Academic Senate Meeting Minutes

October 13, 2020

Steering Committee Chairperson Dr. Steven Dahlke called the second regularly scheduled meeting of the Academic Senate to order at 3:15 PM. The meeting was held through the Zoom platform.

I. Attendance

55 votes were recorded at the time attendance was taken; 61 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 September 8, 2020 meeting

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

IV. Communications from:

A. President Christine Mangino

The Senate received President Mangino’s October 2020 report.

President Mangino began her report by announcing a CARES award for faculty and staff who go above and beyond to help students. She noted that only 50 or so students need to be retained to raise QCC’s retention rate by 2%. The President plans to recognize two or three people a month for their commitment to student success.

November 24^th will mark 100 days for President Mangino at QCC. She plans to offer a “State of the College” address that will discuss budget, enrollment, and academics, among other topics. She will share what she has learned from her listening tour and her priorities moving forward.

President Mangino was looking forward to the second month of her book club, which she announced will continue in the spring. Any member of the community that has a recommendation for a book should feel free to email her.

The prior week, President Mangino received new information regarding QCC’s budget. CUNY has shared only 7/12 of the budget (enough to take the college through January), leaving many unknowns. There have been budget cuts from the state and city as well as a reduction in TAP funds to the college. This leaves the community colleges with a $22 million budget cut, approximately $3.6 million in additional cuts for QCC. There is also a $836,000 decrease in revenue based on enrollment. President Mangino was still waiting to hear about special programming funds and will share what she learns at a later date.

B. University Faculty Senate

Senator Tai echoed President Mangino’s comments by discussing the budget, acknowledging some savings in environmental costs because the college campuses have largely been closed. The university is looking at a procurement process for a new LMS (learning management system); Blackboard will be one of the systems explored in the process. The team working on the procurement is very limited about what it can share. Senators Tai and Pecorino welcome any faculty input regarding the LMS. Senator Tai was asked about retrenchment and answered that there has been no discussion of retrenchment, although there has been some discussion of furloughs.

C. Steering Committee

The Senate received the Steering Committee’s report for October 2020.

Chairperson Dahlke started by thanking senators for their attendance. He then spoke about the Emergency Management Advisory Group (EMAG) that has been meeting regularly, listening to recommendations, and considering the College’s reopening. Chairperson Dahlke highlighted Student Government President Asia Khan for her steadfast attendance at these meetings, Stephen DiDio for serving as the COVID liaison, and William Faulkner for serving as the COVID Coordinator.

V. Elections

Senators voted to fill one open Faculty Member-At-Large seat.

The Senate voted 30-27 to elect Kimberly Riegel from the Physics Department in a vote with Svjetlana Burkvich-Nichols from the Music Department.

VI. List of Graduates

Chairperson Dahlke shared the list of August 2020 graduates.

VII. Annual Reports of the Committees of the Academic Senate

VIII. Monthly Reports of the Committees of the Academic Senate

A. Committee on Curriculum

There were three votes taken on the materials from the Committee on Curriculum (Attachments B and C).

A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 60-0-0 to approve three new courses (ENGL90, SP215, and SP216) (Attachment B).
A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 60-0-0 to approve a program revision to the A.A. in Liberal Arts and Sciences, Communication Studies Concentration with the friendly amendment to edit a technical error listing CRIM205 by its old number, CRIM102 (Attachment B).
A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 59-1-1 to approve the substantive Change Request Form for the online Business Administration degree (Attachment C).

IX. Old Business

Sub-Committee on Accessibility (sub-committee of the Committee on Environment, Quality of Life, and Disability Issues)

A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 61-0-0 to approve the continuation Sub-Committee on Accessibility (sub-committee of the Committee on Environment, Quality of Life, and Disability Issues.

X. New Business

A. Presentation on Stackable Credentials

Dean Hui-Yin Hsu presented to the Senate about stackable credentials that offer students pathways for credentials and degrees.

B. Steering Committee’s Request for Reassigned Time

Chairperson Dahlke presented the Steering Committee’s approved request for reassigned time.

C. Senator Ferrari-Bridgers posed questions to the Senate about the recording and distribution of faculty lectures. Provost Lynch offered to pose her questions to the Provost Counsel.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 PM.