Faculty Senate Minutes
Thursday, February 5, 2009
3:15 PM to 5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
1. Attendance: Please check-in on the attendance roster.
In attendance, Senate officers and delegates—Mark Hubley (FO President), Swazette Young (FO Vice
President), Len Sekelick (Liberal Arts), Vince Cipriani (WDCE), Janet Carlson (Developmental Ed),
Nicholas Plants (at large), Laura Ellsworth (Public Safety and Law), Barbara Sanders (Student
Development Services), Daniel Jones (at large), Kathi Linville (Nursing), Alan Mickelson (Learning
Resources), Scott Huxel (STEM), Michelle Klein (Sciences and Engineering), Nelson Kofie (Anthro, Econ,
Soc), Eldon Baldwin (at large), Darlene Antezana (Liberal Arts), Leslie Wojciechowicz (Math). Others in
attendance—Lynda Ihekweme (SGB), Dan Collins-Cavanaugh.
2. Review the Agenda for the 2/5/09 meeting.
The agenda was approved as written.
3. Review the Minutes of the 11/20/08 meeting.
The minutes were approved with one change suggested by Janet Carlson regarding the adjunct faculty
report.
4. Calendar
Spring 2009 important dates
A. College closed or no classes
i) Presidents’ Day, college closed, Mon. 2/16
ii) Spring Break, college closed, Mon. 4/6—Sun. 4/12
B. Other important dates
i) Last day to withdraw from 15-week classes, Fri. 4/17
ii) Final exam week, Thu. 5/7—Wed. 5/13
iii) Grades due, Fri. 5/15
iv) Commencement, Thu. 5/21
February/March important dates
E. Senate meetings
i) Thu. 2/5, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
ii) Thu. 2/19, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
iii) Thu. 3/5, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
iv) Thu. 3/19, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
F. Board of Trustees meetings
i) Thu. 2/12, 7:00 PM, Kent 262
ii) Thu. 3/12, 7:00 PM, Kent 262
G. College-wide Forum
i) Tue. 2/3, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
ii) Tue. 2/17-canceled
iii) Tue. 3/3, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
iv) Tue. 3/17, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
H. Academic Council
i) Thu. 2/12, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 133
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ii) Thu. 2/26, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 133
i) Thu. 3/12, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 133
ii) Thu. 3/26, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 133
5. Attachments
A. Minutes from the 11/20 meeting
B. Various forms related to the Faculty Evaluation Plan
C. Senate progress report.
6. Reports
A. Senate President
Mark Hubley reported that he would likely call a meeting of the entire Faculty Organization to discuss the
faculty evaluation process. This meeting would probably be held in place of the February 19 Senate
meeting. Hubley has invited President Dukes to attend the March 5 meeting.
Hubley said there were a number of committees to deal with. He had some names for the four faculty
required for the Sabbatical Leave Committee, but these should be approved by the Senate. Danny Jones
and Alan Mickelson suggested some specific requirements for the four faculty members. The Senate
agreed that one of the members should be a chair, one should hold tenure, one should have a minimum
of six years of service to the college, and the fourth should have been on a sabbatical (this requirement
may be waived this year, as we have not had a sabbatical program). Jones, Mickelson, and Nelson Kofie
offered to serve. Hubley said he would come up with a fourth name and put the names to an e-mail vote.
The Nominating Committee needs to be filled. Positions held by Charlie Thomas, Barbara Lewis, and
Beth Adkins carry over. There are vacancies in the positions of adjunct faculty, Health Sciences,
Educational Development, Liberal Arts, and Learning Resources. Darlene Antezana (Liberal Arts) offered
to serve. Hubley said he would look for more nominees.
Hubley reported that he and Nicolas Plants had attended a Middle States-sponsored retreat on
assessment, along with Pres. Dukes, VP Dunnington, and Verna Teasdale. One outcome is that there
are plans to hire a full-time person to coordinate assessment. The necessary pieces of assessment
appear to be in place, but they need to be put into a coherent plan. Laura Ellsworth asked if this was
distinct from the AOAC; Hubley said yes, the AOAC is one part of the assessment puzzle. We may also
need a comprehensive view of assessment at the institutional level.
B. Senate Vice President
Swazette Young reported that the Salary & Benefits is in the final stages of preparing a proposal for the
Senate’s consideration. The committee hopes to advance various recommendations, despite the poor
economy. Nobody has heard anything about conclusions of the Hendricks report.
C. Academic Council
Barbara Sanders reported that the Council agreed to raise the academic standards requirements for good
standing to the levels required for financial aid. This is a policy matter that has been forwarded to the
Board of Trustees.
D. Representative from President’s Leadership Team
Eldon Baldwin mentioned a Friday deadline for agenda items for the next meeting. The last meeting was
held before fall final exams. There was a discussion of changing strategic goals from a five-year time
frame to a three-year rolling time frame. There was talk of the need to adopt an educational philosophy.
Another topic of discussion was feedback on the meeting of constituency leaders with the members of the
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Board of Trustees that was held in the summer of 2007. Hubley said that he and the other constituency
leaders had been invited to dinner with the Board on February 26 to discuss this topic.
Baldwin said there was discussion of reorganization with a plan to have open meetings. Hubley said
there had been talk of reorganization in Academic Affairs in recent Chairs’ Council meetings. Baldwin
expressed concerns that these conversations were being kept confidential—not the best way to make
progress.
E. College-wide Forum
Laura Ellsworth mentioned a report from the Human Resources Committee about an alternate work
schedule. The college attorney raised the idea of inspections of the home (presumably about safety
concerns). Ellsworth remarked that faculty have been teaching online from home for years without any
such inspections.
i) Representative from Faculty Organization
ii) Human Resources Committee
iii) Budget Advisory Committee
Mickelson reported that the committee would meet tomorrow with Pres. Dukes.
iv) Campus Culture Committee
v) Learning Committee
vi) Technology Steering Committee
Baldwin reported that VP Rossmeier wants to develop a new strategic plan for technology. Now that
Colleague is in the works, the primary emphasis will be on instructional technology. Student e-mail
should be in place prior to the fall semester. Faculty expressed concerns that students have already
moved on from e-mail and are using other technologies for communication. Various members of the
Senate said that Blackboard seems to work well for the students.
vii) Strategic Planning Committee
viii) Assessment Committee
ix) Facilities Committee
F. Chairs’ Council
G. Adjunct Faculty
H. Representative from the Student Governance Board
7. Old Business
A. Faculty evaluation process revisions
Hubley said he had e-mailed the most recent versions of the documents to members of the Senate. We
have been over these several times, and the revisions agreed upon by the Senate have been
incorporated. An alternative to Form B had been submitted by the Department of Psychology. Hubley
asked members of the Senate to compare the two versions of Form B. Hubley said he did not want to
debate this matter now, but he would hold a meeting of the entire Faculty Organization in place of the
February 19 Senate meeting. The purpose of this FO meeting would be to discuss the proposed
evaluation plan revisions. He suspected that this would lead to conducting a referendum on the proposed
changes. Young suggested that the newly proposed Form B would provide a common language for
discussing faculty evaluation.
Hubley said that if the revisions are approved by the faculty then there may be some resistance from
higher up to the idea of having the performance rating assigned by the ILS. The administration wants the
rating assigned by an administrator. An alternative would be to change the proposal in such a way that
the rating is assigned by both the ILS and the dean—the two would have to agree to a rating then sign
off. This would have the benefit of requiring collaboration between the ILS and dean. Charlie Thomas
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noted that it is typical for the direct supervisor to assign a performance rating, there are plenty of systems
like this that work. The suggestion was made that the rating should be discussed during the combined
conference. All parties should leave the conference on the same page. If the ILS and dean cannot
agree, the VP will have to sort it out.
B. Other old business?
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8. New Business
A. New business?
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9. Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings
A. Faculty Organization meeting to discuss evaluation process.
B. Discussion with President Dukes, March 5
C. Other items?
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10. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 5:30 PM.
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