Minutes

• Opening Items
• Call to order at 3:03 pm by Senate President Erin Crook.
• Welcome and Roll Call
• Agenda Adjustments-

        Add: Discussion of Planning Matrices from Basic Skill Committee

        Add: Topic of Senate Vice President

• Approval of Minutes from 2/5/08 – Marlene Bumgarner advises that her name was spelled incorrectly in the minutes.

MSC (M. Bumgarner/K. Wagman) unanimous.  (Correction to name will be made and forwarded to Erin for review.)

• Comments from the Public - none
• Information Items
• Report - Shared Governance Survey – Erin will send out this information for all to review.  Be prepared to discuss at the next meeting.
• Discussion Items
• Senator Topics –

        Erin advises that Debbie Klein has tendered her resignation from Senate

        in addition, as Senate Vice President. Debbie is the new Secretary

        for GCFA.  Erin would like a volunteer or she will be soliciting for a new

        Vice President.  Ken advises that the VP will be a member of President’s

        Council in the Fall.

• Equivalency – How is eminence in the field established? John Lango feels that the PE/Athletic Department is not represented on the Equivalency Committee, which may not understand equivalence in the PE/Athletics field.  Areas such as Pilates, Yoga, and Fencing do not have Master’s Degree programs.  The Committee could request a representative from a department if necessary, to help interpret qualifications. The system, as-is, generally seems to function well. The Golf coach was granted equivalency based on possession of his PGA card. The bar needs to be set high – a college instructor should at least have some college education and be able to promote college as a valuable commodity.  John would like to check with his dept. to see if they want the committee criteria for equivalency in writing. Victor asked if “Life Experience” could equate to a degree and equivalent education? is the applicant given the opportunity to fully make their case? what documentation actually goes to the committee?  The Department should be advising/helping the applicant to prepare their application and establish their qualifications for the position. Erin will

        send out copies of the docs the committee receives for Senators to review.

• Liberal Arts Degree changes – Victor  continues to work with the Department Chairs to bring degrees in line with Title V changes; drafts are due to be submitted to Curriculum Committee, then to the Board in March.

• Curriculum Update – Board Policy changes: withdrawals and repeats. Repeats are currently allowed for substandard work/grade. New regulations allow 2 times; we want intervention with the student built in to the approval process – counselor must be seen to determine if tutoring, special assistance or changing to another class to complete the GE requirements are better options for the student.

        Withdrawals- until now there has been no limit on the number of

        withdrawals.  Now, after 4 withdrawals the student will have to take the

        letter grade earned for the work completed.  With Web registration, we         should build in some checks that require a student to see a counselor after

        a certain number of withdrawals.

• Athletic Director/Dean of PE – Steve Kinsella – proposed change in title to be consistent with the other deans– Ron’s level of responsibility spans both the academic and the athletic areas; he holds a Master’s Degree.  There is no money associated with the title change – but will clean up the reporting flow chart. Senators expressed mixed feelings on the necessity of the change.  Erin will do a resolution for action at the next meeting.
• Ethics Committee – Erin reported the committee had not met recently, but there is an ethics statement in the Faculty Handbook.  Should Senate be involved in enforcement? It would be hard to do and the general feeling was that it should be the responsibility of the Deans, VP Instruction, or Administration.  The Code of Ethics should be in the hands of all instructors.  Erin asked Senators to review and will be a discussion item at the next meeting.
• Action Items
• Resolution: Faculty of the Year- discussion on a change in criteria by which the selection is made.  Criteria should include campus involvement and participation in shared governance.  The committee should produce two sets of criteria - one for full-time, and another for adjunct faculty for whom campus involvement could replace the criteria of shared governance.  The Department Chair would also need to include a written recommendation.  The names on the plaques will also need to be brought up to date. Ken Wagman will assist the committee.  Selection process will begin in March after review of revised criteria at the next meeting.
• Reports
• ASB - none
• President – Steve Kinsella – our budget is ok – appears to be no threat of it being reduced, which puts us in good shape for next year’s start as well.  Enrollment is up 10-14 % and our anticipated share is approx $561,000.  Open staff and faculty positions are now in line to be filled, but our 5-year faculty-hiring plan is in question at this time.  We are up 287 FTS,  $10-$12 million in

construction money, and with our current growth are eligible for more.  Expenditure Reduction Task Force may not be needed.

• Vice President of Instruction – no report        
• Vice President of Student Services – John Pruitt

Please be kind to the Banner schedulers – they are working very hard to get the Summer and Fall Courses into the new system. 

Next year GECA with have 9th grade taking their classes in the morning and the 10th grade taking their classes in the afternoon- this will help maximize their limited space.  We will need to make sure we are offering the classes they need at the times they can attend.  The Biology classes are highly impacted.  Randy Brown is conducting research on student success at GECA and the report will be available soon.

• Basic Skills Committee – Fran Lozano presented the Matrices prepared by the committee.  They have two grants and a May 1st deadline to turn in their planning matrices and self-assessment to the State. Please take this information back to your constituents and bring comments, questions to the next meeting.  Erin will prepare a resolution for action.
• Budget Committee - none
• Marketing Committee - none
• Tech Committee - none
• PTCOC - none
• Learning Outcomes - none
• Distance Ed - none
• Faculty of the Year - none
• Ethics Committee - none
• Senate President – please consider the position of Senate Vice President.  Erin also reports that Contribute finally works on her home computer and that the Senate website has been updated.
• Closing Items
• Items for next agenda

        1.  Equivalency

        2.  Board Policies on withdrawals and repeats

        3.  Dean of PE & Athletics

        4.  Ethics

        5.  Faculty of the Year process

        6.  Change the meeting dates for May – conflicts with finals

• Next meeting time – March 4, 2008 3 pm
• Meeting adjourned at 4:36 pm by Erin Crook.

Submitted by

Diane Stone