Macaulay College Council Meeting
December 6, 2022, 3 pm
Macaulay Honors College Lecture Hall
MINUTES
DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW ONLY. NOT YET APPROVED BY COUNCIL.
Attendance: Dara Byrne (Dean and Chair), Joseph Ugoretz, Karen Shelby, Susan Tenneriello, Lizzie Reis, Lisa Brundage, Kelly O’Donnell, Lavelle Porter, Logan McBride, Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson, Iliana Garcia, Zobia Jamal, Fawzia Shameen, Richard White, Douglas Cohen, Lynda Klich, Owen Gutfreund, Carmen Boullosa
1. Introductions
All present introduced themselves to the group.
2. Approval of Minutes from Spring 2022 Meeting
Approved (unanimous) with the provision that the minutes would be amended to include attendance.
3. Dean’s Welcome and Report–Dean Dara Byrne
The Dean presented a discussion of the state of the college based on the Landscape of Higher Education, the College’s Strategic Plan, and Current Priorities and Opportunities. She discussed current attitudes towards and challenges to higher education’s role and relevance, announced that as recruitment season was ending, Macaulay has a robust pool of applicants, and will be working to provide more resources at a time when the University has less. She discussed the Strategic Plan’s pillars (Student Success, Academic Innovation/Excellence, Community, and Institutional Longevity) and how to make sure our documentary records and data accurately reflect what we do and achieve. She answered questions about how to balance when to look to campuses for resources as opposed to Macaulay Central, making seminars more consistent, travel time and safety issues for students, and ways to make the Macaulay consortial community a true sharing community, where resources and ideas travel in both directions, “both/and” rather than a zero-sum “either/or.”
4. Updates—Senior Associate Dean Joseph Ugoretz
1. Open Meetings Law–due to the BoT’s resolution that meetings subject to the NY State Open Meetings Law must be held in-person (not virtually), this, and all future meetings of the Council (and its committees) must held in person. At the next meeting the Council will need to discuss and vote on a resolution affirming this.
2. Bridge Scholars–With the current pilot of the Macaulay Bridge Scholars community college transfer program underway at the College of Staten Island, we have finalized plans for two more cohorts. The first, starting in summer 2023, will be with BMCC and Macaulay at John Jay College, and the next, starting in summer 2024 (provisionally–planning is still underway), will be with BMCC, Guttman, and Macaulay at Baruch College. We plan to make this program a sustainable and permanent part of the Macaulay ecosystem, open to all CUNY Community Colleges.
3. JEHN (Justice and Equity Honors Network)–Two new Honors Colleges have agreed to join JEHN for the 2023-2024 cohort: the University of Pittsburgh’s David C. Frederick Honors College, and the University of Central Arkansas’ Norbert O. Schedler Honors College. The Summer Gathering in June was very successful and we showed a video of students’ responses:
5. Council Committee Memberships–The current committee members were listed and committee memberships are open for all the committees. The Governance Committee and Elections Committee were merged together since their purviews overlap. A form soliciting interested Council members’ participation in all the Committees will be circulated to all members by email.
1. Curriculum Committee
2. Ad hoc Governance/Elections Committee
3. Appointments Committee
4. Admissions Committee
6. New Business
No new business.
The meeting adjourned at 5 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph Ugoretz (for Amanda Hick).
