Academic Assembly Update

Replacement for WWW2 Server

To address the immediate need of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (as amended in 2008), the College is focusing on a technological solution. WWW2 server will be shut down at the end of this year. OmniUpdate templates are being developed as a way to enforce compliance of the replacement server with the ADA. These templates will control the format and layout of the pages that are based on those templates.

The Assembly supports this development as a needed short-term solution, as stated in the Resolution 2017-09-[01] on WWW2 Server and Its Replacement.

However, to ensure that we reach genuine compliance that furthers rather than impedes our ability to fulfill our core mission, we need to go beyond purely technological approach and

• grow our institutional awareness of the needs of people with disabilities,
• develop our culture of serving them,
• educate and train ourselves in effective and proper uses of technology, and
• build a fair and effective review and enforcement framework.

As we develop this holistic and systematic culture of compliance, we recommend that the restrictions imposed by OmniUpdate templates be gradually relaxed for those who are ready and willing to accept the responsibility that comes with greater freedom.

Faculty Resource Guide

The Middle States self-study prompted our College to review and update the Faculty Handbook. This effort is headed by Dr. Paul Beaudin, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, who is working together with Deborah Wolfson, College Assistant Dean, and other members of Academic Affairs Staff. Dr. Beaudin and Dean Wolfson reached out to the three governance chairs in an effort to make the revision process more inclusive and open to faculty input and review. Discussions within this group of five resulted in a plan for a permanent framework of continuous stewardship, review and update of this important document. Subsequently, this plan gained unanimous and enthusiastic support of the Executive Committee of the Assembly.

The immediate direction of the current revision aims to turn the document into a resource guide, rather than just a compendium of policies and procedures. Hence the new proposed name, Faculty Resource Guide, is being considered in place of the old Faculty Handbook. The Executive Committee supports this development, with a provision that the resulting document will still be available as one coherent and comprehensive source of reference on college policies.

Faculty Council of Community Colleges Resolutions

Faculty Council of Community Colleges approved the following resolutions at its Plenary Meeting on November 4, 2017:

• Resolution in Support of Accommodations for Military Absences ASA2: 2017 – 2018
• Resolution in Support of Indigenous People's Day
• Best Practices for Student Veterans

In addition, on November 13 the Executive Committee of FCCC approved

• Resolution in Response to Regulatory Action Taken by Charter Schools Committee of the SUNY

Our FCCC delegate will soon ask the Assembly for our support and approval of the first one in the list.

Dr. Steven Rose, President of Passaic County Community College and Chair of Suffolk County Community College's Self-Study Evaluation Team, conducted a preliminary visit to our College on Tuesday, November 7. As part of his visit, he met various representatives of the College.

Dan Linker, Paul Basileo, Pete DiGregorio, Sean Tvelia and Kerry Carlson attended the meeting that took place from 1:30 to 2:15 in the Lindsay Building, room 309, representing faculty governance. East's representative was not able to attend at the last minute.

The report regarding the Middles States self-study was generally positive. He understood that we have been going through some changes and such and are fine with it since the issues were disclosed in the self-study and there was an indication that they were being addressed.

The Chair also indicated that some parts of the report would need to be updated since the report was dated 2016 and the final visit isn't until March, 2018.

The issue of the Faculty Handbook was raised and the Chair suggested that since what is posted is a pared down version that a note to that effect should be made and that the note should include that a complete version is forthcoming.

With regard to the way the committee handles some of their decisions/recommendations, the Middle States Chair acknowledged that the decisions are somewhat subjective and that the committee will look at whether they feel that the institution will/can fix the issues that were raised.

Grant Academic Standards will meet next Tuesday, November 21, 2017.

The GCC does not meet until Tuesday, November 21, 2017. At that meeting it will consider the following proposals:

• Expedited Curriculum Revision Proposal: A.A.S. in Marketing
• Curriculum Revision Proposal: Veterinary Science Technology Program
• New Program Proposal: Dental Hygiene

The Technology Committee last met on October 17, 2017. The committee discussed the results of the Faculty Technology Survey that was drafted and distributed by Co-Chair Davorin Dujmovic. The overall results of the survey showed that the faculty is generally satisfied the technology that is available on the Grant Campus. The biggest dissatisfaction was with the new college website. The survey results indicated that the website had too much of a corporate feel and was not user friendly. The Technology Committee Co-Chairs will bring this information to the College Computing Council.

The Committee also discussed issues surrounding the closure of the WWW2 server and the fact that the concerns of the faculty and issues regarding the server are being addressed by the administration.

The Campus Life Committee met on 9/12/17 and 10/17/17. Our next meeting will be on 11/21/17 in Captree 104.

• Our committee is responsible for reviewing applications for the 2017-2018 Distinguished Lecture Series. The budget for the year is $8000.00. Please contact Lisa Hamilton for the application form and for further information.
• Our committee recruits students to sit on faculty committees. If there are any committees that still need student representatives, please contact the co-chairs of Campus Life.
• We will be supporting the educational, communication and visual initiatives of the college-wide DACA Task Force in order to spread awareness about DACA and to follow suggestions of the AACC (American Association of Community Colleges) in terms of campus advocacy.
• We are supporting the efforts by Grant students to examine issues of transportation between SCCC campuses.
• We will support all faculty-student events including Faculty Follies (first week in December) and any planned volleyball games.
• We have a strong student representation on our committee and still need more faculty members.

The FOCUS Committee, Women's Club and Zonta Club of Suffolk County are co-sponsoring a program program is "Sex Trafficking: Long Island's Unknown Epidemic" on November 15th at 7:00 pm in Captree 114. The program includes a short film Chosen produced by Shared Hope International. This film highlights the story of two young women who are targeted for sex trafficking. A panel discussion will follow the film. The panelists include Janine A. Barbera-Dalli, Human Trafficking Judge in Central Islip; Stacey Skorupa, lead prosecutor in the DA's office for human trafficking crimes; Detective/Sgt. Jim Murphy, executive officer of the Suffolk County Police Department's Kidnap Team and Detective/Lt. Frank Messana, commanding officer of the Kidnap team. Moderating the panel will be Lois Rowman, Esq., Zonta Club of Suffolk County. Part of their responsibilities include overseeing all human trafficking investigations in the county and they are currently running the task force investigating sex trafficking.

The FOCUS Committee is pleased to welcome Elizabeth A. Justesen, Esq., Community Outreach Director at the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, who will present EPIC - Enriching, Protecting, and Improving our Communities seminar on November 29, 2017 between 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Sagtikos Arts and Sciences Center, Room 259/260. This "Know Your Rights" seminar will focus on criminal justice system and educate the attendees on how to protect themselves, their children and their communities.

The Physical Development Committee has met once this semester. We are intending to report after our next meeting on an exciting project we are working on.

The deadline to apply for Grant campus Spring 2018 scholarships is Friday, December 29. Please encourage students to apply. Scholarship information can be obtained from the SCCC home page > Quick Links > Scholarships > AcademicWorks web site

The Exploratory Group on Open Education has currently 9 members, 2 of whom are already OER faculty. We have planned the OER Workshop for April 28 in Grant Campus and we are considering another (back-to-back) OER Workshop for April 27 in Amermann Campus. Currently the group is organizing Open Lecture Series that will serve as a training for creating long educational videos. We are also examining the possibility of engaging faculty through Professional Development opportunities.

The representatives of the three campuses had two meetings so far, one on October 4 and another one on November 3, 2017.

The group agreed to:

1. keep the conversations during its meetings confidential,
2. not meet unless at least one rep from each of the three campuses is pesent (with preference for at least two reps per campus at each meeting),
3. have at least two reps per campus for any vote (allowing voting by proxy),
4. use the Dewey sequence of problem solving steps to guide the work of the group.

The group started working on the first Dewey step, defining the problem.

The College Academic Standards Committee will consider the resolution on exceptions to the graduation requrements at its November 30th meeting. Should you have concerns or questions, please notify the Committee Chair or any member of the College Academic Standards Committee beforehand. As always, you are welcome to attend the November 30th meeting to express concerns on the floor.

The Applied Learning Committee met on October 17th.

The report to SUNY in July indicated that 4054 students participated in for-credit applied learning experiences and nearly 700 students participated in not-for-credit applied learning experiences.

Discussion ensued on using established not-for-credit experiences and enriching them to become applied learning experiences.

An attribute in Banner to inform students before registering that an applied learning experience will be part of the course was discussed.

A sub-committee was formed to review new courses to ascertain if they meet the Applied Learning Criteria.

Assessment Advisory Council met on September 28, 2017.

Dr. Pedersen reflected on the role of the Council, noting that it acts as the main accountability agent to help college maintain its culture of assessment. He noted that this mission was put in place before we learned best ways to do the task. We hope to be able to define ourselves not only as an accountability agent, but also as an asset for people undergoing review. As we shift our mission, we will focus on being an asset.

Dr. Tacke-Cushing updated the Council on the Middle States self-study draft progress. There is a survey Google form -- please take a look and check that we are meeting standards, making progress towards our 6 institutional goals are maintaining the overall culture of assessment. We need to verify the information in the draft, as well as check the three items above. Please go online and fill the survey or reach directly to the Self-Study Chairs. November 7 is the visit of the Evaluation Team representatives. The main concern for the visit is logistics of the main team visit. Monitoring report went well. We were able to demonstrate terrific progress on assessment. The Report turned out to be more about showcasing than compliance.

Dr. Anastasia: We would like to re-assess the structure of the committee moving forward. The program review and unit review subcommittees did not have to assess unit and program reviews and focused more on the process. Professional development was discussed, bringing guest speakers and helping train people in assessment. We want to move forward with that.

The annual assessment committees need help. It varies from year to year but is averages to about 70 reviews they need to process per year. People working on these two subcommittees are overwhelmed. I would like to suggest that people working on the program reivew join up and help with reading the reports. Training everybody should be open to everybody on the AAC. As we have professional development, everybody can serve in that capacity on voluntery basis. People who just completed program review can become our source of expertise. GenEd and course-level dvindled to very few people and they also need help.

Dr. Tucker: We have two committees of each type, with parallel structure on the unit and program review. Are we doing the job (completeness) and are we doing a good job? Annual assessment will need a lot of help because they lost momentum, having to go through 40 reviews per year. Hopefully with additional people we will be able to have 2 readers per review, and will use the average of the two scores. What kind of professional development people in this room can undertake that will give them time and motivation to do it on one hand, and make them useful for their colleagues undergoing the assessment? Budgeting process is much different now when we can push data-supported propositions. Assessment is improving many things!

The Class Size Committee has not met this semester because we have not received any proposals this semester.

The Developmental Studies Advisory Committee met on November 16, 2017. It is putting together its Annual Collegewide Workshop and already has many proposals. The workshop will take place on March 3, 2018. The committee is keeping current on developments related to Achieving the Dream initiative to make sure that our voice is heard while making future plans/decisions. It was reported at the meeting that a new Accuplacer test is coming up. It will start being used in November 2018 for determining placement in the Spring of 2019. That means that departments should evaluate it soon and determine cutoff scores.

September 7, 2017 meeting:

• Fall 2017 Assessment: Discussed the existing survey questions that were developed. We talked about the overall goal to assess student connections with the campus.
• Service Learning College Seminar - COL 295: Danielle DiMauro-Brooks shared her plans for this semester's Social Media Ambassadors Project working with LIAAC (Long Island's Association for AID's Care). The overall goal for the project is for the students to spread awareness and educate others on the HIV/AID's disease. We also discussed scheduling options for the course – Danielle is finding that the 2 sessions at 50 minutes per week is not enough time. We are also distributing surveys to the college community regarding a long-term project at Smith Point Park. We are working with Splashes of Hope to develop murals to paint in the beach tunnels at the park. We also brainstormed how we could get the Arts department and campus clubs involved.
• Goals/Plans for the 2017-2018 Academic Year – A major goal the committee wants to work towards is creating our own College Seminar handbook. Our first step is to start a section guiding College Seminar faculty on creating a well-developed course outline.

October 5, 2017 meeting:

• Professional Development: Our professional development event will take place on January 24, 2018. We are holding the event at the Culinary Center in Riverhead and brainstormed ideas for breakout sessions. We agreed to have volunteers from the committee conduct 5 minute "flash rounds" as one of the breakout sessions that focus on different strategies to increase participation in the classroom.
• Fall Assessment/Campus Resources Survey: Surveys have been distributed to each campus. The surveys should be administered during week 9 or 10 for all COL 101 sections and COL 105 can administer later in the semester.
• Service Learning College Seminar: We are looking to offer COL 295 as a 3 credit course in the spring. Danielle DiMauro-Brooks and her class found that they had to make some slight adjustments to the service learning project and they are working closely with VIBS (Victim's Information Bureau of Suffolk).
• Syllabus Preparation for Faculty Handbook: We are moving forward with developing our first section of the faculty handbook, which focuses on creating an effective College Seminar syllabus. Faye and Dawn brought example syllabi for the committee to look at and agree on what components should be included in the course syllabus. We agreed that the course policies that should be included are policies regarding attendance and calculated grades. The committee also agreed that the Academic Integrity statement, the Disability Services statement, and clear descriptions of assignments and weekly assignments must be included.

November 9, 2017 meeting:

• Fall Assessment/Campus Resources Survey - COL 101 sections should have their surveys picked up and administered. COL 105 sections have been advised to pick up the surveys to administer during Week 15.
• Service Learning College Seminar - The plan is to run a 3 credit course in the Spring. If it is successful, we will run it as a regular course. We also talked about how this course could possibly count as an unrestricted elective even if students took College Seminar already. We also thought about ideas of how to create a new designation for the course. Future plans could also consist of potential promotion for a College Seminar Instructor that teaches this type of course. We plan to promote this course to students so that the Spring section fills and we agreed to reach out to the Counselors regarding placement.
• January Professional Development - Our Professional Development event will be held on January 24th from 9am-1pm on the Eastern Campus in the Montaukett Learning Resource Center. Final details for the event were discussed and we talked about the breakout sessions that will be offered. They consist of understanding "tech savvy" students, teaching millennials, Virtual Orientation, student success skills, advisement, and how to develop an effective syllabus. We also agreed on a winter themed basket for our raffle and committee members are encouraged to donate items to the basket. A Save-the-Date will also be sent out soon to the college community regarding this event.
• Curriculum Initiatives - Dawn Tracy-Hanley found an interesting First Year Seminar course offered at Appalachian State University with the theme of "The Happiness Project". It is a great model to use to potentially build a course like this that we can offer at the college. We also explored the option of offering a College Seminar course that focuses on specific careers or majors and we discussed the possibility of Career and Transfer faculty having the availability to teach the course. The goal is to create College Seminar courses that have a different model than the standard course we are currently offering students.

The Commencement committee is not meeting until February 9th 19-11:30 am in NHL237.

The committee has not met since the last Assembly meeting.

The deadline to apply for Grant campus Spring 2018 scholarships is Friday, December 29. Please encourage students to apply. Scholarship information can be obtained from the SCCC home page > Quick Links > Scholarships > AcademicWorks web site

The Council met on September 14.

Dr. Tacke-Cushing and Dr. Linker reported that they sent the full draft of the report to the Middle States Commission on that same day, and are releasing it to the college community for review and input. Two-week window is alloted for this review. Then in early October the draft will be sent to BOT for their review. The questions that should guide the review are related to the intended outcome of accreditation. Dr. Steven Rose, President of Passaic County Community College and Chair of Suffolk County Community College's Self-Study Evaluation Team, will be here on November 7 for a preliminary visit. The main Evaluation Team visit will take place in March 2018.

Dr. Pedersen reported on the progress on the 63 actions and initiatives in CAPIE. Of the 63 actions/initiatives, 40 were completed, 17 are in progress (some are multi-year); 2 canceled or halted, 4 were not reported on.

Recap of 2016-2017:

• Completed fourth year of operational planning
• published third annual report (January) of Institutional Effectiveness
• Updated CAPIE
• Developed metrics for Student Success to incorporate into annual report of institutional effectiveness
• published the third College Factbook

Task for 2017-2018:

• constructing an architecture for strategic planning process
• developing a set of metrics to inform development of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• operational planning review (we got this in the email today)
• review of IE report
• be trained for focus groups
• be trained for SWOT analysis
• create a calendar for process
• identify cohorts to involve

The Council will form focus groups, involving all campuses and central, and reaching out to all constituents (students/faculty/staff, administrators, external stakeholders). The groups will conduct SWOT analysis (strength, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and identification of core values. We will reach out to people on the Council and see where you can contribute. We could go for the plans that already exist and retrieve ideas from those.

The next strategic planning process beginning fall 2018 will be informed by the Middle States self-study and team reports, data driven, and inclusive.

Plans for 2018-2019:

• Run focus groups
• Hold campus forums
• Assist with SWOT analyses
• Draft Plan Components

Please see the power point presentation for the November 14 meeting of the Assembly.

DACA and Undocumented Students Resource Guide is available at http://libguides.sunysuffolk.edu/daca-renewal

Chemical Dependency Counseling Program has been awarded a 5-year NYS OASAS – College Environmental Prevention Grant. Please see the announcement for more details.

Human Beans - Brougth to you by the Theatre Club. 4 Original Plays written by professors, performed by students. Van Nostrand Theater, November 20, 2017, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Special thanks to Jason Ramirez, Margarita Espada, Marlene DuBois and the English and Humanities Department.

Trip to United Nations THIS FRIDAY, November 17. Tickets are $10.00 for students and can be purchased at the Box Office (hours are 10-5 Mon-Thurs and Fri 10-3). This trip includes transportation along with a guided tour of the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan.

The two clubs are collaborating to bring Take Back the Night event to the campus. The event has been set for Friday, April 13, 2018 at 6:00 pm.

The next planning meeting will take place this Monday, November 20 at 2:00 in Room 302 of the HSEC Building. Students/Advisors/etc are all welcome to attend the meeting.

The You Are Not Alone event is being hosted by Professor DiMauro-Brooks COL 295 students on November 21 at 12:30. Students have implemented a Red Flag Campaign here on campus. Students created a mission statement for their campaign:

To educate the college community about the red flags of dating and domestic violence and to empower survivors in alliance with VIBS (Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk).

They are collecting donations on behalf of VIBS (Victims Information Bureau) for the SANE Centers on Long Island. Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) centers are considered the best and most victim-centered approach to acute health care for sexual assault patients. Students are collecting items such as sweatpants, women's underwear, bras, extra large sweaters, outdoor slippers, deodorant, travel size Listerine, and snack bars. There are currently 3 centers on Long Island at Stony Brook Hospital, Peconic Bay Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital. Donation boxes are set behind the HSEC info desk, Asharoken 128 and the Health Office.

The clothesline project is part of their campaign. This project consists of 103 t-shirts created by students and faculty with words of empowerment for survivors of domestic violence. This is currently on display in the SAG lobby. As I am sure you have probably seen, the walkways of HSEC are lined with red flags as well as the lobby of HSEC displaying various facts of dating and domestic violence awareness.

Diversity In Literature Read-In, Sponsored by the English Honors Society, ΣΚΔ, will take place in Captree Commons, Room 113 on November 29, 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Refreshments will be provided!