The institution’s planning processes, resources, and structures are aligned with each other and are sufficient to fulfill our mission and goals, to continuously assess and improve our programs and services, and to respond effectively to opportunities and challenges.
Current Snapshot: City Tech’s overarching institutional priorities over the past decade have been:
- To increase the number, quality, and diversity of full time tenure track faculty;
- To strengthen the physical and technological infrastructure by addressing deferred maintenance and institutional growth; and
- To ensure that technological and curricular resources are adequate to meet the academic needs of baccalaureate programs in new and rapidly evolving fields.
The college has aligned and synchronized its planning processes with resource allocation processes at institutional and unit levels so that despite vicissitudes of public funding the college has been able to focus clearly on these priorities. These planning and resource allocation processes are transparent and inclusive; they have engaged broad participation among key sectors of the college community. The number of full-time faculty has grown from 304 in 2006 to 404 in 2017, a 33% increase over a decade. Major indicators of infrastructure investment include the creation of a major new academic building planned to open in 2018 and a major refurbishment of both the façade and interior of the Voorhees Building, which houses the majority of the departments in the School of Technology and Design. Finally, the transition of the college to a baccalaureate institution has entailed the creation of twelve new baccalaureate programs to date with requisite academic resources; five additional new programs are also in development. The priorities align directly with CUNY’s Performance Management Process (PMP) goals, selected college focus goals, and institutional strategic planning goals as detailed in Standard I.
Criterion 1. Institutional objectives, both institution-wide and for individual units, that are clearly stated, assessed appropriately, linked to mission and goal achievement, reflect conclusions drawn from assessment results, and are used for planning and resource allocation;
As explained in Standard I, City Tech’s mission is deeply embedded in CUNY’s academic mission. The attainment of the college’s goals and objectives is assessed annually in the PMP, which itself derives from the CUNY Master Plan. The PMP measures institutional effectiveness in three performance domains: academic quality, student success, and fiscal and managerial effectiveness. These correspond to the administrative structure of City Tech in which responsibility and accountability are vested in a vice president for each of these domains. The PMP reflects the annual goals and objectives set by senior level administrators in collaboration with academic deans, department chairs, faculty, and various unit directors for the areas they oversee. These key stakeholders are evaluated annually to review progress and prioritize new goals and objectives for the coming year. City Tech reports to the University the results for each PMP objective (PMP Target Report – NYCCT 2015-2016), and progress towards each performance target is assessed and benchmarked against peer CUNY colleges. The college also provides a narrative Overview of University and Sector Goals (Year-End Progress Report – NYCCT). The president meets with the Chancellor to review annual progress and identify areas to be emphasized in the coming year. The University Data Books show trends in performance indicators by college. Results for 2015-2016 and earlier are available via the link Performance Management – CUNY (2011-12 PMP_Report, 2012-13 PMP_Report, 2013-14 PMP_Report, 2014-15 PMP_Report, 2015-16_PMP_Report). College Focus Goals were added to the PMP in 2014 as a means of enabling individual college presidents to determine specific foci in collaboration with their respective college communities within their particular institutional context.
City Tech’s Strategic Plan reflects the goals and objectives of the process by which it was created. The plan aligns resource allocation with strategic goals and is guided by the college Mission Statement, PMP Goals and Targets, and College Council deliberations.
Criterion 2. Planning processes are documented, communicated, provide for constituent participation, and guided by assessment;
Academic planning and enrollment management planning are discussed at length in Standards I, IV, and V, respectively. Planning for fiscal and managerial operations likewise follows processes that are bottom up and top down. The CUNY PMP and annual college planning processes described in Criterion 1. above, and in Standard I, ensure that academic departments and administrative units participate in developing strategic priorities for the allocation of resources. The processes involve gathering input from faculty, students, administration, and staff to identify priorities for operational expenditures and capital projects.
The college also gathers data and input from constituents with regular local, university, and national survey instruments, including CUNY Student Experience Surveys and the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) faculty satisfaction survey. Longitudinal data evaluating faculty assessment of all aspects the nature of their work is tracked and used for improvement. The COACHE Provost’s Report is posted on the Faculty Commons AIR website (COACHE Provosts Report 2015).
Some examples of constituent participation include:
- The allocation of the student technology fee (described in Criterion 3 below) by a representative committee that includes student members;
- Consultation over the last two years with academic departments moving to the new building to ensure the learning environments are appropriate; and
- Consultation with department faculty and staff during the planning processes for recent major facilities projects, for example, for the Departments of Architectural Technology, Communication Design, Construction Management and Civil Engineering Technology, and Physics.
See Standard III, Criterion 4 for details and further examples of new or modified instructional spaces, technology infrastructure, and specialized labs that have resulted from consultations with academic program faculty and staff.
Criterion 3. Financial planning is aligned with mission, goals, and objectives;
City Tech receives an operating budget from CUNY Central, which receives funding from New York State and New York City and collects tuition revenues from all colleges. The CUNY Central budget allocation takes into account student enrollment, personnel obligations, maintenance and service contracts and operational needs (CUNY-Operating-Budget-Overview; CUNY-2017-2018-Budget-Request; Budget & Finance – CUNY). Based on the budget allocations financial plans are developed (Financial Report Summary 2012-15, Financial Report Summary 15-16). The academic departments via the school deans and unit directors participate in the financial planning process by submitting budget requests and additional requests with a rationale. Additionally, the college requests capital funding through a CUNY process, and receives capital funds from the State, City Council and the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office (5-Year+Reso-A_Capital Requests_CityTech 2017, Analysis of Available City Funding 5.20.16, CUNY-Capital-Budget-FY-2017-18 through 21-22, CUNY Capital Budget fy_16-17). External grants provide additional funding for institutional initiatives and individual faculty research (Grant Year-End Summary 2016, OSP Annual Statistics).
A provision of Governor Cuomo’s 2015 Opportunity Agenda allocated $12 million of the state’s total appropriation to CUNY’s senior colleges for the submission of institutional performance improvement plans designed to advance state and university priorities regarding student academic success, expanding access, progression and degree completion, online education, use of digital technology for instruction and academic support, research, and workforce preparation and employer engagement. In October 2015, CUNY’s Board of Trustees approved a performance-funding program, the CUNY Strategic Investment Initiative, to allocate the state’s $12 million to CUNY colleges for projects initiated or expanded during the 2015–2016 academic year. The Strategic Investment Initiative and CUNY’s longstanding PMP process (described in Criterion 1 above) are aligned to incentivize colleges to advance state and university priorities (CUNY Master Plan 2016-2020, page 115).
All students at CUNY campuses pay a technology fee (Tech Fee) to fund technology equipment, software licenses, and related expenditures to ensure access to necessary up-to-date technology in support of academic objectives. Except for an assessment to support university-wide initiatives, revenues from Tech Fee are retained by the colleges. The Board of Trustees mandates that the Tech Fees be used in a timely manner to benefit current students college-wide. The Tech Fee Committee, with members from across the college evaluates requests from departments and schools (Student Technology Fee Plan 2017-2018, Tech Fee policy and procedures).
CUNY directs the budgeting process. City Tech’s operating funds available from the state have not increased at a proportional pace with mandated costs, such as salaries and benefits, which have increased consistently. It is a persistent challenge to continually engage policy makers and funders, to exhaust the possibilities of a dwindling budget, and identify new financial resources and grant opportunities to meet the needs of City Tech students. Nonetheless, through careful planning, City Tech has continued to operate efficiently with conservative annual and long-range budget planning, to maintain a financial plan focused on student success, and utilize tax-levy funds in a cautious manner (Financial Report Summary 2012-15, Financial Report Summary 15-16, FY18 4-year FINANCIAL PLAN). As noted in the President’s 2015-2016 self-assessment the “the College maintained an academically focused financial plan improved productivity and continued to limit the amount of tax-levy funds expended on administration” (2015-2016 Self-Assessment – NYCCT).
Criterion 4. Fiscal, human, physical and technical resources are adequate to support operations;
Adequacy of Fiscal Resources. See Criterion 3, above.
Adequacy of Human Resources. In spite of financial constraints and challenges the administration has balanced significant enrollment increases and aligned the hiring of new faculty while developing new bachelor’s programs to fulfill the college mission and meet the growing demands. Among the CUNY colleges, City Tech has maintained the distinction of allocating the highest percentage of operating budget directly to students, and operates with the lowest administrative costs as measured by the ratio of students to HEOs (Higher Education Officers) in the university (2015-2016 Self-Assessment – NYCCT). Hiring at the college is highly competitive and all administrators are hired according to well-established procedures. Accordingly, administrators have the credentials and experience required to effect the college’s mission. City Tech has consistently prioritized the hiring of a diverse and highly qualified full-time faculty, successfully filling 32 positions in 2014-2015 and 29 in 2015-2016. An agreement between the university and the union to bring the teaching load at City Tech into alignment with the other senior colleges in the system was implemented in the 2014-2015 academic year, reducing the full-time faculty teaching workload from 24 to 21 hours. In 2016 CUNY and the Professional Staff Congress (PSC, CUNY’s largest union) agreed on a new contract providing ten percent retroactive salary increases, increased benefits and a signing bonus for faculty and professional staff. In continuation of prior contracts, new full-time tenure-track faculty are supported with 24 hours of reassigned time for research at full pay during their first 5 years of re-appointment.
Challenges and Opportunities Related to Human Resources:
- With limited resources City Tech is challenged to improve the ratio of full- time faculty delivering instruction which currently sits at 40.8% (2015-16_PMP_Report, p 2). In recent years the university’s annual PMP has included targets for incremental increases, but City Tech’s significant faculty hiring has not outpaced steady growth in enrollment and programs, contractual workload reductions, and reassignment of faculty both for departmental administration and grant-supported projects. Fortunately, the college’s major metropolitan location grants access to a large and highly qualified pool of part-time faculty, many of whom work in the related fields and add significant talent and experience to the programs for the benefit of our students.
Adequacy of Facilities. Overview of campus facilities, space allocation, and campus maps can be found in (CUNY Campus Statistics 2016, City Tech Map, 5-Year+Reso-A_Capital Requests_CityTech 2017). A recent overview of major projects is provided in (Status of Major Projects NYCCT January 2016). Looking ahead, the college community anticipates the opening of the new academic building in 2018, with over 355,000 square feet of classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, and public spaces that include a theater and a gymnasium. The construction of the new academic building will maximize physical space and support further program development. City Tech has completed numerous physical and technical infrastructure projects in accord with City Tech’s annual Goals & Targets, and communicates status of ongoing projects to the college community through the Office of Computing Information Services and Administration & Finance newsletters (Administration & Finance Newsletters 2012-2017).
Challenges and Opportunities Related to Facilities Management:
- Efforts are underway to secure capital funds needed for the design and renovation of the Pearl Building, which to date includes a $7.5 million allocation from the New York City Council (5-Year+Reso-A_Capital Requests_CityTech 2016, 5-Year+Reso-A_Capital Requests_CityTech 2017). This project provides the opportunity to repurpose and restructure existing space with input from stakeholders. The facility will be vacated in 2016-2017 by programs being relocated to the new academic building;
- The challenges of lean state budgets and the space constraints of our physical location will likely persist. To continue to fulfill City Tech’s mission of “broad access to high quality technology and professional education,” we must explore options for expanded modalities, including partnerships to provide hybrid, online, and off-site instruction and experiential learning opportunities.
Adequacy of Technology Resources. Technological resources are essential to achieving the mission and goals of the institution, and the college has made tremendous strides toward an efficient IT structure.
Upgrades to instructional technology and IT resources are continuous and ongoing:
- All campus classrooms have been equipped with instructor workstations with presentation technology (approximately 206 classrooms);
- Three years ago the college added a second Technology Enhancement Center; each of the two centers provides more than 75 computers for general student use;
- There are approximately 91 instructional computer labs throughout the college, with an average of three to five labs being created annually;
- Recent enhancements to IT resources include: bulk software licensing by CUNY for products utilized by all campuses; implementation of mobile apps for student access to CUNYfirst; and upgrades and module implementations for enterprise-wide systems for course management; and
- Implementation of a newly redesigned, intuitive and mobile-friendly College website is providing a more effective means of communication for the college community and external constituents. Migration to a new network was implemented in November 2016 (OCIS Newsletter Spring 2017, Strategic Technology Initiatives Spreadsheet).
Challenges and Opportunities Related to Technology Resources:
- Available Capital funding provides opportunities to pursue needed IT and infrastructure initiatives;
- Collaboration with CUNY’s Office of Computing and Information Services to pursue IT projects and software licensing will continue to provide economy-of-scale cost-savings; and
- Implementation of Resource 25 scheduling software will facilitate space assignments in order to maximize efficient use of classroom and general-purpose spaces campus-wide.
Criterion 5. Well-defined decision-making processes and clear assignment of responsibility and accountability;
City Tech is one of 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges and four graduate schools in the City University of New York. As outlined in Section 6204 of the New York Education Law, CUNY has a governing board of 17 trustees, with 10 members appointed by the Governor and five appointed by the Mayor of New York City with the advice and consent of the New York State Senate. The CUNY Board of Trustees (BOT) has oversight over all branches of CUNY and is responsible for governing and administering all constituent colleges. (Bylaws CUNY Board of Trustees, CUNY Board of Trustees Handbook, Minutes of Board of Trustees Meetings).
The BOT Bylaws outline the authority and duties of the chancellor, president, and deans, department chairs, and faculty at the individual colleges. The Chancellor is appointed by the BOT and serves as the chief executive, educational and administrative officer. The president of each college is appointed by the BOT upon recommendation of the Chancellor and has full authority over all matters of the college. The president of the college is an “advisor and executive agent of the chancellor … with full discretionary power to carry into effect the bylaws, resolutions, and policies of the board, the lawful resolutions of any board committees, and policies, programs, and lawful resolutions of the several faculties and students where appropriate.” City Tech’s president identifies and implements institutional plans, staffs the organization, allocates resources, and directs the institution toward attaining the goals and objectives set forth in its mission, including the expansion and modernization of the physical structure of the college, the creation of partnerships that benefit the organization, the expansion of faculty lines, and increased emphasis on scholarly work. (Bylaws CUNY Board of Trustees, Section 11.4; BOT Manual of General Policy_5.05).
City Tech’s three vice presidents (Provost and VP for Academic Affairs, VP for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, and VP for Administration and Finance), the special counsel, and the executive director of the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations, report directly to the president. The reporting structures under the three vice presidents are represented in the organizational charts (Organizational Chart NYCCT, Organizational Chart Office of the President, Organizational Chart Academic Affairs, Organizational Chart Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Organizational Chart Administration & Finance).
The Personnel & Budget Committee (P&B) is chaired by the president and meets at least monthly during the academic year. The president provides fiscal updates at most meetings. In accordance with the BOT Bylaws, the college Personnel and Budget (P&B) Committee makes recommendations to the President regarding the appointment, tenure, and promotion of academic personnel following recommendations made at the department level. The P&B consists of 30 voting members – the chairs of the 28 departments (which includes the library and Students Affairs plus 26 academic departments), the provost and the dean of Continuing Education. The executive director of the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations (OFSR) and Labor Designee serves as secretary to the committee. Minutes of P&B meetings are available in the OFSR.
Section 8.11 in Article VIII of the BOT Bylaws addresses the power of individual colleges to establish their own governance plans. College Council establishes college policy on all matters except for those specifically reserved by the BOT Bylaws, state laws or collective bargaining agreements. City Tech’s governance plan outlines the constitution of College Council, departmental elections, and administrative accountability (City Tech Governance Plan). College Council membership includes ex officio members with voting rights (e.g., President, provost, all vice presidents, deans), chairs from each instructional department, and voting unit (including college laboratory technicians and higher education officer series), elected delegates-at-large and student delegates. The governance plan outlines the power and duties of College Council’s officers and areas of responsibility of its seven advisory committees: Budget, Building & Grounds, Curriculum, Legislative, Personnel, Students, and Technology. These Standing Committees meet once a month for deliberation and report at the monthly General Meetings of the College Council.
The College Council Curriculum Committee evaluates curriculum, including the review of proposals to develop and/or modify curricula, and to formulate curriculum policy, after development and approval at the departmental level and sign-off by the dean. All new programs undergo another level of review at CUNY Office of Academic Affairs before receiving approval from New York State. CUNY and State guidelines require proposals to demonstrate that new programs meet workforce needs and are fiscally viable (College Council Curriculum Committee). The Buildings and Grounds Committee is collaborating with the Technology Committee to produce new models of classroom design that incorporate General Education principles. The Budget Committee is “responsible for recommendation, review and evaluation of policy relating to the financial planning, budget allocations, the use of allocated funds and long-term planning of the college.” (City Tech Governance Plan, Article V. D. 10) The Vice President for Administration and Finance is in attendance at the Budget Committee regularly. The Committee is required to produce a report to College Council every academic year. The president also attends the monthly College Council general meetings and reports on matters of budget and administration, with opportunity for questions and responses from those in attendance.
vice presidents, deans, other Executive Compensation Plan (ECP) administrators who oversee units, academic department chairs, Higher Education Officers (HEOs), and non-instructional professionals are evaluated regularly and systematically by their supervisors. Quantitative and qualitative goals and targets are submitted annually by administrators, deans, and department chairs, outcomes are reviewed at the end of the year and become a part of the record in the annual evaluation process (See Standard I, Criterion 4).
Decision-making at City Tech is shaped by influential groups that include the president’s Cabinet, Personnel & Budget (P&B), Departmental Governance, College Council, and Student Government. The decision-making and organizational structures at City Tech are clearly delineated with defined reporting relationships, performance assessment, and accountability. College executive, administrative and academic management is evaluated on annual goals & targets for their respective areas.
Criterion 6. Planning for facilities, infrastructure, and technology includes consideration of sustainability and deferred maintenance, and is linked to strategic and financial planning processes;
CUNY develops an annual capital budget five-year request, which takes about six months to develop, beginning in April after the state budget ends. Meetings are held with senior staff at every college to discuss the progress of the existing construction projects, priorities, costs, and procurement. Over the summer, the facilities planning, construction and management staff refines details of projects, incorporates the results of state and city budgets, and updates scopes and costs. The college presidents then approve their college programs and priorities, which are presented to the CUNY Board of Trustees in October (CUNY Master Plan 2016-2020, page 106-7; 5-Year+Reso-A_Capital Requests CityTech 2007; CUNY-Capital-Budget-FY-2017-18 through 21-22). The individual colleges produce four-year financial plans with projected operating resources and expenditures that provide a roadmap for fiscal sustainability (FY18 4-year FINANCIAL PLAN).
Deferred maintenance has been a major focus of capital planning at City Tech over the past decade (Administration & Finance Newsletters 2012-2017, Status of Major Projects NYCCT January 2016). City Tech continues to prioritize projects to address decades of deferred maintenance, including:
- The conversion of ill-utilized space to useful spaces and much needed classrooms: $1,950,000
- Namm Building elevator replacement: $2,900,000
- Voorhees Building elevator replacement: $2,200,000
- Atrium Building elevator replacement: $700,000
- New central plant serving the existing main campus complex and designed to also serve the new academic building currently in construction: $70,000,000
- Renovation of Voorhees Building façade: $38,000,000
- Renovation of the lobby, corridors, cafeteria and student lounge in the Voorhees Building: $7,000,000
- Renovation of portion of the Pearl building to provide upgraded spaces for Communications Design programs: $14,200,000
- Enhancements and upgrades in security systems: $1,400,000
- Namm Building bathroom renovations to achieve ADA compliance and with modern and efficient equipment: $4,500,000
- Implementation of a new e-mail system as a result of stakeholder needs for more flexibility in technology services and mobile devices
- Namm fire pump replacement: $120,000
- Namm replacement of heat exchangers: $495,000
- Namm roof and plaza replacement: $2,600,000
- Atrium lighting upgrades: $700,000
- Upgrades of Hospitality and Culinary Arts facilities: $750,000
- Namm Building Complex Fire Alarm system upgrade: $500,000
- Welcome Center: $1,300,000
- Namm Hall Façade renovation: $11,000,000
- Namm Hall kitchen and cafeteria renovation: $1,500,000
- College Bookstore: $800,000
Accommodation for accessibility in the design of all new construction and renovation projects in accordance to the guidelines set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (Namm restrooms, new entrance to the Namm complex, new entrance to Voorhees building)
The colleges and CUNY collaborate on technology initiatives needed for achieving strategic objectives. Such is evidenced in the University Technology Initiatives plan. Colleges and CUNY Central IT plan and facilitate university-wide initiatives through the IT Steering committee, which is composed of college Chief Information Officer (CIO), University CIO, and faculty and academic representatives. The college Office of Computing Information Services (OCIS) constructs annual goals and targets for planning college-wide technology projects, upgrades, and maintenance based on input from the College Council Technology Committee and from the provost’s Council on Academic Affairs. The implementation of a new email system, rescheduling of email password expirations and system maintenance, and goal-setting for a separate network that allows flexibility in teaching and research isolated from the secure campus network, virtual desktops and off-campus software access have resulted from user needs assessments. (CIS Goals Targets 16-17)
CUNY Central IT collaborates with the colleges to assess needs for University-wide procurement contracts, maintenance contracts and software licensing. Examples include, but are not limited to the university-wide CISCO maintenance contract, Microsoft Software licensing and Internet Service provider contracts. A number of college-specific IT-related and facilities-related maintenance and equipment contracts promote cost-saving. Examples include College elevators, fire alarms, and other equipment utilized in academic programs such as radiologic technology mammography systems.
CUNY has taken a number of steps to improve the security of its data systems and to protect against disasters, including establishing information security forums, improving incident reporting and tracking of compliance, disseminating alerts and advisories, revising a security awareness-training module, implementing anti-phishing technology, applying more rigorous security architecture reviews, and coordinating centralized acquisition of security protections and services. CUNY also designed and launched a comprehensive program to bring professional best practices and a standardized approach to business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) planning university-wide (CUNY Master Plan 2016-2020, page 113). The College’s OCIS maintains a comprehensive BCDR plan. Critically identified data is replicated off-site. Colleges are working with University IT to build a more robust BCDR plan whereby colleges can replicate to University datacenters for business continuity purposes. CUNY is planning to deploy hybrid cloud services to improve IT service delivery efficiency and disaster preparedness across the university. Design is complete for a new state-of-the-art university data center with capacity for expansion and to offer disaster recovery computing environments to the colleges. CUNY will complete the new data center, migrate applications and operations, and go live by 2018 (CUNY Master Plan 2016-2020, page 112).
City Tech maintains an Emergency Response Plan, an Emergency Response Guide, and various emergency and evacuation information resources available on the Public Safety webpages, including information how to react in an active shooter scenario. All faculty and staff at CUNY are required to participate in an annual workplace violence prevention training program (CUNY Policy Campus and Workplace Violence Prevention, Fire Safety Director Maintenance Schedule).
DASNY (the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York) and CUNY Central collaborate frequently to review facilities projects and university-wide technology initiatives. Opportunities exist through the continued development of university-wide maintenance agreements for similar equipment/services to minimize costs and ensure that preventative maintenance is a top priority. Planning is linked to strategic goals through the university PMP and goal-setting and resource request processes at the college and university levels.
Criterion 7. Annual independent audit confirms financial viability with evidence of follow-up on any concerns;
Audits are conducted externally and internally. CUNY also conducts audits on a yearly basis. Additionally, all auxiliary entities are audited by an external auditor. There were no concerns reported and no follow-up required. (KPMG Basic Financial Statements June 2015, Auxiliary Enterprise Board of NYCCT FY16, AEB MINUTES JAN 28 2016, AEB MINUTES MAY 19 2016, AEB Bylaws NYCCT, Auxiliary Enterprise Corp & Boards CUNY Guidelines, City Tech Foundation Bylaws, College Association Financial Statements). These audited financial statements are submitted to MSCHE through the MSCHE annual reporting.
The CUNY Research Foundation (RFCUNY), a 501(c)(3) organization, serves as the fiscal agent for all governmental grants awarded to City Tech and for all grants from private sources that support personnel costs. Awards under RFCUNY management for all CUNY institutions exceed $400M annually. RFCUNY issues a consolidated financial statement each July, audited by KPMG LLP.
Criterion 8. Strategies are in place to measure and assess the adequacy and efficient utilization of resources;
City Tech is continually measuring the adequacy of the institution through the utilization of The City Tech Strategic Plan, 2014 – 2019, annual goals and targets processes, and assuring goals and objectives are supported and realized through surveys and reports. The annual CUNY Performance Management Process allows for linking planning and goals initiated by the University to be integrated by City Tech and then assessed. The CUNY Performance Management Process (PMP), as described in Criterion 1 above, has provided a sustained and measurable tool to improve effectiveness and transparency. CUNY PMP data are analyzed and evaluated. The college then addresses shortcomings formally in the next year’s goals and targets, reviews progress, and adopts and implements improvement strategies.
In addition to the PMP data, local assessments are fully available and easily accessible with successful participation rates on AIR. Internal assessment surveys support the rigorous internal review by City Tech to assure transparency and compliance with planning and resource allocation. The COACHE Survey is a critical feedback tool utilized by the college’s administration and further evaluated by focus groups led by the Provost.
Criterion 9. Effectiveness of planning, resource allocation, and institutional renewal processes are periodically assessed.
Senior level administrators, including the vice presidents and deans set annual goals and objectives for the areas they oversee and, at the end of the year, meet with the President and Vice Presidents to review progress and prioritize new goals and objectives for the coming year. Goals are linked to measurable targets such as can be evaluated based on data provided by the annual university PMP reports. Likewise, directors of administrative units and academic departments set annual goals and assess their achievement and evaluate their progress with the President and Provost. (Performance Goals and Targets 2015-16, Performance Goals and Targets 2015-16 for CUNY Executives, CIS Goals Targets 16-17). In this way, each office operates in the context of clearly stated goals for which there exist transparent assessment measures (See Standard I for details).
The CUNY Performance Management Process (PMP) links planning and goal setting by the University and its colleges and professional schools, measures annual progress towards key goals, such as raising academic quality, improving student success, and enhancing financial and management effectiveness. For each goal, the University articulates objectives with representative indicators, and the college identifies specific targets each year. At the end of the year, City Tech reports to the University the results for each objective. Progress towards each performance target is assessed and the president meets with the Chancellor to review the college’s progress and identify areas to be emphasized in the coming year (PMP Target Report – NYCCT 2015-2016, Year-End Progress Report – NYCCT).
Conclusion and Future Focus
City Tech has a tripartite organization with a vice president for each institutional function: academics, student life and support, and budget, finance, planning, and facilities (See organizational charts in Criterion 5, above). These three vice presidents are responsible for the management and oversight of their respective areas and report directly to the president. The CUNY PMP assesses University-wide goal attainment by which each college president is evaluated annually. The PMP uses the principles of continuous improvement management to help advance each CUNY college along a comprehensive set of benchmarks of institutional effectiveness. At City Tech, the three major organizational domains are at varying levels of assessment implementation. In the academic sphere, the measurement of student learning outcomes is driven by faculty under the guidance of the Office of Assessment and Institutional Research (AIR) and governed by Middle States and specialized accreditation agencies for particular programs (See Standard V). Assessment in the academic domain is highly developed. Increasingly, assessment of the effectiveness of enrollment management and student support resources and initiatives is being integrated with college-wide academic assessment activities so that major institutional indicators such as retention and graduation reflect not only academic assessment but a more holistic incorporation of non-academic aspects of the student experience. This integration of student support assessment with academic assessment will continue to expand. The assessment of operational and managerial functions for non-academic units including budget, finance, planning, and facilities is required by the PMP, which also uses a continuous improvement model to measure institutional effectiveness against CUNY-wide benchmarks for non-academic functions. While benchmarking the effectiveness of these functions against other CUNY colleges reveals excellence in indicators such as percentage of the institutional budget spent directly on students, an effort will be made to make the assessment process more transparent and widely understood.
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.
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