Release of the Final Report of the Presidential Research Reassigned Time Task Force

April 11, 2019

Dear Baruch Faculty Colleagues,

In December 2017, then-CUNY Chancellor J. B. Milliken and PSC President Barbara Bowen signed a memorandum that reduced the number of workload hours required of all full-time faculty on a gradual schedule during the next three years. However, since “new funding” would be distributed to the campuses only for those faculty who are teaching a contractual full teaching load, the practice of providing unsponsored research released time was impacted.

At about the same time, the work of the Baruch College Strategic Planning Committee was coming to completion, and faculty sought to insure an ongoing commitment to scholarship as integral to the work of the faculty and the fulfillment of our mission.

In response to these two developments, President Mitchel B. Wallerstein formed a Task Force to study this issue and make recommendations. This Presidential Task Force included the three school deans; the vice president for administration and finance; the associate provost for academic administration, faculty development, and research; and five department chairs. Data were collected as reference material on all reassigned time awarded to individuals for research or administrative purposes during the most recent five years. The Task Force met during the fall semester of 2018, and the final report was presented to each school early in the spring semester of 2019.

President Wallerstein and I thank the members of the Task Force for their work. They debated difficult questions with no clear or easy answers. Today, even more so than in the past, trade-offs are inevitable as we endeavor to utilize scarce resources as strategically as possible.

Sincerely,

Dave Christy
Provost and SVP for Academic Affairs