September 22-28

Another week of meetings-I had no idea how many meetings a Dean is expected to attend. My schedule is at the end of this post, so just scroll down if that's all you are interested in.

This week included:

• The Mortola Heritage Luncheon, an event that recognizes those people who have remembered the university in their wills. A highlight of the lunch was a performance by students in the performing arts program-a medley of show tunes sung by seniors, accompanied by a first year student on the piano. It was a pleasure to see Mrs. Mortola, and to meet alumns (and others) from all years.
• A meeting of the Campaign Executive Committee.
• A meeting with Seidenberg staff who report directly to the Dean.
• A meeting with Ted Brodheim, the CIO for New York City's Department of Education and a member of our advisory board.
• Lunch with Joe Bazcko, Dean of the Lubin School, to discuss areas of shared interest where we might collaborate.

I've been looking over our enrollment numbers, and I'm concerned. I'll be following this posting with a note to all of you once we get the "final" fall numbers, but I can say with certainty that we did not meet our budgeted goal for first year students. This makes faculty involvement in open houses even more critical. Faculty, make sure that these dates are on your calendars: the first Westchester open house on Sunday, November 9, and the first New York open house on Sunday, November 16. Our graduate enrollment is slowing returning and that's the good news.

I'm continuing to meet members of our Advisory Board. I'm working with Jeanne Dennison in Philanthropy to begin the planning of our premier fund raising event, Leadership in Service to Technology, to be held in June.

I'm working with department chairs, program chairs and curriculum committee chairs to review and reinvigorate our curricula. You will be hearing much more about this as the semester goes on, including some exciting inter-disciplinary initiatives with Dyson College.

Here's my schedule for the next two weeks:

The week of 9/29: Monday and Friday I’m in Pleasantville; Wednesday I’m in NY. Thursday I'm at the Graduate Center. Tuesday is Rosh Hashannah and I'll be out of the office.

The week of 10/6: Monday and Tuesday, I'm in Pleasantville, Wednesday, NYC and Friday I'm at the Graduate Center. Thursday is Yom Kippur and I'll be out of the office. Friday October 10 is the date for the Seidenberg Faculty Council meeting.

As a "heads up" I'll be out of the office from Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, October 22 through the 25 in Reno, Nevada, presenting a paper at the Professional and Organizational Development Network Conference.

If you are celebrating the Jewish New Year, I wish you a sweet year, l'shana tova.