Provost’s Newsletter: News and Updates from the Division of Academic Affairs for January 10, 2024
January 10, 2024
Dear Baruch College Community:
Welcome to 2024! And to a new look for the Provost’s Newsletter. You’ll see this refreshed look around campus and in all of our communications as the Office of Communications, Marketing, and Public Affairs (OCMPA) rolls out Baruch College’s new branding. You can access refreshed PowerPoint templates, Zoom backgrounds, and more in the OCMPA tookit.
I hope you had some time to enjoy the holiday season and spend time with family and friends over the past weeks. As we launch the new year, I am very much looking forward to continuing the momentum of our strategic plan, one element of which is to maximize students’ potential to succeed by providing learning opportunities that are flexible, dynamic, experiential, and connected to New York City. To improve our infrastructure for doing so, a search is underway for the inaugural Director of Experiential and Community-Engaged Learning. Please see the “Campus Updates” section for detailed information on finalist open forums. All members of the Baruch community are encouraged to attend.
Winter session is underway, and the spring semester begins in two weeks. But there is much activity happening on campus. This week marks our Second Annual Professional Development Week, with one virtual and two in-person workshops still to come. Please reread the January 3 staff announcement or send an email to the Staff Working Group if you have and questions or would like more information.
Faculty members interested in presenting at the Third Annual Cross-College Faculty Research Symposium can scroll down for a link to the application form.
Onward to 2024!
Best wishes,
Dr. Linda Essig
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Campus Updates
Open Forums for Finalists for the New Director of Experiential and Community-Engaged Learning on January 24–26
Please reserve 2:45 to 3:45 pm on Jan. 24, 25, and 26 for the open forums for finalists for the position of Director of Experiential and Community-Engaged Learning. In the forums, each of the candidates will discuss their approach to supporting both undergraduate research and community-engaged learning and how they would engage faculty, staff, and students. All of the forums will be held in the Administration Building, 135 East 22nd Street, 3rd floor, Room D-301.
Faculty Affairs
Spring 2024 Programming for Faculty
The Division of Faculty Affairs, Research, and Innovation is launching a series of faculty-oriented events this spring, including workshops, book discussions, and more. New full- and part-time faculty should be sure to check their inboxes for specific events, while ongoing updates on faculty programs will be shared through this newsletter. For faculty programming suggestions or feedback, please reach out to Norene Leddy, Director of Faculty Affairs.
National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity Workshop
All faculty are invited to join an in-person workshop featuring Dr. Pablo Peixoto, Associate Professor of Natural Sciences and DEI Fellow in the Weissman School, and Dr. Ashley Gaskew, Assistant Professor in the Marxe School. This workshop will cover the resources available from the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) to help faculty thrive in academia. Faculty will also learn how to claim their account with Baruch’s institutional membership. The workshop will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 30, from 1 to 2 pm in the Newman Vertical Campus (NVC), Room 14-266. RSVP here and reach out to Norene Leddy with questions. Please bring your laptop.
Faculty Affairs Open Office Hours for Adjunct Faculty on Tuesday, Feb. 6
Norene Leddy, Director of Faculty Affairs, is continuing biweekly open office hours for adjunct faculty. The next session will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 6, from 2 to 3 pm via Zoom. Faculty must register in advance. After registering, faculty will receive a confirmation email and the recurring Zoom link for the Spring 2024 semester and can attend any of the sessions. These open office hours are not mandatory but provide an opportunity for adjunct faculty to meet with Ms. Leddy and discuss any questions or concerns they may have. If you are interested in attending but are unable to make the scheduled time, please reach out to her to arrange a mutually convenient time to meet. Contact Norene Leddy for more information.
Research
Call for Participation: Third Annual Cross-College Faculty Research Symposium
All full-time faculty are invited to share their research with their Baruch colleagues in a fun PechaKucha format (20 slides in 20 minutes) at the Third Annual Cross-College Faculty Research Symposium. This symposium will take place in person on Friday, Mar. 22. Full-time faculty selected to present are also eligible for one of four $2,000 research awards, made possible by a grant from the CUNY Office of Research. There will also be smaller audience choice awards decided on the day of the symposium, so please plan on attending all day. You do not need to present to attend; all faculty are welcome. This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Sean Decatur, President of the American Museum of Natural History. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Feb. 9. Learn more here and apply here. Please reach out to Associate Professor of History Katherine Pence with questions.
Eight Faculty Members Selected to Participate in the Faculty Fellowship Publication Program
The Faculty Fellowship Publication Program (FFPP) is a CUNY-wide program that assists untenured faculty with the design and execution of scholarly publications essential for their tenure progress. Eight Baruch faculty members—Carolyn Abott (Political Science), Kiesha Simone Allan (Black and Latino Studies), William (Casey) Boland (Marxe School), Manpreet Kaur Kohli (Natural Sciences), Alexander Manevitz (History), Victor Sierra Matute (Modern Languages and Comparative Literature), Michael Richter (Economics and Finance), and Stephanie Vella (English)—have been chosen to participate in the FFPP.
Publication News
Assistant Professor Rahul Pathak and Professor Daniel Williams, both of the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, have co-authored “Revenue Composition and Budget Variances of Cities During the Pandemic: Insights from Financial Reports of Ten Large U.S. Cities,” recently published in the Municipal Finance Journal.
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.
Reminders
Save the Date: Spring Tenure and Promotion Workshop on Tuesday, Feb. 27
Please save the date for the annual Spring Tenure and Promotion Workshop to be held in person on Tuesday, Feb. 27, from 12:30 to 2:30 pm. All tenure-track, Certificate of Continuous Employment (CCE)–eligible lecturers, associate professors considering promotion, and staff members who work on the faculty tenure and promotion process are encouraged to attend. This workshop will present an overview of the tenure, promotion, and CCE processes at Baruch and will feature recently tenured, promoted, or CCE-awarded colleagues who will share insights and advice from their own experiences. The content and format will be a bit different from prior years, so even if you have attended in the past, please plan on participating.
All Faculty and Staff Must Complete E-SPARC and WVP Trainings via Blackboard
All faculty, both full-time and adjunct faculty, and all staff members are required to take two online, asynchronous training courses each year: 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. For any questions or concerns about the trainings, please reach out to Baruch’s Compliance Training Administrator.
Provost Reading Corner
To start the new year, I read Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power, by Jefferson Cowie, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for history, which seems particularly timely as the 2024 campaign season kicks off, and The Fraud by Zadie Smith.
What are some good books you read over winter break? Let me know here.
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.