December 11, 2019
Colleagues,
It is hard to imagine, but the fall semester is nearly over. Since my last communication, we transitioned from extraordinary fall foliage to having a first snow day campus closure. As a skier, I am looking forward to opportunities ahead, and perhaps someone shares my curiosity to see what it is like to
ski in a mall.
Only in New Jersey…🙂
Having now arrived at my sixth month, I feel I have a developing, but certainly not complete, feel for the culture and values of this community. A few things stand out:
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- Students who appreciate, and benefit from, many touch points from people that believe in them. In just the last month, I saw evidence of this at the annual Scholarship and Pesce Mentoring Institute Dinners and the EOF Honor Society Induction. I also saw it in Andrew Faccone, proud and successful alum, Michaela Campo, first place winner in speed-sell at last year’s National Sales Challenge, and Michael Scrivana, senior, first generation student, single father, and artist who designed an extraordinary holiday card for the Provost’s Office that captures the meaning of Will Power. All three of these persons said who they are today was in substantive part a credit to mentors and guides along the way.
- Department chairs who desire for their faculty to have meaningful and productive careers, whether through the vehicle of ART, navigating the anxiousness associated with academic restructuring, or advising them on reappointment or promotion portfolio preparation. I also appreciate their enabling me to sit in on a class, a lab, or student presentations to see the outcome of faculty work.
- The staff of this campus and how they take pride in leaves cleared, snow plowed, persons kept safe, meetings arranged, art and music presented, shuttle buses kept on time, prospective students and their families welcomed, spring and fall schedules produced, food served hot, a student counseled, or an office area kept clean, to name just a few examples of the ways staff serve this community.
- Needless to say, I like it here. A few additional recent notable moments for me:
- Sitting in on Figen Suchanek’s Chemistry of Cuisine lab and seeing how she makes principles of chemistry come alive, in tasty ways.
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- Meeting nearly the total population of Chinese artists based in U.S. colleges or universities here at WP for a Chinese-American Art Faculty Association meeting on the theme of cross-cultural understanding and seeing how much they enjoyed a rare moment to be all together.
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- Attending the Carl Allen Quartet performance in the Jazz Room Series and the Winter Choral Concert.
- Joining a packed ballroom of high achieving high school students for the 35th Annual Thomas Jefferson Lecture (I worked at the University of Virginia for five years so it had particular meaning to me).
- Enjoying Thomas Friedman’s talk during the Distinguished Lecturer Series, including his big takeaway on the need to teach digital civics starting in elementary school.
- Finally, on a personal note, receiving a birthday gift from my daughter to see a taping of Late Night with Seth Myers and his interview of Al Gore, hosting the entire family of five for Thanksgiving in a two-bedroom apartment, and attending the Macy’s Day Parade.
Josh Powers
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
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Academic News
- Why grading before January matters. The deadline for final grade submission is Friday, January 3. All other public institutions in New Jersey submit grades before the end of December. The reasons are numerous for how this helps students as is described in this document on the Faculty Senate website. Of course you should take the appropriate time to assess students’ final work. Please consider having grading completed prior to New Year’s (68% percent of all grades are actually in by that moment). The Registrar processes them starting December 13 on a rolling basis and they work during the holiday break.
- Academic Restructuring. The reports from each college on the work done around academic restructuring are now completed and available on this website. Per the process, Provost Powers will be reviewing these reports, consulting with the Deans with questions, and engaging in conversation with the Faculty Senate on January 28 for their additional input before making his recommendations to President Helldobler. Thanks to all who have been working hard on this topic, not only for its resource stewardship purpose, but also for the innovative thinking that it was designed to stimulate.
- What’s this thing called WP Online? WP Online has formally launched, our newest initiative to better serve the 1.33 million New Jersey residents (and others beyond) with only a bachelor’s degree to obtain a highly marketable graduate credential. WP Online will also enable RNs with associate’s degrees to obtain the high demand bachelors in nursing degree. The innovative delivery model (online courses that start every seven weeks and run continuously over the course of the year), will begin to enroll students Summer 2020 and more expansively Fall 2020. The launch will include six MBA tracks, two MEd tracks in educational and higher education leadership respectively, and the RN to BSN program. Academic Partnerships, our external partner with deep expertise in high quality distance education delivery and program marketing support, guided more than 50 internal staff and faculty over the course of three days on how to build and launch this important effort of the University. More engagement will be occurring in coming months. Please feel free to contact Gamin Bartle (bartleg@wpunj.edu), Project Manager, or Jonathan Lincoln (lincolnj@wpunj.edu), Associate Provost, for questions.
- Shifting course evaluations to online completion. This past year, Academic Affairs launched a feasibility and pilot test project designed to move all course evaluations online as is done at the majority of colleges and universities today. Details on this project, including its rationale and purpose, are available under the 12/10/19 Faculty Senate website link. Faculty input by February 20 is sought from departmental conversation about the potential questions. Please provide to Sandy Hill, Associate Provost (hills21@wpunj.edu).
Important Dates
- Fall Grades due: January 3; Winter Term Grades due: January 22
- Faculty Range Adjustment applications due: February 3.
- Professional Staff Performance Based Promotions due: February 3.
Facts & Figures
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News from the Colleges
- A new chapter of Alpha Epsilon Delta, the National Health Preprofessional Honor Society, has just launched at William Paterson through the College of Science and Health.
- The College of Education invites your participation in their ongoing Diversity and Equity in Teaching and Learning series. Details on this yearlong opportunity of programs can be found at this website.
- The 14th annual Honors Coat Drive was a success, thanks to the generosity of the entire campus community. Of additional note, students in the Biology Honors track distinguish themselves through publications they have authored/co-authored in national peer-reviewed journals. See this weblink for details.
The Provost’s Office is in Raubinger 100; stop by and visit us.
Meg, Lissette, Claudia T., Claudia C., Jonathan, Sandy, and Josh
We wish you a most joyous and restful
holiday season!
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