On October 14, 2021, our VP for Collective Bargaining, Mark Leymon, testified at the Board of Trustees quarterly meeting. (President Jennifer Kerns had class at that same hour. Thank you Mark for stepping in!) Among a few things Leymon spoke to with members of the Board was the recent assertion by Provost Jeffords that we will become a “hybrid University” in the near future. In an October 4, 2021 message to the PSU community, Jeffords shared that admin had “begun to consider what it would mean to become a fully hybrid university, with the flexibility that many of our students need to stay in college and graduate. This question fits into the larger framework of ReImagine PSU, our ongoing effort to better position our campus for the future.” As Leymon shared with the Board, this took many members of the PSU community by surprise. Is this the direction we are headed? Has the Faculty Senate weighed in on this? What about the FS Educational Policy Committee? Is it a fait accompli? While more recent conversations with President Percy have suggested it is in fact not a set, predetermined model for the University’s future, we encourage you to monitor conversations in the Faculty Senate and within your department. Will faculty be allowed to determine what methodology they want to deliver their curriculum? While we want to best serve our students and ensure that the University thrives, it is our contention that making drastic long term decisions in the middle of a pandemic is not appropriate and the University must adhere to the values of shared governance.
We did learn that in the fall of 2021, the Office of Student Success conducted a pulse questionnaire survey of students to determine their course modality preferences. We have some quibbles with the survey itself as well as the timing of such a survey (the pandemic really does skew results!). If you have time, take a look at the results of this survey. Our conclusion? #it’scomplicated
Overall results are here with analysis broken down by college, department, subject, and course level at the following links:
NEWSLETTER, PSU-AAUP, HIGHER ED FACULTY
Board of Trustees Conversation: Hybrid University?
November 02, 2021 / PSU-AAUP