THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

TO:	The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents
FROM:	Richard P. Mills
COMMITTEE:	Quality
TITLE OF ITEM:	USNY Convocation
DATE OF SUBMISSION:	May 3, 2004
PROPOSED HANDLING:	Information
RATIONALE FOR ITEM:	Update on Planning
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1-6

SUMMARY:

The preparations for the USNY Convocation are under way. Last month, the external advisory committee held its first meeting in Albany (See attachment 1 for Committee membership). Co-Chairs, Alan Friedman, Director of the New York Hall of Science and Judith Johnson, Superintendent of the Peekskill City School District, led a productive first conversation focused on understanding the Committee’s charge, outlining the proposed outcomes, and beginning to frame the problem statement that attendees will work through at the Convocation. The Committee’s advice regarding an outcomes statement for the Convocation is:

1. Deepening the understanding about USNY as an institution with constituent parts (or members) having rights and responsibilities;

2. Closing the gaps in access, opportunity and achievement;

3. Promoting collaboration as a promising strategy to close the gaps and as a strategy to promote institutional excellence and productivity; and

4. Engendering commitment among USNY leaders to work collaboratively to close the gaps.

These goals are quite consistent with those proposed by the Board’s Quality Committee earlier. This is a critical point of agreement, which will form a solid foundation as we progress with our planning.

The Advisory Committee also proposed several questions that will require further consideration and discussion:

l How do we define “gaps” and “closing the gaps?” What is the specific problem statement to put before the Convocation’s participants?

l Should there be a proposal for a USNY-wide strategy that Convocation participants react to or should participants be presented with a compelling problem statement and design a broad course of action at the Convocation?

l Can technology be used to broaden participation beyond the 150-200 people who would be invited to Albany?

l Should there be a role for students? If so, what would that look like as part of a working summit?

l Should invitees to the Convocation meet in advance of the event to do something? If so, what would these meetings aim to accomplish? How would they be conducted?

l What’s the media strategy before, during and after the Convocation?

The first question about defining the “gaps” within USNY will be the main agenda item at the Advisory Committee’s next meeting, scheduled for mid-June in New York City. Attachment 2 is a more detailed summary of the first meeting.

Staff is also working to compile a list of possible invitees to the Convocation. The list has over 200 names from all sectors of USNY and key stakeholders, including: State legislators, the Governor’s Office, executives from other State agencies, professional associations, and educational advocates. After the Quality Committee’s review of the preliminary list this month, we will distribute the list to the full Board for reactions and suggestions.

Attachments

USNY CONVOCATION PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Anne Byrne	President-Elect, NYS School Boards Association
Michelle Cahill	Senior Counselor for Education Policy, New York City Department of Education
David Chesebrough	Director, Buffalo Museum of Natural History
Louis Ciota	Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Monroe-Woodbury Central School District and Chair, Regents Advisory Council on Libraries
Diane Collier	Associate Superintendent for Student Services, Buffalo City School District
Edmund Cortez	President and Chief Executive Officer, National Center for Disability Services
Alan Friedman *Co-Chair*	Director, New York Hall of Science
Mildred Garcia	President, Berkeley College
Steven Gross	Member, NYS Board of Pharmacy
Joseph Hankin	President, Westchester Community College
Sr. Mary Jane Herb	Superintendent of Schools, Diocese of Albany
Russell Hotzler	Vice Chancellor, Academic Programs Planning, CUNY
Donald Jacobs	Director, Center for Applied Technology in Education (CATE), SUNY Buffalo
Judith Johnson *Co-Chair*	Superintendent of Schools, Peekskill City School District
Paula Kerger	Vice President/Station Manager, WNET (New York City)
Penny Leask	President, NYS Parent-Teacher Association
Margarita Mayo	Director, Education and Training, NYS Business Council
Edward McCormick	Executive Director, Family Partnership Center
Brian McLane	Former Assistant Commissioner, Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities, NYSED
Don Ogilvie	District Superintendent, Erie 1 BOCES
Jose Sanchez	Senior Vice President, Health and Hospitals Corporation of New York City
Charles Santelli	Director, Policy and Program Development, NYS United Teachers
Robert Scott	President, Adelphi University
Norman Silverstein	President and Chief Executive Officer, WXXI (Rochester)

USNY CONVOCATION PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE:

4/22/04 MEETING SUMMARY

Charge to the Committee

l Each member was invited to sit on this Committee because the Board of Regents and the Department’s executive staff know you to be a leader in your respective sector of USNY and for having a nimbleness of mind in working across institutional boundaries.

l The convening of a university is an ancient idea. USNY is a virtual university without peer and with enormous challenges. So, the Convocation should be envisioned as a gathering of University leaders.

l Although 2004 is the centennial anniversary of the Unification Act of 1904 which created The University of the State of New York, this Convocation is not to be a celebration of the past, but of the promise and potential of the next 100 years in education.

l The Committee’s task is to develop a good plan for the Convocation, so that coming out of the Convocation, we:

Have an outline of a course of action that focuses institutional efforts to work on one or two problems. The primary issue is how to marshal USNY resources – and perhaps, those of non-USNY organizations – to close gaps in PreK-16 achievement. The closing the gaps challenge has many dimensions. For example:

ü Shortfalls in student performance compared to the standards;

ü Differences in performance by race/ethnicity;

ü Differences in performance by school district type (low, average, high need);

ü Differences in postsecondary graduation rates by race/ethnicity; and

ü Nearly a million New Yorkers lack access to a public library.

More broadly defined, it’s the gap between what we could be as a people in New York State and what we are.

2. Make USNY more visible.

3. Have a course of action to make member institutions more productive and to take advantage of USNY’s enormous capacity to build the economic vitality of the State and contribute to the quality of the life of its residents.

l Specifically, the Committee is asked to advise the Regents and Department on:

ü Program theme, content and format

ü Whom to invite

ü How to evaluate the Convocation

ü Possible post-Convocation next steps

l The Convocation should be an energizing force to deal with identified problems.

l The Convocation should also be a “participatory event.”

Summary Discussion Regarding the Potential of USNY

l USNY is a membership organization in which members have both rights and responsibilities. For example, postsecondary institutions are permitted to issue diplomas, but only if their programs meet certain standards.

l USNY means education, standards and synergy.

l As we think about the future of USNY, we should examine the impetus for its creation.

l As an institution, USNY is very large and diverse. Yet, when looking broadly across USNY, all the member institutions have missions related to education and learning.

l The Regents can require USNY members to meet standards set by the Board, but the Regents are not able to mandate collaboration. We need to find common purpose and incentives for collaboration. That common interest is the economic vitality of New York State. A vital economy generates resources that USNY institutions need to provide quality education, which in turn further fuels the vitality of the State’s economy. The long-term viability of USNY institutions is dependent on a robust economy.

l Promoting the economic vitality of the State is a powerful message that most people don’t associate with education. However, we should not limit USNY’s mission to this idea.

l USNY is not about educating children alone, rather USNY must be defined in terms of life-long learning.

l USNY is about building institutional excellence as well as building the connectors across institutional boundaries. Collaboration must further institutional self-interest.

l It is essential that people who are not invited to the Convocation understand what USNY is and why collaboration is important. The typical mindset is not USNY as a membership organization with constituent parts, but rather a relationship between the “regulator” (SED, the Regents) and the “regulated” (the individual institutions chartered or overseen by the Board).

Summary of Small Group Discussions

POWERFUL THEMES/DESIRED OUTCOMES

1. Deepening the understanding about USNY as an institution with constituent parts (or members) having rights and responsibilities;

2. Closing the gaps in access, opportunity and achievement (while acknowledging that the Committee will need to be more specific about what “gaps” means);

3. Promoting collaboration as a promising strategy to close the gaps and as a strategy to promote institutional excellence and productivity.

4. Engendering commitment among USNY leaders to work collaboratively to close the gaps.

CONVOCATION FORMAT

l The Convocation should be a working summit that produces practical and measurable outcomes.

l It should also be a catalyst that starts a process of dialogue and action, rather than simply being a one-day event.

l The convocation should also have a tone of optimism or expanded possibilities – giving participants confidence that USNY can be successful in closing gaps.

l A highly credible, inspirational keynote speaker would be a strong element to have in the program.

WHO SHOULD BE INVITED

l Audience should primarily be USNY members, with the Legislature and policymakers as a secondary audience.

l The USNY members should be leaders who can direct the capacity of their own institutions towards implementing the actions coming out of the Convocation. They must have credibility within their respective USNY “sector.”

Outstanding Issues

l Can technology be used to broaden participation beyond the 150 people who would be invited to Albany?

l Should there be a role for students? If so, what would that look like as part of a working summit?

l Should invitees to the Convocation meet in advance of the event to do something. If so, what would these meetings aim to accomplish? How would they be conducted?

l What’s the media strategy: pre-Convocation, during the event, and post-Convocation?

l How do we define “gaps” and “closing the gaps”? What is the specific problem statement to put before the Convocation’s participants?

Advisory Committee’s Next Meeting

DATE:	Tuesday, June 15th
TIME:	12:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m.
LOCATION:	NYSED’s Office of Professional Discipline Regents Room, 2^nd Floor 475 Park Avenue South New York City
AGENDA:	l Review research on a range of “gaps” and information about available strategies and current efforts to close them. l Craft a broad problem statement about the gaps that will have relevance to USNY’s diverse member institutions.
NEXT STEPS:	Staff will gather the requested information and send to Committee members in advance of the June 15^th meeting.

The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents

USNY CONVOCATION PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE

USNY CONVOCATION PLANNING ADVISORY COMMITTEE:

4/22/04 MEETING SUMMARY

Charge to the Committee