Steering Committee Report February 2024
We wish everyone a hopeful and productive semester.
The PSC/CUNY union has been hard at work on contract negotiations and advocating for students during the budget crisis. We thank union representative Phil Pecorino and all who are working on behalf of faculty and students.
Denis Bejar and his team again deserve our thanks for their Herculean efforts in guiding the campus through the Brightspace transition. Resources to ease the transition are at https://www.qcc.cuny.edu/brightspace/. Blackboard will not be used for teaching after Spring 2024 semester, but will be available through December 2025 for faculty to retrieve course materials. Email questions to [email protected].
There will be two short-term vacancies among the Faculty-Member-at-Large seats as of the February. Both are one semester replacements only. Anyone stepping up to fill a vacancy will be poised to run for a full three-year term. Department Chairs of eligible departments, encourage your faculty to run. Biology; Communication, Theatre, and Media Production; English; Foreign Language; Nursing; and Social Science are ineligible departments.
Election season for shared governance will begin at the end of February. Look for emails from Committee on Committees that will guide faculty and staff in the process of running for vacant Senate and Senate Standing Committee seats. Only senators whose terms end after the April 2024 meeting are eligible to run for re-election. Senators, see the Senate Roster to determine whether you are eligible to serve again, and we encourage you to run. Similarly, only current committee members whose three-year terms end after Summer 2024 are eligible to seek a seat on another committee, for three-year service beginning Fall 2024. Consult your committee chair or see the current committee rosters to determine whether your term is ending after this academic year.
Now, a plea to all who are not currently a senator or Senate Standing Committee member. You are especially urged to step up to serve. College service is a major component of reappointment, tenure, and promotion, and is a pillar of shared governance, which makes our college run equitably and efficiently.
We will take up at the February meeting the issue of expanded Club Hours, which was raised by senator Alisa Cercone at the November meeting. An issue regarding Club Hours as now configured is that a large number of courses has been scheduled during those hours. Thanks to the work of Provost Phyllis Curtis-Tweed, the number of courses now offered during Club Hours has been reduced, with more reductions expected. This may begin to address the issue. We encourage senators to come to the meeting to discuss solutions around the issue of the current number of Club Hours.
We thank the Computer Resources Committee current chair Ronald van Cleef, who wrote and submitted a 2022-23 Annual Report on behalf of the committee’s 2022-23 chair. That service is beyond the expected service of a current chair. Thank you for your extra service, Ron.
Annual Reports from Admissions Committee, Committee on Course and Standing, and Curriculum Committee have not yet been submitted.
The semester is still young and there are challenges and rewards ahead. As we move forward, we encourage everyone to persevere and to take care of ourselves and each other.
Academic Senate Steering Committee ([email protected])
Dr. Steven Dahlke, Chair [email protected]
Dr. Scott Litroff, Vice Chair [email protected]
Prof. Philip Nelan, Secretary [email protected]
