Academic Assembly

Suffolk County Community College supports faculty, staff, students, and administrators in conducting research and engaging in educational projects. Additionally, where appropriate, the College allows external constituents to conduct appropriate and beneficial research at one of the three campuses or two off-campus centers. While these efforts are supported, the College is concerned with and dedicated to the protection of its faculty, staff, and students.

To ensure institutional accountability, responsibility and oversight over research efforts, the Institutional Review Board was established. The IRB operates as the institutional board charged with assurance of human subjects' protection. The Board is responsible for ensuring that all research projects protect the rights and well-being of individuals involved in the studies, that informed consent is provided, that risks have been minimized, and that participants understand the voluntary nature of the activities. The body ensures these protections through a thorough review of protocols to determine if they meet the criteria for research, are eligible for exemption or expedited review, or whether a full review is necessary. At its core, the IRB exists to ensure that individuals are treated ethically, with respect, and in accordance with the mission and vision of the College.

The Assembly is representative of the Campus community. It is the agency of the faculty in the exercise of that group's academic voice and responsibilities. The Assembly shall make recommendations regarding academic policies and faculty and student welfare subject to the stipulations and actions of the Board of Trustees of the College, the County Legislature, and the State University of New York.

The Assembly serves the following purposes:

1. To provide a forum for the campus faculty to act in its advisory and consultative capacity to the Campus Executive Dean and the President of the College.
2. To allow for the consideration of matters of mutual interest and concern to members of the Campus community.
3. To ratify, reject, or amend proposals from central committees and recommend action to the President and the Board of Trustees.

The Assembly is representative of the Campus community. It is the agency of the faculty in the exercise of that group's academic voice and responsibilities. The Assembly shall make recommendations regarding academic policies and faculty and student welfare subject to the stipulations and actions of the Board of Trustees of the College, the County Legislature, and the State University of New York.

The Assembly serves the following purposes:

1. To provide a forum for the campus faculty to act in its advisory and consultative capacity to the Campus Executive Dean and the President of the College.
2. To allow for the consideration of matters of mutual interest and concern to members of the Campus community.
3. To ratify, reject, or amend proposals from central committees and recommend action to the President and the Board of Trustees.

The Executive Committee shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Assembly between its sessions, fix the hour and place of sessions, appoint advisory committees, make recommendations to the Assembly, and shall perform other such duties as are specified in this Constitution. The Executive Committee shall be subject to the orders of the Assembly, and none of its acts shall conflict with action taken by the Assembly. The Executive Committee shall:

1. Convene no later than ten (10) days prior to each Assembly meeting to formulate the agenda and to assure the distribution of the agenda, of committee or other resolutions, and of any pertinent reports at least seven (7) days prior to the Assembly meetings.
2. Be authorized to call meetings of the Assembly upon request of any four (4) of its members.
3. See that each Assembly standing committee elects a Chair at the last meeting of every other academic year to serve for two years.
4. Assist the chairs of the standing committees in developing their committee charges and securing adequate committee membership.
5. Review all standing committees at the expiration of the academic year and recommend to the Assembly the abolition of any standing committees or the creation of any new standing or ad hoc committees as need arises.
6. Review the Constitution and By-laws every three years and recommend any needed changes and/or additions to the Assembly.
7. Be authorized to make appointments to college-wide committees when Assembly representatives are urgently needed. In making these appointments, the Executive Committee shall do its best to identify interested Assembly members. Such appointments shall be brought to the next Assembly meeting for confirmation.
8. Appoint members to supervise a Sunshine Fund to convey the Assembly’s sentiments to members suffering personal difficulties or bereavement. Members so appointed should keep a record of income and expenses and submit an aggregate summary at the end of the academic year Member of the Grant Campus Honors Advisory Committee showing the current balance in the Fund.

The Banner Users Group was established in 2009 to provide a forum for the discussion of issues related to the College’s implementation of the Banner system. The group brings together the Banner implementation team, IT staff, end-users in various roles, administrators and faculty governance representatives to review problems with the system and explore new ways in which it can be used. The group is charged with prioritizing these items and making recommendations to the administration concerning the allocation of resources to address them.

The Bookstore Committee will meet and collaborate with the managers of the bookstore to set hours of operation and customer service policy, resolve student and faculty complaints and book order issues, as well as represent the needs of the faculty.

The Class Size Committee shall be charged with the responsibility of reviewing and recommending proposed modifications (if and when necessary) to the class size maximums (as posted on the College Governance web site) to determine the maximum class size for all credit courses (or courses which are prerequisites for credit courses). Its recommendations shall be forwarded to the appropriate campus governance bodies for approval. Upon approval, resolutions will be forwarded to the President and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs using the normal governance processes as described in Campus and College Governance Council Bylaws.

The Distance Education Committee (DEC) is an advisory and recommending body concerned with Distance Education (DE) policies, procedures, and guidelines at Suffolk County Community College. The DEC operates under a provision in the Faculty Association contract in Appendix J and more recently Items 54 and 55 in the 2005-2011 MOU. The role of the DEC is primarily one of managing requests to develop new courses to be taught at the College in one of the four DE modalities: Fully online, blended/hybrid, distance learning classroom, or telecourse and also to manage requests for assignment to existing courses.

The Strategic Planning Council (SPC) involves every constituency associated with the College. Its primary purpose is to review and to make recommendations to the President regarding planning and action priorities at the campus and college-wide levels.

The SPC:

• reviews plans and the progress made in effecting them;
• communicates the status of strategic and operational planning;
• provides input at various points of the planning process;
• proposes any changes to the process of planning (including its relationship to budgeting and resource allocation);
• recommends revisions to the Strategic Plan; and
• provides counsel to the President as requested.