Jan. 26 2023

January 26, 2023
Morris Conference Center, Le Cafe
SUNY Oneonta

Present

Mr. Joseph Bernier
Dr. Diane Georgeson
Ms. Stacie Haynes
Ms. Debra Parisian
Mx. Aolat Salami

Presiding

Mr. Joseph Bernier

College Administrators

Mr. Paul Adamo, Vice President for College Advancement
Ms. Karen Brown, Senior Enrollment Officer and Executive Director of Admissions
Dr. Alberto Cardelle, College President
Ms. Dia Carleton, Chief Human Resources Officer
Dr. Franklin Chambers, Vice President for External Affairs
Dr. Tracy Johnson, Vice President for Student Affairs
Ms. Danielle McMullen, Chief of Staff
Ms. Lisa Miller, Senior Communication and Marketing Officer
Dr. Eileen Morgan-Zayachek, Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs
Dr. Bernadette Tiapo, Chief Diversity Officer
Ms. Karyn Wendrow, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Executive Communications

Presenters, Invitees, Observers

Mr. Ed Aluck, Alumni Representative
Ms. Kimberly Devlin, Budget Director
Mr. Mark English, Director of Customer Support
Dr. Keith Jones, Presiding Officer of the Faculty and Chair of the College Senate
Ms. Christina Miller, Events Coordinator
Dr. Enrique Morales-Diaz, incoming Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dr. Theresa Russo, Acting Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
Mr. Lachlan Squair, Associate Vice President of Facilities Management
Mr. Raphael Web, Instructional Support Technician

Call to Order

Mr. Bernier called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m.

Approval of Minutes of Nov. 10 2022

Ms. Haynes made a motion to approve the minutes of Nov. 10, 2022, and Dr. Georgeson seconded the motion. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote.

President’s Report

Dr. Cardelle noted that this was a historic meeting – the first one in many years without former Council Chair Patrick Brown present, and the first Council meeting since SUNY Oneonta’s formal designation as a university. The president also:

  • introduced incoming Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Enrique Morales-Diaz and thanked interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Eileen Morgan-Zayachek for her service;
  • announced the arrival of two new high-level staff members: Dean of Students Shontell Blake and Director of Global Education Michelle Lopez;
  • announced SUNY Oneonta’s membership in the American Talent Initiative, an alliance of 137 four-year institutions united in a shared goal of enrolling, supporting and graduating 50,000 additional talented, lower-income students across high-graduation-rate colleges and universities by 2025; and
  • introduced a proposal to rename College Council to University Council, consistent with SUNY Oneonta’s new designation as a university, with a vote to be conducted at the Council’s next meeting.

Enrollment Update

Ms. Brown gave a report on spring 2023 enrollment and projected enrollment numbers for fall 2023. She said spring enrollment is down, but this was not unexpected, and the university is seeing two positive changes -- increasing fall-to-spring persistence rates and a leveling off in withdrawal rates -- and attributed both improvements to the strategies and initiatives that have recently been put in place to support student success.

Midway through the fall 2023 recruitment cycle, Ms. Brown reported that application volume is up 46% overall compared to the same time last year, in part, due to a system-wide SUNY free application initiative in the fall, which resulted in about half of our first-year student applications. She said the Early Action applicant pool was large and strong, and we exhausted our scholarship funds but partnered with the university Foundation to find ways to provide additional scholarships for students who applied through Jan. 15, 2023.

Ms. Brown said the Office of Admissions was preparing to launch a SUNY Oneonta free application week from Jan. 29-Feb 4, 2023, with the goal of attracting additional first-generation applicants who may not have been ready to apply in the fall. Competition is significant this year among both private and SUNY institutions, and with so many students applying to multiple schools, it is challenging to predict how our accepted student pool will behave in the coming yield season, she said.

Mr. Bernier asked about the timeline for admissions decisions. Ms. Brown explained the difference in our Early Action and rolling admissions timelines and said we have been accepting students earlier than ever before.

Dr. Cardelle thanked the Academic Affairs team for its work to reduce the withdrawal rate by giving students at risk for academic dismissals an additional semester to turn things around. He also highlighted the collaborative work that went into generating additional scholarship funds and reminded the Council that the amount of money the university actually expends will depend on the admitted student yield rate.

Dr. Georgeson asked for clarification about the withdrawal data, including the timing of when the students withdrew, and Ms. Brown provided additional context.

Student Affairs Reorganization

Dr. Johnson outlined the recent reorganization of the Division of Student Affairs and shared the former and new organizational charts for the division. Key changes include the creation of an area for student engagement that focuses on retention and persistence; creating an Office of Student Care and establishing a Dean of Students position and an Executive Director of Commuter Residential Experience and Housing position. Dr. Johnson described the overarching goals of the reorganization, which include:

  • increasing student retention and persistence;
  • improving and increasing services for both on-and off-campus students
  • decreasing burnout and improving retention among the professional staff in the division; and
  • eliminating gaps and reducing barriers to services and programming for students.

With the goal of “supporting student success, every step of the way,” the reorganization aims to achieve a significant return on investment in the form of increased student satisfaction, increased retention and persistence, a greater level of student involvement and a stronger sense of belonging among the campus community, Dr. Johnson said.

Facilities Master Plan

Mr. Lachlan Squair gave an overview of the Facilities Master Plan, which was completed in 2013 to give the university a roadmap for capital investment. He said that plan has served the campus well, but we are due for an updated plan and have been engaged in the process of developing one for the last 18 months. Facilities is taking a cross-divisional, integrated planning approach and has identified several key findings after working with a consultant and benchmarking against peer institutions. Key goals of the updated plan include:

  • transforming our instructional space inventory to support inclusivity and active learning;
  • creating new or transforming existing research space facilities;
  • eliminating facilities bottlenecks or constraints to program growth and introduction of new programs;
  • developing a sense of place for academic departments and programs;
  • developing facilities that support student diversity, equity and inclusion;
  • providing indoor and outdoor gathering spaces to support the social and service development of our students;
  • providing mindfulness, recreation and fitness spaces;
  • realigning student services functions to best serve our student body;
  • developing competitive athletic facilities;
  • improving access to public transportation, parking and pedestrian walkways; and
  • working toward a goal of decarbonizing the campus.

Major projects in the planning stages for 2023-2033 include:

  • renovating laboratory spaces in the Perna Science Building;
  • Netzer Administration Building renovations with a new focus on supporting student success and persistence;
  • Schumacher Hall instructional space renovations and a possible addition to the building;
  • renovation and reconfiguration of the Hodgdon Instructional Resources Center, with the specific goal of providing “right-sized” classrooms rather than large lecture halls; and
  • a phased renovation of the Chase Gymnasium to address space needs and create better facilities for the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, and replace the pool.

Dr. Cardelle reminded the group that the plan will have multiple scenarios depending on the funding allocations we receive.

Middle States Self-Study Report

Dr. Morgan-Zayachek gave an overview of the university’s two-year journey toward Middle States re-accreditation, which took a significant step forward with the completion of an in-depth self-study document in January. More than 70 people have been involved in working groups charged with examining the seven Middle States accreditation standards through various lenses and gathering evidence to measure the institution’s progress and identify areas of strength and future opportunities. The self-study document is posted on the SUNY Oneonta website and will be submitted Feb. 20, 2023, in preparation for a site visit by the Middle States assessment team from April 2-5, 2023.

ACT Report

Dr. Georgeson said she had nothing to report.

Good of the Order

Mr. Bernier asked Dr. Johnson how the university will evaluate the Student Affairs reorganization to see if it’s working. Dr. Johnson said we will look at a variety of success metrics – including student engagement and persistence rates -- and the new Dean of Students is working on developing an assessment mechanism to track outcomes.

Ms. McMullen announced that the university would be holding an active shooter tabletop drill on Feb. 3, 2023, with the goal of calibrating our internal procedures before we bring in external partners for a larger-scale emergency management drill.

Adjournment

Dr. Georgeson made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Ms. Parisian. The meeting was adjourned at 5:19 p.m.

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