[Academic-Affairs] ​Academic Affairs Newsletter: April/May 2025

[Office of the Provost/SVPAA]

Academic Affairs Newsletter: April/May 2025

May 12, 2025

To: Academic Affairs Faculty and Staff

From: Marcus Tye, Provost & SVPAA   [he/him]

With our Queensbury commencement a success this past Saturday, and our
Plattsburgh commencement coming up May 17, we have much to be grateful for.
I want to express my personal gratitude for an amazing first year at an
institution with people truly dedicated to our students’ success. I hope
we’ll have even more attending our Academic Planning Summit May 22 (and May
23 virtual). Please register here
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeTfn5fvhHGvKu1B96_UcNTtfsvherZzHJRNFToiBDVs7GvRA/viewform>
by Thursday May 15 for the in-person event, no registration needed for
virtual. This summer the Steering Committee will undertake significant
work. Online spaces will be announced to permit faculty who are away in
summer to participate in academic planning should they wish. I am
optimistic we’ll arrive at an academic plan in Fall that will enhance our
students’ academic experience across many dimensions, be mindful of future
demographic changes while preserving our strengths, history and mission as
a regional public comprehensive, and offer clarity for how enrollment needs
relate to budgets and the potential for sustaining programs and indeed
growing and creating a vibrant environment for faculty and staff alike.

In other announcements, the new Faculty Senate recommended Course Opinion
Survey will be run this summer with links presented to students through
email and the LMS. We’ve been testing it with a small group of early
adopters with spring courses and they’ve found positive feedback from
students on their ability to complete. Taking class time and asking
students to complete during class on their phones/laptops has been found to
increase response rates. Faculty still have the option of including
questions from optional department surveys, including questions from the
old COS should you wish, in the new system (which students can take via
phone or web). We hope you will move away from Scantrons as we implement
the Senate’s new policy fully. More to come from JoAnn for those teaching
summer courses, keep an eye out for email.

The state budget was finalized recently and we are cautiously optimistic
our campus budget will be as expected. If all continues to go well, we will
be able to undertake 9 faculty searches in 2025-2026 to start Sept. 1,
2026. These will be funded from a larger number of retirements, after
taking year 2 reductions in Academic Affairs’ total budget reductions per
the President’s 3-year reduction timeline in order to keep our campus
fiscally responsible. Together as a team I worked with our Academic Affairs
(provost’s) cabinet to consider as a team needs in all areas within
academic affairs, reaching consensus on the best allocation of limited
resources given factors such as new programs, current trends, and general
education, as well as program and accreditation needs. I am hopeful that
the Academic Plan will provide additional guideposts for such decisions in
future years and mechanisms to link growth to additional resources. All
hires of course will be subject to our enrollment projections and state
funding remaining as anticipated. In the case of unexpected resignations, I
am also authorizing where essential “like-kind” replacement outside of the
spring lines decisions. I am being cautious about funding new initiatives
or continuing ones that were funded from one-time dollars, balancing these
requests with needs for faculty searches.

Working with Mike Simpson, over the summer we hope to produce a
lookbook/viewbook of student-faculty creative and scholarly work, an
e-booklet of 24-25 and ongoing scholarly and creative work between faculty
and students, please look out for calls from Mike for a Google Form or
similar so we can complete this in summer. This will be a simple “slide”
for each project with a few words on the student, on the project, on the
impact/benefit for the student and world, and on faculty advisor and their
interest.

Announcing CIAPI! We will be merging the Center for Teaching Excellence and
the Technology Enhanced Learning Center into a new Center for Instructional
and Program Innovation. Thanks to Kelly Theisen for the name! I hope we
might adopt an Italian-British-ish pronunciation, CHEE-ah-pea. This merging
would take place once we have a CIAPI Director, and I hope will help
facilitate support for teaching excellence and also enhance new program
development (including micro-credentials, online, and traditional
programs). The first step is a search for the director. We are in the final
stage of HR review of the classification (funded from the former CTE
director salary, but with broader responsibilities). There will be
continuing faculty fellows involvement in CIAPI (two in Fall 2025
continuing current CTE programming).

I know this is one of our busiest times of year, and thank you for reading
this far. Good luck as you work through final grades on time, complete any
past-due mandatory trainings for compliance, get ready for a joy-filled
commencement as we celebrate our students and each other’s accomplishments
in helping them accomplish their academic journeys.

As you construct fall syllabi, I hope you will include where appropriate
encouraging or even assigning students to attend one of the many cultural,
academic events, and athletic events that occur throughout the semester.

Whether you are in a 12-month position busy with summer budget close-outs
and the like, teaching summer sessions, or faculty “away” yet equally busy
with curriculum, scholarly and creative work, I hope each of you will have
some time for recharging. Safe travels for those venturing afar! And, my
best wishes for a healthy and productive summer to all.

kind regards, Marcus

Below the Fold

Highlights and accomplishments from throughout Academic Affairs for the
prior month are here in a slightly modified version of AA’s most
recent University
Council Report April 2025
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOsYCbmIm9J1v9bNuMfHbeX8AboBKV22w0xbjHYNa7s/edit?usp=drive_link>.
More extensive news and accomplishments (a small selection) can be read here
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EwL_J8IprBgaB3KrkVO3IwV8AQHDhAcOaap6JMVXAHM/edit?tab=t.0>.
I would also like to point your attention to some great work from the
Plattsburgh
State Art Museum
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yh7fJ4-zRkFL1MIz_5ThyYEBvM0DrCITXNhjdQODKEE/edit?tab=t.0>
.
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