[Academic-Affairs] Academic Affairs 2025 Aug-Sep Newsletter

[Office of the Provost/SVPAA]

Hello,

I’m excited for the start of fall semester, and hope you have had a restful
and productive summer.

By “productive,” I don’t just mean our professional work including
research, scholarship, creative work, curriculum development and the
continual process of course improvement. I include personal growth,
reflection, time with family and friends, and contributions to the greater
good.

One of the most important projects for many of us this summer has been the
Academic Planning steering committee. With hard work building on the
summit, and in recognition of the urgent need to align academic programs
with evolving student needs, financial realities, and long-term
institutional priorities, the committee has finalized four working groups
with an aim to share a draft plan with the community by mid-October or
thereabouts.

The four working groups are: Academic Affairs Communication and Operations,
Academic Portfolio Health and Financial Modeling, Student and Employee
Academic Support and Retention, Societal Needs and Market Trends.

The charge of each working group
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sptAbNX58BE6fRN1iqv_JHkprf92mLc7PQoYwv4qUBE/edit?usp=sharing>
was shared with the community in the first week of August for input.
Between now and September 3rd, the steering committee will refine the
charges into a shorter prioritized list of deliverables. There is still
time for campus community colleagues to volunteer for joining a working
group—just click on this form to volunteer
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtZzN_02DStjDdPvAlQdx7AjP7hiSNMqEO7P4Q1qpCUXN9Og/viewform>
by Wed 03 Sep! Questions to Bridget Haina or me. The working groups, with
the additional volunteers, will review their respective charges and make
any additional refinement, guided by the steering committee. It is our hope
that we will have a draft plan with both strategy and concrete
recommendations by mid-to-late October for broad community input and review
under shared governance in November and December.

Our dedicated individuals and teams in Academic Affairs are not on pause
during Academic Planning! Our academic programs and faculty continue to
respond with innovation and excellence. A few highlights of accomplishments
wrapped up in spring and summer:

   -

   New academic programs approved or launched:
   -

      Proposal for Business Administration MBA with SUNY system for approval
      -

      Lean Sig Sigma Certificate fully approved and registered, with online
      approved by SUNY
      -

      We are working on building a new music recording studio for the new
      Music Technology degree program.
      -

   Faculty searches:
   -

      We have 13 new teaching faculty joining us this fall and one UUP
      non-teaching faculty person. Of the teaching faculty, 8 are tenure-track.
      -

      We will have at least 14 full time UUP faculty searches in Academic
      Affairs this year to start next fall, of these 2 are lecturers, and the
      rest tenure-track/permanency-track. These 14 searches to be undertaken in
      2025-2026 include 9 new searches, and 5 searches from the prior year that
      were unfilled that we are starting over.
      -

      The allocation of these new searches was determined in Spring 2025
      following careful deliberation with Provost's Cabinet. Decisions
were based
      on available funding after meeting previously planned budget targets for
      2025–26 & 2026–27 and an evaluation of needs across Academic Affairs.
      -

   A few of many grants, partnerships, accreditations, and honors:
   -

      The Student Support Services grant was renewed for 5 more years
      ($636,868/year). ESS led this grant, headed by Shatawndra
Lister, with the
      support of our Sponsored Research team and others.
      -

      Drs. Portia Turco (Counselor Education) and Donna Van Alst (Social
      Work) received a HRSA (Health Resources and Services
Administration) grant
      totaling ~$600,000/year for 4 years. This grant will provide 16 graduate
      students per year with $25,000 stipends.
      -

      Drs. Gillian Crane-Krame and Justin Lowry (Anthropology Department)
      received a grant jointly funded by the UK and US.  The grant
amount is 1.2
      million British pounds from the UK side (UKRI) and 266 thousand dollars
      from the US side (NSF). Dr. Jo Buck Berry (UK) and Dr. Gillian
Crane Kramer
      (US) are the project leads. Dr. Lowry is Co PI, working on the
GIS portion
      of the research.
      -

      a new Science of Reading, Early Literacy (ELITE) Grant in EHHS
      building on the strengths of the education faculty in this important area
      -

      MSW Accreditation was received for the full 8 years by CSWE
      -

      a University Assisted Community Schools Partnership with Beekmantown
      Central School is launching
      -

      Dr. Tim Mihuc has had an insect named after him, Perlesta mihucorum,
      with much work by the team at the Lake Champlain Research Institute,
      including Luke Myers.
      -

   Clinton Community College Co-Location on Plattsburgh’s Campus
   -

      More areas of the University than one can list herein worked to pull
      this off, including the faculty and staff in academic departments and
      programs that moved (Anthropology, Criminal Justice, Sociology, Women and
      Gender Studies, and Canadian Studies / Center for the Study of
      Canada—Institute on Québec Studies), the teams in ITS, Feinberg Library,
      M&O and A&F that worked with SUNY Construction Fund, and many other areas
      engaged in exploring and preparing for this, including the work of the
      coordinating committee led by Holly Heller-Ross.
      -

   ITS and technology upgrades:
   -

      Campus portal upgrade On August 1, ITS launched our new campus
      portal—a simpler, more personalized platform designed to make it
easier to
      access the services you need. This launch also includes brand-new mobile
      apps for both iOS and Android, an important addition that helps us “meet
      students where they are.” Building on our previous portal, which had
      reached the end of its life, the new platform provides a
centralized hub to
      quickly find and interact with essential campus services, while improving
      our ability to deliver timely, “just-in-time” messages. It also
      incorporates emergency alerts, access to commonly used
resources, and much
      more.
      -

      Clinton Community College Datacenter Relocation On August 1, 2025,
      after months of meticulous network planning, new application development,
      and the creation of a secure data exchange process, our Information
      Technology Services team—working closely with Clinton’s IT
      staff—successfully migrated Clinton’s datacenters to our campus. This
      transition unlocked a full suite of shared services, including NetID
      creation, parking registration, Clinton-branded ID card
production, shared
      library access, wired and wireless network services, firewall
and internet
      connectivity, copy and print services, and more—all backed by the ongoing
      support of our dedicated ITS team. This achievement was a
critical step in
      enabling Clinton’s successful relocation to our campus for the Fall 2025
      semester.
      -

      Zoom phone update Last fall, we announced our transition from an
      on-premises phone system to a modern, cloud-hosted Zoom platform. As of
      today, 30 percent of the campus has made the move—spanning more than 50
      departments, 450 phone numbers, and the placement of 326 new physical
      phones. This multi-year project is well underway and will continue until
      its planned completion in 2026.
      -

   Candidates came to campus in August to direct the new Center for
   Instructional and Program Innovation (CIAPI), which will combine the teams
   of the existing Center for Teaching Excellence faculty fellows and
   Technology Enhanced Learning instructional designers. CIAPI will serve as a
   central hub for instructional support, helping faculty strengthen course
   design, innovate teaching strategies in-person and online, and expand
   quality programming across modalities while supporting new online program
   design. CIAPI will launch once the new director is on board, who will then
   search for a presently vacant instructional designer. We continue with two
   Teaching Excellence fellows this 2025-2026 year, Kelly Theisen and Renee
   Bator
   -

   I’m delighted to announce that Marcus Marenda has accepted the position
   of Associate for Academic Budgets and Resources (previously the Assistant
   to Provost, who retired). Marcus will start by September 1. My thanks to
   the search committee, chaired by JoAnn Gleeson-Kreig, for their extensive
   work. Mr. Marenda brings a wealth of experience including finance and
   institutional investing, compliance, K-12 education as a teacher and more
   recently as a senior administrator, and both undergraduate and graduate
   degrees in philosophy, integrating a respect for academia and budgets alike.
   -

   Feinberg Library employees have spent the summer readying new resources
   for our faculty, staff, and students. We will soon receive 14,000
   books—equivalent to 900 full banker boxes of books—from Clinton Community
   College, which will be added to our general collection. This significant
   expansion deepens access to regional scholarship and enhances research
   opportunities for students and faculty alike, while helping to replace
   sources that are no longer as useful. The library has conducted a study on
   utilization and developed criteria for de-accessioning that was shared last
   spring.  Our Special Collections and University Archives, already the
   premier repository of North Country, Adirondack, and Lake Champlain Valley
   historical materials, will now also be home to Clinton’s archival
   collections. And expect announcements soon about two new digital resources
   available to all Plattsburgh patrons: Overdrive and the Wall Street Journal.
   -

   JoAnn Gleeson-Kreig, our dedicated and accomplished Associate Vice
   President of Academic Affairs, announced her retirement at the end of
   January 2026. We will shortly launch a search for an AVP, and once
   successful, launch a search for a UUP associate to assist the AVP, a role
   that has grown in complexity over the years. I also hope to add one or two
   faculty fellows in Spring 2026 to the Office of the Provost to advance
   support for tenure and promotion, cross-School curriculum efforts, and
   other new initiatives. We are also continuing Transfer Fellows to support
   expanded efforts for transfer students.
   -

   Dr. Amy Ryan has been named the Faculty Athletics Representative by
   President Enyedi. Congratulations, Amy! And thanks to those who volunteered.
   -

   The 2025-2026 Honorary Degree Committee led by Dr. Shakuntala Rao is
   reviewing nominations for honorary degree candidates for May 2026 and
   beyond for the president’s and SUNY’s consideration.
   -

   SUNY announced in August they are launching a new SUNY Academic Momentum
   campaign. Much more to come on this as we learn more, for now we know it
   may focus on factors such as retention and outcomes for graduates including
   salary upon graduating, both areas that are important to mission and look
   to be of growing importance for our students to be eligible for financial
   aid. The Academic Planning committee especially will be paying close
   attention to the interface between our Academic Plan priorities and these
   priorities that come from SUNY administration.

In closing, my personal gratitude to all those who’ve worked this summer on
the academic plan, and to an amazing team in the provost’s office and
cabinet. I believe we are stronger seeking understanding and working
together, and indeed this is essential for humanity at the micro and macro
level. In our own community at SUNY Plattsburgh where we have the most
influence, we are privileged to be in careers that contribute to a greater
good. I look forward to all we will accomplish together this year, as we
continue advancing our academic mission and supporting student success.

*Marcus Tye, PhD  [he,him]*
Provost & SVPAA
802 Kehoe, 101 Broad Street
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
(o) 518-564-5402 <+1-518-564-5402>   *plattsburgh.edu
<http://plattsburgh.edu/>*

[image: SUNY Plattsburgh logo.png]
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