reserve funds. The primary steps we have identified for increasing revenue and reducing expenditure bear on balancing next year’s (2017-18) budget. They include a mix of recurring and one-time actions. Achieving long-term stability in our budget beyond 2017-18 demands shifts in recurring expenditures and revenues, the fundamental reason that we must continue fine-tuning our ongoing budget next year and into the future.
Enrollment Update. New undergraduate student enrollment for fall is strong, for both first-year and transfer students. Returning student enrollment for fall semester is down slightly; we are unable at this time to discern whether this reflects a small jump in graduation rate. But we will attempt to offset this reduction by increasing new (especially transfer) student enrollment, and anticipate reaching our undergraduate student enrollment targets. We have seen an unusual late April-early May increase in new applications, from both first-year and transfer students. We do not yet know whether these will translate into increased acceptances and students choosing to come here, but see this as a positive sign (perhaps reflecting interest in the Excelsior Scholarship Program). This year’s incoming first-year class promises to be the most racially and ethnically diverse in our institution’s history.
We built our budget projections for next year expecting a continued significant (20%) drop in graduate enrollment. Overall graduate enrollment to date is indeed down, but still within that projected “window”; some programs are showing encouraging signs of growth. As outlined at the recent budget forum, we cannot increase undergraduate enrollment enough to offset the decline in graduate numbers – why we must look to understand current and future regional needs as we focus more attention on developing new graduate programs and new modes of delivery to reach new markets.
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service. Robert Guidi, Maintenance Assistant in Facilities, has been selected to receive this award. Rob has worked at New Paltz since 1994, in various positions. The award will be presented at a classified staff event in the fall. Congratulations, Rob!
Faculty Governance. Congratulations to the faculty for voting on April 28 to adopt a Faculty Senate model of governance. I believe this will prove to be a historic change for the College. A special call out to Presiding Officer Anne Balant for her thoughtful and patient leadership of this effort, and to the members of the Committee on Governance who informed and supported this work in many ways. Concerns about our faculty governance structure and processes were raised as far back as our last Middle States reaccreditation self-study and review in 2010-11 and perhaps before then. It has been clear that primary responsibility for revamping faculty governance must lie with the faculty, and I appreciate and respect the care and thoughtfulness with which you have charted a new course for ensuring a strong and sound faculty voice on key decisions. Of course, much work remains, to establish committee structure, write new by-laws, and develop new procedures, but a major first hurdle has been cleared. Well done!
“Consensual” Relations Policy. An interim policy on “Consensual Relationships Between Faculty/Staff and Students” was approved by Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) on 4/5/17 and by the Academic Senate on 4/14/17, and will be considered by the full faculty at this week’s faculty meeting. This interim policy was shared with students and faculty and staff last week, and went into effect on May 5, 2017. The policy (link or attachment) governs romantic and sexual relationships between employees and students. It was developed through significant collaboration between the AAC, including its student members, and the administration.
In Fall 2016, I requested that faculty governance collaborate with the administration to craft a policy regarding amorous or sexual relationships between faculty/staff and students. That request grew out of recognition that the previously existing New Paltz statement regarding such relationships was primarily advisory and not a clearly articulated policy that supports the best interests of students, faculty and staff, and the institution. In recent years changes in best practices and legal trends have called attention to the impacts of power imbalances on sexual or romantic relationships, leading many colleges and universities across the country to carefully reexamine policies related to Title IX, consensual romantic relationships, and related topics.
Given the need to have a clearly articulated policy in place as soon as possible, the Executive Committee of the Faculty voted that any consensual relationships policy approved by the AAC and the administration would be accepted as an interim policy, with consideration by the Academic Senate and the faculty as a permanent policy.
I join Provost Lorin Arnold and AVP Tanhena Pacheco Dunn in thanking members of the AAC for their extensive work and their collaboration in developing a clear and appropriate policy regarding amorous relationships between employees and students.
Strategic Planning and Assessment. Provost Arnold announced earlier in the year that we are developing a new structure that will bring assessment, strategic planning, and reaccreditation into tighter alignment. This is part of our administrative realignment in the President’s Division and Academic Affairs, and reflects two significant emerging views about strategic planning. First, institutional progress is better served by treating strategic planning and plan implementation as an ongoing, more-or-less continuous process, rather than having it defined by strategic plans that have specified start and end dates. Second, structures and processes that feed assessment results (for student learning and for institutional effectiveness) more directly and promptly into strategic planning, create tighter “closing the loop” cycles that inform ongoing adjustments in plan implementation. Such approaches are also increasingly expected by regional accrediting bodies as a foundation for demonstrating sound institutional direction and accountability.
As the Provost wrote, Dr. Laurel M. Garrick Duhaney has agreed to take on the new role of Associate Provost for Assessment and Strategic Planning to guide this effort, drawing on her extensive experience with leading our assessment and reaccreditation efforts. Her primary responsibilities will be to support and monitor the coordination of our planning and assessment efforts, and to coordinate our Middle States reaccreditation reviews. She will report to the Provost, who will work closely with the President and Cabinet in overseeing all strategic and assessment initiatives. The Associate Provost will be advised and supported by a Strategic Planning and Assessment Council, which will include elected and appointed members – one of the “shared governance” bodies in our new governance structure.
Presiding Officer Anne Balant and Provost Arnold are finalizing specifics of the governance-elected faculty participants. Our plan is to begin the transition from the current Strategic Planning Council, chaired by Dr. Ray Schwarz, to Dr. Garrick Duhaney’s leadership and the new Council during the summer. Further details will be shared by Provost Arnold before the end of the semester.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Schwarz and members of the Strategic Planning Council for their outstanding work in guiding, advancing, and measuring our progress on our eight essential initiatives in the first years of implementation of our Strategic Plan, and for their work in preparing for a sound transition to the new structure. We have made impressive progress on many of our strategic plan goals (see ; Progress Report for 2015-2016 and Strategic Planning Dashboard ). The essential initiatives of the strategic plan represent fundamental challenges and opportunities that we must continue to address, even as we fine-tune specific actions in response to changing external conditions and assessment of our successes and failures.
Chancellor Transition. Dr. Nancy Zimpher, who has served as SUNY Chancellor since 2009, is stepping down at the end of June. She has been a strong supporter of SUNY New Paltz, and holds our campus in high regard. Her successor is Dr. Kristina Johnson, whose previous academic posts include Dean of Engineering at Duke University, Provost/Senior VP for Academic Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, and Professor at University of Colorado-Boulder. An electrical engineer, she holds 118 U.S. and international patents, and helped develop the polarization-control technologies that enabled high-quality 3D movies and TV. Dr. Johnson served as Under Secretary of Energy under President Barack Obama, and is the current founder and CEO of a company that develops hydroelectric generation facilities. She will begin as Chancellor on Sept. 5; the Board of Trustees will appoint an interim Chancellor at next month’s meeting.
Dr. Johnson wrote to me recently, saying she has heard “what a fantastic school New Paltz is” and shared her eagerness to learn more about our campus. I have invited her to visit the campus either this summer or early in the fall.
Faculty and Staff Appreciation Picnic. A brief reminder of our all-campus end-of-year barbeque and picnic, Tuesday, May 23, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on the Old Main Quad (rain location is the Athletic and Wellness Center), organized and hosted by Development and Alumni Relations. I hope that you will consider joining us to spend time with colleagues to celebrate the successful completion of another academic year and to help honor this year’s Classified Staff Presidential Recognition Award recipients.
I look forward to seeing you at this week’s faculty meeting, and will be available to respond to your questions and comments.
I wish everyone a great finish to this semester and academic year, and a productive, successful, and rejuvenating summer.
Sincerely,
Donald P. Christian
President
The composition of Diversity and Inclusion Council may be an elephant in the room and I want to offer a couple comments.
In May 2009, on my first visit back to campus after being appointed as Provost, I met with members of the Executive Committee in JFT 1010. We discussed a variety of issues that I would be tackling as Provost during the coming year. I don’t recall specific numbers, but I think there were 14 members present, of whom all but two were women. I asked about this obvious gender imbalance, and was told in effect that it is very difficult to get male faculty to step into major service roles. I had the vivid impression that the women faculty present were disheartened and discouraged by that situation. In part, I was trying to honor that sentiment by appointing male faculty to the D&I Council. But I hear the concern that has been expressed, and am happy to add two more faculty slots to the council, to be filled by women faculty.
But the email exchange this week also told me that there are some key principles about the purpose and expectations of the Council – and our broader diversity and inclusion work –that are not well understood and that I want to re-emphasize.
One is that, as Tanhena and I pointed out in our email last week, the success of this effort will – must – extend well beyond the membership of the Council. If the relatively few members of the Council end up being seen as carrying the primary responsibility for this effort, our progress will be slow. As we pursue the major initiatives identified in the diversity and inclusion plan – student recruitment and retention, curriculum and pedagogy, diverse faculty and staff hiring, and cultural competency training – there will be ample opportunity for broader involvement. Indeed, as the work progresses, it may be wise to have satellite councils, say in each of the schools, to amplify the work of the institution-wide D&I Council.
Another fundamental point that I have to emphasize again is that each Council member’s contribution to this work must extend beyond “representation” of a particular dimension of diversity or intersectionality, and that includes employment classification as a dimension. If we are not vigilant on that purpose, we run the risk that other institutions have experienced at the start of this work, that the focus becomes advocacy for particular interests and identities and not on shared goals and purposes. We have heard from professionals who felt demeaned and undervalued by the tone of messages sent by their academic colleagues. This week’s exchange also heightened the sense of some classified staff that they are not valued. And the exchange prompted one member to suggest that we need ethnic group representation on the Council. I hope that we can get away from that sense of division and back to some sense of unity and united effort.
Our students get this in ways that I hope might inspire us. This was reinforced for me just yesterday when I learned about the theme that the students organizing the First World Graduation ceremony developed and would like me to incorporate into my comments at the ceremony. That theme is “Within Unity There is Diversity.” The wisdom captured in that phrase is precisely the spirit behind the formation of the Diversity and Inclusion Council and the spirit that is so apparent in our diversity and inclusion plan.
Now onto some really good news. SUNY New Paltz has received Tree Campus USA designation by arborday.org. This is in many respects the brainchild of Emerita Biology Professor Carol Rietsma, who has pursued this for some time, along with Biology Professor Eric Keeling, New Paltz alumnus George Profous at NYS DEC, and Facilities/Grounds supervisor Rick Drostowich. Criteria to qualify for this recognition include having a management plan, a tree inventory (ours is a GIS data-based inventory), an advisory committee that includes at least one faculty member and one community member, and ongoing research projects involving campus trees or forests. This designation is a valuable addition to our sustainability profile.
I call your attention to next weekend’s commencement ceremonies, and remind you of the Faculty Grand Marshals for each – Presiding Officer Anne Balant for the Friday Graduate commencement; History Professor Susan Lewis for the Saturday LA&S ceremony; and Business Professor Kevin Caskey for Sunday’s ceremony. Your presence as faculty at these ceremonies means a lot to our graduates and their families, and I hope that as many of you as possible will attend.