Cabinet Meeting Minutes October 30, 2023

Cabinet Meeting
Monday, October 30, 2023
10:00 am - Noon

Facilitator: VP Celia Lloyd
Presenter: Executive Counsel Paul Occhiogrosso

1. Anthony Achille, Executive Director of  External  Affairs
2. Vince Boudreau, President
3. Alex Couzis, Dean, Grove School of Engineering
4. Ramon De Los Santos, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs
5. Scott Gurba, Chief Operating Officer
6. Marta Gutman, Dean, Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture
7. Ken Ihrer, Chief Information Officer
8. David Jeruzalmi, Chairman, The Faculty Senate
9. Edwin Lamboy, Dean, School of Education
10. Tony Liss, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
11. Celia Lloyd, Vice President, Student Affairs and Enrollment Management
12. Renata Miller, Dean, Division of Humanities and the Arts
13. Dee Dee Mozeleski, Senior Advisor to the President and VP & Executive Director, Office of Institutional Advancement, Communications and External Relations and The Foundation for City College
14. Naomi Nwosu-Stewart, Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management
15. Paul Occhiogrosso, Executive Counsel to the President
16. Marie Owumi, Special Projects Manager, Office of the President
17. Susan Perkins, Dean, Division of Science
18. Andrew Rich, Dean, The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership
19. Teresa Scala, Chief of Staff, Office of the Provost
20. Ruth Stark, Chairperson, Faculty Committee on Personnel Matters
21. Mary Ruth Strzeszewski, Associate Provost for Academic Programs
22. Rosemarie Wesson, Associate Provost for Research

Absent:

1. Carmen Green, Dean, CUNY School of Medicine
2. Doris Cintron, Senior Associate Provost
3. Juan Carlos Mercado, Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies at CWE & Professional Continuing Studies
4. Vanessa Valdes, Associate Provost for Community Engagement

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 am by VP Mozeleski.

The October 30 minutes were reviewed and approved.

President Boudreau gave his announcements which were as follows:

1. Student demonstrations will resume on campus on Tuesday, October 31. The students have submitted a list of demands to the college, including the renaming of the Colin Powell School.  He outlined that the most important thing to be aware of concerning these demonstrations is that students desire to be safe and protected. The college is committed to the physical safety of students and wants them to feel comfortable to come to campus and express their desires. The campus must be sympathetic and receptive to fears of physical safety.

There are operations in place, in collaboration with the 30th precinct of the NYPD, where terms associated with CCNY or CUNY on various internet forums are reviewed for any threats to safety, misinformation, and so on. President Boudreau stated that students need to know the steps that are taken to guarantee their safety.

He reiterated that there should be faculty presence at the demonstration to listen to what the students have to say.

1. Rosemarie Wesson will start a new position as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research to CUNY, and she will be taking a few people from her office with her to CUNY. Provost Liss will be looking to identify someone from within the campus to take over her position. Likely, an interim Associate Provost for Research will be named while the search is carried out.
2. A retention strategy currently in place at the college are seminars following orientation, to inform students of the various opportunities available to them. These seminars have been held by the Counseling Center, Gender Resources, and CPDI so far. However, these seminars have seen low student numbers so far. Deans have been tasked with identifying which of the available seminars will be best suited for their students and promoting attendance. It was suggested that a culture of morning announcements be established where these opportunities are advertised.
3. Scarefest will be held on October 31, starting at 4:30pm. The entrance is by Benny’s Bookstore and it will span through the underground tunnels of the campus.
4. This year, two emeritus members of the CCNY faculty, Sheldon Weinbaum and Myriam Sarachyk, received the National Science medal from the White House. They are the second and third members of the CCNY faculty to receive this award, and only six institutions have had multiple recipients in the same year. A symposium in honor of Myriam Sarachyk will be held on October 31, and everyone is encouraged to attend. A similar symposium will be held in honor of Sheldon Weinbaum in the near future.

Director Achille gave an update on the alternative commencement plans that he was tasked with collating. The deans discussed what options that they were considering for their respective divisions. The option of an off-campus commencement was decided against due to the unpredictable likelihood of securing a finalized date in the summer. While further inquiries are being made, a meeting has been scheduled for Monday, November 6 at 10am to make final decisions.

President Boudreau led the discussion surrounding Internal PMP planning. He had a previous meeting with Provost Liss and VP Lloyd to lay the groundwork for goal setting at The Hub and One Stop. A chart shared during the Council of Presidents meeting specify CUNY’s goals regarding Navigate, and will be adapted to strategize for The Hub and One Stop as well. These One Stop and Hub charts will be shared at the November 13 Cabinet meeting. Dean Miller suggested a collaboration between DegreeWorks and CUNYFirst to create automated scheduling for students based on course needs and their interests. CIO Ihrer informed the group of a new learning management system being implemented at CUNY which will integrate with Navigate.

Provost Liss identified a few issues professors were experiencing in their attempts to utilize Navigate. He stated that another campaign would not be carried out until the issues were addressed. The deans shared the qualms they had with faculty training in Navigate. Some methods to improve faculty participation and training were suggested, including:

1. Smaller, hands-on workshops
2. Step-by-step video tutorials
3. Simplified training manual
4. Faculty Champions
5. A 5-week automated grading system on Navigate
6. Institutionalized day for faculty training
7. Incentive system for proper utilization of Navigate system
8. Clearer, Longer-term inventory and strategizing support around Navigate

From these suggestions we are moving forward in the following ways:

1. A link to the Navigate Hub will be included on the CCNY website for ease of access.
2. President Boudreau tasked all deans with carrying the message to faculty that Navigate will be an area of emphasis this year, and our most important tool in getting to better retention numbers.
3. He will draft a step by step exercise designed to get them onto navigate and executing one simple task. 

Processes similar to these will take place over the course or the semester to help develop some familiarity with the system.  The first exercise will be ready for the November 13 Cabinet Meeting.

President Boudreau shared a rubric that was used in the past to map out a 4-semester schedule. Importantly, the schedule is not just a list of classes or a degree map.  It should specify who will be teaching what classes at what times over the next 4 semesters. A lot of this work will be done inductively, by figuring out the frequency and size of classes based both on their status in the major (specifically required, part of a set of distribution requirements, or electives) and the mix of majors and non-majors that we expect based on history).

Alongside that deductive process, pivot tables are being developed to show the mix of majors and non majors in each class. These will help validate and refine the deduced analysis of how many seats at what frequency any class needs. It is important to be able to identify and approach differently the different “types” of majors:

1. Those that offer the same fall and spring schedules year after year;
2. Those with looser and more elective laden majors without many prerequisites or scaffolded requirements.
3. Identify departments that will have difficulty for some specific reason—eg. the uncertainty of how many teaching fellows the school of education will have year to year.

Deans are to start the process of getting chairs to put these schedules together and feel free to use the rubric.

COO Gurba gave a presentation on his position as Chief Operating Officer and the  departments under his purview, including, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, and Facilities Management. He outlined the various open positions that his office will gradually start to fill, and the steps they are taking in the new and evolving operations strategy.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:18 pm.

November 13 Cabinet Meeting Agenda

Facilitator - COO Scott Gurba
Presentation - VP Celia Lloyd

Agenda

1. Approval of the October 30 Cabinet Meeting Minutes
2. President’s Announcements
   1. New staff introductions - AVP for Facilities, Lesly Pierre; Chief Diversity Officer, Sheryl Konisberg
3. Fiscal Year 2024 Quarter 1 Budget (Scott Gurba, Eva Medina)
4. Spring Semester de-registration dates and process
5. Navigate
6. 4 semester scheduling
7. Campus Climate - updates
8. Presentation (VP Lloyd)