Provost Communications

In September, the provost's office convened a faculty working group to work on a revision of the schedule grid that will accommodate four-credit as well as three-credit classes and will meet the needs of students and faculty across campus.

The group has met throughout the fall semester, considered multiple versions of a revised grid, and as our last step, we seek input from our colleagues on a proposal that we think addresses multiple concerns, incorporates a wide variety of disciplinary pedagogies, and is feasible to implement. Please join us at an upcoming listening session to hear more and share your perspective.

Listening Session Dates, Times, Location:

Tuesday, December 10, 12:10-1:05 pm, Klingenstein Lounge
Wednesday, December 11, 4:00-5:00 pm, Taughannock Falls

Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to seeing you at one of the sessions.

Fall 2024 Schedule Grid Working Group

Ainsley Anderson, Assistant Professor, Theatre Production and Management
Jessye Cohen-Filipic, Associate Professor, Psychology
Stu Fegely, Scheduling Coordinator, Registrar
Jean Hardwick, Professor, Biology
Jennifer Iglthaler, Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy
Jennifer Kay, Associate Professor, Music Performance
Deborah King, Professor, Exercise Science and Athletic Training
Vikki Levine, Registrar
Shaianne Osterreich, Professor, Economics
Margaret Shackell, Associate Professor, Accounting and Business Law
Melanie Stein, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Stacia Zabusky, Associate Provost, Academic Programs

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

As we draw to the close of a busy fall semester, I want to thank each of you for the robust academic experience you have provided to our students throughout this semester.

Please take a minute to read through some very important reminders regarding the end of the semester and steps to prepare for the upcoming spring and summer semesters:

Final Examinations, Grade Submission, and Student Statements 

Final examinations are scheduled from Thursday, December 12 through Tuesday, December 17 in their scheduled classrooms at the published examination times. If you have any concerns about your scheduled exam space, please reach out to registrar@ithaca.edu no later than 48 hours prior to your exam meeting to request possible reassignment to a different space. Final grades are due in HomerConnect no later than Sunday, December 22 by 5:00 p.m. Please refer to this Intercom post from the Registrar for important dates and information related to grade submission and completion of academic standing. Full-semester and Block 2 student statement surveys will open on Monday December 2 and close on Thursday December 12, to ensure that students cannot continue to submit student statements after course grades start to become visible to students. Results will be automatically distributed via email on December 26.

Spring Semester Preparation   

Spring 2025 Textbook Orders and Akademos: If you have not finalized Spring 2025 information about course materials in the Akademos system, please take a moment to log in, review your spring courses (and winter courses if you are teaching during the winter session), and ensure that your information has been fully submitted. If no course materials are required for your course(s), please make sure that is indicated in Akademos as well. 

Spring Course Reserves: Library staff are now accepting course reserve requests for Spring 2025; if you have any questions, please write reserve@ithaca.edu. Reserve requests are processed in the order they are received; submitting requests at least two weeks before the start of the semester is strongly encouraged. More information is coming from the Library via Intercom.

Spring Syllabus Guidelines: Syllabus guidelines are available at this link, where you will find a variety of documents, including a template document that contains all required elements as well as additional, optional inserts you may want to incorporate. There have been no changes to any of these elements since the start of the fall semester, but if you have not compared recently your syllabus against the language for the required elements, please do so to ensure your syllabus conforms to the current required language and disclosures.

Summer Sessions Teaching

Teaching Continuing Students During Summer Sessions I and II: It’s not too early to start thinking about offering an undergraduate course during the summer sessions! We are especially interested in offering undergraduate courses that assist students with making progress on major or minor degree requirements, ICC coursework, or other elective courses that generate high demand. We will be soliciting interest in summer coursework when we return from break and plan to complete our rosters in early February. Please take some time during winter break to consider the opportunity and be on the lookout for information posted to intercom in January. 

Teaching Incoming First Year Students During Summer Session II: We are planning to offer IC Advantage during the July summer session specifically for our incoming first-year students. This program operates during summer session two and includes two one-credit foundational courses and many deep-dive courses. If you have a passion for teaching, supporting, and making connections with our first-year students, as well as instilling a feeling of belonging in our first-year students, please reach out to oes@ithaca.edu so that we can connect with you as we finalize plans for those courses. 

Teaching High School Students in the Summer Pre-College Program: We are seeking faculty interested in teaching a three-week course (July 07 – July 25, 2025) for our Summer College for High School Students. Classes are typically 10-15 students and should be taught at the introductory level on a topic in the faculty's field/area of specialization. See the Intercom post for more details or reach out to Joslyn Brenton, Faculty Director, at jbrenton@ithaca.edu to express interest.

International Travel with Students 

The Office of International Programs invites faculty to submit proposals for faculty-led, college-sponsored international travel with students. If you would like to propose a program, more information is available at this link. Please be mindful of the long (roughly one year) lead time for approval so early preparation is essential.

Deadlines are as follows:

• For Winter 2026 programs: proposal due by January 31, 2025
• For Spring Break 2026 programs: proposal due by March 1, 2025
• For Summer 2026 programs: proposal due by May 31, 2025

We are particularly interested in short-term programs that take advantage of the Ithaca College London Center during the summer between late May and early July (please note that the Center is not available for programming mid-July through early August to prepare for the incoming Fall cohort of students.

Upcoming Events 

Provost’s Colloquium, Wednesday Dec 4, 12:00 – 1:00, Clark Lounge 
December Commencement, Sunday Dec 15, 10:00, A&E

Sincerely,

Melanie I. Stein, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs 
Chris McNamara, Associate Provost  
Brendan Murday, Associate Provost  
Stacia Zabusky, Associate Provost 

Stacia Zabusky, the Associate Provost for Academic Programs, will be retiring from Ithaca College at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year. Stacia has been a member of the Ithaca College community since 1995, when Dr. Zabusky began her career as a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology, the same year her book Launching Europe: An Ethnography of Cooperation in European Space Science was published by Princeton University Press. She joined the dean’s office in the School of Humanities and Sciences as associate dean in 2006, where she expertly supported H&S department chairs and faculty in all curricular matters across a broad set of disciplines, including implementation of the ICC. In addition, Stacia established the H&S Summer Scholars Program, which provides students across all H&S disciplines the opportunity to engage in faculty-mentored research projects, a program that continues to thrive today. Her significant contributions to H&S were recognized in 2021 with her promotion to senior associate dean for curriculum and undergraduate programs. In July of 2022 she assumed her current role as associate provost.

It is difficult to capture the breadth and depth of Stacia’s contributions during her thirty-year career. In Stacia’s time at the College, she has served on numerous all-college committees, including APC, the Provost’s Task Force on Revising the ICC, the All-College Academic Assessment Committee, and as Co-chair of the Ithaca Forever Action Group exploring a common schedule. From 2012-2019, she served as Chair of the Ithaca College All College Teacher Education Committee (ACTEC), during which time she developed robust and consistent administrative processes, created a culture of collaboration across schools, and led a network of campus and community stakeholders through a successful National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education self-study process and site visit. Starting in 2020, she co-chaired the Curriculum Revision Liaison Committee with Associate Provost Jeane Copenhaver-Johnson, supporting and guiding schools and departments across the college as they undertook a comprehensive curricular revision. After transitioning to the provost’s office, Stacia continued to lead the curricular revision process, successfully coordinating this complex college-wide effort, liaising between the academic departments, school curricular committees, the APC, and NYSED. She has worked tirelessly to clarify policies and improve procedures. She led the development of a credit hour policy for the campus and the implementation, in 2023, of the new first-year student summer preregistration process. In addition, over the past year and a half she has skillfully shepherded us through the Middle States Self-Study process. Her deep knowledge of the college curriculum, as well as her familiarity and experience with issues of assessment and accreditation, and her dedication to strengthening Ithaca College, will be missed, and there will be opportunities to celebrate and wish her well before she departs.

Given Stacia’s departure, the Office of the Provost is now seeking applicants for the position of Associate Provost for Academic Programs, to begin in the summer of 2025. The successful candidate will have primary responsibility for undergraduate academic program planning, assessment, and review, and will work in close collaboration with the associate provost for graduate and professional studies on similar matters impacting those programs. This individual serves as the compliance officer for academic programs, with respect to state and federal regulations, as well as the college’s liaison to our accrediting organization, Middle States. Additional responsibilities include providing supervisory oversight for relevant offices and college-wide academic programs and participating in committees or other groups as assigned by the provost. This individual must effectively collaborate with the other associate provosts, relevant college offices, and faculty staff/committees across campus to implement strategic plan initiatives, administer programs, and provide academic and faculty affairs recommendations to the provost as appropriate. Alongside the other associate provosts, this individual may be asked to assume responsibility for oversight of the Division of Academic Affairs in the absence of the provost.

Qualifications: An earned terminal degree and extensive academic and administrative experience at the college or university level; experience with policy and curriculum development; extensive knowledge of best practices, current issues, and future trends in education; proven ability to provide leadership in a culture that values collegial decision-making; ability to work successfully with diverse individuals and groups and the ability to represent the College effectively with internal and external constituencies; excellent organizational, interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills are required.

Application Process 
Internal applications from current faculty are welcome, and faculty with questions about the position should feel free to contact Provost Melanie Stein at mstein2@ithaca.edu or Associate Provost Stacia Zabusky at szabusky@ithaca.edu. Interested applicants must apply online and attach a resume, cover letter, and list of three professional references. Questions about online applications should be directed to the Office of Human Resources at (607) 274-8000 or humanresources@ithaca.edu. To ensure full consideration, applications should be completed by close of business on Dec 13, 2024.