State University of New York College of Technology at Alfred Middle
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State University of New York College of Technology at Alfred Middle States Self-Study Report Submitted for Reaccreditation to The Commission on Higher Education Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools 2005 Steering Committee Members Kathleen Ebert, Co-Chair, M.A. Terrence Morgan, Co-Chair, M.A., M.P.S. Beverly A. Gilbert, A.A.S., Executive Secretary Craig R. Clark, M.S. Merry Coburn, M.S. Michael S. Crandall David Dronsick, M.A. Diana Hovorka, M.L.S. Constance Pennisi, M.S. Deborah S. Putnam, M.A. Michael E. Ronan, B.A. Nancy B. Shearer, M.S. Yantee Slobert, M.S. Edward G. Tezak, PhD Matthew Franco, Student Justine Smith, Student ii Table of Contents President’s Message….……………………………………………………..…....……iv Institutional Profile….……………………………………………………..…………..v Overview….………………………………………………………………..………….vii Executive Summary…………………………………………………..…………...…xiv Middle States Eligibility Certification Statement……………………..………..…xvii Chapter 1. Institutional Planning and Renewal…………………...…………...…...1 Chapter 2. Policy Development and Decision Making………………....………….18 Chapter 3. Student Development and Enrollment……………………..…….…....38 Chapter 4. The Educational Experience…………………………………….......….67 Chapter 5. General Education……………………………………………….......….78 Chapter 6. Faculty……………………………………………………………...…….87 Chapter 7. Institutional Integrity………………………………………………….105 Chapter 8. Outcomes Assessment…….……………………………………………125 Chapter 9. Campus Educational Evolution………………………………………137 Recommendations (Summarized from Chapters)…………………………….…..164 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….…..176 References……..…………………………………………………………………….177 Appendixes Chapter 1. Institutional Planning and Renewal Appendixes………...….186 Chapter 2. Policy Development and Decision Making Appendixes…......196 Chapter 3. Student Development and Enrollment Appendixes….….…..220 Chapter 4. The Educational Experience Appendixes…………..……..….225 Chapter 5. General Education Appendixes…………………….…..….….243 Chapter 6. Faculty Appendixes……………..…………………………..…250 Chapter 7. Institutional Integrity Appendixes………………….….…..…265 Chapter 8. Outcomes Assessment Appendixes……………………….…..278 Chapter 9. Campus Educational Evolution Appendixes……………..….286 iii iv Institutional Profile Alfred State College was founded in 1908 as a state school of agriculture. Forty years later, in 1948, it was incorporated into the newly organized State University of New York (SUNY) system. In 1952, the College received its first accreditation from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. As it looks toward its centennial in 2008, Alfred State College is taking steps to become one of New York State's nationally recognized four-year and two-year colleges of technology. Unlimited opportunities exist as Alfred State continues to build and improve on its unique and successful two-year programs while it adds four-year baccalaureate programs to meet the needs of its students and the western New York region. Location. Alfred State College is located in Allegany County, one of fourteen counties of the Appalachian Region in the Southern Tier of New York State. A mostly rural part of the state, the Southern Tier has suffered recently from the departure or downturn of the few manufacturers in the area. According to the 2000 census, the per capita income in Allegany County was $14,975. The current unemployment rate is about 9.0%, and over 40% of Allegany County students are eligible for free or reduced lunches. Alfred State has a strong tradition in western New York as a provider of workforce-ready graduates, and it takes seriously its responsibility to the economic welfare of the region. Structure. As one of the 64 colleges and universities comprising the State University of New York (SUNY), Alfred State College is directly responsible to the SUNY System Administration in Albany, NY. The SUNY organization, governed by a v Board of Trustees, is decentralized. Each college or university operates within parameters established by the SUNY Board of Trustees. Leadership. On a local level, Alfred State is advised by the College Council, whose duties include recommending to SUNY Trustees candidates for appointment for President of Alfred State; reviewing all major plans of the College President; reviewing and recommending the College's budget; making regulations regarding student conduct; reporting to the Board of Trustees annually, and making the regulations necessary for the performance of their duties. The Council consists of ten voting members, nine appointed by the Governor and one student member elected by the students. The Governor's appointees serve a term of seven years, and the student member serves for one year. Community. The immediate college community consists of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and the College Council, the Alumni Association, the Development Fund, and the Educational Foundation. Our external community must be considered since the College is an institution in the public domain and must meet the standards expected by society. The broader external community includes the evaluation team from the MSCHE, SUNY System Administration, the SUNY Board of Trustees, alumni, employers of graduates, and the general public. vi Overview This self-study is the story of a college changing itself to meet new challenges and, as a result, growing as a learning institution. As in all changing environments, there is lack of clarity, even confusion, at some stages of the process. Readers tempted to skip to the end of a book to find out how the story ends might wish to turn immediately to Chapter 9: Campus Educational Evolution, the special emphasis of this report. But those readers would lack the context needed to appreciate how and why the College has evolved to this point and, more important, where the College intends to be in the next decade. In that sense, although Chapter 9 ends this report, the chapter actually looks forward to the college that Alfred State will become in the near future. A rural school of agriculture founded before World War I became, over the decades, a state college of technology drawing an increasingly diverse student body from cities and towns in Western New York. By the late 1990s that college was offering bachelor degrees in a growing list of technologies and attracting serious students from across the world. In 2001, the college founded in (still) very rural Western New York was named one of the most wired two-year colleges by Yahoo! Internet Life Survey 2001 (“Alfred State College Well Wired According to Yahoo,” 2001, para. 2). Clearly, Alfred State College has lived with and prospered from sharply changing environments and education markets for close to 100 years. Reading this document from front to back is, of course, the recommended plan. But there is the danger that readers will believe they have come to the end of the story. Chapter 9, in fact, details the beginning of Alfred State College’s next 100 years rather than the end of its first century. vii The College of Technology at Alfred, created as an agricultural school in 1908, has grown and expanded its mission to become a high-quality comprehensive college of technology. In 2000, the College signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor that called for a significant expansion of baccalaureate degree offerings in technology-related fields of study. In late fall 2004, the College prepared a new memorandum, Memorandum of Understanding II (MOU II). Prior to this, the administrators, faculty and staff had spent much of spring and summer crafting a new Strategic Plan (2004). The strategic decision to clarify and broaden the Mission of the College is having a profound effect on the educational culture at the institution. The opportunities are exciting and challenging. Adding baccalaureate programs to a predominately two-year college entails something more than increasing the credit hours required in a discipline and pronouncing it a bachelor degree. That approach, while it might seem to work in the short term, would be a serious disservice to graduates of that program in the long term. Frankly, the College is struggling to create a college of technology culture that can celebrate both technology and the liberal arts, a culture that values both, a culture that envisions graduates that are the best of both. The challenge of the culture shift faced by the College is further complicated by the SUNY Board of Trustees’ imposition, in 1998, of General Education Requirements for all SUNY graduates (see Chapter 5: General Education). Perhaps because of the overlap between General Education courses and Liberal Arts courses at the SUNY Colleges of Technology, surveys show faculty at those colleges are lacking in real enthusiasm for those courses. Recognizing this reality and the opportunity it offers the viii College, campus teams, in the newly revised Strategic Plan (2004), included clear, specific references to creating students who are “intentional learners who integrate technology and liberal education competencies and are prepared to become global citizens,” students who have “ a deeper understanding of the world . as human beings and as contributing citizens,” students with “knowledge [which] extends beyond core concepts to include ways of investigating human society and the natural world.” The transformational experience so important to scientific inquiry and breakthrough technology is often the result of exposure to and deeper understanding of human society in the wider world.