Meeting Minutes 8/27/2020

Task Force for the Future of Baruch

Thursday, August 27, 2020

1:00 PM

ZOOM Video Conference

Meeting Convened: 1:04 PM

1.      Reports from the Subcommittees:

· Subcommittee #1 (Course Delivery): The subcommittee’s recommendation is direct – until NYS regulations regarding proper social distancing are lifted or significantly altered, the subcommittee recommends that Baruch continue to deliver the vast majority of its courses in the manner that those courses are scheduled to be delivered during the Fall 2020 semester fully online. The subcommittee expressed that it is more difficult and disruptive to move from an in-person or hybrid format to a fully online format than it is to move from fully online to an in-person or hybrid format.

· Subcommittee #2 (Faculty Support): Each school has responded to the subcommittee’s call to outline their needs for remedial support. The subcommittee is still finalizing their recommendations regarding academic integrity. They will also be working on support for academic support services, such as the CTL. It was discussed that some members of the college have a direct route to contact all faculty members, but they may not have a direct route to contact all students, so social media could really serve as a valuable resource for the college.

· Subcommittee #3 (Technical Support): Subcommittee three’s argument remains the same. They believe that there needs to be a substantial shift of resources to BCTC and the CTL for Baruch to be able to fulfill its mission, not only in the Fall, but moving forward. In their report, the members of subcommittee three list specific resources that they believe are essential for moving forward.

· Subcommittee #4 (Student Support & Success): The subcommittee will put together their report by building on what they previously recommended, but they will be organizing it into four buckets. One section will be on communications – total communications and integrated communications. Another section will focus on transitions, such as the first-year seminar, onboarding of new students, financial aid, graduate students, transfer students, and different programs. The third section will come back to empowered student learning, responding to conversations with students, and responding to questions about fully integrating academic support. The fourth section will concentrate on focused support. Focused support gets back to ideas that intersect with one another and covers what the subcommittee might miss in other areas of their recommendations and ideas.

· Subcommittee #5 (Staff Support): Communication is going out to the staff community today (8/27/2020) in reference to the two surveys the staff subcommittee worked on – the technology survey and the staff experiences survey. It’s anticipated that by early September, the technology survey will be sent out to staff.

2. Next Steps:

· Continue working on final reports. Once finished, please send them to Provost McCarthy and Erika.

· Keep the consultants in the loop regarding subcommittee meeting dates & times. They would like to attend subcommittee meetings and must be sent your subcommittee’s Zoom meeting information.

Meeting Ended: 1:45 PM