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Office of the Provost
HomeAbout CommunicationsOctober 2023 Senate Report

October 2, 2023: University Senate Report

Office of the Provost

Initiatives

Strategic Plan Launch

The community is invited to attend or view the launch of Stony Brook University's strategic plan on October 4. Please join us as we introduce the university's strategic plan and celebrate the culmination of this community-wide process to build a vision for Stony Brook's future. More information is available on the Provost's Office website.

Time Vectors

The committee tasked with proposing a reimagined time period schedule has completed its analysis. The committee has proposed a revised time period schedule for the 2024-2025 academic year. More detail on their recommendations will be presented at the University Senate meeting on October 2, and is also available on the Registrar's Office website.

Leadership Updates

Enrollment Management

Vice Provost Dawn Medley has indicated a wish to shift her focus and will work on identifying and advising on enrollment trends and strategies. As a result, Richard Beatty has moved into the role of Senior Associate Provost for Enrollment Management. In this role, Rich will oversee all operational and administrative duties for enrollment management, and all correspondence regarding enrollment management operations should be directed to Rich.

Academic Programs

Recently approved programs:

  • Liberal Studies MA revision, 6/2023
  • School District Business Leadership AGC revision, 7/2023
  • Nutrition MS revision, 7/2023

Other News and Updates

International Student Service Fee for Graduate Students

The Provost's Office was notified supported graduate students in mid-September that F-1 and J-1 students who currently receive 100% graduate tuition scholarships will have their international student service fee fully covered as part of their fee scholarship. Students who are currently receiving less than a 100% graduate tuition scholarship will have this fee covered in direct proportion to the level of their scholarship (e.g., those with a 50% scholarship will have 50% of the fee covered). The full message can be viewed on the Provost's Office website.

Minimum Graduate Student Stipend

The increased minimum stipend for graduate, teaching, and research assistants takes effect October 1, 2023. As announced last spring, the university is raising the minimum stipend for teaching assistants, graduate assistants and research project assistants to $1,238.10 biweekly at 50% FTE, which corresponds to $26,000 for a 10-month appointment and $32,191 for a 12-month appointment. (Please note that the Research Foundation academic year is less than 10 months). Further detail is being shared directly with supported graduate students, graduate program coordinators, and graduate program directors. 

Faculty and Academic Staff Development

Senior Leaders Onboarding Program

The Provost's Office continued hosting the leadership onboarding series for deans and vice provosts. During the past month several sessions were held including two on OVPR and research-related services, one on institutional research data and another one on DEI opportunities and challenges. Upcoming presentations include Enterprise Risk Management. All sessions are open to all deans and vice provosts, regardless of their start date.

Navigating SBU

THere will be a session for early-career faculty in October related to mentoring (Faculty mentors and mentees will attend). Additional sessions will be held throughout the year.

Emerging Leaders Program

This program will host a third cohort this year. The first session on Leadership Styles will take place in October. This two-year program, run through the Provost's Office, fosters the development of the next generation of higher education leaders in research, education, and administration.

Excellence in Teaching Program

This program, new this year, includes a series of workshops and hands-on activities related to various topics including syllabus redesign, inclusive pedagogy, and experiential learning for nominated instructors. The first session took place on September 22 and focused on syllabus review. The program is open to faculty members from all ranks.

Chairs' Workshops

These workshops on Best Practices in Faculty Recruitment are taking place this fall. The workshops will discuss and offer resources to assist in the faculty recruitment process and are open to chairs from units that are currently running faculty searches. 

Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE)

Following the collection and analysis of data, a working group has been established to discuss the main themes to address. Next steps include forming subcommittees to come up with recommendations and prepare a report with the findings. It is expected that the work will be finalized at the end of the fall semester.

Academic Affairs

Small Group Lunches on P&T

In September, the Provost's Office hosted small group lunches with faculty and staff from all colleges and schools to discuss opportunities to improve the Promotion and Tenure process. As we continue to improve the process, we wanted to hear from different perspectives: newly tenured faculty, chairs of promotion and tenure committees, assistants to the chair, associate and assistant deans, etc. These have been incredibly helpful and we are grateful to all who have participated.

Stony Brook Curriculum Update

To ensure alignment with SUNY's new General Education Framework requirements, the General Education Advisory Committee (GEAC) updated student learning outcomes (SLOs) in 11 categories. Revised SLOs were approved by Undergraduate Council, with additional review from the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the University Senate Executive Committee. All SLOs are available online. The updated categories are:

  • Explore and understand the fine and performing arts (ARTS)
  • Respect diversity and foster inclusiveness (DIV)
  • Engage global issues (GLO) 
  • Address problems using critical analysis and the methods of the humanities (HUM)
  • Communicate in a human language other than English (LANG)
  • Master quantitative problem solving (QPS)
  • Understand, observe, and analyze human behavior and the structure and functioning of society (SBS)
  • Study the natural world (SNW)
  • Speak effectively before an audience (SPK)
  • Understand the political, economic, social, and cultural history of the United States (USA)
  • Write effectively in English (WRT)

Enrollment Management

Enrollment Management hosted a Meet & Learn event on 9/15 for many campus partners. The event covered topics such as the SCOTUS decision on affirmative action and changes to FAFSA. In addition, attendees had an opportunity to meet with staff from all of our units targeting specific topics, supporting collaboration, and how we can come together to best serve our students. This event offered a great opportunity for campus partners to learn more about the Division of Enrollment Management.

Office of Financial Aid & Scholarship Services

The FAFSA is set to substantially change for the 2024-25 academic year. We continue to think about how these changes will impact our prospective students and subsequently, our communication and financial aid strategy. Our staff is actively analyzing and pre-planning to ensure a smooth transition.

Registrar's Office

  • Monday, October 9, to Tuesday, October 10: Fall break - no classes in session
  • Friday, October 27 - Last day students can select Grade/Pass/No Credit (GPNC). Changes must be processed by 4 pm. Non-petitionable. (Undergraduates)
  • Monday, November 6: Advanced Registration - tentatively to begin for winter and spring in accordance with enrollment appointments

Undergraduate Admissions

Recruitment for the entering 2024 class is underway. A focus this cycle is on building relationships with school counselors. We have hosted one school counselor program (last week) for the NYC region, will host one more there, and we'll also be hosting in-person programs in select out-of-state domestic regions. In addition to the in-person programs, we are hosting two virtual programs for domestic counselors and two for international counselors with the goal of sharing class and recruitment updates as well as academic updates.

SBU will host the SUNY OpInform program on October 11, hosting school counselors and SUNY staff on campus while highlighting system and campus updates throughout the day. 

Planning has started for engaging with international students and school counselors through International Education Week, annually recognized in November. SBU will host events throughout the entire week.

Additional guidance from the SUNY System was received September 21 related to the SCOTUS ruling. Enrollment Management will be working to ensure alignment across our efforts.

Undergraduate Education

Fall 2023 Student Progress Reports

These launched September 20 and will run through October 18. Faculty feedback through progress reports is important for activating a network of support for students who may be having difficulty in class. Spring 2023 represented the highest faculty participation rate (61%) since the university began progress reports nearly 8 years ago. Of all students that faculty indicated as having difficulty in a course, 63% earned a passing grade after receiving support.

Invitation to teach SBU 102

All faculty are invited to teach SBU 102 in SPring 2024. Each spring, every first-year student is required to take a one-credit seminar with some of our most dynamic faculty. These faculty engage with students in a small seminar setting once a week. Classes are scheduled for either 80 minutes a week for 10 weeks, or 55 minutes a week for 14 weeks. Compensation for SBU 102 will be $1500 per one-credit section. Faculty interested in teaching can fill out this online interest form or email mariana.torres@stonybrook.edu for more information.

Graduate School

  • The next Research Mentoring for Faculty training will be held Friday, October 27, and Friday, November 3, from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm in Wang Center Room 301. Sign up here.
  • Stony Brook celebrated National Postdoc Appreciation Week, September 18022, 2023, recognizing the important contributions our roughly 300 postdocs make to the research enterprise at SBU and around the world. The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs kicked off several activities to build community amongst postdocs, including a social, a new listserv, and a new peer mentoring program.
  • The Grad School expanded its orientation offerings for new grad students to include An Introduction to Responsible Research on August 30, acquainting new graduate students with strategies for navigating the gray areas of research ethics, such as authorship, generative AI and other topics.
  • In collaboration with the CIE and Enrollment Management, the Grad School hosted a workshop on doctoral recruiting on September 21, which addressed such topics as diversity recruiting, using Slate to create events, and ways to tailor websites and use social media to recruit students.

Global Affairs

  • International Academic Programs hosted an extremely successful Study Abroad Fair, with several international partner universities and other SUNY campuses represented.
  • Visa and Immigration Services completed the fall 2023 compliance reporting to the US Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of State.
  • As part of our international student success initiative, OGA hosted an International Friends and Family Program Welcome Reception. We have over 50 campus and neighborhood community families partnering with international students to help them acclimate and adjust to life on Long Island and at SBU. More individuals and families are always welcome and encouraged to participate, as the interest from students always exceeds the volunteers. Email iffp@stonybrook.edu if you're interested in participating for the next cycle.

Institutional and Educational Effectiveness

Middle States Accreditation

  • Site visit dates have been confirmed as April 7-10, 2024.
  • Team chair: Dr. Bruce Jarrell, president of University of Maryland, Baltimore
  • Self-study draft will be distributed to the campus for comment in October
  • Preliminary visit from the site visit team chair on November 30

Assessment Symposium, November 8

Focusing on the theme of "Telling your Story," the symposium features an exciting lineup of guest speakers who will empower you to master the art of sharing your assessment journey.

Annual Academic Program Assessment Reports

  • 2022-23 academic year: 95% of program assessment reports were completed and returned to the Office of Educational Effectiveness
  • 2023-24 academic year: All non-accredited programs will submit the assessment of their second program learning objective by Feb. 23, 2024

Continuing, Professional, and Executive Education

The Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP) has awarded full 7-year accreditation to SBU's Distributed Teacher and Leader Education (D-TALE) programs. AAQEP assures the quality of professional preparation programs through a standards and evidence-based process that focus on accountability and continuous improvement. The Commission added a "commendation" to recognize Stony Brook's teacher candidates for outstanding performance in the area of content knowledge relevant to the credential or degree sought. This outcome is achieved through D-TALE's unique distributed model, in which candidates earn a degree in the content discipline as well as teacher certification. In their summary, the AAQEP on-site review team wrote, "What is going on at Stony Brook is truly inspirational."