Provost’s Newsletter: News and Updates from the Division of Academic Affairs for August 23, 2023
August 23, 2023
Dear Baruch Community:
Welcome to the Fall 2023 semester! As we begin the 2023–24 academic year, we enter a new landscape, where generative large-language artificial intelligence (AI) tools are readily available. Baruch College as an innovative institution can be a leader across four layers of AI use in higher education: how we teach, what we teach, research and inquiry, and the integration of AI into our own systems and processes. That’s why, throughout the upcoming year, you will see a rollout of teaching tools, research presentations, and events from departments, schools, and the Office of the Provost, including the Artificial Intelligence Summit on Friday, Sept. 22. We are also launching an Artificial Intelligence “Think Tank.” If you are interested in being part of the AI Think Tank, please fill out the form here.
Last week, faculty and staff received an important message from CUNY Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost Wendy Hensel about actions that are needed to make sure that every CUNY campus is meeting the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. Our legal obligation notwithstanding, Baruch is an institution committed to access to opportunity and to helping all students reach their potential for academic success. As of last week, only 74% of Baruch College course sections had textbook information either entered into CUNYfirst or listed with Akademos. Textbook information for Fall 2023 not previously entered must be entered immediately so that students have access to the materials. Courses that do not require a textbook must also be identified as such. Another easy way to improve the accessibility of course materials for all students is to upload those materials to the Learning Management System (LMS). The conversion of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to accessible alternative formats can happen inside the LMS through a tool called Ally.
As this is the “semester launch” issue of the Provost’s Newsletter, there is a plethora of additional semester start-up information that follows. So please scroll down through the entire message for important and timely information for faculty and staff.
There are welcome events throughout this week and next. I hope to see you at one of these events and on the Clivner=Field Plaza, where I and many other faculty, staff, and administrators from across the College will be welcoming our newest students!
Best wishes for a successful semester,
Dr. Linda Essig
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Campus Updates
Coffee Chats/Tea Talks for Faculty and Staff
All faculty and staff are invited to a monthly series of coffee chats (or tea talks, if you don’t drink coffee) to come together in an informal setting and celebrate the cultural heritage months recognized by the Office of Student Life and our community. Each gathering will be hosted by a faculty or staff member, with minimal programming; these are opportunities to connect with colleagues while enjoying light morning refreshments and a collegial break from the routine. The series will commence on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 9–10:30 am in the lovely room with arched windows in the Newman Conference Center, Information and Technology Building, 7th Floor, Room 760. Additional dates and locations will be announced as they become available.
- September – Latinx Heritage Month | Tuesday, Sept. 26 | Host: Raquel Fich
- October – LGBTQIA+ History Month | Host: Michael Waldman
- November – Native American Heritage Month
- December – Celebrate Faith Diversity
- February – Black History Month
- March – Women’s History Month
- April – Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month
- May – Caribbean Week
If you are interested in hosting one of these coffee chats/tea talks, please email the Office of the Provost with the subject line “Coffee chats.”
Faculty Affairs
Faculty Profile Pages Are Now Live
The Faculty Profile Pages (FPP) site went live on August 15 and is now accessible at baruch.cuny.edu/profiles without the need to access it using the VPN. Faculty can continue to update their individual pages. Please refer to the updated instructions here. Frequently Asked Questions are linked at the bottom of the page. The FPP site serves three important functions: (1) to showcase the credentials and achievements of Baruch faculty through consistently formatted webpages, (2) to locate experts across the College in specific fields, and (3) to foster networking and interdisciplinary collaborations among Baruch’s faculty. Please be sure to update the “Expertise” field in the Faculty 180 profile as this will help with search functionality. For any questions or comments about this site, please contact Associate Provost Raquel Fich.
New Faculty Orientation Was a Success!
The College welcomed ~60 members of the new full-time faculty cohort at the recent New Faculty Orientation. The extensive orientation program spanned multiple days and included sessions about Baruch College (Baruch 101), presentations by directors of various units in the Associate Provosts’ Offices, faculty panels on teaching and on research, and an overview of BCTC/IT Services, HR procedures and benefits, and the PSC-CUNY contract. The new faculty cohort will be officially welcomed at Fall Faculty Convocation, held on Thursday, Sept. 21 (more below). Congratulations and thanks to the New Faculty Orientation Committee: Dennis Slavin, Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning; Raquel Fich, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, Research, and Innovation: Maria Burgos, Faculty Workload and Systems Manager, Office of Academic Affairs; and Vanessa Cano, Special Assistant to the Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning.
Fall Faculty Convocation Is One Month Away
Faculty, please save the date and plan to attend Fall Faculty Convocation on Thursday, Sept. 21, from 12:30–2:30 pm. As is customary, we will honor and recognize faculty achievements, including career milestones, recent research and creative accomplishments, and distinguished teaching. At this gathering, we will also welcome one of the largest cohorts of new hires in recent years and will hear from engaging and inspiring keynote speakers. The Faculty Convocation invitation and the RSVP link will go out soon.
Student Success
Academic Success Services for Students
Please make sure to acquaint yourself with the full list of Baruch’s academic success services for students. Thank you, Associate Provost Dennis Slavin, for compiling that list. Two of those resources are highlighted here.
- The Writing Center invites members of the faculty to request a class visit or in-class workshop this fall. Each semester, the center visits more than 80 sections, introducing their services to students at all levels–ranging from undergrads in Communication-Intensive Courses and honors business courses to graduate students in management, fundraising, and psychology. In a class visit, center staff present a 15-minute overview that introduces the center’s mission and describes the resources available; in an in-class workshop, they’ll present a 75-minute lesson on a targeted writing, reading, or research skill.
- The Office of Student Disability Services (OSDS) offers a suite of supports for students and the faculty who teach them. Please familiarize yourself with these resources and encourage students who share their disability with you to seek the support of OSDS. The office will determine the appropriate accommodation for the student in consultation with the faculty member. Also, please include links to OSDS resources on your syllabi. You can contact OSDS via email. Learn more.
Conversation Partners Program
The International Student Service Center encourages faculty to let students know about the Conversation Partners Program. This program matches native and nonnative speakers of English for informal conversations. It is a great way for nonnative students to gain confidence in English, for native speakers to gain experience in communicating across language barriers, and for both native and nonnative speakers to expand their cultural knowledge, make friends, and build a network of professional contacts. To participate, students should be willing to commit to meeting their partner at least six times this semester for about one hour. For more information and to sign up, click here. The deadline for signing up is Friday, Sept. 22.
Access Kognito Training Before the End of 2023
Kognito, Baruch’s partner for mental health and suicide prevention training, will cease operation on Sunday, Dec. 31. We strongly encourage all full-time faculty, part-time adjuncts, staff, and peer mentors to complete the Kognito At-Risk Mental Health Training before it becomes unavailable. This simulation-based training takes less than an hour, and participants who finish the training will receive a downloadable certificate of completion.
The Kognito At-Risk Mental Health Training for Faculty and Staff is an interactive role-play simulation that builds awareness, knowledge, and skills regarding mental health and suicide prevention. It prepares users to lead real-life conversations with students that build resilience, strengthen relationships, and connect them with support.
To access this training:
- Visit cuny.kognito.com
- Log in or create a new account
- Use enrollment key: baruchcaruf
- Launch At-Risk Mental Health for Faculty or Staff
Teaching and Learning
AI in Your Syllabus
The Office of the Provost encourages all faculty to investigate the use of AI in the classroom as appropriate to individual disciplines and to articulate a classroom policy on AI for your syllabus. Whether or not individual faculty members decide to ban the use of AI is their classroom prerogative, however, our first bit of guidance is to not attempt to ban the use of AI outright. Instead, it would be better to establish parameters for its use. Given that ChatGPT is a large-language tool, the Modern Language Association’s suggestion for how to cite AI provides a useful foundation for such parameters:
- Cite a generative AI tool whenever you paraphrase, quote, or incorporate into your own work any content (whether text, image, data, or other) that was created by it
- Acknowledge all functional uses of the tool (like editing your prose or translating words) in a note, your text, or another suitable location
- Take care to vet the secondary sources it cites [these are often inaccurate or false]
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is offering a suite of tools and workshops on how to integrate AI into classroom teaching. To join the AI Think Tank, click here.
Classroom Reminders
With our classroom spaces at capacity during peak hours, please follow these guidelines to help ensure a smooth transition for both faculty and students.
Religious Holidays
Please be mindful of the broad diversity of religious practices among Baruch’s student, faculty, and staff communities. The CUNY policy on religious accommodations can be found here.
Grading Policies
Course requirements and the grading scheme should be provided on course syllabi. Students deserve the opportunity to learn from their mistakes—to see where they can improve and to know what they have done well—so please provide access to their graded work. Additional information on grading policies, including recent changes to the WU grade, can be found here.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity involves upholding the principles and expectations of doing one’s own work and giving credit to others for theirs. Academic integrity strengthens the educational environment by valuing original work and providing a fair environment for all students. Baruch’s academic integrity policy and links to the CUNY policy from which it is derived can be found here.
Course Modality
Students choose their course schedule in part based on course modality. That’s why, once student enrollment began in April, modality changes have only been made in significantly extenuating circumstances. Now that we are on the verge of the fall semester, no additional modality changes will be considered, and faculty are expected to teach in the course modality published in the Schedule of Classes.
Research
Big Kudos to Dr. Katrin Hansing on Securing an NEH Grant!
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced grants totaling $41.3 million to support 280 humanities projects across the U.S. Among these recipients are Dr. Katrin Hansing, Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, and her Co-Principal Investigator María de Los Angeles Torres from the University of Illinois. They have successfully secured a $248,284 grant for their project “Democratizing the Past: Cubans Remember the Angolan Civil War.” Over a three-year period, Dr. Hansing will lead this collaborative initiative focused on completing the research and the writing of a manuscript that will uncover the stories of Cubans who fought during the war and shed light on this historical period.
Poverty Measures Panel Co-Hosted by the Marxe School
The Marxe School of Public and International Affairs is co-hosting a panel with the Wagner School of New York University to reflect on the recently published 2023 National Academy of Sciences report An Updated Measure of Poverty: (Re)Drawing the Line. The report is the result of the U.S. Census Bureau requesting that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convene a 14-member committee to update the methodology for measuring poverty. Marxe Professor Sanders Korenman, a member of that committee, will bring together several academics and practitioners to discuss the findings at “Measuring Poverty, An Updated SPM Approach,” a panel on Thursday, Sept. 28, from 4–5:45 pm, in the Newman Conference Center, Information and Technology Building, Seventh Floor, Room 750. The official press release for the report is available here.
Publication News
Qiulei Hu, Adjunct Professor of Chinese in the Department of Modern Languages and Comparative Literature, published a book with Brill titled Abandoned Women and Boudoir Resentment: The Construction of the Feminine Voice in Early Medieval Chinese Literature.
Want to share your recent publications, awards, or achievements? Faculty can click here. Staff can click here. Be sure to put “For the newsletter” in the subject line of your email.
Focus on Funding
Research Expenditures Up 21%
One common measure of research productivity is the annual sponsored research expenditures of an institution. In FY 2022, Baruch was ranked 18th in the CUNY system, with expenditures totaling $6,976,646. For FY 2023, our sponsored program activity increased by 21% to $8,448,930. Congratulations to the faculty and staff who have successfully secured external funding for their work and thank you to the professional team in the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research for supporting these efforts.
Stay Connected
President Wu’s Blog
Join the conversation at President Wu’s blog. Read and comment here.
Newsletter Items?
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