College Council Meeting Minutes: February 24, 2023

College Council Meeting: February 24, 2023, 12:30 pm

Student Union Multipurpose Room C

Present

  • Melissa Archbold 
  • Kimberly Cox, Student Representative
  • Phillip Elliot
  • Hon. William A. Hohauser
  • Martha Maffei

Chair Welcome

  • Judge Hohauser opened the meeting by welcoming members of the College Council and Cabinet in attendance and shared that he will be presiding over the meeting today due to Chair Makhijani absence.
  • Acknowledging that everyone received a copy of the December 19th College Council meeting minutes, Judge Hohauser asked for a motion to approve. Melissa Archbold motioned to accept, seconded by Ms. Maffei. The Council approved the by unanimous vote the minutes.

Report from the President

President Timothy Sams opened his report by noting that the information he was sharing was the same as he had shared with the Chancellor on his most recent visit.

  • Access, Diversity and Enrollment
    • Expanded the Tortora Sillcox Family Foundation’s financial and structural support for student scholars from Hempstead High School.
    • Launched partnership with Dream US, nation’s largest college access and success program for immigrant students, to provide scholarships for undocumented immigrants (with or without DACA or TPS, coming to US before 11/1/17) students in New York State.
    • Launched enrollment pipeline agreements with Kingsborough and Bronx Community Colleges.
    • The new Multicultural Center enhances the student experience at SUNY (State University of New York) Old Westbury by creating and strengthening an inclusive community through multicultural education, spiritual well-being, diverse programming, and identity exploration in a welcoming space. The programs of the Center will focus on advocating for the traditionally marginalized and work to achieve this mission through knowledge development, collaboration, increased awareness of current domestic and global issues and cultural competence, and celebration of the intersectionality of identities.
  • Student Success & Support
    • SUNY Old Westbury received a $538,000 Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Success Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The first grant of its kind ever awarded to a campus in New York State, the grant award will be used to establish a Center of Excellence for Veteran Student Success (CEVSS) (sponsored by Student Success) at Old Westbury. CEVSS will increase veteran students' 
      enrollment, support their success and financial literacy, provide on campus employment, and expand their wellness, mental health, and career planning supports.
    • SUNY Old Westbury received a $878,057 Basic Needs Grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, to create The OW Panther Community Care Center (sponsored by Student Success). Partnering with local, state and national agencies, The Center will provide “basic needs” support to students by:
    • Connecting students and their families to Single Stop, a nonprofit organization the combines community networks and cutting-edge technology to help organizations provide centralized access to essential tools and services.
    • Expanding our food pantry to better address food insecurity among students.
    • "Advancing wellness initiative" for outreach and support of mental, emotional, and social student wellness
    • Establishing a transportation fund to help offset the costs of transportation for students. The Center will be staffed by a social worker and mental health counselor who will provide proactive case management, needs assessment, advising, and career professional development.
  • Academic Excellence
    • OW-STEM Grant has been awarded $1.87 million through the support of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. This funding will help us launch an inclusive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics career preparatory center -- The Old Westbury STEM Center for Engagement, Entrepreneurship & Inclusion (OW-STEM) – to engage students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM-related fields and set them on a trajectory towards successful STEM-oriented careers.
    • The new Social & Environmental Justice Institute at SUNY Old Westbury (sponsored by School of Arts and Sciences-opening fall 2023) is a faculty-led consortium of programs and activities that focus on community research, civic engagement, and collective strategies that advance the ideals of social and environmental justice central to the College’s mission. Serving as the hub of a living-learning community 
      with its offices within a campus residence hall, the Institute serves as the home to the varied centers of inquiry and activity led by members of the College’s faculty who embrace social justice in their research and teaching, and engage with students and community partners through shared ideals and co-curricular programming. Among the College’s current centers already working as part of the Institute are:
      • The Black Studies Center
      • The Community Action Learning and Leadership program
      • El Conuco - the College’s center focused on Latinx and Ibero-American culture, history, and impact
      • The School of Education’s Summer Institute for Teachers
      • The campus’ United Nations Academic Impact liaison
      • The Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Center
  • Operational Excellence
    • Creation of The Admission’s Center will act as our “front door” to all future Panthers and their families and provide a welcoming environment as guests visit the campus and embark on tours.
    • Creation of The Wellness Wing will feature our Counseling and Psychological Wellness, and Student Health Centers to advocate, advance, and treat students’ mental and physical wellbeing.
    • We are completing the final phase of the new Student Solution’s Center (One Stop), providing a single location for students to receive all of their “matriculation” support-financial aid, registrar and bursar.
  • Physical Upgrades
    • The Campus Center is receiving ADA upgrades to all railings, stairs, balconies, ramps, and bathrooms.
    • The Media Innovation Center (MIC) is being renovated and will be a regional hub for Media and Communications with teaching and meeting spaces, a professional grade control room, and two new TV studios.
    • Our Duane L. Jones Recital Hall is near completion of a reimagined state-of-the-art multipurpose venue to showcase the arts.
    • In the Works
      • Breaking ground on Natural Sciences Building renovation and expansion (beginning this fall).
  • Brookhaven National Laboratory Partnership - research, pipeline, workforce development and sustainability (MOU pending).
  • Northwell Health Partnership - internships, research, pipeline, workforce development (in discussions).
  • Workforce Development Center (sponsored by School of Business) in discussions with Nassau County.
  • Summer Institute for Teachers (sponsored by School of Education-coming this Summer). The Summer Institute will expand course offerings, increase enrollment, diversify student populations, strengthen internal and external partnerships, and generate income for the growth of academic programs and the sustainability of this initiative.
  • Vacancies in the Cabinet that being filled by national searches:
    • Vice President for Student Affairs (in progress)
    • Vice President for Enrollment Management & Marketing (Dr. Bryan Terry begins April)
    • Executive Director of Human Resources (Ms. Teresia Ezzell begins April)
    • Dr. Quarless will move into a new role as Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Advancement to ensure the college’s efforts and partnerships are properly coordinated. Dr. Dorothy Escribano will join the College as interim provost for a year while a national search for a new provost is launched.
  • Chancellor’s Visit – What We Heard
    • Faculty Housing
      • $1M from FY ‘23 Budget to create 8+ units in AV
  • Workforce Development
    • Ongoing talks with Nassau County for a County-wide Workforce Development Center on campus
    • Medical School and Health Occupations Opportunities
    • Reviving efforts to build a comprehensive pipeline to post-graduate opportunities
    • Potential medical school pipeline program with Northwell and Hofstra
    • The President then shared that the fourth and final item that was brought up in the Chancellor’s visit was how we can improve SUNY Old Westbury’s marketing and branding efforts. He proposed that the Foundation and Council create a joint taskforce devising strategies with administrators. Ms. Archbold, Dr. Elliot, Judge Hohauser, and Ms. Maffei shared an interest in participating in this task force.
      • Ms. Archbold asked what the end result of this task force would be. The President shared that the major component would be how do we approach enhancing our brand recognition, market ourselves better. The second component was enrollment and recruitment and supporting recruitment efforts.
      • Dr. Elliot asked if the external community could rent spaces on campus. Ms. Santana shared that they can and if they had questions, they could visit the Facilites Rentals website or contact her. The President added that the Athletic Center will not reopen until the Summer.
      • Dr. Elliot asked if in terms of the energy issue that the college has for faculty housing, solar would be a solution.
      • Vice President for Business and Finance and CFO Martha Santana shared that it is a transformer capacity issue for running AC.
      • Dr. Elliot asked are their limitations on the Council’s involvement in the taskforce. The President answered by stating that the college would have to go through the proper procurement process for recommendations for companies to help move these projects along. Hon. Hohauser stated that Council members would not be able to assist in a payment capacity, their roles are limited to advisory roles.
  • SUNY Enrollment Update
    • The President deferred the rest of time to Interim Vice President for Enrollment Services Frank Pizzardi to provide an enrollment update statewide. Mr. Pizzardi shared the following in his report
      • SUNY applications are up by 82,000, but SUNY is being challenged by both NYS Private and CUNY Sectors. This is due to discounting by private colleges is increasing, and some colleges/universities are accepting students who did not apply. Additionally, the proposed CUNY New Deal would provide free tuition for all NYS residents.
      • For the Comprehensive Colleges within SUNY, they have a 37% increase in applications, a 35% increase in acceptances, and an 11% increase in deposits. SUNY Old Westbury has a 65% increase in applications, a 64% increase in acceptances, and a 358% increase in deposits (2022 it was 26 and now it is 44).
      • SUNY is doing the following to support enrollment efforts:
        • Free application week from October 24 to November 6.
        • SUNY Leadership and Marketing team is testing concepts and slogans for a new campaign.
        • A new EOP (Educational Opportunity Program) initiative went live on February 15. You must meet the two requirements to qualify for EOP, which include not meeting the general admission standards to the institution (academic requirement) and the financial requirement set by the state legislature. Now this review of applications is a system-wide process, not by the institution.
        • SUNY introduced cascading admissions, which means if a student applies to a certain SUNY institution and they do not get admitted, they asked every institution what their admission standards are, and SUNY will match them with up to 3 other institutions.
        • SUNY college fairs are being hosted in more regions around the state.
      • SUNY Old Westbury is doing the following to support enrollment efforts:
        • Geo-fencing and digital marketing campaign.
        • Targeted google campaigns.
        • Working with SUNY to target stop outs.
        • Working on yield events for new students.
        • Introducing new initiatives to increase new student enrollment.
        • Re-evaluating our enrollment numbers for the Fall 2023 semester

Chair Report

  • Judge Hohauser stated he will skip the Old Business portion of the meeting and have it ready to discuss for the next meeting due to time constraints.

New Business

  • Faculty Senate Chair Report - Faculty Senate Chair Dr. Jennie D'Ambroise shared the following in her report:
    • Dr. D'Ambroise thanked Dr. Jo-Ann Robinson for her leadership in the strategic planning process. She shared that the campus held visioning session, which they took the visioning statements that were created and shared them with the campus via sticky board tabling sessions.
    • Dr. D'Ambroise thanked Provost Duncan Quarless for everything that he has done as Provost and how excited the faculty is to have him back as a faculty member.
  • Alumni Representative Report -  Alumni Association President Lionel Chitty was not present to report.
  • Student Government Association Report - SGA President Ms. Cox shared the following in her report:
    • The Student Government Association had its first Fried Chicken Wednesday programming last week, which was a success (200+ students attended). This program was hosted during the college’s common hour, and students can get food and be in community in the Campus Center. The goal is to have this programming monthly, and then hopefully make it weekly.
    • Following up from her last update about the wet campus resolution that SGA (Student Government Association) passed, she has Dean Kathleen Lieblich, and she is working with SGA to create policy, using other campuses as a guide.
    • SGA has been working to try to increase the student activity fee, which is $87.50 per student and not covering the amount of programming they do for the students. She added that SUNY Old Westbury will still be the lowest student activity fee within SUNY with this increase.

Open Meeting

  • Judge Hohauser opened the floor for public comments.
  • Vice President for Institutional Advancement Angela Wambugu Cobb shared that the Council members should have received their save the dates for inauguration and added that they will receive more information about a luncheon where business from Long Island to come and hear from leaders from various sectors. Additionally, she shared that they have received some sponsorship for that event but are still looking for more.
  • Hearing no other comments from the floor, Judge Hohauser asked for a motion to adjourn. Dr. Elliot moved the motion to adjourn, and Ms. Cox seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Meeting adjourned at 2:05 p.m.