The Semester Begins!

Ready or not, school starts next week!

Sunday is Setters Day on the Pleasantville campus. The program begins at 4:30 PM-I'll be there to welcome new students and I hope to see some of you there. I went last year and enjoyed the event.

Tuesday is Academy Day. I'll be in NY in the morning and Pleasantville in the afternoon. I hope to see many of you at Academy Day, possibly at the CIS 101 meeting in the morning or at one or the other of the Academy Day events on either campus. I hope to finish the Common Reading, Mountains Beyond Mountains, before we discuss it on Tuesday. Please join your colleagues to welcome 29 first year students and transfer students to the New York City campus, and 18 first year students and transfer students to the Pleasantville campus. They join the 114 full time and 40 part time undergraduate students who will be returning to both campuses.

Mark your calendars NOW for convocation to be held on Friday, October 24. Details will be forthcoming but as of right now Tracey Kidder, the author of Mountains Beyond Mountains, is expected to be on campus.

Next week I'll be on the Pleasantville campus on Wednesday and Friday, and on the New York campus on Thursday. I'll be at the Graduate Center on Friday evening to welcome a new cohort of Educational Professionals to our DPS program.

The following week I'll be in New York on Monday and Thursday, Pleasantville on Tuesday and Friday and at the Graduate Center on Wednesday (got that 8:)?).

Some things that I'm currently working on:

The Strategic Planning Commitee report, which we hope to release in early October.

Reporting against the Three Year Plan, for President Steve Friedman-each Dean is monitoring activities in the five areas outlined in Steve's three year plan: growth, retention, academic reputation in selected areas, strategic repositioning and management culture.

Working with department and program chairs to define the role of a chair as we review administrative and academic structures.

I've been thinking about curricula, especially as I look at opportunities for interdisciplinary work. Other schools are offering "dual majors" in areas such as digital art and music, and Provost Brackett, Dean Hermann and I met to explore areas such as computer forensics, digital art, and other areas of mutual interest. I intend to meet with Deans Bazcko and Feldman to have similar conversations.

Finally, we are planning a memorial for our colleague Mike Gargano. Some of you may know that Mike and I worked together in the Management Science Group at the Equitable Life Assurance Society in the early 70's. I knew him for over 30 years. He was a wonderful colleague and a great friend, and we all miss him.

I wish all of us a productive semester.