Steering Committee Report September 2024
The Steering Committee extends a warm welcome to our colleagues in the Academic Senate as we begin the 2024-2025 Academic Year. We would like to recognize and welcome all incoming and continuing Senators, and we also express our gratitude for those former Senators whose terms ended in Spring 2024. The work we accomplished during the 2023-2024 academic year was significant and we appreciate the collegial and friendly attitude with which the Senate conducts itself in service of our students and our community.
Likewise, we would like to thank all those serving on Standing Committees of the Academic Senate. We welcome new Standing Committee members whose terms began in May 2024 and those members whose terms continue through this academic year. We also recognize the work of former committee members whose terms ended in Spring 2024. Your collective work is extremely important, and we recognize and appreciate your commitment through this service to the College.
The Steering Committee would also like to welcome Dr. Linda Bastone, Dean of Faculty. The Academic Senate looks forward to working with you in the 2024-25 academic year.
The Steering Committee requests that all Standing Committees please submit their Annual Reports from 2023-24 as soon as possible. For those committees that have already done so, the September 10 Agenda lists links to those posted documents. For all committees yet to do so, please complete this important task as soon as possible so that they may be posted on the Agenda for the October 8 Senate. Annual Reports provide the Academic Senate with valuable information for maintaining transparency and for better understanding the variety of ongoing work within our Standing Committees.
The Steering Committee feels it is prudent to point out some important deadlines. Please note that any actionable items must be submitted to the Steering Committee no later than 2 weeks before the Senate meeting in which you wish the item to be considered. This deadline is in place to ensure that formatting, upload, and availability of those documents can be done in a timely manner. Regarding submissions for curriculum changes to the Committee on Curriculum, please ensure that documents are submitted to the Curriculum Committee no later than one week prior to the committee meeting in which you would like the item to be considered. The November 12 Senate meeting is the last opportunity for curriculum changes to be taken to vote in order for them to appear in the Fall 2025 catalog, which means that those materials must be submitted to the Committee on Curriculum no later than October 22 for consideration at their October 29 meeting.
The Steering Committee will work toward efforts to increase student participation in governance in the 2024-2025 academic year through collaboration with the Student Government Association and the Student Activities Department. Students who express the desire to actively partake in governance at QCC through seeking seats on the Academic Senate or on Standing Committees can gain invaluable experience, and it is the Steering Committee’s goal to work with all involved parties to ensure those experiences are as postive and as educational as possible.
Finally, the Standing Committee in its efforts to ensure accurate attendance and polling will move forward with efforts to encourage the use of Zoom by attending Senators as the sole means of submitting attendance and polling information during Senate meetings. The Steering Committee will design a short instructive presentation to be provided to the Academic Senate in Fall 2024, with the goal of achieving 100% Zoom participation in Spring 2025.
Academic Senate Steering Committee (AcademicSenateSteeringCommittee@qcc.cuny.edu)
Dr. Scott Litroff, Chair
Dr. Daniel Garbin, Vice Chair
Prof. Philip Nelan, Secretary
