Middle States Review Next Steps
The Middle States Team during its March 23-26 virtual visit repeatedly praised the quality of our self-study. During the visit, team members were adroitly accommodated with additional documents or other forms of evidence that they requested. When presenting the exit report, team chair Dr. Marcia Welsh also expressed appreciation for the team’s access to a remarkable number of individuals and campus groups during the visit.
Thank you not only to the Steering Committee for the self-study, the respective Standards Work Groups, which drafted its chapters, and the Editorial Team, but also to those individuals and campus teams who worked, often out of view, to make the visit a success. This includes Information Technology Services and the Office of Communication and Marketing. Sometimes the work was not so invisible as when Mike McInerney rescued those of us who did not immediately gather in the correct breakout rooms for meetings with the Middle States Team. Thank you as well to all who turned out for either designated or discretionary meetings. It spoke volumes to the Middle States Visit Team that so many were engaged not only in the self-study process but also in the visit’s many meetings.
Now we exhale for a brief while as we await next steps in the Middle States reaffirmation process, which include these due dates:
- Before April 23: The Review Team’s draft Final Report is sent to the President so that we can review it for any factual inaccuracies
- April 23: Team Chair sends draft of Final Report to President Christian
- April 30: The College submits the Institutional Response, a brief letter in which the institution responds forthrightly and appropriately to areas of the team report with which it agrees or disagrees
- May 7: Team Chair uploads Confidential Chair’s Brief to Middle States Commission portal
- June 4: Team Chair presents brief at Middle States Commission meeting
- End of June: Point by which the College will be informed of the Commission’s reaffirmation decision and any after action which may be requested, such as a progress report or monitoring report, if deemed necessary
New Program Development and Other Program Notes
While we aspire to become more nimble in academic program development appropriate to our mission and values, it is nevertheless the case that New Paltz has recently achieved a number of academic program development milestones that are important to note as this academic year comes to a close.
Four new degree programs have received final approval and the all-clear to begin marketing themselves and recruiting new students! Communication & Marketing is or will be working with these programs to provide marketing collateral and support. These new programs include the
- BA Environmental Studies
- BS Entrepreneurship
- MS Behavior Analysis and Interdisciplinary Autism Studies
- MA Digital Design and Fabrication
A new undergraduate minor receiving final approval is
Existing programs receiving approval from both SUNY and the New York State Education Department (NYSED) for the additional modality of distance education include the
- BS International Business
- BS Management
- BS Marketing
Other existing degree programs awaiting final approval from SUNY and NYSED to be offered in distance education modality include the
- MSED Literacy Education
- MSED Special Education
A milestone undergraduate degree program at the final penultimate stage of external approval is the
This degree completion program, New Paltz’s first undergraduate program to be offered entirely online, will broaden access to a high-quality New Paltz education for new cadres, primarily adult students.
While New Paltz is already strong in offering our students 4+1 degree programs resulting in award of both a baccalaureate and master’s degree, faculty are looking at additional possibilities to add to the existing array of 4+1 programs. We are also tracking work around programs, one of which would be new and others being existing programs, planned for either hybrid or online modalities in order to meet learners’ need for such alternatively delivered programs, if these learners are to access a New Paltz education at all.
Though I have focused above on new programs and new modalities for existing programs designed to draw and serve the needs of new students whom we are not already attracting and serving, a great deal of careful program modification work continues which also deserves acknowledgement and appreciation. Programs which accomplished significant revisions and garnered the state-level approval for such overhauls as required in New York include the
- BA/BS Psychology
- MSED Special Education
I would also call your attention to the first-time, discipline-specific accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) earned this spring by the
- MS and Advanced Certificate in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- MS School Counseling
Planning for Development of an Academic Strategic Plan
Before the Middle States review visit, we recognized that the opportunity lies before us to develop the College’s first academic strategic plan. To that end, work is underway to draft an approach to pre-planning. Why is a planning-to-plan process needed? If the College has never before developed a strategic plan for academics, we are likely to have an assortment of disparate ideas about what such a plan might entail, ergo, the need to develop a shared set of assumptions about academic strategic planning. The College has never before developed a strategic plan for the academic core of our institutional future. That being the case, how do we ensure that the process for doing so reflects an inclusive, community-informed pre-planning process to guide development of the academic strategic plan itself, recognizing that a useful plan will identify clear priorities and directions to guide future decisions? Please anticipate further developments about how we will organize ourselves for this work and set goals and timelines for a pre-planning process. Before finalizing structures and processes designed to move the initial academic planning work forward, we also want to take into account the Middle States Review Team’s advice about academic planning provided in its Final Report. As noted elsewhere in this report, the Team’s Final Report will be available to us by late April and the Commission’s reaffirmation decision by the end of June.
Important Deadlines
As noted in previous reports and shown in the Academic Calendar on the Records and Registration website, two approaching deadlines of particular interest include the following which were extended to provide greater flexibility to students and to faculty under COVID pandemic conditions
- Expanded S/U Grading Option Extended to April 29
- Grade Submission Deadline Extended to May 18, 2 PM
As an additional reminder, please be aware of our remaining Mind, Body, Spirit date of April 15. Students have asked that to the greatest extent possible, faculty avoid having major projects, assignments, and exams due on the day or days immediately following this last MBS day. This will allow students greater freedom to enjoy the day for its stated purposes in that they will not necessarily be compelled to use MBS day as a study day. I hope that faculty as well are able to use MBS day for restorative activities.
Recent Faculty and Staff Awards, Honors, Publications/Creative Work, and Other Recognitions
- With Special Acknowledgement of Faculty Advancing Use of OER
In this report, I would like to recognize faculty work that addresses one of the areas outlined in my report to the faculty last November as important to our advancement of access, equity, and success for students. In that report, I shared that initiatives reflecting inclusive excellence include “advancing the appropriate use of open educational resources (OER) to increase not only affordability but also achievement and retention of underrepresented, Pell-eligible, and other vulnerable student populations, such as first-year students.”
After arriving at New Paltz, I soon gathered that there appeared to be fairly extensive faculty skepticism with regard to the use of OER. However, after listening to student concerns and researching the issue further, in January 2020, the Academic Affairs Committee, to further understanding and support of OER, presented its “Recommendation to the Faculty Senate in Support of Reducing Course Materials Costs.” This academic year, Chrissy O’Grady, Research & Education Librarian, and Rachel Rigolino, Instructor of English, along with members of the Ad Hoc Open Educational Resources (OER) Committee have led our academic community in promoting learning about means, benefits, and other considerations in adopting high-quality OER. For example, Chrissy and Rachel presented a highly comprehensive introduction to OER during campus trainings last January, which I was pleased to attend. Just two weeks ago, as we were heading into the Middle States visit, Chrissy sent us all an OER information bulletin as well as a survey for New Paltz faculty who have used open (or low cost) educational resources in any of their courses or are considering doing so but want to explore the possibilities first.
I commend and appreciate this work because of its potential impact on equity and inclusive excellence for students. As previously shared, the OER initiative builds on the social justice-oriented work that New Paltz faculty have done and continue to do. The efforts of the Ad Hoc OER Committee are responsive to my outreach last summer to the Faculty Executive Committee, which included a call to continue to address the issue of cost of educational materials while maintaining rigor and quality. My appeal and encouragement to bolster this work stemmed in part from a 2018 study showing that adoption of OER affects more than just affordability. This large-scale study entitled “The Impact of Open Educational Resources on Various Student Success Metrics” found that for Pell recipient students, part-time students, and students from historically underserved populations, OER use was associated with better course performance and higher persistence. (See Affordable Learning Georgia: Increasing Equity and Improving Pedagogy through Open Educational Resources | Association of American Colleges & Universities.)
Closing and Appreciation
While it is fair to say that, for the most part, we approach the end of the 2020-2021 academic year much more optimistic than when we began it, challenges do lie ahead. One of those challenges will be mining experiences throughout the pandemic with its disparate and disproportionate impacts, to harvest as much understanding and as many insights as possible that can guide us into the future. Taking the most from these experiences to inform continued action will require time, study, and reflection, all of which I am hoping that you may have in greater measure this coming summer than in the last.
As always, you, the dedicated academic and professional faculty as well as staff of New Paltz, have my greatest appreciation for your unwavering commitment to the success of our students.
With best regards,
Barbara
Barbara Lyman
Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
