Provost’s Newsletter: News and Updates from the Division of Academic Affairs for September 5, 2024
September 5, 2024
Dear Baruch College Community:
It was a joy to be on the Clivner=Field Plaza last week, first on Tuesday during Student Convocation Day, where we welcomed 4,105 new first-year and transfer students, and then on Thursday for the “Party en la Plaza” that kicked off Latinx Heritage Month.
In my last newsletter, I mentioned the six areas I would be personally focusing on this academic year, one of which is artificial intelligence. We will soon be revisiting the structure of the AI Think Tank and bring faculty and staff together to update the survey on what we are currently doing to clarify our goals related to AI. Please review the AI Use Guidelines developed by the AI Think Tank last year and consider whether and how to integrate AI tools in your teaching, research, and work. The Center for Teaching and Learning is convening AI Pedagogy Working Groups to engage with the emerging discourse on teaching with AI, reflect on their use of and relationship to AI, and produce materials that will be useful for their teaching. Please see details in the “Teaching and Learning” section below, where you can also link to an article to learn how the Zicklin School of Business is integrating AI content into its curriculum. Please expect to see AI resources and other content woven into this newsletter throughout the year.
Respectful dialogue/civil discourse is another topic I am concentrating on this year. On Tuesday, you received a separate communication from me about the guidelines we have in place to protect academic freedom and maintain a campus where learning and discovery can flourish. Please review these policies.
Related to this effort, I met with each of about 10 Baruch Beginnings Workshops last week, as part of Student Convocation, and stressed the four values that all students promise to uphold when they make the “Bearcat Commitment”: Excellence (bring your best), Integrity (stand behind your work as your own), Engagement (get involved on campus and participate in class), and Respect (embrace diversity and treat others with empathy). Students and staff were featured in the Bearcat Commitment video that catalyzed the conversations.
Best wishes for a successful “week two,”
Dr. Linda Essig
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Campus Updates
CUNY Launches Student-Created Unity Campaign
Last week, CUNY launched their student-developed media campaign, “Our CUNY: Hate Divides Us, Diversity Defines Us,” to provide information and resources for combating all forms of hate and creating campus environments that embrace the full breadth of CUNY’s diversity. Congratulations to third-year Baruch student Milton Gordon, who worked to develop the visual images for the campaign and was quoted in an article highlighting the campaign goals. Click here to read the article.
DEI Fridays: Spirituality, Mental Health, and Well-Being
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusions (DEI) Fridays series, coordinated by Professor Eric Essono Tsimi, welcomes guest speaker Dr. Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Professor of Psychiatry and Founder and Director of the Research Center in Spirituality and Health at the School of Medicine at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora in Brazil. Dr. Moreira-Almeida is a former postdoctoral fellow in religion and health at Duke University and currently coordinates TV NUPES, a YouTube channel dedicated to science, health, and spirituality. He will explore the association between religiosity and health as well as empirical studies of spiritual experiences and their implications on the mind-brain problem. This event will be held on Friday, Sept. 27 from 2 to 3 pm via Zoom. Click here to register.
Faculty Affairs
Update Your Interfolio Faculty 180 Account
The Office of Academic Administration (OAA) asks all full-time faculty to enter their honors and achievements regularly into Interfolio Faculty 180 and to update their profile and activities. The College uses reports generated from Interfolio for many purposes, such as award nominations, school reaccreditations, and the Faculty Convocation program. OAA encourages faculty to update their scholarly activities in Interfolio at the start of the fall and spring semesters and add noteworthy events (e.g., article or book acceptances, honors/awards) as soon as they happen. Your cooperation ensures that OAA can provide accurate evidence of the excellence of Baruch’s faculty. For questions about Interfolio, please contact Maria Burgos, Director of Academic Administration, or Sherina John, Administrative Coordinator.
Student Success
Study Abroad Fair on Thursday, Sept. 12
One of Baruch College’s strategic priorities is to grow experiential learning opportunities, including study abroad. Please remind students–whether in your classes, in your offices, or elsewhere–that the Study Abroad Fair will be held on Thursday, Sept 12 from 12:30 to 3 pm in the Newman Vertical Campus (NVC) Auxiliary Gym. At the fair, students will learn how to plan for study abroad and have the chance to speak with students who have returned from their own semesters abroad.
Teaching and Learning
AI Pedagogy Working Groups
Faculty are invited to join small working groups, clustered by disciplinary affinity, to collaboratively respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by AI. Each group, led by a member of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), will meet three to four times throughout the fall semester to engage with the emerging discourse on teaching with AI, reflect on their use of and relationship to AI, and produce materials that will be useful for their teaching (e.g., a revised syllabus statement, in-class activity, or grading policy). Participating faculty will be invited to consider sharing their outcomes in the spring semester for a campus-wide event on Teaching with AI (and/or as an asynchronous resource). For more information, and to indicate your interest, please complete this survey by Friday, Sept. 20. For any questions, please reach out to the Center for Teaching and Learning.
AI Integration in the Zicklin School of Business
As AI continues to evolve, Baruch College has been integrating its use within the classroom, teaching students how to take advantage of the tools and resources AI provides. Sara J. Welch, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, Zicklin School of Business, has written an article highlighting how some professors in the Zicklin School have been utilizing AI in their classrooms. Some of these techniques include teaching students to prompt AI correctly to gain a precise output and using AI tools to help nonnative speakers become more comfortable participating in class discussions. Click here to read the full article.
Getting to Know Brightspace: Understanding Final Grade Settings
It is imperative to ensure accurate final grade calculations in Brightspace, which is why it is important to understand the difference between the Calculated Final Grade and Adjusted Final Grade settings.
The Calculated Final Grade aggregates scores based on the exact grades entered for each item and their weights, without rounding. It is ideal for most grading scenarios to ensure accuracy and transparency. The Calculated Final Grade provides a precise reflection of a student’s performance and reduces discrepancies from rounding errors.
The Adjusted Final Grade allows manual adjustments to be made to the final grade after the initial calculation, useful for applying curves or extra credit. It is helpful to use this setting when specific adjustments are needed that aren’t automatically reflected in the Calculated Final Grade. When using this setting, Brightspace may automatically round grades for each item and the final calculated grade, leading to potential discrepancies. This setting should be used carefully to maintain fairness.
To ensure accurate and precise final grade calculations, it is recommended that faculty use the Calculated Final Grade setting as the default, unless manual adjustments must be made. To set up the Calculated Final Grade, navigate to the Gradebook, select the Setup Wizard, choose Calculated Final Grade, and adjust the decimal point setting from zero to two. By following these steps, the Gradebook will display the exact grades for each item and the final calculated grade, avoiding rounding errors. 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
Faculty Achievements
Robert C. Smith, Professor, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, recently had his book Dreams Achieved and Denied: Mexican Intergenerational Mobility published by the Russell Sage Foundation.
Do you want to share something you published, exhibited, performed, or presented with the Baruch community? Submit your information here.
Assessment, Accreditation, Institutional Effectiveness
Middle States Commission on Higher Education Accreditation Renewal Coming Soon
Baruch College believes that accreditation is essential for higher education to maintain its integrity, quality, and accountability. This commitment was reflected in the College’s most recent accreditation renewal in the spring of 2020, where Baruch was re-accredited without any adverse findings. The next Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) self-study renewal will occur during the 2027–28 academic year, with a visit from an evaluation team consisting of representatives from our peer intuitions. While this feels far away, Middle States will begin to formally engage the College in the self-study process in September 2025. Therefore, the College will spend the 2024–25 academic year preparing, ensuring we are in compliance with the updated MSCHE accreditation standards adopted in 2023.
The Middle States standards emphasize systematic assessment by requiring colleges and universities to regularly review their programs, policies, and practices and update them as necessary. Specifically, each unit and degree program are required to collect data on an annual basis. At the time of our next self-study submission, we are required to provide evidence of four years of assessment data and indicate how this data was used to inform policies and actions. To meet those requirements, the review of that data will begin this semester.
Reminders From Previous Newsletters
Baruch Faculty Mentoring Network
The College-wide Faculty Mentoring Network will be up and running in a pilot version in the fall to support both professorial title faculty and lecturers at all career stages. The Faculty Mentoring Network is optional, so faculty who already have their mentoring needs met in their school/department can continue without change—or may choose to also join the network. If you’d like to learn more about the Baruch Faculty Mentoring Network, please reach out to Norene Leddy, Director of Faculty Affairs, and Dr. David Jones, Senior Mentor and Professor of Political Science.
In addition, please save the dates for our Mentoring Network Faculty Gatherings, which will be held on Monday, Nov. 4 and Thursday, Mar. 27 from 5 to 7 pm. These gatherings will happen immediately after the Faculty Research showcases, providing opportunities to meet peers, mentors, and potential collaborators from across the College.
Faculty Interest Group: Gender Studies
Faculty interest groups (FIGs) are self-organized and complement the more formal Faculty Strategic Research Clusters. Baruch’s first FIG is on Gender Studies. Coordinated by faculty members Shawn Grant, Assistant Professor, Department of Law, and Katherine Pence, Associate Professor, Department of History, the Gender Studies FIG seeks to foster an interdisciplinary community of faculty members, staff, students, and practitioners interested in advancing their understanding and engaging in conversations around the current legal, legislative, and political developments targeting reproductive rights, gender identity, and sexual orientation. To join this FIG, please contact Shawn Grant. If you would like to propose a new FIG, please contact Norene Leddy, Director of Faculty Affairs.
Baruch Faculty Writing Group Begins
The Baruch Faculty Writing Group builds a community of scholars across Baruch College by providing an informal weekly working time for research and writing during the semester. We provide a quiet space, tea, and coffee to help fuel your academic projects. The group meets weekly in person on Wednesdays from 10 am to 1 pm in the Newman Library, Information and Technology Building, Room 415 and via Zoom on Fridays from 10 am to 12 noon. For additional details and to indicate your interest in attending the meetings, please contact Elizabeth Edenberg, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy.
Claim Your NCFDD Institutional Membership Account
Baruch College has renewed its institutional membership to NCFDD (formerly the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity) for the 2024–25 academic year. NCFDD is an online resource to help faculty at all career stages thrive in academia. The institutional membership gives faculty access to webinars and other programs that cover everything from time management and how to say no to planning career pivots and finding research collaborators. Click here to claim your free institutional membership account and select Baruch College as your institution.
Online Asynchronous Adjunct Faculty Orientation
The online asynchronous orientation for new adjunct faculty is available now via this link. In addition, please save the date for our College-wide Adjunct Social event, which will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 8 from 4 to 7 pm, to give adjunct faculty the opportunity to meet and socialize in person.
Adjunct Community Space in Brightspace
Adjunct faculty teaching this fall have been added to the Adjunct Community Space in Brightspace. The Adjunct Community Space is updated regularly to provide resources and announce events, trainings, and other critical information for adjunct faculty. If you are an adjunct faculty member and you do not see the Adjunct Community Space in your list of Brightspace courses, please contact Adjunct Services to be added as soon as possible.
Faculty Affairs Open Office Hours for Adjunct Faculty Tomorrow, Sept. 6
Norene Leddy, Director of Faculty Affairs, is offering open office hours for adjunct faculty to meet and discuss any questions or concerns they may have. This year, the open office hours will be themed and include guest speakers that support adjunct faculty. They will be held biweekly on Friday afternoons from 2 to 3 pm via Zoom. The first session will take place on Friday, Sept. 6, and will cover the Verification of Enrollment (VOE) process, Progress Reports (formerly known as “Early Alerts”), and attendance policies as well as general questions. Adjunct 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 Fall 2024 semester. If you are interested in attending but are unable to make the scheduled time, please contact Norene Leddy.
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.