Newsletter — Office of the Provost

Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Volume 2, Issue 12

I hope the beginning of the semester has started off well. I had intended to get this out two weeks ago, but the time has gotten away from me. There’s been quite a lot going on, both here at the University and for me personally. All good, but it’s taken quite a bit more time than I had anticipated.

I appreciate so many of you coming to the welcome back event that we had just before the start of the semester. I talked about many items at the event, including our outstanding enrollment data (which has only gotten better in the last few weeks), the experiential learning initiatives that the EL committee has put together, the status of the reorganization, efforts to act on the suggestions of our research council (including the submission of our EPIIC proposal to NSF), and the review and updating of the Academic Strategic Plan that was developed three years ago under the leadership of Interim Provost Delene.
This month, there are a few additional items I would like to touch on.

Current events

I spent time last week talking at Deans Council about the impact of current activities on faculty. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of concern and uncertainty. I am feeling it as well. I commented to someone recently that I feel like I did in the early days of Covid, during which I thought I knew something in the morning that allowed me to move in one direction, only to get new information in the middle of the day that changed things completely. It is disconcerting, but these are the times in which we live, and we will be doing our best to keep you updated as information becomes available.

Late last week I participated in a call with SUNY and the research foundation concerning changes in federal funding for scholarship. This was before new rules came out about limits to NIH funding that will likely impact some of our faculty and students (For further information, please see yesterday’s announcement from Chancellor King). Current guidance from both SUNY and the RF is to stay the course until we have a specific directive from the funding agency that we need to make a change. If you do get something specific, please share with both me and Laura Merkl so we can use the information we are receiving from SUNY to help guide you.

I am also aware that data is being removed from government websites that you are using for teaching and scholarship. Please let me know if you experience any changes in the availability of the data you need to continue your work.

Finally, keep in mind that we still have SUNY and Brockport policies that provide guidance on expected actions and limitations in specific situations that you might face. Our FERPA policy provides guidance on requests for student information. It is also Brockport policy that University Police continues to be our primary point of contact for law enforcement. Please refer any law enforcement agency to our University Police office in Lathrop Hall. Follow-up with a phone call to University Police dispatch at (585-395-2226) to notify them of the situation. If needed, they will come to your location to assist. For students or employees that have concerns about immigration-related issues, you can encourage them to call the New York State Office for New Americans hotline at 1-800-566-7636 to access answers to immigration and naturalization questions and for referrals to free legal help and programs.

Reorganization

The hiring activity for our new organizational structure continues to move ahead. I announced during the welcome back event a few weeks ago that we have selected Kathy Peterson to serve as the Inaugural Dean of Nursing. Kathy has started the process of seeking an Assistant Dean and will soon be identifying Department Chairs for the two departments to be housed in our new School of Nursing. I also met last week with Tammy Gouger to discuss further staffing upgrades to ensure that the School has the required administrative support.

Tom Hernandez is also currently seeking an Assistant Dean to fill out the staffing in Education and Health, as well. During my conversation with Tammy, we also discussed staffing upgrades in several departments within E&H, as there are a few areas that are growing for which administrative support has not kept up.

The Arts and Science Dean selection wrapped up this week as well. I am pleased to announce that Monica Brasted has been recommended to serve as the Dean, and I am happy to advance that recommendation. I want to thank Mike Harrison and the members of the search committee for their work throughout this process.

In the School of Business and Management, the search committee has narrowed the candidate pool to four individuals who are being invited for on-campus interviews at the end of this month and early March. Details will be announced in the Daily Eagle when they become available.

Experiential Learning

I want to reiterate the remarks I made during the welcome back event highlighting some of the forthcoming activities recommended by our Experiential Learning Committee that will support faculty who wish to promote the EL initiative. Coming soon should be an announcement for the Innovation Micro Grant that will support faculty efforts to incorporate innovative activities (such as outside speakers, real-world projects, or field trips) into their classroom teaching. Later in the spring, we will issue a call for proposals for Experiential Learning Grants that focus on applied learning through internships, research, community-engaged initiatives, project-based learning, leadership development, and global engagement. Likewise, we are investing in a new Experiential Learning Fellowship Program that will bring faculty together into a small innovator group, working with the support of CELT and the Experiential Learning Program Coordinator, to design, implement, assess, and disseminate project-based learning experiences for students through shared resources and best practices. Please look for those announcements in the Daily Eagle later this semester.

Student Success Equity Intensive

Our SSEI group continues to engage in several activities focused on the student sense of belonging. We are engaged with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE), who are offering two online classes (Fostering a Culture of Belonging and Promoting Active Learning) for faculty and staff. Our ACUE campus lead is Jose Maliekal who is working with Catie Lalonde in CELT to ensure that faculty have access to these learning opportunities.

Also, the SSEI team split into two subcommittees for this year. One of those subcommittees, under the leadership of Will Ruiz, is engaged in the student voices initiative that will train students to conduct a series of student-led focus groups to learn what students believe we need to do to increase their sense of belonging. Our second subcommittee, led by Logan Rath, is evaluating our policies. We have already learned that many policies that touch on similar subjects are distributed across our divisions, which can make it challenging for students to navigate and for faculty and staff who are trying to guide these students. This subcommittee will work within the existing policy revision framework and with the support of the Brockport University Senate, to update and streamline these policies.

Closing remarks

I concluded my comments a few weeks ago by stating that we are fortunate to be at Brockport at this time. We have the backing of SUNY as we navigate the changes that are rapidly coming our way. We have a growing enrollment and increased investment from the State that has allowed us to stabilize our budget while also investing in new initiatives. We have outstanding faculty and staff that are committed to the success of our students. With your continuing help, support, and guidance, we can continue to work together to achieve even greater success. Thank you.