[Important Information for Employees] Summer Update from President Enyedi

[Office of the President]

Dear Campus Community,

I am writing to share with you an update of ongoing activities and
preparations for the fall semester.

First, I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this work, and
particularly say thank you to every member of the Cardinal community for
all you have done over the past 18 months. I understand how challenging
this has been, but please know how much this has meant to our students and
their success here.

We are finalizing the fall restart plan, including health and safety
requirements that will be put in place due to COVID. We are following the
guidance of state directives and the SUNY system and will share this with
you and all students soon.

As a residential comprehensive college campus, we are focused this fall on
providing for in-person instruction, close and persistent interaction among
students, faculty and staff, and student engagement in robust co-curricular
and extracurricular programs to the fullest extent possible. We will also
outline procedures that account for the ongoing public health risks of
the pandemic. Consistent with this philosophy, we anticipate that our
campus community will largely be one of vaccinated individuals. While
planning for this has consumed much of our time and thought over the
summer, we've also been preparing and thinking beyond the fall semester.

Areas of progress and development include:

   - *Fall class enrollment on target. *We are on pace to reach our new
   student enrollment target for fall. We currently have 1,679 deposits, which
   is 99.4 percent of our goal. In fact, we are ahead of where we were this
   time a year ago (1,630). The Admissions office continues to process
   domestic transfer and readmit applications. EOP and Cardinal Achievement
   Program deposits are both at or above their enrollment goals. We will know
   more about our total fall enrollment as we get closer to the start of
   classes in late August.

   - *Dedication to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. *Our designation by
   the Association of American Colleges and Universities as a Truth, Racial
   Healing & Transformation campus center is moving from paper to action. We
   intend for our campus to be an active place for conversation that can
   dismantle historical racial narratives and broaden our recruitment and
   retention of a racially diverse student body, faculty and staff. This work
   will encompass curriculum and the full campus and wider communities.

   - *Added Multicultural Success Coach. *We are in the process of hiring a
   staff person to focus on retaining and successfully graduating Black,
   Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) students who are not affiliated
   with existing campus student support programs. Housed in the Office of
   Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the role will fill a gap in our student
   services and contribute to the development of the overall institutional
   DEI goals and strategies, as it relates to multicultural student
   recruitment, retention, graduation and alumni engagement. This new
   community member will help students navigate both academically and
   socially, and gain a sense of being integrated to the campus community.
   Support for this position comes from a generous donor to the college.

   - *Advancing on Plattsburgh Next.* As we ended the spring semester, the
   Strategic Planning Steering Group (with representation from all divisions
   as well as student representation) conducted 47 focus groups involving
   students, faculty, employees and leadership from across the campus,
   external community and alumni. Additionally, an online survey was
   distributed. The committee members used the SOAR model (strengths,
   opportunities, aspirations, results) to process the information collected.
   I, along with Provost Dr. Anne Herzog and outgoing Faculty Senate Chair
   Dr. Gary Kroll, have reviewed the summaries and initial drafts for our
   Plattsburgh Next strategic plan. Early this fall, I plan to share this
   out with the campus community and identify specific action items that will
   support essential goals, each of which is dedicated to guide our decision
   making over the next three years.


   - *Capital improvements across campus. *Workers have been busy this
   summer, from repaving the Kehoe parking lot and restoring masonry on the
   building itself to replacing a roof on Champlain Valley Hall and continuing
   to renovate Memorial Hall (expected grand re-opening in Spring 2022).
   Details of these have been shared previously, so I want to draw attention
   to two other projects: a refreshment of the first floor of Kehoe and
   renovating the Field House gymnasium. In Kehoe, we are working to create
   a welcoming space for prospective students and their families. Updated
   carpeting, a fresh look and undergraduate admissions offices will be
   located on the first two floors, with the Global Education Office moving to
   the 10th floor. We will retain the special view from the top for prospects
   while building the central visitor point we have long lacked. At the Field
   House gym, the existing track surface will be removed, the new flooring
   will include an artificial grass playing surface and the existing bleachers
   will be replaced. This work was delayed due to COVID but will ramp up
   this fall and be finished in March.

   - *Shepherding our resources. *We completed our 2020-2021 fiscal year at
   the end of June. As described in previous budget updates, a combination of
   state-directed and institutional spending constraints and targeted stimulus
   dollars has enabled us to manage our funds wisely. As we align
   Plattsburgh Next with our resources, we will be able to leverage some of
   our one-time reserves to invest up to $2 million in strategic initiatives
   identified in the strategic plan. The New York State Department of Budget
   and SUNY have yet to release guidelines on the allowable uses of the
   institutional stimulus funds, but the college is expected to receive the
   remaining federal funding so earmarked. We will share more details on this
   and the overall budget this fall. With respect to my work, I will
be prioritizing
   more face-to-face fundraising and travel to enhance the college's ability
   to ensure students have access to an affordable degree.

   - *Centralizing Communications and Marketing. *We have also started this
   summer to centralize the coordination of campus communication and marketing
   efforts, shifting the marketing unit to the Office of the President. The
   combined unit will continue to provide leadership in functions from market
   research to design, with a tighter communications alignment to better
   advance strategic priorities and the profile of the college. We will soon
   be hiring an executive director to lead this work. That person should be
   selected in August.

Finally, I hope to see many of you at 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 29 at
the Cardinal Cookout at Hawkins Pond. This is a special opportunity for
faculty and staff to reconnect, have some fun and visit with some local
alumni and friends over food, music and conversation. It is also a way to
strengthen our entire Cardinal Family as we prepare to return this fall.

If you haven't registered yet, you can do so today at alumni.plattsburgh.edu
/cookout
<https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1603/bp19/interior.aspx?sid=1603&gid=1&pgid=2464&cid=5366>
.

With Warm Regards,

Alexander Enyedi
President
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ls.plattsburgh.edu/pipermail/critical-employees/attachments/20210722/cf95e3df/attachment.htm>