Cabinet Meeting Minutes September 11, 2023

Cabinet Meeting
Monday, September 11, 2023
10:00 am - Noon

Facilitator: Dean Alex Couzis
Presenter: Dean Miller

1. Vince Boudreau, President
2. Alex Couzis, Dean, Grove School of Engineering
3. Ramon De Los Santos, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs
4. Scott Gurba, Chief Operating Officer
5. Marta Gutman, Dean, Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture
6. David Jeruzalmi, Chairman, The Faculty Senate
7. Edwin Lamboy, Dean, School of Education
8. Tony Liss, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
9. Celia Lloyd, Vice President, Student Affairs and Enrollment Management
10. Juan Carlos Mercado, Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies at CWE & Professional Continuing Studies
11. Renata Miller, Interim Dean, Division of Humanities and the Arts
12. 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
13. Naomi Nwosu-Stewart, Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management
14. Paul Occhiogrosso, Executive Counsel to the President
15. Andrew Rich, Dean, The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership
16. Teresa Scala, Chief of Staff, Office of the Provost
17. Ruth Stark, Chairperson, Faculty Committee on Personnel Matters
18. Mary Ruth Strzeszewski, Associate Provost for Academic Programs
19. Georgette-Marie Owumi, Special Projects Manager, Office of the President

Absent:

1. Doris Cintron, Senior Associate Provost
2. Carmen Green, Dean, CUNY School of Medicine
3. Ken Ihrer, Chief Information Officer
4. Susan Perkins, Dean, Division of Science
5. Vanessa Valdes, Associate Provost for Community Engagement
6. Rosemarie Wesson, Associate Provost for Research

The meeting was called to order at 10am by Associate Provost Strzeszewski.

President Boudreau gave his announcements. He started off with the acknowledgement of the significance of the September 11 date, and asked that all Cabinet members be cognizant of those around them in order to be of help when needed. He moved on to an overview of the previous year’s budget. He explained that City College did not meet the target budget outlined by CUNY. CCNY has laid out a plan to meet the coming fiscal year’s goal. President Boudreau asked that Cabinet members not solely look at ways to cut from the budget, but also ways to grow revenue. He mentioned a proposal he has submitted to have City College pull out of its NCAA commitment and instead focus on intramural sports and clubs. The college’s Senior Staff will be meeting with the CUNY Vice Chancellor for Human Affairs on September 13 to discuss Vacancy Review Board positions and how many positions can be filled in the upcoming year. He gave some updates from the Council of Presidents meeting on September 6. He said that the CUNY landing page would be updated with the SCOTUS decision for affirmative action, so every Cabinet member should be on the lookout.

He discussed the CUNY Passport program where students who are registered in fully online programs can take classes from any CUNY college. Also, if any class still has seats available, any student willing to take a fully online class may do so. The fee structure will be similar to those of e-permits. He stated that this would be a good opportunity for CCNY to create and offer programs which would be beneficial to students and would help the college. Finally, President Boudreau introduced the new Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, Ramon De Los Santos, and expressed his excitement for the contributions that he can make to Student Affairs.

Vice President Lloyd gave a presentation on transfer programs from Fall 2018 to present. This presentation included student retention, evaluation reports, and collaborations with CUNY. She also gave a more detailed explanation of the Student Academic Success Hub and its role in getting undeclared students enrolled into their respective majors. She outline three categories of students who are supported by the Hub:

1. Pathfinders - Regular undeclared students
2. Students from the ACE program
3. Students from the emergent 1847 Academy, which is predicated on a smoother transition from CUNY community colleges into City College. The influence will go into effect in Fall 2024 with first round focus on BMCC.

President Boudreau brought up an aspect of the CUNY Strategic plan whereby all graduates of New York public high schools this year will receive a letter informing them that they have been accepted into a CUNY college. He asked that Student Affairs and all departments be prepared to process these admissions as soon as they arrive. He would like for this plan to be implemented in Fall 2024.

Associate Provost Strzeszewski moved the conversation along to seat mapping and registration issues. President Boudreau said that while the college celebrates the increase in student enrollment, it is essential to ensure that there are enough seats for students enrolled in their respective classes. He also proposed a four-semester schedule, with class scheduling being planned and published four semesters in advance. He acknowledged that there would be some degree of uncertainty but explained that, in the long-run, it would be largely beneficial to the students.

Provost Liss is in the process of revamping the college’s Strategic Plan and opened up the conversation to Cabinet to draft out the initial strategic priorities that they would like to be featured. He reminded the group of the strategic priorities of the previous Strategic Plan:

1. Build Student Success
2. Promote research scholarship and creativity
3. Enhance diversity
4. Renew and refresh physical plan
5. Build financial stability

Dean Miller suggested a complete overhaul of the strategic priorities and starting again instead of making modifications to the current ones. She also proposed examining the Strategic Plans of other institutions to gain inspiration. Dean Mercado advocated for further elaboration on academic programs. Dean Rich stated that there needed to be more of an insight into the current state of the college, CUNY and higher education as a whole. He said that this new draft of the strategic priorities should be utilized to express exactly what kind of college CCNY is and what it wants to be, including substantively, fiscally, with respect to modality and construction, technological innovations, and its position within CUNY. Dean Couzis stated that more importance needs to be placed on the financial planning of the college, as it inadvertently affects all the other goals and objectives. Deans Gutman and Rich agreed that the strategic priorities should be modeled after the president’s Campaign for City College. Dean Gutman also suggested a focus on the history of the college, and how the physical plan can be utilized to serve the community.

President Boudreau gave a summary of the various ideas presented, including his own suggestions:

1. Align the program and activities of the college with the needs of the society
2. Management of college resources and assets
3. Catering to the community, both internally and externally, which includes welfare support for students, faculty and the Harlem community

Provost Liss will be drafting a proposed set of strategic priorities and will send them out to Cabinet members for review before submission to the Faculty Senate on September 21.

President Boudreau gave further insight into the PMP process and explained that himself and the Senior Staff have begun an outline for the PMP letter which will be submitted to the CUNY Chancellor on October 6. He stated that he would like targeted contributions from Cabinet members. Each volunteer was placed into a category based on their expertise and the document will be shared with all of them after the meeting is concluded. He asked that all contributions be submitted to him by September 18. By the October 2 Cabinet meeting, the outline will be converted to letter format and will be presented to Cabinet again for review.

Dean Miller gave her divisional presentation on the Division of Humanities and the Arts, highlighting the English, Art, Music, Theater and Speech, Media and Communication Arts, History, Philosophy, and the Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures departments. She also discussed the Black Studies program, and its new director, Jervette Ward.

An agenda was set for the October 2 Cabinet meeting. Provost Liss and VP Mozeleski volunteered to be facilitator and presenter and the meeting was adjourned at 12:00pm.

October 2 Cabinet Meeting Agenda

Facilitator - Provost Tony Liss
Presentation- VP Dee Dee Mozeleski

1. Approval of the September 11 Cabinet Meeting Minutes
2. President’s Announcements
3. PMP
4. Strategic Planning
5. 4 semester schedule
6. Navigate - training options
   1. Retention
7. Presentation - VP Mozeleski