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Week of December 11 Academic Affairs Newsletter
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Office of the Provost
NEWSLETTER

Updates from Academic Affairs

December 15, 2023

In this week’s newsletter, we share a recording of last week’s budget and finance presentation and discussion, as well as an update on the WSCUC campus visit in November; and then as usual, we share some resources, celebrate our successes, highlight upcoming events, and answer your questions. We invite and encourage you to submit academic resources, congratulations, upcoming events, new colleague announcements, and questions through the links below for next week’s newsletter and throughout the year.

The purpose of this newsletter is to share relevant, timely, and transparent information across all of Academic Affairs. We welcome your feedback and invite your participation: please keep reading to see opportunities to share successes, ask questions, and give input.

Budget and Finance Campus Open Forum

Thank you to all who attended and participated in the December 7 Open Forum discussion hosted by the Academic Senate on the College’s budget and financial overview. A recording of the presentation and discussion can be viewed here. A copy of the presentation is available as requested to kg33@stmarys-ca.edu. Campus Open Forum Sessions

WSCUC Site Visit - Thank You!

Saint Mary’s successfully completed the WSCUC site visit for reaffirmation of accreditation in November. Deep gratitude to faculty, staff, and students for taking the time to speak with the site visitors - your contributions to meetings with the site visit team members are a testament to the strength of our campus community. The site visit team was impressed with our hospitality and engagement, as well as our readiness to respond to their on-demand data and information requests. Special thanks to the many community members and campus leaders who provided documentation over the summer to prepare for the visit; and to Linda Ryerson, Jennifer Kulbeck, Jim Sauerberg, Makiko Imamura, and the Institutional Effectiveness Committee members for their work behind the scenes to seamlessly run the reaffirmation process.

 

The team verbally shared their initial preliminary commendations and recommendations during the concluding session on the last day of their visit. The team congratulated us on four specific areas: commitment to Lasallian mission and focus on ensuring broad access to education for students; development of transfer students' pathways and their integration into the campus community; careful recrafting of Saint Mary’s Core Curriculum in a way that allows students to engage in a richer, mission-aligned educational experience; and process to create the Transformation 2028 Strategic Plan and the campus wide support for the plan’s priorities. We were also happy to note that areas that had been frequent concerns in the past (assessment and program review; administrative and co-curricular review) had been upgraded to areas no longer needing mention.

Rome was not built in a day, and we would like to take this opportunity to celebrate our collective hard work in the last few years and recognize the tireless leadership that led to these four specific areas of commendations: Omnibus Taskforce led by Aeleah Soine and Steve Miller, Undergraduate Educational Policy Committee led by Mark Lingwood as 2022-23 chair, the Advising Office led by Jeff Sigman and team members Paul Zarnoth and Amaury Avalos, Core Curriculum Committee led by Makiko Imamura as the 2022-23 chair, Strategic Plan development team led by Dana Lawton, Jennifer Pigza, and Corey Cook, and Academic Senate led by Jim Sauerberg.

Not surprisingly, the team also shared a number of interrelated areas requiring additional attention, and we are pleased to see that these areas overlap with our own priorities and are integrated in our Transformation 2028 Strategic Plan: financial stability and budget transparency; data-informed enrollment and retention planning; stability and effectiveness within college leadership and in relation to the Board of Trustees; preparing for the next comprehensive capital campaign; facilities planning including a new campus master plan; integrated data-gathering and governance systems that support data-informed decision making; and continuing our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as we work to improve our campus climate and morale.

 

WSCUC has scheduled the commission’s review of our case on February 15, 2024, and we expect to receive an official letter from the commission shortly after. The official letter will have the formal list of commendations and recommendations, as well as the timelines for the next reaffirmation and interim reviews.

Academic Resources

Library Course Reserves for Jan Term and Spring 2024

As we prepare for the new year, the Library is now accepting course reserves for Jan Term and Spring. We encourage you to consider the following options as an opportunity to save students money and comply with copyright laws.

Submitting a course reserve:

Course reserves may include:

Additional options:

Should you have questions or need assistance, please email Daisy Goiburn, x4181. For further information, visit our Course Reserves & Textbooks Guide.

EdTech Tuesday Tips and Resource Links

EdTech maintains a collection of resources and information to support faculty using Canvas and other instructional technology.

Please send us ideas to share with our colleagues to access useful academic resources and professional development opportunities.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to CILSA's Sarah Beth Dempsey, Samantha Giordano, and William Besson, who received a research grant from Uniservitate/Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. Their current research is titled “From mission to practice: Instructor perspectives on creating engaged learning experiences that foster the spiritual development of Lasallian university students.” Thanks, too, to collaborators in the Mission and Ministry Center and Theology & Religious Studies for their partnership.

This is your opportunity to recognize a colleague, or colleagues, or share something about you. Let’s take time to celebrate one another. Please send us your congratulations for future newsletters.

Upcoming Events

*President’s Annual Christmas Party for Faculty and Staff: Friday, December 15, 7-10pm, Soda Center. Come celebrate the holiday season with all your colleagues!

*SMC Men’s Basketball Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night: December 19, 7pm, UCU Pavilion. In appreciation of another great year at SMC, the Athletic Department would like to offer each faculty/staff member 4 free tickets to the Middle Tennessee men’s basketball game. Please use this link to request your complimentary tickets.

Please send us your Upcoming Events for future newsletters. Note that this is not intended to replace the College calendar of events in MySMC, but to highlight upcoming events that you think would be of particular interest to faculty and staff in Academic Affairs.

Welcome, New Colleagues!

Shaleda Newson, High Potential Success Coach

Shaleda holds a Master's in Marriage Family Therapy and Professional Clinical Counseling from Saint Mary’s College. Her academic journey reflects a deep commitment to understanding the intricacies of mental health, particularly within the context of interpersonal relationships and life transitions and she has a fervent passion for guiding individuals through pivotal life moments. Her expertise is attuned to assisting teens, college students, and adults as they navigate the complexities of various life transitions, including challenges associated with divorce, new careers, retirement, parenthood, and new marriages. Shaleda's commitment to DEI extends beyond the confines of her educational and professional roles and finds expression in her research pursuits. Her thesis project delved into the profound impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of high school students, with a particular emphasis on marginalized groups. Shaleda also serves as an Assistant Researcher on a project examining the repercussions of COVID-19, specifically on Black and African American high school students and their college-going pathways.

This is your opportunity to announce a new employee, who has just joined Saint Mary’s, and introduce them to the Academic Affairs community across campus. Let’s keep each other informed of new faces on campus, so we can offer them a warm Gael welcome. Please send us your new employee announcements for future newsletters.

Questions and Answers

Q:  Thank you for the post-census enrollment update in the Nov 6 newsletter. How do the census results, both graduate and undergraduate, impact the current budget?

A:  In combination, this year’s graduate and undergraduate enrollment is approximately $3.5M less than was budgeted for FY 2024, some of which is defrayed by planned reduction in direct program expenditures.

Please send us your Questions for future newsletters. All questions will be submitted anonymously (unless you prefer to self identify) and will be answered weekly.

This is to supplement, not supplant, opportunities for candid open forums and conversations, particularly for fans of the parliamentary “question time.”