Minutes

Faculty Meeting & Workshop

Spanish-American Institute

January 26, 2002

 

Pre-Meeting:  President Ferraro reviewed the floor plan for potentially expanding Spanish-American Institute space.   If it becomes available, the new space could house a student center and the Library. 

 

Convened:  The Faculty Meeting convened at 10:15 am. 

 

Attendance:  22 faculty, the President, and the Academic Dean attended.    

 

President’s Report:  Mr. Ferraro reported that:

 

1.      METRO had recently visited the school Library and

2.      SED had indicated the possibility of a site visit some time in March.

 

METRO is a library consortium for the Metropolitan NYC area.  If membership were approved, the Institute would be able to enhance library services at considerable savings. 

 

SED is the State Education Department.  Mr. Ferraro indicated that the State visit would most likely result in the school taking the college project to the next step.  He reminded faculty not to discuss the project with students and not to otherwise indicate that the Institute might offer college courses. 

 

Librarian's Report:  Dr. Prager reported for Mr. Stepak.  She indicated that cataloguing of the collection is well underway and that new periodical subscriptions have started to arrive.   She also indicated that the Librarian and Chairs will draft a library education program that will assist faculty in incorporating library assignments into coursework.  The draft will be shared with faculty for comments and input.  Mr. Ferraro called attention to the automated news group feature of the Library web-site designed to help students communicate with each other about selling used books, finding roommates, etc. 

 

Chair Reports:

 

Computer Technology—Based on the success of the pilot final project/exam for Excel, Khalid El Harmassi is working with computer faculty on final projects for other computer applications courses.  The projects require students to think and apply creatively what they have learned in the entire course.  Students have reacted enthusiastically to this exercise. 

 

Accounting--Accounting faculty are working with a college textbook that reflects the new trends in accounting education.  As a result, clock-hour accounting students will supplement their study of manual accounting with exercises that include writing about, thinking about, and reporting about accounting problems.  Dr. Prager observed that effective communication is an important new outcome in accounting and other career-professional curricula.  The CPA exams now include a comprehensive essay. 

 

           ESL--TOEFL students and faculty are enthusiastic about the Longman's TOEFL book, especially for its attention to listening and writing.  The chairperson has completed most ESL classroom visits. 

 

Academic Dean's Report:  Dr. Prager observed that the chairpeople's reports reflected two important elements in common.  Curriculum developments in these areas confirm that students respond favorably to higher academic outcomes expectations.  Curriculum developments also respond constructively to changes in the professions setting higher standards for communication outcomes, especially writing.  She encouraged all faculty to integrate more writing into their classrooms. 

 

In preparation for the State visit, Dr. Prager indicated that the site visitors will wish to examine evidence of student learning outcomes.  She has been working with chairpeople to develop portfolios of student work that will provide a cross-section of course outcomes.   

 

New Business: 

 

  1. Khalid El-Harmassi reported that he has been working with ESL faculty to encourage use of the Internet for access  ESL teaching resources.
  2. Leni Concepcion requested more information about teaching Business English.  Rhada Krishnamoorthy and Marcia Viera indicated that they had brought back material from last year's TESOL conference that might be helpful.
  3. Nashid Al Amin explained that one of his ESL classes had worked on late night TV show role-playing.  The final results were recorded on video.  Mr. Ferraro and Dr. Prager asked if he would share the tape with them.
  4. Alumna Tuldanes asked that the school consider a newsletter or magazine of student writing.  Dr. Prager said that she would be willing to coordinate efforts to do so, maybe for publication on the school's web-site.

 

Adjournment and Workshops:  The faculty meeting adjourned at 11:10 p.m.  ESL faculty reconvened from 11:15 to 1:00 p.m. for faculty workshops on using authentic videos in the ESL classroom.  Computer faculty met with Mr. Ferraro to talk about teacher-student interaction in computer classes.