State of the College Address 2019 (President Donald P

Can I have your attention? President Christian is just running a few minutes behind So we have a short video for you to watch [LAUGHTER] Morning Shelly Good morning Don, are you ready for this year's State of the College? Hey, I wanted to remind you I know you got a lot in your mind, you need to stop by the library and pick up a few things on your way in I'm on my way in shortly I've got a couple of things to on the way in, but I'll be there on time and in just a few minutes, bye Bye Good bye dear, I'm off to the State of the College Oh, good luck Thanks See you there Bye little hun You have a good day See you Don, how's your workout going? It's going great Thanks, Kevin I don't have much time, though, I've got to get to the State of the College here in a few minutes I'll see you there Great, thanks One, two, three New Paltz Good morning Chachi, good morning everybody Morning How's it going today? Good I'm off to State of the College and I'll see you later on at convocation See you there Have a great day, take care, bye Bye Good morning, Julie, how are you? Good morning Good seeing you I'm on my way to the State of the College Do you have those figures for my meeting this afternoon? Yes, I they're right here Perfect Thank you Have a great day You too Hey, campus is looking really good Glad to see the milkweed's there for the butterflies That's really cool Thanks Well done, thanks Have a good day Thanks, you too Hey Don Morning, Megan, how are you? Pretty good Good progress in the lab this summer? Pretty much, yeah Great, how many students? Two Good Excellent Have a great day See you Good morning Ann Oh, good morning Do you have the presentation book that I asked for? I do, here you go Perfect Presentation Zen Thank you Have a great day Amplification through simplification Shelly, we need to cut slide number 14 from the presentation for this morning Thanks, see you in just a minute Bye Awesome Thank you so much You're welcome I appreciate it Hey Robin Will you take my picture with wings? Sure One, two, three Thanks, Robin You are welcome I appreciate it Morning lieutenant Coxum, how are you? How are things at UPD? Things are good, things are great You're on your way to State of the College? Absolutely I am Good, me too Let's go [APPLAUSE] Good morning Good morning I'm glad I could make it in for today's address [LAUGHTER] Who says we can't start the year with a little fun? Jelani Cobb, last year's Ottaway Visiting Journalism Professor spoke eloquently in his public address about diversity and inclusion, and reminded us that they're not the same and they don't always happen together He said, and I quote, "An inclusive institution cannot be the same as an institution that's simply added more different people into it Becoming inclusive means the institution has fundamentally become something else, with adaptation of new customs and new ways of listening to each other." Cobb, went on, "Diversity creates guests, while inclusion creates stakeholders and builds participation in a democracy The challenge for vital institutions, " he concluded, "is to choose to things differently." In my State of the College Address last year, I asked you to time travel with me to the year 2040 to reflect on our longer-term trajectory and to think about decisions that we make now and their implications for the future In this graph, I showed you that in about 2040, white people will become a minority in America For us at SUNY New Paltz, these demographic shifts are here now The new students we will see at convocation later today and in your classes and office hours next week will include a first-year class with 48% of its members, nearly half, from historically underrepresented groups [APPLAUSE] We will see more black and more brown, and fewer white students than ever, including more first-year black students than any year since 2000 These will be some of the visible differences, but significant dimensions of our diversity will be hidden from view Those include gender and sexual orientation, immigration status or national origin, economic background, level of academic preparedness, veteran and military experience, disabilities to be overcome, different political viewpoints, among many others Today I want to focus on inclusion, learning to change, and leading that change as our most important work in the coming year I will touch on several priorities I will emphasize our need to come together as a community to best serve an increasingly diverse student body, and to meet meeting Cobb's challenge to help all students feel included as full members of our campus community A sense of belongingness leads to our student's success I want to be sure that it's clear that I'm talking about better supporting all students to prepare each of them to live in and contribute to the world that they are inheriting We each contribute to these outcomes through our unique roles To fulfill this purpose, it's imperative that we develop an increasingly diverse faculty and staff, and build stronger support networks for all employees These are not new themes I've spoken about such ideas before, but we need to tackle these goals with renewed energy and focus We have many reasons to be proud of the strong sense of community that SUNY New Paltz is known for Students tell us it's a distinctive and attractive feature of our campus But at the same time we're aware that not every student and not every employee has a sense of belonging in our community Recognizing, accepting, and working with the kinds of differences that I've articulated requires our full attention and our collective energy Let me pause here to thank members of our community joining me here today to usher in a new academic year My busy morning [LAUGHTER] reminds me of the many complex roles in the great work that make New Paltz such a top-notch college It's the people who make us special and who serve our institution and our students Every day I'm grateful for the privilege to serve as your president At this time, I ask you to join me in a moment of silence to recognize two great losses to our community by honoring the memories of two of our most valued colleagues, Professors Peter Kaufman and Pauline Uchmanowicz, who we recently lost Thank you Several faculty are planning a memorial service on campus for Pauline this fall Our new year commences at noon today with our annual fall convocation This academic ceremony is an important rite of passage for new first-year and transfer students Professor of Political Science, Nancy Kassop will serve as faculty grand marshal and mace bearer, and will welcome students on behalf of the faculty She's a recent recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities Dylan Rose, Class of 2016, Mathematics major and a Digital Media Analyst for AMC networks will be our alumni speaker Student [inaudible 00:09:05] , who's majoring in Communication Disorders, will be our student speaker I'm very grateful to the faculty who will don academic regalia to participate in convocation and hope that others will consider watching the live stream We welcome today new members of our community and acknowledge those who have stepped in to new leadership roles We will introduce new academic and professional faculty individually on September 13 and new classified staff individually on October But today we ask that all new employees stand to be recognized Welcome to New Paltz If you could stand, please [APPLAUSE] Thank you You may be seated I'll now welcome new campus administrators Jonathan Von, joined us in January as Executive Director of Development and has hit the ground running in advancing our fundraising success He came to us from the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County and previously worked at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center Michael Corba Celo joined us this summer as Deputy Chief of University Police He came to us most immediately from Stony Brook University with 20 years of law enforcement experience there, at NYPD and at the Community College of Southern Nevada Longtime employees being promoted into a new role effective September 5: Beth Vargas of the Center for International Programs will be named Executive Director of the Center as Bruce Sillner enters a phased retirement [APPLAUSE] During her 20 years at New Paltz, Beth has excelled in her commitment to international education, to welcoming and supporting international students and faculty and to working collegially with other campus offices and constituencies We're very grateful for Bruce's many years of exceptional leadership He's advanced SUNY New Paltz into the top echelons of well-regarded institutions in international education, both within SUNY and beyond In the coming months, Bruce will focus on external relations and program development in the US and overseas Thank you Bruce, for your great work and many contributions [NOISE] [APPLAUSE] I'd like to ask directors of the SUNY New Paltz foundation here today to please stand so we can recognize and thank you Don't be shy [APPLAUSE] These business leaders, alumni and committed citizens support the college and both as attendees and as presenters and conveners, is very gratifying Many opportunities already lined up for this fall, pay attention to that agenda I don't know if Sarah Wyman is here, but I want to take a brief moment to [APPLAUSE] thank Sarah Wyman, Director of the Center Fruit for your great work Most are aware that we completed a thoughtful program that led to the replacement of six campus building names directly linked to early slavery in New Paltz The new names went into effect three weeks ago [APPLAUSE] Signage in the lobby of each building tell some of the story We even include a pronunciation guide.[LAUGHTER] Well, I'm hoping that our students learn that this falcon is a peregrine, not a 'paragrind' as many seem to be pronouncing it So if you can find ways to weave the word peregrinations into your classroom discussions, please so I'm so proud of the strong willingness of this community to engage in those difficult conversations and take actions like this that are inclusive and respectful We're working on a contemplative space where members of our community can reflect on a more fulsome local history and it's contemporary consequences This site will draw on values and principles articulated so well last spring by a working group of faculty, staff and students, and our goal is to complete this project in fall 2020 In that spirit, I want to acknowledge that the land that we're on today is the traditional territory of the people of the Munsee, Esopus and the Lenape tribes Beginning a new tradition of offering some version of this indigenous land acknowledgment at selected campus events as a way of respecting and creating awareness of this piece of our history [APPLAUSE] We're planning expanded new space for the Scholars Mentorship Program, SMP, in the student union building This will include space for students to gather for improved programming and for heightened visibility this program, which has long advanced students academic and personal success We expect to begin renovation on that space next summer We're also seeking ways to strengthen the partnership between SMP and both EOP and the Center for Student Success Last year, more than 600 students registered with our disability resource center We assigned a larger space to better serve and support students who require accommodations in housing, testing, reading and study assistants, and other ways This is a growing population at many colleges and universities We know from our experience and experience elsewhere that these students are successful with the right support, which teaching faculty and many staff provide Collectively, we're making our online communications and course materials more accessible I know how much work that is to undertake that project, and I'm grateful to the faculty and staff who have worked so hard to advance that effort SUNY New Paltz employees have long benefited from a very effective and successful EAP, Employee Assistance Program This program provides services and support to employees for the prevention, early intervention, and resolution of emotional, family, legal, relationship, substance abuse, and other issues that may affect work performance and quality of life We're building on a strong foundation thanks to the good work of long-time community member Doug Hanely by developing a new model that includes multiple EAP coordinators rather than one We believe that having choice may encourage more employees to seek support and we think that this redundancy will help ensure that support is available throughout the work week [LAUGHTER] Okay, we heard you We listened to the concern's voice last spring and spent time this summer thinking about the best way to address our most critical professional development needs in ways that are more than voluntary and optional The survey we conducted last spring showed that Thursday and Friday, January 16 and 17, 2020 were actually the preferred dates of the alternatives offered, but we also heard the challenge that those dates present for some So we'll make required professional development available on different dates in the different modalities These will include face-to-face training on those dates in January on a space availability basis and web-based training that can be completed at your convenience Required content on those two days in January will be offered in multiple sessions on those days In addition, we'll provide a menu of other professional development opportunities encouraged but not required, including some subjects that many of you recommended The required program will include sexual harassment training, which is mandated by New York State law This training will be available on September with the goal that our campus will be compliant with state law by the October date set forth in legislation Will also provide this training online and live at other times Employees will also be required to complete diversity and inclusion education This material is informed by the Scholarship of Equity and Inclusion and New Paltz will be an early adopter among SUNY campuses The expectation is that this training will be completed via a web-based option or in person in January This year we'll take more concrete steps to enhance faculty and staff diversity so that members of our increasingly diverse student body will have more opportunity to see themselves in their shared lived experiences in professors and staff We'll provide a training program developed by two of the nation's leading scholars in achieving racial equity in US higher Education This training is specifically focused on faculty hiring, but it's relevant to other searches as well It will be required for all members of all faculty and administrative search committees Topics include innovative recruitment strategies, job announcements for faculty, implicit and explicit bias, and interview structure and best practices Each of these involves an hour and a half session, which will be available either live over a several week period in late September and early October, or subsequently via the web We'll share more information about that schedule shortly, including expected dates for completion of each module relative to the timing of ongoing searches I very much appreciate that your feedback helped us understand the necessity of providing multiple options for professional development I'm also grateful for the explicit and implicit support that you have conveyed for the importance of this training for our continued progress as an institution I remind faculty of your primary role in diversifying our new faculty hires and then creating positive departmental working environments Here are some best practices I encourage you to consider as you develop inclusive position descriptions Clarify why your department in particular seeks diverse talent to emphasize that improving faculty diversity is a departmental priority as well as an institutional priority That will also give you the opportunity to highlight how inclusion relates to other departmental priorities, like mentoring an increasingly diverse student body Requesting as part of the application, information about an applicant's interest in or experience with issues of diversity inclusion, including their work engaging a diverse student body, conveys a seriousness of purpose Doing so also opens the door for interview conversations about inclusive teaching and learning Finally, as much as possible, broadening the acceptable disciplinary backgrounds for open positions, may expand the candidate pool in the likelihood of attracting candidates from historically underrepresented groups I will test the Interim Provost and subsequently the next provost with championing these efforts and supporting departments in this work I understand the resistance to hiring new faculty through any process other than an open competitive search, but I also know that the changing dynamics of the labor force, require us to explore additional best practices such as target of opportunity hires, that have significantly advanced our goals In this practice, a candidate is directly recruited because of their experience, scholarship, creative achievements, in interest align with specific programmatic goals and needs Such a higher often increases race and gender diversity in an area For example, we hired a female professor in a male dominated STEM field in this way several years ago, having a positive impact on gender diversity in that field There's absolutely zero indication that our programs and our students would have been better served, if we had filled this position through a more traditional search, and there's clearly less likelihood that a traditional search would have advanced gender diversity among the faculty, or inspired young women to enter this field I'm reminded of my experience many years ago, God [LAUGHTER] At another institution after the provost had approved my request for a spousal accommodation hire My colleagues and other departments were envious In a chairs meeting, the provost asked me to share how this had come about I responded, I asked So ask, as several deans have done recently to advance special hires, we'll not always say yes, but in this will not likely become the routine way that we hire our faculty But we're open to creative approaches to increase faculty diversity, managed with care and appropriate safeguards That will include assessing departmental readiness to support a climate that in Jelani Cobb's language, I shared earlier, cultivates stakeholders, not just guests I know that that work is happening in several departments I want to share the experience of our theater arts department as an exceptional model for diverse faculty hiring and cultural change I alerted the theater faculty that they may be embarrassed today, but it would be in a good way [APPLAUSE] Six years ago, the faculty recognized that under-represented minority students in their department were unhappy, feeling marginalized, and did not see themselves in their coursework in main stage productions or in the faculty The department began a process of listening to students and changing in ways that have dramatically improved student perceptions Working with our chief diversity officer, the department reflected about bias and departmental values, and how to more effectively include non-dominant narratives in their teaching, and student support, and in modeling practices to prepare students for careers Since then, they hired two faculty of color through the SUNY Faculty Diversity Program Those faculty were attracted here in part because of the visible changes in departmental culture and climate They created or brought back to life courses like: Race, Gender, and Performance, and have diversified main stage productions to create content and rolls, in which all students can see themselves [APPLAUSE] Now under-represented students feel at home and are enthused about being part of this department The number of non-white student majors has grown, as has total enrollment, because more accepted students actually decide to come here to study Last year, the department was number 10 on a ranking of the top 25 bachelor of arts theater programs in the US [APPLAUSE] That ranking specifically noted the department's commitment to diversity and inclusion People are paying attention I hope this model of faculty and student engagement in advancing these institutional goals will inspire others Last month, we submitted our application to new SUNY program titled PRODIG for Promoting Recruitment Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Growth; which has the overarching purpose of increasing faculty diversity, to better reflect the diversity of SUNY students This program will foster hiring and retention programs of the goal of adding 1,000 faculty to SUNY from under-represented groups by 2030 The rules and focus of this program are still being clarified, and we will keep you posted as we learn more PRODIG will not by itself address the goals of diversifying our faculty, it must be accompanied by creative approaches in hard work, like I've spoken about today I've spoken about the outcomes of listening to students of color about what it means to live, eat, and sleep in buildings named, for those who enslaved others, and of adjusting programs and offerings in response to concerns of under-represented students These experiences point to the importance of creating avenues for the expression of non-dominant voices in the ongoing evolution of our community I know that it can be difficult for all early career faculty and staff, perhaps especially for people of color, to raise their voices about many issues [NOISE] [LAUGHTER] These include helping others understand their experience with departmental cultures, the impact of hurtful or offensive words and actions, even if unintentional, or how the reappointment, promotion, tenure and salary increase processes value or don't value, diverse forms of scholarship, the considerable time and effort invested in mentoring under-represented students, and other forms of invisible labor We began a discussion with the executive committee of the college faculty last spring about how we might create better support, and non-threatening venues to hear these voices, and incorporate that input into shaping the future direction of the college This is a topic that I hope we can advance as we build a more receptive and supportive community, for an increasingly diverse group of employees and students As I close, I want to return to our strategic priorities and the UN sustainable development goals The priorities of inclusion in community building that I've identified today relate clearly and directly to a number of these goals I point this out to emphasize that creating a more inclusive community that supports diverse students and employees, is not a set aside or peripheral "Nice to do" effort It's a pervasive goal, and touches on multiple strategic priorities It's essential to fulfilling our core educational mission, as our student body evolves This work demands time and energy, and we must develop ways to better recognize these efforts in our reward systems, perhaps as dimensions of exceptional teaching or service We need to so for all faculty and staff, but especially for under-represented employees, to whom under-represented students flock for guidance and inspiration I certainly will pay heightened attention to this work through my involvement in our performance review processes The UN sustainable development goals were created by a global community around shared goals at a global scale But these goals are directly relevant to our campus as well, and I hope we can embrace working together as campus partners on these priorities this year, doing things differently to advance excellence through inclusion In fact, I'm confident in our ability to so You will hear more about this work as it will be a core part of our communication, our decision-making, and our actions this year and beyond Thank you for your support today for being here, and have a great year [APPLAUSE] ... adjusting programs and offerings in response to concerns of under-represented students These experiences point to the importance of creating avenues for the expression of non-dominant voices in the. .. that spirit, I want to acknowledge that the land that we're on today is the traditional territory of the people of the Munsee, Esopus and the Lenape tribes Beginning a new tradition of offering... capital funding for several projects including renovating the lecture center lobbies [APPLAUSE] They need it Replacing the roof and renovating the fourth floor of the student union building [APPLAUSE]