President Wheeler’s Feb. 2025 Report to Faculty

Dear Colleagues,

In my first written report of the new year, I could not possibly cover all the topics that are buzzing in the higher education universe. Suffice it to say, every day brings a new set of experiences and sometimes they are more disorienting than the day before. In this moment, let me offer that in speaking with many of you over the past several weeks, I have great optimism that as a community, SUNY New Paltz can and will use every available opportunity to build supports within our campus community to bridge chasms that could separate us and to model what it truly means to be a community of caring faculty, staff and students.

As I began last semester, allow me to come back to a focus on the three priority areas I have established for myself and the campus leadership team.

Campus Culture and Climate
We messaged in January a healthy return to campus to faculty, staff, students and their parents. Thank you to Dr. Amy Cocina, our director of student health services, who provided information on the different communicable infections currently impacting our region and precautions to take to reduce their spread. In the spirit of community, let us each do our part to limit the spread of infections to protect ourselves and our community.

Vice President Tanhena Pacheco Dunn and I wrote last week to share existing New York policies and guidance for higher education institutions with undocumented students and those from mixed-status households as our University and others adjust to changes in immigration policies and practices under a new federal administration. We will continue to make sure we share the latest information and to ensure its accuracy. To that end, we are building a repository for those resources on our website. We are in close contact with the Office of General Counsel at SUNY as we navigate these rapidly changing times and circumstances.

I have heard and continue to hear the concerns expressed by faculty, staff and students as new questions and feelings of uncertainty and fears emerge. I will reiterate that while this may not affect everyone directly, many of our students, faculty and staff, are rightly concerned about the impacts of federal actions on their educational and/or professional future, their lives, and their friends and families. As a community, I ask that we extend compassion and support to each other—a characteristic of the New Paltz community that I and so many ‘Hawks’ value and appreciate.

As I shared last week in a meeting with the Vice Presidents and Deans and in another meeting with the leadership of our Student Association and Residence Hall Student Association, we each must ask ourselves what we can do to make an impact during such unsettling times that is within our control and our purview. For campus leadership, it will mean sharing important information and guidance as the higher education landscape is affected by new executive orders. For our student leaders, I encouraged them to think about maximizing their educational opportunities at New Paltz and find ways to bring about systemic change—while at and far beyond their time at New Paltz—for the betterment of our society and our nation. As a community, we are uniquely tasked with creating a rich learning environment for everyone so that our graduates build a better world. One way we do this is through our post-election programming. For example, Civil Conversations, organized by the Honors Program and Student Association last fall, will continue this semester. Please watch for announcements about upcoming sessions and topics. Also, Provost McClure still has funding in his community programming fund to seed other community-building events.

Enrollment
In January, New Paltz welcomed more than 258 new undergraduate and 174 graduate students who registered during in-person, virtual, open house orientation and advising sessions. I wish to thank all the faculty and staff who participated in this success. Winter registration was down slightly (-1.5%) compared to winter 2024 with more than 900 students enrolled during this session. Departments are developing schedules for summer 2025 now. Please consider course enrollment history and students’ needs when creating these schedules to maximize enrollment.

Students are off to a good start for spring 2025. We have seen far fewer students with unconfirmed enrollment at the start of the semester. Please help these students by reviewing your class rosters in my.newpaltz.edu > Faculty Services > Teaching Menu > Class rosters. If you identify anyone listed with unconfirmed enrollment, please refer them to the Office of Student Accounts for assistance. Unconfirmed students do not have access to Brightspace and will be deregistered on Feb. 10.

We have received more than 17,000 undergraduate applications for fall 2025. We have several enrollment initiatives in place to continue to build our numbers and enrollment. We need your help at our major yield events. Mark your calendars for our Accepted Students Days (ASD), March 29 and April 5. For the past two years, 65% of students who attended these events enrolled in New Paltz. They attribute their decision to the faculty they meet and the vibe on campus. Departments will be receiving an email from Enrollment Management about Accepted Students Days with a request for information to be completed by the end of February. Please submit this information to help our team plan high-student-yielding events.

Fiscal Sustainability
While enrollments are trending in the right direction, we haven’t quite reached the revenue target we set at the beginning of the year and our expenditures are trending higher than anticipated. The Division of Administration and Finance, along with SUNY System, continues to monitor campus funding activities closely, and identify and explain variances to the fiscal sustainability plan presented to SUNY last April. The President’s Cabinet is closely monitoring progress toward fiscal stability. Quarterly spending reports are provided to campus units and to the President’s Cabinet, the latest of which encompassed spending up to Dec. 31, 2024. The President’s Cabinet will evaluate these reports and will make decisions regarding adjusting future spending accordingly.

On Jan. 21, Governor Hochul released her fourth Executive Budget. The Governor has again shown dedication to the advancement of the SUNY System and the students we serve by outlining a budget that increases direct state taxpayer support for SUNY, including additional direct state tax support of $114 million to cover the incremental costs of collective bargaining agreements across state-operated campuses. She also outlined continued and increased investment ($12M total) for the ACE/ASAP program, of which New Paltz is a participating campus, and continued capital funding of $550M for SUNY state-operated campuses for critical maintenance needs. We are encouraged by this opening step in the annual state budget process. The Executive budget proposes reductions to EOP. Historically, when EOP funding is cut initially, SUNY works with the Legislature to restore the funding.

Based on this budget landscape, SUNY and campuses will engage the Legislature in advocacy to support continued investments in this vital state resource. We have a good working relationship with our state legislators—Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha and Michelle Hinchey—and will speak with them and a group of elected alums in the Legislature who are engaged with the campus, , including Assemblywoman Alisha Hyndman, ’93, who is the new chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

Reminder – it is time to kick off the SUNY New Paltz 25-26 fiscal year budget planning cycle. Campus departments should be meeting with their leadership (directors and AVPs, chairs and Deans) to review Academic Year 24-25 spending to date. Campus departments should concurrently begin framing any budget requests for the 25-26 fiscal year. By the end of February, departments must submit any requests for new funds to their vice presidents (departments must use the new funding request form located in my.newpaltz.edu; Budget Information Center). Reminder: all new requests must be linked to the two pillars of the University’s mission: 1) academic excellence and student success and 2) being a value to the New Paltz community, across our state and beyond.

While we are closely monitoring our ability to meet fiscal year 2024-24 targets, we must also be realistic that future expenditures that advance the mission and success of the University must also be considered. Campus leaders realize that we have to keep an eye out for new opportunities that emerge, even during tight budgetary times. Requests received from proposals for the 2024-25 year totaled more than $3M. Campus leadership reviewed and ranked the proposals, approving only top priorities that totaled $500,000. This amount was determined based on budgetary assessment to identify the maximum we could invest in the best-case scenario.  These new investments are being monitored for their effectiveness in achieving their purpose and our mission. This year we will follow this same model for new funding, and I, along with Vice President Halstead, are building, stress-testing and analyzing various scenarios to identify a realistic investment threshold. This amount will be shared with our campus leaders by end of February. We are paying attention to unique opportunities that will position SUNY New Paltz and our students for success.

Strategic Planning
The Strategic Planning Committee and its subcommittees continue to move our plan forward with the guidance of Dan Silverburg, our consultant from CampusWorks.  Please watch for another opportunity to shape the future of the University’s success by providing input on the draft plan’s mission, vision, values and strategies components via survey soon. Again, thank you to those who have committed time and talent to the process thus far.

Construction
Facilities Management continues to move several campus construction projects forward—part of a comprehensive, thoughtful and planned approach by New York State, SUNY and SUNY New Paltz to make significant, long-term investments in our campus infrastructure, with the express purpose of enhancing the student experience for generations to come.

This spring and summer, the team will complete the gut renovation of Mohonk Hall, including the addition of a fourth floor, and renovations of the Student Union Building 3rd floor spaces and the second-floor Multipurpose Room. They are also preparing for three significant future renovations of 1) Peregrine Dining Hall (estimated construction start late summer 2025), 2) Shango/College Halls (estimated construction start spring 2026) and 3) Elting Gymnasium and Pool (estimated construction start summer 2026).

To keep the campus informed about these projects, Facilities Management is working closely with the Office of Communication & Marketing to provide information via campus messages, the construction website and our social media channels. Please watch for a more fulsome message, FAQs and new webpages this week. As more details become available, additional FAQs, renderings and information will be shared.

Commencement 2025
Last fall, I called for the creation of a new Commencement Planning Committee that expanded membership to approximately two dozen members and included faculty and student representation. The goal of the committee is to inform ceremony design and implementation to enhance the Commencement experience for our graduating students and their families and involve key stakeholders from across the campus in the planning process. A message outlining these plans was shared with the campus community, students and their parents in mid-December. The committee will meet twice this spring to review run of show and other ceremony components, and the group is planning ways to actively engage more academic faculty in the ceremony this May. Please watch for announcements from Provost McClure and the committee. The Commencement ceremonies are as follows, all outside on the Old Main Quad:

• May 16: Graduate Ceremony – 6 p.m.
• May 17: Undergraduate Ceremony (College of Liberal Arts & Sciences) – 10 a.m.
• May 18: Undergraduate Ceremony (Schools of Business, Education, Fine & Performing Arts, Science & Engineering) – 10 a.m.

Development
The Development team announced a new $150,000 gift from an anonymous donor that will support adjuncts and lecturers at SUNY New Paltz; you can read more about the Katie Geneva Cannon Fund for Contingent Faculty in the original announcement here; further information about applying for awards from this fund is forthcoming from the Provost.

Gifts have started to come in in anticipation of New Paltz’s new Prison Education Project. If you know anyone who would like more information about supporting this program, please contact Executive Director of Development Jonathan Vaughn.

Alumni Relations
Alumni Relations kicked off two initiatives in January 2025. A “New Year, New Network” communications campaign encourages more alumni to join the Orange & Blue Network, our virtual community platform for alumni – and student! – networking and building connections. A student messaging campaign will follow shortly, to inspire students to reach out to the nearly 1,100 alumni who have volunteered to mentor them. Alumni Relations hosted five alumni receptions across California between Jan. 12-18, attended by 60+ alumni and guests. I attended an alumni reception in Nashville on Jan. 17. This is the continuation of a nationwide alumni engagement effort this year, which will include receptions in Chicago, Washington D.C., New Orleans, Boston, Rochester, and New York City. Alumni Relations partnered on Feb. 1 on a Fraternity and Sorority Alumni Student Mixer and will partner with the Scholars Mentorship Program on a student-alumni dinner on Saturday, March 8, in Wappinger Falls.

February is a celebration of Black History Month—Please look for announcements on campus and community events on the facstaf-l listserv, in the Digest and in the Events Calendar.

Distinguished Speaker Series
Save the date for the spring Distinguished Speaker Series, featuring Damali Peterman, conflict resolution expert and author of “Negotiating While Black:  Be Who You Are To Get What You Want,” who will speak on this topic. Tuesday, April 22, 7 p.m., Lecture Center 100.

I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have about my report or any other topics at this week’s Faculty Senate meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 5.

Darrell P. Wheeler
President