President's
Report March 19, 2003 (Kay Fowler)
This
report can be found at the faculty assembly webpage http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem
The minutes of the Feb. 19 meeting can be found at http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/MINUTES/02_19_03.html
. The agenda for the March 19 meeting to be held from 3:00-4:30
(PLEASE NOTE SPECIAL TIME) in SC136-138 can be found at http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/AGENDAS/03_19_03.html .
Dear Colleagues:
A great
deal has happened since the last Faculty Assembly meeting.
First and foremost we have lost 3 colleagues: Ernie Simon who retired
from AIS a few years ago; Jack Roth who had retired from TAS, and Ben Jakacki
of SAB. Some of you were able to attend the memorial for Ernie this
past Sunday. The memorial for Ben Jakacki is Wed. March 19 in the York
Room from 2-3. Our deepest condolences to their families and friends.
Moratorium:
At our last faculty assembly we passed a resolution to observe a two-day
moratorium on teaching as usual following an invasion of Iraq. Such
an invasion seems to be imminent. Each of us should decide how we intend
to interpret our resolution. A number of faculty have been exploring
options and proposing various events on campus that you may wish to be involved
with. The Faculty Resource Center (aka Phil McLewin) has been gathering
and sharing materials on this as well.
Strategic
Plan: The Strategic Plan (revised as of Feb. 2003) has now been posted
to the web at Strategic Plan
(as of Feb. 2003).
At
the last faculty asssembly a resolution was passed affirming the election
of school deans and opposing permanent deans. The President asked
me to survey the faculty to see if there was interest in discussing this
topic with the President. The response was overwhelmingly affirmative
so two fora were held on Monday Mar. 17 and Tuesday March 18. Ed Cody
will be writing up the substance of those discussions for us after he returns
on April 1. Various faculty members have sent commentaries to me for
posting. It has taken me longer than I hoped to get these comments
posted but they are now available at http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/commentaryondeans.html
. My apologies for the delay on this. If you wish to add
your observation please send me your commentary with an instruction Please
Post (so I know that I have your permission to distribute) and I will add
it to the commentary page.
Courseload Adjustment: In accordance with the agreement worked out by the Faculty Assembly leadership and ARC with the endorsement of the AFT leadership, a new task force was established to research and report back on the question of courseload adjustment in preparation for our discussion on Mike Fluhr's resolution at the May meeting. The units elected members of that committee who are Michael Edelstein from SSHS, Ed Shannon from AIS, Jason Hecht from SAB, Irene Kuchta from the library, Carol Frishberg from TAS, and Maria Vail Guevara from CA. They have begun work with a will and are to give an interim report at this faculty assembly and a final report at the April meeting.
American
Democracy Project: The college is now one of 100 institutions working
with AASCU and the New York Times on the American Democracy Project. Constantine
Curris from AASCU tells us: The project has two goals: 1.) to
make changes in academic and extracurricular activities, as well as institutional
culture, to increase the number of undergraduate students who understand
and are committed to engaging in meaningful civic actions; and 2.) to focus
public and policy attention on the civic value of the college experience.
Top Girls: Top Girls was a delightful performance!
Congratulations to Maria Vail Guevara, director and Rachel Budin for
the lighting and to all the students involved.
Vagina Monologues: Also amazing and powerful was The Vagina Monologues performed by students as well as some faculty and staff. I understand that $7,000 were raised on behalf of the Bergen County Rape Crisis Center. Kudos to everyone who played a role in this wonderful production.
TLTR: The Teaching, Learning and Technology
Roundtable(TLTR) announces a CALL FOR PROPOSALS: "Technology in Teaching
& Learning" Grants Fall 2003
Application Date: April 14, 2003 See http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/tltrcallf03.html
Academic Help Desk: Under Kwesi Aggrey,
the Chief Information Officer, CCIS has been reorganized. Kwesi reports:
An Academic Help Desk under the direction of John Sloan, PhD, coordinated
by Lisa Eisenhauer can be reached at extension 6600. The E-mail address
accepting requests from Academic users will be fac_help@ramapo.edu. Members
of the academic help desk group include: An Nguyen, Tom Doyle, Durga
Kamineni, and Louis Lokuta.
Upcoming Events: On April 1, 1-2 in the Women¹s Center, Mytheli Sreeniva will present Teaching about Other Women: Methods to Develop a Global Perspective on Gender.
Apr.
15 12:45-2:00. Faculty Resource Center: Ande Diaz, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students
at Princeton University, and author of the Harvard College Guide to Careers
in Public Service, will be giving a presentation
entitled
"Freedom
Faculty: Equipping Our Students with Career Development
for the Public Good."
Faculty Best Practices Conference 3/21/03 at Kean: See
http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/facultybestpractices.html
.
New Jersey Sustainable State Institute June 4-7, 2003 Trenton, New Jersey See http://phobos.ramapo.edu/facassem/sustainabilityconference.html for details.
I am quite certain I have left out some important material but I
can no longer see the computer screen so I will leave it here for now. See
you later today.
Cordially,
Kay Fowler