College Council Meeting Minutes: June 23, 2023

College Council Meeting: June 23, 2022, 12:30pm

SU Multipurpose Room A; Supreme Court, County of Nassau 100 Supreme Court Drive Mineola NY 11501; 99 Main Street, Hempstead, NY 11550

Present

Mili Makhijani, Esq. (Chair)
Melissa Archbold
Cania Infante
Martha Maffei
Theresa A. Regnante
Phillip Elliot
Hon. William Hohauser
Kimberly Cox, Student Representative

Chair Welcome

Chair Makhijani opened the meeting by welcoming all in attendance, including the College Foundation Members. She congratulated President Sams, the Cabinet and staff for putting together a wonderful in-person Commencement ceremony.
Acknowledging that everyone had received a copy of the February 11, 2022, College Council meeting minutes, Ms. Melissa Archbold made a motion to accept, seconded by Ms. Theresa Regnante. The Council approved by unanimous vote the minutes.

Report from the President

President Timothy Sams reported on the following items:

Overall College Updates
- The President shared that Old Westbury graduated ~1200 students on May 22, 2022. Prior to the Commencement the College held a Green to Gold Luncheon at the President’s residence. This event highlighted the newly “minted” graduates of Old Westbury and the class of 1972 (50th anniversary graduates).
- In Summer 2022, the College is launching a compressed work week in the form of a pilot. After the Summer the College will reflect and access if whether they would like to continue with this design moving forward.
- The College can offer the academic department chairs a summer stipend of $1,500 for the work they will be doing during the Summer. It is optional for chairs to accept the offer.
- Fall 2023 restrictions will be lighter from SUNY. The prediction is that the restrictions will impact our residential students and masking in higher population areas.
  - The vaccination center will administer the last vaccines tomorrow, June 24, 2022, and officially close on July 1, 2022. The site has provided just over 163,000 vaccines during its time at Old Westbury. This will allow the College to use the full facilities for our volleyball and basketball seasons.
- SUNY Board of Trustees has allowed the College to change the title and/or name based on them meeting a certain criterion which includes having 3 graduate programs. This will allow us to officially be SUNY Old Westbury versus SUNY College at Old Westbury, which is looked upon as having a more competitive edge for students to be part of a university community vs a college community.
Progressive Rumblings
- The President shared that the Performance Planning process is in its finalist stage with 7 finalists determined out of 43 submissions. These finalists will be announced shortly after a final review with Business and Finance.
- A $10 million proposal was submitted to Nassau County for workforce development. Update on the proposal is forthcoming.
- The Office of Academic Affairs is working to increase the level of activity between our campus and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Many initiatives are under discussion but the most immediate taking place this summer are:
  - A “Citizen Science - Community Learning 2000” course project for First Year students as a new development to expand BNL’s “G.R.E.En Institute - A Day in the Life Program” as a credit-bearing initiative for our students.
  - A “Citizen Science - Community Learning 2000” course project for First Year students as a new development to expand BNL’s “G.R.E.En Institute - A Day in the Life Program” as a credit-bearing initiative for our students.
- The School of Professional Studies developed a partnership with Alstom Corporation for the Fall of 2022 for a DEI Certification.
Achievements & Accolades
- Sarah Sadik (Biological Sciences, 2019) has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award for the 2022-23 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Sadik will travel to Mauritius to conduct field research to identify the current implementation of preventative medicine to address and recognize Intimate-Partner Violence in Mauritian Community Health Centers.
- Panther student-athlete Rosanna Cuttone traveled to Indianapolis earlier this month as the campus’ representative to the NCAA Career in Sports Forum. Rosanna is a rising senior majoring in Psychology who competes in both softball and cross country at SUNY Old Westbury.
- Six members of the faculty and staff earned SUNY Chancellor’s Awards this spring:
  - Dr. Llana Barber, Associate Professor in the American Studies/Media & Communications department received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.
  - Dr. Maria Zulema Cabail, Assistant Professor in the Biological Sciences department earned the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
  - Ms. Ann Marie Jimenez, Administrative Assistant in the School of Arts and Sciences, received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service.
  - Samara Smith, Associate Professor in the American Studies/Media & Communications department, earned the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service.
  - Dr. Nicholas Werner, Assistant Professor in the Mathematics, Computer and Information Sciences department also earned the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
  - Dr. Hyewon Yi, Director of the College’s Amelie A. Wallace Gallery received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service.
- Joseph Manfredi, an instructor in the Media & Communications program and station director for OWWR, Old Westbury Web Radio, was recognized for his career-long contribution to the mission of educational college radio by being inducted into the WCWP/88.1 FM, Long Island University, Hall of Fame earlier this month.
The President yielded his remaining time to Martha Santana, CFO and Vice President of Business and Finance to discuss the 2022-2023 Budget. Martha Santana presented a PowerPoint to the Council to highlight the budget considerations for the upcoming fiscal year. In her presentation, she covered the following topics, budget committee overview, budget parameters, model operating budget for FY 22-23, deficit, enrollment and revenue trends, budget committee parameters, and next steps.
- After her presentation, the following discussion ensued:
  - Chair Makhijani asked if there is any plan to present this budget information to the Council members for review and feedback and the President agreed to that. Additionally, the Chair asked if there are any efforts by the budget committee to raise funds for the College. Ms. Santana shared that the focus is increasing enrollment for the next years, increasing our residential populations, and increasing facilities rentals.
  - Ms. Regnante asked about the breakeven point for the College regarding enrollment. The President shared that the College needs to go through the right size activity to make that determination. Right now, the College is now making the adjustment due to the dip in enrollment over the past 1-2 years and the ending of HERF funding. Additionally, Ms. Regnante suggested that there are some renewable and sustainable grant money to help the College be the first net-zero College in New York.
  - Ms. Archibold asked if there is a marketing and advertising strategy in place for the residential halls and the upgrades that have been made there. Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Claudia Marin Andrade shared that Academic Village does not have kitchens currently, but Martha Santana and her team are working to change that. The Woodlands Halls have fully functional kitchens that are open to all students but can be an inconvenience to students that live in the Academic Village. For marketing, the College has a plan in place that has been deployed to current students, new students, and their families. There have been conversations with Nassau and Suffolk community colleges to house their students on our campus in the future.
  - Dr. Elliot asked if online learning has any relativity to the financial situation at the college. The President shared that the enrollment number includes those who enrolled remotely/online. Director of the School of Professional Studies Edward Bever added that there were 500 students enrolled that were considered online only and 150 (18% for the Fall, which can be increased to 30%) course sections are online. Chair Makhijani suggested marketing our online offering to students both in and out of state. Dr. Bever shared that out-of-state tuition is considerably higher than in-state and the market is considerably saturated with major players. He shared that Old Westbury is taking the approach to be more flexible with students' schedules and geographic regions. The President added that there is a SUNY process that the College must follow to have degree programs completely online that the College is looking at implementing for some of its programs. Additionally, the number of courses you can offer is stipulated by SUNY (40% currently with the potential of it decreasing in the subsequent years).

New Business

Chair Makhijani started this portion of the meeting by introducing the College Foundation members that were in attendance. They included the following:
- Gary Casmir
- Joseph Sheehan
- Keith Engley
- Magdy Shady
- Eric Shwartz
- Janet Shin
  - Chair Makhijani shared that in a conversation with other Foundation members they discussed putting together a fundraiser and she asked what the funds raised at an event can be used for. The Presidents suggested scholarships because the scholarship granted to a student helps the student be enrolled and that money comes back to the institution.
  - Each of the Old Westbury Foundation members introduced themselves. Trustee Schwarz shared in his introduction that SUNY Old Westbury is the best-kept secret on Long Island and many people do not know who we are. Chair Makhijani added that this is a topic the council has discussed, especially when it comes to marketing and increasing high school presence. Ms. Regnate recommended a sub-committee meeting related to outreach and enrollment. The President agreed and added that it might be beneficial to have a presentation on what is being done and then move on with the subcommittee.
Chair Makhijani pushed a follow up report to the February 11 action items to the next College Council meeting.
- Additionally, she added that all four College Council meetings will be held in person.
Faculty Senate Chair Report - Senate Chair Jennie D'Ambroise shared the following in her report.
- There are a number of faculty committees that are focused on curriculum, reappointment, faculty awards, teaching and learning, etc. What codifies all of those committees are the faculty bylaws. An extensive review of the faculty bylaws is taking place. This includes updating the language and making it more user-friendly. Because the undertaking is sold large, this will be continuing this process in the upcoming year.
  - The President shared that Dr. D'Ambroise has been appointed to a second term as chair of Faculty Senate.
Alumni Representative Report -- Alumni Association President Lionel Chitty was not present for the meeting.
Student Government Association Report - SGA President Ms. Cox stated that she was excited to work with everyone for this upcoming academic year. She shared the following in her report:
- Continuing to strengthen the relationship with the students and University Police.
- Exploring ways to keep the pantry open a little longer for students to allow for greater access.
The President and Chair Makhijani agreed to table to enrollment presentation at the next College Council meeting.

Open Meeting

Chair Makhijani opened the floor for public comments.
Seeing no other comments from the floor, Chair Makhijani asked for a motion to adjourn. Ms. Infante moved the motion to adjourn, and judge Hohauser seconded the motion. All voted in favor.