Report of Regents Cultural Education Committee to The Board of Regents
Regent Roger Tilles, Chair of the Cultural Education Committee, submitted the following written report. Your Committee on Cultural Education Committee had its scheduled meeting on February 9, 2015. In attendance were committee members: Regents Tilles, Dawson, Cea and Bendit. Absent: Regents Rosa, Cottrell and Brown. In addition to CE Committee Members, in attendance were Regents Tallon, Phillips and Norwood as well as Acting Commissioner Elizabeth Berlin.
ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
Chair’s Remarks: Regent Tilles welcomed everyone and opened the meeting.
Deputy Commissioner Jeffrey Cannell introduced Acting State Archivist Thomas Ruller who reported on a recent grant to the State Archives for the conservation and digitization of documents from the Hudson Valley region during the British Colonial period. The documents will be conserved and digitized and then made available via the Archives online services.
Amendment to Commissioner’s Regulations 230.2
Thomas Ruller, Director of Operations for Cultural Education, presented the proposed Amendment to Commissioner’s Regulations 230.2 to the committee for the New York State Board of Regents’ approval. The proposed amendment relates to requirements governing the availability of Cultural Education Center facilities for general public and private use. There was no discussion of the proposed amendment. Mr. Ruller noted that the proposed regulatory change will come before the committee for a formal vote in April.
Appointment of Two Members to the Regents Advisory Council on Museums
Mark Schaming, Director of the New York State Museum, requested the Committee approve the appointments of and terms for two members to the Regents Advisory Council on Museums as presented.
• Kate Bennett, President of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, be reappointed to a five-year term. Her term ends on September 30, 2020.
• Suzanne LeBlanc of the Long Island Children’s Museum be appointed to a five-year term. Ms. LeBlanc will replace Beth E. Levinthal. Her term ends September 30, 2020.
Motion to approve both nominations: Regent Dawson
Second to the motion: Regent Cea
Unanimously approved.
State Museum – Year of Collecting
John Hart, Director of Research and Collections and Jennifer Lemak, Senior Historian provided an overview of materials added to the Museum’s collections during 2014.
Investigating the Effects of Climate Change in New York: Analyzing Modern and Fossil Mammals Information
Dr. Robert S. Feranec, Curator of Mammals and Pleistocene Vertebrate Paleontology, discussed his current research investigating how large mammals first assembled within New York’s ecosystems after the last Ice Age. He also discussed another of his research projects, which involves high school and college students, that seeks to determine what the effects of climate change in the past 100 years have been on small mammals in the State.