| 06/15/2023 |
Jessica Lorenzo submits proposal documents to OAPRA |
| 06/26/2023 |
Jessica Lorenzo reaches out to OAPRA requesting a status update. JS responds, indicating first round of feedback to be sent by 07/17 |
| 07/18/2023 |
JS flags proposal for AF: school has selected a STEM CIP code (41). |
| 07/18/2023 |
JS completes syllabi review |
| 07/18/2023 |
Amy Becker confirms assessment plan is satisfactory and does not require any additional follow-up with Steinhardt |
| 07/20/2023 |
Jessica reaches out for a status update on proposal review and estimation of NYSED review timeline. |
| 07/20/2023 |
per AF's instructions, JS confirms submission of all documents present for this proposal, GPC approval email appears to be missing |
| 07/21/2023 |
JS provides AF with initial review of proposal documents |
| 07/24/2023 |
AF reviews and adds additional feedback/edits to JS's review, instructs JS to read through new comments and generate new word documents in the appropriate voice for a school review, as well as presenting the comments as "OAPRA" and send to the school. AF will reach out to schedule the meeting. JS will lead meeting, AF will add in additional comments re: higher level, joint degree elements as necessary |
| 07/24/2023 |
AF reaches out to Jessica Lorenzo, indicating OAPRA's initial review is complete and JS will send comments out on 07/24. AF suggests 30 min meeting to review - Jessica responds, meeting is confirmed for 07/27 |
| 07/25/2023 |
AF reaches out to Jessica, indicating there is a brief delay and OAPRA comments will be sent on 07/26 |
| 07/26/2023 |
JS provides updates OAPRA documents per meeting with AF on 07/25 to ensure all points of feedback are captured, AF requests JS to draft email with thematic summary of notes: JS drafts, AF provides feedback and final revisions. JS sends to Jessica for review/reference prior to meeting on 07/27. |
| 07/27/2023 |
OAPRA (AF, JS) & SOM (Lorenzo, Jessica) Meet to Review Proposal Feedback Approval to Share MOU Initially thought it would be joint, but now it is more a collaboration with NYU as the lead institution. Nature of Collaboration: Sarah Lawrence Genetic Counseling, NYU Genomics Blend expertise: utilize some existing classes, but also created new courses for program. 50/50 SL faculty, NYU faculty All courses are going to be taught at NYU on campus SL Faculty: will have access to the campus, adjunct non-compensated appointment. Starting out as all in-person courses Student Progress through the degree (location, and applicable student policies) All courses will be offered on the NYU campus, all SL faculty are going to be affiliated with NYU to teach on the NYU campus (with NYU titles). Outstanding question (academic authority, degree conferring authority). |
| 08/02/2023 |
Jessica Lorenzo reaches out, confirms proposal will include a one page narrative to go along with the NYSED application as discussed in meeting on 07/27/2023. Jessica asks AF if a template is available. Jessica also confirms that the MOU will be available to NYSED via the FOIA, and suggests attaching a letter instead of the full MOU. Jessica asks: is there a template available or relevant language to include for NYSED's review? |
| 08/03/2023 |
JS drafts response for Jessica, sends to AF for review |
| 08/04/2023 |
AF responds to Jessica: Thanks for reaching out. To quickly answer your second question, we do not have a NYSED template for a letter of support/confirmation. The only thing on the NYSED side is an authorization form, but that is used in the case of a joint degree, which we are not pursuing here. I would recommend a simple signed letter on official letterhead from Sarah Lawrence that confirms they have reviewed the proposal, that they are collaborators only and that this will be entirely an NYU program, and perhaps confirming any support plans for current students in the case that the collaboration terminates. On to your first question: we had discussed including a brief narrative that details the relationship between Sarah Lawrence and NYU. Per our meeting, this is not a joint program: we should be very careful to make sure that language is not used. Using words like “collaboration” are preferred over words like “partnership,” which may imply a joint program/official affiliation. Below is an outline of the narrative we discussed, providing information on the logistics of the relationship, emphasizing NYU’s role as the lead collaborator. Please flesh out the details and add any relevant information that supports our case that this is an exclusively NYU program. Intro: This proposed new New York University MS Genome Health Analysis was developed in collaboration with Sarah Lawrence College, but will be run entirely as an NYU Program: Describe NYU vs. Sarah Lawrence's administrative and financial/resource role Officially, NYU is the “administrative and financial lead” - NYU is “managing” the program; NYU is the only institution seeking accreditation for this program Location of all courses (to be in-person): to take place at NYU Describe NYU vs. Sarah Lawrence's role on the faculty and academic side All program faculty will teach on the NYU campus SLC faculty (about 50% of program faculty) receive NYU adjunct appointments and teach classes on the NYU campus, they will have access to NYU School of Medicine facilities NYU will be in control of all academic governance and are prepared to ensure that students will be able to complete the program as registered even in the event of a termination of the collaboration [Please describe how, and what fail safes are in place] Students will apply to enroll only at NYU for the duration of the program. Describe the benefit of the relationship to Sarah Lawrence and their contributions to curriculum development etc. Both institutions have expertise to bring to this new program: Sarah Lawrence has expertise in Genetics, NYU has expertise in Genomics: the program attempts to blend these two fields |
| 08/04/2023 |
Jessica responds, confirming receipt and inquires about Middle States Accreditation process |
| 08/08/2023 |
AF responds, noting that accreditation is unlikely in this case, given that the program is being presented as a standalone NYU program. Jess responds, noting that "A previous Sarah Lawrence colleague mentioned we may have needed Middle States accreditation but have not been able to obtain further confirmation. We’ll take Middle States accreditation off our task list." |
| 09/01/2023 |
Jess sends new round of documents based on OAPRA feedback/meeting |
| 09/05/2023 |
AF responds to Jess's submission, indicates that OAPRA will aim to complete the next review early next week or the following. Jess responds, confirming receipt |
| 09/08/2023 |
note for JS: aim to complete next review by Tuesday 09/12, ping AF when complete |
| 09/18/2023 |
Jess reaches out to OAPRA, requesting status update. JS updates AF, aims to complete next round of review by 09/19 (delays due to JS sick leave). |
| 09/18/2023 |
Aravinda Chakravarti reaches out to AF and JS: Hi Alex and Jesse…We all recognize how busy your office must be but we are being pushed by both the leadership here and at Sarah Lawrence to get this to the NYSED unless there are additional questions we need to address. Can you please help us do this? |
| 09/18/2023 |
AF responds to Aravinda: Thank you for your patience. It was our plan to address your proposal early last week but we had an unexpected team absence--we appreciate your understanding. We will review and ensure no additional issues need to be addressed, then submit to NYSED. |
| 09/18/2023 |
Aravinda responds: can OAPRA provide an estimated submission date? |
| 09/19/2023 |
JS completes round 2 revisions: NYSED Application Form for New Programs: New Courses: there are two courses (Human Genetics and Human Disease Genomics) that are listed as “new” on the Graduate Program Schedule (page 8), but missing on the New Course Titles on the previous page (page 7): please confirm which courses are new to NYU, i.e. have not been previously offered - these should align in both tables, and will dictate which syllabi are submitted to NYSED Syllabi (see here for compliance spreadsheet): Practicum: for credit integrity, the syllabus states that “lectures once per week for two hours with internship and research expectations outside of the classroom (eight hours of internship each week for the full year; eight hours of research each week during spring semester)” - are internships/research components instructional time? This will affect the calculation of total credit hours Two syllabi - Practicum and Clinical Risk Assessment - lack a dedicated “readings” section, and instead list the reading for each week in the weekly breakdown/schedule section - is this OK from a NYSED compliance standpoint? Human Disease Genomics - missing required readings/bibliography Narrative: This is a newly added section which, per our chat with Jess, is a separate document for NYSED which aims to support our case that this is exclusively an NYU agreement and not a joint program. I have reviewed it and I believe it does this successfully - it hits the points we outlined for Jess when she asked for a template/outline. |
| 09/19/2023 |
AF confirms receipt, requests JS edit syllabi compliance spreadsheet to include calculation of what the minutes should be by credits |
| 09/19/2023 |
JS sends revised spreadsheet per AF's request. AF instructs JS to provide Jess w/ feedback in advance of NYSED submission. JS asks clarifying question: for syllabi where required readings are listed out in the weekly breakdown scheduling section (i.e. Week 1: Read Chapter 1 in ____), instead of a separate dedicated "required materials" section - is this fine or should there really be a standalone section for required materials? |
| 09/19/2023 |
AF confirms, this is fine. A standalone section is not needed |
| 09/20/2023 |
JS sends round 2 feedback to Jess |
| 09/21/2023 |
Jess responds with updated documents: Attached please find the revised NYSED application which includes the two new courses on page 7 and now accurately reflects all the new courses listed on page 8. Practicum syllabi: the attached revised syllabi includes an additional sentence to the format section. The developers of the course further indicate: “the two hours of lecture in the first semester are thought to satisfy instructional time requirements for two credits in the fall semester, whereas two lecture hours plus research hours were calculated to satisfy the instructional hours requirement for four credits in the spring semester”. Please let us know if further edits to the syllabi are required. Human disease genomics: attached please find the updated syllabi. Jess also asks: can OAPRA submit to NYSED by the end of this week (09/22)? |
| 09/22/2023 |
JS updates AF on revised documents: NYSED Application Form: feedback incorporated, resolved Human Disease Genomics syllabus: feedback incorporated, resolved Practicum syllabus: this document was updated to clarify what components are instructional time. The resulting total minutes for this 6 credit course come out to 10,080; the minimum required is 4,500 - this is a high number, should I confirm with Jess? |
| 09/22/2023 |
AF responds: please confirm with Jess and ask if the calculation is in line with other practicums in the dept |
| 09/22/2023 |
Jess reaches out to JS: "Could you update us on when the application is estimated to reach NYSED?" |
| 09/22/2023 |
AF approves draft, instructs JS to add that once we have confirmation on the last question, we will submit to NYSED today or early Monday. JS sends response to Jess |
| 09/25/2023 |
Jess responds to JS: the GHA Practicum syllabus aligns with the currently offered GSAS MS in Biomedical Informatics Practicum course (BMIN-GA 2002 Practicum I and BMIN-GA 2003 Masters Practicum II). We would like to submit the syllabus as is unless it is prohibited. Please let us know of any other questions and if the application can be submitted by tomorrow. |
| 09/26/2023 |
AF instructs JS to compile documents for NYSED submission. JS writes to AF wanting to confirm correct order of documents. AF confirms the following: NYSED Form (New Program Application) Narrative (new document created by Jess) detailing NYU/SLC arrangement Graduate Program Requirements Letter from SLC’s president, confirming SLC/NYU arrangement (do we need to include this sign off if the Narrative document already details the partnership?) External Review Rationale for Selection of External Reviewer External Review Response by NYU Conflict of Interest Statement CV for External Reviewer Syllabi |
| 09/26/2023 |
JS compiles final documents and sends to AF for submission |
| 09/28/2023 |
AF submits proposal to NYSED, JS informs stakeholders of submission |
| 09/28/2023 |
Jess Lorenzo confirms receipt, and asks OAPRA team: does NYSED still commit to reviewing applications within 30 days of receipt? |
| 10/06/2023 |
10/06/2023: Jess reaches out to AF and JS to ask: does NYSED remain committed to reviewing applications within 30 days? |
| 10/10/2023 |
AF responds: This is not what we have been seeing recently due to recent turnover at NYSED. However, we can follow up with NYSED to check in on the proposal at that time. |
| 10/10/2023 |
10/10/2023: Jess responds, requesting average recent turnaround for NYSED reviews |
| 10/20/2023 |
Jess reaches out to OAPRA: what is average turnaround time for NYSED reviews? |
| 10/26/2023 |
JS loops TW into email chain, TW directs JS to draft a response to Jess |
| 10/26/2023 |
JS drafts a response for TW: "Hi Jess, thank you for your email - we understand the excitement around this proposal. We cannot provide an average turnaround for NYSED reviews per se: as Alex mentioned, there have been staffing changes within NYSED that have resulted in longer than average review times - especially for new programs, like the MS in Genome Health Analysis. However, since this proposal is just about to reach one month with NYSED having been submitted 09/28/2023, we are happy to request a status update on this proposal from NYSED. We will reach out with any updates. Thank you" |
| 10/31/2023 |
Jess reaches out, requesting an update: Hi Alex and Jesse, Are there any updates from NYSED regarding the review of the GHA application? Could you let us know what the average turnaround time has been? |
| 11/06/2023 |
JS writes to TW, pinging TW re: draft response to Jess: Hi Titilayo, I wanted to flag my draft response to Jess, as she has been consistently reaching out about the status of the MS Genome Analysis that is currently with NYSED (submitted 09/28). Just want to make sure we are getting a response to her from a relationship management perspective - we had discussed you responding to Jess using my draft, so that Alex can be removed from this conversation. |
| 11/06/2023 |
TW writes to Jess: Good morning Jess, I have returned from my leave and will be coordinating the processing of this proposal with NYSED. We understand the excitement around this proposal and thank you for your follow-up email. NYSED has been in touch and have confirmed they have this proposal in their queue. While I cannot provide an average turnaround for NYSED reviews per se: as Alex mentioned, there have been staffing changes within NYSED that have resulted in unpredictable review times - especially for new programs, like the MS in Genome Health Analysis. I will let you know once I have any additional updates to provide. |
| 11/06/2023 |
Jess responds to TW: Good morning and congratulations! Thank you for the update and would greatly appreciate receiving any information related to proposal’s review. |
| 12/01/2023 |
OAPRA receives NYSED feedback: The Office of College and University Evaluation at the New York State Education Department has completed an initial review of New York University’s proposal for a new MS in Genome Health Analysis. More information is needed to continue our review of this proposal: The “Faculty To Be Hired” table lists two positions with a start date of “August 2023”. Have faculty been hired? If yes, please provide an updated faculty table which includes the new hires. If these positions have not yet been filled, please identify current faculty who could provide coverage for the four courses assigned to these positions in the event that the hiring target date is not met. [Reference: Section 52.2(b)(1,3) of Commissioner’s Regulations] We ask that the above issues be addressed within 30 business days (Tuesday, January 16, 2024). Responses may be returned to me by email. The Department will deny registration of the proposed action (pursuant to §52.1(l) of Commissioner’s Regulations) if a satisfactory response is not provided within 30 days. The application will not be retained. If the Department denies registration, a new proposal may be submitted at a later date when compliance with all standards can be demonstrated. |
| 12/01/2023 |
TW reaches out to Jess Lorzeno of Grossman to update w/ NYSED feedback: "Good morning Jess, I hope you are doing well. We have heard back from NYSED who has a clarifying question: The “Faculty To Be Hired” table lists two positions with a start date of “August 2023”. Have faculty been hired? If yes, please provide an updated faculty table which includes the new hires. If these positions have not yet been filled, please identify current faculty on an updated faculty table, who could provide coverage for the four courses assigned to these positions in the event that the hiring target date is not met. Please let me know if you have any questions." |
| 12/01/2023 |
Jess Lorenzo responds: Hi Titilayo, Thank you. The faculty have not yet been hired and we have four faculty who are available to teach the four courses in case the positions are not filled by the class start date. Should these four faculty be listed in a revised “Existing Core Faculty” section and completely eliminate the “Faculty to be Hired” section or list them the backup faculty in the “Existing Core Faculty” and keep the “Faculty to be Hired”? |
| 12/04/2023 |
Jess responds: Hi Titilayo, Attached are two versions of the revised table. Version 1 lists the temporary faculty as existing faculty and also lists the to be hired faculty. Version 2 lists the temporary faculty as existing faculty and eliminates the faculty to be hired table. Please let us know when the response is submitted back to NYSED. |
| 12/04/2023 |
TW reaches out to Jess: Hi Jess, So sorry for not getting back to you Friday. We will send version 1 to NYSED now. We will let you know if they have any additional questions. |
| 12/04/2023 |
TW reaches out to Jess: Can you please update pg 14 version 1 with the new date by which the new faculty will begin job duties. Please select a date based on an approximate approval date of 02/01/24. |
| 12/04/2023 |
TW reaches out to Jess: Can you please let me know why you added "non-compensated adjunct faculty" to the table? We should only be including official NYU titles in this form. You may certainly retain this information for internal purposes. Please resend the form with the following changes: 1. remove non-compensated adjunct faculty (NYU), 2024; 2. update the date by which they will begin job duties column on the 'faculty to be hired' table (page 14) and 3. Please highlight changes since last submission in yellow. |
| 12/04/2023 |
Jess responds: The non-compensated adjunct faculty was previously requested by your office. It has been removed from the attached updated version and all below bullet points are addressed. Please let us know when submitted to NYSED. Thanks in advance. |
| 12/04/2023 |
TW reaches out to NYSED: Thank you for your thorough review. The faculty have not yet been hired for this program. We have updated the faculty table and listed the temporary faculty who can provide coverage for the four courses in the event that the new hiring target is not met. We have highlighted them in yellow. |
| 12/04/2023 |
TW reaches out to Jess, informing her that the form was sent to NYSED. Jess confirms receipt |
| 12/06/2023 |
Ellen Stevens of NYSED reaches out to TW: Thank you for providing the updates to the faculty tables. The program has been approved. You should be receiving official notification of the program’s registration by the end of next week. |
| 12/11/2023 |
NYSED sends official approve notice, JS notifies School unofficially |