Steering Committee Chairperson Dr. Steven Dahlke called the first 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

45 votes were recorded at the time attendance was taken; 63 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 May 11, 2021 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 September 2021 report.

President Mangino welcomed the QCC community back to campus and thanked those who stopped by the welcome back events to say hello. She shared that enrollment remains an issue: while enrollment has risen in the last few days, as of the senate meeting it was at 11,985 compared to 15,000 just a few years ago.

74% of students who are enrolled in fully in-person classes were fully vaccinated as of the September senate meeting. 68% of those in hybrid were fully vaccinated and most others were in progress. Only 10% of those registered for classes on campus had not yet begun the vaccination process and advisors are actively reaching out to those students. During the first week of classes, the QCC testing center tested 840 individuals, one of the highest testing rates across the system. Of those, only three tested positive and none of the three had been on campus. CUNY is in the process of creating a dashboard to track testing results. Since the return to campus, QCC has had only a couple of individuals who were on campus test positive, and Health Services is working on a quarantine policy. President Mangino asked the community to be accommodating of students and staff who test positive.

Hurricane Ida impacted QCC students and the food pantry responded with a food drive. President Mangino asked Senators to refer impacted students to Vice President Brian Mitra. The college recognized 9/11 the previous Friday with a related show in the art gallery. President Mangino also invited the QCC community to join her book club.

B.           University Faculty Senate

Senator Tai offered a brief report from the UFS, which has been evenly split on whether it is good for faculty to be teaching in person. She also reminded the Senate of the new committee on community colleges: UFS members from QCC will serve on the committee.

C.           Steering Committee

The Senate received the Steering Committee’s report for September 2021.

Chairperson Dahlke thanked IT for helping prepare M136 for the hybrid senate meeting. He also welcomed everyone back to campus and congratulated President Mangino on her first year of successful service, specifically noting the citation of honor from the Borough President of Queens on August 17. He also welcomed new senators Vice President Brian Mitra and Margot Edlin (now serving as English Department Chair) as well as the new student government officers, Navneet Sandhu, Audrey Arias, Olamiposi Akinfreye, Chloe Chery, Sofia Rosado, and Charlayne Hurlington. Chairperson Dahlke also welcomed Patricia Ramos, the new admissions director.

This semester, by a law of the new governor, the Senate can continue meetings virtually. This permission is set to expire in January and Senators should plan their schedules to attend senate meetings to have a quorum on campus. Chairperson Dahlke also thanked President Mangino for the 24 hours of reassigned time for senate officers and the chairs of certain committees.

V.          List of Candidates for Graduation

The lists of June and August 2021 graduates were presented to the senate as an informational item.

VI.         Annual Reports of the Committees of the Academic Senate

Chairperson Dahlke offered the annual reports to the senate as informational items. He thanked those committee Chairs and Secretaries who submitted their reports in a timely manner. He also acknowledged an outstanding report from the Committee on Curriculum.

A.            Academic Senate Steering Committee

B.            Committee on Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness

This committee offered a brief overview of their work from last year and recommendations for the upcoming year. Christine Kim (outgoing Chair) and Chukwudi Ikwueze (current Chair) spoke on behalf of the committee. They thanked the committee for promoting a culture of assessment on campus as well as Ian Beckford and Arthur Corradetti for their help. The committee worked to revise templates for increased clarity of assessment and reports and to build a channel of communication between the committee, provost, and departments actively working on assessment. The committee is not meant to monitor assessment, but to help departments’ assessments produce operable actions. This year the committee will promote a culture of assessment at QCC by helping schedule the assessment of courses, departments, and programs including teaching and non-teaching departments. The fulfill these objectives the committee will coordinate with Department Chairs and work with the Steering Committee and Provost.

C.           Committee on Awards and Scholarships

D.           Committee on Bylaws

E.            Committee on Continuing Education and Workforce Development

F.            Committee on Curriculum

G.           Committee on Environment, Quality of Life, and Disability Issues

H.           Committee on the Library

I.              Committee on Pre-College

J.             Committee on Vendor Services

K.            Committee on WID WAC 

VII.       Monthly Reports of the Committees of the Academic Senate

The Senate received a monthly report from the Committee on Bylaws with an actionable proposal (Attachment B). The Chair of the committee, Scott Litroff, addressed the Senate. The proposal was for a name change of the Committee on Admissions to the Committee on Readmissions. The Committee on Admissions noted that most of their work was to decide on readmissions and believe that the new name would better represent the work of the committee. Senators questioned the name change of the basis of whether the committee might still make admissions decisions and that the name change limits the perceived scope of the committee. A motion was made, seconded, and adopted 59-1- to send the proposal back to the Committee on Bylaws.

VIII.     Old Business

Dean Corradetti updated the senate about the operational planning process. He will share a strategic plan and framework to reach the ambitious five-year goals for Senate endorsement.

IX.         New Business

There was no new business.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:47 PM.

Zivah Perel Katz, Secretary

Academic Senate Steering Committee