COLLEGE OF MARIN
ACADEMIC SENATE
MINUTES FOR SEPTEMBER 11, 2008
12:45 – 2:00
Student Services Building, Conference Rooms A & B
Senators Present: Carol Adair, Yolanda Bellisimo, Michael Dougan, Ron Gaiz, Erika Harkins, Robert Kennedy,
Patrick Kelly, Sara McKinnon, Arthur Lutz, Joe Mueller, Meg Pasquel, Radica Portello, Derek Wilson, Blaze
Woodlief
Senators Absent: Eric Dunmire
Guests: Rinetta Early, Laurie Orden, Linda Beam
Summary
Moved to place a discussion of the compressed calendar on the agenda for Sept 25
Moved to place a Banner discussion with the head of IT on the agenda for October 9 th.
Approved Barbara Bonander as Senate representative to the Employment Development Committee.
Approved Eric Dunmire as Senate representative to the Facilities Planning Committee.
Moved to adopt the document as a “working document”.
Agreed to move a discussion of sending this document to the full faculty to the September 18th agenda.
Minutes
I.
II.
III.
Approval and Adoption of the Agenda. Accepted
Reading and Approval of the Minutes of August 28, 2008. Accepted as amended
Reports
President’s report. Yolanda Bellisimo: Written and attached. Yolanda announced that Senator Joe Mueller
is the recipient of the 2008 Terwilliger Environmental Award and will be honored at a reception on Sept 19 at the
WildCare Center in San Rafael. Arthur Lutz recommended that the Senate not talk to the administration about
postponing the compressed calendar until the Senate has surveyed constituent opinion. The Senate moved to place a
discussion of the compressed calendar on the agenda for September 25.
Vice President. Patrick Kelly: None
Treasurer. Ron Gaiz: None
Curriculum Committee. Derek Wilson: The Curriculum committee reviewed some courses and moved
others forward. Committee members continued discussions on problems surrounding variable units and on the
difficulty faculty are having with banner rosters: some opening day rosters have not been received and no one has
received the first census rosters. Also, under Banner, a professor cannot turn in directed study grades. The Senate
moved to place a Banner discussion with the head of IT on the agenda for October 9 th
Academic Standards. none
Community Education. Erika Harkins: Erika reported that fee-based courses are still being affected by
registration problems. Also, she asked if the template for program review has been adapted so that it is applicable to
non-credit courses. Senator Wilson said that the Director of Community Education must tell the Program Review
designers what template changes Community Education needs.
IV. Consent Agenda
a) The Senate approved Barbara Bonander as its representative to the Employment Development Committee.
b) The Senate approved Eric Dunmire as its representative to the Facilities Planning Committee
V. Action Items
a) Procedures – holding for action
AP 4225 – Course Repetition (applies to credit courses where a substandard grade was earned)
AP 4100 – Graduation Requirements for Degree
Certificates
VI. Discussion
a) College-Wide Research & Course Matrix Robert Kennedy: Robert reported to the Senate on the progress of
his institutional research project in which he identified 4,400 unduplicated COM students who had gone on
to other colleges during the last seven years, from 2000 –2007. He distributed an in-process draft of his
report “An Analysis of College of Marin Transfer Students” and discussed his preliminary findings and
recommendations. The Senate moved to adopt the document as a “working document”. Also the Senate
agreed to move a discussion of sending this document to the full faculty to the September 18 th agenda.
VII. Public Requests
a) Laurie Orden: Laurie Orden commented on some details in Robert’s report. She reminded Robert that the
math department offers a number of terminal math courses at the level of math 115. She praised his
recommendation that the college hire a transcript evaluator because there are problems in analyzing the
math courses taken by students who transfer in to COM especially from private schools.
Most importantly, Laurie talked to the Senate about the possibility of a restructuring of the Senate. Now
the faculty at large elects each member. Laurie suggested that the constitution be changed to have the
Senators elected by department. Doing so would give the college a bigger senate and would insure that it
contained representatives who could speak with authority from each area.