Dear colleagues,
Each month, I plan to provide an update on college initiatives and activities in an effort to foster improved communication and collaboration. In my first few employee messages, I’ve shared early intervention strategies to reduce student drop out; efforts to create a more welcoming college atmosphere; initiatives to improve student retention; and ways to provide essential academic services to our students at mid-term.
With your support, it has surely been a productive four months at the college with many new initiatives launched, and others now in development. Here are some I wish to briefly highlight:
Enrollment and Retention
— Following the “census date” of reporting fall enrollment numbers, I’m now able to report the fall 2018 headcount at 10,899 (-1.5%) and 7,400 FTEs (-2.1%). Though a decline from last year, enrollment is slightly ahead of our budget projection of -2.5%, so we have met our goal as we enter the spring enrollment cycle. In addition, our numbers compare well when considering the enrollment outcome for other community colleges in the state.
— Several enrollment, advisement and administrative offices offered new extended service hours, and college navigators helped students during the first week of classes. We also introduced a new payment plan through Nelnet, to make paying for college more flexible. 1,868 students took advantage of the new program, allowing them to space out payments over several months.
— We have introduced new “sunrise classes” to provide flexibility for our students looking to begin the school day earlier. More than 100 students are enrolled in these early morning courses, so please keep this in mind when advising students and talking with prospects for the January term.
— Members of the Enrollment Management and Student Development division are reviewing several policies and procedures that affect the enrollment and retention of hundreds of students. They are considering changes to policies affecting admission and transfer credit for students with a college degree; add/drop and late registration policies; and procedures affecting College in the High School transcript collection. As recommendations are made, we will communicate appropriately with members of the Academic Senate. Already, the Senate Educational Policies & Standards and the Student Life Standing-Committees have approved changing the policy for student-athlete eligibility based on GPA at mid-term. (Note: original post inaccurately reported full Senate approval. Edited Nov. 10.)
— We are also actively reviewing the College Success Referral System with the goal of making it more user-friendly and providing additional, helpful information to both students and faculty/staff involved in referrals. My thanks to Department Chair Ricky Thibodeau for pointing out some of the challenges many faculty and department chairs have experienced with the system.
— Another issue that has come to the forefront as we look at ways to improve Fall to Spring persistence is the skills gaps that some students have in math. On Oct. 16, I convened a meeting with Dr. Janosik, along with deans and some of the department chairs to discuss the development of specific enrichment programs, such as Math Boot Camps and a Math Learning Center. More information will be shared on that effort.
— Members of the college community have met with companies that provide software for improving communication, student onboarding, advising and retention. We are reviewing EAB to look at their product, Navigate, which is used by over 100 community colleges, including some finalists for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. In addition, two weeks ago, ITS held product demonstrations with four popular texting providers for colleges and universities. Further evaluation will be forthcoming on these platforms.
— We have reviewed and created the academic calendar for 2019-2020 to align our schedule more closely with the K-12 system. This will allow the college to begin on- and off-campus classes after Labor Day and at the same time during the spring term. Instructional days were not reduced, and spring break remains a part of the calendar.
— We are renewing our commitment to reaching students where they are located and developing new strategies to offer services throughout our service area. Last week, we officially dedicated the Albany Center for Education (ACE) as a new college extension center. The site at 30 North Russell Road, near the Westgate Plaza, has served as the Albany location of the Capital District Educational Opportunity Center for several decades. This fall, we have also begun offering several credit-bearing college courses, along with credit-free career training through our Workforce Development Institute. These expanded offerings have drawn more than 200 students to study in a variety of day and evening programs and courses at the location. Please spread the word about our spring Instant Admission event at ACE on Nov. 28.
Enhancing Safety on Campus
— The college’s Emergency Preparedness Committee has met several times since the beginning of the semester and has new initiatives to report. First, the Alertus system, which enables all college crisis communication tools, was tested before the beginning of the term. All students, faculty and staff were encouraged to access both Alertus and SUNY NY-Alert. In addition to improving communications during unexpected events, both systems are now used to share weather-related college closures and class cancellations.
In addition, 38 evening classes were relocated this fall to buildings with back-up power to reduce the impact of an energy failure affecting the campus. This move provides more individuals with access to critical environmental health and safety systems – such as building public address systems – that rely on electrical power during emergency situations or evacuations.
The Physical Plant also is replacing or adding classroom door locks to enhance safety. Amstuz and the Administration Building are complete. Work in Brahan Hall is progressing, and Fitzgibbons is the next stop.
Regional Workforce Programming
— Hudson Valley has launched a new partnership with SUNY Adirondack, SUNY Schenectady, Columbia-Greene and Fulton-Montgomery community colleges called the Capital Community College Career Consortium (C5) to address the workforce shortage in our greater region. To that end, more than 60 area employers in healthcare, information technology and manufacturing attended the C5 Employer Summit on Nov. 2 to share ideas that will help us fill available jobs at employers’ locations. Our ultimate goal is to provide the pipeline to those jobs through community college career programs. College presidents will be reviewing the information gathered with the goal of developing shared programs or seeking funding for the new initiatives.
CAMS
— Construction on the new Gene F. Haas Center for Advanced Manufacturing Skills (CAMS) is moving along rapidly, and we anticipate the building to be complete by May 1, 2019.
In the past few weeks, I’ve toured the facility with representatives from the industry, and also with Kathy Looman and Kurt Zierhut from the Haas Foundation, which provided the $1 million challenge to kick start our fundraising efforts for CAMS. During the tour, Kathy connected me with the leader of another college that runs the Gene Haas Center for Integrated Manufacturing, a “third year” advanced manufacturing program, which is something we will explore further.
Last week, the college was selected by Haas Automation to host the 2020 Haas Technical Education Conference (HTEC) from July 27-31, 2020. This will be the first international HTEC event, and we will be proud to host educators and manufacturers not only from the U.S. and Canada, but South America, Mexico, the Far East and Europe as well.
Administration
— As you know, we have appointed Penny Hill and Karen Ferrer-Muniz as new deans responsible for leading economic and workforce development efforts, and student retention efforts, respectively. In the weeks ahead, you will hear more about their plans for moving the college forward in these two important areas.
Our search for the Vice President for Academic Affairs is ongoing and our search committee met with Isaacson Miller on Nov. 2. The next meeting will take place on Dec. 7. In addition, we are prepared to begin the search for our Dean of STEM, as department chairs and academic leaders have deliberated the most appropriate structure for the position. Finally, we are currently searching for a Director of Admissions, following Mary Claire Bauer’s move to part-time employment earlier this summer.
Strategic Planning
— In my first four months at the college, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with and visit more than 100 community leaders and college stakeholders – local, state and federal legislators; business owners and workforce partners; guidance counselors and superintendents; alumni and donors; local college leaders; parents and family members of our students – to name a few.
On campus, through meetings, events, and my monthly “coffee hour,” I’ve listened to and talked with many campus and community members who are remarkably dedicated to our students. At every turn, I meet someone who is generating new ideas to shape our future and move the college forward. That energy and enthusiasm will serve us well as we now enter a five-year strategic planning process.
With Michael Green’s upcoming retirement, I’ve appointed college Registrar Kathy Petley and Executive Director of Communications and Marketing Dennis Kennedy to co-chair the Strategic Planning Committee. That committee includes members of the Academic Senate Planning Committee, as well as other individuals who will provide diverse perspectives and guide the implementation of the college’s 2019-2024 Strategic Plan. The committee’s first meeting is on Nov. 8.
Strategic planning work that has taken place over the past four months includes development of the RFP for a consultant we’ll be hiring to assist us, creation of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, collection of resource materials for review by the Steering Committee including the strategic plans from other colleges/universities (in particular the ones we feed into such as UAlbany and RPI), data trends (college, regional, state, national), white papers examining the future of certain fields (technology, medicine) and trends in education (convergence of K-12 and higher ed, the impact of technology on education). In addition, we have conducted a survey of faculty/staff to get views on what should be considered as we develop our strategic plan and began to pull together the focus groups for our external constituencies (K-12, local colleges/universities, business and industry, not-for-profits).
Upcoming Events
— As we look ahead to the coming weeks, I look forward to sharing my appreciation with each of you during a college-wide Thanksgiving celebration on Monday, Nov. 19 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Siek Campus Center.
This is a new campus-wide event that I hope will become a tradition here at Hudson Valley. All students, faculty, and staff are invited to share a traditional Thanksgiving meal together at no cost, thanks to sponsorship of the Student Senate and college Foundation. We will have plenty of good food, holiday-themed prizes and a few fun activities for all to enjoy. We ask all employees to donate non-perishable food items as we stock the college Food Pantry for the winter months.
— Finally, please encourage those considering college next fall to attend our annual Open House on Saturday, Nov. 10. This is a wonderful opportunity for prospective students and family members to get to know the college and meet our faculty, department chairs, and staff.
In closing, I thank you for welcoming me to the college family with such grace and warmth. I look forward to our continued and collaborative work to advance the college. I also encourage your feedback on any of the ideas above, which you can send to suggestions@hvcc.edu.
Thank you,
Dr. Roger Ramsammy
President
Published: Thu, 08 Nov 2018 13:20:48 +0000 by r.ramsammy