Steering Committee Report May 2021
At the May meeting we welcome newly elected and re-elected Faculty Member-At-Large senators: Arthur Adair, Associate Professor, Speech Communication and Theatre Arts; Dr. Franca Ferrari-Bridgers, Associate Professor, Speech Communication and Theatre Arts; Dr. Yusuf Gurtas, Associate Professor, Mathematics and Computer Science; Dr. Isabella Lizzul, Associate Professor, Health and Physical Education; Christina Manzo, Associate Professor, Business; Dr. Azita Mayeli, Associate Professor, Mathematics and Computer Science; Dr. Philip Pecorino, Professor, Social Sciences; Dr. Melida Sanchez, Assistant Professor, Foreign Languages and Literatures; Dr. Mangala Tawde, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences and Geology; Mark Ulrich, Assistant Professor, Business; Dr. Jodi Van Der Horn-Gibson, Assistant Professor, Speech Communication and Theatre Arts and Dr. Patrick Wallach, Associate Professor Math and Computer Science. A special welcome goes to Azita, Jodi, Mark, and Yusuf because they are newly elected. Thank you for your service to shared governance – the work that is done in the Senate and in its Standing Committees is important to the realization of our mission and goals.
At the April Senate meeting a question was raised regarding appropriate membership on the Curriculum Committee and a point was made that the Bylaws require that members be part of the college Instructional Staff. According to the Faculty Handbook "the Instructional Staff is made up of teaching and non-teaching full-time and part-time Faculty and persons in the Higher Education Officer and College Laboratory Technician series"; with that in mind we note that the incoming membership of the Curriculum Committee is in accordance with Senate Bylaws.
In a report to the Senate it was noted that there was to be a food distribution on Monday, May 17th -- we want to announce here that the distribution has been changed from the 17th to Wednesday, May 12th, 10:00 Am – 12:30 PM.
We are coming to the end of a significant academic year. We have seen major strides toward excellence in delivering effective education online – thanks to Provost Dr. Tim Lynch, Dean of Faculty Dr. Sandra Palmer, Associate Dean for Academics Dr. Michael Pullin and the entire Office of Academic Affairs for their efforts in providing opportunities for faculty to advance their skills in distance learning. Thanks also to Dr. Meg Tarafdar, Interim Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and the Committee on eLearning, Randelle Sasa, chair, for their continued faculty development opportunities.
The President's Task Force on Community Engagement and Strategic Planning will present a report for the Senate to adopt at the May meeting. A framework of goals has been created, which arose from broad-based community input. We thank our Task Force colleagues for their work, Dean Artie Corradetti for his leadership, and QCC faculty, staff, and students for their active participation. Operational planning will be underway in the Summer, with a further report to the Senate and implementation in the Fall.
We are also making progress in fostering a culture of equity here at Queensborough: we thank Amaris Matos, Interim Executive Adviser to the President, and Dr. Kerri-Ann Smith, Inaugural Faculty Fellow for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for their leadership in this crucial work. We recommend that everyone watch the series of short videos on the subject of equity in pedagogy, which will have been sent in emails from the Equity at Queensborough address. Dr. Smith and Dr. Lynch discuss modernizing educational approaches in a conversation that is eye-opening.
As always, students are at the center of our work. We thank Ellen Hartigan, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs for hitting the ground running, Michael Verdino for his work in directing crucial student advisement, and the critical work of the offices of New Student Engagement and Student Activities for keeping our students connected to our community.
Last, but certainly not least: on behalf of the entire community, we express our congratulations and gratitude to President Christine Mangino for an exemplary first year of service – well done!
With thanks to our colleagues and optimism for the coming year --
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]
