As of Fall 2017, City Tech offered 28 baccalaureate and 26 associate degree programs (College Fact Sheet). The total number of students enrolled in degree seeking programs was 15,950 with 52% pursuing bachelor’s degrees (Catalog 2017-2018, College Fact Sheet). An additional 9809 students are enrolled in pre-college and workforce programs offered by the Division of Continuing Education (Continuing Studies). The number of associate and bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2015/2016 was 1212 and 1256, respectively (Degrees Awarded 2015-16). All degree programs are approved and registered by the NY State Education Department, and program approval requires that program length be in accord with broadly accepted higher education standards (NYSED Standards for Program Approval and Registration). Associate degree programs must require no fewer than 60 credit hours, and baccalaureate degree programs no fewer than 120. City Tech follows the credit hour definition based on the Carnegie Unit. (Carnegie Units)

The rigorous degree approval process ensures that degree programs are coherent from their inception. Each program is developed by subject matter experts within the proposing department, in consultation with other affected departments, the school dean, the associate provost, and the provost. A sub-committee of the College Council Curriculum Committee, the full Curriculum Committee, and the College Council Executive Committee vet full degree program proposals before a Council vote. Once College Council approves, programs go to the CUNY Board of Trustees and then to the NYS Department of Education for final approval [08]. While time-consuming and cumbersome, the process allows a large number of people with diverse backgrounds to evaluate program quality, including coherence. (CUNY New Academic Program Handbook)

City Tech has three primary mechanisms to ensure that programs embed student learning outcomes across the curriculum in a manner that promotes synthesis of learning. The first mechanism is the requirement that programs create and maintain a curriculum map showing the specific courses in which each program-specific learning outcome is introduced and reinforced (Assessment Documentation Folder). This map is located on a shared college hard drive, as described in Standard V. The second mechanism is the robust General Education curriculum. This curriculum, described in Criterion 5 of Standard III, ensures that all students, irrespective of degree program, emerge from City Tech with competencies that require synthesis of a range of skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Examples of such competencies include quantitative literacy and inquiry and analysis They are assessed through the college-wide General Education assessment initiative, described in Standard V. Third, the structure of learning outcomes assessment promotes coherence of learning as course-level learning outcomes are reinforced through program-level learning outcomes, and these, in turn, are reinforced through institution-level General Education learning outcomes.

Between Spring 2009 and Fall 2016, the College Council approved 11 new bachelor’s degree programs and one new associate degree program. The new programs are:

• 2016–BS in Applied Computational Physics, BS in Business and Technology of Fashion, AS in Business and Technology of Fashion
• 2015–BS in Applied Chemistry
• 2013–BS in Professional and Technical Writing, BTech Construction Management Technology (now called Construction Engineering Technology: 2017)
• 2012–BTech in Electrical Engineering Technology, BS in Biomedical Informatics
• 2011–BS in Radiological Science, BS in Mathematics Education
• 2009–BTech in Emerging Media Technologies (2009), BTech in Industrial Design Technology (2009, now called Mechanical Engineering Technology). (Current Proposals _ College Council, Past Proposals _ College Council)

The new bachelor’s degree programs support City Tech’s mission to provide career-focused education. Accordingly, City Tech’s new degree programs map to industry sectors undergoing employment growth in NY State. Areas of workforce growth are shown in Figure III.1 and Table III.2 documents the correspondence between City Tech’s new bachelor’s degree programs and New York City’s growing workforce needs (Figure III.1 and Table III.2 Employment and New Degrees).

In addition to associate and bachelor’s degree programs, City Tech offers a range of courses and professional certifications through the Division of Continuing Education (Continuing Studies). Many participants attend in cohorts to satisfy workplace training and certification requirements, or as new occupational trends emerge. Continuing Education offers test preparation in content needed for certification by external examinations administered by associations and agencies, e.g., FDNY Certificates of Fitness. The Division also offers training and administers exams from sector-based associations, membership organizations, or city/state agencies. A list of examples of the certificate-related courses offered by the Division of Continuing Education is provided in the Documentation Roadmap (CSC Courses Certifications).

The college’s emphasis on applied learning ensures that students are given the opportunity to “do” what they have learned in class, whether in laboratories, internship placements, or through other experiential learning opportunities. Applied learning by definition produces coherence between conceptual understanding and hands-on skills, preparing students for the workplace.

Academic Qualifications. Qualifications for appointment to the instructional faculty are outlined by the CUNY Office of Human Resources Management. (Instructional Staff Titles, Section II.1) Requirements for appointment at the lecturer and instructor levels include earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees, respectively. Requirements for appointment to assistant professor and higher rank include an earned doctoral degree (or equivalent) and evidence of effective engagement in teaching, scholarship, and service. Equivalency of qualifications alternative to the Ph.D. is governed by CUNY Bylaw 11.5 and is also described in the Office of Human Resources Code of Practice (CUNY Degree Equivalences). Adjunct faculty are subject to the same hiring standards as full time faculty (Instructional Staff Titles, section II.11.2]. Faculty academic qualifications are listed in the College Catalog by professorial rank, degree, and conferring school.

Scholarly Productivity. Faculty research productivity as demonstrated in refereed journals, conference presentations, and publications provides evidence of their scholarly rigor (Faculty Scholarship Report 2016). From 2009 to 2016 the three-year rolling average of number of pieces of scholarship/creative work per year per City Tech faculty member has increased from 0.5/year to 0.8/year (Faculty Scholarship Report 2016, Faculty Scholarship Report 2015, Faculty Scholarship Report 2014, Faculty Scholarship Report 2013, Faculty Scholarship Report 2012, Faculty Scholarship Report 2011). This increase aligns with City Tech’s transformation from a primarily associate degree granting to a more baccalaureate-focused institution. The enhanced productivity may be due, in part, to a release time program begun in 2006 as part of the collective bargaining agreement, under which new faculty receive twenty-four hours of release time during their first five years. The annual teaching load has also been reduced from twenty-four to twenty-one credit hours, in parity with CUNY senior colleges.

Faculty Expertise in Assessment. Assessment skills of faculty are developed and supported by the college-wide assessment effort, led by the Office of Assessment and Institutional Research and the City Tech Assessment Committee (CTAC). This is described in detail in Standard V.

By virtue of the rigorous qualifications criteria required for employment as a faculty member at CUNY and the equally rigorous processes of recruitment, performance review, promotion, and tenure of individual faculty members, City Tech faculty members are well qualified to perform the duties of their positions. Because of our many applied programs requiring industry experience, faculty in these areas often come to City Tech with extensive professional experience as well as academic credentials.

For 2017-2018, the number of full time faculty at City Tech is 404. The number of adjunct faculty varies by semester but hovers in the range of 1100. As a result, City Tech has a 17:1 student-faculty ratio. This number is calculated as the ratio of the number of full-time equivalent students to the number of full-time equivalent faculty. In Fall 2016, the average class size was 21.7. Figure III.3 provides a frequency distribution of class sizes. Less than 2 % of classes have more than 40 students, indicating that the number of faculty is sufficient to maintain personal student/faculty interaction in nearly every class (Figure III.3 Class Sizes Fall 2016).

The percentage of classes taught by full time faculty ranges from 26%-67%, depending on the department. Some departments rely particularly heavily on adjuncts. In Fall 2016, adjunct faculty taught 67% of the English Department’s course hours (English 1169 Analysis). The corresponding value for Hospitality Management, Physics, Nursing and Legal Studies was approximately 50%. Given its heavy reliance on adjunct faculty, City Tech pays particular attention to ensuring that instructional quality and assessment of student learning is consistent across sections of the same course. (Arch Tech 1169 Analysis, Chemistry 1169 Analysis, CST 1169 Analysis, ENT 1169 Analysis, Hospitality 1169 Analysis, Law 1169 Analysis, Nursing 1169 Analysis, Physics 1169 Analysis)

The Faculty Commons, a college-wide Center for Teaching, Learning, Scholarship and Service, brings under one roof professional development, grants and assessment activities of faculty. Faculty Commons adopts a programmatic approach to professional development that shape curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. In accordance with the college goals and strategic plan and with support from CUNY, the Office of the Provost, the College Council, and the Professional Development Advisory Council, Faculty Commons strives to improve the quality of teaching at City Tech. Programming for faculty includes professional development on the tenure and promotion process, orientation of new academic department chairs, and seminars in various high impact pedagogies of engagement. Institutional opportunities, resources and support for professional growth and innovation are summarized in Table III.4.

Table III.4 Opportunities, resources, and support structures for faculty.

As evidenced by Table III.4, City Tech has abundant resources and mechanisms to support faculty growth.

At City Tech, teaching is regarded as a core responsibility of the faculty, full-time or part-time, and information is routinely gathered and evaluated regarding effectiveness of teaching. For full-time faculty the evaluation also considers scholarly productivity and institutional service.

Evaluation of Teaching. Two instruments are the primary tools employed to evaluate teaching: peer observation and student evaluation of teaching. Each semester, full-time faculty are reviewed by their departmental peers through Peer Observations (Peer classroom Observation Report) and by the students through the Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) (Student Evaluation of Teaching sample). Peer observation is not required for tenured full professors but may be done. Adjuncts are observed for ten consecutive semesters after which peer observation is upon request by the chairperson or the individual instructor. Adjuncts eligible for three-year appointments are observed. Each peer observation includes a post-evaluation conference between the faculty member and the observer [Peer classroom Observation PostConferenceMemo]. During the meeting, the faculty member receives ideas for improvement in teaching and classroom management. The college is currently developing instruments and procedure to ensure that equivalent assessment activities are standardized for courses with hybrid or fully-online delivery modalities.

All faculty members are expected to administer SETs in every course and section. The Office of Assessment and Institutional Research aggregates each faculty member’s SETs, and provides the faculty member with summary data regarding students’ perceptions. Faculty can compare their data with baseline averages for all courses in their departments and for all sections of their course.

Faculty Personnel Policies. The document “Guidelines for Faculty Personnel Process” (Guide to Faculty Personnel Process) outlines assessment criteria and procedures for reappointment, tenure and promotion, as governed by CUNY and the City Tech Bylaws. A central feature of the tenure and promotion processes is that each tenure track faculty member submits a Professional Activity Report and Self-Evaluation (PARSE) with supporting documentation to the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations at the end of each academic year. (PARSE Website) Based on the PARSE, the department chairperson completes an annual evaluation of the faculty member reflecting teaching effectiveness, service, and scholarly output.

CUNY follows a seven-year tenure clock. For untenured faculty on the tenure track, the departmental Appointments Committee makes a yearly recommendation for reappointment, based on the chair’s evaluation and a review of the PARSE and supporting documentation. This is forwarded to the college Personnel and Budget (P&B) Committee, which then makes a recommendation to the president who provides the final approval. For fourth, sixth, and tenure years (as well as in year seven if a Letter of Guidance is issued to the candidate in year six), a sub-committee of the P&B reviews the file. At the end of the third year of employment, the academic dean provides a full review of the faculty member’s performance, and the review report is discussed with the faculty member and his/her chairperson. An appointment for an eighth year comes with tenure.

Reappointment of part-time instructors is assigned annually based on recommendation of the chairperson. In the summer of 2016, CUNY faculty negotiated a new contract that created the possibility of three-year appointments for adjunct faculty. To be eligible, “an adjunct must have taught at least six contact hours per semester in the same department for at least the 10 most recent consecutive semesters.” The departmental Personnel and Budget Committee must also recommend the three-year appointment. (Guidelines Faculty Personnel Process)

For promotion to a higher academic rank (e.g., from assistant to associate professor) a faculty member submits an application for promotion and the most recent PARSE to the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations. A department peer committee reviews the PARSE and makes a recommendation. An ad hoc committee then reviews the records of candidates for promotion and makes recommendations to the College Personnel and Budget Committee. The Personnel and Budget Committee hears the reports of the ad hoc committee, and, after discussion, makes a recommendation to the president who makes the final decision about promotion.

Faculty impressions of the tenure and promotion processes were gathered by the COACHE Survey conducted in 2015 (62% response rate, total n = 235 faculty, 63% of whom were tenured). Table III.5 describes Likert scale responses (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) to questions in which faculty were asked whether they clearly understood the process and criteria for tenure and promotion, and whether they had a clear sense of how their own tenure and promotion applications would fare.

Table III.5 Faculty responses to COACHE survey questions pertaining to tenure and promotion.

All values in Table III.5 fall beneath the ideal threshold (four) in which faculty, on average, express clarity about the process of tenure and promotion, and about their own chances of earning tenure and promotion. Interestingly, the data suggest that faculty members have greater clarity about the processes and criteria for promotion than about the fate of their own promotion applications. Each year approximately 90 % of faculty applications for promotion are approved.

The following efforts are underway to improve clarity surrounding tenure and promotion:

• The provost and president hold an annual meeting open to all interested faculty members to answer questions regarding to tenure/promotion process and criteria;
• Faculty Commons provides a new faculty orientation;
• Faculty Commons organizes an annual workshop for all departmental appointment committee members; and
• Faculty Commons organizes PARSE workshops and teaching portfolio workshops.

Going forward, the efficacy of these methods will be evaluated as will the summary indicator of faculty responses to tenure and promotion questions on future administrations of the COACHE survey. At the same time, a more detailed survey may be helpful to attempt to determine the origin of faculty members’ lack of clarity regarding tenure and promotion. It may be worthwhile to understand whether the perceived lack of clarity comes from a recent influx of new faculty, from changing expectations as the college transitions from an associate to a baccalaureate institution, or from some other source.

Requirements. The official requirements of all degree programs are provided in the College Catalog (Catalog 2017-2018), available online through the City Tech website. Each department also maintains a description of its degree program(s) on the website. A number of degree programs maintain hardcopy or electronic brochures (Rad Tech Clinical Education Handbook, Nursing Student Handbook, Vision Care Brochure). CUNY provides an online tool, DegreeWorks, that clarifies degree requirements and helps students plan semester-by-semester progression through their degree programs. Using DegreeWorks, students may view the requirements of their major, track their progress, assess how changing a major might affect them, and see how transfer credits contribute to their degrees. As described in Standard IV, more robust DegreeWorks functionality and degree mapping options became available in Fall 2017. The New Student Orientation and Student Advisement (New Student Center Checklist), further described in Standard IV, are additional mechanisms to help students understand degree requirements and to ensure timely progression toward degree attainment.

Time to degree has become an important indicator in CUNY’s new strategic framework, further incentivized by New York State’s Excelsior Scholarship, which requires that recipients earn 30 credits per year. Many factors influence time toward the degree; personal circumstances, level of readiness at entry, and institutional obstacles, among others. City Tech has begun to address seriously the institutional barriers that may hinder students from completing degrees on time. New cohort models of comprehensive student support linked to program completion goals are showing dramatic results in stemming attrition and accelerating time-to-degree. ASAP and two dual-enrollment early college partnerships with career-focused high schools are redefining norms for time enrolled and time elapsed for degree completion (data demonstrating success of ASAP is provided in Standard IV, TABLE IV.1 Selected Support programs). Project Wayfinding, newly implemented this year, is a college-wide effort to answer the question “How can faculty, staff, and students effectively provide/use accurate information for academic career planning from Day 1 through Graduation?”

Learning opportunities and resources at City Tech include course offerings, physical spaces across the seven buildings of the campus, access to technology and discipline-specific laboratory equipment, availability of information resources, and access to co-curricular activities. These learning opportunities and resources are summarized in Table III.6.

Table III.6 Summary of student learning opportunities and resources.

Role of Grants in Transformation of Academic Programs. Grants have provided an important means for wide-ranging transformation and have had particular impact on General Education: ten National Endowment for the Humanities grants to support faculty development on interdisciplinary humanities themes have centered the institution in its liberal core. STEM education has also been transformed through the cumulative impact of 33 grants from the National Science Foundation over the past decade. An NSF I³ project, The City Tech I3 Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration, rededicated the institution to the primacy of the laboratory experience at a college of technology, resulting in a more open spirit of inquiry and the skillful application of research tools across the curriculum. Three NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grants: Learning Products Design through Hands-on Mechatronic Projects and Fuse Lab: Collaborative Education for Tomorrow’s Technology in Architecture, Engineering & Construction, and Advanced Design and Fabrication of Prosthetic and Medical Devices have brought related technologies together to support the integration of research and education. An NSF REU Site project, Ground-based and Satellite Remote Sensing at NOAA-CREST, NSF Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, two NSF Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM (TUES) grants, and an NSF Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) grant for The Brooklyn Waterfront 2050, in partnership with the Urban Design Lab at the Earth Institute of Columbia University, and two Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) grants have provided a rich array student research experiences. Three NSF S-STEM grants have provided scholarships for qualified STEM students. The college has also received Broadening Participation in the Geosciences grants. In Fall 2014 the National Institutes of Health awarded City Tech a $1.4M Bridges to the Baccalaureate grant in partnership with Brooklyn College to support articulation to upper division programs in the natural sciences. An NSF Noyce Scholarship grant awarded to City Tech in partnership with Borough of Manhattan Community College prepares future STEM teachers to serve in high need school districts.

Other awards include USED MSEIP grant that supports reform of gateway courses in mathematics, a Title V Cooperative Arrangement grant that supports reform of gateway courses in mathematics, and a Title V Cooperative Arrangement grant to support the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) and other reforms in mathematics courses undertaken in partnership with Borough of Manhattan Community College. In 2017 City Tech was awarded a $1.1M NIH grant to support the City Tech-Weill Cornell Medicine Big Data Training Program in Biomedical Informatics.

Beyond the specific requirements of their degree programs, City Tech students participate in a signature General Education program. Grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, General Education inspires students to make connections across disciplinary lines and enriches their understanding of the moral, civic, and creative dimensions of life. The college’s General Education requirements are aligned with CUNY Pathways, the university’s General Education program. CUNY Pathways includes three categories of courses: a required common core, a flexible common core, and a college option (for baccalaureate degree programs). The courses included in the common core are listed on the college website (Pathways Required Common Core; Pathways Flexible Common Core). The required core consists of foundation courses in English, math, and science. The flexible common core requires students to have diverse intellectual experiences, but permits choice of the courses leading to that end. Flexible common core courses thus expand cultural and global awareness and cultural sensitivity, and build scientific and quantitative reasoning. Taken together these courses provide students with a basis on which to make well-reasoned ethical judgments. All courses included in these areas must satisfy specific learning outcomes as outlined by CUNY guidelines. Finally, at City Tech, the college option requires an oral communication course and an interdisciplinary course, both important elements in our degree programs and educational vision. It also permits student choice of two additional liberal arts courses, which is especially valuable for students in BTech programs which are highly structured and require only 42 liberal arts credits. The alignment of City Tech’s General Education program with expectations stated in Middle States Standard 3, Criterion 5 is provided in Table III.7. The assessment of General Education learning outcomes related to these Middle States expectations is described in detail in Standard 5.

Table III.7 Alignment between City Tech’s General Education program and the MSCHE expectations for general education programs.

City Tech’s redesigned General Education curriculum was inspired by the last Middle States Self-Study that identified General Education as a necessary focus area. In 2010, a $3.M Title V project entitled  A Living Lab: Revitalizing General Education at a 21st Century College of Technology enabled the college to undertake a comprehensive renewal initiative that positioned General Education as the fulcrum of all programs. A large and vibrant faculty community is dedicated to the development and implementation of General Education across the college. The General Education Committee comprised of representatives from every academic department stands at the center. The committee developed the present General Education requirements for all City Tech students, and submitted them to College Council as Curriculum Action 12-7 in November 2012.

After successfully redefining the General Education curriculum, the committee has assigned its members to a variety of different working groups, each responsible for a different project. The full General Education committee meets multiple times per semester to share working group progress and exchange information. Outcomes include:

• Development of branding for City Tech General Education: City Tech “GenEdge” (GenEdge);
• Creation of annual shared themes to engage in cross disciplinary activities (GenEdge Brochure 2017-18);    
• A Course Coordination initiative to support consistent achievement of General Education learning outcomes;
• Gen Ed Web page design (College Gen Ed Web Site Prototype Page); and
• General Education curriculum maps for every academic program.

Other synergistic activities that strengthen General Education include:

• General Education Assessment Committee (City Tech General Education Assessment Planning Meeting Sept 23 2016 AGENDA);
• Living Laboratory Learning Library (A Living Laboratory);
• Undergraduate Research Committee (Undergraduate Research);
• Reading Across the Discipline (READ);
• Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) ;
• Writing Intensive Requirements;
• Quantitative Literacy (QL);
• Open Education Resources;
• OpenLab
• Place-Based Learning;
• Interdisciplinary course requirements (Interdisciplinary Studies Committee, Interdisciplinary Courses); and
• NEH faculty development grants on interdisciplinary humanities themes.

Other Investments. Since 2009, City Tech has made other major investments in resources and learning opportunities. These investments, described in detail in Standard 6, have enabled City Tech to keep pace with evolving career opportunities in technological fields, to support our transformation to a bachelor’s degree granting institution, and to support growing student enrollment. Most importantly, City Tech’s new, 8-story, 360,000 square foot science and clinical health building will provide state of the art classroom and laboratory space for instruction and research, critical to robust support of our current programs and to enabling future growth.

Not applicable: City Tech does not offer graduate or professional education.

Not applicable: City Tech does not have student learning opportunities that are designed, delivered or assessed by third-party providers.

Per CUNY mandate, City Tech performs systematic assessment of the effectiveness of all degree programs. The schedule for program review and whether the review process is governed by requirements of a discipline-specific external accreditor depends on the particular degree program (Comprehensive Program Review Schedule). In-depth description of program review is provided in Standard V, Criterion 3c. below. In addition to the college’s institutional accreditation by Middle States, twenty-six programs in thirteen departments currently hold separate accreditation, with four additional departments currently seeking such accreditation. These accrediting bodies provide periodic review and reaccreditation of academic programs at the baccalaureate and associate degree levels. (See accreditation chart). In addition, nine accredited programs in the School of Professional Studies lead to professional licensure or certification. Specialized accreditation review ensures that content, available resources, and pedagogical approaches in education for specific professions reflect high standards of educational practice. (Catalog 2016-2017, examples: Hospitality Management Program Review, Vision Care Program Review).

For academic programs not externally accredited, CUNY guidelines outline the required process for a 10-year cycle of program self-study, culminating in an evaluation by an external expert in the field or discipline (CUNY Academic Program Review Policy; City Tech Academic Program Review Policy; Comprehensive Program Review Schedule). External accreditors and CUNY guidelines require and encourage the fullest possible engagement of faculty and stakeholders in these processes, which include the formulation of five- to ten-year strategic goals.

Support from the Office of Assessment and Institutional Research (AIR), especially in the form of program-level assessment, has enabled the college to conduct more rigorous and meaningful program review, and to track the results of program changes implemented as a result of review. One example of data-driven program review and improvement is found in the 2013 review of the AAS degree program in Computer Information Systems. During the program self-study, AIR provided data indicating that the AAS degree had an average first-year retention rate of 67.8 % (n = 162). The relatively low retention rate suggested the need for support of the first-year students. With funds from a Perkins grant, the CST department implemented a program in which senior students served as tutors and mentors for first year students. The retention rate for students participating in the tutoring and mentoring program in the Fall of 2015 (n = 268) and Spring of 2016 (n = 313) 15 – 18 % higher than the retention rate in 2013, prior to program implementation.

A significant future direction will be to develop coherent cross-program assessment of these resources in order to have comparable measures for determining the extent to which services are utilized and valued by faculty. This information will aid in guiding decisions about resource allocation. Cross-program assessment will build upon current assessment efforts in individual programs. For example, the Open Education Resources (OER) program has performed assessment since it began in 2015. The data collected provide compelling information indicating that faculty use the support of the program to transform teaching practice. OER support has enabled widespread adoption of OER resources in courses, including 57% of the 28 sections of Biology I Laboratory (BIO 1101L), 100% of the sections of Business and Professional Communication (COM 3401), 100% of the sections in Health and Safety in Production (ENT 1102), and 100 % of the sections of General Chemistry I Laboratory (CHEM 1110L).

The COACHE Faculty Satisfaction Surveys suggest that assessment of programmatic resources for faculty should be augmented by assessment of the physical space resources for faculty. Recent administrations of the COACHE survey have indicated that the area of greatest concern to faculty of all types was facilities (2015 administration has a 62% response rate, total n = 235; 2012 administration had a 47% response rate, total n = 97) (COACHE Provosts Report 2015). More detailed follow up surveys may reveal exactly what the greatest facilities concerns are and how to address them.

City Tech’s degree programs have grown and improved dramatically, and the institution has made significant progress in obtaining faculty and student resources necessary to support these programs. The rapid pace of change requires that we redouble our commitment to program and resource assessment to ensure that our growth is not only increasing numbers, but also increasing quality:

• In the coming years, City Tech will continue with strategic expansion of degree programs in response to business and industry needs. The college will pursue important new directions necessitated by changing professional practices, including interprofessional education in health and human services fields and linking technology innovation and entrepreneurship education to complement the needs of the tech start-up environment of the Brooklyn Tech Triangle and beyond.
• Making strategic use of CUNY’s program review process, as well as an expanding number of external accreditors, we will continue to pursue systematic, data-informed improvement of academic programs, both in curriculum and delivery of instruction. To ensure consistency of instruction across faculty and learning modalities, we will expand existing efforts in course coordination, development and implementation of OER, and online learning.

Acknowledging the centrality of the faculty to the vitality of our academic programs, we will enhance support of faculty in their professional activities over the course of the professional lifespan. City Tech will continue to strengthen the college’s research capacity and laboratory resources in a manner consistent with a bachelor’s degree-granting institution.

Recommendation 4:

Refine our facilities and technology master plans to take advantage of new opportunities.

(Standard VI and III)

Optimize opportunities created by the new academic building, including space made available by the relocation of programs from the Pearl Building.

• Engage stakeholders in a cross-institutional review of facilities and technology plans in order to empower the college to fulfill its mission into the future: to attract external partners; to remain nimble and responsive to workforce needs; to support course availability and new modalities of instruction; to leverage technology for intellectual exchange and collaboration in an increasingly commuter context; and to cultivate a positive and cohesive institutional identity.
• To respond to the increasingly interdisciplinary context for our programs, make shared resources and collaboration a primary consideration.