Steering Committee Chairperson Dr. Steven Dahlke called the fourth regularly scheduled meeting of the Academic Senate to order at 3:10 PM. The meeting was held in a hybrid format, with attendees both in M136 and on Zoom. Chairperson Dahlke chaired the meeting from M136.

I.              Attendance

52 votes were recorded at the time attendance was taken; 62 members of the Academic Senate were present during the meeting. 

II.            Approval of the Agenda

Chairperson Dahlke used unanimous consent to approve the agenda. There were no objections.

III.         Consideration of the minutes from the November 9, 2021 meeting

Chairperson Dahlke used unanimous consent to approve the minutes (Attachment A). There were no objections.

IV.        Communications from:

A.            President Mangino

The Senate received President Mangino’s December report.

President Mangino discussed the memo about WU and F grades: she urged faculty to give the correct grade based on what students have done in the class. She also announced CUNY First updates that should make the system much easier to use. Some of these updates will not be complete until March 2022. The college continues to work hard to push enrollment and registration.

President Mangino noted a slight uptick of COVID-19 cases on campus and asked the campus community to keep safe and follow all safety regulations on campus. She also explained the random testing program.

The Board of Education voted in Provost Lynch as Interim President at the College of Staten Island: while this is great for them, President Mangino acknowledged, it is a loss for our college. She thanked Dean of Faculty Sandra Palmer for postponing her retirement to fill in as Vice President in Dr. Lynch’s absence. The college will conduct a search for Provost and fill the Dean of Faculty position with someone from campus.

B.            Steering Committee

The Senate received the December report from the Steering Committee.

Chairperson Dahlke discussed the Steering Committee’s assessment of governance and gave an overview of its findings regarding committee effectiveness and the efforts made to support committee work.

C.           University Faculty Senate

Senator Tai updated the Senate as to the work of the UFS, specifically regarding new faculty positions.

V.           Elections

Due to John Luby’s (Business) retirement, there was a vacancy in the CLT ranks. Senator Berkhout nominated Ron Carter (Music). The Secretary recorded one vote in favor of Ron Carter to fill the vacant CLT seat on behalf of the Senate.

VI.        Graduates

A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 50-0-0 to approve the candidates for January 2022 graduation (Attachment C).

VII.      Annual Reports of the Committees of the Academic Senate

Chairperson thanked the Committee on eLearning for its annual report and announced that two committee reports remain outstanding.

VIII.    Monthly Reports of the Committees of the Academic Senate

There were four votes from the report of the Committee on Curriculum (Attachment C).

A.            A. motion was made, seconded, and adopted 53-0-0 to approve 5 new courses [PSYC-280, MU 405, 406, 407, and 408].

B.            A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 55-0-0 to approve one program revision [Biological Sciences and Geology, Medical Assistant A.A.S. Program].

C.           A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 56-0-0 to approve one

program revision (name change) [Social Sciences Departmental, Liberal Arts and Sciences change to Liberal Arts and Sciences (Childhood Education)]

D.           A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 57-0-1 to approve seven course deletions [Nursing Department, NU-203 Issues and Trends in Nursing and IS-210 Complementary and Alternative Therapies, Communication, Theatre, & Media Production Department, SP-005 Speech Communication Skills for Students of English as a Second Language: Sound Structure of America SP-006 Speech Communication Skills for Students of English as a Second Language: Stress & Intonation of America SP-020 Improving Speech Skills, SP-434 Introduction to Radio and Television Broadcasting, and SP-730 History of Radio and TV].

IX.        Old Business

There was no unfinished business.

X.           New Business

A.            Senator Moretti announced that the December Senate meeting is his last as he is resigning from the college. The Senate acknowledged Senator Moretti’s hard work for the Senate and the college.

B.            Senator Pecorino remarked on Provost Lynch’s commitment to the college and shared governance.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:52 PM.

Zivah Perel Katz, Secretary

Academic Senate Steering Committee