Provost’s Newsletter: News and Updates from the Division of Academic Affairs for January 8, 2025
January 8, 2025
Dear Baruch College Community:
Happy 2025! As Monday’s snow made obvious, Winter Session has begun. Although the smallest of our four semesters, Winter Session 2025 still boasts about 100 course sections with more than 3,000 students registered, along with many students pursuing credit-bearing paid internships.
As you prepare for the Spring 2025 semester, I want to repeat some of the guidance provided in the last issue of the newsletter. (Rest assured, the material below my signature is new, so please keep reading.) General guidelines for syllabus format and content can be found on the Syllabus Guidelines page. It’s worth a few minutes to review these guidelines as you build your next semester’s courses. CUNY publishes a religious and ethnic holiday calendar that goes through 2031. Please review this calendar for the few holidays that require observers to refrain from work and avoid holding exams and quizzes on those dates because observant students will be absent from class. Some spring semester holidays may involve fasting.
New this spring, there will be no classes scheduled on January 29 in observance of Lunar New Year and on March 31 in observance of Eid al-Fitr.
In this issue, we welcome the new Dean of the William and Anita Newman Library and open applications for presenters for the Fourth Annual Faculty Research Symposium. Please scroll down.
Best wishes,
Dr. Linda Essig
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Campus Updates
Welcome Dean Hughes
Dr. Michael Hughes began his tenure as Dean of the Wiliam and Anita Newman Library and Chief Librarian on Thursday, Jan. 2. Dr. Hughes comes to Baruch from CUNY’s Office of Library Services, where he served as Director of Collections. He has more than 30 years of library experience in positions of increasing responsibility. He holds an MSLIS from the Palmer School of Library of Information Science at Long Island University, MA and PhD degrees in philosophy from SUNY Stonybrook, and a BA in English literature from NYU. Please join me in welcoming Dean Hughes to the Baruch community!
Dr. Andreas Grein Accepts SIO Title
As Director of the Weissman Center for International Business, Professor Andreas (Andy) Grein leads the international efforts of the Center and by extension the College, including chairing the Global Engagement Cross-College Working Group and oversight of the Study Abroad Office. As such, he has recently accepted the title of Senior International Officer (SIO) to officially represent the College with designated international partners.
Faculty Affairs
Registration Now Open: Annual Spring Tenure & Promotion and CCE Workshops
This 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 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 becoming full-time faculty. A light lunch will be served at both events. Space is limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible.
Adjunct Faculty Open Office Hours Resume on Friday, Jan. 24
Norene Leddy, Director of Faculty Affairs, will resume biweekly open office hours for adjunct faculty on Friday, Jan. 24 at 2 pm via Zoom. These open office hours are optional and provide an opportunity for adjunct faculty to meet with Ms. Leddy and discuss any questions or concerns they may have. The first session in January will cover the Verification of Enrollment (VOE) process, Progress Reports (formerly known as “Early Alerts”), and attendance policies, as well as general questions. Catherine Kawalek from the Educational Technology Team will also be on hand 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.
Teaching and Learning
Getting to Know Brightspace: Managing Dates
Streamline your course setup and make date adjustments with the Manage Dates Tool. This feature allows you to view, adjust, and manage all course dates in one central place without needing to update each assignment, quiz, or discussion individually.
To access the Manage Dates Tool, go to Course Admin from your course homepage and select Manage Dates. You’ll see a list of all course content with associated start, end, and due dates displayed in one screen. From here, you can modify dates individually or use the Offset Dates feature to shift all dates by a certain number of days—perfect for courses that repeat each semester or assignments that need slight adjustments. Additionally, you can filter by content type, such as assignment or discussion. For more information, instructors can review this helpful article about the Manage Dates Tool. 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.
Getting to Know Brightspace: Using the Import/Export/Copy Components Tool
Brightspace’s Import/Export/Copy Components tool allows you to transfer course materials seamlessly from one course to another, import content from external sources, or export your course materials for archiving or future use. You can copy quizzes, assignments, discussions, content modules, and more from a previous course into your current one. Additionally, you can use this tool if you need to share course materials or import content from a different LMS. Please refer to the instructions at this link for guidance. 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 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.
Assessment, Accreditation, Institutional Effectiveness
Call for Submissions: Articles for The Assessment Review
CUNY’s The Assessment Review is currently open for submissions. This publication is sponsored by the CUNY Assessment Council and consists of articles written by faculty and administrators across CUNY campuses on the improvement of teaching and learning, theory and policy in higher education, accreditation, and improvement of administrative and support services. The deadline to submit an article for this year’s edition is Saturday, Feb. 1. To learn more, click here.
Reminders
Nominations for the Presidential Excellence Awards
The Presidential Excellence Awards Committees seek nominations for the Presidential Excellence Awards for Distinguished Scholarship, Distinguished Teaching, and Distinguished Service. Winners will receive an honorarium and a certificate. The deadline for nominations is Thursday, Feb. 13. More information is available here. Submit your nominations here.
Submissions for the 2024 Abraham J. Briloff Prizes in Ethics
The Abraham J. Briloff Prizes in Ethics are intended to stimulate scholarship in the field of ethics, with an emphasis on ethics in professional life. The prizes are awarded annually to a faculty member who has written an important topical article, essay, or book on ethics (published or recently published) and to any current undergraduate or graduate Baruch student or students for an outstanding research paper or essay, also focused on current events. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Feb. 14. Submissions and questions should be addressed to Vanessa Cano, Special Assistant to the Associate Provost. Refer to the Faculty Handbook for more information.
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.