Steering Committee Report November 2023
Orientation webinars for the replacement Learning Management System Brightspace are happening now. Upcoming CUNY training sessions are November 9th at 12:30 PM, November 13th at 1:00 PM, and November 29th at 11:00 AM. Click here to register. Faculty members from academic departments will act as peer mentors to further ease the transition. Thanks to Arthur Adair, Communication, Theatre, & Media Production; Punita Bhansali, Biology; Marie Damas, Physics; Lauren Ellis, Nursing; Barbara Frary, Business; Shenaz Ida, Nursing; Marilyn Katz, Business; Kevin Kolack, Chemistry; Susan Lago, English; Anthony Monahan, Health, Physical Education and Dance; Humberto Morales, Business; Jun Shin, Chemistry; Paul Sideris, Chemistry; Rex Taibu, Physics; Jannette Urciuoli, Counseling; Leslie Ward, Library; and Fei Ye, Math for stepping up to help colleagues in what will be a busy and challenging time.
Dr. Jennifer Gliere, adjunct faculty member from the Music Department has agreed to be nominated to fill Richard Tayson’s Senate seat as adjunct faculty representative. Thank you, Jennifer, and thank you for your years of service to QCC and the Senate, Richard.
Giving Tuesday has become a tradition at Thanksgiving – a way to give thanks by giving generously to the community around us. There are fourteen faculty and staff teams on campus that are working to give to our students in various ways. A primary challenge for QCC is enrollment and retention, and the Senate Giving Tuesday team, “And…Action!” seeks to raise funds to help students who have tuition balances pay off their debt. As 85% of students with balances over $500 drop out, our Senate team’s success will tackle a college goal of increasing retention, and will give to students, as well. As of this writing our Senate team has four members and is in seventh place. Let’s bring the Senate team to the top. Email sdahlke@qcc.cuny.edu to join the team, or click here to make a donation. Any amount helps. Big thanks go to Deon Gibson, Zivah Perel Katz, and Barbara Rome for volunteering to join the team!
Another way to give throughout the year is to serve the college steadfastly. There are a number of our colleagues who are going above and beyond by serving on more than one Senate Standing Committee, which has become necessary as college service appears to have dropped as a priority among our colleagues. These hard workers deserve applause: Arthur Abramov, Rezan Akpinar, Isabella Lizzul, Phil Nelan, Jessica Prepetit, Christopher Roblodowski, Sushma Teegala, Roumen Vragov, and Sujun Wei serve on more than one committee, in several cases chairing one committee and serving on another. Thank you, colleagues.
We have noted here how important open communication between faculty, staff, and administration is at this time. Colleagues will notice on their PC office machines that a QCC logo appears upon login, which shows up-to-the-minute enrollment information, including comparisons to past data, including peaks. The hope is that regular reminders of our goals and our status in reaching them will continue to motivate all our efforts. Thanks to Adam Volin of the Office of Web and Application Services for making this happen!
Many may already know this – another good method of communication is using the “to-do” feature at Starfish. This feature allows professors to write a note to a student or group of students simultaneously via text without the limitation or deterrent of a “flag.” I have found that this method gets a greater student response than flags that warn of “danger of failing,” etc.
Maintaining optimism in rough times sometimes seems impossible. One does not want one’s head in the clouds, nor does one want the heaviness of this moment to weigh us down into pessimism. Striking a balance between reality and hope is key. May this season of thanks help everyone to grasp that state of grace.
Academic Senate Steering Committee (AcademicSenateSteeringCommittee@qcc.cuny.edu)
Dr. Steven Dahlke, Chair SDahlke@qcc.cuny.edu
Dr. Scott Litroff, Vice Chair SLitroff@qcc.cuny.edu
Prof. Philip Nelan, Secretary PNelan@qcc.cuny.edu
