Steering Committee Report March 2021
The COVID landscape is evolving and QCC is developing plans to prepare for eventual reopening. A Town Hall led by President Mangino on Friday, March 5th at 3:00 PM gives the campus an opportunity to learn more and ask questions. An email was sent from the Office of the President on March 2nd with a Zoom registration link. Thank you to the president and the Emergency Management Team for your efforts in informing the community.
We welcome new senators representing the president’s cabinet at this meeting. Amaris Matos, Executive Advisor to the President for Equity and Inclusion will replace VP Rosemary Zins, and Lois Florman, Executive Counsel will replace Sherri Newcomb. We thank Rosemary and Sherri for meritorious service to the college and wish them the very best in their next chapter.
The application process for Academic Senate Standing Committee membership is ongoing, and the deadline to submit application forms has been extended to March 5th.
Last week two college-wide forums on strategic planning were held on Zoom to share results of the president’s onboarding process at Queensborough. President Mangino has worked to ascertain the needs of the college from her first day here. She has conducted interviews with 500 different representatives of the QCC Community, has overseen a survey that captured viewpoints of over 400 members of our community, and has reviewed Middle States suggestions and recommendations. From this data have emerged areas of concern – themes—for five-year strategic planning. Over 200 members of the college community gathered at the two forums to discuss the themes and begin to generate strategic goals. It is a good thing to see so much involvement in planning our future. Thanks go to President Mangino, Arthur Corradetti, and Stephen Di Dio for their work in organizing and executing these forums. Keep an eye on your email for future planning forums.
The Office of Academic Affairs is currently updating forms for digitally filing Annual Teaching Evaluation, Teaching Observation and Record of Discussion Forms. The updates are cosmetic: adding dropdown menus, logos, etc. One of the updates is adding a table to provide space for comments in the Observation Report. SC reports this to the Senate as an informational item. It’s good to see continued improvement of digital processes for form filing and record keeping.
It continues to be important for students to stay connected to the college community. Many events for student enrichment are happening virtually, and we encourage everyone to remind their students to check their email and the college calendar of events, so they may partake of what the college has to offer.
Spring is coming, and with it comes renewal and hope. Let’s continue to march into the future together.
Academic Senate Steering Committee ([email protected])
Dr. Steven Dahlke, Chair [email protected]
Dr. Jannette Urciuoli, Vice-Chair [email protected]
Dr. Zivah Perel Katz, Secretary [email protected]
