CHRIS ROUNDS' PERSONAL WEB SITE

Christopher R. Rounds

Address: 243 Twining Road Work: Empire State College
Johnson City, New York 13790 44 Hawley Street, Floor 5
Binghamton, New York 13901
Phones: 607-785-4404 (home) 607-721-8654 (work)

e-mail: Chris.Rounds@esc.edu

Education

B.A. History St. Lawrence University 1967
M.A. Southeast Asian History SUNY at Buffalo 1969
Ph.D. Latin American History SUNY at Stony Brook 1977

Professional Experience

1990-Present Mentor, Binghamton Unit, Central New York Regional Center
Empire State College, State University of New York

The primary roles of the ‘mentor’ are to provide academic guidance and tutorial support for students enrolled in the Unit and to create and sustain vital relationships between the College and the community. Mentors working in the Unit share responsibility for recruiting students, maintaining working relationships within the larger community, recruiting and training tutors and evaluators and generally managing the affairs of the Unit. Unit mentors are also expected to be active in the governance of the Regional Center of which they are a part and of the College as a whole. [for more details on this, see ‘Governance’, below.]

1982-1990 Associate Dean, North Central Regional Center, ESC.

The Associate Dean functioned within Empire State College as the Center’s chief academic officer. My responsibilities included review and approval of all work completed by faculty as they guided students through the design of individualized learning contracts and degree programs. I shared responsibility for the recruitment and orientation of new faculty and played a pivotal role in the on-going professional development activities of the Center. Throughout this period I also worked closely with the Dean in the development and implementation of a range of special programs designed to reach out to various groups within our larger community.

The Forum program exemplifies the creative response to community needs the Dean and I engaged in. Forum is a self-funded, week-end based management education program begun in Syracuse in the mid-1980s. Students with corporate sponsorship attend three ‘residencies’ in a twenty-four week term and typically carry a three course, twelve credit workload. The program began on quite a small scale, but has grown and multiplied. Currently, Empire State sustains three Forum programs in Western, Central and Eastern New York. Several hundred managers are enrolled, and hundreds of students have graduated.

The North Central Regional Center had its headquarters in Saratoga Springs and supported units in Binghamton, Syracuse, Watertown, Utica and Plattsburgh. The Center included about 20 faculty and roughly 400 FTE students at any given time. The Associate Dean also supervised the Assistant Dean for Assessment and the Office of Assessment and Learning Resources.

1979-1982 Assistant Dean for Assessment, Niagara Frontier Regional Center, ESC.

In this position I was responsible for all aspects of the process of prior learning evaluation and degree program review at the Regional Center level. This involved working with faculty and students to identify and articulate prior learning, and with professionals from the larger community whom I trained to evaluate student requests for credit.

1978-1979 Visiting Professor, La Javeriana University, Bogota, Colombia.

I conducted graduate and undergraduate seminars in History and Historiography, taught in Spanish. I also engaged in research on the nature and impact of land reform in Colombia.

1977-1978 Lilly Foundation Fellow, Niagara Frontier Regional Center, ESC.

Lilly Foundation Fellowships were awarded to newly minted Ph.D.s with an interest in adult, nontraditional education. Fellows spent a year familiarizing themselves with the theory and function of adult learning as practiced at Empire State College. They also functioned as mentors, carrying a half time student load.

Governance

2004-2007 Member, Academic Personnel Committee
2003-2004 Chair, Academic Personnel Committee
2002-2003 Co-Chair, Empire State College Academic Personnel Committee
1999-2001 Faculty Chair, Central New York Regional Center [see below for details]

1998-2000 Co-Chair, Empire State College Faculty Conference
1996- 1998 Chair, Center Personnel Committee, Central New York Regional Center, ESC

The Center Personnel Committee’s initiates the review of faculty at the Center level and submits its reports and the faculty’s recommendations to the college’s Academic Personnel Committee. The Chair coordinates the work of the committee, fulfills the same responsibilities as other committee members, and consults with the Regional Center Director and the Faculty Chair regarding issues of mutual interest. The Chair is elected annually by the Committee.

1994- 1996 Co-Chair, The Mentoring Institute

The Mentoring Institute exists outside of the governance structure of Empire State College, and is charged with facilitating the professional development of faculty as mentors and sharing the ideas and experiences of mentors about their roles. In addition to designing and carrying out a wide range of professional development activities across the College, the Co-Chairs edit the journal of the Mentoring Institute, entitled All About Mentoring.

1993-1995 Faculty Chair, Central New York Regional Center, ESC

I was elected as the first Chair of the Central New York faculty. During my two year tenure in this position, my responsibilities included the orientation and training of new faculty, primary responsibility for the delivery of academic development activities within the Center, and direction of Center meeting. The Chair was also designated as the first line of appeal for any complaints lodged by students within the Center. The Chair functions as the primary liaison between faculty and administration within the Regional Center.

1991-1993 Chair, Empire State College Senate

The Chair is elected from the Senate. In addition to coordinating the activities of the Senate and acting as liaison with the College administration, the Chair serves ex oficio on the Program, Planning and Budget Committee and represents the College in the Local Governance Leaders organization of the SUNY Senate.

Presidential Search Committee 1998-2000 Member

Vice Presidential Search Committee 1995-1996 Member

Land Reform and Economic Development: Yautepec, Morelos 1920-1970, New York: Garland Press (Latin American Economic History Series), 1987.

With Reed Coughlan and Crystal Scriber, “Access and Individualisation: Empire State College’s Response to Dispersed Adult Learners,” Open Learning, Vol. 6, No. 2, June, 1991.

With Reed Coughlan and Crystal Scriber, “Individualized Curriculum Design at Empire State College: A Model for Academic Responsibility and Relevance in a Student-Centered Program,” Adult Learning, March/April, 1993.

“Distance Learning at ESC: An Evolutionary Alternative,” Empire State College Exchange, 4/11/97.

“Preparing Students to be Successful Independent Learners,” in Office of Academic Affairs, Facilitating Learning at a Distance, symposium outcomes 1998.

Independent Learning Strategies, ESC Center for Distance Learning Course Guide, 1998, 1999.

Independent Learning Situation Audit, Center for Distance Learning, 1999.

“If We Were One College,” Empire State College Exchange, 6/17/99.


Co-Presenter with Virginia Smuda: “LinguaTechnica Workshop, “ University of Oregon, March 3-4, 1995

“Preparing Students to be Successful Independent Learners,” ESC Conference on Distance Learning and Mentoring, September 30, 1996. [This has been repeated in various forms in multiple settings]

With Xenia Coulter and Irene Rivera de Royston, “Learning about Diversity through Experience: Case Studies with Non-Traditional Students,” ACE/Alliance Conference, San Diego, October 1998.

With Xenia Coulter, “Mentoring at Empire State College: Stitching It Back Together,” SUNY Symposium The Integration of Academic and Student Life, November 1998.

Panel Participant: “Education and the Future of Civic Life,” Genesee Valley Regional Center Conference: Educating Adults for the 21st Century.



There have been a couple of AAHE/Alliance presentations since this resume was last edited.