Greetings from Provost Steve Everett

To the Graduate Center Community,

The Graduate Center Provost’s Office is dedicated to supporting the research and teaching mission of the college. With this letter, we are initiating a periodic Provost Message to be sent to the community a few times each semester to share some of the initiatives that are underway in our offices and to encourage your feedback on any issue or challenge that should be brought to our attention.

Each edition will feature current activities of a few of the support functions that the Provost’s Office provides to the community, divided into these four broad areas:

• Academic Affairs, including central faculty, staff, instructional spaces, research labs, consortial faculty and administrative personnel, centers and institutes, sponsored research, institutional research, DEI initiatives, and governance support
• Student affairs, including the registrar, admissions, student life and counseling, international student office, career services, and writing centers
• Student fellowships and financial aid
• Library

We hope that you will find these letters useful and will take the opportunity to send us feedback on any concerns or initiatives underway in your areas.

As we wrap up our fall semester, I want to thank each of you for your hard work, dedication, and continued perseverance.  During these unusual times, I know you and your families are faced with an ever-increasing challenge in finding an effective work-life balance.  Each of us in the Provost’s Office are incredibly proud and appreciative of the work that you do at this great institution.

Wishing you, your families, and your friends a restful break and a very happy holiday!

Steve Everett, Provost and Senior Vice President

Information and Updates

EO/Director/Coordinator nomination process
The Provost’s Office is collecting nominations for EOs in Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, English, EES, LAILAC, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, and Urban Education; Directors in Astrophysics, Biography and Memoir, and Women’s and Gender Studies; and Coordinators of certificate programs in American Studies, Demography, Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, and Medieval Studies. Students and faculty in these programs are invited to send their nominations to nsilverman@gc.cuny.edu no later than December 16 (December 29 for Biography and Memoir, February 15 for Sociology and Philosophy).

Student pay issues
The Provost’s Office and the Office of Financial Aid have undertaken actions to resolve student payment issues. Students who have not been paid or have other payment issues are reminded to email studentpay@gc.cuny.edu. All students with fellowships are encouraged to read the Office of Financial Aid’s policy webpage.

Federal Work Study (FWS) opportunities available for the spring semester
Students who are interested in FWS should read the FWS webpage and complete a wish list form. FWS is open to US citizens and permanent residents who have a valid FAFSA on file and a demonstrated financial need. Programs and offices that would like to hire a FWS student please email financialaid@gc.cuny.edu.

Childcare center needs being assessed
The Office of Institutional Research is collaborating with the Office of Student Affairs and the Child Development and Learning Center on a Childcare Survey, to collect information on the childcare needs of Graduate Center student parents. The survey was sent to all GC students and was open for responses November 14 to December 5. The results will help the GC make informed decisions about current and future modes of childcare services.

Strategic Planning Process Underway

What is strategic planning?
The strategic planning process is an opportunity to reflect on the CUNY Graduate Center’s strengths and needs, to identify areas to further enrich its operations and offerings, and to reinforce its alignment to its mission, by developing a roadmap that spans approximately five years. The process is highly collaborative in nature, seeking input from faculty, students, staff, alumni, and other stakeholders.

Four priorities were delineated in the last strategic plan (2017-2022), each with a set of strategies supporting them. These were the outcomes of a focused planning process led by a Strategic Planning Committee and six task forces that produced reports with recommendations. The strategic planning process for our next plan will follow a similar pattern, convening task forces that will examine and report on where the GC should imperatively focus its efforts in the next five years, and how it should do that.

Timeline
Prior to establishing the task forces, the Provost’s Office has elected to conduct several focus group sessions to gather insights that will help determine whether the task force areas of the last strategic planning process should be adopted once again, or if they should, instead, be changed to better suit the current state and optimal direction of the GC. The focus group sessions are currently underway and expected to wrap up by the end of 2022. During these sessions, small groups of students, faculty, staff, and several alumni have been invited to discuss their perspectives on the GC’s mission, short- and long- term priorities, and major components to examine in the strategic planning process. Early in 2023, the information collected through the focus group sessions will be analyzed and the task forces will be established and given their charge. The task forces will be asked to meet regularly and, in the fall 2023 semester, produce recommendation reports that will help give shape to the GC’s next strategic plan, which is anticipated to be completed in the spring of 2024

How to get involved
The task forces engaged during the last strategic planning process included somewhere around 50 faculty, students, and staff. It is anticipated that the development of the next strategic plan will also garner great enthusiasm from members of the Graduate Center community who, we hope, will be interested in getting involved in the process. There will be ample opportunity to do so, including through participation on task forces, discussion at community meetings, and feedback on drafts of the strategic plan, which will be shared with members of the GC before it is finalized. Additional updates will be distributed through this newsletter as the strategic planning process progresses. In the meantime, if you are interested in the work of the task forces and are considering ways to participate, we encourage you to complete this form.