Hunter College, City University of New YorkMiddle States Self-Study

May 15 DraftStandard I – Mission and Goals

Mihi Cura Futuri – the Care of the Future Is Mine. Anyone attending the Hunter College winter graduation--or for that matter any graduation in recent years—understood immediately that a Hunter education calls on students to care about and for the future. Hunter College students have been caring for the future since its founding as a teachers college in 1870. Graduation and Convocation ceremonies are first and foremost celebrations of the Hunter motto and the related idea, found in our Mission Statement that Hunter students will “make a difference as active citizens” of the world and especially of New York. Specifically, our Mission invites students to create a “more just and inclusive society.” In this respect, the Hunter Mission is not very different from statements at many other colleges, but the opportunities provided to our students to fulfill the Mission and the urgency of the message to do so make Hunter special if not unique.

At the winter graduation, on January 19, 2017, President Raab recalled an Irish immigrant, Thomas Hunter, who created the College and “believed in his obligation to the future.” She pointed to the motto and asked each of the graduates to “take those words into your hearts as you leave.” She exemplified the caring by rehearsing the plans of a few of the graduates among the class of 2018. Priscilla will care for the future as a social worker helping battered children. Emily will become a teacher. Jeremy will care for the future by showing that “disability can’t stop a true artist.” Alexandra will become an immigration lawyer. Irene, a nurse, will work in dementia care. The goals are not extraordinary, but the students are, and their stories presented at graduation illustrate another aspect of Hunter’s Mission and the Mission of the City University of New York: expanding opportunity and social mobility. Each of the students overcame extraordinary challenges and each intends to give back to a society that enabled them to achieve what was at one time scarcely imaginable. At Hunter, we try to live our Mission, one student at a time.

We review the Mission statement periodically; we did so the last time in 2011 as preamble to the development of the current Strategic Plan. The new Mission Statement provided Hunter College a framework for setting new goals, for expressing a vision, and for reinforcing values. Led primarily by the Hunter College Senate Strategic Planning Committee, the process of drafting the Mission Statement and the Strategic Plan for 2012-2020 was open, inclusive, and collaborative. The Committee’s membership was a diverse group of faculty, staff, administrators, and students representing various schools, centers and departments from across Hunter College. During the drafting and approval process, the Senate Strategic Planning Committee established additional task

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forces that brought in more participation from college stakeholders. Every academic department was charged with contributing to the plan. Campus-wide open forums encouraged more discussion and input on the plan. In the end, the Senate (the campus governance body) debated numerous times, amended, and approved the Strategic Plan and Mission Statement.

Mission Statement: Hunter College of the City University of New York, a distinguished public university, values learning in the liberal arts and sciences as a cornerstone of individual development and a vital foundation for a more just and inclusive society. Continuing our long tradition of expanding opportunity, we seek students from all backgrounds to engage in a rigorous educational experience that prepares them to become leaders and innovators in their communities and in the world. Hunter also contributes to intellectual discourse by supporting excellent scholarship and creative activity by its accomplished faculty.

Hunter undergraduate, graduate, and professional curricula challenge students to think critically - to approach problems from multiple perspectives, distinguish the questions each raises, and recognize the kinds of evidence each values. The College's academic programs stress the significance of human diversity, emphasize research and artistic creation, and invite students to extend their education beyond campus. We cultivate the qualities our graduates need to thrive in their chosen careers and make a difference as active citizens.

We embrace our setting at the heart of New York City - we seek to draw on its energy, capitalize on its remarkable resources, weave it into the fabric of our teaching, research, and creative expression, and give back to it through our service and citizenship.

The College Mission Statement and Strategic Plan remain visible to the college community as we link plans and Mission statements of other units, including the six Schools, back to the foundational documents. While campus leaders are well aware of these missions and goals, and most faculty are aware of our general mission and goals of access and excellence, more can be done to make the promises of our mission and goals better known in the campus community. For example, the mission statement could be included in more of the college’s literature like faculty handbooks and department web pages. Recently we have been thinking about the mission in new faculty orientations. We are reinforcing who we are, who we aim to be, and how this impacts our teaching and our students. For staff, as we revise onboarding programs, the mission and our strategic plan now play a central role in orientation programming. [link to Onboarding Letter Official Copy 2017}.

Mission, Vision, Strategic Plan and our Strategic Priorities

We looked at four strategic priorities drawn from the Strategic Plan as part of the Self-Study: 1) enhance Hunter College’s academic identity as an emerging

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research university; 2) increase student success and engagement; 3) encourage interdisciplinary scholarship and learning; 4) expand and deepen engagement with New York City neighborhoods and institutions. The priorities reflect and demonstrate in a few instances how the Mission and Strategic Plan guide planning, resource allocation, and assessment.

1. Enhancing Hunter’s Academic Identity as a Research Institution

Enhancing Hunter’s academic identity as a research institution flows directly from a broad CUNY mandate and from our own sense of the importance of research. And we think of research in terms of faculty, students, and the collaboration between them.

Many departments offer students the opportunity to work on faculty-led research projects. For example, students can register for the following directed or supervised research courses (ANTHC 325, CSCI 497, FILM 401, HIST 300, HIST 493, MEDIA 401, NURS 441, POLSC 291, PSYCH 395, SW 440, THEA 402, WGS 393 ). The Anthropology department hosts state-of-the-art research labs that support training and research for approximately 50 students per year. International field sites are also available for student research, and typically 25 students participate per year. In the Belfer facilities, our newest fully equipped research laboratory, supported by major federal grants, over 300 students ranging from High School Interns to Postdoctoral fellows are involved in laboratory research. This work supplements the ongoing laboratory activities in our North Hall through several programs dedicated to bringing underrepresented communities into the sciences MARC and RISE). These experiences have led to a consistent record of securing NSF Graduate Research Fellowships for graduating STEM students and other awards.

State-of-the-art flow cytometry and bioimaging facilities within the department’s Center for Basic and Translational Research, which are funded by federal and state grants, bring students together with faculty to work on research in the departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics and Psychology in the areas of biomolecular structure and function. Across the College, academic departments expose our students to honors curriculum and opportunities to graduate with honors (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/academics/honors-programs). In political science, over 30 students graduated with department honors each academic year.

Hunter has an annual two-day undergraduate research conference. Students from all disciplines apply to present their research projects in oral presentation panels or at poster presentations. Following the first year in 2013 with over 90 students participating, the conference has grown each year to more than 150 student research presentations in 2018. [link to

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http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ugresearchconference/welcome] Some students have used the experience of presenting at the college conference as a springboard to presenting at national or international conferences. The college now supports such research presentations by funding student travel through its competitive Student Presentation Initiative [link to http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/student-engagement].

There are strong expectations across all the Schools for faculty research and creativity, and the College supports those expectations for all tenure-track faculty. At the most basic level, Hunter in effect buys out one course of the standard CUNY teaching load so that nearly all regular faculty teach no more than 18 hours. The expectation is that the time will support research and creative activity. This is not the norm among the senior colleges in CUNY. What is the CUNY norm is an arrangement whereby junior faculty hires receive eight course releases to be used in the first five years at Hunter for the purpose of commencing a research program. Faculty also can apply for internal funds for research travel, conference presentations, seed money for grant submissions. manuscript preparation, equipment, and research assistance. Over the last few years, Hunter has awarded over $350,000 per year for such faculty research initiatives. New faculty hires typically receive start-up research funds and close to $3.5 million has been dispersed to new hires over the past three years. This research funding is provided through money raised or earned by the college.

Research support in the natural sciences is especially robust, consistent with the Strategic Plan’s call to “raise Hunter’s profile as a major scientific research center.” There is a separate Strategic Plan for Science, dating from 2008, that outlines a number of goals, most of which have been accomplished. The President has an advisor for science—a professor at Weill Cornell—who recommends strategies for grants and research programs. In 2015 [?] the College purchased an entire floor in the Belfer Research Building at Weill Cornell Medical School. The lab there is home to twelve Hunter College faculty and over 300 students ranging from High School Interns to Postdoctoral Fellows. This year Hunter College brought in more research dollars than any other CUNY campus for the first time.

Hunter College also supports faculty research through eleven research centers or institutes, representing a wide variety of disciplines from across the College. [link to http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/research/research-institutes-and-centers]. For example, faculty and students primarily from our professional schools are involved in research initiatives in the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, Center for Gifted Studies and Education, and the Hunter Autism Research, Practice and Policy Center. Similarly, Arts and Sciences faculty and students are engaged in various research projects of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Center for Community Planning and Development, Center for HIV Educational Studies and

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Training, and the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. At Roosevelt House, there are over 100 Faculty Associates who participate in interdisciplinary faculty seminars, conferences, lectures and public programs. They also teach in the Public Policy and Human Rights programs and advise students on capstone projects (46 in 2016-17).

Consistent with an expanding research institution, Hunter has developed stand-alone doctoral programs as well as supporting such programs in the CUNY Graduate Center, which is the norm. We launched the Doctor of Education Program in Instructional Leadership in the School of Education (EdD) in 2016. The program provides doctoral training and a deep grounding in the research on educational practice, particularly as it applies to urban settings with increasingly diverse student populations. Doctoral students in the program become adroit consumers and producers of research and actively work with School of Education faculty in their research projects prior to completing their own primary research leading to their dissertation.

There are two additional doctoral degrees offered at Hunter College, both in applied health fields. The Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing offers a Doctor of Nursing Practice program to prepare nurse practitioners who can meet the increasingly complex health needs of diverse urban populations. Similarly, the Department of Physical Therapy offers the Doctor of Physical Therapy, a clinical doctorate accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. Students in both of these doctoral degree programs are of course fully engaged in research related to their practice and pursuing primary research as part of their degree requirements. Plans are currently in motion at Hunter to establish a Doctor in Social Work program in the near future.

A second strategic priority for Hunter College is the expansion of interdisciplinary scholarship and learning. “Interdisciplinarity” is one of the “themes” of the Strategic Plan with consequences for research, teaching and learning, and organizational arrangements, as we see in the decision to house the Schools of Social Work and Public Health together. It is a truism that that the future of scholarship is taking place to a significant extent across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. In the School of Arts of Sciences, academic programs that draw from many departments are offering students opportunities to explore current topics from a variety of viewpoints. For example, the well-known Asian-American Studies program is establishing an Asian-American Studies Center that will bring together scholars from nursing, nutrition, social work, speech language pathology, sociology, literature, urban studies, political science, and anthropology. The Public Policy program, the LGBT Social Science and Public Policy Center, and the Human Rights programs are housed at Roosevelt House, and each offers opportunities for interdisciplinary study drawing on faculty from economics, philosophy, political science, sociology and community health, and education to

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teach undergraduates. The Hunter College Human Biology Program offers a major that guides students towards an integrated view of humans and our biology through courses from multiple departments and schools including Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Psychology, Sociology, and Urban Public Health. And Hunter’s Center for Basic and Translational Research consists of faculty from Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, and Psychology working collaboratively.

Another sign of a vibrant interdisciplinary learning environment is the number of cross-listed courses appearing in the class schedule. Inclusive of summer sessions, between fall 2015 and spring 2018, over 1000 cross listed options were made available to students. In addition to the above mentioned Asian American Studies program, there are also the departments of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies, Political Science, and Women and Gender Studies, and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program, and the Thomas Hunter Honors program—all offering our students opportunities to engage their interdisciplinary interests. Not only are faculty conducting interdisciplinary research, but they are also teaching courses that are interdisciplinary, and participating in the life of interdisciplinary research centers. Not surprisingly, BSW students in the Hunter College School of Social Work enroll in a variety of courses that draw upon the fields of psychology, sociology, history, law, and public policy.

Both as a “theme” of the Strategic Plan and as one of the five overarching goals of the plan, student success figures everywhere in planning, resource allocation, and assessment. Hunter College organizes itself in the interest of student success: learning, personal development, and earning a credential. As a public institution, Hunter seeks “…students from all backgrounds to engage in a rigorous educational experience that prepares them to become leaders and innovators in their communities and in the world.” (Mission statement)

Hunter has made a priority of raising and allocating funds for scholarships. Over the last four years, the amount of money dedicated to scholarships has been increasing each year, and the number of recipients has increased from 1,512 to 2,189. Students cannot be successful if they have unmet financial need. The College’s institutional funds support the work of over 10% of our undergraduate population. State and Federal grants simultaneously support most of our students. Together these resources support timely completion of courses for our students.

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Improvements in physical spaces are important for student success on any commuter campus. Our multi-million dollar renovation of the Leon and Toby Cooperman Library created elegant new spaces of various kinds for student use, including the creation of the Silverstein Student Success Center. This project includes the Skirball Center for Science, the Rokowitz Writing Center, and the Pre-Professional Advising Offices. The latter

suite of offices co-locates Pre-Health, Pre-Law, the Pre-Business Program, and the newly created Ruth and Harold Newman Office of Prestigious Scholarships & Fellowships. The Library’s sixth floor now also features the dramatic renovation of the Frankfort Education Library and the expansion and relocation of the Macaulay Honors Program advising and student center. Significantly, the renovation also added highly desirable and badly needed seminar rooms and study spaces for all students. This transformation allows us to support our students academically, and provides spaces for programming and community building. Additionally, the College recently renovated its dance studio, and finished major renovations of the Baker Theater in 2016, creating a second home for much of our performing arts programs. Finally, thanks to a $15 million donation, the Theatre Department now has its own building on the 68th Street campus. Hunter has also raised funds to build a student union in Thomas Hunter Hall.

In addition to new construction and space acquisitions, the College has pursued programming aimed at student success. A “take 15” campaign resulted in a dramatic increase in the student credit load, especially for freshmen. There is a new case-load approach to student advising. Entering students may qualify for one of eight special “scholars” cohorts that represent about 10% of each entering class and that provide an exceptional entrée to college life with merit scholarships, learning communities, mentoring, meetings with the President, and sometimes a matching co-curricular program.

The new Office of Prestigious Scholarships and Fellowships identifies and offers extensive support to students seen as competitive for a range of prestigious awards. In the last two years, Hunter has produced its first Marshall and Rhodes Scholars and its second-ever Luce and Truman Scholars. Hunter has consistently generated significant numbers of language-intensive scholarships (Boren, Gilman, and Critical Language Scholarships), as well as Fulbright Teaching Awards, and National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships but our new office has quickly broadened the array of students applying for nationally-competitive scholarships.

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FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 FY2018$0.00

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Since the Office was instituted in 2016-17, approximately 350 students receive advising and support annually.

The final strategic priority—expanding and deepening our engagement with New York City neighborhoods and institutions—finds its inspiration in the concluding sentence of our Mission statement: We embrace our setting at the heart of New York City -- we seek to draw on its energy, capitalize on its remarkable resources, weave it into the fabric of our teaching, research, and creative expression, and give back to it through our service and citizenship.

In so many ways, Hunter is a vital part of the surrounding city. Consistent with the Mission statement, we learn from that deep engagement, and we give back in grateful return. Anchored by the move of the Silberman School of Social Work to East 119th Street and Third Avenue, “All in East Harlem” is the umbrella project for a number of initiatives, all designed to “move the needle” in the East Harlem neighborhood in terms of health, income inequality, education, and other aspects of community life. The College has encouraged faculty to develop projects in the neighborhood with the aim of establishing productive relationships with Hunter. We expect the work there to enhance our academic identity, to support faculty research, and to expand interdisciplinarity and collaboration, in addition to providing significant benefits for the community. There are now scores of faculty involved in a variety of projects, including the following:

Clinical and Translational Science Center. Hunter has joined with Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences; New York-Presbyterian Hospital; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Cornell University; and the Hospital for Special Surgery in a consortium coordinated by Weill Cornell. While these institutions are not located in East Harlem, much of the biomedical research is focused on the health challenges in urban populations.

P.S./M.S. 7. Hunter is actively involved in the running of this public school located across the street from the School of Social Work. As a result, there is a new focus on art and music in P.S./M.S. 7. The School of Education is engaged as well as faculty from the School of Social Work and the School of Urban Public Health

Prisoner Re-Entry. Hunter has partnered with the District Attorney’s Office to connect “Navigators” to guide formerly incarcerated people to social services.

East Harlem Tutorial Project. District 4, the New York City Department of Education, provides school sites where teacher candidates complete a range of supervised teaching experiences. The District is also a partner in a teacher professional development and research project investigating how to effect change in teacher literacy practices for a diverse student population, including large numbers who are multilingual.

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Big Apple Crunch. In collaboration with our Hunter Food Policy Center, the Nutrition Program, and student Nutrition Club have put this event together around World Food Day. The program brings in children from East Harlem’s Public School 7 and other schools for impactful and sustaining educational activities, culminating in the Big Apple Crunch, which serves as a way for New York City residents to celebrate healthy eating.1

East Harlem Fresh Taste for Seniors Program was just piloted in 2017. This program partnered with two Union Settlement senior centers and two supermarkets (Cherry Valley) in East Harlem (Community District 11) to deliver healthy cooking demonstrations.2 Hunter also launched Cafeteria Education (A Collaboration with PS 7 and Edible Schoolyard) during the 2016-2017 school year.

From courses designed for our entering freshman to our most competitive graduate programs, to our faculty’s research, Hunter takes New York City as its textbook, its classroom, and its laboratory, and nowhere does the City figure larger than in the arts. Over the past decade, Hunter has emerged as New York’s public college for the arts because it has intentionally taken advantage of what New York offers as a global cultural capital.

On the undergraduate level, New York City forms the core of Hunter’s Macaulay Honors College. Its freshman and sophomore year seminars focus on specific aspects of the city, in the following sequence: “The Arts in New York City,” “The Peopling of New York City,” “Science and Technology in New York City,” and “Shaping the Future of New York.”

An introduction to the arts in New York City is also at the core of Hunter’s Muse Scholars program, an undergraduate cohort for incoming students with a stated interest in the arts. All Muse Scholars take “Explorations in the Arts,” which introduces students to the diverse arts of New York City. They attend theater and dance workshops, work with teaching artists, hear talks by arts professionals, and attend cultural events throughout the city. Based on the success of the Muse and Macaulay courses, we opened “Explorations in the Arts” to all undergraduates at Hunter College in fall 2016, further cementing the place of the arts, and of the city, in the undergraduate curriculum.3 [footnote 3 not there.]

Hunter’s newly formed Office of the Arts, which oversees the “Explorations in the Arts” course, has worked with a number of the city’s cultural institutions to secure

1 The goal of each annual Big Apple Crunch is to get as many New Yorkers as possible to bite into an apple on Food Day. In the past few years there have been more than 800,000 participants in the Big Apple Crunch. 2 The program developed culturally and age-sensitive, bilingual, nutritious recipes that were quick, affordable, and accessible to seniors. The program also partnered with the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House's Teaching Kitchen to create videos that "train the trainer," providing guidance to other groups on how to conduct cooking demonstrations at their organizations. The program was funded through the Manhattan Community Award Program (MCAP), a grant from the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer's Office. 3

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free or reduced admission for Hunter students to exhibitions and performances.4 The Office of the Arts also serves as a clearinghouse for internships with arts organizations throughout the city.5 The Office of the Arts offers 10-15 summer internship awards on a competitive basis, with grants of up to $3000 to support Hunter students in unpaid internships.6

Hunter also engages the city in a major way through its School of Education. Hunter provides some 25% of the City of New York's K-12 teachers across the disciplines, and has over the past decade recommitted to arts education to meet the city's needs [link to: comptroller's 2014 report, "State of the Arts: Plan to Boost Arts Education in New York City Schools"]. An important component of this commitment, and one that takes full advantage of one of the city's most important cultural centers, is the Lincoln Center Scholars/Hunter College Alternative Certification Preparation Program for Creative Arts Education. A partnership between the Lincoln Center for the Performing Art's Education Program and the Hunter College School of Education, the Lincoln Center Scholars program was developed in response to the critical need for qualified, certified arts teachers in New York City Schools

Hunter’s Masters of Fine Arts programs also engages the city in many ways. Hunter has MFA programs in Creative Writing, Integrated Media Arts, Playwriting, and Studio Art, and offers Masters degrees in Art History, Music (with concentrations in Composition, Ethnomusicology, Music History, Music Theory, and Performance) and Theater (with concentrations in theatre history, theory, dramaturgy, playwriting, acting and directing). The city's studios, museums, galleries, concert halls, and theaters serve as crucial classrooms for all of these programs; they represent the art worlds to which Hunter's MA and MFA graduates aspire, and in which they learn.7 All of the graduate programs in the arts also draw on New York for visiting artists, critics, and curators.8

4 Hunter’s cultural partners include the 92nd Street Y, the Americas Society, the Asia Society, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Frick Collection, the Jewish Museum, MoMA, El Museo del Barrio, the Public Theater, and the Whitney. 5 Their lists are current and continually updated, and among the listing institutions are the Frick Collection, the Guggenheim, Mark Morris Dance Company, the Public Theater, Symphony Space, and Urban Glass. 6 Hunter students interned with Gibney Dance, The Rubin Museum of Art, Academy of American Poets, National Sawdust, Word Up Community Bookshop/Liberia Comuniteria, City Parks Foundation, Rising Sun Performance Company, Boundless Theatre Company, The Public Theater, Women of Color Productions, Indo-American Arts Council, and Society of the Educational Arts Inc./Teatro SEA. 7 Indeed, many of Hunter’s graduate students in the arts are already participants in those worlds, whether they come to Hunter as professionals—a number of our MA Art History students are pursuing their degrees while employed at museums such as MoMA, the Whitney, and the Guggenheim, or in auction houses or commercial galleries—or gain access to professional networks and positions while at Hunter. 8 Recent visiting faculty in the Theater Department’s MFA in Playwriting include director Oliver Butler, and playwrights Adam Bock and Anne Washburn. Visiting curators in the Department of Art and Art History have included Catherine Morris, Sackler Family Curator of Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum; Richard Flood, Curator of Special Projects at the New Museum; and Tim Griffin, Director of the Kitchen.

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Student internships also play a role in Hunter’s engagement with the city. Almost 50% of our students participate in experiential learning activities.9 Internships play an important role on the graduate level as well as on the undergraduate. Undergraduates participate in the CUNY internship programs in Albany, Washington, DC, and local city council offices. Internships and mentorships are central to the MFA in Creative Writing.10

Hunter’s arts departments not only rely on New York’s vibrant art worlds for the opportunities they give our students; they also contribute to those worlds. The Theater Department’s Ann Friedman Fund provides seed money for productions outside of Hunter, in theaters around New York City that employ Hunter students. And the ambitious exhibitions in Hunter College’s four art galleries, many of them curated by students in collaboration with faculty and gallery staff, are well attended and regularly reviewed in New York-based popular and arts presses.11 Hunter has also recently established a certificate program in arts management, and has a well established Mellon arts-across the-curriculum program.

There is also an abundance of community engagement at Hunter’s School of Urban Public Health. The engagement takes the form of research studies, and community projects. The Intervention INC is exploring feasibility and potential impact of an innovative technology-enhanced tool focused on promoting healthy eating behaviors in minority children and their families, with the goal of decreasing childhood obesity risk. Hunter is also involved in a Chinese Community Partnership Study, where faculty are working with the New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital in revising CDC’s Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) curriculum. The goal is to make the curriculum culturally appropriate and acceptable to Chinese Americans to facilitate lifestyle change for diabetes prevention.

Harlem and Edible Schoolyard NYC, a nonprofit organization that works to ensure all children are educated and empowered to make healthy food choices. Through this partnership, the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center implemented a 15-week nutrition education program in the school lunchroom for the elementary

9 http://www2.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/page-assets/about/administration/offices/oira/institutional/data/current-student-data-book-by-subject/PMP_University_Data_Book_2017_2017-07-05.pdf 10 The Hertog and Thomas Hunter Fellowships pair Hunter Creative Writing students with New York-based writers and poets of significant stature to work as research and editorial assistants. In recent semesters Hunter students have worked with Jonathan Franzen, Nicole Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer, Joyce Carol Oates, Jennifer Egan, Gary Shteyngart, Phillip Levine, Jill Bialosky and Edward Hirsch.

11 The Hunter College Art Galleries have also collaborated on exhibitions with New York institutions such as Studio in a School and El Museo del Barrio. Part of Hunter’s broader All in East Harlem initiative, the Hunter East Harlem Gallery in the Silberman School of Social Work has outreach to the East Harlem community as part of its mission.

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school students.12 Food Policy Center Breakfast Seminars have been going on at Hunter College since September 2012. In this program the Center has sponsored more than 30 policy forums, mostly through its monthly Food Policy for Breakfast Seminar series, which is free to the academic, government and nonprofit sectors, as well as the general public.13

Hunter’s mission of engaging our communities and our city is also carried out by our School of Nursing. The Clinical & Translational Science Center (CTSC). This center facilitates the conduct of innovative translational research at Weill Cornell and beyond. The CTSC offers funding opportunities that encourage multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary collaboration, through an array of research support and core services, education and training opportunities and expansive community engagement programs. Through a diverse patient population, the center can move translational research seamlessly from bench to bedside.

The mission of the Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) fully aligns with the college mission. The CTSC mission is to provide an environment that allows optimal use of our considerable community assets and the diversity of our patient population to move translational research seamlessly from bench to bedside and to the community. The CTSC acts as a conduit through which essential resources, technological tools and education programs for all community partners can be efficiently shared and managed.14

In forming this multidisciplinary interaction since its 2007 launch we have relied on many important relationships and partnerships. The list includes: Hunter College’s Center for the Study of Gene Structure and Function(HGC)/Research Centers of Minority Institutions (RCMI), Hunter College School of Nursing (HCSON); the School of Public Health (SPH) Weill Cornell Medical College/Hunter College in New York are all partner institutions with New York Weill Cornell Medical College, Memorial Sloan‐Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), and the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). Other key cohorts in the CTSC include Cornell University, Ithaca (CU‐I) and Cornell University Cooperative Extension‐New York

12 Using “shortburst” nutrition lessons, the Center provided information to children in a fun, engaging, and experiential manner. The curriculum was based on existing research-based nutrition education resources but was adapted to a cafeteria setting. Hunter College nutrition students administered the program—an innovative component of the program that not only connected university students to their local community and provided them with an avenue for community service, but also enables the program to be expanded and replicated at universities across the city, state, and country. 13 These seminars, now attended each month by more than 125,150 policymakers, government staff, community organizations, advocates, faculty, and students with interests in food policy, are held at the Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work in East Harlem, and serve as an important forum for discussing key food issues facing New York City and other urban cities. 14 This center is funded through the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs), a national consortium that is transforming how clinical and translational research is conducted.

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City (CUCE‐NYC). This is a striking example of positive inter-institutional collaboration between private and public entities. Of equal importance it serves the same community where interdisciplinary research initiatives are enhanced for the benefit of students.

The Community Engagement Core of the CTSC consists of several programs in which Hunter College faculty and students participate. For example, the Heart-to-Heart Community Outreach Program provides free and accessible cardiovascular health and Ophthalmology screenings to underserved communities in New York City. The program takes a three-prong approach to address cardiovascular disease: free community-based heart health screenings, identification of barriers to healthcare access, and health education.15 The Hunter School of Nursing also places Hunter students (undergraduate and graduate) in clinical areas. We currently place approximately 150 undergraduate students and over 250 graduate students with contracted agencies all over the city (a list of contracted agencies is in Appendix X).

Conclusion. Hunter College’s goals are clearly aligned with its mission, and both its mission and goals guide our large institution. We developed our most recent set of goals in our Strategic Plan for 2012-2020 where we also revised our mission statement. This process was collaborative and appropriately led by our administrators, faculty, staff, and students in the Hunter College Senate.

We have shown that our mission has provided 1) clear direction for enhancing our identity as a research institution; 2) strong incentives to create interdisciplinary learning environments, 3) a strong foundation for broadening opportunities for student success; and 4) an appropriate justification for engaging our city and community. Our mission and goals have benefitted students as well as faculty as research has been supported, interdisciplinary scholarship has been fostered, student opportunities have been created and funded, and our communities and city have been included in our learning and service.

15 The H2H student base consists of Weill Cornell Medicine medical students and MD-PhD students, Hunter College School of Nursing students, and Hunter College Undergraduate students. Each event is carried out in partnership with a local community organization: a church, a food pantry, or a community center. Services provided at H2H events include measuring Height, Weight, BMI, and Blood Pressure; Blood Screening Tests for Diabetes and Heart Disease Risk; Full ophthalmology exams; Medical Consultation; Nutrition Consultation (NYP); Follow Up Referral (WCCC or local low cost/free clinic); and Insurance Enrollment. After each screening, each participant has a one-on-one consult with a health professional who explains the results, and offers individualized advice. Approximately 4-10 Hunter nursing students volunteer for each H2H event. Nursing students take the participants’ blood pressure and height, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI). Hunter College faculty oversees the nursing students and consults with participants after they receive their test values. An average of 17 Hunter undergraduate volunteers attend each H2H event. These volunteers escort participants through the health screening and ask them general health and demographic questions as a part of research collected in a REDCap database. H2H has been active since 2010 and has held over 100 events where 5,324 participants have been screened. Hunter’s School of Nursing has also run Hands-Only CPR (HOCPR) since 2014, where 1291 individuals were trained at over 50 events.

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To come to Hunter and to stay at Hunter for the thousands who call it home primarily means a vibrant commitment to our mission, our goals, and our students. It is a serious commitment to the college motto--Mihi cura futuri--the care of the future is mine. Hunter’s dedication to caring of the future through excellence and access is strong, as we have shown that our mission guides us in our everyday tasks.

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Hunter College, City University of New YorkMiddle States Self-Study

May 15 Draft

Standard II -- Ethics and Integrity

In all of its internal and external activities, Hunter College is faithful to its mission, honors its contracts and commitments, adheres to its policies and represents itself truthfully. From its inception in 1870, Hunter College has fostered an environment of deep, abiding and authentic respect for all members of the campus community.

Hunter College demonstrates a commitment to academic freedom, intellectual freedom, freedom of expression and respect for intellectual property rights. Both CUNY and Hunter websites have explicit policies on academic freedom and intellectual policy. (See CUNY Guide To Academic Freedom, Hunter College Senate Committee on Academic Freedom, CUNY Intellectual Property Policy.) The Academic Freedom Committee of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), a union that represents more than 27,000 faculty and staff at CUNY, monitors academic freedom within the faculty. The Hunter College Senate affords further protections through its standing Senate Committee on Academic Freedom which is charged “to monitor, examine and report annually to the Senate on the status of academic freedom at the college.” (See http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/senate/senate-committees/committee-on-academic-freedom). This Committee actively monitors potential challenges to academic freedom and freedom of expression. For example, in response to a 2013 proposed CUNY policy on expressive conduct which would have granted administrators the authority to restrict demonstrations on all CUNY property, the Committee drafted a proposal to defend freedom of speech on campus and presented it to the Senate. (See http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/senate/repository/files/resolutions/ResolutiontorepudiatedraftproposalofCUNYPolicyonExpressiveConduct12413.pdf ; and http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/senate/repository/files/senate-minutes/Minutes%209-21-16%20.pdf)

As is characteristic of most leading universities, the core principle of academic freedom is deeply ingrained in the mindset of Hunter’s population and therefore most of the time it is enjoyed invisibly—that is, without explicitly considering or invoking it. The College’s essential activities—teaching, learning, curriculum development and research—are expected to take place in a climate of mutual respect for diverse ideas and the right to express them. Debates about difficult, inconvenient or repellent ideas that challenge those ideas with evidence and rational counterargument routinely occur in Hunter’s classes, faculty fora and public events. Student exposure to such debate is one of the most significant educational benefits the College offers, that is teaching tolerant behavior both by example and as a regularly reiterated principle.

For Hunter’s faculty, academic freedom provides the opportunity to engage in a wide variety of speech, publication, and public activity that enhances the College’s curricular offerings and public profile. Many faculty members investigate urgent and controversial public issues as part of their research and incorporate their

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knowledge into new courses, merging research and pedagogy. Hunter faculty regularly exercise their academic freedom to express themselves in public fora, often in response to requests from journalists seeking their expertise. This steady presence of faculty voices in the public commons, across all disciplines, strengthens the college’s reputation as an exciting center of original intellectual inquiry. For example, Professor Jennifer Gaboury, in the department of Women and Gender Studies, teaches a class called “The Abolition of Whiteness” which draws on her experience researching representations of race, gender and masculinity in American culture and working as advisor to Human Rights Watch. Hunter College hosted Professor Patricia Matthew who spoke to faculty on Reflections on the “Free” in Academic Freedom: Diversity and the Scholar Activist, discussing the importance of sustaining a diverse intellectual ecosystem in a moment when all faculty, but particularly faculty of color, face important choices about how to do their work. (http://acert.hunter.cuny.edu/events/calendar/academic-freedom-sp18/).

The results of the 2015 COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey support the conclusion that Hunter faculty value their academic freedom as a singularly positive aspect of the institution. When asked to identify the two best aspects of working at Hunter out of 29 choices, 13% of the faculty identified academic freedom as one of the two best, a significantly higher percentage than at peer institutions. (See Hunter College COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey Provost’s Report 2015.)

Climate of Respect. In its policies and actions Hunter College promotes and maintains a climate that fosters respect among students, faculty, staff and administration from a range of diverse backgrounds, ideas and perspectives. (See President Raab Reaffirmation of Commitment to Diversity/Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity; Hunter College Office of Diversity and Compliance; CUNY Policy on Equal Opportunity and Non-discrimination; CUNY Sexual Misconduct Policy; CUNY Domestic Violence Policy Statement; Hunter College Title IX Combating Sexual Misconduct; Hunter College Workplace Violence Policy; Hunter College Non-discrimination Policies; Hunter College Gender Equity Project; Hunter College School of Education Equity & Advocacy.)

Hunter welcomes and respects all members of our campus community. Students agree that this is a particular strength of Hunter, as evidenced in the 2015 Noel Levitz survey, which concluded that the strong commitment to racial harmony, nondiscrimination, and respect for the individual backgrounds and beliefs were particular strengths of Hunter College. (See Hunter College Noel Levitz Survey Results 2015.) In this spirit, Hunter established the country’s first student space dedicated to interfaith and interracial understanding nearly three quarters of a century ago in the former home of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and renamed it as the Sara Delano Roosevelt Memorial Interfaith House. At the time, President Roosevelt proclaimed “This place of sacred memories is to become the first college center established for the high purpose of mutual understanding between Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic students.” Hunter has continued this tradition of welcoming students of different faiths and backgrounds to this day and in 2017 created the new Multifaith Center in Thomas Hunter Hall, where faith-

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based student clubs and organizations are now housed together. (See Hunter College Multifaith Center for Student Organizations.)

The preservation of and respect for diversity on our campus is valued by both faculty and students. In the 2015 COACHE survey, 17% of the faculty identified diversity as one of the two best aspects of working at Hunter, compared to 3% at peer institutions. The 2015 NSSE survey of students reported that 71% of seniors considered that Hunter contributed significantly to their understanding of people from other backgrounds. (See Hunter College NSSE 2015 Results Presentation to Senate.) Students agreed strongly in the 2015 Noel Levitz survey that there was a strong commitment to racial harmony on the campus. (See Hunter College Noel Levitz Survey Results 2015.)

Hunter cultivates a respectful campus by clearly communicating to students the expectations regarding conduct within the campus community, their individual responsibility for complying with those expectations and the consequences if they fail to do so. The Hunter College Campus Code of Conduct (also known as the Henderson Rules and the CUNY Code of Conduct) and related College policies are the documents that outline those expectations and hold students to high standards of behavior to maintain and preserve a safe and respectful campus community. (See Hunter College Campus Code of Conduct http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/publicsafety/policies-and-procedures/campus-code-of-conduct, and other documents above in II.2.)

The Office of Student Conduct works with other departments in Student Affairs to ensure that all new students are fully informed of the expectations and policies as well as the consequences of non-compliance. As part of the registration process, all new students must read the Office of Student Conduct policies, including the Hunter College Campus Code of Conduct, via their MyHunter page. Once they have read the policies, a box is checked and only then can they proceed to complete the additional requirements for registration. (See Hunter College Email Confirmation) Hunter requires all new students to take the Haven online sexual misconduct prevention program which has been prepared by EverFi, a firm specializing in online training for post-secondary institutions. Students are informed via email of the requirements as well as the consequences of non-compliance. (See Hunter College email re Mandatory Sexual Misconduct Prevention Training.) We distribute informational postcards and a guide to avoiding plagiarism to academic departments, the Residence Halls, Undergraduate Student Association, and Graduate Student Association. (See Hunter College Student Conduct Postcard; Hunter College Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism.) All freshman and transfer student cohorts must view a presentation on academic integrity (https://prezi.com/eajib-toblat/academic-integrity-hunter-college/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy)and take a pre- and post-presentation survey. Students who fail to complete Part 1 of the course have a hold placed on their account which prevents them from withdrawing, registering for the following semester or viewing their grades. (See Hunter College Email A Stop Has Been Placed On Your CUNYfirst Account.)

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The Hunter College Office of Diversity and Compliance promptly reviews, investigates, and resolves claims of discriminatory activity, whether by employees or students. This Office is also responsible for evaluating requests for reasonable accommodations, in conjunction with the College’s Office of AccessABILITY, ADA/504 Coordinator, and the Executive Director of Human Resources. All complaints and resolutions are recorded and periodically reviewed, and policies and procedures are assessed on an annual basis and revised if necessary.

Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Accountability. As an element of maintaining and preserving a safe and secure campus, Hunter enforces the CUNY Policy on Sexual Misconduct and Protocol for Allegations of Sexual Harassment. This policy articulates zero tolerance for sexual misconduct, identifies resources for assisting students impacted by sexual misconduct and provides a mechanism for investigating and holding accountable those who have engaged in sexual misconduct. (See CUNY Protocol for Allegations of Sexual Harassment; CUNY Policy on Reporting of Alleged Misconduct; CUNY Policy on Sexual Misconduct; and Hunter policy http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/repository/files/cuny-policy-on-sexual-misconduct.pdf.)

As mentioned above, all new students must also complete a mandatory online training to understand the policy regarding sexual misconduct and harassment. Hunter College also holds many regularly scheduled in-person programs for students to learn about healthy relationships, to understand the full range of behaviors that constitute sexual misconduct, to identify the signs of sexual misconduct, and to learn how to help a friend who is experiencing sexual misconduct. These programs are followed by a question and answer session which allows the presenters to determine whether, and to what extent, students understand policies, procedures, resources and services, and to determine if there are areas for improvement in the training programs to properly communicate relevant sexual misconduct and Title IX policies and procedures. Based on the feedback from programs conducted over the last academic year, the College has posted additional collateral material concerning risky behaviors and bystander intervention at the dormitory residences; utilized the flat screen monitors around campus to promote communal responsibility and bystander interventions; and has designed new posters and handouts summarizing options for reporting sexual misconduct and accessing interim support services or other resources. Collectively, these measures have increased student awareness about the College’s policies, reporting procedures, and available resources.

President Raab annually reaffirms her commitment to the CUNY sexual misconduct policy, and this reaffirmation is distributed to students, displayed on the Hunter website, and posted in Residence Halls. The Diversity and Compliance Office posts resources on its website for victims of sexual misconduct, provides mandatory sexual misconduct online trainings, and facilitates in-person trainings, especially to groups identified at higher risk. (See Hunter College Office of Diversity and Compliance http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/title-ix)

Any alleged violation of Title IX is brought to the attention of the Dean for Diversity and Compliance, who is also the College’s Title IX Coordinator. (See Office of

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Diversity and Compliance Resolution of Complaints http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/non-discrimination-policies#resolution; Information on Title IX policies, procedures and ongoing training initiatives is available on the College’s website on a dedicated web page, “Title IX: Combating Sexual Misconduct” which also has links to the CUNY website where additional resources and information can be found. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/title-ix) A button on Hunter’s homepage displays the phrase “Enough is Enough: Combating Sexual Misconduct” which links to a large set of information on the CUNY website with relevant information for students. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/main/; http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/title-ix/.) 

In 2014, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that Hunter College had violated certain Title IX requirements as a consequence of an alleged inadequate investigation of a student’s claims of sexual harassment against a Hunter professor.16 (In fact, in response to the student’s complaint, Hunter College launched an investigation and found that the professor’s conduct was inappropriate and ended the professor’s relationship with the College.) Hunter College settled the complaint with OCR without admission of liability, and agreed to continue to work diligently to comply with Title IX.

In 2016, the Senate voted to mandate that every Hunter College syllabus contain a statement (entitled “Hunter College Policy on Sexual Misconduct”) prohibiting sexual misconduct and providing information for the reporting of all incidents.  (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/senate/repository/files/senate-minutes/minutes-11-09-16.pdf)

In 2014, the College created a Campus Safety Advisory Committee (“CSAC”) consisting of students, staff and faculty, with the goal of assessing risks faced by community members and making recommendations for improvements to policies and practices. The Committee reviewed a number of incidents, practices and policies and made recommendations for continued awareness campaigns on the issue of sexual misconduct prevention and bystander intervention.

Grievance Policy. Hunter College widely documents and disseminates grievance policies and procedures to address complaints or grievances raised by students, faculty and staff. The College’s policies and procedures are fair and impartial, and assure that grievances are addressed promptly, appropriately and equitably. (See CUNY Protocol for Allegations of Sexual Harassment; CUNY Policy on Reporting of Alleged Misconduct; CUNY Policy for Student Complaints; Hunter College Undergraduate Catalog 2017-18; Hunter College Ombudsman Reports; Hunter College Student Complaint Procedure; Hunter College Student Complaint Formhttp://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentaffairs/student-complaints; Hunter College Title IX Complaint Form http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/title-ix; Hunter College Procedures for Handling Student Complaints About Faculty Conduct in Academic Settings http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentaffairs/deanofstudents/student-advocacy-and-referral/policies-student-complaints; Hunter College Complaint Procedure for Addressing an Allegation of Academic Dishonesty 16 Hunter College was among 11 New York colleges investigated by OCR for Title IX violations at this time.

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http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentaffairs/student-conduct/academic-integrity; Hunter College Behavioral Response Team http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/brt; Hunter College Office of Diversity and Compliancehttp://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/non-discrimination-policies; Hunter College Procedures for Grade Appeals http://catalog.hunter.cuny.edu/content.php?catoid=32&navoid=11315; CUNY Faculty and Staff Grievance Policies; CUNY Labor Relations Policies.)

Student Complaints. Hunter has a variety of opportunities, policies and procedures for complaints and grievances by students, all of which are prominently displayed on the Student Affairs website. All policies and procedures are accessible via the main Student Affairs website, which displays the link to “Student Complaints.” This link leads to a list of potential categories of complaints with the relevant procedures and forms for each one. In addition, there is a general Student Complaint Form which covers any complaints not included in the delineated areas. (https://ww3.hunter.cuny.edu/studentaffairs/view.php?id=24135) Student complaints and resolution of such complaints are recorded by the various departments and reviewed frequently to assess potential problem areas. Overall academic integrity is regulated by the CUNY Academic Integrity Policy, which replaced the existing policy in 2011 to strengthen due process protections for students facing academic sanctions and clarify circumstances where disciplinary rather than academic sanctions are appropriate. Hunter follows the CUNY policy and provides procedures for reporting violations of academic integrity on the Student Affairs website. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentaffairs/student-conduct/academic-integrity/procedures-for-reporting-academic-integrity-violations.) These academic policies are regulated by the Hunter College Senate and appeals for administrative exceptions to academic rules and regulations are heard in the Office of the Senate. Information on all academic policies and appeals are available on the Student Affairs website. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentaffairs/deanofstudents/policies-forms.)

Hunter is committed to the health and safety of the student body and to provide assistance to students in crisis or in distress, often through the Hunter College Behavioral Response Team. The team of trained professionals has a website with a dedicated referral form for complaints. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/brt/welcome) The Office of Diversity and Compliance handles allegations of sexual misconduct (regulated by the CUNY Sexual Misconduct Policy) and has an online complaint form on its website. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/title-ix#Resolution). This office also handles complaints regarding discrimination and harassment (as regulated by the CUNY Equal Opportunity and Non Discrimination Policy.) (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/non-discrimination-policies)

Conflicts of Interest. Hunter College observes strict policies to ensure the avoidance of conflict of interest and the appearance of such conflict in all activities and among all constituents. (See CUNY Ethics Information; CUNY Conflict of Interest Policy; Hunter College Conflict of Interest Training.)

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The College follows the CUNY Conflict of Interest Policy with the expectation that all activities shall be conducted in accordance with the highest standards of integrity and ethics and avoidance of conflict of interest. (ile:///C:/Users/lb1219/Downloads/conflict-of-interest-12.10.13.pdf) CUNY has a university-wide Conflicts Committee which reviews issues of financial conflict of interest.

Ethical Research. Research is an integral part of the learning process for students, and Hunter provides many opportunities for students to become involved in research, whether as part of research methods courses, independent study, honors and Masters degree research projects, or other College-sponsored opportunities. All faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students involved in research-related activities complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative’s (CITI) Responsible Conduct of Research Training. (http://research.hunter.cuny.edu/CITI%20.pdf) To ensure adequate protections for human and animal subjects, as per federal guidelines, research conducted at Hunter is reviewed by either the CUNY Institutional Review Board (IRB; via the Hunter College Human Research Protection Program; HRPP) or the Hunter College Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). (http://research.hunter.cuny.edu/IACUC.htm). Students conduct research as part of IRB-approved and/or IACUC approved faculty protocols. Students conducting independent research projects under faculty sponsorship much also seek either IRB or IACUC approval.

Fair Hiring Practices. Hunter College acts in accordance with fair and impartial practices in the hiring, evaluation, promotion, discipline and separation of employees. The College demonstrates honesty and integrity in its dealings with internal and external constituencies, acts consistently with its policies, demonstrates nondiscrimination, promotes respect for the individual, and complies with applicable laws and regulations. (See CUNY Policy on Equal Opportunity and Non-discrimination; President Raab Reaffirmation of Commitment to Diversity/Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity; Hunter College Office of Diversity and Compliance;Hunter College Non-discrimination Policies; Hunter College Searches and Recruitment; Hunter College Faculty Diversity Strategic Plan; Hunter College Departmental Chair Handbook.)

The CUNY Policy on Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination prohibits discrimination based on identity or status, identifies a set of protected characteristics, and specifies the complaint procedure regarding these issues. CUNY’s policy follows federal, state, and city laws and regulations and is regularly updated to incorporate new protected characteristics.  (See CUNY Policies and Procedures on Equal Opportunity, Non-Discrimination and Against Sexual Harassment http://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/ohrm/policies-procedures/finalnondeiscrimpolicy121213.pdf.) Hunter College broadly disseminates this nondiscrimination policy, annually affirming it and adhering to its stated standards of fair treatment. (See http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/non-discrimination-policies.) The College declares its commitment to fair treatment and enforcement of that policy as an unwavering institutional commitment.

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  Hunter College is committed to meeting the highest possible standard when recruiting and promoting faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds and strictly follows the employment mandates of Federal, New York State, and New York City law.  (See CUNY Policy on Equal Opportunity and Non-discrimination; CUNY Policies and Procedures on Equal Opportunity, Non-Discrimination and Against Sexual Harassment http://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/ohrm/policies-procedures/finalnondeiscrimpolicy121213.pdf; President Raab Reaffirmation of Commitment to Diversity/Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity; Hunter College Office of Diversity and Compliance; Hunter College Non-discrimination Policies; Hunter College Searches and Recruitment; Hunter College Faculty Diversity Strategic Plan; Hunter College Departmental Chair Handbook.) Additional recruiting and promotion requirements include the provisions outlined in the collective bargaining agreements and in Hunter policies. (http://www2.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/page-assets/about/administration/offices/hr/policies-and-procedures/CUNYPolicy-Equal-Opportunity-and-Non-Discrimination-010115-procedures.pdf ; http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/non- discrimination-policies).

All Hunter faculty and staff are represented by unions, the principal ones being the PSC (see above under II.1) for faculty and professional level staff and DC-37 for classified employees. These unions negotiate, administer and enforce collective bargaining agreements and protect the rights of faculty and staff through the grievance and arbitration process.

The Dean for Diversity and Compliance reviews all search descriptions and advertising plans to monitor underutilization issues and ensure outreach to potential desirable pools of applicants. Human Resources works with the individual academic department to ensure that all procedural guidelines (CUNY and/or Civil Service) are met in the hiring process. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/diversityandcompliance/searches-and-recruitment).

These procedures have resulted in a diverse workforce at the faculty, managerial and staff levels. Among full time faculty, there is no underutilization of either women or minorities. Of full time faculty, 51% are female and 30% are minority. Among full time staff, 50% are female and [65%] are minority. Among the executive staff, 50% are female and 27% minority.17

Evaluation and Promotion. Hunter College complies with CUNY guidelines for evaluation and promotion for faculty and staff consistent with collective bargaining requirements and Civil Service regulations. The evaluation process for all employees occurs on an annual cycle. The objective is to review the past performance and set goals for the future year. This exercise allows the employee to meet with their manager to review their progress, highlight their strengths, and develop an action plan, when necessary, to address their weaknesses. When there is a difference between the perspective of the manager and the employee regarding the employee’s performance, the employee is able to write a rebuttal of 17 Under CUNY policies, Italian Americans are considered an affirmative action group and 5.9% of faculty are Italian American while 5.5% of staff are Italian American and [6.7%] of the executive staff is Italian American.

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the evaluation. The rebuttal is attached to the evaluation and becomes part of the official submission.

The Dean for Diversity and Compliance monitors promotions for non-discrimination purposes as part of the annual Affirmative Action Plan preparation process, and we have very few complaints regarding failure to promote. (See Collective Bargaining Agreements: .http://www.psc-cuny.org/rights/promotions; Article XV of the Blue Collar Agreement http://www2.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/page-assets/about/administration/offices/labor-relations/labor-contracts/2006-2009_BC_Contract.pdf; Article XV of the White Collar Agreement https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/lr/lr-contracts/2006-2009_WC_Contract.pdf .)

The 2015 COACHE survey revealed some institutional weakness regarding faculty attitudes towards tenure and promotion policies. Although Hunter non-tenured faculty received formal feedback on their progress towards tenure at a greater rate than those at peer schools, fewer Hunter full-time faculty had received formal feedback on their progress towards promotion to full professor.

Discipline and Separation. Disciplinary procedures for all staff follow the procedures mandated by collective bargaining. Hunter follows a progressive disciplinary model, i.e. employees have opportunities to correct their behavior based on feedback received from the reporting officer prior to subsequent disciplinary action. Employees also have a number of opportunities for assistance if they are concerned about receiving fair treatment during the disciplinary process, including the right to have Union Representation present. In addition to these channels, employees have a mechanism to file grievances if they feel their rights have been violated. Any grievances that are filed against the College are addressed and resolved promptly and in a fair and impartial manner either by the parties or by an impartial arbitrator appointed pursuant to the applicable collective bargaining agreement. All disciplinary procedures follow the applicable contractual rules. Since January 2017 there have been three official grievances. Two have been settled and one is pending.

Honest Communications. Hunter College represents itself with honesty and truthfulness in public relations announcements, advertisements, recruiting and admissions materials and practices, as well as in internal communications.

In coordination with CUNY, Hunter College plans and implements a comprehensive recruitment plan to provide prospective students with complete information regarding the opportunities and costs of attending Hunter College. Recruitment activities include electronic/digital outreach, in-person visits off-campus, on-campus events such as tours, information sessions and individual meetings as well as visits to selected schools and college fairs to enhance diversity. The College uses many social media outlets to share information and communicate with students. (See Standard IV for additional detail on admissions practices.) Hunter has a dedicated Office of Communications which controls the official messages to external and internal audiences and ensures accuracy and timeliness of information. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/communications/welcome-page)

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Hunter has effective and efficient mechanisms to communicate with students about resources and opportunities at Hunter. The most significant methods are Hunter College-assigned email and the official Hunter website. Hunter strives to be transparent and informative in all communications with students, in particular regarding the costs associated with a Hunter College education. See below for more detail about cost and financial aid information. Extensive information regarding cost of attendance and financial aid is posted in several places on the Hunter website, including the Admissions page (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/admissions/paying-for-hunter), the Consumer Information page (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/abouthunter/consumer-information-for-students), the Financial Aid page (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/onestop/finances/financial-aid), One Stop for Students (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/onestop) and others. In additional to email, Hunter also shares information across the College website and on the MyHunter VIP page. The Profile section of every student’s MyHunter page displays a list of important policies for students from both Hunter and CUNY with links to the policies. These policies include the CUNY Policy on Student Disciplinary Procedures, the CUNY Policy on Acceptable use of Computer Resources, CUNY Rules and Regulations for Maintenance of Public Order (Henderson Rules), the CUNY Policy on Alcohol and Drugs, the CUNY Policy on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Harassment, the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and the CUNY Tuition and Fee Manual.

Affordability. Hunter College has services and programs in place to promote affordability and accessibility and to enable students to understand funding sources and options, value received for cost and methods to make informed decisions about incurring debt. (See Admissions page (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/admissions/paying-for-hunter), the Consumer Information page (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/abouthunter/consumer-information-for-students), the Financial Aid page (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/onestop/finances/financial-aid)

The Hunter College Office of Admissions and Recruitment provides detailed information on the cost of attending Hunter College and financial aid options at the prospect, applicant, and initial enrollment stages. Understanding the cost of attending Hunter is part of the standard presentation given to every prospective student and family visiting campus. It is also part of the physical recruitment material widely distributed to all students interested in Hunter College.

The Admissions webpage has a section on Paying for Hunter which highlights both affordability and scholarship opportunities for both freshmen and transfer students. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/admissions/paying-for-hunter) We utilize CUNY’s Net Price Calculator to encourage students to prepare for the estimated cost of attending Hunter (https://portal0.uapc.cuny.edu/uapc/public/fin_aid/financial_aid_estimator/FinAidEstimator.jsp). The Admissions website also has a page dedicated to recent rankings in publications (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/admissions/rankings is used to highlight the Hunter value.) Each prospective student receives a communication tailored to his/her area of interest and highlighting the value of a Hunter education. (Hunter College Admissions Value Message.)

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Once a student is admitted to Hunter, they gain access to their “MyChoice” page which displays estimated cost of attendance (see sample). Students also have access to a “shopping sheet” which describes in detail all of the expenses associated with attending College. Finally, the Admissions Office sends reminder emails to all new incoming students to submit FAFSA/TAP and other financial aid applications (see sample email).

The Office of Financial Aid works closely with the office of Student Communications to ensure that information regarding financial aid opportunities is broadly disseminated to the student population. The Office hosts “File Your FAFSA Workshops” where members of the Financial Aid team meet directly with students and help them file their FAFSA early. In 2017, New York State launched the Excelsior Scholarship which provides funding to cover the difference between tuition and all available sources of financial aid (including Pell grants, TAP, etc.) The Office of Financial Aid emailed all students and reached out on social media to alert them to this opportunity. Hunter created a special webpage to house the information and policies on this opportunity [http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/excelsior] and gave a presentation to all students immediately after the scholarship was announced but before the application deadline [Excelsior Info Session at Hunter College]. This outreach resulted in 468 Hunter students receiving the Excelsior Award in fall 2017, totaling $1 million dollars in awards.

In 2017, Hunter began an initiative to identify “zero-cost” learning materials, that is resources that are licensed or owned by Hunter College and/or CUNY and that could be used in courses in lieu of textbooks. In 2018, Hunter College implemented ten course offerings with zero-cost learning materials, and plans to build a learning community with 100% zero-cost materials in the coming academic year. (See Hunter College Zero Cost Learning Materials 2017-18 Mid Year Report.)

Regulatory Compliance. Hunter College complies with all applicable federal, state, and Commission reporting policies, regulations, and requirements to include the following: full disclosure of information on institution-wide assessments (see Hunter College Accreditation, Hunter College Middle States Homepage); graduation and retention (see Hunter College Factbook 2016, 2017); certification and licensure pass rates, compliance with the Commission’s requirements of affiliation and policies (Hunter College Middle States Statement of Accreditation Status 2014, Hunter College Periodic Review Report 2014, Hunter College Letter re Supplemental Information Report to MSCHE re Title IX Compliance); substantive changes (Middle States Approval of New Degree Level, Summary of Commission Actions on Institutions, Executive Committee for Substantive Change, June 30, 2014).

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Hunter College, City University of New YorkMiddle States Self-Study

May 15 Draft

Standard III – Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience

The Hunter College Curriculum. Hunter has historically provided a high-quality education for New York City’s diverse students seeking undergraduate and graduate as well as professional academic degrees and certificates, all designed to foster a coherent student learning experience and promote synthesis of learning. (See Hunter College Undergraduate, Graduate catalogs; Hunter College Senate Charter for a Governance of Hunter College, Hunter College Institutional Learning Outcomes, Hunter College General Education Requirements and Hunter College Senate Curriculum Review and Approval.)

Consistent with Hunter’s traditions, the undergraduate curriculum consists primarily of programs in the liberal arts and sciences. Seventy-two percent of the total undergraduate course FTE’s generated in fall, 2017, were in liberal arts and sciences courses. However, within the liberal arts framework, students may major in career-oriented academic programs such as Accounting, Medical Lab Sciences, Music, and Studio Art. The College also offers undergraduate degree programs and certifications in its professional schools: Education, Health Professions, Urban Public Health, Nursing, and Social Work. Hunter’s professional programs prepare students for their chosen profession as well as for further graduate study. The graduate curriculum at Hunter has expanded over the last decade to include professional certificate, masters, and doctoral programs, as well as traditional MA, MS, and MFA degrees in the liberal arts and sciences. From 2005 to 2016, the percent of total FTE’s generated by the graduate courses at the college grew by 4 percent. (See Appendix A for a list of accredited programs; link to Accreditation page). (See Hunter College School of Education Graduate Programs, Hunter College School of Education Undergraduate Programs, Hunter College School of Education Student Outcomes, Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work Programs, Hunter College School of Nursing Programs.)

Hunter offers joint doctoral programs with the CUNY Graduate Center in Nursing, Education, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Psychology and Social Welfare, which serve the College’s ability to recruit prominent science faculty as well as to offer high-quality research lab opportunities to students. For example, in the research laboratories at Weill Cornell Medical College (Belfer Labs), and the Center for Translational and Basic Research, both undergraduate and graduate students work with faculty doing research at the boundaries of knowledge.

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Curriculum Design and Review. The curriculum at Hunter College is designed and delivered through the faculty and academic units of the five schools. The respective faculty of each school participate in the design and delivery of the program, the curricular review of program requirements, and the admission of students. The Senate through its curricular review committees, which include representation from all schools and divisions, provide a cohesive and integrated perspective on the Hunter curriculum before approving new curriculum proposals.After approval by individual departments, proposals go through a sequential review process, including a divisional level review, review by the Senate Undergraduate Course of Study or Graduate Course of Study Committee; finally the full Senate considers curricula changes as information items. CUNY steps in for a final review before going to the New York State Education Department. At every stage in the curricular review, faculty lead and control the process. (See Hunter College Procedures for Curriculum Review and Approval, Hunter College Academic Program Review Guidelines 2016, Report on Senate Committee Activity and Curricular Changes 4.1.18.)

Hunter College Faculty. Hunter College provides student learning experiences that are designed, delivered and assessed by outstanding full-time and adjunct faculty. We expect faculty to excel in the three traditional areas of teaching, scholarship, and service. (See Hunter College Arts & Sciences Academic Program Reviews, Hunter College Faculty Scholarship Report, Hunter College Arts & Sciences Dept. Assessment Reports, Hunter College School of Education Annual Report 2016-17, Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work Annual Report 2016-17, Hunter College School of Urban Public Health Annual Report 2016-17, Hunter College Arts & Sciences Annual Report 2016-17, Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing Annual Report 2016-17.) Hunter’s dedicated and distinguished faculty play important roles in the academic, creative, cultural, and civic life of New York City. They bring varied qualifications including prestigious grants and awards, including multiple Guggenheim and MacArthur Genius Fellowships.18 With over $50 million awarded annually in research grants and awards, Hunter’s faculty are internationally recognized for their creativity, energy, and scholarship. (See CUNY Performance Management Process Data Book 2016-17.) In 2016-17, Hunter College faculty were awarded $54.9 million in grants, an increase of nearly $9 million from the previous year. Importantly, Hunter is the largest recipient of NIH funding among New York State educational institutions without a medical school. Hunter College faculty are sufficient in number for the institutional needs and objectives. In 2016, the College had 677 full time faculty and 1,619 adjunct faculty for its 22,993 students. (See Hunter Factbook 2016.)

18 A few examples from 2016-17: Suzanne Farrin received the 2017 Rome Prize Fellowship for her composition of The Hour of the Star; Nancy Foner, received the 2017-18 Berlin Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship; Colum McCann was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Nari Ward received the Vilcek Prize; Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was named a MacArthur Fellow; Phil Klay won a Guggenheim Fellowship; Sangeeta Pratap won the Banamex Prize. Update for 2017-18.

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Hunter values the professional development of its faculty, so important to recruitment and retention. The Office of the Provost provides resources and other opportunities for faculty which focus on teaching skills/pedagogical training, research funding and professional development. (See Hunter College Office of the Provost Faculty Resources.) The Office of the President offers special incentive support including grants for research and faculty travel, awards for excellence in teaching, and curricular innovation grants. (See Hunter College Presidential Faculty Travel Awards 2016-17, Hunter College Faculty Presidential Awards for Excellence 2016, Hunter College Presidential Curricular Innovation Grants, Hunter College Presidential Faculty Laptop Award Program Guidelines, Hunter College President's Fund for Faculty Advancement Announcement 2016 and Hunter College President’s Fund for Faculty Advancement.)

We help orient full- and part-time faculty to the campus through (1) new faculty orientations, (2) faculty handbooks, (4) faculty development workshops, (5) promotion and tenure dossier preparation. Hunter’s Academic Center for Excellence in Research and Teaching (ACERT) promotes excellence in teaching and research through workshops and seminars on innovative pedagogy, technology and assessment. (See http://acert.hunter.cuny.edu/about/mission/). The Technology and Teaching Learning Group supports and collaborates with faculty to help them incorporate technology in effective and innovative ways in the classroom. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ttlg/about-ttlg/ttlg)The Center for Online Learning offers instructional design support to faculty who want to create hybrid and online courses. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ttlg/online-learning/copy_of_center-for-online-learning)

Review of Faculty. All faculty are subject to regular and equitably administered promotion reviews. The criteria for all faculty reviews are disseminated in writing. (See Hunter College Tenure and Promotion Schedules, Hunter College Procedures for Tenure or Tenure with Concurrent Promotion, Hunter College Reappointment Process for Tenure Track Positions (7-Year Clock), Hunter College Dean's Written Review Process for Tenure Track Positions, Hunter College Standards for Promotion to Full Professor)

Hunter faculty serving on tenure-track lines undergo a series of promotion reviews culminating in the final tenure review. All tenure appointments and promotions are granted on the basis of high achievement and recognition in scholarship, teaching, and service. Successful faculty must provide a clear and objective demonstration to their peers that their accomplishments merit tenure and promotion. (See Hunter College Tenure and Promotion Schedules, Hunter College Procedures for Tenure or Tenure with Concurrent Promotion, Hunter College Reappointment Process for Tenure Track Positions {7-Year Clock}, Hunter College Dean's Written Review Process for Tenure Track Positions, Hunter College

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Standards for Promotion to Full Professor, Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing Criteria for Faculty Appointments, Hunter College Departmental Chair Handbook, Hunter College New Department Chair Orientation Agenda 2016, Hunter College Senate Committee on Evaluation of Teaching, Hunter College Faculty Productivity 2016, Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing Faculty Handbook 2016-2017.)

Because part-time faculty deliver 65% of our undergraduate academic program, the extensive work we do to support and review our adjunct faculty is critically important. Several departments and all professional schools provide teaching workshops specifically for part-time faculty. We periodically review all adjunct faculty, particularly those with long-term appointments, to ensure excellence in the classroom. The Schools of Education and Social Work review their adjunct faculty every teaching semester through peer evaluations. An administrative coordinator working with the department chair and representing each program mentors part-time instructors concerning student complaints, poor student or peer ratings, absences, delayed scoring of assignments, etc. The School of Nursing has a comprehensive adjunct faculty handbook and provides regular orientations to assure consistency in its programs. Hunter recognizes the value of its adjunct faculty community and takes steps to help them navigate the College and to develop a sense of ownership and community.

Academic Programs of Study, Clearly Explained. Hunter College provides programs of study that are clearly and accurately described in official publications. The College provides descriptions of its academic programs on the admissions website as well as in the undergraduate and graduate catalogs. (See Hunter College Admissions website, Hunter College Undergraduate Catalog 2017-18, Hunter College Graduate Catalog 2017-18.) The catalogs specify degree and program requirements for the purpose of helping students to understand and plan completion of degree requirements. Interactive Degree Maps are strategically placed in the catalog to help students tailor individual academic plans with the assistance of professional and departmental advisors. (See Hunter College Office of Advising Degree Maps, Hunter College Office of Advising Major Exploration; see Standard IV for additional details.) The Hunter College website clearly explains the General Education requirements as well as Hunter College Core requirements and expectations. (See Hunter College Core Requirement, Hunter College Core Requirement for English Composition, Hunter College Core Requirement for Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning, Hunter College Core Requirement for Life and Physical Sciences, Hunter College Core Requirement for World Cultures and Global Issues, Hunter College Core Requirement for U.S. Experience in its Diversity, Hunter College Core Requirement for Creative Expression, Hunter College Core Requirement for Individual and Society, Hunter College Core Requirement for Scientific World.)

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Robust Learning Opportunities.

Hunter College provides a rich array of special learning opportunities and resources to support both the institution’s programs of study and students’ academic progress. Interdisciplinary Studies. “Interdisciplinarity” is a major goal of the College and part of the Strategic Plan; consequently, Hunter faculty have been working to develop scholarship and teaching in ways that reflect that initiative. For example, Roosevelt House is a major node for interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary activity, a place where students, faculty and policy-makers in multiple disciplines come together. (See Roosevelt House website.) Roosevelt House is home to Hunter’s Public Policy and Human Rights programs, which offer certificates and minors to students. The Public Policy program currently enrolls approximately 110 students. In the past eight years, 156 students have graduated from this program, representing a wide array of majors. This program has benefited from a strong faculty advisory committee whose members come from multiple academic departments, including Geography, Political Science, Urban Studies, Economics, Education. The advisory committee designs new courses, recruits diverse policy practitioners as instructors, and organizes conferences, faculty seminars and other events at Roosevelt House. The Thomas Hunter Honors Program (THHP), a highly selective admissions program for students with strong academic qualifications, is specifically designed to support students pursuing interdisciplinary studies. THHP allows students to either pursue their studies within a traditional departmental major or to create their own interdisciplinary major (See THHP website http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/thhp/welcome-page).Faculty efforts to offer additional interdisciplinary learning experiences are reflected in programs that expand students’ exposure to the arts. Through programs such as Arts Across the Curriculum, interdisciplinary courses such as Choreographing Genomics in Biology and Hollywood and History: Understanding American Slavery Through Film in History, students learn about art and its application and relationship to other disciplines. New interdisciplinary academic programs include minors in Community Organizing, Legal Studies and Arts Management as well as a new Bioinformatics concentration in the Computer Sciences, Chemistry and Biology. One of the most popular new academic majors, Human Biology was designed by faculty in Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Psychology, Sociology, and Urban Public Health and aims to provide students with the ability to analyze and address humanity in a multidisciplinary framework including behavioral, cultural, social, and biological approaches. At the graduate level, the faculty’s efforts to develop more interdisciplinary programs are reflected in examples such as the Geographic Information Sciences MS degree and the Integrated Media Arts MFA.

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Learning Outside the Classroom. The College provides a wide range of learning opportunities, including internships, capstone courses and extracurricular activities, to enrich traditional educational experiences. In 2016, over 7,600 experiential learning opportunities were offered to our students--including independent studies, internships, research opportunities among others. Internships are provided through affiliations with the American Heart Association, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Mount Sinai Hospital, Health and Hospital Corporation Research Administration, Hospital for Special Surgery, The Rockefeller Science Outreach Center, Weill Cornell Department of Emergency Medicine, Peer Health Exchange, Let's Get Ready and New York Academy of Sciences. Through these internships, Hunter students fulfill the objective of service to the community and gain important skills and knowledge for professional development. The Office of the Arts has offered XX art experiences to our students through funding from the President’s Office, including funding from the Baker foundation, which are used exclusively to enhance students’ experiences in the theater.

Online Learning. Although the majority of Hunter undergraduate courses use the traditional face-to-face mode of delivery, we recognize the potential of online learning. For commuting students who often work, online courses can help students manage work, family and school obligations more effectively. Consequently, Hunter developed three college-wide initiatives to offer fully or hybrid online courses and increase the use of technology in the classroom. Three years ago, the College developed the Center for Online Learning and is in the process of hiring a director for the Center. The online learning center offers instructional design support to all Hunter College faculty creating and teaching hybrid and online courses (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ttlg/online-learning/copy_of_center-for-online-learning.) The Provost has encouraged academic departments to develop and offer online courses that satisfy General Education to better meet the needs of students. As a result of this effort, there now exist sufficient online General Education courses to complete all the requirements. To increase the exposure to online learning experience by our students, Hunter has also developed online modules that are inserted in lectures in high enrollment courses, resources to support online and hybrid courses, including assessment tools, students and faculty support web pages, and a quiz for students to see if online courses are for them.

STEM Programs. For over 25 years Hunter has supported programs supporting minorities in the sciences including the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program/Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (MBRS), Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC), Career Opportunities in Research (COR),MIDARP, McNair Program, Mellon Mays and Mellon Arts Undergraduate Fellowships,

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McNulty Women in STEM Program, Alliance for Minority Participation in Science, Engineering and Mathematics (AMP), and The Howard Hughes Program.

During the past decade, the College saw significant growth in the number of academically qualified students seeking to major in STEM sciences and complete 15 or more credits per semester. While these are positive trends, the impact of this surge challenged the College’s resources and ability to consistently provide for these students. In particular, as a result of changes in the student population, the College was faced with (1) unmet student demand for seats in lab-science and language courses (required for the Hunter Core), (2) graduation rates that did not meet expectations based on students’ academic history, and (3) the need for additional investment in academic facilities and staff to support new and existing academic programs. The College launched a series of systematic assessments and coordinated administrative responses to ensure sufficient learning opportunities and resources to support students’ academic progress and the institution’s programs of study despite the changing student numbers and profiles. To address concerns with unmet course demands, we took the following administrative measures:

● the Office of the Provost, the SAS Dean’s Office, and Office of Advising held weekly meetings during peak enrollment periods to identify courses that were oversubscribed and established strategies to meet anticipated student demand;

● The SAS Dean’s Office worked with academic departments to refine the scheduling of lab-science courses to assure the most efficient use of facilities;

● The Office of the Provost and the SAS Dean’s Office conducted a study of existing lab-science facilities and supporting staff and faculty resources which culminated in a plan to remodel or create new lab-sciences facilities and lecture rooms to maximize the use of space.

These coordinated administrative efforts met student demand for seats in lab-science courses providing sufficient learning opportunities for students needing these courses to progress academically.

While more effective managing and scheduling of language courses have provided some improvement, continued assessment of enrollment patterns indicates that student demand for language courses remains unsatisfied. Through weekly enrollment meetings, we oversee any needs for additional seats and open courses accordingly for both undergraduate and graduate levels (see enrollment analysis per semester). At the beginning of each semester, the enrollment group makes recommendations for courses to be offered during the next academic year based on enrollment and course data from prior enrollment periods.

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General Education. The undergraduate curriculum includes a set of General Education Requirements (GER) for graduation. The components of the Hunter GER help students attain essential skills and competencies, and they also draw students into new areas of intellectual experience, expanding their cultural and global awareness (see CUNY Pathways Statement, CUNY General Education Requirements, Hunter College General Education Requirements, Hunter College Core Requirement for World Cultures and Global Issues and Hunter College Core Requirement for U.S. Experience in its Diversity.) The curriculum allows students to acquire essential skills in oral and written communication, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis and reasoning, technological competency and information literacy. (See Hunter College Core Requirement for English Composition, Hunter College Core Requirement for Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning, Hunter College Core Requirement for Life and Physical Sciences, Hunter College Core Requirement for Individual and Society, Hunter College Core Requirement for Scientific World.)

The components of the GER include (1) Required Common Core courses that fulfill requirements across all CUNY colleges and include various courses for students to select in the Flexible Core; (2) College Focus requirements that are unique to each college and reflect an important proficiency or learning outcome unique to each college, and (3) Concurrent requirements that fill the writing and pluralism/diversity requirements. (See Standard V for assessment of General Education).

Graduate Programs of Study. Hunter College offers professional graduate programs in the Schools of Education, Social Work and Nursing, as well as various graduate degree programs in traditional liberal arts and sciences disciplines within the School of Arts and Sciences (See Graduate Catalog). Inside and outside of the classroom, Hunter’s graduate and professional programs offer students opportunities for the development of research skills, independent thinking, and scholarship required to pursue relevant careers or further graduate study. (See Hunter College School of Arts & Sciences Awards and Prizes, Hunter College Graduate Catalog 2017-18 Research, Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work Methods, Hunter College School of Education Graduate Programs, Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing Student Involvement in Research, Hunter_WCM_Belfer_Symposium_March_16 2018.) Often opportunities for research occur in the city. For example, in the Urban Planning Capstone course, MA students jointly developed a detailed plan to address the concerns of a New York City community group or neighborhood. In the Masters of Social Work program, students typically spend up to 1,200 hours per year for two years in field placements under the guidance of a field instructor and a field advisor who serves as a liaison between the student, the placement, and school. Field placement and internships are common throughout the All in East Harlem initiative. In traditional liberal arts and sciences graduate degree programs such as the MFA in Studio Art, MFA in Integrated Media Arts, and the MA in English or Psychology, students are required to complete a relevant culminating project, which includes a thesis and/or an exhibit of their creative endeavor. Students in degree

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programs in the sciences and social sciences work alongside faculty members in campus research facilities on faculty research projects as well as student thesis research.

Conclusion . In conclusion, Hunter has evaluated, assessed and sought to improve the student learning experience by addressing the various factors that most directly affect the quality of learning for the majority of its students. The rigor of the curriculum is matched by well-placed and prominent faculty members who are recruited and retained to serve in growing academic departments. These same faculty are relied upon to provide leadership in reviewing academic programs as well as the design of new programs of study and the development of innovative pedagogy. Increasing numbers of faculty, from adjunct to tenured are able to take advantage of increasing research support as well as opportunities for professional development, including preparation workshops for promotion reviews.

Hunter has addressed and expanded a number of additional factors that improve the student learning experience such as the increase in advising services, the re-designed learning centers, the increased availability of internships and research opportunities, and the availability of new and exciting academic pathways. Course scheduling and availability, along with incentives to expand online courses has increased choices for students. In addition, the growing numbers of opportunities for students to learn outside of the classroom such as Roosevelt House and All in East Harlem have expanded the definition of the learning experience.

Finally, the focus on credit momentum and academic progress for students combined with a new catalog that includes new tools and features such as the interactive Degree Maps send the clear message that true academic progress is not only within reach but at the heart of the learning experience.

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Hunter College, City University of New YorkMiddle States Self-Study

May 15 Draft

Standard IV – Support of the Student Experience

Hunter College designs recruitment and admissions policies and practices to produce a student body as diverse as the city we serve; at the same time, we work hard to ensure that every student admitted has a reasonable chance to do well academically and graduate. Just as we want to know our applicants, we want our applicants to know Hunter so there is a good match between student and institution. Thus we customize our Admissions website [link to: [http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/admissions] to serve different populations and levels from undergraduate through graduate and inclusive of freshman, transfer students, students applying for readmission, non-degree students, and senior citizen auditor. In addition to the details provided online, the office offers various ways to contact people for further information, tours, admissions counseling, and more.

In the field, we take a “relationship-building” model of recruitment at area high schools. An Admissions Counselor is assigned to particular schools throughout the recruitment cycle so prospective students and guidance counselors can get to know our representatives. We surround this effort with a coordinated suite of communications and activities, from on-campus events to messaging via email, print materials, social media, and other technological tools. The goal is to create as personal an experience as possible in order to find the “best match” students for Hunter.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment continuously assesses the efficacy of our recruitment strategies and return on investment. Prior to developing communication plans, travel and overall execution of our recruitment plan, we cull our enrollment data by high school and college and research graduation trends [link to: See FA15_FA16_FA17_Freshmen Statistics -byHS] over two years to determine the likelihood of academic success at Hunter. In addition to this, the criteria is determined based on conversion rates (admitted to enrolled) and how changes in criteria may affect our overall class enrollment, SAT, HS and College GPA averages and other demographic characteristics. The resulting admission requirements have led to meeting our enrollment targets and to reasonable outcomes in terms of retention and graduation rates. We of course think and work continuously to improve the student success metrics.

Every Senior College in CUNY has an obligation to accept transfer students, especially from CUNY community colleges, and transfer admissions has become more important recently. We are just as concerned about the match for transfer

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students as we are for native students; since transfer students are typically more aware of their academic plans, it’s easier to assess the prospects for a good match. We strategically match the known qualities of successful transfer students (i.e. those who graduate within 4-6 years) to national and local trends in enrollment. These trends make it increasingly clear that the retention of students who are admitted to Hunter via transfer is emerging as a top campus priority. The Office of Admissions &

Both in terms of attracting well-informed new students and retaining current students, Hunter provides extensive information regarding financial aid on its websites in several locations including the Admissions page [link], OneStop[link], the Hunter College Undergraduate and Graduate catalogs [links] and the Consumer Information page[link]. The Financial Aid website provides information on all aspects of financial aid, including costs of attendance, a financial aid estimator, tuition calculator, TAP tutorial and much more. [links] Individual financial aid advisors are available to meet one-on-one with students.

The Office of Financial Aid works closely with the office of Student Communications to ensure that information regarding financial aid opportunities is broadly disseminated students. The Office hosts “File Your FAFSA Workshops” where members of the Financial Aid team meet directly with students and help them file their FAFSA early. [link to email invitation]. In spring 2017, New York State launched the Excelsior Scholarship, a “last dollar” program to cover all tuition for many middle-class families. The Office emailed all students and reached out on social media to alert them to this opportunity [link.] We created a webpage to house the relevant information and policies [http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/excelsior] and gave a presentation to students right after the scholarship was announced [Excelsior Info Session at Hunter College]. This outreach resulted in 468 Hunter students receiving the Excelsior Award in fall 2017, totaling $1 million in awards.

The Office of Admissions provides detailed information on the cost of attending Hunter College and financial aid options to prospective applicants, applicants, and enrollment students.Once students are admitted to Hunter, they gain access to their “MyChoice” page which displays estimated cost of attendance. [link to: MyChoice Page] Students also have access to a “shopping sheet” in late spring which details all the expenses associated with attending College. The Admissions Office sends reminder emails to all new incoming students in the spring to submit FAFSA/TAP and other financial aid applications. (See FAFSA Communication).

Hunter does admit students whom we recognize may need special support to succeed academically. There are a number of programs that serve those students, among them the following:

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SEEK. The Percy Ellis Sutton Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge Program (SEEK) is a higher education opportunity program offered in the CUNY senior colleges. SEEK identifies and prepares about 90 new students each year who may be underprepared for the rigors of college study by using holistic support and close monitoring of academic performance [link to http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/seek]. These supports include academic as well as personal programs. SEEK students typically outperform regular admits in many basic student success metrics, including performance in gateway courses, retention, and six-year graduation rates.

Project Success . The Advising Office staff reviews undergraduate students’ academic records at the end of each semester and those whose grades indicate failure to maintain satisfactory academic standing and progress toward graduation are deemed eligible for the Project Success program, typically about 350 students annually. We contact eligible students prior to the following semester and urge them to participate in the semester-long program that features presentations on study skills, realistic goal-setting and personal development. The program teaches students how to manage time in order to better set and achieve short-term and long-term goals.

Comparisons of outcomes of Project Success completers with those of eligible non-participating students have demonstrated significant, positive results. In addition, reviews of Project Success outcomes over the course of multiple semesters indicate long-term benefits. Fall 2015 and fall 2016 Project Success completers were far more likely than non-participants/non-completers to have continued in attendance at Hunter College, and after two years, were more than twice as likely to have attained good academic standing.

Orientation. We recognize the importance of orientation to student success, and thus we provide an array of programs to assist students with their transition to college. Hunter College does not have a formal orientation week or experience; rather, students are oriented to the college through a collection of smaller, program-level opportunities, varying from online advising orientation modules (including tailored modules for transfer students), program level orientations for Scholars Programs, Student Veterans, SEEK, Macaulay, Janovics Scholars, and on-site, small group advising sessions for first year students not otherwise part of special programs. In addition, Welcome Week, the College Resource Fair, and Transfer Appreciation Week provide additional opportunities for students to learn about various resources, become involved with student life and connect with their peers at the College. The high volume of students (over 2,000 new freshmen and 1,800 transfer students each fall, and over 1,100 new transfers each spring), coupled with space limitations in a vertical, urban campus, presents challenges for

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considering a large scale, traditional orientation for all students at the same place and time. This challenge, coupled with the intent of creating an environment where students feel more personally connected to a community in a large and potentially overwhelming institution, underpins the intent of a smaller, decentralized collection of orientation-related programs and opportunities.

Advising. In the Vision Statement of the Hunter College Strategic Plan, the Hunter community agreed that “we will be more attentive to our responsibilities to our students. [Our students] will receive better advising about course selection, career opportunities, and degree programs appropriate to their interests.” In order to realize this vision, the strategic plan committed to the following goals:

1. Enhancing academic advising through increased use of technology, faculty and staff training, and the provision of appropriate advisement at all ability levels.

2. Improving advising at all levels (pre-professional and pre-major, departmental, graduate and professional, and career advising), with special attention to the points where students transition into majors and programs or, as graduate and professional students, prepare for careers.

3. Identifying students at high risk of attrition, address their needs before they face serious academic difficulty, and continue to assist them throughout their time at Hunter

To attain the goals the President convened a Task Force on Advising that issued a report on June 15, 2015. Simultaneously, the Office of advising underwent a parallel process of specifically shifting from a strictly walk-in, prescriptive model of advising, to a proactive, relational caseload model.

One of the immediate positive results from the Office of Advising’s shift to a more proactive, caseload model with scheduled appointments was the dramatic impact it had on overall reach of undergraduate, degree-seeking students- improving from approximately 30% of undergraduates advised in an academic year to over 70% in an academic year after full implementation of caseloads.

The general advising concept is that students are part of an expanding network of support from the time they start interacting with the college. Starting with peer advisors and learning communities during the summer prior to, and the fall of their first year, the network then expands to include primary assigned advisors from the Office of Advising in second semester of a student’s freshman year. Upon declaration of a major, students are then assigned as academic unit/faculty advisor who is added to the support network and does not replace the primary advisor.

Advising Syllabus. In order to ensure that all advisors are working with a shared set of goals and learning outcomes for their advisees, the Office of Advising developed an Advising Syllabus [link] The Syllabus is used to frame the learning outcomes that

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should be achieved as a result of the advising process within the entire Advising Network. It delineates expectations for both the advisees and the advisors and spells out what we expect students to learn—cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally—as a result of their interactions with their advising network. To date, the Advising Syllabus has been introduced to both the professional advisors and the academic unit/faculty advisors through a series of six workshops held in spring 2017. The Syllabus is posted on the advising website [link]. Case Management. In 2017 the Office of Advising launched a new case management approach to advising, along with a suite of new tools for all advisors (such as the Advising Syllabus), that will enable the evolution of the various proactive outreach categories in place for the past couple of years.

Counseling. Counseling services at Hunter are an essential part of our plan to retain and support students. Counseling & Wellness Services (CWS) offers assessment, short-term counseling, crisis intervention, workshops, and referral to students, and consultation services to the entire Hunter College community (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/cws/welcome). CWS has seen a rapid increase in demand for services in the last 8 years with a 50% increase in routine appointments, an 85% increase in rapid access appointments and a 64% increase in the number of students served. CWS maintains a focus on both intervention and prevention:

In an effort to assess mental health on campus, CWS screened an ethnically-diverse sample of Hunter College students in fall 2015 (n=1,712). Participants were assessed on several mental health indicators (e.g. hopelessness, suicidal ideation) revealing that 42% had previous mental health treatment and, in the past year, 56% reported a degree of hopeless that impeded functioning, 26% engaged in suicide ideation, 8% engaged in non-suicidal self-injury, and 2% had attempted suicide.

Through internal research and assessment, CWS has identified those barriers most cited by their clients that impede the pursuit of mental health services, so counselors are more deliberate in discussing these barriers, and strategies to overcome them. Counselors/trainees invite collaborative engagement with clients to assess and address motivation, establish counseling goals, and disposition plans and offer psychoeducation about the value, benefit, and role of therapy in one’s overall emotional health, well-being, and academic success. National surveys tell us that students, certainly freshmen, want their colleges to help them plan for their careers and post-graduate education. At Hunter we do exactly that to make their college experience more meaningful.

Pre- Professional Advising Center. This center includes the Pre-Health Professions, Pre- Law and the Cooperman Pre- Business programs. Each of these programs provides numerous

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opportunities for professional development and experiential learning. Both the Pre-Business and Pre-Law Programs have advisory boards that play a key role in the creation of meaningful opportunities for professional and personal growth.

The Pre-Health Professions Program provides a highly-structured system of advising, professional development and application support to students interested in pursuing careers in medicine, dentistry, podiatry, optometry, podiatry, and veterinary medicine throughout their undergraduate career and after graduation. Features of the program include one-on-one and group advising, portfolio development and application planning workshops, test preparation courses, mentoring, and seminars featuring various healthcare professionals and admissions representatives. There is also a Pre-Health Professions Student Advisory Council which consists of student leaders from the various pre- health clubs and organizations at Hunter College. The program, in partnership with local hospitals, research institutions and community organizations, also offers Hunter College students opportunities for clinical exposure, clinical and bench lab research, and community service. Hunter College also provides a Composite or Committee Letter to eligible students applying to health professions graduate programs.

The Pre-Law Program supports students interested in a legal career throughout their

undergraduate years through mentoring, paid internships, informational forums, one-on-one and small group advising, skills-building courses, student clubs and enrichment activities. The components of the Pre-Law program include:

1. A moot court class where students learn to analyze cases and present oral arguments.2. Paid and academic credit internships3. Intensive LSAT preparation4. Distinguished Speaker events5. Mentoring6. Law school planning and successful forums

The Cooperman Pre-Business Program provides support through career programming, advising and support to students with an interest in any sector of "business” -- finance, consulting, marketing, retail, healthcare, real estate, and technology. Programming includes speakers, panel discussions, skills-building workshops, seminars, and group visits to a variety of companies. Students receive advising on internships and job placements, as well as on applying to business school. The Cooperman Pre-Business Program also administers the Cooperman Scholarship, which is given each year to a select group of high achieving business-minded Hunter students.

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The Hunter College LibrariesThe Hunter College Libraries support Hunter’s faculty, staff and students by providing broad access to a variety of learning and research materials, up to date technology for information access and instruction, strong collections in support of the curriculum, spaces for independent and collaborative study, and information literacy instruction and research assistance by a team of faculty librarians. The libraries serve as intellectual commons for Hunter by providing in-house and virtual opportunities to share information, knowledge, data and perspectives on issues important to the college community. Based on the Report of the President’s Task Force on the Hunter College Libraries (2007), the Libraries’ spaces and functions are undergoing various transformations. In 2011, the former Social Work Library relocated to the Silberman Building in East Harlem and was renamed the Social Work and Urban Public Health Library. The relocation of this branch library along with the School of Social Work was part of the early stages of the All In East Harlem initiative. Also in 2011, the phased renovation of the Cooperman Library began in earnest with the 3rd floor of the library and the creation of the Information Commons, a direct recommendation from the Task Force Report (p. 9) designed to provide students easy access to a variety of research and technology support from reference librarians to IT assistance. Since opening in 2011, the 3rd floor has proven a desirable destination for students at all hours of the day due to the availability of comfortable furniture, electrical outlets, technology, and research support. The Cooperman Library continues to see over one million visits annually, based on the gate count from the third floor entrance, even amid construction and floor closures. With the opening of the seventh floor entrance in spring 2017 we expect to see these numbers increase as we compile data for this academic year.

2015 2016 2017

3rd floor entrance turnstile count

1,065,994 1,073,368 1,191,904

The library faculty work with students in classes as well as on a one-on-one basis at the Reference Desk and via the 24/7 chat reference service, Ask-a-Librarian. Library instruction sessions, which are requested by various faculty members across the disciplines when their students have a research assignment, have increased over the past few years. Librarians offer information literacy instruction and supplemental research support for students in these classes, and are increasingly called upon to teach more than one research session or assist with assignment design and scaffolding of research projects. The following chart shows the total number of library instruction sessions taught at all the Hunter College Libraries from 2014-2017.

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One-on-one consultations taught by librarians, initiated by students who self-identify as needing research assistance and schedule time to meet with a librarian on any aspect of the research process, are on the rise. In 2016-2017, there were 195 individual research consultations conducted by faculty librarians both in-person and via email. Library faculty are working on ways to demonstrate the impact of their instruction in meaningful ways, which is a challenge due to the one- or two-shot nature of the instruction and support they provide. Via the consultation model we are able to follow up with students in order to assess whether or not the consultation had an impact, and address any remaining issues.

The Silverstein Student Success Center. Acting on the recommendations from the President’s Task Force Report on the Libraries (2007), the newly-renovated 6th and 7th floors of Cooperman

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Library opened in spring 2017. The 7th floor is now home to the Silverstein Student Success Center, which incorporates a number of the specialized learning centers into one location: the Rockowitz Writing Center, the Dolciani Math Learning Center, the Skirball Science Learning Center, and the Kryger Center for the Macaulay Honors Program, as well as the Pre-Professional Programs Advising offices.The 6th floor houses the Frankfort Education Library as well as a number of technology-enabled classrooms and kiosks. The Library administration and the leaders of the learning centers are in the process of developing ways to further enhance their student support services and better integrate their offerings in order to provide a relatively seamless experience for students utilizing the various resources now housed inside the Cooperman Library.

Experiential Learning, Internships, Fellowships, and Capstone Experiences. Hunter College has a long history of supporting experiential learning through internships, fellowships and capstone experiences thanks to its extensive ties across New York City’s public, private, and non-profit sectors and its tradition of student-faculty collaboration on scholarly research.In the CUNY task force report, “A Plan for Experiential Learning,” one of the key learning outcomes of an experiential learning opportunity (ELO) is to deepen understanding of more theoretical knowledge gained in the classroom. Taking ideas and concepts beyond the classroom can take many forms. For example, at Hunter College, students work with faculty on research projects that allow them to delve into their coursework more deeply and then present their own research in a public forum through a program funded by 12 National Institutes of Health/National Science Foundation training grants. (p. 9 Task Force Report) The successful outcome of these extramurally funded training grants inspired initiatives to expand undergraduate research training to a wider Hunter student body. One of these efforts includes the Undergraduate Research Initiative (UGRI) program at Hunter College. UGRI is open to all Hunter undergraduates across all disciplines and provides approximately $2000 in funding per semester for a student-faculty research project. Since 2012, UGRI has funded 260 student projects across 25 academic departments, including those in the life/physical/health sciences, humanities and social sciences. Students then have the opportunity to present their work at a two-day symposium called the annual Undergraduate Research Conference (UGRC). Over the past three years, UGRC has featured 447 student presentations (oral and poster) covering research in at least 30 academic departments and interdisciplinary programs across the sciences, arts, humanities, health and social sciences. The UGRC has become an important capstone activity for all undergraduate research at Hunter and is emblematic of the successful evolution and growth of experiential learning at Hunter.

Another important learning outcome of ELOs is to gain practical experience and marketable skills that will serve as a bridge between the classroom and the workplace. According to the Task Force Report, ELOs that offer hands-on experience are a highly valued and valuable component of a CUNY education. (Task Force Report p. 20) Internships and fellowships help students gain those professional skills and boost their chances of a successful transition from college to career.

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Hunter College’s Career Development Services provides assistance to undergraduate and graduate students in identifying internship opportunities relevant to career goals as well as individualized counseling, assistance with applications, and mock interviews. The office also coordinates internship orientation workshops where resources, preparation procedures and other application criteria are covered. Additional presentations are offered specifically to freshman classes as research has shown that the earlier the outreach, the earlier goals and appropriate prerequisites can be incorporated into academic planning. Last year, the CDS reached XXXX students through this kind of outreach or one-on-one counseling.

The Hunter College School of Education (HCSOE) also supports candidates though workshops on certification, graduation, and career support. Further, advising support is also provided to help candidates navigate their program through graduation and certification. In the semester in which candidates intend to graduate, the HCSOE monitors their progress in meeting program course requirements (as well as non-course related requirements) to ensure they are not denied graduation for missing an essential item. Further, one-on-one advising on certification and licensure is provided to candidates to assist them in applying for licensure/certification.

Through the office of Career, Professional and Partnership Development (CPPD) the HCSOE also provides career services for more than 3,500 students. The CPPD office provides career-related counseling, workshops, hiring fairs and leadership-development programs to help candidates and alumni clarify career goals, establish career plans, develop job search skills, and make successful career transitions.

Transfer Credit Policies. Both Hunter College and our larger university system, CUNY, have policies in place regarding the acceptance of transfer credits. These are published on the CUNY (http://www2.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/undergraduate-studies/pathways/credits-tranfer/) and Hunter (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/admissions/admissions-information/transfer-1/transfer) webpages. There are known discrepancies between the Hunter policies and the CUNY policies; therefore, Hunter’s Office of Admissions is continually assessing what is best for our students in keeping with our curriculum. In general, credits earned by taking college-level courses from other colleges and universities will transfer, provided that the courses are similar in scope and content to those offered for credit at Hunter College. Credits will be granted for courses with a grade of "C" or better ("D" or better at CUNY institutions). There are of course exceptions to this rule, detailed on the transfer admissions website.

Policies are always being assessed by the Office of the Provost at both CUNY and Hunter for the maximum benefit to the student’s transition. Currently the Provost’s Office is reviewing how military credits can be transferred to Hunter (at present Hunter does not accept them). We also accept transfer credit for AP and CLEP exams, and these are also published on the website: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/admissions/apclepinfo. Incoming transfer students can view how their courses will transfer by logging into their CUNYFirst account to see CUNY-to-CUNY

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course equivalencies. Non-CUNY students can view them on our course equivalency search engine: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/prospectivestudents/ug_students/course-eval/.

Information Integrity. The CUNY Board of Trustees provides that the University and its colleges shall be in full compliance with the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and its implementing regulations. Hunter College provides information for students on their rights to inspect and view their educational records in accordance with FERPA. This information is prominently displayed on the OneStop student website (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/onestop/records-and-transcripts/ferpa) as well as on the CUNY website http://www2.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/page-assets/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/Guidelines-for-implementation-of-the-Student-Records-Access-FERPA.pdf).In addition, CUNY has in place extensive security policies and procedures for safeguarding electronic information http://www2.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/cis/information-security/security-policies-procedures/.

Excurricular Activities. Although Hunter College has several schools and divisions, it is a single institution, horizontally integrated, with a single educational mission. Student Affairs, Academic Affairs and every other part of the College take education as central to its purpose. Every organized activity and many unorganized ones are educational by design. Thus we have learning outcomes for psychology classes as well as athletic programs, for the Thomas Hunter Honors Program as well as student government. We conduct assessments and program evaluations with the aim of institutional improvement, whether it’s for Public Safety or the SEEK program.Hunter College is re-imagining the purpose and overall mission of student life on campus and increasingly providing programming and opportunities that promote student leadership, community engagement, and academic success. (Overview of Annual Report Division of Student Life October 2016 p. 5) These initiatives reflect a more contemporary, data-driven and strategic response to student life, and during the 2016-17 academic year led to the creation of the Interoffice Planning and Operations (IPO) Working Group that is charged with assessing and improving the impact of student life programs and services. (Student Success Memo 10/2/17 p. 6)

While these examples demonstrate the array of student life opportunities that promote student success and retention, the IPO is in the process of re-imagining student life to enrich engagement even more from pre-matriculation through post-graduation. The initial objectives of this working group are an inventory of all Student Affairs operations and then an action plan designed to increase the efficacy of these programs. The IPO has already begun appraising how student life activities contribute to student learning outside of the academic curriculum by performing an administrative assessment designed to measure the quality of the programs currently provided. As the Annual Report for the Division of Student Affairs states: “It has become increasingly

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apparent that creative and innovative Student Life programming is necessary for the academic success of our students.” (Annual Report, p. 10)

Hunter College demonstrates a commitment to recruiting and retaining students who persist through to graduation and post-graduation placements. We support the whole student along the way, attending to academic as well as social and personal issues and continually assessing our offerings and working toward better, more effective ways to welcome, support and engage our students. We embrace Hunter’s motto, “The care of the future is mine,” by supporting our students in attaining their educational goals as well as helping to instill in them a sense of personal responsibility to the greater community at Hunter and beyond.

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Hunter College, City University of New YorkMiddle States Self-Study

May 15 Draft

Standard V – Educational Effectiveness Assessment

Learning Goals Across the Curricula. We have built a culture of assessment to manage student learning and more broadly to drive systematic institutional improvement. Evaluation of student learning occurs at the institutional and departmental levels within interrelated systems. Institutional Learning Outcomes define the expectations for all undergraduates and most graduate students. They largely mirror components of General Education, which in turn inform learning within degree programs and in co-curricular programs. The Division of Student Affairs defines and assesses learning outcomes for many student activities and programs. Academic departments have assessment plans, curriculum maps, and learning outcomes for each undergraduate and graduate certificate and degree program; the departmental faculty complete annual assessment reports which specify opportunities for improvement. Formal, annual conversations with the Provost and/or Dean of Arts and Sciences offer a chance to manage student learning by framing assessment results within a budget.

Learning outcomes are in place for every major component of the curriculum. The Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILO’s) apply to all divisions of the College and reflect key aspects of the College Mission:

Acquire Broad and Specialized Knowledge. Research and Communicate Effectively Think Critically and Creatively Promote Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility Value Pluralism and Diversity, and Global Awareness

In what was a very careful process, the College spent nearly two years developing the ILO’s through workshops with students, faculty, and staff that led to recommendations. An ad hoc committee developed a proposal based on those recommendations, and after considerable discussion the Senate subsequently reviewed the ILO proposal, made comments, and approved it in January, 2018.

The General Education program includes outcomes specified by CUNY within the 30-credit required and flexible cores (see Chapter 3), along with other outcomes defined wholly by Hunter in the 12-credit “college option.” There is significant overlap between the ILO’s and the General Education outcomes, and we reinforce

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the latter in many program learning outcomes. Through the ILO’s and General Education, the Mission informs every program of study across the College.

Mission Statements

Institutional Learning Outcomes

General Education Requirements

Our academic programs emphasize research.

Research and Communicate Effectively

Gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view (Flexible Core)Produce well-reasoned written or oral arguments using evidence to support conclusions (Flexible Core)

We challenge students to think critically.

We emphasize artistic creation.

Think Critically and Creatively

Evaluate evidence or arguments critically or analytically (Flexible Core)Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring creative expressions, including, but not limited to, arts, communications, creative writing, media arts, music, and theater. (Creative Expression in the Flexible Core)

We cultivate the qualities our graduates need to make a difference as active citizens.

We give back to New York City through our service and citizenship.

We value learning as the foundation for a more just society.

We prepare students to become leaders in their communities.

Practice Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility

Nothing in General Education; other outcomes apply.

We value learning as the foundation for a more inclusive society.

We stress the

Value Diversity and Pluralism, and Demonstrate Global Awareness

Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring world cultures or global issues, including, but not limited to, anthropology, communication, cultural studies,

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significance of human diversity, and we seek students from all backgrounds.

economics, ethnic studies, foreign languages, geography, history, political science, sociology, and world literature. (World Cultures and Global Issues in the Flexible Core)Analyze and discuss the role that race, ethnicity, class, gender, language, sexual orientation, belief, or other forms of social differentiation play in world cultures or societies. (World Cultures and Global Issues in the Flexible Core)

We value learning in the liberal arts and sciences.

Acquire Broad and Specialized Knowledge

Satisfy the General Education Requirements (Specialized knowledge refers to the completion of a major.)

The General Education program, goals, and outcomes were the result of a massive effort led by CUNY to standardize much of a required program that aimed to reduce the number of credits and to facilitate transfer among CUNY campuses. All of the CUNY campuses had to adjust their own programs to accommodate the standard program, and in some cases rather grudgingly. The final plan for General Education specified many learning outcomes, including most of those for the “common core.”

Organized and Systematic Assessments. Assessment and reporting on assessment take place systematically. The General Education program is on a five-year assessment cycle, with the process coordinated jointly by the Senate General Education Requirements Committee (GER) and the Committee on Evaluation and Assessment. The Office of the Provost helps with the administration of assessment, but the faculty drive assessment policy and practice through the two Senate committees. A Senate-approved “Framework for Assessment” and the “General Education Assessment Plan” are the relevant documents that guide General Education assessment. The GER Committee prepares an annual report and makes recommendations for improvements in the program. The GER Committee evaluates student learning for the ILO’s since they are closely related to General Education outcomes. At the conclusion of the five-year cycle through the General Education and Institutional Learning Outcomes, the GER Committee will prepare a summative analysis of the program and will recommend adjustments. The current General Education program began in 2013, and except for writing and quantitative reasoning, where we have long-term assessments, we are in the middle of the first five-year cycle.

Academic departments and other units responsible for learning outcomes assess systematically, typically on a five-year cycle. Each program submits an annual report by July 1 to cover assessment in the preceding fall and spring semesters.

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The Director of Assessment reviews results with the Assessment Coordinators in each department and offers comments regarding program improvement.

Institutional Support for Assessment. In order to achieve credible results from assessment activity, the Office of Assessment has promulgated standard processes and worked with departments to encourage implementation. The office provides resources and personal assistance to individuals with developing program learning goals (PLOs) that align to the ILOs, curriculum mapping and developing rubrics for assessing program outcomes.

A comprehensive website and detailed guidelines available in hardcopy and electronically reinforce the messages. The website in particular is a storehouse of examples and guides to every step in assessment. It is host to numerous aids including a toolkit for faculty/staff involved in assessment at all levels within the college; guides for curriculum and program assessment; examples of assessment tools for program and course use; a bibliography of resources; a calendar of events for faculty/staff development; important policy documents that are the guiding principles for assessment for the college; and access to personal help by the Office of Assessment Director. The website provides instant access to content in a transparent and an easy-to-use format.

Departments use a standard template for the annual assessment report in the School of Arts and Sciences. We encourage the use of the VALUE rubrics wherever possible, and in general stress the importance and usefulness of well-constructed rubrics. Promoting a standard approach to assessment has enabled cross-campus conversations about assessment and reinforces the idea of an assessment community.

We effectively support and sustain the assessment of student learning in a number of ways. The Office of Assessment stands at the front line of assessment work, engaging, guiding, and encouraging faculty through the assessment website, frequent consultations with departments, faculty development programs, and work with Departmental Assessment Coordinators and with the Assessment Fellows. The Coordinators meet regularly to share experiences with one another, to get advice and updates from the Director of Assessment. Their responsibilities are clearly spelled out.

Support for assessment comes from other entities as well:

● Committees: Academic Assessment and Evaluation, and General Education Requirements Committee. These committees of the Senate create and implement assessment policies. With membership drawn from faculty and administration, including the Director of Assessment, the Committee has a charge to develop, implement, review, and approve all college policies and

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procedures related to academic assessment; to seek necessary support (logistical and otherwise) for the proper implementation of approved college assessment processes and policies; to serve as an assessment advisory committee for academic departments and programs; to coordinate with other Senate committees to ensure that all policies and procedures related to academic assessment are faculty-driven; and to inform the academic community about accreditation standards as presented by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The committees have done a good job in moving the agenda for assessment of General Education and the Institutional Learning Outcomes, having recently approved a “Framework for Assessment of General Education,” which includes a mechanism for getting that assessment done.

● Office of Institutional Research (IR) supports the college’s decision-making, strategic planning and assessment efforts through a variety of activities, including maintaining the college Factbook, reporting for internal and external constituencies and evaluating programs and policies. IR also administers two national benchmarking surveys directly related to pedagogy and curriculum: the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the CUNY Student Experience Survey.

● Academic Center for Excellence in Research and Teaching (ACERT). Through an ongoing series of workshops and sponsored discussions, this unit fosters a community in which faculty use innovative pedagogy, technology, and assessment to enhance their activities as teachers and scholars, and thus to facilitate engaged learning. ACERT offers the Faculty Innovations in Teaching with Technology (FITT) grant program. Faculty who receive grants must provide a plan for the assessment of their innovation and report on their assessment to ACERT after implementing their changes. Faculty in the FITT program receive mentoring on assessment from the Office of Assessment and previous FITT recipients. ACERT has provided a forum for collaboration and a space for conversation about assessment across the campus. It has been central to engaging the faculty in the conversation on assessment efforts.

● Assessment Fellows . The Office of Assessment coordinates the Assessment Fellows Program, which began in 2014. Each year, from 4 to 6 faculty have the opportunity to attend assessment workshops and conferences in their field and share what they have learned with the College through events from the Office of Assessment and ACERT. We expect Fellows to pursue an assessment project and share it with colleagues. The Fellows Program supports the development of assessment practices across campus by creating a cohort of campus leaders on assessment.The Fellows Program has enabled collaboration on assessment across departments. For example, at the 2017 College Composition and Communication Conference, two assessment fellows presented on the collaboration between library and writing faculty. Along with teaching

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faculty from the English Department and Library, they described how assessment led to their departments collaborating on library instruction, research and writing assignments. Another Fellow from the School of Education collaborated with a chemistry professor to organize a student presentation to another class which rated the presentation using a rubric.

Yet another Fellow recommended recitation sections for a series of chemistry courses and secured funding from CUNY to support them. Data from those sections are guiding deliberations on how to improve outcomes in basic chemistry courses.

Communicating Assessment Results to Stakeholders. We believe the key to building a culture of assessment is communicating and celebrating assessment results across the campus and doing so consistently. We use a number of ways to communicate, and we need to make them more robust. Annual Assessment Reports are available on the Assessment website; faculty, prospective students, and administrators can see how students are performing relative to the learning outcomes.

We pair the annual assessment reports with the annual Departmental reports in the departmental reviews that occur each summer. The results of General Education assessment appear on a website devoted to all aspects of General Education [or on the Assessment website]. An “Assessment Brunch Celebration” provides an opportunity for sharing assessment results—department to department—and the meetings of Assessment Coordinators are still other opportunities for sharing. Finally, since fall, 2017, we have produced an assessment newsletter with plans to make it more frequent.

Hunter manages learning for many purposes, including professional success and preparation for graduate school. We follow the guidelines from the National Association of Colleges and Employers and AAC&U’s LEAP initiative that align learning with professional preparation for all students. We assign learning outcomes by program for the students who take advantage of the Career Development Service Office. Those programs include and the outcomes demonstrate that we do an excellent job.

Using Assessment. We use assessment results systematically to manage student learning. Examples include:

The Department of History found that 300-level courses were not providing sufficient “mastery” opportunities for program learning outcomes that were introduced at the 100-level and reinforced at the 200- and low 300-levels, as evidenced primarily in the History 300 capstone projects. Thus, they provided

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students more courses numbered above 380 in order to add additional mastery opportunities, notably in writing-related competencies. In assessing their outcome that calls for students to analyze history across multiple centuries and major geographical regions, they concluded that upper-level classes (1) were clustered too much around the more recent period (19th century – present), especially in U.S. history, and (2) were sparse for regions outside Europe and the US (i.e. for Latin America, Asia and Africa). This evidence supported their request to hire full-time faculty in the earlier period (colonial to early 19th century) and who specialize in transnational/world history. Thus, they have used their Program Learning Outcomes assessments to both inform curricular change and to advocate successfully for further faculty resources.

Art History chose ARTH 3000 (Research Methods) and parsed four Learning Outcomes central to the course: understanding the study of art and culture as a historical discipline, developing awareness of visual and material courses from a global perspective, acquiring analysis skills involving various sets of criteria, and internalizing terminology and critical modes of analysis. Findings, based on specific assignments, indicated that 86% of students met or exceeded expectations in the first three areas; only in the final field (terminology/modes of analysis) did a somewhat significant proportion of students (14%) not meet expectations. While the students performed at a high level in terms of originality, many struggled with mastering correct academic form (writing a proper footnote and bibliography) despite numerous exercises and handouts. As a result, there is a plan in place to strengthen emphasis on academic writing in the course.

The Studio Art program assessed ARTCR 405: Art and Current Ideas. Three criteria were identified: demonstration of technical/formal organizational ability (Rubric 1), write descriptively/discussing the basic conceptual parameters that govern their artistic investigations (Rubric 2), and correlating relationships between Rubrics 1 and 2 (which comprises Rubric 3). Within each rubric, 68-69 percent of the students either met or exceeded expectations. In Rubrics 1 and 3, 30% of students approached expectations. The results in Rubric 2 were somewhat less successful, with 15% of students approaching expectations, and 15% not meeting expectations. As a result, the department decided to institute and require a more developed statement of artistic intentions from students in the program, in conjunction with final projects for this course.

Assessments of capstone experiences in departments such as Political Science and Women & Gender Studies (WGS) have led to pedagogical and curricular changes. WGS found that students in their capstone projects could not effectively employ the concept of intersectionality - which is foundational to the discipline. Assessments then showed that the concept was adequately introduced in introductory courses, but not well-reinforced in intermediate courses, so they have introduced more opportunities for reinforcement of the concept at the 200- and

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300-levels, as well as expanded adjunct faculty development on use of writing and on assessment itself.

In Political Science, assessments of their Honors Capstone Project revealed that the quality of final products was not up to their desired standard because students had trouble conceiving a project, researching it, writing it, and revising it in one semester. They also found that since students could take their one-credit methods class at any point in time, many were taking it too early for it have had a direct impact on their capstone projects. So, the department devised a two-credit “Thesis Inception” class to be taken in the penultimate semester alongside the methods class, and designated the three-credit capstone to be taken in the last semester--“Thesis Completion”--thus expanding the experience from one semester and three credits to two semesters and six credits, in order to ensure a finished product of the department's desired standard.

Most recently, the Psychology Department has been assessing courses foundational to the major, notably those addressing program learning outcomes pertaining to demonstration of key concepts and major theoretical perspectives, and application of scientific reasoning including quantitative research methods.

Findings from 2016-17 assessments in the Psychology Department revealed that while almost two-thirds of students in “Introduction to Psychology” met or exceeded expectations, they needed more attention to scientific reasoning, so they are working on developing other assessment instruments to pinpoint the sub-competencies involved. Assessment of their statistics course showed that students needed more practice at reading studies and recognizing levels of measurement and research design details that would inform results, so they will be expanding coverage of that topic in the course and adjusting homework exercises to address deficiencies in basic understanding of statistics.

Assessments in courses that have high rates of D, F, and W grades, such as introductory courses in Computer Science and Mathematics and Statistics, have led to changes in delivery methods of specific topics, an early alert system through the Dolciani Mathematics Learning Center (one of two such systems on campus), and the development of new courses aimed at discipline-specific quantitative reasoning skills (e.g. MATH 152: Calculus for the Biological and Social Sciences).

Course assessment has also led to changes in the foci of the various tutoring centers: Dolciani, the Rockowitz Writing Center, the Skirball Science Center, as well as department-specific tutoring centers, such as those in Economics and Psychology. Dolciani, as the most prominent example, has been taken out of the Mathematics and Statistics Department and made an independent tutoring center, its focus shifted from primarily offering help with math courses to quantitative reasoning across the curriculum, and from course-specific help to skill-specific help.

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Indirect assessment data -- such as placement scores on the Accuplacer math test, first-to second-year retention, and time-to-degree data for majors -- is used to make changes in, for example, introductory course offerings in the learning communities program, whether 100- and 200-level courses are taught by full-time faculty or not, and refinement and development of capstone experiences to make them do-able in the time allotted.

The conversation on the importance and usefulness of assessment is occurring at many levels and shapes discussions of pedagogy and support for students. Conversations on assessment highlight what a Hunter graduate is in relation to the knowledge, skills, and values defined by our Institutional Learning Outcomes. In academic departments, conversations on assessment focus on what they want students to achieve in the major and what expectations of student work may be depending on the level of the course. The Office of Assessment, ACERT, and the Assessment Fellows program provide forums for this conversation to cross disciplines. As a result of this focus on assessment, there is a small cohort of scholars across disciplines and programs interested and enthusiastic about assessment as a scholarly activity and as a tool for pedagogical improvement. The fact that this cross-disciplinary conversation has been occurring within ACERT means that faculty have driven the effort at campus-wide fulfillment of assessment goals.

Assessment of General Education. CUNY mandated a General Education program which went into effect CUNY-wide in fall 2013. The CUNY Central Office did not provide colleges with assessment plans for general education, and Hunter in 2017 developed its own five-year framework for General Education assessment. The assessment of English Composition and Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning are particular areas of strength in our assessment of General Education with data going back to 2008 in the case of English Composition. Writing and Quantitative Reasoning were the first General Education areas to be assessed under the new plan (2017-18).

The two composition courses for General Education are English 120: Expository Writing and 220: Writing about Literature. There are more than one-hundred sections of composition offered each semester. Given the magnitude of the basic composition program, everything about it has to be highly organized, including assessment. We have assessment data going back many years, thanks to involvement of many of the faculty who teach the courses. There is broad discussion of assessment results and of actions to be taken in response.

Both courses have a similar process for direct assessment: The department assessment coordinator and course coordinators meet to determine the outcomes that will be assessed for a given year. They collect two portfolios from each section of the courses, determined by random sample. Using a common rubric aligned with

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the course learning outcomes that are both provided to students with the syllabus, a group of faculty who teaches the course meet to evaluate the sample according to the rubric after a norming session facilitated by the Assessment Coordinator, course coordinator, and the Office of Assessment. The faculty propose improvements in the course and then include assessment of those improvements in the following year’s plan. In the first few years of assessing the composition courses, all of the outcomes were assessed to get a sense of what areas needed the most attention.

Based on assessments beginning in 2007, all sections of English 120 now share common course goals, a research paper assignment, and a common writing rubric. In response to previous assessments, for the past four years 120 has focused specifically on the research paper and the rubric has been revised to look more closely at those particular skills. In fall 2014, the research paper was expanded from a 5- to 7-page research paper requirement to a 10-page requirement. The expanded format allowed teachers to devote more time to these research and writing issues and allowed students a more valuable writing and research experience that better prepares them for writing in other courses. The course coordinators continue to revise and refine the curriculum based on assessment findings.

The direct assessment data since fall 2008 shows most students reaching a competent level by the end of the course. The data demonstrates sustained effort at continual improvement and assessment. Though from year to year some categories are stronger than others, these issues are addressed through curriculum development, collaboration with the library, and professional development meetings with English 120 teachers. Beginning in 2014, the coordinators sought more specific analysis of the course’s focus on writing from sources and developed an indirect assessment procedure. All sections of 120 begin by reading the same article and use the same prompt to summarize and respond to that article as a common diagnostic. The teachers then identify patterns to discuss in a meeting of all 120 teachers at the beginning of the semester. They determine the skills students may need the most support with (such as reading and summarizing an academic article). Teachers discuss the skills they will spend more time on in class as a response to the diagnostic reading response. At the end of the semester, the students revise that response and include a reflection on their revisions as their portfolio cover letter. The instructors then exchange a small sample of portfolios with each other and fill out a worksheet that asks them to compare patterns they found in student writing, what they changed about their pedagogy in response to the pre-semester reading response diagnostic, how those changes affected improvements in the post-semester revision of that reading response, and what changes they may make in the future as a result.

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In response to assessment data, collaboration with the library has become a central feature in the English 120 curriculum. We now require all sections to have at least one session of instruction by a librarian. Beginning in 2015, faculty librarians participated in the direct assessment procedures as second readers of the research papers. The composition and library faculty collaborated on a rubric to break down in specific ways the skills of writing from sources, which now includes the categories of “Choice of Sources,” “Engagement with Sources,” and “Integration of Sources.” The results showed that the composition program could learn a lot from the library on helping students find, evaluate, and respond to sources more effectively. The library also learned from the assessment reading as they usually see student work in the process of research and do not see the final project. The composition coordinators and library faculty made several changes to respond to the lessons from the assessment result:

● Librarians now offer three different kinds of research sessions that include a focus on the research question and on finding sources. Librarians help instructors determine which type of session would support their pedagogical goals.

● Librarians attend professional development workshops with English 120 and provide feedback to 120 instructors on their research paper assignments.

● Librarians include discussion of English 120 in their professional development sessions on information literacy pedagogy.

● A new research tutorial was developed from a collaboration between an English 120 coordinator and faculty librarian. They based their approach on what annual assessments have identified as the areas students need the most support with, such as the initial development of the research question and understanding academic sources.

● English 120 now puts more emphasis on helping students develop research questions by starting the process from the beginning of the semester (where previously it was done very late in the semester), relating the diagnostic to the development of research topics and questions, and providing library instruction specific to these issues.

The pilot of librarians as second readers proved informative and successful. The composition faculty and library faculty continue to work together during professional development meetings offered once per month and a shared assessment process in which librarians are involved from the development of the rubric to the response to the findings.

English 220 has followed the same model of direct assessment as English 120 and found similar results. English 220 is both the second course in the general education composition sequence and the second in the sequence of three English courses required of all prospective English majors. It serves as a prerequisite for all Hunter English courses numbered above ENGL 220. The course is intended to

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introduce students to academic writing in the disciplinary context of writing about literature.

Assessment results since 2009 have confirmed that ENGL 220 is meeting its objectives and the new learning outcomes developed by CUNY for Common Core Composition 2 courses and the second course in the CUNY English sequence. On average, close to 90% of students rate competent or better in all categories. The higher numbers for 220 also indicate an assessment for the effectiveness of 120 and the English Composition sequence.

In response to early assessment data, English 220 found the areas of developing thesis statements and use of sources as areas needing more attention. The assessment rubric was revised to enable a greater focus on these issues in subsequent assessments. The use of sources is now addressed through two categories of the rubric: the use of textual evidence for that claim and the engagement with secondary sources. Assessment results reflect the focus on these areas.

Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning. Part of the “Required Core,” Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning has six learning outcomes defined by CUNY. We have assessed all of them and can add them to the previous assessments to get a good sense of learning in mathematics.

In Spring 2015-Spring 2017, the assessment of Math 100 and 102 focused on learning outcome #2, "Use algebraic, numerical, graphical, or statistical methods to draw accurate conclusions and solve mathematical problems," done through the scores on 3 common final exam questions on the same topics each semester. In 2015 the courses’ coordinator began conducting assessment and standardizing the courses, first introducing online homework and repeating similar assessments to gain a base of data from a few semesters and several different instructors. These results were used to modify and standardize the homework sets and add supplemental videos and quizzes in 2017. The same common final exam problems will be assessed in 2017 to measure the effects of the change. Results have shown that over 50% achieve proficiency in the outcomes assessed using the common final exam questions. Math 102 has also presented opportunities for assessing online courses, as the course is offered as face-to-face lecture, hybrid (half-online), and fully online. The results found no significant difference in performance among the three modes of delivery; all saw roughly the same results. An online section of Math 100 Online was piloted in Spring 2017 and its results were again comparable to those of the Math 100 lecture sections. The online pilot was deemed a success based on the data, and so online sections of both Math 100 and Math 102 will continue to be offered.

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Both math and writing present exemplary cases of assessment of student learning outcomes, both in how the assessment practice has developed and how the course coordinators use the data for changes in the curriculum and professional development. In both cases, the coordinators are active in professional development activities surrounding assessment across campus, having served as Assessment Fellows. Both are members of the Assessment Coordinators Council and the Senate Committee on Academic Assessment and Evaluation, with one the chair of the Senate committee. Both are involved in the committees implementing the General Education Assessment proposal. Finally, both have benefitted from institutional support, receiving funds to go to national conferences about assessment. Both received FITT grants to develop teaching practices with technology based on what they learned from assessment data and wanted to improve about the course; they then presented these projects to the part-time faculty teaching the courses as a model. These efforts are supported by funds from the Provost’s Office and the Dean’s Office, who also provide funds for the professional development activities they conduct for part-time faculty teaching general education courses. Their practices will be a model as we move forward with assessing other General Education Learning Outcomes as they continue to be involved in the culture of assessment across campus.

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Hunter College, City University of New YorkMiddle States Self-Study

May 15 Draft

Standard VI: Planning, Resources, and Institutional Improvement

Taken together, our planning and budgeting processes effectively and intentionally translate the Mission and Strategic Plan into programs and practices subject to assessment and adjustment. Thanks to the careful management of resources and to highly successful fundraising, Hunter perhaps uniquely has weathered several consecutive years of budget cuts from the state and CUNY without serious dislocations to our basic planning.

We developed our Strategic Plan in 2011 to cover the 2012-20 period. (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/senate/repository/files/resolutions/final-sspc-strategic-plan-2012-2020.pdf.) As explained in Chapter 1, consultation with the College community provided important ideas for the plan, which was formally adopted by the college’s highest governing body, the Hunter College Senate. (See Standard I and http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/senate/repository/files/senate-minutes/minutes-4-27-11.pdf.)

We review here illustrative examples of 1) broad annual planning and budget exercises required by CUNY and 2) more focused though no less important planning for particular projects or areas of campus life.

Annual CUNY Budget and Planning Cycles

Annual Institutional Financial Plan. As part of a public university system, Hunter College’s budgeting and planning processes are strongly constrained by the process and timing that the State and University use to allocate funds to the colleges to support their operating and capital budgets. However, within those constraints the College constructs an annual spending plan that is driven by the Mission and Strategic Plan and recalibrated through assessment of performance.

Hunter’s Financial Plan is developed with input from faculty, students and staff. Academic funding requests and priorities are established by the Provost after discussion and meetings with the Deans and Chairs who consult with faculty. Requests for student needs are submitted through the Vice President for Student Affairs after discussion and consultation with student leaders, the Student Undergraduate and Graduate Senates, and Deans and Directors within Student Affairs. The President consults with the Vice-Presidents and works with the Budget Office to ensure that funds from all source--including the public money, earned income, and private donations—are used in an integrated manner to implement the Strategic Plan. She holds senior staff meetings on a weekly basis and more formal

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Deans and senior director meetings where requests are evaluated for alignment with the Strategic and Master Plans and prioritized on a semi-annual (or more frequent when needed). The process is a continuous cycle where there is an ongoing search for outside funding.

Despite the many systemic challenges within CUNY and the State, Hunter College has been able to meet imposed reduction targets and absorb unfunded mandates through judicious use of budget reserves and use of funds not received from the State. As a result we have always submitted a balanced three year financial plan.

Thus, Hunter College plans and implements its financial activities in a complex environment subject to a number of constraints, including the fact that (1) tuition levels are set by the CUNY-wide Board of Trustees and must generally be coordinated across all colleges in the system and (2) contracts establishing salary structure and fringe benefits are also negotiated system-wide.

Performance Management Process and Coordinated Undergraduate Education (CUE) Funding. Two examples of planning that are also measures of institutional effectiveness are the Performance Management Process (PMP) and the program for Coordinated Undergraduate Education (CUE). Both are large, structured, formal plans in administrative areas, and we take advantage of them each year to move the institution in line with the Strategic Plan and Vision. Assessment is built into the planning process for each one. The goals within each program are broadly related and in some cases repeat from year to year, so both processes are sustained efforts with budget support to improve institutional performance across a range of metrics.

The PMP began in 2001 as a means of integrating and aligning the various parts of the City University. Each year the University issues a standard set of broad expectations for campuses. In earlier years the metrics were quite specific and prescriptive, but now campuses have considerable leeway in setting goals and targets within the current CUNY “Strategic Framework.” In July, the University issues a Year-End University Report with data on all the campuses. In a revision of the PMP announced in summer of 2017, the process calls for a formal review of Hunter in summer, 2018, and alternating with informal reviews thereafter.

Some of Hunter’s PMP goals for 2017-2018 include:

Increasing the four-year graduation rate by .7 point Increasing the six-year graduation rate by 1.9 points Pilot an early information system to identify students who are not doing well. Transform PS/MS7 in East Harlem as part of our All in East Harlem project. Migrate to case-load faculty advising within the majors Increase the number and diversity of STEM majors Develop new degree programs in high employment sectors. Enhance interactions among our creative arts units.

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Increase our Indirect Cost recovery funds

We will review the goals above during summer, 2018, but we can take an earlier example to illustrate the whole cycle of proposing goals and evaluating results that led to institutional improvement. For 2015-16, our goals were

Foster an environment of interdisciplinary research. Increase the coordination, efficacy and reach of our undergraduate advising

corps. Deepen our relationship with the East Harlem community. Increase the investment in our infrastructure that supports the arts.

Each of the goals flowed from the Strategic Plan or Vision Statement, and we carefully assessed the strategies associated with each one. One major strategy was the acquisition of a floor in Weill Cornell’s Belfer Research Lab building. The lab, where eleven Hunter faculty from different disciplines work together and collaborate with Cornell faculty, has helped significantly to promote interdisciplinary research and thinking.

Interdisciplinary work is not limited to the natural sciences. We hired the first permanent Director of Roosevelt House, and as a result interdisciplinary workshops and activities significantly increased. In fall, 2015, a series of events (“Politics, Policy and the Arts”) at Roosevelt House brought together artists, scholars and performers across a range of disciplines as well as policymakers and public officials.

Fostering an environment for interdisciplinary research yielded solid results. The number of interdisciplinary faculty research awards was up from 62 to 83 over the previous year. Forty-two peer-reviewed papers emerged from that first Belfer year. The percent of total direct costs attributed to interdisciplinary awards rose from 19% to 33%. The percent of publications that were interdisciplinary rose from 11.5% to 14.9%. Finally, the number of interdisciplinary majors increased from 15 to 19 over the previous year.

To address concerns about advising, a Presidential Task Force on Advising convened and produced a series of recommendations, which led to the following strategies:

Creation of a set of learning goals linked to advising sessions. Clarification of roles of academic advisors Adoption of the “Take 15” program to encourage students to register for 15

credits each semester. Establishment of workload and compensation expectations for department

advisors. New assignment system for managing freshmen and transfer advising. Creation of “major maps” that specify pathways toward completion of

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degrees.

Implementation of the strategies revealed the following outcomes:

Percent of transfer students with advising appointments went from 30% to 90% between 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Total number of contact hours with undergraduates went from 12,578 in 2014-15 to 16,837 in 2015-16.

Sixty-four major maps were completed that showed clearly how to graduate in four years. The number of visits to degree/major maps increased from 440 in 2014-15 to 5,656 the following year.

The percentage of freshmen who registered for 15 credits increased from 39.3% in 2013-14 to 67% in 2015-16.

In response to our goal to deepen our relationship with the East Harlem community, we

Hired the first Director of the “All in East Harlem” initiative. Opened a storefront for the AIEH program across the street from the School

of Social Work.

The PMP defines the contours of a rational budget and planning process around institutional effectiveness, and each year Hunter follows those contours to the betterment of the institution.

CUNY distributes funding for CUE (Coordinated Undergraduate Education) projects to the colleges on an annual basis. At the end of each academic year, CUNY provides a template which identifies the university priority areas and asks colleges to provide a brief narrative overview and rationale of their CUE plan, priorities, and intended outcomes for the coming year as well as an evaluation of their progress towards the CUE projects funded for the past year. In order to receive the funding, the college must identify the ways in which progress towards these goals has been achieved and measured, and evaluate the progress. Colleges must produce solid evidence of institutional effectiveness by linking resource allocation to assessment and planning through the CUE initiatives. (See Hunter College CUE Annual Report 2016-17.)

For the academic year 2016-17, CUNY had three broad institutional priority areas for CUE funding: (1) support programs to improve college readiness and accelerate progress through remediation and into credit-bearing gateway courses; (2) support first-year and student success initiatives to improve first-to-second year retention rates for both native and transfer students; and (3) support academic support services to enhance student success. Hunter College developed CUE funding projects aligned with these priorities and with strategic plan goals of the College. We identified key activities to make progress towards these goals, provided measurable evidence and evaluated the outcomes in terms of the evidence, and articulated ways to use the results to determine future initiatives.

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CUNY’s first initiative aligned with Hunter’s strategic plan goal to identify students at high risk of attrition and address their needs before they face academic difficulty. We identified key activities to achieve this goal including providing summer and winter language skills courses, math workshops and additional workshops and academic support targeted to SEEK students. We evaluated the success of these programs by measuring the number of students enrolled in and passing workshop courses. Based on the results of these programs, we decided to continue the workshops. However, we realized that allowing some students to withdraw from the workshop before completion resulted in a decline in the pass rate and consequently we modified this for the following year.

The second initiative aligned with Hunter’s goal of increasing student success and engagement by improving student advisement. Key activities to further this initiative included increasing the number of students participating in orientation and advising activities, increasing the number of summer advising hours provided by faculty, and increasing support for students as they apply for awards and scholarships. We evaluated the success of these initiatives by calculating the number of freshman and transfer students meeting with advisors, calculating the number of departments and number of advising hours during the summer, and measuring the number of students receiving prestigious awards. In 2016-17, the number of freshman and transfer students seen by advisors rose by 7% due to this initiative. In 2016-17, 100% of our departments provided summer hours, with an 18% increase in total advising summer hours over 2015-16. Finally, Hunter College hired a dedicated administrator to support students applying for prestigious awards, and the numbers increased by 30%, including five Fulbright awards and six NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. This success continued in 2017-18 with Hunter’s first Rhodes Scholar, a Truman Scholar and a Luce Scholar, among many others.

CUNY’s third priority area, enhancing academic support services, aligns with Hunter’s goal of identifying students at high risk of attrition and addressing their needs as well as supporting student progress towards graduation. Hunter’s main activity in this area was to provide increased academic support through tutoring and other activities in the math, writing, language and science learning centers. We would normally evaluate the success of these activities through attendance at the learning centers. However, in 2016-17 Hunter relocated all the learning centers to one floor in the new Cooperman Library, resulting in a period of several months during which the centers were not operational. Although total visits to these learning centers decreased for the academic year 2016-17 over 2015-16 due to the move, we expected that visits would increase dramatically during the 2017-18 academic year and thus continue to use CUE funding to support these centers. Hunter also targeted improving student advisement by identifying courses with high rates of D and F grades and withdrawals and enhancing academic support services in these courses. We were able to decrease the number of students receiving these grades. Hunter provided workshops to assist students identified as at-risk and adopted the Early Alert System to identify students having academic difficulties. We calculated the number of students meeting with advisors identification as at-risk, and in 2016-17 there was an increase of 66% over 2015-16 in advisor meetings.

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For 2017-18, Hunter requested CUE funding for three initiatives related to student success:

• Enhancing our advising capabilities by increasing first-year peer tutors and mentors for students on probation.

• Improving student credit accumulation, in particular improving outcomes for high DFW courses. These activities include funding for departmental tutoring for courses with high DFW rates and courses required for graduation. In addition, funding will support the learning centers for additional tutoring, particularly in courses that are not targeted by individual departments but still present challenges for student success and workshops for key capstone courses.

• Other selected college-wide student support initiatives, including support for students applying to medical school, strengthening assessment efforts, supporting the Undergraduate Research Initiative and training full-time and adjunct faculty to provide early assessment of student writing.

We look forward to evaluating our performance against these goals in the month ahead.

Local Planning and Budgeting

Departmental Reports as Planning Documents. We have recently aligned department plans and activities with the strategic priorities through a reconstruction of Departmental Annual Reports. Through 2017 the Annual Reports tended to be compilations of accomplishments over the previous year. The key change was to make the Annual Report a goal-directed departmental planning document that guides activity over the next year. The previous format asked for links to the College Strategic Plan, but the resulting reports were often just catalogs of important accomplishments but not linked to specific departmental targets or goals. To make such a catalog meaningful we needed to ask how close those accomplishments brought us to meeting the goals of the department. What remains to be done and how will it be accomplished? The second change was the addition of clear, measureable goals. As with student learning assessment, departments need clear, specific goals or outcomes, to understand the gap between where it is and where it wants to be. Third, the reports need to incorporate new datapoints that speak to some of the obvious goals: enrollment analysis and trends; issues of faculty productivity, in terms of who’s teaching what, at what level, and to whom; faculty workload; post-graduate student outcomes; student experience indicators, including survey results and departmental reports; and grade analyses. Finally, we built in an annual conversation between the Dean and the Chair around the annual report and the annual student learning assessment report. This is an opportunity to explain and understand the accomplishments of the department and the challenges that remain. The inclusion of the annual assessment report is especially important since the conversation is

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an explicit opportunity to connect planning and budgeting, a critical step in rational management and assessment. A letter to the Department summing up the meeting will confirm the department’s strategic direction and make explicit the agreed-upon goals for the following year as well as to celebrate and record the achievements of the previous year. The letter provides a useful point of departure for the conversation a year later.

With an emphasis on planning and assessment within the Department, the new annual reports emphasize the alignment of Departmental activities and goals with larger planning and budgetary goals.

More Efficient Space Usage. Some of the College‘s most important planning initiatives arise from longstanding concerns in the community. One prominent example, typical of an urban institution, is the constant need for additional space. Hunter’s fast-paced growth has faced limitations from our physical plant, resulting in pressing needs for space, modernization and reorganization. Hunter is constrained by shortages of research and instructional space and compromised by the condition of many of our facilities. The College systematically identified the problem and adduced solutions to it.

In the spring of 2015, the Senate Committee on Facilities and Food Services was charged by the College President with developing planning principles that the College could employ to determine optimal space use and design. To strengthen this endeavor, the College retained a consultant to lead the process and ensure that the Committee stayed focused on clear objectives.

The Committee worked on a number of initiatives and solicited community feedback in various ways, including surveys, focus groups, and other outreach efforts. (See Hunter College Community Outreach Findings and Hunter Library 2016) The group learned that people want to be at Hunter, but that the campus space is limiting and uninspiring. This feedback led to three broad recommendations: 1) create a campus master plan using a broad consultative process; 2) develop more effective space-use policies and procedures to manage existing spaces; and 3) identify opportunities to create and refurbish spaces. (Hunter College Principles for Space Planning: A Report from the Master Plan Committee 2016) Some suggestions included using Hunter’s street presence and public spaces to make the campus welcoming and inspiring, further developing the third floor as a campus “quad” where students, faculty, and staff would flow between campus anchors such as the library, reorganizing program spaces and installing signage to provide better navigability, and creating spaces for campus users to “simply be” when not engaged in scheduled activities. The Committee produced a report to be used for further planning efforts. (Hunter College Principles for Master Planning)

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Strategic Support for the Sciences at Hunter. An important strategic priority for Hunter is to enhance the institution’s identity as a research institution. As part of this initiative, we have focused significant efforts on expanding science programs and initiatives. In 2011, the President convened a committee of faculty from the science departments to develop strategic recommendations for the sciences at Hunter. (See Hunter College Strategic Plan for Science) Since that time, Hunter formed a partnership with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center that will ultimately result in a 390,000 square feet of instructional and research space constructed on East 74th Street, which will house the Nursing and Health Professions schools. The costs of this construction have proven challenging for Hunter and we are working with CUNY as well as New York State and New York City to garner funds to complete this project.

In addition to this initiative, the College entered into a partnership with a premier educational institution, Weill Cornell Medical College, and purchased a floor in their new, state-of-the-art Belfer Research Building located near the 68th Street Campus. New York State Capital funds were utilized for this purchase, which provided modern laboratory space for Hunter scientists and students. In early 2015 Hunter researchers moved into this building which was designed to enhance collaboration across research areas. This partnership has deepened over the past two years, with the fruits demonstrated at the first Belfer symposium in 2017, followed by the second symposium in March 2018. In 2016-17, the partnership collaborated on two significant research programs: The Center for Translational and Basic Research, funded by a five year $13.5 million Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) award, with Hunter serving as the lead institution; and the Clinical Translational Science Center, funded by a five-year $45 million Clinical Translational Science Award, with Weill-Cornell serving as the lead institution.

Investment in the sciences has shown gratifying results. In 2016-17, Hunter was awarded the highest total research grant and contract awards of any CUNY institution, with $54.88 million in faculty-driven grants, an increase of $9 million from the previous year. Hunter was the largest recipient of NIH funding among New York State educational institutions without a medical school, including six SCORE grants out of a total of 40 awarded nationally, the most won by any institution. In addition, in recognition of Hunter’s commitment to sciences and successful development of public/private partnerships, the College was selected in October of 2017 to be one of the first implementers on New York City’s 5-year $20 million initiative to double CUNY’s number of technology-trained graduates.

Planning for “All in East Harlem.” In keeping with Hunter’s location in the heart of Manhattan, the College has prioritized expanding and deepening engagement with surrounding neighborhoods and institutions. Perhaps the centerpiece of this effort is the “All in East Harlem” program. (See Standard VII for further detail.) The

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initial step in this initiative was relocating the School of Social Work to East Harlem in 2011 with the aim of promoting community engagement of Hunter students and faculty through public service internships and projects. Working closely with private developers and CUNY, President Raab completed a real estate deal so innovative and complex that it was a front page news story in the New York Times.19 The School of Social Work‘s previous building was sold, and $40 million of the proceeds (donated by the Silberman family, the largest ever gift to CUNY at that time) along with New York State construction funds, were used to construct a new, larger building in East Harlem. The 142,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility, the Silberman School of Social Work, is in full operation, and also houses the School of Urban Public Health at Hunter College, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro), and an art gallery.

The program received a three-year $375,000 grant from the New York City Council, and there are currently 65 faculty projects and more than 150 fieldwork and internship placements in local organizations. As part of this initiative, the New York City Department of Education invited Hunter to manage the public elementary school across the street from the Silberman School (P.S./M.S. 7), to work with the school community to transform its curriculum and develop programming to incorporate the arts and innovative STEM pedagogy.

In addition, Hunter has participated in two community impact projects in conjunction with New York City partnerships. Hunter received a $1.6 million grant from the New York County District Attorney’s Office to plan and pilot the Community Navigator Initiative. This initiative is a community-based social support program to develop a network of neighborhood-based peer advocates and licensed social workers who will work with vulnerable individuals to help them connect to resources in the East Harlem community. Hunter has also been asked to house and lead the New York City Mayor’s $100 million Mental Health Service Corps. This three-year initiative will train over 400 professional mental healthcare workers to support underserved communities.

Hunter and the Arts. Hunter is dedicated to providing every student an experience--if not an education--in the arts. This strategic initiative has resulted in a coordinated development of financial, human and physical resources to achieve its goals. Recent faculty hires include a new Associate Provost for the Arts, an external chair of the Theatre department and a new chair of the Dance department. Hunter acquired and renovated a new home for the Theatre department in the Baker Theater Building and plans to construct an above-ground pathway to link the Theatre building to other campus buildings as well as a major new “state-of the arts” performance space. The Dance department received a $1 million gift from the Hearst Foundation as well as individual gifts to renovate two Dance studios. Mellon Foundation grants have supported the development of a

19 See https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/nyregion/28hunter.html

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focused “Arts Across the Curriculum” program addressing the needs not only of talented undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds interested in pursuing careers in the arts but, perhaps even more importantly for a liberal arts college, ensuring that all students are exposed to the benefits of creative expression.

Hunter has outstanding MFA programs, including Creative Writing and Fine Arts. Until 2013, the Master of Fine Arts program was housed in a state-owned facility that required extensive renovations. In Fall 2013, CUNY support enabled the MFA program to relocate to a facility that was designed and constructed to meet the needs of a modern MFA program, and provide space for 160 students and a modern gallery.

The emphasis on the arts has resulted in success. Hunter College is ranked 20th in Fine Arts by US News and World Report, and was recently listed as one of the 15 top arts schools in the U.S. 20

Recognizing that a successful arts sector, nationally and in New York City requires not only creative talent but also introduce in the next academic year

Capital Budgeting and Planning Processes

Hunter College currently operates six campuses throughout Manhattan, including the Hunter College Campus Schools21. The College is responsible for maintaining almost 3 million gross square feet of urban real estate. Each building is in a different stage of its life cycle, and the College dedicates significant resources— both capital and operating—to maintaining its infrastructure. Since resources are finite, it is essential that capital projects, renovations, and repairs be prioritized and properly coordinated. We manage capital projects in close collaboration with CUNY and the State and depend on them for capital and critical maintenance funds. This system has worked reasonably well and allowed Hunter to accomplish many projects and stay on top of critical maintenance.

While all of Hunter‘s major projects are consistent with the goals and objectives of CUNY, many are generated from within the College and arise from Hunter‘s strategic plan, the strategic plans of individual units, the results of both formal assessment activities and less formal campus-wide discussions, and the individual initiatives of faculty, deans, administrators, and others who contribute ideas and target opportunities.

The College produces a five-year forward looking financial plan outlining the cost of and justification for major capital projects, both renovation and new 20https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-fine-arts-schools/fine-arts-rankings ; https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-guide-15-leading-art-history-masters-programs

21 Reaccredited separately by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (most recent reaccreditation in 2017.)

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construction. This plan is developed after consultation with the College’s stakeholders and outside experts and is revised annually. (See Hunter College Facilities Initiatives 2016-17; Hunter College Critical Maintenance Project List 2017-18; Hunter College Facilities Master Plan Materials 2015.)

Funding for Hunter‘s most significant capital projects is derived through CUNY‘s Central Office via the New York State Capital Budget process. CUNY‘s Capital budget is based on a rolling five-year plan. Each year Hunter reviews its previous requests and actual allocations from the State and submits a new request to CUNY‘s Office of Facilities Planning, Construction, and Management (OPCM) based on current priorities. For example, the current request submitted to CUNY encompasses the fiscal years FY2018 thru FY2022, while next year‘s request will include FY2019 thru FY2023.

The University reviews the submissions from all colleges and delivers a comprehensive final request to the BOT for approval to submit to the Governor. Once at the State level, the request is reviewed by the Governor‘s Office which decides which portions of the request are included in the Governor’s overall budget submission to the State Legislature. The Governor then negotiates with both houses of the Legislature, and a final adopted budget is agreed upon, which includes capital allocations to CUNY.

Once the budget is adopted, any approved projects are typically financed through bond proceeds coming to the University from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). It is unlikely that all requested projects will be included in CUNY‘s request to the Governor, and likewise that the Legislature will approve all projects submitted by the Governor. For these reasons it is critical that the College carefully plan and prioritize its requests.

Additionally, the College has directly benefitted from lump sum allocations received by CUNY from the State. These lump sum allocations are provided to the Central Office to be used as necessary for specific categories of work, such as Facilities Preservation, ADA, and Health and Safety. The College staff works with CUNY to identify priorities and proceed with various projects. This funding is not typically used for new projects, but rather to maintain and improve existing facilities.

Table 2: Critical Maintenance Received by Hunter College ($ in Thousands)

Year Funding Received

2008-9 $3,176

2009-10 $14,482

2010-11 $18,000

2011-12 $7,000

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2012-13 $10,000

2013-14 $0

2014-15 $1,000

2015-16 $3,914

2016-17 $8,607

Total $66,179

Compiled from Funding Results http://www2.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/fpcm/departments/capital-budget/

In addition to the various sources of state funding identified above, the College relies heavily on capital funds provided through the City of New York‘s Manhattan Borough President and City Council members. This funding is invaluable for developing and implementing smaller capital projects without State oversight. However because the funding is limited, there is much competition for these resources. Since 2010, Hunter has received more than $29 million from these sources.

Each summer, the College identifies one or two top priorities and submits these proposed projects to CUNY for inclusion in the CUNY-wide request for elected official funding. Hunter has used this funding for a variety of projects in recent years, including the initial renovation of floors 3, 6, and 7 in the library and the purchase of the Baker Hall Building.

Private Philanthropy

Despite the support of both the State and City of New York, Hunter’s investments in its physical and intellectual capital would not be possible without the generosity of its private supporters. Within the period since the last Middles States Reaccreditation, philanthropic donations in excess of $ xxxx million have facilitated many of the projects discussed above including:

1) The extensive renovation of the Hunter library to serve modern technologies and student needs. While multiple donors contributed to parts of this effort, a single donation from Leon and Toby Cooperman funded approximately a third of this massive project.

2) The acquisition and renovation of the theater facility next to Hunter’s 68th Street campus as well as the renovation of our dance studio

3) The relocation of Hunter’s School of Social Work to a modern facility that serves as the anchor of Hunter’s integrated effort to serve the needs of the community of East Harlem.

4) Hunter’s purchase of a floor in the Belfer Science building, creating a close cooperation between Hunter students and faculty with scholars at Cornell

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Weill Medical School.5) The ongoing construction of the new science facility being developed in

conjunction with memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Donations to the College have also proven invaluable to supporting its faculty through enhanced compensation, research support and endowed chairs as well as our students through extensive scholarship support.

All members of the President’s executive team and their management teams work to ensure that sufficient resources are efficiently utilized to support the institution’s mission and goals. Despite budgetary pressures, the College has the fiscal resources and staffing to carry out its operational functions to meet its core mission. The revenues per FTE for Hunter College are comparable to other CUNY senior colleges and exceed the CUNY senior college average, as shown by the data in [CUNY Senior Colleges Enrollment-Tuition] As has been the case in prior years, the resources-to-expenditures ratio for Hunter College showed sufficient reserves for the 2018 fiscal year, projected versus actual ( CUNY Senior Colleges Expenditures-Resources).

Human Resources

Staffing at the College compares favorably with that of other CUNY senior colleges as indicated by Staffing to FTE ratios. However, when compared to colleges of similar enrollment and size, Hunter appears to be serving more students with fewer human resources. Therefore, faculty hiring remains a high priority for the College, which has managed to keep increasing the number of faculty despite financial challenges, particularly the cost of living in New York City. In 2016-17, when other CUNY colleges froze hiring, Hunter, through its own resources was able to hire close to 30 new faculty, and invested in excess of $1.5 million in start-up and retention packages.

Additional Fiscal Resources

Hunter College Foundation. The Hunter College Foundation is a not-for-profit educational foundation chartered by the Department of Education of the State of New York and recognized as a federally tax-exempt organization. It contributes in important ways to the financial health of the institution. As with many public colleges and universities, the Foundation was established in part to ensure that state-budgeted funds are maintained separately from private and corporate contributions. The Foundation’s mission is to enhance Hunter’s position as a premiere public institution by actively promoting Hunter College, including all of its schools, programs,

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Centers, and campuses; by cultivating relationships that lead to funding; by engaging current and potential donors in the life of the College; by managing investments judiciously and by ensuring that restricted funds are utilized for donor-requested purposes. The Foundation receives gifts and grants which it uses to support faculty, students, and facility development. The Foundation is governed by a board of trustees composed of prominent Hunter alumni who are business, artistic, and intellectual leaders from New York State and the nation. The Hunter Foundation board currently has 44 members and operates with a list of responsibilities, bylaws, and a formal charter.

CUNY Research Foundation. The Research Foundation of the City University of New York (RFCUNY) is a not-for-profit educational corporation that manages private and government sponsored programs at the University. The Foundation is a legally and financially separate institution from the University. It is governed by its own Board of Directors and issues its own audited financial statements, operates its own payroll system and fringe benefits plan, and purchases a variety of goods and services in accordance with its own policies and procedures. Since 1963, RFCUNY has provided CUNY with the administrative infrastructure that supports sponsored program activities, including employment of some 13,000 full and part time staff CUNY wide. Total awards for CUNY in 2017 reached $xxx million. The Research Foundation has policies and procedures in place to administer and maintain grant expenditures in all aspects, including personnel, procurement, reporting, and audits. Special responsibilities include management of a planned giving program; liaison with governmental agencies and foundations; negotiation of agreements; facility construction and renovation; protection and commercialization of intellectual property; and compliance with applicable standards in research involving human subjects, animal care, environmental and radiological safety, and conflicts of interest.

Hunter College Office of Research Administration. The Office of Research Administration is the focal point at Hunter College for information relating to grants and contracts for project support. The Director of Research Administration reports to the Provost and serves as the campus representative of its fiscal agent for grant and contract awards, the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. The office's main functions involve the review, institutional approval, and submission of proposals to government and private agencies, the interpretation of Research Foundation policies, the review of all grant-funded personnel

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appointments, and the dissemination of information on grant opportunities. Research Administration also works closely with several College committees including Institutional Review Board (IRB); Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC); and Institutional Biohazards Committee (IBC).

Facilities, Infrastructure, and Technology. Hunter College provides comprehensive planning for facilities, infrastructure, and technology that includes consideration of sustainability and deferred maintenance and is linked to the institution's strategic and financial planning processes.

(See Hunter College Facilities Master Plan (to be provided); Hunter College Facilities, Planning & Management Initiative and Progress Indicators 2015-16 ; Hunter College Continuing Education Enrollment Report (to be provided); Hunter College FY 2017 Student Tech Fee Plan; Hunter College FY 2018 Student Tech Fee Plan; Hunter College Facilities Design and Construction Manual ; Hunter College Critical Maintenance Project List 2017-18; Hunter College Coastal Storm Emergency Procedures; Hunter College Grant for HVAC Project; Hunter College West Building Conditions Assessment Report 2016; Hunter College. CUNY MOU for Lighting Retrofit Main Campus; Hunter College Application for Facilities Improvement; Hunter College Storm Preparedness Plan; Hunter College Briefing Memo on NYS Early Warning Weather Detection Installation; Hunter College Annual Security and Fire Report 2017 (upload doc)

All students across CUNY pay a technology fee to fund the purchase of technology equipment, software licenses, and personnel and technology support services to ensure students have access to technology and the ability to use it to enhance their experience at the College. Revenues from the fee are retained by the colleges. Hunter College uses these revenues to advance strategic goals related to technology and to fund technology used by students, faculty professional development, software maintenance, and campus-wide infrastructure upgrades. The technology fee has been used to support strategic plan goals to leverage technology to better serve students, faculty, and staff, and to strengthen operational capability and infrastructure.

Financial Audits. CUNY has an annual independent audit confirming financial viability with evidence of follow-up on any concerns cited in the audit's accompanying management letter. Hunter works with CUNY to conduct the University’s financial audit. In particular, we respond to any concerns cited in the CUNY Auditor’s Management Letter. The Audit

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Liaison convenes a kickoff meeting with internal College staff in preparation for the annual College audit. This is followed by an entrance meeting with the auditor and staff of key departments. The Audit Liaison organizes the College Responses to Management Letter comments. (See CUNY FY14 KPMG Annual Financial Statement; CUNY FY15 KPMG Annual Financial Statement; CUNY FY16 KPMG Annual Financial Statement; Hunter College A-133 Audit Reports)

The BOT Committee on Fiscal Affairs deals with the fiscal aspects of the University, its operating and capital budgets, policies and procedures relating to all funds, their accounting, auditing and investment. The Subcommittee on Investment and the Subcommittee on Audit report to this committee.

In addition all entities affiliated with Hunter have their own, independent audit processes. Audits for the Hunter College Foundation, the CUNY Research Foundation and Hunter’s Enterprise Corporation are in the Document Roadmap

Conclusion. By combining prudent fiscal management with strategic investments, recognizing the value of real estate and harnessing the power of philanthropic giving, Hunter College can and does invest in a first-class research agenda, build student success solutions, and foster lasting partnerships in the community.

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Hunter College, City University of New YorkMiddle States Self-Study

May 15 Draft

Standard VII – Governance, Leadership and Administration

Hunter College is one of the senior colleges of the City University of New York (CUNY), the public university system of New York City, authorized by New York State Education Law and funded by New York State and New York City. CUNY encompasses twenty-four accredited, degree-granting institutions and is the largest urban public university in the U.S. CUNY and Hunter serve the public interest by providing low-cost, academically excellent educational opportunities for students from all ethnic, racial, economic, and gender groups and are recognized nationally as leaders in promoting social mobility. (See CUNY Mission Statement link and Hunter Mission Statement link.)

CUNY and Hunter have clearly articulated and transparent governance structures that specifically delineate the roles, responsibilities and accountability of each constituency.

CUNY Governance. CUNY is governed by the Board of Trustees (BOT) which has fiduciary responsibility for the institution and is responsible inter alia for promulgating policies regarding (1) academic quality, planning and programs; (2) fiscal affairs; (3) facilities planning and management; (4) faculty, staff and administration; (5)student affairs. (See BOT Bylaws link, BOT Orientation Handbook link and BOT Manual of General Policy link. See also BOT Committee on Audit link and Committee on Fiscal Affairs link) The BOT is an independent entity whose members have primary responsibility to CUNY and the expertise to effectively govern the institution. (See BOT bios link.) The BOT, through its committees, oversees at the policy level the quality of teaching, the approval of degree programs, personnel policies, the approval of policies and by-laws, and financial integrity and management. (See BOT committee list link, BOT Financial Statements link). The BOT policies ensure that neither the BOT nor its members interfere in the day-to day operations of CUNY and/or Hunter. (See BOT Manual of General Policy link.) The BOT appoints the Chief Executive Officer of Hunter College, President Jennifer Raab. (See BOT Committee on Faculty, Staff and Administration link.) The BOT articulates and follows good practice in board governance as well as conflict of interest policies. (See CUNY Conflict of Interest Policy link and BOT Code of Conduct link.) The BOT supports the Chancellor of CUNY and the President of Hunter College in maintaining the autonomy of both institutions. (See BOT Manual of General Policy link).

As part of a much larger organization, Hunter College experiences both the benefit of access to greater resources and the tensions of dependency on another entity.

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As a state-funded public institution, CUNY is vulnerable to state reductions in spending on education even as enrollment increases every year. These funds must subsequently be distributed among the twenty-four member institutions, and consequently Hunter is subject to decisions that may not prioritize its objectives. In addition, policies and regulations developed for the institution as a whole may not always align perfectly with the needs of Hunter. For example, Hunter’s fast paced growth has exceeded the limits of its physical space and the College requires additional space, modernization and reorganization. Although Hunter is known as a commuter school, the college has a growing need for spaces for students to congregate as well as classroom and laboratory requirements. Hunter is ready to meet these challenges, but requires institutional support from CUNY to expand these resources.

Hunter College Governance. Hunter College follows a model of shared governance in which the different constituencies each play an important role and participate in policy and decision-making. These constituencies include the President, the administrative leadership, the Hunter College Senate, the Faculty Personnel and Budget Committee, and the Undergraduate and Graduate Student governments.

The President. The President of Hunter College is the chief executive officer of the college. She is appointed by the BOT. (See BOT Manual of General Policy Governance of the University link.) She has the appropriate credentials and professional experience consistent with Hunter College. She has the authority and autonomy required to fulfill the responsibilities of the position, including developing and implementing institutional plans, staffing the organization, identifying and allocating resources, and directing the institution toward attaining the goals and objectives set forth in its mission. (See BOT Manual link. See also links to some of President Raab’s Open Lines where she discusses hiring, fundraising, and student success.)

President Jennifer J. Raab assumed Hunter‘s presidency in June 2001. She is a lifelong New Yorker whose career has included high-profile positions in government, public service, civic affairs, and the law. In addition to a JD from Harvard Law School, the President has a Masters of Public Affairs degree from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a BA from Cornell. (See Raab bio link.) President Raab has brought significant skills, experience, and contacts to Hunter and has dramatically strengthened the institution over the past 17 years. She has directed the college towards attaining the goals and objectives set forth in the mission, with a particular emphasis on enhancing student success. To this end, she has implemented institutional plans, grown and strengthened the faculty (see Standard III) and instituted new policies to support students (see Standard IV). Through careful fiscal management, prudent spending and the development of philanthropy she has enabled the institution to grow and prosper.

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President Raab has transformed the college through her success in fund-raising, augmenting the funds received from the State. Under her leadership, Hunter has won new levels of government awards, private grants and philanthropic contributions and launched the first capital campaign in its history. Since her tenure began, President Raab has raised $353 million for student scholarships, faculty programs, named chairs and capital improvements. Her efforts have enabled the completion of a $25 million library modernization program in the Leon and Toby Cooperman Library to provide students with a comfortable, modern space to work and collaborate. Additional funding supported creation of the Silverstein Student Success Center, bringing together three tutoring centers in mathematics, science and writing, and creation of the Pre-Professional Center housing the Pre-Law, Pre-Business and Pre-Health programs. (See Standard IV.) President Raab raised funds to provide $4 million in scholarship support to students. Her fund-raising efforts have allowed Hunter to continue to hire new faculty (30 new faculty in 2016-17) in spite of $10 million in budget cuts over the previous three years and to provide funding to faculty to support research (see Presidential Travel Awards link and Presidential Fund for Faculty Advancement link).

Administrative Leadership. President Raab has the assistance of a highly qualified administrative team to enable her to fulfill the College’s objectives and responsibilities. The administration has an organizational structure that is clearly documented and clearly defines reporting relationships (see org chart). The administrative team is an appropriate size and has the credentials and professional experience to support the President. The President’s leadership team works closely and collaboratively with faculty, students, CUNY and the broader College community to achieve the institution’s goals.

The (Acting) Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Lon Seth Kaufman, joined Hunter’s administration in 2015 and is an accomplished biologist and administrator. (See Kaufman cv.) Dr. Kaufman’s contributions to Hunter have significantly increased the efficacy of the Provost’s office in providing leadership and support for Hunter’s academic programs. He developed a management team of four Associate Provosts who oversee Assessment and Accreditation, Academic Affairs and Research, Student Success and Retention, and programs in the Arts. Each Associate Provost has a portfolio of schools, offices, and programs for which they are responsible, and meet regularly with students, faculty and administrators.

The Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Eija Ayravainen assumed leadership of Hunter College‘s student affairs in the fall of 2002 and was named Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students in 2005. (See Ayravainen cv.) Her long-term commitment to student success has resulted in a number of initiatives to advance student retention and graduation rates. She has hired additional skilled academic advisors (from 12 to 25) making academic counseling more readily available to all students. She led the “Take 15” campaign

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which encouraged students to take at least 15 credits a semester to increase timely graduation. She also increased the Counseling and Wellness team from one to four members, an important element in enhancing student success.

The Senior Vice President & COO Robert M. Pignatello oversees Finance & Business Services, Facilities and Human Resources. Prior to assuming his position at Hunter, Mr. Pignatello served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at John Jay College (CUNY) for 18 years. (See Pignatello cv.) He has led the College's new expansion and renovation of facilities, improved technology services and provided prudent fiscal management for the institution.

Deans of Schools. Hunter College comprises six undergraduate and/or graduate schools, including the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Education, Health Professions, Urban Public Health, Nursing, and Social Work. The Deans of these schools are highly qualified academics who work collaboratively with the President and other constituencies. (See Deans’ cvs )

Hunter College Senate. The Hunter College Senate is the formal legislative body of the college. The Senate is responsible for overseeing the curriculum, establishing academic requirements, policies and rules, safeguarding academic freedom, planning of the campus and any other matters that may be deemed relevant. Senate voting membership consists of 57 elected faculty members, 38 elected students, and five appointed administrators, however bimonthly meetings are open to all members of the College community. The Chair of the Senate is a faculty member and the Vice-chair a student. Students serve on 18 of the 19 standing committees of the Senate and their participation is important to the entire Hunter community. College administrators serve ex officio on all Senate Committees and hold voting seats on some committees.

Faculty Personnel and Budget Committee. The Faculty Personnel and Budget Committee (FP&B) plays a critical role in the governance of faculty and allows the administration, faculty and school leadership to work collaboratively to achieve the institution’s goals. The FP&B is composed of the President, Provost and the department chairs and deans (Deans have voice but no vote) of the various schools and meets bimonthly. The FP&B reviews and recommends candidates for reappointment, tenure and promotion. Prospective candidates are presented to the FP&B after review by the respective department P&B committees and divisional P&B (if within Arts and Sciences) or at the school level, as in the case of the Schools of Nursing and the Health Professions. The recommendations of the FP&B are advisory to the President, who makes the final recommendation to the BOT. In addition to the role of the full FP&B, its subcommittees have significant responsibilities for establishing tenure and promotion policies and practices, regulating the schedule of classes, granting fellowship leaves and nominating outstanding faculty for CUNY distinguished professor. The FP&B is an effective

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integrating forum which allows department chairs to communicate directly with the President and Provost to discuss a broad range of College initiatives.

Student Leadership. Students play an active role in the governance of Hunter College. In addition to the students who are serving in the Senate, Hunter College has two student governments: the Undergraduate Student Government and the Graduate Student Association. Each government is responsible for the protection of students' rights and promotion of student involvement in academic policy and curriculum formation. (See constitutions link.) The graduate and undergraduate student governments work closely with the administration to ensure a student voice in the allocation of the school’s resources.

Shared Governance. Hunter’s model of shared governance allows the institution to realize its mission and goals by including its constituencies in decision-making. President Raab and the administration have regular engagement with faculty and students in advancing the institution’s goals and objectives, as illustrated by the examples below.

1. Development of Institutional Learning Objectives . One area where governance worked effectively was the development of Institutional Learning Outcomes, a two-year process that occurred across the campus; it began in the Senate committee for General Education Requirements and concluded with a full Senate vote. In between, there was organized participation by faculty, administration, and students in separate workshops leading to a combined list of proposed outcomes. An ad hoc committee met several times to discuss the proposals and developed a recommendation to the Senate. Considerable discussion in the Senate led to revisions and subsequently to final ratification of the current Institutional Learning Outcomes. The ILO discussion was a challenging one, but the structure and procedures of the Senate facilitated the final outcome that incorporated concerns from administrators, faculty, and students.

2. General Education Assessment. The assessment of General Education also exemplifies the effectiveness of the Senate and its committees. The initial proposal for an assessment plan came from the Office of Assessment. The GER Committee and the Senate committee on Evaluation and Assessment jointly reviewed the proposal and argued for a number of changes. With membership drawn from both the administration and faculty, the committees worked out a revised proposal which carefully delineated the responsibilities for the Provost’s Office, Senate Committees, Departmental assessment coordinators, and Office of Assessment. Finally, the Senate ratified the document after a discussion of assessment in general.

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3. Renovation of the Student Union. In 2014, Students approached the administration and requested space dedicated to students, in addition to the library. In response, the administration sought student input regarding the most desirable space to accommodate a large number of commuting students. The Undergraduate Student Government formed a committee that worked with architects and administrators to design a space that would further the shared goals of the students and the administration. They also toured and researched other institutions’ student union spaces. The Undergraduate Student Government collaborated with the administration to fund construction of a student union. Now, the construction process is underway. The funds have been raised and Hunter is now in the final stages of CUNY’s bidding process to select construction teams and other service providers. The floor has been cleared and as soon as the teams have been selected, the construction will begin.  

4. Renovation of Roosevelt House. Roosevelt House was originally two residences. One served as the home of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt until he became President; the adjacent building served as the residence of President Roosevelt’s mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, from 1908 until her death in 1941. At that time, both buildings were purchased and given to Hunter College. Although Roosevelt House was used during the following years for student government, academic and social events, its full potential was unrealized. In 1992 the building was closed due to the need for extensive repair, and was unused until 2001 when President Rabb became President of the College. She immediately realized the potential value of the space to the College, and conferred with faculty, administrators and students to determine the best use of the property. Under her leadership, public and private funds were raised to renovate the space and develop programming in line with the mission of the College.

Roosevelt House is now the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College and provides programming to fulfill the mission of Hunter College: preparing students to be leaders in their communities and the world, supporting scholarship and creative activity by its faculty, and interacting with the community of New York City. Roosevelt House provides undergraduates opportunities for coursework and professional internships in the fields of public policy and human rights; supports faculty research and professional dialogue through programming; and hosts public programming (open to, and with the frequent participation of faculty and students) on topics relating to its public policy and human

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rights missions, and as well to the history of the Roosevelts. (See Roosevelt House website link.) Roosevelt House is now the home of two innovative and interdisciplinary academic programs. The Human Rights Program is an interdisciplinary program that offers a minor and a certificate in Human Rights to undergraduate students. Hosting frequent guest speakers and panel discussions, the program combines academic study with exposure to real world issues and debates. (Human Rights Program link.) The Public Policy Program offers an undergraduate minor and certificate open to students in all disciplines. Students have an opportunity to interact first-hand with policy experts and practitioners, both in the classroom and outside, and learn how policies are created, how communities come together to demand change, who benefits from specific policies, and how to measure the impact of laws. (Public Policy Program link.)Roosevelt House also provides space for faculty and centers of the College to host events. Centers such as the LGBT Social Science and Public Policy Center, the New York City Food Policy Center, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños (Center for Puerto Rican Studies), and CISC (the Institute for Sustainable Cities) have all hosted recent events here to announce new research findings, mark significant historical anniversaries, and to explore important scholarly topics and social issues. Finally, Roosevelt House provides a plethora of programs for the public, including book discussion, conferences and symposia, film screenings, lectures and policy fora. (See link to Roosevelt House calendar.)

5. Renovation of the Leon and Toby Cooperman Library. In 2007, President Raab charged the President’s Task Force on Hunter College Libraries (comprised of faculty, administrators and students) with developing a plan for a 21st century library for Hunter College. The Task Force produced a report with recommendations and in conjunction with the Senate Master Plan Committee and the Senate Committee on the Library began to work on planning for the renovation of the existing library. President Raab raised private funds from different sources, including the largest gift from Leon and Toby Cooperman, and in 2016 the new 6th and 7th floors of the library opened. The new 7th floor houses the Silverstein Student Success Center, providing student learning support in the Dolciani Mathematics Center, the Rockowitz Writing Center and the Skirball Science Center. The new library also includes Pre-Professional centers to provide support to students pursuing careers in law, business, medicine and health, as well as the office of Prestigious Scholarships and Fellowships. The new 6th floor provides a new library for the School of Education as well as renovated study spaces and classrooms.

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6. All in East Harlem. In 2008, the administration assessed the need for additional physical space for the campus and planned construction of a new School of Social Work. The College looked at East Harlem as a potential location for the new school, and was determined to learn from the mistakes of other New York institutions which had expanded into neighborhoods without community collaboration and input. President Raab raised adequate funds to acquire and construct a building on 119th street and Third Avenue in East Harlem and made a commitment to make some of the space in the building available for use by agencies and organizations in the social welfare field. In 2011, President Raab began to work with faculty and administrators to develop a way in which Hunter could apply the vast expertise and knowledge housed and generated in the College to benefit the immediate community in East Harlem. The President’s vision was for a mutually beneficial relationship where Hunter College students could gain experience in their respective fields while the East Harlem community could benefit from faculty and student expertise to advance the goals of the residents. In June 2014, Hunter College and the East Harlem community organized All in East Harlem, a vision conference that brought together Hunter College faculty and students and the many individuals and organizations concerned about the future of East Harlem and the well-being of its residents. (See link.)

The All in East Harlem project is tasked with promoting community engagement of our students and faculty through public service internships and projects. There are currently 65 faculty projects and more than 150 fieldwork and internship placements in local organizations. These projects include an impressive range of community engagement, such as helping young Mexican Americans who have dropped out of high school, addressing the needs of former female prison inmates with substance abuse and mental illness, and assisting former Rikers Island inmates with re-entry into society. These initiatives are designed to improve the educational, health and social conditions for East Harlem residents, in additional to providing valuable hands-on experience for our students. Through research, partnerships, and community engagement, our students and faculty are becoming a vital resource to the area.

Conclusion. Shared governance allows Hunter College to be governed and administered in a manner that allows it to realize its stated mission and goals in a way that effectively benefits the institution, its students, faculty and community stake-holders. Governance at Hunter College is transparent and accessible for students, faculty, and administrators. All significant governance documents provide for active student, faculty, and administrative participation in the

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governance of the college and most Senate and Departmental Committees have some mix of student, faculty, and administrative participation.

In order for governance to truly reflect the views of the current College population, we need to promote the value of college service to our stakeholders, especially those new to Hunter College. The College is attempting to make progress in this area in several different ways. Most academic departments include some form of service to Hunter College as an important consideration for faculty promotion and tenure. We are making a greater effort to invite members of governance groups to attend new faculty orientations. The Chair of the Senate Charter Review Committee is actively reaching out to student leaders in an effort to design and implement a governance process that increases student participation in Senate activities, and perhaps revise the election process for students into the Senate. In addition, the student government organizations are both planning to host Town Hall meetings to hear direct feedback from students about initiatives, changes, and programs they would like to see on campus. By continuing along this path, Hunter College will be able to maximize the benefits associated with shared governance.

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