Faculty and Student Academic Program Support

Mission

The mission of FIT's Faculty and Academic Program Support (FAPS) unit is to provide exemplary consultation and direction to faculty and Academic Affairs in the areas of catalog development, curriculum administration, online learning, career and internship studies, student academic support, academic advising, faculty development, academic and administrative program assessment, institutional research and services related to tenure, promotion, student evaluations, and reappointment. 

New projects from faculty and academic program support include:

Online Learning

» More about Online Learning

  • We are very excited about FIT's new LMS: D2L Brightspace. Faculty are welcome to attend asynchronous training, live workshops, and one-on-one support sessions. All training opportunities may be found on this document, which is updated frequently.
  • All faculty may log in to their FIT Brightspace account at brightspace.fitnyc.edu with their regular FIT username and password. At least 3 practice courses as well as an asynchronous training course are available on each instructor's homepage.
  • The number of Online and Blended courses and trained instructors continues to grow. This past fall, the office trained and certified 20 new Online instructors and 12 new Blended instructors, bringing the total number of online instructors to 285 for Online and 67 for Blended. The total number of Online sections running this spring is 350, up from 284 last spring.
  • Newsweek’s ranking of “America’s Top Online Colleges 2023” placed FIT 22nd in the nation, and first in New York State, for online learning offerings. The list of 200 colleges was based on a survey of 9,000 online learners, and additional research about institutions that offer undergraduate and graduate programs online. FIT currently offers more than 800 online course sections per year and 4 completely online degree programs.
  • The office is offering Credly Badges to instructors who complete training or refresh their online courses. These badges may be shared digitally on sites like LinkedIn and Blackboard. If any instructors would like to refresh their older online courses, please contact [email protected].
  • Emerging Technology at FIT: visit this website to submit and review recommendations for innovative technology that has the potential to enhance student learning or faculty research.

Faculty Development and Center for Excellence in Teaching (CET)

» Faculty Development and Center for Excellence in Teaching (CET)

  • The Office of Faculty Development facilitates the Faculty Development Grants and Awards (FDGA) program. 
  • The Office of Faculty Development manages the SUNY Chancellor's Awards for Excellence (faculty and professional service). Opportunities to nominate colleagues are disseminated campus-wide in spring and fall.
  • A self-paced, online Adjunct Faculty Orientation, designed for part-time faculty, is
    accessible throughout the year.
  • The 2023 Adjunct Summer Institute, a full-day professional development opportunity designed for part-time faculty, will be held on June 1, 2022.  Upcoming and archived adjunct institutes can be found at the Adjunct Summer Instutitute page.
  • The Faculty Lab (B-502) is available 24/7 to faculty with a current FIT faculty ID. Selected software are also accessible remotely via  Leostream.
    The Center for Excellence in Teaching provides workshops, seminars and roundtables that address topics such as Creating a Syllabus, Diversifying the Curriculum, Tips for Teaching, Teaching & Learning in a Flipped Classroom, Service Learning, Active Learning, Designing Assignments and Assessments, Writing to Learn, and Teaching with Brightspace.
    Links to CET events, recordings and event artifacts can be found on the CET website.
    By appointment, teaching consultations are available with Professors Jeffrey Riman, CET coordinator, and Brian Fallon, Interim Director.
    The Concourse digital syllabus template allows you to build course syllabi with the most current institutional information. Directions for using the template can be found on the FIT Digital Syllabus page. For additional information on using the template, please contact the CET.

Curriculum

»More about Curriculum

  • There were 13 new courses approved in the Fall 2022 semester. New courses approved include:
    • FD 301 Sustainable Design Concepts
    • FI 212 Drag and Cross-Dressing in Cinema
    • HA 115 Crossroads: Global Art and Its Histories, 1450-1750
    • SC 103 Environmental Justice Through the Lens of Chemistry
    • FM 331 Technology and Transformation in Fashion.
  • In the Fall 2022 semester, 17 courses from the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences were passed as qualifying for the new SUNY General Education Framework of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (DEISJ). Some examples of the courses passed for DEISJ include:
    • EN 202 Women Write New York City
    • HA385 Racism and Antiracism in Public Art and Architecture of the United States (Honors)
    • MC 203 Gender as Performance: Representation of Masculinities in Latin American/Latinx Theatre
  • The creation of new minor  Sustainable Materials and Technology (SM&T). This minor includes an engaging set of courses tackling issues touching on the three pillars of sustainability, social, economic, and environmental, and the tools needed to bridge these to build truly sustainable solutions.
  • The Curriculum Review Meeting Dates page has been updated with Spring 2023 dates.  Please note that program changes approved in the spring 2023 semester will be included in the fall 2024-2025 catalog.
  • Curricular Inventory Management (CIM) Training Sessions - In the Spring 2023 semester, the Office for Curriculum held four training sessions. Topics included a CIM refresher, how to edit or propose a course, how to edit a program, and a training session for minor coordinators. More training sessions will be scheduled in Fall 2022.
  • The 2023-2024 Undergraduate and Graduate catalogs were published online in February 2023 in time for Fall 2023 registration. The catalogs can be found here:

Career and Internship Studies (CIS)

»Career and Internship Studies site

  • Between Fall 2022 and Summer 2023, 1838 internship opportunities were posted in the CSJB.
  • For Spring 2023 649 of our students were placed as interns in industry at 263 companies from 531 credited internship listings that offered 1274 openings. Our interns had the opportunity to launch their careers at brands that included Alexander Wang, Altuzarra, Anna Sui, Balenciaga, Carolina Herrera, Christian Louboutin, Fashion Fights Cancer/FFC, Giorgio Armani, Hermes, Kiki de Montparnasse, Louis Vuitton, LoveShackFancy, Missoni, Nike, Oscar de la Renta, Proenza Schouler, rag & bone and over 250 other companies.
  • CIS hosted 75 events, which included organizations such as Tapestry, Bulgari, Capri Holdings, Macy’s, Ralph Lauren, Warner Music, Victoria Secret, Walmart, David Yurman, Sephora and others. 
  • First time CIS hosted three Career Fairs. Two In-person fairs, and One Virtual Fair with a total of 1,325 students/alumni attending all events. 97% of employers rated their experience above average or excellent. 
  • CIS partnered with National Black MBA which resulted in fashion scholarships for two FIT students
  • Advisors are available by appointment or during walk-in periods.  To schedule a career counseling session, visit the Career and Internship website.

Academic and Administrative Assessment

»Office of Academic and Administrative Assessment (OAAA) site

  • The Faculty Assessment Fellows program was launched in 2021-2022.  The second group of fellows included Meg Joseph (Global Fashion Management), Ajoy Sarkar (Textile Development and Management), Sarah Mullins (Footwear and Accessories Design), and Subhalakshmi Gooptu (English and Communication Studies) completed their work on improving assessment at FIT in spring 2023.  In addition to providing written feedback on annual program learning outcome assessment reports, the fellows developed a resource on assessment planning and shared it with the Faculty Senate.  Each October, a call is sent out to faculty inviting them to apply to serve as a fellow in the spring term.

  • Two of the Faculty Assessment Fellows (Meg Joseph and Sarah Mullins) led a workshop sponsored by the CET on  Creating, Designing, and Using Rubrics, along with the Executive Director of Assessment.

Student Academic Support

Academic Advisement

  • Academic advisement is available in multiple modalities. In person, telephone, and virtual appointments are available. For information about making appointments, visit the Make an Appointment page. Please send all inquiries to [email protected].
  • New approaches have been implemented to engage students who need to submit their SAT/ACT or take the Placement Exam. This initiative was developed in an effort to assist students in staying on track for graduation. 
  • Academic Advisement continues with the Early Alert pilot which increases the ability to reach out to students when needed and advise of academic resources available.

Academic Skills Tutoring, and Writing and Speaking Studio

Academic Skills Tutoring Center and the Writing and Speaking Studio continue to offer free online and face-to-face tutoring and consultation sessions for the spring 2022 semester.
Students can schedule individual appointments for either service and attend walk-in sessions.

The Academic Skills Tutoring Center provides tutoring for all FIT students enrolled in classes for the current semester.

The Writing and Speaking Studio works with all FIT students, faculty, and staff on any writing or speaking projects whether they are for course, personal, or professional purposes.

  • Writing and Speaking Studio (student page)
  • The Writing and Speaking Studio (faculty page) offers faculty support through one-to-one consultations on writing and oral communication for pedagogical and professional purposes:
    • The WSS directors provide faculty with feedback on manuscripts, conference presentation preparation, curriculum, sabbatical proposals, candidate statements, course assignments, and other professional and academic written and oral communication projects.
    • Faculty can schedule informational visits and workshops, seek feedback on assignments, and consult with WSS faculty on communication teaching practices, including classroom activities, assignment development, and written and oral communication assessment.

FIT Library Academic support

»Gladys Marcus Library

  • Offers multiple different options for integrating library instruction into FIT courses both synchronously and asynchronously. Faculty can submit an Instruction Request and library staff will collaborate to develop customized content for each class.
  • Offers copyright support services. For questions on copyright related courses or faculty research and publication, please email [email protected].
  • Requests items from other institutions via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
  • Members of the FIT Community can place requests for the library to purchase items. Please complete the Library Material Purchase Request.
  • Each department has a Library Liaison available to answer any other questions. More information is provided on the Services for Faculty page.