Meeting Minutes 7/9/2020

Task Force for the Future of Baruch
Thursday, July 9, 2020
1:00 PM
ZOOM Video Conference

Meeting Convened: 1:02 PM

1. Report from President Wu:

• Unexpectedly, ICE removed its waiver that allowed international students to retain their visas to study in the US while taking online courses. President Wu expressed that he is working diligently to find ways to accommodate international students’ situation so that their education is not disrupted.
• Once the preliminary report is released, President Wu would like to have a Town Hall meeting so that members of the Baruch community have an opportunity to provide their feedback.
• It was discussed that the President’s Cabinet is already starting to think about the implementation of the Task Force’s recommendations. Of the four different areas signified by the four subcommittees, President Wu has identified Cabinet Level Champions that will be responsible for implementation of the recommendations. These individuals will help to remove any obstacles and will maintain a level of coordination that will help implementation of these recommendations go as smoothly as possible.
  • The Cabinet Level Champions for subcommittees one (Fall 2020/ “How do we start?”) and two (Faculty Support) would include:
    • The Provost
    • The Deans
    • Involvement from the Faculty Senate – especially regarding the faculty support side of these recommendations.
  • The Cabinet Level Champion for subcommittee three (technical support) is Arthur Downing.
  • The Cabinet Level Champions for subcommittee four (student support) are:
    • Mary Gorman
    • Art King
  • The College understands that there are additional areas within Baruch that need additional guidance and support as well:
    • One area that needs additional guidance going forward is staff. Staff may need guidance regarding how to do their work in the most effective manner and what kind of support they may need to do that work if they are working remotely. Several individuals have been asked to help in this area. These individuals are:
      • Kathy Cobb
      • Olga Dais
      • Kenya Lee
    • Another area that is of a particular focus is communication to and from the Baruch community. It’s important that we solicit feedback from the Baruch community throughout this process. The communications team has been asked to organize the Town Hall, mentioned earlier, and they are involved in the feedback received from the Task Force website.
  • Two independent consultants were contacted that President Wu has worked with in the past. They have worked with over 100 institutions of varying sizes and setups. These consultants will help the Task Force:
    • Understand new tools on the market
    • Understand how to make their ideas a reality
    • Look at the budget and finance side of their recommendations and understand what’s realistic
    • Focus on big ideas
    • Focus on the necessary steps to make their recommendations happen
  • It was encouraged that the Baruch community can look at online and hybrid education more broadly and view it as a way of enhancing what we do with a more comprehensive repertoire of tools.
  • It was discussed that it may be beneficial to explore ways to supplement online learning with service opportunities and fieldwork. This can help students engage with their communities and become involved within the city. We should think about service-learning opportunities so that some students can take a hybrid course and work towards their course credits in-person if they cannot come into class.
  • In the Fall, we should look at the Strategic Plan and figure out how we can update it given our current reality. The Task Force’s recommendations will have an impact on how the College updates the strategic plan in the Fall 2020 semester.

2. Next Steps:

• The two consultants that the college is working with may join the Task Force’s July 16 meeting.
  • The consultants can help the Task Force set priorities regarding their recommendations.
• Members of the Task Force should send Provost McCarthy their ideas regarding what they would like to hear from the consultants. Task Force members should also send advice on how they would like to shape our meeting with the consultants.
• We must work on understanding and communicating the details regarding our international students’ education.Meeting Ended: 2:25 PM