Steering Committee Report February 2022
In the last Steering Committee Monthly Report, we thanked Sandra Palmer for her years of service and wished her the best as she retired from the college. It turns out reports of her leaving were greatly exaggerated and she has stepped up to fill former Provost Tim Lynch’s shoes as Interim Provost – thank you, Dr. Palmer for your continued commitment to QCC, and we congratulate Dr. Margot Edlin in her recent appointment to the role of Interim Dean of Faculty.
Election season is beginning this Month and Committee on Committees Chair Dr. Christine Mooney and Secretary Dr. Julian Stark have done outstanding work in cooperation with Dean Liza Larios and Raj Vaswani, Manager of Strategic Technology Implementation and Integration to cement and streamline the Senate election and Standing Committee selection process. A smooth process to provide access to service opportunities is important and we offer our grateful thanks.
Election season is a reminder of the importance of active and widespread service to the college and to shared governance. Participation in governance and service has declined in recent years, and summoning enough nominees to fill Senate seats and committee rosters has been increasingly difficult. We want to emphasize the need for a Senate Technology Officer to replace Dave Moretti for the remainder of this Senate term, and ask for a senator to be put forward for nomination at the February 15th Senate meeting. Primary responsibilities include handling technological aspects of Senate meetings, which for the remainder of the year are focused on Zoom technology: meeting set up, senator log in process, and polling management.
At the February Senate a Resolution from the college’s Academic Freedom Committee affirming educators’ right to teach racial and gender equality issues and Critical Race Theory will be presented. This and other important issues that go before the Senate are further reminders of the importance of active and broad Senate participation – we ask all chairs to encourage their faculty members to run for election.
The recent State of the College presentation drew several hundred observers and a COVID Town Hall the week previous also had broad participation. We thank President Mangino’s cabinet for their continued efforts to keep the college informed, inspired and encouraged.
Steering Committee wants to highlight a current fundraiser for athletic scholarships at QCC. The fundraiser is to honor President Mangino’s late partner John P. Bevilacqua, and can be found at the college homepage news section. To acknowledge the unique contributions to the world of those we care about and those we have not met, either still living or already passed away, is our best way of connecting – and to support our students in the process is better still.
We salute all our colleagues at the beginning of this semester and a season of hope and aspiration.
Academic Senate Steering Committee (AcademicSenateSteeringCommittee@qcc.cuny.edu)
Dr. Steven Dahlke, Chair SDahlke@qcc.cuny.edu
Dr. Jannette Urciuoli, Vice-Chair JUrciuoli@qcc.cuny.edu
Dr. Zivah Perel Katz, Secretary Zkatz@qcc.cuny.edu
