What's New?

New campus voice mail system to be implemented this summer

The Office of Telecommunications will implement a new voice mail system this summer in an effort to help reduce the possibility of a system-wide outage like the one campus experienced last year. Once in place, the voice mail system will be migrated out of Computer Services and be administered wholly out of the Telecommunications Office. The old system does not have the capability to export messages to the new system, therefore, all messages on the old system will be lost once it is unplugged. Any messages that need to be saved should be recorded on a tape recorder. Also, faculty and staff will have to reinitialize their mailboxes. Documentation will be available and training will be offered before the launch. Phones and phone numbers will not be affected by the replacement of the voice mail system. The Telecommunications Office will notify the campus community when the changes are to be made. In the meantime, please call x3270 if you have any questions.

Human Resources' Web site gets overhaul

The Office of Web Management has recently revamped the Human Resources and Affirmative Action Web site. It can be viewed by going to www.newpaltz.edu/hr.

Faculty announce retirements

The following faculty have retired within the 2003-04 year: Bevery Brumm (Theatre Arts), Beatrice Conover (ESL), Susan Lehrer (Sociology), Allyn Bregman (Biology) and Richard Reif (Secondary Education). David Labiosa (Foreign Languages) and William Rhodes (Art History) will retire effective in September and Barbara Hardgrave (Music) will be retiring in May of 2005. Many thanks to all of you for your hard work and dedication to SUNY New Paltz.

Biloxi Blues kicks off 2004 Season of Summer Repertory Theatre

The 2004 Summer Repertory Theatre kicks off its 2004 season on the evening of July 1 with Biloxi Blues by Neil Simon, the winner of the 1985 Tony Award for Best Play. All performances will be in McKenna Theatre. This year marks the 30th anniversary season. Tickets: $16 adult, $14 senior/students. For tickets and show times, visit www.newpaltz.edu/summerrep.

Healthy bodies and minds will be focus of next New Paltz Gala fundraiser

The SUNY New Paltz Gala will be held on Sunday, Nov. 21 at the Mohonk Mountain House. The 2004 event will focus on building healthy bodies and minds, as a portion of the proceeds will go towards the Fields of Dreams project and the new Athletic and Wellness Center. Fields of Dreams is combined effort by the college and town to help raise money to open a recreational feild near the Ulster County Fairgrounds. In 2003, the inaugural Gala was a huge celebration that sold out and raised more than $23,000. These proceeds were used to establish a new scholarship fund for a New Paltz High School graduate to attend SUNY New Paltz. A portion of the 2004 proceeds will go toward the continued support of the scholarship fund. Tickets are $125 and are available by calling the Development Office at x3972.

Online course enrollment at all-time high at SUNY New Paltz and system-wide

There has been a 35 percent increase in the number of students enrolled in online courses, from 540 students last summer to 729 this summer, at SUNY New Paltz. Due to this demand, the college has increased the number of courses offered from 30 classes last summer to 39 this summer.

Recently, the State University of New York announced that in the 2003-2004 school year enrollments in the awardwinning SUNY Learning Network, the online learning arm of the State University, also reached an all-time high of 70,669, up 32 percent from 2002-2003's record enrollment of 53,638.

Furthermore, the spring 2004 semester set a new SLN record with a total of 28,201 enrollments, the largest single semester enrollment level ever. This is an increase of 28 percent from the spring semester 2003 enrollment of 21,993.

More than 16,000 enrollments in SLN are estimated in 1,000 courses for summer 2004, up 40 percent from last year and the largest summer enrollment ever in SLN.

SUNY Learning Network now has 70,669 enrollments by 41,000 students in more than 4,000 courses and 60 degree and certificate programs, taught by professors on 56 campuses. In SLN's first academic year, 1995-96, the online learning network enrolled 119 students in eight courses on two campuses. To date, more than 2000 SUNY professors have developed and taught courses through the SUNY Learning Network.

Surveys of faculty indicate success. More than 97 percent of faculty would teach online again through SLN and more than 95 percent reported satisfaction with the experience of teaching an online course. Additionally, approximately 71 percent of faculty felt that the experience of designing, developing and teaching an online course through SLN had a positive effect on how they teach in the classroom.