Academic Senate Meeting Minutes

Steering Committee Vice Chair/Technology Officer Daniel Garbin called the regularly scheduled meeting of the Academic Senate to order at 3:12 PM.  The meeting was held in hybrid format, with attendees both in M136 and ZOOM.  Vice Chair Garbin chaired the meeting from M-136. 

I.  Attendance 

49 votes were recorded at the time attendance was taken, 37 were in person and 12 online of the 49 members of the Academic Senate that were present during the meeting.  

II. Approval of the Agenda 

Vice Chair/Technology Officer Garbin used unanimous consent to approve the agenda.  There were no objections. 

III: Consideration of the Minutes from September 9, 2025

Chairperson Litroff used unanimous consent to approve the minutes. There were no objections. 

IV: Communications 

1. President Christine Mangino 
   The Senate received President Mangino’s Report •
   

   Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Phyliss Curtis-Tweed spoke on behalf of President Mangino

   Update on ongoing collaboration with Queens College to strengthen our transfer pathways. Through the Heckscher Foundation we are engage in a transfer with Queens College and also involved with the Aspen ASCU and STEP program that’s a Strategic Transfer Excellence Program trying to improve credit mobility and student success. Queens College is the college to which most of our students transfer. Today marked the opening of the new Transfer Hub at Queens College that provides transfer students with a welcoming lounge, study space, computers for online classes and areas for advising and community building. On October 5^th QCC held a transfer training session with QCC and Queens College faculty advisors to strengthen communication across campuses and provide training in transfer planning using the tool T-Rex. Provost Tweed also attended the CRISP launch which was inspiring to see the projects QCC students are developing and the dedication their faculty mentors. Dr. Brian Mitra has been selected by NSPA Foundation as a pillar of the profession in recognition of his outstanding service to NASPA and to our profession.

   Next Stop and Shop event will be October 22^nd from 12pm – 1pm where Stop & Shop will be providing product to serve 150 students. Tomorrows event just continues QCC’s commitment to supporting student’s well-being and addressing food insecurity on campus. There will also be a Thanksgiving distribution on Friday November 21^st starting at 2pm. Provost Curtis-Tweed encourage faculty and staff to read the Presidents Report posted on the website which highlights all the work being done across the college, especially in workforce development and in educational technologies. She closed with thanking everyone for their continued partnership and dedication to our students’ success and inviting everyone to the Halloween hangout in the Office of Academic Affairs from 11:30 to 1:30 on Thursday October 30^th.

2. Liaison to the University Faculty Senate – Dr. Emily Tai 
   

   Emily Tai attended the first Plenary of the University Faculty Senate which took place on September 16^th. The main speaker was the chair of the Board of Trustees, Bill Thompson who was sympathetic to faculty concerns. He spoke briefly about the times we are in which he characterized as scary and then took a few questions.  Some of the questions had to do with the situation at Brooklyn College as the aftermath of some protests that took place last spring and faculty employment actions that were taken subsequently. He also shared that the CUNY legal Department has been bombarded with requests for syllabi from some of our faculty. CUNY legal has been standing strong and finding reasons not to comply or at least to delay protecting students’ and faculty rights, and academic freedom. Students across the country having faced deportation and some have faced deportation of loved ones. CUNY has an immigration assistance project and is partnering with Citizenship Now. It received funding from the Petrie Foundation and the Robinhood Foundation.

   There are a number of committees that deal with various matters related to faculty and students two that are chaired by QCC faculty. The committees cover everything from basic capital projects and auditing to various aspects of academic instruction, and aspects of research engagement. If anybody has a concern about anything including where CUNY’s investments go, they can approach any of our faculty senate representatives. Emily Tai opened it up to questions.

3. Steering Committee
   Steering Committee Monthly Report 
   
   
   

• The Steering Committee is pleased to report t we have received more annual reports from standing committees with only five remaining committees that need to submit annual reports. The Steering Committee will remain in contact with the committees. The Steering Committee appreciates the standing committee’s cooperation in this task and is now in the process of giving feedback which aids in maintain ongoing communication with the standing committees. The past two Wednesday’s the steering committee has conducted support sessions for the standing committee chairs and secretaries with a positive turnout with plans to hold more in the spring. We are also focused on updating committee’s webpage using cascade.
• The committee is also focused on holding elections for standing committee’s in the spring, formatting annual reports and student involvement in governance. The Steering Committee has been in contact with Ms. Gisela Rivera and the Student Government Association with the hopes of having a full list of student representatives to welcome to the November Senate.
• Reminder that December is the last opportunity for Academic Senate to consider curriculum changes for inclusion in the fall 2026 catalog.

V: Published Standing Committee Annual Reports

• Committee on Awards & Scholarships 
• Committee on Cultural and Archival Resources 
• Committee on Computer Resources 
• Committee on Course & Standing 
• Committee on CEWD
• Committee on Food Insecurity 
• Committee on eLearning 
• Committee on Publications 
• Committee on WID/WAC

VI: Monthly Reports

• Committee on Curriculum (Attachment A)
  • Chair of the Committee on Curriculum Tirandai Hemraj-Benny reminded faculty that all curriculum changes go through Course Dog. Once a proposal is submitted Dean Pullen reviews and approves it, then the curriculum members are able to see it and review it. All proposal changes to be included in the 2026-2027 catalog should be approved by Dean Pullen by November 18^th so that the curriculum committee can vote on it on November 25^th. It will then be voted on at the last Academic Senate meeting for the semester on December 9^th.
  • Motion to approve new course LA401: votes: n=49; yes n=45; abstain n=4
  • Motion to approve course revisions: ET 754, CRIM 201, 202, 203, 204, 205: votes n=52; yes n=50; abstain n=2

• There was no unfinished business. 

VIII: New Business 

• No new business

Meeting Adjourned at 3:45 PM 

Minutes respectfully submitted by Barbara Rome