SUNY Sullivan Community College

112 College Road

DANERYL WEBER Loch Sheldrake, NY 12759
845-434-5750 x4239
dweber@sunysullivan.edu
danerylweber@gmail.com
http://danerylweber.weebly.com/
SUNY Sullivan Community College
Rose Hanofee, Interim Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs
112 College Road
Loch Sheldrake, NY 12759

February 18, 2024

Re: Application for Promotion to Professor of English

Dear Interim Vice President Hanofee and Promotion Committee,

Please accept my application for promotion to Full Professor at SUNY Sullivan. I am finishing my
ninth year at SUNY Sullivan, first as an Assistant Professor and currently as an Associate
Professor of English. During this time, I have taught a variety of classes, including all levels of
composition and various literature, creative writing, speech, humanities, and student success
classes. I love the challenges and rewards of teaching, and I especially love working with the
students at SUNY Sullivan, who constantly challenge me to do better. Since becoming Associate
Professor, I have also served on numerous standing and ad hoc committees, earned two
teaching awards, published research in an award-winning anthology, and served as internal
editor and writer of the Middle States Self-Study Report. I believe this portfolio demonstrates
my successes, my dedication to teaching, and some of my contributions to the College and the
wider community, and that they will be sufficient to qualify me for promotion to Full Professor.

Excellence in teaching remains the primary focus of my work at the College. As the College’s
primary specialist in Basic Writing instruction, I am continually seeking to improve not only my
Developmental English classes, but all the classes I teach, seeking new ways to better engage
my students and promote their success. As an instructor, I am versatile; I regularly teach a mix
of seated, hybrid, and online classes, and I also teach in the local correctional facility. Although
my teaching effectiveness scores are consistently high, I am constantly striving to develop and
improve professionally. Since my last promotion in 2019, I completed training in the design and
delivery of HyFlex classes as well as completing, with distinction, a series of three courses in the
Assessment of Learning Outcomes through the SUNY Center for Professional Development. In
the near future, I hope to complete the next series of courses on Institutional Assessment
through the SUNY CPD. In 2019, I received the Hudson Link Fidelity Award, and I received the
SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2022.

Online pedagogy is also a particular interest of mine. As a certified online instructor, I have
been a member of the Online Advisory Committee for the last several years; this year, I was
nominated to represent SUNY Sullivan as an Online Teaching Ambassador. In 2023, after
completing the training, I piloted my first HyFlex class. I learned much from the experience; it
was the only class I have taught at SUNY Sullivan where not a single student failed. I found that
HyFlex fits well with my teaching philosophy of meeting students at the point of need, and I
look forward to experimenting with the design again in the near future. I presented on the
experience at Faculty Development Day and have since served as a resource for other
instructors interested in using hybrid pedagogies.

I am an active member of multiple other committees, both standing and ad hoc. During the last
few years, as the College was undergoing its Middle States Review, I worked to support the
process by serving both as a member of the Steering Committee and of the committee for
Standard V: Institutional Assessment. In addition, I served as the internal editor for the Self-
Study Report, for which I wrote several chapters and worked with the outside reviewer and the
Middle States liaison to edit, polish, and finalize the entire document. This included gathering,
labeling, and managing hundreds of pieces of evidence. I will be continuing in that role over the
next several months as we prepare for the follow-up visit.

Currently, I am also the Chair of the Academic Assessment Committee. I am working to help the
Associate Dean of Assessment and Instruction guide faculty through the Program Review for
the English and History tracks of the Liberal Arts & Sciences, AA Program, and am also working
with the Coordinator of Instructional Design & Online Learning to incorporate data gathering
into our Learning Management System, Brightspace. While we still have much work to do, my
focus as Chair is on clarifying, simplifying, and illuminating our assessment processes across the
campus, positioning the College for greater success moving forward.

Other contributions include serving on the College’s Composition Committee since I arrived at
SUNY Sullivan, the Student Conduct Committee for the last several years, and serving in various
other capacities. This fall, I was one of four faculty chosen for the Presidential Search
Committee, a task we have now completed. As needed, I regularly participate in hiring,
promotion, and tenure review committees for my colleagues. I also served as secretary of the
Professional Staff Association for several years, including during our contract negotiations in
2021-2022.

Below is a brief overview of the contents of this portfolio:

- The Home page includes a link to the detailed Table of Contents, this cover letter, a letter
from the Dean of my division, Dr. Allen Kotun, and my updated curriculum vitae.

- The Effectiveness with Students tab includes materials and evidence to support a positive view
of my teaching ability, my advising ability, and my character and personality, including evidence
of my professionalism, work ethic, and attitude. Materials include a statement of teaching
philosophy; SEEQ data on my teaching effectiveness with students; evidence of my advising
ability; statements on my character and personality; and sample course outlines and
assignments. I have also included a short section on my work about teaching and volunteering
in two local correctional facilities.

- The Scholarship tab will lead you to evidence of continued specialization in my field of rhetoric
and composition and in the Scholarship of Teaching. This will include information on four
chapters/articles I wrote or co-wrote that have been published since I began teaching at SUNY
Sullivan; two lists of conference presentations, the most recent of which was a presentation on
critical race theory in May 2022 for the Rhetoric Society of America, and other materials that
should serve as evidence of my ongoing professional development and specialization.

- The General Educational Activity: Service tab includes other contributions I have made to the
college community, from committee work to volunteering in one of our local correctional
facilities, including a brief overview of my work as coordinator of the Alternatives to Violence
Project and as a teaching artist for Rehabilitation Through the Arts.

- Supporting documents can be found under the Appendices tab. All sections of the portfolio
include data and/or statements from colleagues and students, the latter unsolicited, that can
attest to my contributions and achievements thus far.

I appreciate the myriad opportunities I have enjoyed at SUNY Sullivan to work, improve, and
grow alongside talented, dedicated colleagues; further, it is the greatest privilege to continue
supporting the students at SUNY Sullivan and contribute to their successes in any way I can. I
trust this portfolio will sufficiently demonstrate my abilities, contributions, and my ongoing
commitment to the College, and that my efforts meet the expectations for promotion.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Daneryl Weber