Through the self-study process, we identified critical areas where the college is acting forcefully to address needed improvements. We also offered recommendations that will further the goals of the 2014-2019 Strategic Plan and begin to inform the next strategic planning process.

Perhaps the most consistent thread, observed across the self-study, is the powerful conviction that the college is at an exciting point with strong enrollment growth especially at the baccalaureate level, new programs that address the needs of a rapidly evolving economy, an excellent faculty, greatly improved facilities, and exceptional internships and career opportunities for students. To move forward, City Tech as a community needs to address several challenges that are in part specific to this institution but that in large measure are typical of public universities and those experiencing transition and growth: resources, collaboration, integration of processes, and communication. The institution is confident that it will meet these challenges and continue to advance, providing increasing numbers of students with the high levels of economic mobility for which City Tech has become known.

The visiting team endorsed City Tech’s recommendations and added suggestions; the language below is excerpted from their report.

Middle States Recommendation - Standard 2

It is evident that there is a great deal of respect among faculty, staff, and administration at the College. In review of the academic integrity and complaint processes, the Academic Integrity Committee and Academic Integrity Officer are a well-developed system. Continuous improvement of those processes appears to be occurring with current revisions in progress. The Academic Grievance procedures, however, need clarification and maturity.

Therefore the team endorses the College’s self-study recommendation #3: Improve scope, documentation, and transparency in the complaint resolution process.

Ensure clarity for all constituents regarding the processes for addressing stakeholder concerns:

• Enhance efforts to publicize complaint policies and procedures consistently online, and in all academic, student affairs, and business services offices, including those policies that are based on law, statute or regulations, i.e., Title IX, Sexual Harassment, Health and Safety;
• Make clear that CUNY and the College have established policies and procedures that address rights of the members of the community to communicate complaints; and
• Capture and utilize these data effectively for institutional improvement.

Further, the team recommends that the summary of these results should be reviewed regularly for patterns, continuous improvement and training opportunities. Most importantly the process and policy for different types of complaints should be readily accessible, separated, easy to find and use for students. The committee Student Complaints of Faculty in an Academic Setting, is an appropriate committee. Consider having the process and procedures mirror the Academic Integrity Committee and use of an Academic Integrity Officer.

Middle States Recommendation - Standard 3

The team agrees with the following portion of the College’s Self-study recommendation #4 to Refine our facilities and technology master plans to take advantage of new opportunities: Optimize opportunities created by the new spaces. To this end, the College will:

• leverage technology for intellectual exchange and collaboration in an increasingly commuter context;
• cultivate a positive and cohesive institutional identity;
• respond to the increasingly interdisciplinary context for our programs; and
• make resource sharing and collaboration a primary consideration.

Middle States Recommendation - Standard 4

The team endorses The College Recommendation #1 to Implement a comprehensive, cross-institutional plan for student retention and success.

• The College’s goals are at least to double the rate at which associate degree students either complete their degrees in three years or transfer to baccalaureate programs, and to achieve a six-year graduation rate of 50% for bachelor’s students. Over the next eight years, City Tech will make measurable progress towards this goal by:
  • Coordinating extant retention and completion programs under a single cross-institutional student success effort;
  • Identifying and implementing financially viable means of scaling particularly successful programs, like CUNY ASAP and orientation that focus on retention of first year and associate degree students;
  • Implementing CUNY’s recent policy on developmental math and streamlining the math sequences to remove a major obstacle to student progress and instead make learning math a path to success;
  • Securing resources through grants and other means to acquire digital analytical and communication tools and further support student success programs;
  • Effectively communicating to all students, faculty, and staff a broad understanding of student support resources and a shared vision of the student success agenda; and
  • Promoting deeper student involvement in the realization and communication of the college mission by increasing student participation in college governance, and in institutional planning.
  • Expanding support for faculty work in research, scholarship, and creative work, and in teaching, particularly the teaching of STEM disciplines.
• In this standard the team concurs with The College recommendation #2, bullet 3: Strengthen overall institutional effectiveness by building on practices instituted to assess student learning outcomes
  • Assess the effectiveness of college communications, both intra-institutional and external, in order to ensure that they support the communication-related goals defined in Recommendations 1, 3 and 4.

Middle States Recommendation - Standard V

• The College employed an assessment using NILOA in 2016. The team recommends that the college create or employ a similarly well-defined process for evaluating the institutional assessment for the improvement of educational effectiveness and to implement such an assessment on a regular cycle.
• In this Standard the team concurs with the following portion of the College’s Recommendation 2: Strengthen overall institutional effectiveness by building on practices instituted to assess student learning outcomes.
• Engage all units across the college in a continuous assessment process in which data are gathered and analyzed to guide institutional directions and improvement:
  • Expand the City Tech Assessment Committee to include student and faculty support, business services, and administration including non-instructional activities of academic affairs;
  • Expand assessment of learning outcomes to include student learning beyond the classroom;

Middle States Recommendation - Standard VI

• In this standard the team affirms the following portion of the College’s Recommendation 4: Refine our facilities and technology master plans to take advantage of new opportunities - In that the college will
• ‘optimize opportunities created by the new academic building, including space made available by the relocation of programs from the Pearl Building’ and
• ‘will engage stakeholders in a cross-institutional review of facilities and technology plans in order to empower the college to fulfill its mission into the future: to attract external partners; to remain nimble and responsive to workforce needs; to support course availability and new modalities of instruction.’