September 12, 2022 English Department Newsletter
Newsletter Editor Jane Weiss
Welcome Back from English Department Chair Eileen Ferretti
A message from Eileen:
I hope that you enjoyed a relaxing and safe summer break. As we begin the fall 2022 semester, I would like to welcome new faculty members and a returning colleague to the English Department. I am listing only the names and credentials in this brief memo, saving space for them to introduce themselves in their own words at our first department meeting that will be held via Zoom on Thursday, September 22nd at 3PM.
Our new hires are:
Dr. Neil Kermis (Assistant Professor, ESL) who earned an Ed.D. in Adult Learning and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University in 2020
Ms. Maxine Krenzel (Lecturer ) who earned an MA from Columbia University in English and Comparative Literature in 2014. Maxine is completing the final stages of her Ph.D. at the Graduate Center (CUNY) in 2022.
Ms. Kristine Mariano, (Lecturer, ESL) who earned a Master of Arts degree: (TESOL) in 2006.
Dr. Carl Schlachte (Assistant Professor) who earned a Ph.D. in English (Rhetoric and Composition) at the University of North Carolina Greensboro in May 2019.
We also welcome Dr. Robert Cowan, Professor of English, who is returning to us after an assignment as a Dean at Hunter College. Welcome back, Rob!
I would also like to welcome and acknowledge our administrative staff: Christine Marchese, Audrey Phillips, and Shelly Benjamin, who provide a great deal of support for me, the faculty members who teach, and the students who attend classes during the summer break. I am truly appreciative of all they do for us.
As noted below, our first English Department meeting will take place via Zoom on Thursday, September 29nd at 3PM. In addition to hearing from our new and returning faculty members, the members of the department P&B suggested, and I agree, that we might spend some time at this meeting discussing the new course modalities and the various combinations of in-person and online configurations they open up for us in the future. I invite you to bring your questions, concerns, and ideas to this conversation.
Our second meeting, tentatively scheduled on Tuesday, October 25th at 3PM will bring us back to the topic of Department Bylaws. I hope that we can bring this idea full circle in a whole group discussion where various voices and perspectives can be heard by all members of the department in a large group setting.
There are no definite topics planned for our third meeting, tentatively scheduled on Tuesday, November 29th at 3PM. My hope is that relevant subject matter will surface as the semester unfolds.
I promised myself that I would keep my first greeting brief, so that you can get back to the very important work of planning to meet with your students for the first full week of classes. I wish everyone a wonderful and productive fall semester! Take care of yourselves and be well!
Fall 2022 English Department Meetings
The English Department will meet Thursday, September 29, 2022 3:00 PM-4:30 PM; Tuesday, October 25, 2022 3:00 PM-4:30 PM (with the English Department Bylaws proposals as the main focus); and Tuesday, November 29, 2022 3:00 PM-4:30 PM. Zoom links will be sent before the meetings.
Composition Office Hours
Office hours in C309B:
Greg: Mondays and Wednesdays, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm;
Rachel: Mondays and Wednesdays, from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm
Remote office hours:
Greg: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 am to 10:00 am:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6372657798?pwd=L28zMVBxenZzR05vbU1GRis5ajRUZz09 ;
Rachel: Fridays, 9:00 am to 11:00 am https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5834566892
CRC Meeting Dates for Fall 2022
A message from Greg Bruno and Rachel Ihara:
As of this year, CRC Meetings are open to the entire Department, although only committee members may vote. Here are the meeting dates:
Tuesday, September 20th, from 3pm-4:30pm
Tuesday, October 18th, from 3pm-4:30pm
Tuesday, November 22, from 3pm-4:30pm
Tuesday, December 13th (Reading day), from 11am-1pm
Academic Calendar
Fall 2021 day and evening classes began, Friday, September 9, 2022. Verification of Enrollment rosters will be available in CUNYfirst on Friday, September 16, 2022. The Verification of Enrollment rosters will be due on Sunday, September 25, 2022. Classes will not meet Sunday, September 25 through Tuesday, September 27, 2022; Tuesday, October 4 through Wednesday, October 5, 2022; Monday, 10 October 2022; and Thursday, November 24 through Sunday, November 27, 2022. The last day of day and evening classes is Monday, December 12, 2022. The exam period is Wednesday, December 14 through Tuesday, December 20, 2022. All grade rosters for Fall 2022 are due by Friday, December 23, 2022.
Workload Forms
If you have not already done so, please send your Fall 2022 workload forms to the English Department immediately. You can find blank workload forms (and the handy 19-page guide to filling them out) at https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/aa/forms.html
Fall 2022 PSC-CUNY Meetings
A message from Scott Cally, PSC-CUNY Chapter Chair:
All PSC-CUNY members are welcome at our first PSC union chapter meeting of the semester on Monday, September 19th at 4:00 PM via zoom. We are at the beginning of what promises to be a busy year and there is a lot to report. PSC-CUNY would like to extend a special invitation to our new faculty to join us at our meeting. As always, all KCC employees working in PSC represented titles are welcome to attend. Finally, please mark your calendars for our chapter meetings on November 2nd and December 5th. Both meetings will start at 4:00 via zoom.
Updates from the Writing Center
A message from Tony Iantosca:
Here are a few important updates from KLC’s writing center. First, and perhaps most importantly, we have a new sign-up process that uses a system called TracCloud. The sign-up instructions have been sent to your KCC email. Please share these instructions with your students, and let me know if anyone has trouble signing up. A flier which you can share with your classes has also been sent to your KCC email. It includes links to the sign-up page, our hours, and other useful information for students. We are slowly moving towards having more in-person and on campus sessions, but the option remains for students to schedule virtual ones. The Writing Center frequently updating our online resources for students, which includes helpful handouts, study guides and instructional videos on the writing process. Here are the links for the handouts as well as the instructional videos:
Handouts and Guides: https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/KLC/TutoringResources.html
Video Library: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmQGwgC4-PVQV_UViraCHvw/videos
Campus Reopening Hub
For information about KCC’s reopening, visit the new KCC Campus Reopening Hub: http://kbcc.cuny.edu/campusentry/index.html . You can find information about the reopening plan, mask policies, on campus COVID-19 testing, the Cleared4 pass and visitor policies.
KCC Information Technology Services Office
You can call KCC’s ITS Help Desk at (718) 368-6679 or email helpdesk@kbcc.cuny.edu 9:00 – 5:00 on weekdays. For Blackboard support during hours when KCC’s Help Desk is not available, call 1-646-664-2024
Sending Email to Your Classes: Additional Ways to Do It
For KCC communications – with department staff, with students, with Eileen – please use your KCC email address, not personal email accounts, whenever possible.
You can send email to any or all of the students in the classes that you currently teach by logging into CUNYfirst, clicking Faculty Center, and then the class roster; check the boxes in the column headed “Notify” to select individual students, or click “Notify All Students” at the bottom of the roster to send an email to everyone in the class. In Blackboard, you can send emails to all students or selected students by clicking “Send Email” in the course menu. The KCC IT office has also created email lists for each of your classes in Inside KCC on the KCC website, in the following format:
SubjectCatalog.ClassNumber@groups.kingsborough.edu
For example, if you are teaching Art 100 and the class number is 123456, your email distribution list would look like the following:
ART100.123456@GROUPS.KINGSBOROUGH.EDU
You can view email distribution lists for your courses by clicking Inside KCC at the top of the KCC website https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/ and selecting KCC Notices, Faculty and Staff Notices, and then log in to Inside KCC using your KCC email username and password; select Email Groups. You will see a table that will list all the courses you teach. You can also click on Members to view all the students that are enrolled in that particular course distribution list. You can send test emails to your students. If you do not see any courses listed or some are missing, please notify the IT Services office support@groups.kingsborough.edu Include these in your email: your EMPLID, the subject, the catalog number and class number for the courses that are missing. If there are students missing, please provide the same information above as well as the EMPLID for the student(s). Send this information to support@groups.kingsborough.edu Requests will be responded and replied to within 48 hours.
CUNY Alerts
To receive notifications by phone, text, or email regarding campus conditions, sign up for CUNY Alert by logging on to CUNYfirst. Once you have logged on, the CUNYfirst Main Menu will be near the top of the screen on the left side. Click CUNY Alert Subscription to sign up; you can update contact information at CUNY Alert Preferences. You can check KCC’s home page www.kbcc.cuny.edu/ for updates about campus conditions.
A Note about the Newsletter
The next issue of the Newsletter will come out on Monday, 19 September 2022. Please send newsletter items by Friday, 16 September 2022 to Jane Weiss at Jane.Weiss@kbcc.cuny.edu. Please keep items brief (preferably 100 or fewer words). Longer items will be abridged.
