Provost’s Newsletter: News and Updates from the Division of Academic Affairs for April 17, 2024
April 17, 2024
Dear Baruch College Community:
The mission of the Office of the Provost is to create a dynamic intellectual environment across Baruch’s three schools and library, where students can succeed and learn from an outstanding faculty and these faculty can thrive as educators and thought leaders in their respective fields. Our work is animated by the Baruch College Strategic Plan 2023–28. Maximizing students’ potential to succeed and supporting impactful teaching and research are among the four key priorities in Baruch’s five-year plan. The College is making noteworthy progress toward goals in the face of fiscal (and other) challenges to higher education.
That is why I would like to correct information from a recent article in The Ticker, “Baruch Faculty and Students Protest Budget Cuts, Bigger Classes.” There have not been budget cuts to the College or to its schools. Unlike other campuses across CUNY that have been required to reduce their budgets, Baruch has instead only been required to maintain a 5% reserve, which we were already doing. School deans then collaborate with department chairs to ensure that student and curricular needs are met within the available resources.
Additionally, we have increased our full-time faculty headcount by 13% since 2021. In 2021, Baruch’s faculty body included 503 full-time faculty members; by the current year, that number has grown to 569 full-time faculty. An expanded full-time faculty roster plays a critical role in providing consistent instruction, advising, engagement, and mentorship for students. That’s why Governor Hochul made a strategic investment in CUNY designed to increase the proportion of full-time to part-time faculty.
Baruch College, the Office of the Provost, and I remain 100% committed to student success, effective teaching, and impactful research. Please read on for current news on how we’re meeting that commitment.
Best wishes,
Dr. Linda Essig
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Campus Updates
Dr. Kathleen Gray Appointed to Associate Provost Role
I am delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Kathleen Gray as Associate Provost for Teaching, Learning, and Student Success effective Monday, July 1. Dr. Gray most recently served as Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Undergraduate Studies at St. Francis College. In that role, she led efforts to design and implement new student success initiatives, supported faculty in curricular revision, and secured significant federal grant support for opportunity program creation, student engagement, co-curricular badging, and faculty development.
Words cannot express my gratitude to Dr. Dennis Slavin for his two-decade service to the Baruch community as Associate Provost. For the past three years, he has also served as a treasured advisor and my professional confidante. Dennis will be honored at a divisional event later this semester and will rejoin the faculty of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts next spring.
Faculty Affairs
Invitation to Adjunct Social on Wednesday, May 1
All Baruch adjunct faculty are invited to an in-person Adjunct Social on Wednesday, May 1, from 4 to 7 pm in the Newman Vertical Campus (NVC) Room 14-270. Please join us for a night of wine, cheese, snacks, and socializing. Feel free to drop in at any time to get to know some of your colleagues! RSVPs are requested but not required. If you plan to attend, please RSVP here. Please contact Norene Leddy for more information.
Teaching and Learning
ExCEL Survey Responses Requested
The new Office of Experiential and Community Engaged Learning (ExCEL) is conducting a College-wide survey of academic stakeholders. This survey is intended to inventory the experiential learning activities now underway at Baruch College. We need your help to build an accurate and inclusive inventory of all experiential learning opportunities at the College. Please open this survey link and input your responses by Friday, May 3. Please share the link with faculty in your departments, including part-time instructors who teach courses that include experiential learning components.
DEI Fridays: Inclusive Business Education for Social Mobility
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusions (DEI) Fridays series, hosted by the Office of the Provost, welcomes speaker Dr. Priya Nagaraj, Professor of Economics, Finance, and Global Business at the Cotsakos College of Business at William Paterson University of New Jersey. Dr. Nagaraj has led workshops on improving learning outcomes among historically marginalized students, with an eye toward social mobility. She will explore strategies to make classes more inclusive, with an emphasis on business courses. She will also share how generative AI can be used as a leapfrog technology to reduce learning gaps. This event will be held on Friday, May 3, from 12 noon to 1 pm via Zoom. Click here to register.
Research
Call for Proposals for AY24–25 Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Research Seed Grant
Applications for the AY24–25 Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies (BRES) Research Seed Grant Program are now open. The program provides funding to tenure-track or tenured faculty at CUNY community colleges, senior colleges, and graduate schools. A primary goal is to seed research that will become the basis for external funding applications with a focus on one or more of the six major BRES research themes. It is anticipated that up to 30 projects will be supported in the amount of $5,000 each. Click here to learn more about the BRES initiative. Click here for more information about eligibility and proposal requirements. Completed proposals are due by Wednesday, May 1, at 5 pm.
Call for Proposals for FY25 New York Retirement and Disability Research Center
Proposal submissions for the FY25 New York Retirement and Disability Research Center (RDRC) research projects are now open. RDRC brings together the CUNY Institute for Demographic Research at Baruch College, the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, and the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis to illuminate the multifaceted challenges facing older adults and people with disabilities, challenges caused by the political economy, geographical divides, the changing workplace, and climate instability. Grants will be awarded at funding levels ranging from $50,000 to $100,000. Click here for more information on eligibility, requirements and expectations, and application instructions. The deadline to apply is Friday, May 10.
Baruch Selected for Pilot Research Initiative
The National Institutes of Health’s Engagement and Access for Research-Active Institutions (EARA) Pilot Initiative aims to provide institutions with customized information to identify key notices of funding opportunities and contacts at National Institutes of Health Institutes, Centers, and Offices aligned with the institution’s research interests. Baruch College has been selected to participate in this initiative, which will run from February to June 2025. Click here for more information about the initiative.
Faculty Achievements
Dr. Matthew Junge, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, and Dr. David Lindsey, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, have both been selected to receive a 2024 Henry Wasser Award for Outstanding Research for Assistant Professors in CUNY. Congratulations, Matthew and David!
Dr. Frank L. Cioffi, Professor, Department of English, has authored the book Stellar English: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Grammar & Style, which will be published by the Princeton University Press (PUP) this month. This is Dr. Cioffi’s fourth book with PUP.
Marc Edelman, Professor, Department of Law, co-authored the article “The Re-Monopolization of the U.S. Sports Trading Card Industry,” which was recently published in the University of Illinois Law Review.
Michael Waldman, Associate Professor and Interim Chief Librarian of the Newman Library, has been elected Vice Chair and Chair-elect of the College Libraries Section of the Association for College and Research Libraries, a Division of the American Library Association.
Do you want to share something you published, exhibited, performed, or presented with the Baruch community? Submit your information here.
Reminders
Letters of Interest for DEI Fridays Coordinator Due Friday, Apr. 19
For three years, Marxe Associate Professor Anna D’Souza has ably led Baruch’s DEI Fridays programming. Perhaps you have ideas for next year’s programming and would like to take on the coordination of the DEI Fridays series next year. If interested, faculty may send their letter of interest, addressed to the Office of the Provost, expressing their interest and listing up to six ideas for programming for the 2024–25 academic year. Please see the website for details of spring programming and recordings of past programs. The DEI Fridays Faculty Coordinator receives 3 units of reassigned time, a modest budget for speaker honoraria, and marketing support from the Office of the Provost. Letters, addressed to the Office of the Provost, are due by Friday, Apr. 19.
Faculty Affairs Open Office Hours for Adjunct Faculty on Tuesday, Apr. 30
Norene Leddy, Director of Faculty Affairs, is continuing to offer biweekly open office hours for adjunct faculty. The next session will take place on Tuesday, Apr. 30, from 2 to 3 pm via Zoom. Faculty must register in advance. Upon registering, faculty will receive a confirmation email with a recurring Zoom link that may be used to attend any of the future sessions for the remainder of the Spring 2024 semester. These open office hours are optional and provide an opportunity for adjunct faculty to discuss any questions or concerns they may have. If you are interested in attending but are unable to make the scheduled time, please contact Norene Leddy.
Guidelines for AI Use Available
The AI Think Tank has published Guidelines for AI Use at Baruch College. These guidelines address the ethical and responsible use of AI throughout the College. I encourage you to review and implement them.
All Faculty and Staff Must Complete E-SPARC and WVP Trainings via Blackboard
All full-time and adjunct faculty, as well as all staff members, are required to take two online, asynchronous training courses each year: the Employee Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Course (E-SPARC) and Workplace Violence Prevention (WVP). Both are available via Blackboard, under My Organizations. Please set time aside as soon as possible to complete these mandatory CUNY trainings. Full-time faculty should complete them no later than Friday, May 31, and all adjuncts have until the end of the current semester. For any questions or concerns about the trainings, please reach out to Maximillian Ng, Baruch’s Compliance Training Administrator.
Stay Connected
Share Your Research and Creative Activity
Keep the College up to date with your research and creative activity by emailing facultynews@baruch.cuny.edu with the what, where, and when of your publication, presentation, exhibition, award, and so on.
President Wu’s Blog
Join the conversation at President Wu’s blog. Read and comment here.
Newsletter Items?
If you have an item you would like considered for inclusion in the biweekly Provost’s Newsletter, please click here to send an email to the Provost mailbox. If you have an event for the Academic Affairs Events Calendar, published each Thursday during the academic semester, click here.