President's Report 2/9/24

February 09, 2024 / Lyndsay Rhodes

Board of Trustees Updates

The BOT met February 8th, 2024, for a limited agenda meeting. The BOT approved audit reports for 1. Performance Based Funding Data Integrity Audit, 2. Athletics National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Report, and 3. WGCU Public Media Audit Report. The purpose of these audits is to ensure proper reporting of operations to the BOG. The reports are available on the BOT website. The next full Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Thursday April 9th at 8:30am in the Cohen Ballroom.

FGCU Townhall – Understanding Performance-Based Funding and Metrics

The President and Cabinet held a townhall Friday February 2nd to discuss Performance Based Funding and Metrics. Topics included background on PFB in Florida, information on benchmarks and how these measures impact funding, as well as our current position and how our new strategic plan will impact our future performance. The President and Cabinet would like feedback on these events and future topics. Please feel free to send that feedback to me.

Interfolio

The Interfolio portal, first used for Promotion portfolio submissions, was expanded to process applications for Sabbatical and Professional Development Leave this past cycle. Interfolio use will continue to expand to other processes to simplify them. The next process in the queue is Professional Development Plans (PDP) which is expected to begin in Fall 2024. You have received several emails from Andi Clemons with information on training sessions related to preparing for this new process. I encourage faculty to start familiarizing themselves with this new system and process and the transition is likely to take a little more hands-on work to get started. However, I think there is a lot of promise in using this system for capturing activities and evidence that can then be used for Annual Professional Development Reports (APDR) and Annual Evaluations, which can also be tied to Promotion portfolios. If you have any questions on the process timeline or training opportunities, please reach out to Andi Clemmons.

Career Advancement Assistance Program

A reminder that Academic Affairs is offering funding for course release time to support scholarship and career development through the Career Advancement Assistance Program. This initiative is being funded off the recruitment and retention funds provided by the state. The purpose of the program is to provide time for faculty members to engage meaningfully in activities that yield outputs and impacts enhancing FGCU’s scholarly impact and timely promotion of faculty members. Faculty categories included in this initiative are those on the professor and instructor tracks. During the career advancement assistance program, faculty teaching load and/or other assignments will be reduced, and no overload teaching will be permitted. The deadline for the Fall 2024 Career Advancement semester is Thursday February 15, 2024. Please submit your application in entirety to Julie Leyden (jleyden@fgcu.edu). For more information, refer to the Career Advancement Guidelines and Cover Page.

Commencement

There will be 4 Spring Commencement ceremonies this year: Saturday May 4th @ 10am (Lutgert College of Business and the Water School), Saturday May 4th @ 3pm (Marieb College of Health and Human Services and Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship), Sunday May 5th @ 10am (College of Arts & Sciences – minus Psychology and Communications), Sunday May 5th, @ 3pm (College of Arts & Sciences - Psychology and Communications, College of Education, Whitaker College of Engineering). Be on the lookout for calls for faculty involvement.

Update on the alma mater: Some of you may have noticed a change in the alma mater lyrics, specifically a reference to “royal blue” at the Installation ceremony. I have been assured by Pam McCabe that this was an accidental mistake (not part of the new marketing campaign) and has been corrected. The proper lyrics remain “Emerald Green and Cobalt Blue”. Thanks to all who caught this.