Spanish-American Institute
Faculty and Staff
Meeting and Workshop Minutes
February 16, 2008
TO: All
Faculty and Staff ~
Schedule: The Faculty and Staff Meeting started at 10:30 am. The Workshop convened at 11:00 am. and ended
at 12:15 pm.
Attendance: A.M. Diaz, L. Eco, L. Fallarme, D.V. Ferraro,
J. Gaylan, L. Grajo, L. Hernandez,, J. Kodjo, E. Manliclic, M. Marcus, N.
Panganiban, C. Prager, E. Ramos, P. Schiffman,
O. Sheekhova, N. Tomskikh, A.Tuldanes.
President’s Report: Mr. Ferraro
welcomed everyone. He reserved his
comments for the Workshop discussion on engaging students in Institute student
life.
Chair and Other Faculty Reports
L. Hernandez, Business
Chair: Lilliam
Hernandez reported on the new Business Math textbook and student experience with
the GED test.
Faculty:
q L.
Eco noted that a few students stay in the Computer Room instead of going to class. Computer faculty will alert the Dean of
Students if a student does not leave the Computer Room when requested by
Computer faculty.
q AM Herandez and others noted
the presence of pre-literate students and those unfamiliar with Roman script in
ESL 1 classes. The Institute will
explore the feasibility of a pre-ESL 1 class.
q Faculty paid tribute to
Normita Larsen, a long-time ESL teacher, who recently passed away in the
Academic Dean's
Report
ESL 4→ESL
5→Business English→ESL 6→ARW→TOEFL.
Students should complete
this sequence before taking TOEFL. Upon
the recommendation of teachers and student services associates, students may
enroll in ESL 5 and Business English simultaneously, since ESL 5 is a
co-requisite as well as prerequisite for Business English. The same holds for ESL 6 and ARW.
During the workshop, faculty and staff:
q discussed the meaning of “student life,”
q inventoried Institute student services and activities and suggested others, and
q discussed how faculty and staff can help promote student engagement in the school’s out-of-class student activities and services.
Inventory: Institute student activities and services currently includes but is not limited to—
q Student Bike Club (the school owns 10 bikes, including one tandem bike, for Bike Club use on organized bike trips to explore New York City)
q Student Club Newsletter (10-12 issues a year distributed in-house, included in student mailings, and available in current and back issues on the school website)
q Special Events Center student exhibits
q School Bulletin Boards (one each in Student Reading Room and Founders Special Events Center with current postings of free concerts, museum admission, health and wellness sources, low-cost recreation center, etc,)
q Discount Ticket Vouchers to Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre, opera, and ballet in the Student Reading Room
q Spanish-American Institute Library collection available for research and borrowing
q EBSCOHost electronic database access with full text articles from 1984 forward in thousands of periodicals that can be copied, printed, e-mailed, saved to disk, etc.
q Periodical subscriptions to popular magazines and Wall Street Journal available in Student Reading Room
q Wi-Fi access in several school “hot spots”.
q Etc.
Possible New Activities: L. Grajo expressed interest in working on a “Scrabble” Club.
Student Life Brochure: The school will publish a Student Life Brochure that will provide information about the above activities and services.
Faculty and Staff Promotion: The group discussed ways that faculty and staff could help promote wider student engagement in Institute student life.