Newsletter Editor Jane Weiss

Spring 2024 Final Exam Schedule

Academic Scheduling has published the final exam schedule for this semester. You’ll notice that it’s a somewhat different approach than previous terms. The exam times generally resemble the times that the classes meet during the semester. Please take a moment to review the final exam meeting times for the courses you are teaching and let Annie know if you discover a conflict between any of your courses. https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/registrar/finals-schedule.html

Annual Awards Ceremony Monday 10 June 2024 at 6:30 PM

Please join Kingsborough Community College in honoring our students as we celebrate their accomplishments in the areas of academic scholarship, leadership, and service. The ceremony will be held on Monday, June 10th at 6:30pm in the Leon M. Goldstein Performing Arts Center with a reception to follow afterwards in the MAC Lighthouse.

11 June 2024: English Department Bruncheon

On Tuesday of finals week, 11 June 2024 from 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM, the English Department will hold a “bruncheon” in C333. We’re hopeful that many of you will choose to attend! Thank you, Enid, for arranging catering and logistics for this event! If you plan to attend, please drop off your cash payment in the English department office for Enid Stubin or Elroy Esdaille – in envelopes in their mailboxes – or with Christine or Shelly. In order to cover costs, we’re asking full-time faculty for $25 and part-time faculty for $10. If you have achievements you would like Annie to make at the bruncheon, please email them to Annie: ann.delprincipe@kbcc.cuny.edu

Spring 202 Grade Rosters Due Sunday 16 June 2024

CUNYfirst Grade rosters will be available in the Faculty Center tile in CUNYfirst beginning on 6 June 2024. Final Grades are due before 11:59 PM on Sunday 16 June 2024. Grades must be submitted on or before the due date noted. “WN” grades cannot be assigned at the end of the semester. 

Spring Session B 2024 (Summer) classes begin on Thursday 20 June 2024. Submitting your grades has an impact on registration into necessary courses for the next term and or your student’s pending graduation requirements needed to be approved for degree conferral. Inaccurate or late submission of Grade Rosters may result in loss or inaccurate financial aid awarding for students for the 2023-2024 Academic Year. Instructors will receive automated email reminders if grades are not submitted by the published deadline. If grades remain outstanding the matter will be referred to the appropriate Chairperson and the Provost’s Office. 

To access the grade rosters in the CUNYfirst Faculty Center, log on to the Kingsborough Website at www.kbcc.cuny.edu. Hover the mouse over “QUICK LINKS”, in the drop-down menu select “CUNYfirst Portal”. If you prefer to login to CUNYfirst directly, type the URL https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu in your web browser’s address bar.

For additional information regarding the Grade Roster, please contact: Avery Mullen, Registrar (avery.mullen@kbcc.cuny.edu); Sandy Lujan, Associate Registrar (sandy.lujan@kbcc.cuny.edu); or Registrar.kcc@kbcc.cuny.edu.

End of Term Reminders

Here are a few important reminders regarding college-wide and department-specific policies and protocols for the end of the semester.

Faculty availability to students during finals week: All faculty are required to use two hours per course of our regularly-scheduled teaching time during finals week for an educationally appropriate activity. If you wish to give a final exam, this is the ideal time to do it. Of course, many of us do not give timed final exams, and there are a variety of other ways we might use this time: to give back student work and have conferences with individual students, to have students turn in final work and complete some sort of meta-cognitive reflection, etc. These meetings may take place in the classroom assigned to your course for this purpose. No finals week meetings may take place in C309, the English department office suite.

Saving student work/records: Please remember that each faculty member is required by the CUNY Records & Retention Policy to keep copies of their own students’ final exams and/or sample final coursework for one year after final course grades have been assigned. The precise form the student sample coursework takes will depend, of course, on the courses you taught this term and the final projects you assigned to your students. Please plan to retain student work that is appropriate to the courses you’ve taught this term.

Creating, saving, and submitting a final grade roster: The CUNY Records & Retention Policy also states that instructors must keep a copy of their “grade records, tests scores, and marking sheets” for two years after final grades have been submitted. While this is the responsibility of each individual faculty member, the department requests that you complete and submit to Shelly Benjamin (Shelly.Benjamin@kbcc.cuny.edu) a simple, grid roster for each of your courses that includes very basic information: student name and ID number, last date of class attended, final grade, and, if you assigned an “Incomplete” grade, a simple list of what the student is required to submit in order to resolve the incomplete. A Word document with a usable form has been sent to your KCC email address. If you have a different grid you’d like to send Shelly, that is fine, but please ensure that it is digital, is legible, and contains at least the information I’ve listed here. These records make it much easier for course coordinators/directors to help resolve minor student questions regarding final grades without having to contact you while you are on annual leave.

Final grades are due before11:59 pm on Sunday 16 June 2024 on CUNY first.

KCC Commencement Wednesday 18 June 2024

The Kingsborough Community College Commencement Committee is pleased to announce that the 59th Commencement Exercises will be held in person on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Faculty are encouraged to attend, and if you do not have regalia, you can still come to the faculty seating area. (Faculty in regalia will be seated in front of unrobed faculty, for good photo ops.) If the weather forecast is severe, please call 718-368-6553 on the morning of June 18 for a recorded announcement indicating the status of the ceremony. For questions regarding commencement exercises email Commencement@kbcc.cuny.edu

A Note about the Newsletter 

A message from Jane Weiss, the Newsletter editor:  

The next issue of the Newsletter will come out on Monday 10 June 2024. Please send newsletter items by Friday 7 June 2024 to Jane Weiss at Jane.Weiss@kbcc.cuny.edu. Please keep items brief (preferably 100 or fewer words). Longer items will be abridged. Many faculty members would like to learn more about colleagues’ areas of scholarship, so if you would like to share what you’re working on, the Newsletter will welcome descriptions of your research and recent or upcoming presentations, publications, and performances of all kinds.