Lucia Iandolo
Rakin “Rock” Hall, vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success, said that as of May 6, the college has received 1,248 deposits from incoming students for the 2025-26 academic year.
The Ithaca College Faculty Council met May 6 for its last meeting of the 2024-25 academic year to hear an update on the college’s enrollment from Rakin “Rock” Hall, vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success, amid other agenda items.
The council also discussed changes to the study abroad program, the results of a survey on generative artificial intelligence use at the college and held elections for executive committee leadership positions on the council for the 2025-26 academic year.
Melanie Stein, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, deferred her provost report to the end of the council’s meeting. The council entered an executive session at the end of its meeting, which is restricted to members only.
College admissions update
Hall said that as of May 6, the college has received 1,248 deposits from incoming students for the 2025-26 academic year. He said the college’s target budget assumption was 1,170 deposits for the 2025-26 academic year.
“The combined culmination of the first-time freshmen and the transfer populations [is] putting us ahead of our anticipated goals,” Hall said.
Hall said the number of deposits for the 2025-26 academic year has already surpassed the deposits received last year. He said they are almost at the same number of deposits received for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years. He said the deposits for the 2024-25 academic year could have been influenced by delays in the FAFSA in 2024.
Hall said the college is planning on introducing merit-based scholarships called the Presidential and Dean scholarships with an Oct. 15 deadline. The college’s early decision deadline is Nov. 1 and early action deadline is Dec. 1. He said the scholarships will help encourage prospective students to apply to the college early.
“It allows us to truly curate the class and understand where students fit,” Hall said.
Hall said that as of May 6, the acceptance rate of the college was around 70% for first-time first-year students and around 50% for transfer students.
Changes to study abroad deadlines
Rachel Gould, senior director of study abroad in the Office of International Programs, said applications for the IC London Center for Summer 2025, Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 were due Feb. 15. In the past students were able to apply to the IC London Center the semester before studying abroad. She said applications for all study abroad programs for Summer 2026, Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 will be due Feb. 15, 2026. She said the change in deadlines is being implemented to help students studying abroad secure housing more smoothly.
“[The deadline change] is going to be a big change for students, and is going to require students to plan a little bit earlier, especially for spring semesters,” Gould said.
Cynthia Henderson, professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance Performance, said she has heard from students that they often do not know if they will be able to study abroad until the semester before going abroad because of their financial situation.
Gould said if students are going to an affiliated program, their scholarships will transfer over but the cost of living in different locations varies. Gould said her office is working to convey the change in study abroad deadlines to the student body.
“We’re going to try to get the messaging out every place,” Gould said. “We know that doesn’t mean it will be seen or read or absorbed the way we’d like it to be, but what we want is to try to make sure that everyone sees the information so at least they know about it”
AI survey results
Narges Kasiri, professor in the Department of Management, presented results from a survey done by her and her students about faculty, staff and student AI use at the college. She said about 400 people participated in the survey, out of which 70% were students, 16% were staff and 14% were faculty.
“We focused on two key factors,” Kasiri said. “One was the ease of use and also the other one was the usefulness of the technology.”
Kasiri said the school with the highest percentage of self-reported regular use of generative AI was the School of Business, followed by the Roy H. Park School of Communications, the School of Humanities and Sciences, the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.
Kasiri said students are mainly using generative AI for learning support while faculty are largely using it for research and idea generation.
Rachel Wagner, professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion, said she is concerned about the environmental impacts of AI and said she believes the college needs to have a conversation about how it conflicts with its core value of sustainability.
“If people don’t have clean water to drink, why are we using water for AI?” Wagner said. “Students who come to our institution … know our values. And this seems to work in opposition to them.”
Jenna Linskens, director of the Center for Instructional Design and Educational Technology, said the Presidential Working Group on AI has been considering the environmental impact of AI in its work. Linskens said the report from the working group will be released sometime after the May 15-17 Board of Trustees meeting.
Executive committee leadership voting
The council voted on executive committee leadership for the council for the 2025-26 academic year. All of the candidates ran unopposed.
Dennis Charsky, professor in the Department of Strategic Communication and the director of the Communication Management and Design program, was voted the chair of the council. Charsky is one of three current at-large members of the council. Kelley Sullivan, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, will be the vice-chair of the council. Sullivan is also one of the current at-large members of the council. Bonnie Riley, associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, will be secretary of the council.
Eric Steinschneider, associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, and Angela Branneman, associate professor in the Department of Theatre Production and Management, will both become at-large members of the council.
After voting, the council passed the motion to enter into executive session with Stein to discuss updates on the college’s work with the Hanover Research consulting firm, department and program changes, and staffing.
The Ithaca College Faculty Council meets on the first Tuesday of every month in the Taughannock Falls room of the Campus Center from 4-6 p.m. The faculty council can be contacted at [email protected].