President Wheeler’s March 2025 Report to Faculty

Dear Colleagues,

The past several weeks have been busy for higher education and many other enterprises as the volume and pace of incoming information, actions, rumors, and legal challenges have left so many of us with a sense of exhaustion, frustration and disbelief. Given this context, I start this month with campus climate and culture, one of our three institutional priorities for this academic year. Many of our colleagues on this campus and many others are aware of the recent Dear Colleague Letter from the U.S. Department of Education, sent to campus leaders on Feb. 14, and subsequent FAQ to purge all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts from colleges and universities nationwide. For so many institutions, the value of diversity, equity and inclusion is imperative to supporting the American dream of a strong nation for all its citizens. These federal actions were disorienting and demoralizing.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King during his recent budget testimony to state legislators offers inspiration and resolve that is consistent with our unwavering commitments to continuing this work to build a stronger SUNY, a stronger New York, a stronger America and definitely a stronger SUNY New Paltz:

“From our founding, SUNY’s mission has been ‘to provide to the people of New York educational services of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access, fully representative of all segments of the population.’ We have no intention of backing away from that mission and its inherent commitment to a diverse and inclusive university and society.”

As we continue the transformative work of educating our students, I will continue to work with SUNY as we face these critical challenges. As I said nearly three years ago, higher education must make the argument for its value and essentiality in these and other areas and make this argument not just to our professional colleagues but to all in words and actions that offer hope and unity, not divisiveness and disparagement.  As I did last month, I celebrate the work our staff, faculty and students do to support and advance this critical work. I ask that we all continue to build the SUNY New Paltz brand on the intentionality of advancing this work, exploring the difficult issues with passion for our perspectives and compassion for the views of others. We have shining examples of this across our campus and we can build and lead the way for others to emulate.

Let me also share another perspective on the state of things shared with me and other university presidents at a meeting two weeks ago; a message from Dr. Shaun Harper, university professor and provost professor of education, business and public policy at the University of Southern California, responding to the Department of Education Dear Colleague letter with an article in Inside Higher Education: A Dear Colleague letter in defense of DEI, by Shaun Harper.

I will now turn to the other two priorities for this academic year—Strategic Planning and Fiscal Sustainability.

Strategic Planning
Thank you to all who have touched our Strategic Planning process to date during this academic year. This is challenging, time-consuming and important work for our institution and will set the course for how we prioritize our resources. This month you will have an opportunity to weigh in on the plan’s draft mission and vision statements, values and strategies in a survey that will go out on March 12 to all faculty, staff, students and community stakeholder groups. Please make your voice heard by taking the survey.

Fiscal Sustainability
As we await the outcome of the state budget process, we will continue our campus internal process for the fiscal year 2025-26 budget. At this point, all new funding requests should have made their way to divisional vice presidents for prioritization within that division. Once each proposal has been ranked within its respective division, proposals will be forwarded to the Budget Office for review and then presented to campus leadership for overall prioritization. When the state budget is finalized, leadership will determine which proposals, if any, will be approved for fiscal year 2025-26.

Departments that were previously awarded new funding items for the current fiscal year should begin preparing follow-up assessments of the effectiveness of the funding. Evidence of this effectiveness should be shared with the divisional vice presidents for discussion at the leadership table and maintained for the next visit from Middle States.

Enrollment Management
The Division of Enrollment Management is preparing for our major yield events, Accepted Students’ Days: Saturdays, March 29 and April 5. Each of these days, we will welcome 1,300 students and families to our beautiful campus and showcase our academic programs, faculty, students, student services and supports, health and wellness offerings, residence life, food services and enrichment opportunities. For the past two years, 65% of students who attended these events enrolled in New Paltz. The undergraduate admission’s staff has some special surprises for students who deposit to become Hawks that day as well as for those who have already deposited. Thank you in advance to the more than 110 faculty and staff who have signed up to support this event.

The Office of Records & Registration will be releasing the summer 2025 and fall 2025 schedules on the website this week. Please encourage students to review our robust summer offerings to help catch up or get ahead.

Records & Registration has launched a process to allow students to convert a non-credit microcredential credit into college credit. The first non-credit microcredential approved for this conversion is the Science of Reading Fundamentals. The application to convert the credential to college credit is currently available within the course but will become available starting in April through the Science of Reading Center website. A fee of $120 is charged for 1 graduate credit.

This semester, we have had 11 students activated for National Guard Service and the New York Naval Militia. These numbers may increase, and we have not yet been informed of the length of time for this deployment. Vice President Turk and Provost McClure emailed faculty and staff on Feb. 19 with a reminder about New Paltz policies regarding students deployed for military service.  Please contact Donnie Martin, assistant director of the Office of Veteran and Military Services (OVMS), if you have additional questions.

Commencement
The Commencement Committee met recently to review and plan for our May 2025 Commencement Ceremonies. The Committee continues to evaluate ways to enhance graduates’ experience and engage faculty and department chairs in new ways in this milestone event in the lives of our students and their loved ones. Commencement weekend is May 16-18, 2025. All Faculty-Staff are encouraged to participate by registering to either march or to serve as a marshal. Seating improvements for faculty are being made, and many students embraced the opportunity at 100 Days to Graduation event last month to draft a personal invite to their faculty to attend.

Food for Thought – a Community Outreach Event
This is the name we are using to champion the work we are planning related to the 3-year Peregrine gut renovation. Together with our partners at Sodexo & Campus Auxiliary Services (CAS), later this month SUNY New Paltz will host a meeting with local food and hospitality vendors. The focus of the meeting will be to invite these community members to be thought partners to consider how we approach the task of providing food service to faculty, staff, commuters and more than 3,000 residential students while our dining hall is under construction over the next three years. Sodexo, CAS and Facilities Design and Construction have been busy planning various updates and minor renovations to spaces we already have on campus, and many new and exciting experiences are in development. We believe that by inviting the broader community to join us in this planning effort, we are sure to come up with even more ideas about how to keep food concepts fresh and appealing.

Career Fair
The Career Resource Center is looking forward to welcoming hundreds of students and over 70 employers to the Spring 2025 Career Fair for Jobs and Internships on Wednesday, March 5, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Elting Gym. Please stop by to support and encourage students of all years to participate and see the many opportunities.

Mid-Hudson Teacher Recruitment Day
The Career Resource Center will host over 42 school districts and 200 education-related candidates on Wednesday, March 19, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Center expects over 600 pre-scheduled interviews to take place during this event.

Development & Alumni Relations
Planning continues for Beyond the Ridge—The Campaign for SUNY New Paltz, our next comprehensive campaign. While still in the silent phase, a Campaign Cabinet of notable alumni and donors is actively preparing for a public launch soon. Additionally, team members are participating in cultivation meetings with alumni and donors surrounding public events noted below. Anyone wishing to connect alumni or other prospective donors either to campaign efforts or to upcoming travel should contact Executive Director of Development Jonathan Vaughn or another member of the Development team.

Alumni Relations hosted a successful 100 Days to Commencement event preparing the class of 2025 for their last few months at New Paltz. Special thanks to the nearly two dozen campus partners who participated. Students looking for post-graduation employment and/or summer jobs are encouraged to create a student profile on the Orange & Blue Network and connect with the 1,000+ alumni who have self-identified as willing to speak to students about their career journeys.

Development & Alumni Relations will host events for alumni, students, donors, and friends in the following cities this spring: March 6 in Chicago (with students attending the National Society of Black Engineers convention), March 8 in Wappingers Falls (for Scholars’ Mentorship Program alumni and students), March 17 in Washington, DC (with Professor Nancy Kassop and students), April 5 in New Orleans (with School of Business students attending the American Marketing Association International Collegiate Conference), and April 10 in Boston. Additionally, please save the date for the New York City Alumni Student Reception (in collaboration with the Career Resource Center) on June 18. Members from the campus community who may be in these cities at these times are encouraged to register via the links above and attend.

Alumni Reunion 2025 is set for October 17-19, 2025. Campus partners are encouraged to submit nominations for alumni to receive the Alumni Professional Achievement Award and the Distinguished Alumni Service Award by Monday, March 30.

Spring Distinguished Speaker Series
The spring Distinguished Speaker Series on April 22 will feature Damali Peterman, trailblazing conflict resolution expert, award-winning author and CEO of BreakthroughADR, who will be speaking on “How to Be Who You Are to Get What You Want.” All are encouraged to register and attend, with students able to attend for free with support from the Fund for New Paltz.

I will not be able to attend the March 5 Faculty Senate Meeting so I will look forward to addressing your questions about my report or any other topics at the April Faculty Senate meeting or when I see you on campus. Wishing you all a restorative Spring Break.

Darrell P. Wheeler
President