Academic Assembly Update

Please encourage your students to apply for CARES Act financial aid. For eligibility requirements and further details, please see the guidance.

In addition to several important documents received from FCCC and included in the corresponding section of this update, I would like like to include two other documents received from the same source in my own report to the Assembly.

The first one is SUNY Initiatives. It gives brief information and important updates regarding:

• SUNY Online;
• PRODIG (Promoting Recruitment Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion and Growth);
• SUNY General Education;
• Transfer Paths;
• Mental Health and Wellness Task Force.

The second document, Shared Governance 101, was provided for a workshop for governance leaders. I would like to share it with the whole Assembly because it provides a good overview of governance that could be of great general interest.

Grant Campus Academic Standards Committee virtually met on 9/15/20. The College Academic Standards Committee (CASC) is planning on continuing work in the following subcommittees:

• Academic Integrity,
• Absences and Attendance Policy, and
• Faculty Authored Texts.

Specifically, Absences and Attendance subcommittee is analyzing data from a college-wide survey sent out Spring 2020. Also, consideration for specific language for online-only classes should be evaluated. Faculty Authored Textbooks subcommittee has their documents with the Legal department; as such, no main updates. We also discussed new agenda items to consider for the upcoming academic year. The items included: Dismissal and Probation policies, syllabus templates and statements, and technology in the classroom. New/unfinished Business discussed:

• First, last semester faculty passed the "FX" and "UX" distinctions (indicating "failure for non-attendance) to be added to the final grade dropdown menu as an optional choice). Please note that due to Banner constraints, these dropdown choices will read "FN" and "UN" instead.
• Second, online-specific issues were discussed (e.g., parents and/or siblings sitting in on lectures and during office hours).
• Third, P.E. resolution to no longer offer waiver (unless extreme circumstances) was passed years ago in Governance, yet the policy does not seem to be implemented.
• Fourth, many streaming videos in the library are no longer available due to budget cuts.

The Committee met on October 27, 2020. The following items were discussed:

• Revising resolution (for small, editorial changes) for elimination of P.E. Waiver.
• Academic Integrity Committee is hoping to continue their efforts to disseminate educational materials/workshops during Spring PDD.
• Absences and Attendance Subcommittee: Expanding their research to include policies regarding online learning environments.
• Faculty Authored Texts Subcommittee: Following-up with legal department on the status of their review.
• Probation and Dismissal Subcommittee: New subgroup of CASC. The following issues will be areas for this subgroup to consider:
  • Rate of completion may need to be changed (only about 1/3 of Community Colleges use rate of completion as a standard); issues arise with students who return to SCCC after taking a hiatus.
  • Different dismissal rules for part time vs. full-time students
  • Terminology: should "Warning" but used instead of "probation" and "dismissal"? (Student can be in "good academic standing" and also on probation.)
  • Probation and dismissal remains on student's permanent record, even though this is a temporary status; possibly too punitive.
  • Idiosyncrasies with holds for probation vs. dismissal
• Other Actionable Items:
  • P.E. – unrestricted electives; currently students can't take P.E. classes to fill an unrestricted elective; looking into the possibility of changing that (maybe 1-2 credit cap)
  • Follow-up regarding Dean's List for part-time students: Administration indicated that there was an issue with Banner in setting this up. CASC will continue to follow-up

The committee's September meeting was cancelled as there were no agenda items to address. We will be reviewing the A.S. Sports Management New Curriculum Proposal at our October meeting. A membership report will be submitted after department meetings take place and any new representatives are elected.

The awarding of scholarships has moved to one cycle - effective immediately, there will be no December deadline just a May deadline (May 28, 2021) for scholarship applications. All scholarships will be awarded in the Fall semester going forward.

CASC met on 10/1/2020. Please note College Brief dated 10/9/2020 regarding Withdrawal Policy Revisions starting this semester (if you haven't already done so).

The withdrawal deadlines for classes that run during other parts of term (e.g., COL101) will be based on the same principles, but applied to the each such course's run time instead of the full term. Beginning in Spring 2021, those course-specific deadlines will be included in the Enrollment Dates document in the faculty portal.

Subcommittees:

• Academic Integrity Subcommittee – focusing on developing tools/workshops that specifically relate to academic integrity issues in online courses.
• Absences and Attendance Subcommittee – will continue their work and expand to include online/real time online classes.
• Faculty Authored Texts Subcommittee – No change (policy is still with Legal department).
• New focus/subcommittee to be formed to work on the Probation and Dismissal policies.

Unfinished business:

• Deans list for Part Time students passed through governance (2018/19 academic year), but stalled with administration (supposedly there is a technical/banner issue with implementation). CASC is going to ask for this to be worked on to avoid further delay.
• In 2014 governance passed a CASC resolution to remove waiver for PE classes; was supposed to be put into effect in 2016, but never happened. CASC will make editorial changes to the policy (to account for changes from SUNY 64 and Local Graduation Requirements policies), but will ask for a revote on this sometime this year (possibly this semester). This policy had overwhelming support across all 3 campuses in 2014, but CASC members feel it is best to make sure that faculty are still in support of this policy before sending back to Administration.
• Lastly, regarding PE, CASC discussed the restriction of PE classes for unrestricted electives for General Studies students. Discussed possibility of writing a resolution to lift that restriction.

The committee has not met since the last Assembly meeting. The next meeting will be on Friday, 10/23.

The chair of the committee cancelled all meetings after we went remote last spring, and has not contacted us with any plans this fall.

The awarding of scholarships has moved to one cycle - effective immediately, there will be no December deadline just a May deadline (May 28, 2021) for scholarship applications. All scholarships will be awarded in the Fall semester going forward.

The Council tabled work on the new Strategic Plan due to uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. It hopes to resume in early 2021. The Board of Trustees has extended the previous Strategic Plan until the end of next August. In spite of this pause, the College is still obligated to continue operational planning and assessment. In fact, SUNY, NYSED, MSCHE, and IPEDS have actually increased their demands for data.

The Council usually issues January, June and August updates for the Operational Plans. This year, June update of 2019-2021 Operational Plan was skipped due to pandemic. The final August update of 2019-2021 Operational Plan is included.

The Operational Plan for 2020-2021 has been released. Due to effects of pandemic, Cabinet members were asked to send in fewer action items until we have greater clarity about the College's future needs and its fiscal situation.

Council's Co-chair, Vice President Jeffrey M. Pedersen is retiring from the College. The Council hopes to hold a virtual meeting later in the semester to review the current Operational Plan, to assess the Progress Report of last year's Plan, and to elect a new co-chair to serve with Ted Koukounas. We would like to establish a small committee to offer guidance on restarting the Strategic Planning Process. We hope planning efforts can begin again early in 2021.

The FCCC would like to share the following documents with the campuses:

• FCCC Position Statement on Administrative Searches
• FCCC Guidelines for Governance Proceedings in the Event of a Campus Emergency / Interruption
• New York State Department of Education Extending Distance Education Flexibility for the Spring 2021 Semester

Please find the Link to the Gallery West Online Faculty Exhibition below. The dates are 9/23/2020 - 11/12/2020. Kimberly Eberhardt has done a wonderful job arranging all of the work on the Padlet site and we hope you enjoy the exhibition!