This past July 27, despite an acute reduction in oxygen, my mind was sharply focused on not sliding down a mountain. The points of my crampons were firmly embedded in the snowpack every step up the Chute, as was my keen attention to path adjustments necessary to the terrain. Beyond the obvious—not wanting to get injured, or worse—I was also firmly focused on a goal: making it to the top of California’s Mt. Whitney and back, just as my grandfather did 113 years earlier. But I had another reason. I just started my fifth year at William Paterson and I have more I want to see us achieve together.
Nearly 20 straight hours of hiking gives one ample time to do a lot of thinking, and I thought a lot about what I’ve personally experienced since 2019 as your Provost, what we are accomplishing, and the pathway ahead. I’ve decided to tell that story through pictures from my Campus Messages and a few reflections that follow.
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September 2019: Admissions telling the WP story at the Passaic County College Fair held in our Recreation Center.
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October 2019: The Passaic Board of Freeholders honors William Paterson for its work with local students with special needs.
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November 2019: Celebrating with the Chinese American Art Faculty Association and their contributions to cross-cultural understanding.
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February 2020: Participating in the Paterson Homeless Count.
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April 2020: Honoring the selflessness of our nurses.
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May 2020: We figured out how to hold a virtual Accepted Students Day.
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November 2020: WP Online billboard on I-95 and our emergence as a leader in NJ for serving adults.
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March 2021: Reading virtually to Paterson children as part of Real Men Read.
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October 2021: Teaching innovation with the new Anatomage table (no, that’s not me on the right).
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November 2021: A reminder that mentoring also works in reverse as manifest through mine.
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March 2022: What may have defined a student in high school does NOT have to do so in college.
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May 2022: Building bridges with our friends at Passaic County Community College.
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October 2022: WP: Damn scrappy and proud of it, and no, Montclair does not have to define us.
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December 2022: The wisdom of Garien, my mentee who mentors me.
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February 2023: Paradigm change is coming.
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What I draw from the above, and what motivates me, are the following:
- Telling our story comes in varied forms, but at its heart is keeping students at the center of it and honoring our HSI and MSI mission.
- Leadership is not a solo sport. We each played an important part in navigating a pandemic and coming out the other side poised to do new and greater things.
- We’ve got an underlying desire, and talent, for innovation.
- We aren’t second fiddle to anyone; we ARE William Paterson.
- Relationships matter, including with the communities around us, as does listening.
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By way of follow-on to the President’s State of the University Address last week, this Friday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., I and the Deans will be providing the annual Fall Academic Affairs Address and will have the opportunity to expand on these and other themes as they relate to goals and activities for the 2023-24 year. The theme this year is momentum. Here is the link and I hope you will tune in.
As a child, I recall my grandfather telling me the story of his Mt. Whitney climb at the age of 17, one during which he and his friend nearly died from starvation because their beans would not boil at higher elevations. Blessedly, that was not my problem given the advent of Cliff Bars, and I too was able to stand on top, the highest mountain in the lower 48 states (14,505 feet).
Our path ahead as a University will have its own challenges and pathway ambiguities, but we shouldn’t fear them. Taking it on, like a mountain, is about a combination of one step at a time and a willingness to plan and adjust based upon what is ahead.
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Faculty as Mentor Initiative. The 2023-24 initiative involving sophomores is underway. Thank you to the departmental volunteers who are part of this project, and to department chairs who have coordinated the assignment process of mentors to mentees. Each College will be holding a Sophomore Welcome in their college, set for the week of September 18 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. (CAHSS: September 19; COSH: September 20; COE: September 21; CCOB: September 21). These events will provide a kick-off opportunity for each College to bring together mentors and mentees to begin a relationship.
Wellness Day Activities on Thursday, October 12. Fall Wellness Days are October 12 and 13, a time when the University is open but no classes are held, and no course assignments are due. The event co-chairs, Sandy Hill and Jill Guzman, together with their committee, are working on an exciting program of activities for faculty and staff on October 12. Watch for more information, and the exciting partnership developing for this with our friends at St. Joseph’s Hospital. We ask faculty and staff administrative leaders to refrain from holding meetings this day so folks can attend Wellness Day events.
Faculty Senate Goals for 2023-24. The Faculty Senate has an exciting set of goals this year. The Inclusive Teaching Taskforce will vision and present recommendations for best classroom practices in early spring 2024, and work on revising the peer teaching evaluation process. The Senate will also assist in the process of revising the UCC to create UCC 2.0 with input from faculty. And, the senate will assess the Faculty Mentor pilot rollout while ensuring communication between the Advisement Center and departments.
Curriculum Workflow. Over the summer, we have worked to build the most commonly used curriculum approval workflows. The first ones to launch will be for various types of academic program changes. These workflows are built in Curriculog, which links directly to our catalog (hosted in Acalog). Departments proposing program changes will be able to download the current catalog entry, propose changes and, when approved, those changes will be loaded back into the catalog. Proposals will be routed electronically to reviewers and approvers. Training on the use of Curriculog will commence early in the fall 2023 semester. We expect that these new workflows will reduce the time to completion for program change approvals.
AI Conference. The College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences has for this year’s Contexts Conference theme, AI: The Beginning or the End. This is an important topic for us for the obvious reasons and I encourage you to consider attending on October 26, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (University Commons Ballrooms and livestreamed). More information to come.
WP Online Update. WP Online undergraduate programs launched in November 2021 with 86 students in 8 majors, and we are anticipating more than 1,500 students (inclusive of the RN to BSN) enrolled this fall in 16 different programs of study. We also raised the admission requirements this fall for students to enter these programs designed for adult learners from two years past high school to four years, although transfer students who have 60 earned college credits may be considered for acceptance at an earlier date. Student persistence is also higher than national competitors. At the graduate level, the growth also continues to be very strong and we are on track to have over 1,720 students this fall in 36 online programs, more than one-third larger than last year. Thanks to the faculty and staff who have made our market presence, and quality experience, so strong for adult learners, now approximately one-third of our student body.
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Each August, The Chronicle of Higher Education publishes its annual Almanac. This year’s came in at a whopping 126 pages. Here are a few interesting post-COVID-related stats:
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95 percent of community colleges and 88 percent of four-year master’s institutions that lost 10 percent or more of their enrollment between 2019 and 2020 had not recouped those losses by fall 2021, the most recent national data available. These were the two institutional types most negatively impacted by the pandemic.
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A study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and partners at the end of the pandemic (spring 2022) identified these top four barriers by students 18 to 30 with a high school degree who either never attended college or dropped out: (1) Too expensive/don’t want to take on more debt – 38 percent; (2) Too stressful – 27 percent, (3) More important to get a job and make money – 26 percent, and (4) Unsure about major/future career – 25 percent.
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Of those students, 46 percent definitely intend to go/return, 41 percent are unsure, and 13 percent don’t plan to go/return.
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“More than a decade ago I was a cashier at a grocery store and a man told me, ‘Any day above the ground is a good day.’ Reflecting upon my life since then I truly believe if you are living and breathing there’s a purpose and a reason.”
— Garien Woods, mentee to Provost Powers
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The Provost’s Office is Brenda L., Claudia T., Claudia C., Jonathan, Kara, Rhonda, Sandy, and Josh. You can reach us at 973.720.2122 • provost@wpunj.edu
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