Provost’s Newsletter: News and Updates from the Division of Academic Affairs for February 5, 2025
February 5, 2025
Dear Baruch College Community:
Last week saw a succession of headlines, memos, and executive orders that created an atmosphere of uncertainty in institutions of higher education across the U.S. In times of uncertainty, we can look to our institutional values for guidance and stability. These values, clearly articulated in the 2023-2028 Baruch College Strategic Plan, inspire institutional behavior. I reflect on them often as I work to support the mission of the College.
These values are:
- Collaboration and Connection: We advance partnerships within and beyond the campus community, bring together diverse perspectives, and maximize interdisciplinary teaching and research.
- Excellence: We lead with integrity, quality, and rigor in our academic, social, and professional pursuits.
- Impact: We create opportunities for our students, faculty, and staff to make positive change to affect their futures, professions, communities, and society.
- Inclusion: We foster a community of belonging, embracing people with diverse perspectives, identities, and backgrounds.
- Innovation: We are change agents dedicated to advancing knowledge, expanding understanding, and deploying creativity to solve problems.
To these, I add the evergreen value of “Academic Freedom,” foundational to all of higher education. The CUNY Baruch Academic Freedom Policy notes that the University promotes public understanding and is conducted for the common good. It then explicates further:
Academic freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. It carries with it duties correlative with rights.
The policy is clear that Academic Freedom is both essential and fundamental to the University and the College.
In alignment with our strategic plan’s guiding commitment of care and respect, community members have asked about resources available to immigrant students. The Baruch Office of Immigrant Student Success Services provides guidance on legal aid, immigrant rights, and citizenship matters, ensuring all students have the resources to succeed. Our immigrant student services liaison can be reached here.
Federal grants and awards were another area of concern for higher education—and Baruch College—last week. The Research Foundation (RFCUNY) is maintaining a resource page with the latest news of impacts on federal grant funding. Whether you are a member of the staff or the faculty, please bookmark this page if your work is dependent on federal funding.
Closer to home, the Division of Academic Affairs continues to advance the College mission to be a place of opportunity and exploration where students, faculty, and staff transform their futures, their professions, and their communities. Our diverse and inclusive community is driven by learning, innovative knowledge creation, and intellectual discovery. That commitment remains certain.
Please scroll down for news about ongoing programs and special events of interest, including the annual student vs. faculty/staff basketball game.
Best wishes,
Dr. Linda Essig
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Campus Updates
February Coffee Chat/Tea Talk Celebrates Black History Month
Join host Shelly Eversley, Interim Chair, Department of Black and Latino Studies and Professor of English, for the monthly Academic Affairs Coffee Chat/Tea Talk on Wednesday, Feb. 19, in the Newman Vertical Campus(NVC), 14th Floor, Room 14-270 from 9:30 to 10:30 am. All faculty and staff are welcome to share coffee (or tea) and conversation at this celebration of Black History Month. For more information on Black History Month at Baruch College, click here.
Call for Participation: Third Annual Student vs. Faculty/Staff Basketball Game
The Undergraduate Student Government is once again organizing a student vs. faculty/staff basketball game, and all are invited to participate. This year’s game will be held in the Baruch Gym on Thursday, Mar. 20. Warmups will begin at approximately 5:15 pm, and the game starts at 6 pm. Whether you’re a basketball pro, a casual player, or just in it for the fun, this is your chance to engage with students in a new way, enjoy some friendly rivalry, and be part of an event that brings the Baruch community together. Want to play? Click here to sign up by Friday, Feb. 7.
Faculty Affairs
Adjunct Faculty Open Office Hours on Friday, Feb. 7
Norene Leddy, Director of Faculty Affairs, will host open office hours for adjunct faculty on Friday, Feb. 7, at 2 pm via Zoom. These biweekly open office hours are optional and provide an opportunity for adjunct faculty to meet with Ms. Leddy to discuss any questions or concerns they may have. This session will feature Rachel Rys, Associate Director of the Writing Center. Catherine Kawalek from the Education Technology Team will also be present to provide support for both Brightspace and Zoom. Adjunct faculty can register here to join. Registration links and a full calendar for the semester are also available in the Adjunct Community Space in Brightspace.
Student Success
Academic Success Services for Students
Faculty play an essential role in connecting Baruch students to many useful resources around campus. Be sure to review the full list of academic success services and share this information with students throughout the term. Two resources to consider are the Writing Center and the Office of Student Disability Services.
The Writing Center invites members of the faculty to request a class visit or in-class workshop this spring. Each semester, Writing Center staff visit more than 80 sections, introducing their services to undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines. During a class visit, staff members present a 15-minute overview that introduces the center’s mission and describes its resources; during an in-class workshop, they present a 75-minute lesson focused on a core reading, writing, or research skill.
The Office of Student Disability Services (OSDS) offers a suite of support for students and the faculty who teach them. Please familiarize yourself with these resources and encourage students with disabilities to utilize OSDS services. The office, in consultation with the faculty member, will determine the appropriate accommodation for the student. Faculty are also required to include links to OSDS resources in their syllabi. You may contact OSDS via email. For more information, click here.
AI and the Future of Work Seminars for Students
AI and The Future of Work, a series for students supported and funded by the CUNY Career Success Fellows Program and the Baruch Office of the Provost, explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in—and its impact on—today’s workplaces. There will be three Tuesday sessions, Feb. 11, Mar. 11, and Mar. 25, all held in the Newman Vertical Campus (NVC), 14th Floor, Room 14-270 from 12:30 to 2 pm. Each session will offer unique information and insights surrounding AI that will better equip Baruch students for their careers after graduation. Lunch will be provided. Please inform your students about this series, either in your classes or elsewhere, reminding them that they received an invitation via email.
Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Expo
The Office of Experiential and Community Engaged Learning (ExCEL), in collaboration with the Starr Career Development Center, is offering a workshop open to all undergraduate students on student research, creative projects, and public presentation. The event will be held in the Starr Career Development Center, Newman Vertical Campus (NVC), 2nd Floor, Room 2-190 on Tuesday, Feb. 25, from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. Please inform your students about this event, either in your classes or elsewhere. For more information, please email creativeinquiryday@baruch.cuny.edu.
Teaching and Learning
Spring 2025 Verification of Enrollment Update
The verification of enrollment (VOE) period for the Spring 2025 regular session courses began on Saturday, Feb. 1, and will continue through Friday, Feb. 14. Please note that unlike in past terms, the verification of enrollment rosters will no longer be able to re-open after the deadline. During the verification of enrollment process, instructors are required to verify that all students listed on the roster are actively participating in that class. The roster contains officially enrolled students for the course, and the default value for the enrollment radio button is “Yes.”
For any student who has never attended a class, with no documented evidence of the student’s participation in the course (such as a completed assignment), select the “No” radio button. Students who participate in the course by submitting homework but who don’t attend meetings would still be marked as “Yes.” A student marked as “No” (never participated) will be withdrawn from your course, assigned a WN grade after the VOE period, and will no longer have access to Brightspace.
Course Policy and Guideline Refreshers
As the Spring 2025 semester progresses, it is important to review the College’s policies and guidelines regarding courses. Some important policies and guidelines are as follows:
- 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. Please plan to give students timely access to graded work so they can see what they have done well and where they can improve. Also prepare to be available to answer students’ questions about their grades. For more information about Baruch College grading, click 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: Faculty are expected to teach in the course modality published in the Schedule of Classes. Students choose their course schedule in part based on course modality. Now that we are in the Spring semester, no modality changes will be considered. Click here for more information.
Open Educational Resources Seminar
Baruch’s Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) is offering an Open Educational Resources (OER) Seminar this spring. It will explore Creative Commons and open-source digital tools, as well as teaching with open and zero-cost resources. To accommodate schedules, the seminar will be offered during two Zoom sessions:
- Tuesdays, Feb. 25 and Mar. 11, from 1:30 to 4:30 pm
- Fridays, Feb. 28 and Mar. 14, from 2 to 5 pm
Through a grant from CUNY’s OER program, attendees will be compensated $300 for full participation, with additional funding available for those who convert to a Zero Textbook Cost or Low Textbook Cost course. It is worth noting that the cost of materials (especially McGraw Hill “Connect”) is the number one academic affairs concern identified by the Undergraduate Student Government (USG).
To indicate interest and availability, please respond to this survey by Wednesday, Feb. 12, at noon. Click here for more information.
Getting to Know Brightspace: Using the Calendar
The Brightspace calendar shows upcoming events, deadlines, and due dates. It’s available on both personal and course homepages—on the personal homepage, it shows events for all courses, while the course homepage shows events for that course only. You can filter, sort, and search events by date, course, and category. Use “Agenda View” for sorting and “List View” to organize by event type (Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes). You can also filter by individual courses or see all calendars at once. For more details, instructors can refer to this article. For any questions, please reach out to Brightspace Support 24/7 by clicking the blue-and-white dialogue box in the bottom right corner of any Brightspace webpage or via phone at 1-888-895-2511.
Research
Call for Nominations: 2025 Feliks Gross and Henry Wasser Awards
The Feliks Gross and Henry Wasser Awards are given to the most accomplished scholars among CUNY assistant professors. The awards are open to all CUNY tenure-track assistant professors, and faculty may be nominated by chairpersons, executive officers, deans, or provosts. Click here for more information about the awards and here for the nomination link. Please contact Sarah Danielsson, Executive Director of the CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences, with any questions. The deadline to submit a nomination is Sunday, Mar. 16.
Baruch Faculty Writing Group Continues
The Baruch Faculty Writing Group aims to build a community of scholars across Baruch College by providing an informal weekly working time for research and writing during the semester. The group meets Friday mornings via Zoom from 10 am to 12 pm. For additional details and to indicate your interest, please contact Elizabeth Edenberg, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy.
Reminders
Registration Now Open: AI Prompt-a-Thon on Thursday, Feb. 20
Dr. Michael J. Jabbour, Microsoft Innovation Officer, will be returning to Baruch College to lead an AI Prompt-a-Thon on Thursday, Feb. 20, from 2:30 to 5:30 pm in the Newman Vertical Campus (NVC), 5th Floor, Room 5-150 (entrance also available through 4-150). This will be an interactive session focused on the operational uses of Generative AI. All staff and faculty are invited to attend but space is limited; managerial staff are especially encouraged to attend. During this session, attendees will be writing prompts live and reviewing the results. Dr. Jabbour will be using several common Generative AI applications, which you will need to have access to in advance of the session in February. Additionally, you will need to bring your Baruch laptop to this working session. Please reserve your spot here. More information will be provided to registered attendees next month.
Registration Now Open: Annual Spring Tenure & Promotion and CCE Workshops
Each spring, faculty are invited to attend a Tenure & Promotion workshop for all tenure-track faculty and a separate CCE workshop for all lecturers interested in applying for CCE. Both events will include overviews of these processes from academic leadership, as well as an opportunity for faculty to speak directly with recently tenured/promoted colleagues about their experiences. The CCE workshop for lecturers will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 18, at 12:30 pm, and the Tenure & Promotion workshop for professorial title faculty will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 12:30 pm. Both workshops will be in the Newman Vertical Campus (NVC), 14th Floor, Room 14-250. Click here to RSVP.
Please note that the Tenure & Promotion workshop is intended for all professorial line faculty, including associate professors interested in promotion to full professor. A light lunch will be served at both events. Space is limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible.
Call for Applications: Fourth Annual Cross-College Faculty Research Symposium
Full-time faculty from across Baruch College are invited to apply for a presentation slot at the Faculty Research Symposium. This signature showcase event will take place in person on Thursday, Mar. 27, from 1:30 to 5 pm in the Newman Vertical Campus (NVC), 14th Floor, Room 14-250, and will be followed by a networking reception. Faculty presenters are eligible for a $1,000 research award chosen by the audience. Please see the call for applications and submit the required materials via the application form by Monday, Mar. 3. All faculty across the College are invited to attend to hear the presentations, participate in discussion, and vote for their favorite presentation. If you have any questions about the showcase or the application process, please contact Associate Provost Raquel Fich.
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, exhibition, or award.
President Wu’s Blog
Join the conversation at President Wu’s blog. Read and comment here.
Event Listings
If you have an event for the Academic Affairs Events Calendar, published each Thursday during the academic semester, click here.