Provost Talks Academics at Student Association
Michael Oleaga
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: News
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Feature Editor
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Geoffrey L. Brackett visited the Student Association (SA) meeting on Jan. 29 to answer some of the questions of the students who attended.
The duties of the Provost, according to the Pace official website, are to lead "programs, faculty and staff development; academic administration, planning and budgeting; collaborative outreach; teaching excellence, assessment and innovation; university-wide research and scholarship."
Brackett thanked the S.A. for welcoming him.
"2009 was a year we're glad to have at our rear view window," Brackett said.
S.A. President George Beauzile delivered a question about the diversity in the faculty.
"Every year, we have a question to make the University more diverse; I've seen only seven minority teachers. What's being done to increase diversity in the faculty?"
The Provost replied by explaining the process of how the professors are hired.
"Every faculty search is done by a committee. We had a series of faculty hiring's and several processes going on right now".
Beauzile continued with the topic and asked if there is anything we can do "to bring diverse hirings."
"What I would be happy to do is have these search info be brought in the S.A. and SGA (Student Government Association, the student government at the NYC campus) for discussion," answered Brackett.
The next topic raised was how students can be aware of new classes and announcements regarding their majors.
"We want to approve all communications," Brackett added. "We are upgrading the [Pace] website with the course catalog."
He mentioned how marketing for Pace is "big" right now, citing the appointments of Tom Terrello as Vice President of University Relations and Ganesan Ravishanker as Chief Information Office (CIO) late last summer.
He mentioned major changes revolving around advising, faculty and majors, with Brackett stating "[Pace is] building a robust database."
Regarding communications with the student population, he told the S.A, "You're very slippery. Most of you don't read some emails, and I've spoken to people and they say to send information on Facebook."
Another senator asked about the Challenge to Achievement at Pace (CAP) classes offered online. She asked if the number of spots available can increase, as they are not in an actual classroom with set numbers of seats.
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