Newsletter — Office of the Provost

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

I spent last week at AASCU’s Academy for New Provosts. It was a great professional development opportunity that will allow me to serve the Division and University better. It also allowed me to network with Provosts from across the country. I can hardly believe that it is November already. This semester seems to be flying by, and I feel like it will be over before we know it. There is a lot of good work being done and I would like to update you on some of it.

AI Institute 

The campus team enrolled in AAC&U’s Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum is working to develop AI action plans that will help us to respond effectively to the challenges and opportunities AI presents for higher education. The team recently launched a survey to gather perspectives on perceived benefits and concerns surrounding AI tools. Results will inform efforts to engage the community in conversations about AI policy. Your participation is essential to building a comprehensive framework that identifies our specific AI needs. For more information, please contact Donna Wilkerson-Barker.

Withdraw Pilot

We will be running a pilot program that eliminates the need for students to obtain permission during the second or late withdrawal period (Nov. 1 through Dec. 1). This semester, students may withdraw before Dec. 1 without permission. Withdrawals will not be approved after this date. The Registrar’s Office will update withdrawal forms.

Special Sessions

Dr. Mehruz Kamal has accepted the director’s position and will begin at the beginning of the spring semester.

Scholarship, Research & Sponsored Programs

There is a slight increase in student travel reimbursement. Student travel is now reimbursable for up to $450 per student per academic year. For more information, please contact Laura Merkle.

Student Success Initiatives

The university has embarked on two initiatives to increase student success: work with the National Institute of Student Success (NISS) at Georgia State University and the SUNY system-wide Academic Momentum (AcMo) Campaign. The Graduation & Momentum Task Force, a subcommittee of the Strategic Enrollment Management Steering Committee, will be identifying strategies to address the recommendations from these two initiatives.

The NISS recommendations centered on actions regarding first year support, proactive advising, academic support, and financial wellness. The SUNY AcMo campaign provides each campus with targets for the Fall 2026 full-time first-year cohort for 4- and 6-year graduation rates, first year earned credits, English and Mathematics gateway course completion, and FAFSA completion. These targets were based off campus trend data. We are currently in the second of three phases of the campaign, which culminates in the development of an action plan that must be submitted to SUNY for review by early February. The final phase involves operationalizing the action items in effect through the 2026-27 academic year, data collection, and a report to SUNY. More information, including presentations and open forums, will be forthcoming. If you have any questions, please contact Rey Sia or Erin Rickman.

First Year Seminar - APEX/APS 

A first-year seminar working group has been convened to work towards the NISS recommendation of a more holistic First Year Seminar (APS and APEX) that includes career development. The group has been charged with:

• Ensuring that all FYS have consistent objectives to support movement towards institutional SLOs/assessment.
• Maintaining a structured experience for FYS, with built-in flexibility for how an instructor approaches the material in their classroom.
• Enhancing FYS resources and support. In May, all APEX resources will be shared so instructors have a “menu” of content options on Brightspace. Resources developed in other FYS will also be invited to be included. Required training will take place in May so that instructors can prepare over the summer.

While APEX will not be a mandate, we will work to expand APEX to programs where there may be a need (e.g., no career readiness in the curriculum). We will be opening APEX 2 to all students, also in accordance with NISS recommendations, to expand career readiness options in the first year.

Digital Accessibility 

Our overall Ally Accessibility score in Brightspace is 77.7% as of Oct. 21. This score is based on data from over 1,300 courses that contain more than 67,000 pieces of content. The most common areas of inaccessibility that require remediation are:

1. Documents with color contrast issues (11,289 items)
2. Documents containing images without descriptions (8,410)
3. Documents without headings (6,677)
4. Documents that are untagged (5,152)
5. Documents containing tables without headers (4,029)

Most of these items can be remedied simply and quickly with basic knowledge of digital accessibility, such as that provided in the ongoing Digital Accessibility Roadshow that is being presented by Jess Sniatecki, Jay Harwood, and Shari Hardenbrook.

Jess is also coordinating the “Strive for 85” campaign, which is designed to incentivize faculty for meeting an initial benchmark of 85% or higher in their overall Ally course accessibility score. Faculty who achieve this benchmark by December can earn their choice of a SUNY Brockport sweatshirt or travel mug.

Roadshow Update

The roadshow team has trained 19 departments and 154 faculty so far this semester. If your department is not yet scheduled to receive this training, please email digitalaccessibility@brockport.edu to make arrangements. There will also be a Digital Accessibility Virtual Session offered via CELT on November 12th at 10 am. This is a great opportunity for anyone who missed their department training and/or adjunct instructors.

Resources

A new digital accessibility webpage has been launched to support faculty and staff in meeting updated accessibility requirements under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This webpage provides up-to-date information on campus efforts to create more inclusive and accessible digital learning environments by April 2026. Faculty and staff are encouraged to explore the webpage for guidance on:

• ADA Title II requirements and our legal responsibilities as a public university
• Basic information on digital accessibility and tips for getting started
• Training resources and tools for creating accessible digital content
• Procurement information and funding opportunities for digital accessibility projects
• More information will be added as it becomes available

Preparedness Fund

To sustain campus efforts toward meeting the new Title II digital accessibility requirements, Student Accessibility Services is now accepting applications to fund digital accessibility projects for faculty, staff, divisions/departments/offices, and student organizations. These can include software applications and tools for accessibility testing and/or content remediation, content-specific digital accessibility training, software replacement, and much more. The deadline to apply is Nov. 15.

If you have read this to the end, thank you. I know that this is a lengthy newsletter, and it only captures a small amount of the important work that is being done. Thanks for all that each of you do to contribute to the success of our students.