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Faculty & Staff Newsletter

May 20, 2020 Special Edition

Enrollment Update

Submitted by Lori Edgeworth

Social Media Process/Mercy College of Ohio: In reviewing the BSMH social media policy, the only social media pages that are to exist are the official pages of the College. The policy states “Associates and workforce members should not represent themselves as official spokespersons of BSMH. Associates/workforce members must note that opinions expressed are their own and not those of BSMH, nor do they represent an official position of BSMH.” In light of this statement, the fact that Mercy College is a part of BSMH, and how BSMH Marketing handles social media pages, it is the recommendation that we do not permit individual pages for the College but rather direct all social media posts to the main Mercy College Facebook page, Instagram page, Twitter and Linked In pages. Not only does this align with BSMH, it also enables us as a college to maximize the social media presence and directing everyone to the same pages creates synergy. Thus we are requesting that all social media pages/groups that are not maintained by the Mercy College Marketing Department are deleted if they were created solely to post on behalf of a person/department at Mercy College of Ohio.

In order to develop a more robust social media presence for the College and to provide all faculty, staff, students, and alumni with an opportunity to have posts more widely disseminated via social media, I have asked Hannah Bohn, Coordinator of Alumni Relations/Grants to assist with unpaid social media activities. To post items to Mercy College social media accounts please use the process provided below.

  1. Submit a Social Media Submission Request Form. Requests are typically completed within one business day (24 hours). The form is available on the Faculty and Staff Forms page and at this link.
  2. Post to the Mercy College Public Facebook Group (this can then be shared by a Group Administrator to the Mercy College Facebook Page when applicable).
  3. For matters requiring less than one business day turnaround, contact Hannah Bohn at 419-251-8993 or Hannah.Bohn@mercycollege.edu

Mercy College has a social media presence on multiple platforms. Follow, like, and connect using the links below.

Mercy College Facebook Page
Mercy College Facebook Group
Mercy College on Twitter
Mercy College on Instagram
Mercy College on LinkedIn

Admissions: The Admissions team continues to be busy recruiting students for both Summer and Fall of 2020. The numbers on Tuesday, May 19 for Summer are: 688 students enrolled for a total of 4,226 credit hours. The total number of new students enrolled for summer is 59. This is on a goal of 60 new students. The credit hour goal for summer 2020 is 4545, thus we are down 319 credit hours. It is important to note that this is the first summer that we have not had the Rad students enrolled and completing their program. Last summer we had 27 Rad students enrolled for a total of 267 credit hours.

Fall enrollment is trending slightly ahead. At this time we have 188 students deposited compared to 151 at the same time last year. We have 108 students registered for SOAR compared to 97 at the same time last year. The goal for new students for summer and fall is 620 students. At this time we have enrolled 59 new students for summer so the fall target is 561 new students. The credit hour goal for fall is 12,811. It is important that we meet not only the new student number but the credit hour goal as that is what generates our revenue.

Hannah Bohn and Mary Kay Meyer have developed Healthcare Worker Wednesday, a virtual recruitment program that will allow prospective students the opportunity to speak with Mercy College faculty/staff regarding the healthcare programs/certificates we offer. The series will be held every other Wednesday beginning June 10. Each session will be one hour total in length. Participants will be able to navigate through various chat rooms to ask questions and gather information about the subjects relevant to their interests.

Dates/Time of Sessions:
June 10, 6-7 p.m.
June 24, 12-1 p.m.
July 8, 6-7 p.m.
July 22, 12-1 p.m.
August 5, 6-7 p.m.

PLEASE NOTE: Healthcare Worker Wednesday will not replace Online Information Sessions (OIS) for online programs. The OIS for June 24th will still take place.

Financial Aid: Mercy College developed an Emergency Fund Task Force to develop a process to distribute the CARES Act allocation to eligible students. The eligibility requirements stipulate students must meet Title IV (Financial Aid) eligibility requirements in order to receive emergency funds. Students must have experienced a financial hardship due to the disruption of campus operations because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) as of the March 13, 2020 date when President Trump declared a National Emergency. Students who were enrolled exclusively in online programs on or before March 13, 2020 are not eligible. The guidance received from the Federal Government at this time is that the CARES money students receive will not be taxable.

The Task Force developed the CARES Act Student Emergency Grant Request Form for students to apply for funding with the due dates and eligibility requirements denoted. Mercy College estimated that 865 students may be eligible to receive funds and as of the first deadline, May 5, 2020, 297 students had applied with 260 of them eligible to receive funds. It was determined that students who were Pell Grant eligible would receive $1500 and other eligible students would receive $1000. The first round of money was awarded to students the week of May 11, 2020 through their Bank Mobile accounts. On Thursday, May 7, 2020 a second email was sent to students announcing a deadline extension of May 15, 2020 to apply for an emergency grant. All new applications will be reviewed with allocations to eligible students made in a timely manner. Mercy College will continue to award these funds until fully depleted.

If you have any questions on the above information or would like to know more about what Enrollment is doing to recruit students to the College, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the Enrollment team members. Thanks and stay safe!

Lori

Academic Affairs Updates

Submitted by Trevor Bates

  1. Academic Search Committees
    • Ongoing searches in Academic Administration, Nursing, English (pending), and Physician Assistant Studies.
      • Thank you retroactively and proactively for your participation in virtual search processes.
  2. Process / Document / Contract Review
    • We are close to finalizing use of a Catalog software called Watermark® that will be used to digitize reviewing and updating of the undergraduate and graduate catalogs.
    • We are making progress on adding a proctoring service, ProctorU®, that will allow faculty a secure method to assign/complete remote testing in their courses.
    • Program Handbooks and Faculty and Staff Handbook will undergo an administrative review only for 2019-2020.
      • COVID-19 has shed light on the need for several new and/or updated policies.
  3. Assessment & Accreditation
    • A virtual visit has been proposed for the developing Master of Physician Studies Program ARC-PA accreditation visit this summer.
    • This month, a proposal will be sent to the Higher Learning Commission and Ohio Department of Higher Education for the College to transition from a 16-week academic calendar to a 15-week academic calendar beginning in 2021-2022.
    • This month, the College is anticipating feedback from the Higher Learning Commission to approve our proposed RN to MSN program.
  4. Faculty Assembly
    • The Graduate Studies Committee continues to review a process to allow undergraduate student to take graduate courses.
    • Thank you to all faculty committee leaders and members for your diligent work during the 2019-2020 academic year (AY) to move the College forward.
  5. Academic Council
    • Deans and Directors are organizing summer activities to support graduating student progress on meeting requirements of Incompletes (I) grades due to COVID-19.
    • Library Services are enhancing their website and services for faculty, staff, and student use, the community will be receiving updates throughout the summer.
    • Distance Education is working on template to improve organization in course shells for faculty less experienced in teaching online.
    • Is working with Enrollment Management to enhance strategic opportunities to collaborate on recruitment efforts.
    • Is developing a New Program Proposal Process that will be reviewed an put into place in a future term in 2020-2021.
    • Is engaging in discussion regarding enhancing our General Education Philosophy through future curricular changes for all future students.
    • Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation – is a collaborative effort with Faculty, Distance Education, and Library Services within academic affairs.
      • A needs Assessment will be developed over the summer months and will be distributed to faculty in late summer /early fall.

Please direct any questions or comments about this sampling of Academic Affairs updates to Dr. Bates at trevor.bates@mercycollege.edu.

Finally, please continue to take the recommended precautions that are essential to keeping you and your families safe throughout the summer months.

Blessings,
Dr. Trevor M. Bates, DHSc, AT, ATC
Vice President of Academic Affairs/Dean of Faculty

Important Updates Regarding 2019 Performance Evaluations and 2020 Check-ins

Submitted by Sherri Boggs

From Sherri Boggs: 2019 Annual Evaluations (download document) for all staff are due May 31, 2020. Please complete with your employee and return to me. If you are not able to get signatures at the time of the evaluation, we will obtain signatures when we all return to campus.

2020 Check-ins
The Check-in feature in Workday allows managers and associates to track discussion items, priorities, and more. Best practices show that checking in with associates often increases retention, therefore holding a check-in with each associate at least quarterly is required. The quarterly dates are March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31. Please click on the links for job aids (instructions) for managers (Check-Ins for Managers) and employees (Getting Started-Check In's for Employees). Please note that adjuncts will not be required to complete check-ins.

IT Updates

Submitted by Jeff Metzger

  • The IT department will have staff on campus on Tuesdays from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. during the summer semester. This will provide an opportunity for hands-on technical assistance for laptop, desktop, or printer issues. Please let us know in advance if you plan to stop by in person so we can schedule a time and maintain social distancing.
  • Many computers at Mercy College are due for an upgrade to a newer version of Windows 10. We anticipate this upgrade to occur over the summer. Once the schedule is confirmed, we will communicate the dates and details.
  • Please remember to save important files to your H: drive or M: drive. If you tend to save items to your desktop, please regularly back them up. There were some power outages recently that caused desktop files to be deleted.

Student Affairs Updates

Submitted by Marc Adkins

Student Affairs Resources during the summer semester
The Division of Student Affairs would like to remind you of the resources that are available for student success.

Academic Support and Tutoring Services
Academic support resources, such as tutoring in Nursing or other related disciplines (Sciences, Math & Writing) are available by contacting the Student Success Center at 419-251-1734, studentsuccesscenter@mercycollege.edu, or accessing the webpage. In Youngstown, contact Somia Abou-Osman at 330-480-3145 or somia.abou-osman@mercycollege.edu.

Students have access to Smarthinking, the FREE, 24/7 online tutoring software that is available through Canvas. Also, on Canvas you will find the Student Success folder that houses resources as well as other helpful materials.

Counseling and Wellness
For counseling and well-being assistance please contact Suzanne Hall at 419-251-1454 or suzanne.hall1@mercycollege.edu. In Youngstown, please contact Ann Bair at 330-480-2874 or ann.bair@mercycollege.edu. Also, please access the Counseling & Wellness webpage or the Student Success folder on Canvas for these resources.

Campus Ministry and Pastoral Care
Pastoral care resources are available by contacting Annie Devine at 419-251-1866, annie.devine@mercycollege.edu, or the Campus Ministry webpage.

Food Insecurity
If you have food insecurity issues, please contact Annie Devine at foodpantry@mercycollege.edu or the Food Pantry webpage. Pastoral care resources and food pantry inquires can also be found in the Campus Life folder on Canvas.

These are challenging times and we want to ensure the College community is aware and can access, these valuable resources. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have regarding our services.

CEO-Gram

Send a message to the Mercy College President using this link.

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