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College Council Minutes November 7, 2018

Wednesday, 11/7/18, 3:30 p.m.
Faculty Reception Room
Approved 11/19/18

Present:  T. Moretti, D. DeFino, G. DeFeis,, M. Nadel, L. Derenzis, A. Mastantuoni, H. McGowan, S. Caruselle, J. Nyre, D. Wheeler, W. Lamb, J. Stabile, J. Haber, E. Hamerman, C. Procario-Foley, E. Procario-Foley, L. Pacheco-Jorge (for C. Winkler), H. Short (for A. Stackhouse), M. Varner, A. Schettini-Lynch, J. Steele
Excused: D. Brophy, A. Howerton-Fox, H. Park, A. AlAbbad, J. Breslin, J. Carroll

T. Moretti called the meeting to order at 3:36 p.m.

Announcements

  • C. Procario-Foley highlighted several Week of Peacemaker events
  • The annual Kristallnacht commemoration will be held on 11/12 at 7:30 p.m. in Burke Lounge
  • Mission and Ministry has so far received 110 pledges for Thanksgiving baskets, with a goal of 160. Baskets will be collected on 11/19.
  • The final CC meeting of the fall term on 12/5 will be the inaugural General Assembly Meeting

President’s Report

J. Nyre reported the following:

  • Since the last meeting of CC, the College has celebrated many recruitment events, including the annual Fall Open House. The Open House is a time when the College truly comes together to help prospective students and their families find their way to Iona.
  • I was pleased to see so many of you enjoying the many events of Homecoming and Family Weekend and grateful to all who served in the planning and successful execution of Homecoming events. Of particular note, we welcomed Alfred F. Kelly Jr. '80, '81MBA, CEO of Visa as our Dr. Charles O'Donnell '60 Ethical & Moral Leadership speaker.
  • A special congratulations is also due to our Women’s volleyball team who this past weekend Iona clinched No. 1 seed in the 2018 MAAC Championship for the first time in program history.
  • Also last month, Iona water polo head coach Brian Kelly earned his 600th career win.
  • I thank all of you who made time to attend the Fall Town Hall event last Tuesday.
  • Last week I spent time with area University and College Presidents sharing thoughts and ideas around ensuring and exceling through the stressors on our higher education marketplace.
  • Sadly, I also wrote you last week about the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. As is our tradition, we gathered in prayer and solidarity and extended sincere condolences to all those grieving, especially our brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith.
  • With “Week of the Peacemaker” underway I am struck by the participation throughout campus. It is with the tremendous efforts of our faculty and our Office of Mission and Ministry that lectures, teach-ins, presentations and important dialogue is made possible throughout this special Iona University week. The great questions and debates in our faith and society either emanate from or quickly find their way to the front door of our college campuses. May we continue to embrace our mission and commitment to intellectual inquiry, truth and justice.
  • Also this week the Strategic Planning Steering Group will be hosting a Town Hall for students, faculty and staff to provide feedback on draft Vision and Values statements.

Provost’s Report

D. Wheeler reported on the following:

  • The Compensation Plan working group--comprised of members selected by HR&C, Senate and the Administration--will guide the next phase of the process, and serve as the  official conduit for information to and from faculty on this important topic and process. The goal is to fill communication gaps and to increase participatory engagement across the stakeholder groups.
  • The Strategic Planning Steering Committee will hold a Town Hall at noon on 11/8 in McGrath A&B
  • Director of Grants candidates are currently being reviewed
  • The Provost’s Office is monitoring Special Sessions registration, with an eye to supporting students. There are still 897 students who need to register for the spring; 587 of these are undeclared. Please continue the work in your departments and Schools to get our students registered
  • The revised charge of the Undergraduate Academic Plan ( endorsed by ACBOT) will be sent to governing bodies to assist in identifying representatives. The plan builds on the success of the Graduate review last year
  • College catalogues for both undergraduate and graduate programs are now with NYSED. Neither were complete at the start of the academic semester, and this should not be the case. We are beginning work on the next catalogue and will require the entire academic apparatus to work together for timely updates, reviews, committee votes and submissions
  • The Student Success Working Group, along with the Provost’s Office and units across the campus, are working to disseminate information about how, where and when to refer at-risk students. T. Mulligan is the point person for this effort.
  • Several items were addressed at the 10/30 Town Hall, including Strategic Planning, space allocation, enrollment updates, retention, and the ongoing efforts of MarCom.  Attendance at this important information sharing event was low (as is often the case at similar gatherings), and the Provost’s Office will continue to look for ways of improving turnout
  • Items that remain on the Provost’s radar: Faculty Development, Study Abroad/International Programs, curricular innovation, and Service Learning
  • The Provost’s Office would also like to acknowledge the efforts of those who organized the Health and Wellness Fair; and to congratulate Drs. I. Stabell and T. Delgado on their excellent Master Teacher presentations.

E. Procario-Foley reported on the Core Curriculum Committee:

  • Core met on 10/12 and 10/25.  Since the last CC meeting, Core has:
    • Co-sponsored with Professional Development two PD opportunities: “Bullying and the Halo Effect in the Classroom” (10/19); and “Critical Thinking and Reading – Teaching Freshmen” (10/30)
    • Has been mapping SLOs for the e-portfolio platform for FS18, and engaged in syllabus review
    • Has been working to finalize the Columba Cornerstone Learning Community freshman survey for FS18
    • Has been continuing to work with departments to accept courses into the Core curriculum: in the past month, 7 departments have filed 12 course syllabi across four areas of the curriculum (OI, WI, DCCG, discipline-specific core), covering 17 spots in the curriculum

 

In C. Winkler’s absence, L. Pacheco-Jorge reported on the Hynes Institute:

  • The Hynes Institute is moving forward with the search of our second ENT faculty.  We hope to have this person on board for FA19
  • This past weekend we took a group of 7 students to attend the CEO Global Conference & Pitch Competition in Kansas City, MO
  • Three of our students had the opportunity to become University Innovation Fellows (UIF). UIF is a very prestigious opportunity from the dSchool at Stanford University where students undergo 6 weeks of intensive training to become change agents on their campus. During the next couple of months, you will hear more from them and about their projects
  • The Hynes Institute recently launched the Ionavation podcast, a weekly hybrid podcast produced by our student interns to educate fellow students on what’s happening around Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Iona and the world beyond.  Visit our YouTube channel for access to the first 6 episodes, which focus on such topics as disruptive technology, and diversity in entrepreneurship
  • The Hynes Institute student blog site will be launched next week, as a platform for students to share their knowledge on a topic they are passionate about, and how it relates to entrepreneurship
  • Upcoming Events: 11/8 (1 p.m.), E-Talk on technology and suicide prevention; 11/12 (12:30 p.m.), E-Talk with Aaron Philips, a disabled trans person who has leveraged her social media experience to launch a modeling career; 11/14 (2 p.m.), filmmaker Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project) will present “Art, Advocacy, and Innovation” as part of the Hynes Distinguished Lecture Series in Romita

Reports from Constituent Assemblies

Faculty Senate

  • The Senate met on 11/1, and discussed several items:
  • Faculty Handbook: the Senate discussed a timeline to complete revisions by the end of the spring term and present them to CC at the 5/1 meeting; the Senate will review and finalize its proposed revisions while awaiting the appendixes currently being worked on by HR&C
    • E. Procario-Foley asked whether handbook revisions would be shared with general faculty prior to CC ratification.  A discussion ensued, and a motion to have the Senate share the revisions and open a comment portal for faculty responses by 2/14/19 was endorsed
  • Clinical Faculty Percentages: the Senate is eager to work with the Provost on potentially revising the maximum percentage, and spent a portion of the meeting drafting a set of question for D. Wheeler that it would like addressed at the start of the process
  • Compensation working group: the Senate expects to forward the names of faculty representatives by next week
  • Hynes Institute faculty search: the Senate was asked to endorse Dr. Rasheda Weaver to the tenure-track search committee, but concluded that this search lies outside of the Senate’s duties and functions, given the unique position of the Institute in governance.  Instead, the Senate recommended that Hynes follow established practice, whereby searches begin at the level of departments and faculty, and then work their way up to administrators; and in that spirit recommends that the search committee include one or two other faculty, drawn from the Hynes Curriculum Committee
  • Committee Appointments: K. Malloy’s seat on Senate and A. Stackhouse’s seat on Core have recently been vacated, and the Senate is currently working to fill them.
  • Permanent Dean search: the Senate is eager to help the Provost with this process

Staff and Administrative Council

  • SAC met on 10/18
  • The Provost gave a brief overview of the Compensation Plan, the Strategic Plan and the role SAC and staff plays in student retention
  • Based on general discussions in previous HR&C meetings, the SAC sub-committee of the HR&C Committee presented to SAC a document that supported the performance-based raise/review system, while also bringing to light some concerns SAC had in reference to the system and procedure. The document was discussed and endorsed as amended
  • The Ad-Hoc Committee for SAC Membership Review presented a report of its first meeting. The Committee is in the process of putting together a survey
  • SAC named its representatives to the Strategic Planning Sub-Committees:
    • Academic Excellence and Distinctiveness: C. Procario-Foley
    • Success for Students: M. Grant and C. Wray
    • Talent: C. Ferrick and C.A. Kenny
  • SAC will sponsor a Thanksgiving basket

Student Government Association

  • SGA meets every Thursday at 3:30pm.  Items taken up since the last CC meeting include:
    • 35-40 students attended the October “Citizens to Be Heard” event sponsored by the New Rochelle City Council
    • SGA held its annual “SGA Day” to welcome new senators and listen to student concerns
    • The October Student Town Hall was well-attended, and included good questions and feedback

Reports from the Standing Committees

Committee on Academic Affairs

  • CAA met on 10/16 and discussed several POIs
  • CAA met on 11/6 and discussed two proposals:  the adoption of a new grade scale that includes minus grades, and a new policy on shared credits (‘double dip’).  The latter was endorsed; the former was referred back for possible revision of the “I” grade policy.
  • J. Stabile: NYSED approved opening up of OT operations; accordingly, the IONA OT portion of the website will go live!

Committee on Budget

  • Budget met on 10/15 to discuss graduate tuition and fee increases and on October 29th to discuss room and board increases. The following increases were approved:
    • Graduate BUS – an increase of 5% per credit hour and no increase in fees.
    • Graduate A&S & Science tuition – an increase of 4% per credit hour and no increase in fees
    • Graduate EDU program – no increase
    • Graduate CSD program – an increase of 2% per credit hour and no increase in fees
    • Graduate OT program – this new program will have an initial per credit tuition at the current A&S rate in effect when the program starts
    • Room and board – an increase of 3%

Committee on Human Resources and Compensation

  • HR&C met on 10/12 and 10/26
  • The bulk of the conversations concerned the implementation of the performance-based salary review process and the associated effect on the awarding of raises.
  • Faculty are expected to have a process developed and approved for capturing information and assessing performance during this AY, for implementation when awarding next year’s raise
  • Staff already have a process in place, but there has been discussion around substantive issues in the roll-out and the possibility of delaying the implementation until next year

Committee on Rank, Tenure, and Awards

  • RTA met on 11/5 to discuss 3rd year contracts

Committee on Libraries and Information Technology

  • The committee met on 10/11. The following items were discussed:
    • Peoplesoft maintenance outage (10/12-10/15)
    • Return to normal Library hours as of 10/1
    • Digital accessibility training, resources and support
    • Qualtrics sign-on
    • ProctorU (which is intended for use in DL classes

Committee on Institutional Advancement

  • Advancement met on 10/23. The committee discussed the importance of the employee giving rate for ranking and donor recruitment, and the strengths and weaknesses of previous employee giving campaigns. The discussion will resume at the next meeting, with ideas for future campaigns.

Committee on Student Affairs

  • Student Affairs met on 10/26
  • Building upon the success of Faculty Fridays last AY, the Committee will host a series of “Flunch” events over the coming year, which will include 10-minute talks by invited faculty, and lunch. D. Zuckerman will be the inaugural guest
  • Student Affairs will continue to look into ways of getting faculty more engaged with students outside of the classroom
  • Student Affairs is also looking at ways of increasing and improving weekend programming for on-campus students

Committee on Athletics

  • Athletics met on 10/17
  • The APR Report was filed with the NCAA. All teams but one met the minimum mark.
  • J. Fogarty reported on the fall season sports
  • Men’s basketball will be playing an exhibition game against Army on 10/24 to raise funds for hurricane victims, and begin the non-conference schedule on 11/10. Women’s basketball will begin the non-conference schedule on the same date
  • All teams and SAAC are participating in a variety of service projects
  • The committee continued its discussion of the scheduling of mandatory academic assignments during activity hour, which often conflicts with team practices. Three committee members reported on their communications to other groups: L. Wenchell to SAC, O. Chrobocinski to SGA, and J. Breslin to the Faculty Senate and College Council. Dr. Breslin will communicate the committee’s concerns to the CAA.

Committee on Diversity

  • COD has not met since the last CC meeting

Committee on Enrollment Management

  • EM has not met since the last CC meeting

Committee on Environmental Sustainability

  • CES met on 11/1
  • Br. Cawley, Sr. Deignan, and C. Procario-Foley reported on October meetings with the Provost that were intended to update him on the development of environmental initiatives at Iona, as well as to discuss how environmental sustainability might be addressed in the new strategic plan
  • A sub-committee on an Iona environmental sustainability webpage gave an initial report on their efforts to collaborate with Marcom in an effort to consolidate the various curricular and co-curricular initiatives into one page
  • Andy Albrecht reported on environmental initiatives of this year, as originating from Facilities Management.  The committee has requested more information from Facilities about the potential use of solar energy for both the Hynes Institute and the LaPenta School of Business
  •  Announcements were made about the Week of the Peacemaker and the Thomas Berry Forum event on 11/17
  • Members were encouraged to attend the Strategic Plan Town Hall on 11/8

Old Business

Scheduling/Calendar:

  • T. Moretti reported that the Senate reviewed the recommendations of the Scheduling/Calendar working group, and agreed that the college should use a variety of scheduling configurations (two-day, three-day, evening).  The Senate could not come to a consensus on the current draft proposal. It had three key concerns:
    • Adding an activity hour to the two-day schedule would negatively impact 4-credit courses (such as Calculus) that rely on the 12:30 class hour
    • Moving to a MWF schedule would burden only those faculty with weekend prep
    • A MW or TuTh schedule are effectively the same in terms of wrap-around (the gap between last meeting of one week and the first of the next week)
  • J. Nyre recommended that this discussion would make a good agenda item for the December General Assembly meeting

Study Abroad/Service Learning Working Group:

  • Faculty representatives for the working group have been seated (C. Carlson, N. Cosby, M. Nadel; B. Sanner will also make himself available as a resource); the group meets once a week

New Business

Action Item: Adding the Director of the Advising Center as an ex officio member of the Athletics Committee:

  • J. Nyre recommended tabling, in order to check with Counsel about procedures for constitutional changes

Posting Minutes:

  • The Council will remind committee chairs about the need for consistency in the breadth and depth of minutes
  • Council minutes will be distributed to all members of the Council for comment and correction, but only to voting members for approval, using the Outlook “Yes/No” voting function
  • J. Nyre urged that, when posting minutes online, the date of approval be including for accreditation and auditing purposes, and the administration will support the task by asking Internal Audit to randomly pull minutes to check for both structural consistency and approval dates

T. Moretti adjourned the meeting at 5:21 p.m.