Academic Assembly Update

Replacement for WWW2 Server

The SCCC Memorandum — Update on Website Migration of Faculty Scholarly Content signaled a major step in resolving the issue of the impending shutdown of the WWW2 server. On behalf of the Assembly, I would like to thank administration for addressing the concerns of the faculty, both by delaying the shutdown of the WWW2 server and by providing this transition process to new hosting.

Faculty Council on Community Colleges

FCCC asked our College Governance to review several resolutions. One of them seeks to change the funding formula for the SUNY Commuity Colleges. Please check the update from our FCCC delegate below to find out more about this issue.

Faculty Resource Guide

The work on this important document continues with input and participation from the three Governance chairs. Please send me your concerns.

On Tuesday, November 21, 2017, the Committee:

1. Approved by unanimous vote the Marketing A.A.S. Expedited Curriculum proposal
2. Approved 14-0-1 the Dental Hygiene A.A.S. Program proposal
3. Approved 11-1-1 the Veterinary Science Technology Revised Curriculum and Course proposals

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 College Academic Standards Committee approved the Exceptions to the Core Education Graduation Requirement proposal on November 30, 17 by a vote of 16-0-0.

The Council has not met since our last Assembly meeting.

The Class Size Committee plans to meet Thursday, March 1, 2018 in anticipation of at least one proposal to arrive before the spring deadline.

The committee has not met since the last Assembly meeting.

The deadline to apply for college-wide 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 has not met since our last Assembly meeting.

SCCC faculty interested in starting an AAUP chapter would like to plan an interest/organizational meeting early in the spring 2018 semester; date, time and location TBA.

Please see the flyer for more details.

If you are interested in getting involved or would like more information, please contact Marc Fellenz <fellenm@sunysuffolk.edu>

The Fall Plenary for the Faculty Council on Community Colleges took place Nov. 2-4 at Jamestown CC.

The following groups/people presented reports:

• FCCC President's Report: Nina Tamrowski
• FCCC Vice President's Report: Christy Fogal
• FCCC Information Officer's Report: Sean Simpson
• FCCC Press Officer's Report: Leanne Warshauer
• FCCC Treasurer's Report: Michael Delaney
• FCCC Secretary's Report: Jeff Steele
• NYCCAP: Dr. Kate Douglas, President of Corning Community College
• University Faculty Senate: President Gwen Kay
• CUNY UFS: Kay Conway, President
• CCBOA: Bill Reuter, President and CFO, Hudson Valley Community College
• CAO: Marilyn Zagora, VP of Academic Affairs, Jamestown Community College
• NYCCT: Laura Bohm, Chair, and Karen Mosher, Executive Director
• Student Assembly: Marc Cohen
• CGL Convener: Garth Swanson, Genesee Community College

These people provided keynote-type addresses:

• Johanna Duncan-Poitier, Senior Vice Chancellor of Community Colleges
• Grace Wang, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development and Interim Provost
• Dan Knox, Director of Student Mobility, SUNY System Administration

Chancellor Kristina Johnson met with us and affirmed her support of Community Colleges.

A panel discussion was held on Guided Pathways.

An Advocacy Presentation was done by Angela Wright and Robert Anderson, SUNY Government Relations, to provide suggestions about doing advocacy in Albany for legislation relating to Community Colleges.

Additionally, the various committees met three times during the Plenary.

Aside from internal matters such as budget, the majority of time devoted to reports focused on the following topics:

1. A new funding proposition being requested from the state – NYCAP and several other education bodies have suggested a new funding formula for Community Colleges. It has three essential components:
   1. A "Hold-Harmless"-like base of funding that would base each future year's State aid on an average of the current year and two previous years funding (for example, 2017+2016+2016/3) OR the current year's funding if it were higher than the average.
   2. An escalator clause based on the HEPI Index (essentially a cost of living increase for education).
   3. A "Special Fund" which would be an investment fund that Colleges could tap to pay for high cost/high need programs such as nursing or dental.
   We were told the advocates do not actually feel this will be adopted during this funding cycle but this is intended to replace the current per-FTE formula which is leading to decreased State aid in many places due to lower enrollment.
2. Open Educational Resources – SUNY is providing a financial incentive to schools/professors who create OERs for their classes and use them for all sections of specific classes. Several members were concerned about the ownership of the faculty member's intellectual property and suggested any faculty considering doing OERs to have written agreements to protect their rights prior to beginning work in this area. Currently 51 campuses throughout SUNY are participating, with 16,000 students enrolled in OER classes this Fall.
3. Micro-credentialing – A number of advantages to micro-credentialing were discussed, some include increased enrollment from non-traditional populations, flexibility, improved links to local business. Some questions were raised such as transferability and stackability from campus to campus as well as concerns for academic rigor. However, the reality is micro-credentialing is here, so it is up to us to make sure we are holding up standards on our campuses.
4. Reverse Transfer – Unlike the previous topics which were discussed in most of the reports, Reverse Transfer was only a part of Dan Knox's report, but I felt it was important enough to summarize. SUNY has begun a process for reverse transfer which can be useful to Community Colleges because it allows us to include students who transfer to a four year school prior to completing their degree to count within our completion totals. In the initial test of the system 5766 students were contacted to initiate the process but only 12% responded. Of those students, the vast majority were awarded Associate Degrees. Knox suggested that the response rate could be improved by improved publicity of the program and some administrative efficiency improvements. Some of these are already underway as SUNY has contracted to work with the National Student Clearinghouse to do data mining and is working on revising some of the computerized portions of the process to decrease time student's applications are being processed.

I would be happy to expand on any of these topics if people have questions. I am also attaching the resolutions that the FCCC passed. The FCCC is asking campuses to endorse

• Resolution in Support of Accommodations for Military Absences ASA2: 2017 – 2018 (FCCC Plenary Meeting, November 4, 2017)

The following three are informative/do not require any action.

• Resolution in Support of Indigenous People's Day (FCCC Plenary Meeting, November 4, 2017)
• Best Practices for Student Veterans (FCCC Plenary Meeting, November 4, 2017)
• Resolution in Response to Regulatory Action Taken by Charter Schools Committee of the SUNY (Executive Committee of FCCC, November 13, 2017)

Our FCCC delegates will vote (by Wednesday, December 13th) on whether or not SCCC wants to support the Funding Proposal put forward by the SUNY Chancellor to the SUNY BoT. No action is required on the Assembly part for the time being:

• Resolution Supporting New Funding Model for the Community Colleges

The grant request deadline for the following grant is March 4, 2018:

• Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG) - Round Seven (2018) Request for Proposals - "Transformational Impact II"

2017 Grant Campus Performing Arts Festival

Students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community volunteers have been working hard to create this first annual event. We wish to invite both you, and your students, to our four event Festival.

The Grant Performing Arts Festival 2017 is composed of:

• Tuesday, December 12th @ 6:00pm - INVISIBLE PAINT, performed by our Theatre 151 Workshop and directed by Margarita Espada
• Wednesday, December 13th @ 11:00am and 6:00pm - THE MUSIC OF STEPHEN SONDHEIM, performed by our Musical Theatre 295 Workshop and directed by Jason Ramirez and John Horton Murray
• Thursday, December 14th @ 6:00pm - STEPPING STONES TO STARDOM, performed by our Grant Theatre Club and directed by Justine Velazquez
• Friday, December 15th @ 6:00pm - MOVE AND GROOVE: A SHOWCASE OF DANCE, performed by our combined Broadway Dance 295 & Styles and Techniques 195 classes, and directed/choreographed by Gierre J. Godley

Take Back the Night Planning Committee will meet on December 18 at 3 p.m. in HSEC Building, Room 302. Please save April 13, 2018 for the event!

Special topics service learning COL 295 course will be offered in the Spring. This course fulfills the college seminar requirement and carries 3 credits. The class will meet on Tuesday/Thursday from 4:20-5:45 p.m. This course will be focusing on service projects within the college and local community and is ideal for students interesting in fields such as social work, criminal justice, nursing, psychology and public service. Taking this course would be a great resume builder, scholarship builder and wonderful for anybody interested in giving back to community. All projects are completed here on campus, so that no outside transportation is required.