|
|
| As July comes to a close, I know we will all begin looking toward the start of the fall semester. There is much to look forward to in the next academic year. Our incoming class will start to arrive on Aug. 24, when they will move in and complete summer orientation. We will welcome these new Red Dragons with both new and old traditions. They will officially join the SUNY Oneonta community after participating in Academic Convocation and Pass Through the Pillars on Saturday, Aug. 26. We will once again gather as a campus community to enjoy the opening picnic on the first day of classes, Monday, Aug. 28. We build community together, so I encourage your participation throughout these events for our new students. Returning students will move back in over the weekend of Aug. 26 - 27.
Along with the excitement of a new semester, other good things we can anticipate this fall include the wrap-up of many construction projects, the opening of Alumni Hall, and the opening of a new university space in downtown Oneonta (more on that below). We will also begin working on our next strategic plan as a community. I thank you all in advance for your participation in this important process. Please continue to watch the Bulletin for information about our strategic visioning dialogue sessions, along with the regular dialogue sessions, teach-ins and mingles.
I look forward to seeing you at these events as we continue to unabashedly celebrate the excellence of our students, the passion of our employees and the critical importance of public higher education.
Sincerely,
Alberto J.F. Cardelle
President
| |
Dragon Academy: Preparing to Launch!
Eileen Morgan-Zayachek
Senor Associate Provost, Academic Affairs
Final preparations are underway for the launch of SUNY Oneonta’s new General Education program, Red Dragon Academy. Incoming students who have not yet completed SUNY General Education requirements will be the first students to experience the dynamic program that numerous faculty have contributed to developing. Specifically, the program integrates learning across the following requirements:
- DRGN 1000: Red Dragon Seminar: an interdisciplinary, problem-based seminar students take in their first or second semester on campus
- 11 Knowledge and Skills Area (KSA) courses
- 3 Competencies—Critical Thinking & Reasoning Information Literacy and Global Literacy.
One especially distinctive feature of the Red Dragon Academy is the reinforced learning the program will provide: The 3 Competencies are introduced in the DRGN 1000 seminar and built upon in Knowledge and Skills Area courses carrying one or more competency attributes.
Staff in the Registrar’s Office prepared for the new program by adding the attributes requested by academic departments to courses and building the program requirements in Banner, Degree Works, and the Course Catalog. Faculty who proposed the inaugural DRGN 1000 courses met for two day-long workshops to discuss their course designs and plan strategies for delivering Oneonta’s first Red Dragon Seminars. Academic Advisement staff pre-set students into the 18 sections of DRGN 1000 we were able to offer this fall, using as guidance students’ responses to a survey of academic subject interests submitted after accepting admission into the University. A quick glance at a few of this semester’s seminar topics suggests the impressive variety among DRGN 1000 sections:
- Bottles, Straws and Bags: Our Plastic Ocean
- Love, Sex, Nation and Reproductive Politics
- Moneyball, Soccernomics, and Crickonomics: Global Sports
- Dis/Misinformation and New Ideas
- The Cannabis Experiment: Policies in the States and Nation
- Borders, Walls and Checkpoints
- UndocuQueer Activism: Immigation, Art, & Activism
- Hidden Geographies of Oneonta
While all sections of DRGN 1000 are currently full, students do of course make changes to their schedule during August Orientation and add/drop. For those advising students interested in adding a DRGN 1000 course to their schedules, please remind them that seats do open at the semester’s start so they should consider adding themselves to the waitlist. Advisors should also know that students who matriculate in fall with more than 30 credits will have the DRGN 1000 requirement waived in the spirit of SUNY’s “hold harmless” implementation policy established this past year.
Finally, for faculty interested in teaching DRGN 1000 classes next spring, please know that the ’23-’24 proposal for submissions is available in Curriculog. Given that the Spring ’24 course schedule is established in early fall, it’s not too early to plan your proposal for review (via Curriculog submission) by your department chair, dean, and the General Education subcommittee with oversight over Red Dragon Seminars.
| |
| AAQEP Accreditation for Educator Preparation Programs
| |
| Mark Davies
Dean, School of Education, Human Ecology & Sports Studies
All 25 of SUNY Oneonta's educator preparation programs have earned accreditation from the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). Our bachelor's, master's and advanced certificate programs in education were evaluated based upon a self-assessment and standards relating to candidate/completer performance, completer professional competence and growth, quality program practices, and program engagement in system improvement. Read more about this new accreditation.
| |
| SUNY Oneonta & Otsego County Organizations Join WhatsUpstateNY.com
| |
| Danielle McMullen
Chief of Staff & Director of Community Development & Government Relations
SUNY Oneonta is part of a group of businesses and organizations in Otsego County joining a marketing and workforce development effort called What's Upstate NY. Local attractions, events, and information about Otsego County will be shared on WhatsUpstateNY.com. The website was designed to help visitors, locals, new residents and people considering a move to the Mohawk Valley find out about the cities, neighborhoods, events and quality of life our region offers. Over the next several months, content related to Otsego County will be developed in partnership with the other members of the Otsego County group, including:
- The Community Foundation of Otsego County
- Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce
- County of Otsego
- Destination Marketing for Otsego County
- Hartwick College
- Otsego County Chamber of Commerce
- Otsego Innovation and Acceleration Center
- Otsego Now
- Springbrook
| |
New & Exciting Things at the Science Discovery Center
| |
Tracy Allen
Dean, School of Sciences
We are looking forward to a great year at the A.J. Read Science Discovery Center (SDC). I hope many of you have had the chance to meet our new Coordinator of Science Outreach Activities, Anna Rutenbeck '21. As part of her role, she will oversee the Science Discovery Center and other activities and events for the campus and local communities.
Anna's vision for the A.J. Read Science Discovery Center is one of community, exploration, and growth. She is excited to expand on the SDC's connections to community organizations through strategic partnerships and collaboration. Anna believes that science education should be accessible to all and will strive to create programming and exhibits that allow members of the SUNY Oneonta community and residents of the entire region to create a positive relationship with science.
Anna hails from Denver, Colorado. She attended American University in Washington, DC, earning a BA in Film and Media Art in 2016. She then enrolled in SUNY Oneonta's Cooperstown Graduate Program, graduating with an MA in Science Museum Studies in 2021. Prior to coming back to SUNY Oneonta, Anna was the Project Coordinator at the Otsego County Conservation Association.
The Science Discovery Center plans to host one of the President's campus mingles on Friday, Oct. 20, at 3 p.m. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us. This will be a great opportunity to interact with the exhibits, meet Anna, and learn about all that the Science Discovery Center has to offer.
Faculty and staff are invited to be a part of the programming offered at the Science Discovery Center. Many new exhibits and events are being planned, and anyone interested in collaborating should reach out to Anna via email or x 2011.
| |
New Space Downtown to Open this Fall
Soon, SUNY Oneonta will have a more significant presence in downtown Oneonta. The university is leasing a space at 2 - 4 Dietz Street, with renovations in the space to begin over the next few weeks. The site will offer space to host continuing education classes, provide co-working space to students and employees, and offer additional meeting and event space that is open to the community. Further updates will be provided as the plans for this space continue to develop. The goal is to have the space open by the end of October.
| |
Pathy Leiva Completes SUNY Hispanic Leadership Institute
| |
Director of Access and Opportunity Programs Pathy Leiva recently completed the SUNY Hispanic Leadership Institute (SUNY HLI) Fellowship program. SUNY HLI’s mission is to identify, foster and support the development and retention of current and emerging Hispanic/Latinx leaders for an increasingly diverse university system and nation. Pathy is the second employee from SUNY Oneonta to be nominated and complete the program. SUNY HLI includes an individual capstone applied learning component. Pathy's final project was to develop a program and plan to support students who are English Language Learners at SUNY Oneonta.
The SUNY HLI Fellowship program is a six-month leadership development program that includes conversations with leaders across higher education, self-assessments, leadership coaching and mentoring. Pathy indicates the most impactful part of the experience was the strong relationships she created with the rest of her cohort. "The program provided me with resources, a network, knowledge and empowered me as an individual," Pathy said. "I am truly thankful for the wisdom Assistant Vice Chancellor for Presidential Recruitment, Evaluation and Development Zulaika Rodriguez provided, as well as all of the amazing speakers who were part of the program. I am also grateful to have had great mentors in this process, which provided me with a new perspective. I believe I am a better person for going through the program and feel invigorated from the experience."
| |
| SUNY Oneonta Named one of Money's Best Colleges in America
Money.com has ranked SUNY Oneonta as one of the best colleges in the country according to their 2023 Best Colleges list. With 4.5 out of 5 stars, we are the highest-ranking SUNY comprehensive university on the list. Money rates colleges and universities based on graduation rates, cost of attendance, financial aid and alumni salaries, and advertises these institutions as places where students' tuition and time is likely to pay off. Read more on money.com.
| |
Brightspace Update
Chilton Reynolds
Director, Faculty Center for Teaching, Learning & Scholarship
Following SUNY’s desire to have all 64 campuses on a common Digital Learning Environment (DLE), SUNY Oneonta’s transition to the Brightspace platform is officially complete. For the past year, the SUNY Oneonta Brightspace migration team, which includes staff from IT Services and the Faculty Center for Teaching, Learning & Scholarship (formerly the TLTC), have been working hard to prepare SUNY Oneonta for the transition. As a part of that transition, we piloted 61 classes in Brightspace during the Spring ’23 semester. All of our current summer courses (and all courses moving forward -including Fall ’23) are hosted in Brightspace.
To prepare for this transition, SUNY provided us with asynchronous and synchronous training resources. In addition, the Faculty Center for Teaching, Learning & Scholarship has created a Digital Learning Environment Migration website with all of the current information on our migration to Brightspace.
IT Services has moved all courses and content that occurred in 2021, 2022, and 2023 from Blackboard into Brightspace. The Faculty Center is continuing to provide synchronous in-person and online trainings throughout the summer and into the fall, and these are announced in the Bulletin each week.
Classes will no longer be posted in Blackboard moving forward, but IT Services maintains an archive of course materials from Bb going back to 2014. Faculty needing to access these materials or have them uploaded into Brightspace can submit a request through IT Services.
We are looking forward to our first full semester in our new digital learning environment!
| |
|
|
|
|
