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Often, I am hesitant to thank people or functional departments by name for the simple
reason that I don’t want to slight others. To solve this, I intend to periodically
focus a part of the Update on departments or functional areas that may not be visible,
but remain vital to the success of the College. I’ll start this month with the Academic
Advisement and Information Center.
AAIC- The AAIC plays a crucial role in registering incoming transfer and first-semester
students. This semester AAIC staff began to meet with students during the holiday
break even before other departments returned to their offices to offer advisement.
The AAIC maintains a year-round presence answering questions and assisting students
in reaching their academic departments. This comprehensive approach to offer information
and advisement even during winter and summer breaks is central to the College’s recruitment
and retention efforts. Thank you to Alex Caviedes and his staff who go beyond their
designated duties to advise and register students.
Equity, Diversity, Recruitment and Retention- The recent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Action Plan issued by system administration
includes an important section on Racial Equity Gaps within SUNY. After reading the
plan, I reached out to Pat Lind-Gonzalez and Katy Tatzel to help determine where FSC
stands in comparative perspective. The SUNY report specifically focused on enrollment
and graduation rates by demographic group. Much of the data from FSC are quite encouraging.
For example, the first-time/full-time retention level of students at Farmingdale exceeds
the SUNY-wide averages for Asian, Hispanic, African-American and white students. Further,
the retention rate of students in our opportunity programs (TRIO, EOP, and CSTEP)
exceeds our college-wide level. Completion is often considered the most crucial outcome,
and we seem to be doing well. The 2013 cohort of first-time/full-time baccalaureate
students─which is the basis for the six-year graduation rate─indicates that African-American
and Hispanic students graduated at rates above, or nearly equal to, the college-wide
average. (Keep in mind that some of the 2013 cohort groups were small.) The composition
of the College’s student population actually exceeds the diversity of Long Island
high school graduates as a whole.
We will be providing more specific data and information about this in both tabular
and graphical formats.
IESC Conference- Farmingdale State College's Renewable Energy & Sustainability Center and The University
of West Indies, will remotely hold the 9th annual International Energy & Sustainability
Conference on March 18-19. This year’s conference attendees will learn about cutting-edge
developments in renewable energy from leaders in the fields and through discussions
of emerging technologies and future directions. On Thursday, March 18 the C3E Women in Energy event includes remarks from Senator Todd Kaminsky, followed by a panel that will
address building sustainable communities nationwide. The evening program includes
a welcome from Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, followed by remarks from Nassau County
Executive Laura Curran and Executive Assistant District Attorney of Nassau County,
Joyce Smith. On Friday, March 19 Lieutenant Governor Hochul will welcome attendees
with remarks to follow from Suffolk County Executive, Steve Bellone. The agenda and
registration link can be found here.
Offshore Wind- The College will be among the initial recipients of funding for New York State’s
offshore wind summer training initiatives. Thanks to Marj Issapour, Dominic Esposito,
and SET Dean, Barb Christe for developing a proposal that will receive over $400,000
in funding. Farmingdale is proposing three possible programs to advance offshore wind
training in summer 2021. These include: 1) collegiate level skills training, 2) introductory
exposure to wind industry technology, 3) a micro credential in Wind Turbine Technology.
We hope to recruit our own students for one or more of these programs, as well as
offering training to students from our Educational Opportunity Centers and veteran
population. Developing these three options required an enormous amount of effort within
a few weeks. Further details on the creation of the Offshore Wind Training Institute
that is to be jointly located at FSC and Stony Brook are forthcoming.
Roosevelt Hall Renovation- We have been moving forward with a number of very sizeable construction projects.
One of the largest, and most important was the recent State University Construction
Fund approval of a complete renovation of Roosevelt Hall. The entire building (except
the Little Theatre) will be completely rehabilitated. It’s anticipated that construction
will start in August 2021 with a completion date of March 2024 and construction costs
will be about $28,000,000. Thanks to the Physical Plant staff who effectively advocated
for, and had this much needed project ready when the SUFC opportunity presented itself.
The space evaluation component of the Thompson project is underway. The renovation
portion of the project will commence late in 2022 and is expected to add useable academic
space. Given that over the next couple of years work will be underway in Lupton, Thompson,
Knapp, Sinclair and Gleeson Halls, the campus will be a busy with construction as
we return to on-campus instruction.
John Nader
President
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