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JPBC Minutes: February 19, 2026

8:30 – 10:30 a.m., Seymour Union, Room 220

Attendees

Voting Members

Mike Andriatch
Jennifer Blood
Monica Brasted
Susan Butler
Denise Copelton
Jana Craft
Scott Haines
Tim Henry
Theresa Martinez
Carl O’Connor
Kathy Peterson
Heather Raczkowski
Logan Rath
Jamie Spiller
Robert Wyant

Non-Voting Members

Thomas Chew
Eileen Daniel
Keith Davis
Crystal Hallenbeck-McPhall
Ian Harper: Co-Chair
Mike Harrison
Rachael Killion
Elliot Weininger: Co-Chair
Melissa Wight

 

Guests

Don Bigelow
Dave Bagley
Priya Banerjee
Christine Dima
Brittany Narburgh
Megan Sarkis
Rey Sia

Regrets

Voting Members


Lorraine Acker
Steve Barber
Frances Dearing
Tom Hernandez
Sara Kelly
Stephanie Learn
Nautica Murray
Elizabeth Thorpe

Non-Voting Members


President Macpherson


The meeting was called to order at 8:32 a.m.

 

Approval of the November 13, 2025 and February 5, 2026 Minutes

 

Dr. Weininger asked the committee to review the November 13, 2025, meeting minutes.  Dr. Peterson motioned to approve the minutes; Ms. Martinez seconded the motion. Members voted to approve the minutes. Therefore, the minutes were approved. 

Dr. Weininger asked the committee to review the February 5, 2026, meeting minutes. Dr. Peterson motioned to approve the minutes; Ms. Martinez seconded the motion. Members voted to approve the minutes. Therefore, the minutes were approved.

Announcements 

Dr. Weininger announced the following items:

  • Our next meeting will be on the broad-based fees. This meeting is a longer meeting so that we can fit all of the presentations. The meeting will start at 8am and will be on February 26, 2026. We have changed the format and will be holding the meeting in the McCue Auditorium. This meeting will be open to students, and we will be recording the fee presentations, but not the question and answer sessions that occur.
  • We have open positions for JPBC with terms starting in fall 2026 and the nomination period ends on Monday, February 23, 2026. We are recruiting for a faculty representative for the College of Education and Health, two professional staff representatives and the faculty co-chair elect. 

Undergraduate Admissions Update

 

Mr. Wyant provided an update on Undergraduate Admissions. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding obtaining more information on transfer students. It was stated that admitting transfer students has become competitive. UB is growing their transfer population enrollment. Empire State is a big one that we compete against as well. I think we lose transfer students to the melt population every year due to either academic programming, location, or cost. Those are the three big things that we always see in some form. Another word we hear a lot is online. Our students need that flexibility, and if they cannot get it here, they are going to go somewhere else that they can get it.
  • The question was raised whether Mr. Wyant could elaborate more on undergraduate transfer students looking for fully online versus in-person programs. It was stated that not all transfer students are looking for fully online. There is still definitely the market for the in-person portion of it, but there are so many online options for students. There is a large portion of students that work, especially in our adult population. That is why we are seeing competition from Empire.
  • The question was raised regarding what is causing the increase in out-of-state applications. It was stated that it is due to our direct admission program. We have 2,675 Common App Direct Admits and 352 Niche Direct Admits. I would say about 75% of the Niche Direct Admits are out of state. It is easier to apply for the direct admit because they have peace of mind knowing they are going to get accepted. So, I think that is where we are seeing most of our increase from and this is the first year with this program.
  • The question was raised regarding if our out of state tuition rate is more competitive than New Jersey’s in state tuition rate. It was stated that it is competitive, however we do not have the state grant. So, if they are from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, or Connecticut, they can not bring their state grant to New York State. That inherently puts us behind the eight ball a little bit. So that is where we have to be creative and figure out how we can compete with that. So, for New Jersey, for example, if they are in the higher income brackets, they are not eligible for a state grant. Those students, we can compete with financially because they are not losing a state grant because they do not have it. That is the same for other states as well, but some of those states have significant state grants that are hard to compete with. Pell eligible students, for example, are going to be a struggle for us to compete financially. How do we get them here? Athletics is usually the top draw and then programs, if we have a specialized program that they are really interested in.
  • The question was raised regarding SUNY Reconnect and is it potentially negatively impacting us now, but do you think it will positively affect us in a couple of years? It was stated that SUNY Reconnect is basically free community college for adult learners. So, individuals from age 25-55 with no degree can go to a community college for free for certain programs. Some of the fields are advanced manufacturing, AI, cybersecurity, engineering, green renewable energy, nursing, pathways to teaching and technology. Community colleges are definitely seeing growth in applications because of this. We did not really lose on this because it is the post traditional population. We do not have a huge number in the 25 to 50 age bracket so it is not directly affecting us negatively. However, I do think there is an opportunity to try to find pathways to match these programs. But again, you look at the demographic, 25 plus working adults. So how do they get here Monday through Friday? It has to be online. Some of these programs, we do have a direct pathway online, but some of them we just do not.
  • The question was raised regarding where the enrollment is in the community college sector and whether it has stabilized. It was stated it depends on where you are looking at. The Long Island community colleges are up significantly. Population helps with that. MCC, FLCC and GCC are all up over the last year, but marginally. Being up over last year, is still being down 40,000 from where they were 10 years ago. So, they are seeing some rebound, but the sector as a whole is still down by over 100,000 students over the last 15 years.
  • The question was raised regarding whether we are pulling different people from who we were pulling 10 years ago and whether that is because of the online option because our transfer numbers have been solid. It was stated that online is a big part of it. Our ODCs are averaging about 33% and it is a draw for us.
  • The question was raised regarding whether there is potential to grow in the ODC area. It was stated that in some majors, yes, but some programs are capped out.
  • The question was raised regarding whether UB will be able to sustain their large class size and if this would cause housing issues for them. It was stated that UB does not require on campus housing and their suburban location offers many off campus housing options. There were a lot of parents panicking in the parent Facebook page because the students were tripled. It was added that their recruitment budget is massive, but we have to stick to who we are, a personalized type of institution. We try to hit that all the time with our messaging and the affordability message is also very important. On Accepted Student Day, when you speak with families, when they see a department or they do a daily tour and they meet with a faculty member afterwards, those interactions are so important because they are not getting that at UB. So that is how we have to compete with them.
  • The question was raised regarding the next 2-4 years we seem to be leveling off in terms of undergraduate enrollment and does the mean we can have a relatively stable forecast. It was stated that in an ideal world, I think flat is good in a declining demographic, because if your customer base is shrinking by 2-3% a year and you are still able to maintain the same enrollment, it means you are growing your market share. We have a lot of programs that are actually in the top 10-15% in terms of nationwide program demands. There is an increase in interest in pre law. So how do we get some on our programs to align that way? It is about the career-oriented aspect of it. We are looking at ways to try to change that for the fall open house. I think students think about it in terms of careers.
  • The question was raised regarding whether there is anticipation that as a result of the demographics, at least at the system level, the undergraduate population will shrink. It was stated that the greatest threat to SUNY is in the comprehensive sector because the data shows the biggest drops and declines are in the comprehensive sector. The techs grew a little bit and community college grew a little bit over the past year. I think in this economy, one of the hardest things that we have to fight against is our biggest competitor, which is the couch, meaning they did not go anywhere.
  • The question was raised regarding whether we dove into why the couch is our biggest competitor. It was stated that when we look at the reasons why students decline their offer, cost is usually the top reason. A family that has zero income, that is full TAP and Pell, if they get no scholarship at all, their gap to pay their bill for the year is over $7,000. This is if you live on campus.
  • The question was raised regarding how many of the individuals that chose the couch are first generation. It was stated that my guess is it is a decent number. I could get the number at a later date by correlating costs with first generations status.

Center for Graduate Studies Update


Mr. Harrison provided an update on the Center for Graduate Studies. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding splitting the data to differentiate between master’s and doctoral students. It was stated that right now we only have two doctoral programs so they are easy to track right now, but we can always break up the data for those.
  • The statement was made that we need to look into splitting out the doctorate students from the master’s students because the work that it done at those levels is very different. As a university, we need to embrace the doctorate level as different from the master’s level. It was stated that we are still new to the world of doctoral programs. There are things we need to think about like policy and what policy looks like. We received an inquiry into our office about graduate Distinguished Scholar awards and the length of submissions for consideration, for those in terms of their work. So, there are lot of things that we still need to think about. It is just change related to growth.
  • The question was raised regarding if new programs are the reason for the velocity of growth. It was stated that it is. We have brought on a fair number of new programs over the last five years, and these have been attractive programs. As some of you may or may not know, we also have some programs that are currently on hiatus that are not accepting applications. So, it is not simply just adding programs. We have had some programs that have not done as well that are not currently admitting programs. We have the online piece that has been very significant for us in terms of almost 90% of the new programs have been online and a number have shifted to online, and we have seen growth even in programs that were strong. Our literacy program was a strong program, but we started to see more competition and the numbers dropped a bit. The program shifted to online and now it is one of the top three programs enrolled every semester. One of the dynamics for us is that in our older model before we were online at the graduate level, we were still mostly a regional institution. We were pulling primarily from Central New York and Western New York. Now you will see Monroe County is still the largest county that we pull from, but now we are able to market the online programs, so Suffolk and Nassau Counties are number two and three in terms of our enrollment. It is not because these folks are moving here. It is because you can now enroll as a Brockport graduate student from wherever they are. In addition, we have shifted the dynamic to relate the program to the profession. Most people who are looking at graduate programs are interested in either one of two things. They want to advance in the career that they are in, or they want to change careers.
  • The question was raised regarding whether online tuition costs vary. It was stated that online tuition costs only vary if you are an out of state student.
  • The question was raised regarding the unique recruiting method that is being used with student clubs. It was stated that the model at the graduate level is very different than the undergraduate. Undergraduate Admissions can go into high schools and get a captive audience. The standard operating practice for recruiting undergraduate students at the graduate level is fairs, but those are a dying thing. Attendance at these is almost non-existent or the Career Services offices that host them do not put us in the greatest of locations. Many fairs at the local and national level have transitioned to virtual ones in hopes of capturing more individuals. Truth is, that really has not been the end result. Marketing is key because we do not always have a place to go, but one of the places is to connect with student clubs and organizations on campus. We are not always welcome onto a college campus if they have graduate programs, because everyone is competing for enrollment. The education club at an institution can invite us and we can talk about our teacher education programs, so on and so forth. Our faculty across many of our disciplines here have done the same. This has been a really unique opportunity for us to gain an audience that we might not otherwise have.
  • The question was raised regarding whether we have any partnerships with large corporations to be their preferred graduate provider. It was stated that we do not have a lot of those corporate partners at this point. That is where partnerships with Dean’s offices are really important to us, and academic disciplines who are sometimes tied into industries. We are always looking to explore those opportunities, but that it is not something that we have capitalized on the same way that we could moving forward.
  • The question was raised regarding what proportion of the current graduate enrollment is online only. It was stated that it is a slightly difficult question to answer because we have exclusively online programs, hybrid programs and in-person programs. If you want me to break down the enrollment into online versus not online, my guess would be 75-80% of our graduate students are enrolled in an online program.
  • The question was raised regarding what is the percentage of the enrollment that has a Brockport connection. It was stated that when I first started, I would say it was 45-50% of the graduate student population had been a student at Brockport once upon a time. I do not want to say that there were always graduates because they do not always finish. Sometimes they leave, but then they come back to graduate school. The percentage now is not as high because our enrollment numbers have gone up, so we have outpaced that growth. We do ask that our faculty continue to talk about our programs, but there is still more work to be done. We also partner with Alumni Relations, and we have been doing a lot more with them lately in terms of when they are sending our newsletters to alumni and other dynamics.
  • The statement was made that the next step should be recruiting within the master’s program for the doctoral program. It was stated yes; we have multiple levels to recruit from. We have the post bachelor’s degree certificates that you do not need to have a master’s degree to enroll in. We have master’s degrees and we have Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) that require you to have a master’s degree to enroll in. These are mostly in Educational Administration and Counselor Education. Then we have doctoral programs. So yes, we recruit our own graduate students to continue their education into additional graduate programs here.
  • A follow-up statement was made regarding the MS in Athletic Training; we are finding that our Brockport students are so much better prepared than the students we were getting from other places. In past years we may have enrolled someone with a 3.5 GPA from another SUNY school over someone who had a 3.0 GPA here, but now we might take the person with the 3.0 GPA from here over the person with the 3.5 GPA from someplace else because we know they are going to be better prepared.
  • The statement was made that we also have accelerated programs where an undergraduate program creates a relationship with a graduate program. It is an opportunity for undergraduate students to take graduate courses to satisfy undergraduate degree requirements at undergraduate tuition up to a certain number of credits. Then when they apply for the accelerated pathway, they are already admitted in the graduate program. So, once their bachelor’s degree is awarded, they become a graduate student here. It is a way for us to recruit them early on, give them some benefits and keep them here at Brockport for as long as we can. This is really an admission tool.
  • It was stated that this semester they will be pushing the Master’s in Nursing Education as a direct pathway.
  • The statement was made that the MBA faculty have been challenged to think about the online degree completion program in Business Administration as a bridge for people who are already working. They may not have a business undergraduate degree, but they want to get into an MBA program so we can use the online degree completion courses as a way into our MBA. So, using it differently is something we are thinking about.

Global Education and Engagement Update

 

Mr. Davis and Ms. Dima provided an update on Global Education and Engagement. The following questions, answers and discussion points occurred:

  • Appreciation was extended for the presentation.
  • The question was raised regarding whether there are any auditing or enforcement of an F1 visa student being enrolled in nine credits. It was stated that yes, there is a report that we have to submit and if students are not enrolled their immigration records are automatically terminated. So, there are registration reports that we run to see how many credit hours students are in every semester.
  • The question was raised regarding how the attendance piece is monitored. It was stated that it is up to the flagging in Slate. The ASC or their advisor will usually reach out to our department to see if we know what is going on with a student that has been flagged. If the student is not flagged, then we do not know about it. Otherwise, we will reach out to the student and see what is going on. Just a couple of weeks ago, we tracked down a student, and he was able to clarify what was going on and we fixed it.
  • The question was raised regarding what proportion of students are not physically in the United States that attend online. It was stated that the Global Education enrollment numbers are students that are all here. If they are an international student who is doing a fully online program, they would not necessarily go through our office, and we would not really know about them.
  • The question was raised regarding whether we recruit international students for online programs. It was stated that we do recruit for online programs, but our primary target is in-person. When we are traveling, individuals are interested in online programs, so we talk to them about our online opportunities. It is a big market for us in the Caribbean, mainly because individuals need to stay home for some reason but have connections with Brockport. We are also seeing children of students that studied at Brockport 20 years ago, come here because they have a U.S. passport. They come up to us and say they are international, but we do not know who they are because they used their U.S. passport.
  • The statement was made that the University of Rochester had to re-strategize their MBA programs because it was fully in-person, but their international population started shrinking. Same thing for RIT, which is fully online now, had to completely shift because 60% of their market was a particular country. Both institutions are heavily affected by everything we see going on.

Review and Endorse Call Letters for BASC, BSG and DIFR

Members reviewed and endorsed the call letters for BASC, BSG and DIFR.

Review and Vote on Summer Course Fee

Members reviewed the fee increase request for NUR 342 Foundations for Professional Practice for go from $155 to $187 to help cover the overall cost of the Exam Soft license. The following are the results from the present voting members:

                                   Approve – 15                        Not Approve - 0

Additional Items from the Committee

None at this time.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:07 a.m.