Draft Faculty Senate Minutes
Thursday, April 7, 2011
3:15 PM to 5:00 PM, Gwynn Room, A 221
In attendance: (President) Mike Gavin; (delegates) Kathi Linville – Nursing; Brenda Teal –
Learning Foundations; Danny Jones – At-large; Scott Huxel – Math; Len Sekelick – Liberal
Arts; Laura Ellsworth – Public Safety and Law; Darlene Antezana – Liberal Arts; Eldon Baldwin
– At-large; Alan Mickelson – At-large; Barbara Sanders – At-large; Jean McEvoy – Library;
Bekki Zeigler – Biology; Nicole Ives – Liberal Arts. Also in attendance: (invited guest) Scott
Sinex; Tammy O’Donnell – Liberal Arts (elect).

Mike Gavin called the meeting to order at 3:21 pm.
Gavin brought up the ten-month contract and pointed out that some change along these
lines is imminent. Our current contract reads that we are under contract from the week
before classes in August until Commencement in May. Sick and personal leave will be
doubled.
For contracts in the future, the August contract date will remain the same as in the past.
For December, for after the 22nd of the month, the only reason to be called back will be if
one is a member of a committee that is charged with a specific task. If a department or
division needs for something to be completed, it is part of the contract to provide service
as needed for the major governance committees on campus. If we do not define this, this
could be defined for us. Darlene Antezana asked about the impact of having 15 weeks of
instruction. Gavin said that as long as a final exam is given, this will not be a problem
but does need to be taken into account. Laura Ellsworth asked whether this proposal has
been sent to the Chairs’ Council, and Gavin answered that it has been. Danny Jones
asked whether it could be required for faculty to have faculty professional development
scheduled in May. Gavin answered that the idea is for certain kinds of professional
development and pointed out that faculty would be able to use leave if unable to be in
attendance. Len Sekelick asked about whether attendance at commencement would fall
under the category of when faculty members could take leave, and Gavin indicated that
attendance at commencement likely would continue to be required. Eldon Baldwin
stressed that there is an important difference between having times when certain types of
meetings can be scheduled and times when faculty attendance is mandatory. Baldwin,
Jones, and Kathi Linville all expressed concern about having a ten-month period during
which faculty could be scheduled to attend a variety to events. The point was made that
breaks during the ten-month contract period are not out of the ordinary and that the
amount of time that PGCC faculty members have spent working is similar to that spent
by our counterparts at other Maryland community colleges. The two months that PGCC
faculty members are not under contract should not be viewed as faculty “vacation” time
since faculty members do not receive a salary over these two months.

Minutes of the 3/4/11 and 3/17/11 meetings were approved.

The Faculty Senate agreed to hold only one meeting during the month of 4/2011 since the
second meeting of the month would fall during PGCC’s spring break.

Election Results
Darlene Antezana gave a report on the election results through Survey Monkey.
Antezana noted that voting participation was high and that several positions were true
elections with multiple candidates.

Academic Affairs Governance
Gavin noted that with multiple changes coming, there is a need to define how things are
to be done. Gavin pointed out that he also serves on the Academic Council and that an
assessment by the Academic Council determined that not all faculty are aware of the
purpose of the Academic Council. The Academic Council has prepared a diagram that
shows where committees fall within the hierarchy of Academic Affairs. Alan Mickelson
noted that the College-wide Forum is not accounted for in the diagram. Gavin said that
the CWF has been left out of the diagram on purpose. Mickelson indicated that, since the
college president is accounted for on the chart, the CWF should be included as well.
Baldwin suggested that a title should be added to indicate that the diagram is intended to
be for academic governance. Baldwin suggested having a diagram that shows the CWF
and the bodies that the CWF interacts with. Baldwin pointed out that there is no clear
way of knowing to whom to present proposals from the Faculty Senate. Barbara Sanders
expressed some concern with the curriculum committee. Sanders said that committees
could get feed-back from the AAAC before putting a course together. Sanders expressed
that the AAAC and the curriculum committee need to work in tandem. Baldwin asked
whether OPAIR should be in the schemata somewhere since PGCC is a data-driven
institution. Baldwin suggested that perhaps OPAIR could fit under AAAC.

Faculty Recognition Plan
Scott Sinex addressed the Faculty Senate concerning the collection and publication of
faculty accomplishments. There have not been any real reports of this information since
around 2003. Sinex, speaking on behalf of the Chairs’ Council, asked the Senate to post
to its Web page faculty accomplishments from the last five years or so. Sinex expressed
interest in having some people in the Art Department create some posters or a display to
this effect. Sinex noted that Tom Berault has suggested placing these “posters” on the
Web page instead so that they cycle through for lots of Web-page viewers to see. This
would allow for people on the outside to have more access to this information and would
also be useful during recruitment. The crux is that the information is currently not
available at all or difficult to find. Danny Jones suggested placing information about
sabbatical recipients. Sinex said that he would support this idea after we have two
sabbatical recipients to report on rather than just one. This will become the case as of this
year. Alan Mickelson noted that the room in Accokeek where Senate meetings are held
has a niche area that was originally intended to house a showcase of faculty
accomplishments. Mickelson and Sinex noted that having this information in an
accessible place online would be useful. Baldwin suggested that the graphic arts program
could be an appropriate group that could work on this project. Sinex said he has spoken
to Barbara Johnson about this project. Linville said that perhaps we as the Senate need to
ask our departments for volunteers. Baldwin suggested that the TLC could get involved
with the effort. Alan Mickelson said that since he is retiring this is something that he will
pass along to the TLC. Sinex said that staying at about ten people or fewer to serve on
the committee would be appropriate. Gavin mentioned that the Senate has some money
in its budget that could be used to help pay for this.

Reports:
A. Senate President
According to Gavin, Dr. Dunnington has asked for best practices that could be highlighted as
innovative and lead to student success in several disciplines. Alan Mickelson noted that there
will be an exchange of best practices at a faculty retreat seminar that is to take place over two
entire days the week of commencement. The goal is to have two faculty participants per
department for a total of around 42 participants. This is modeled after the Great Teacher Retreat
which was started by David Gotchell. Chairs are also eligible to participate. The diversity
generates energy. Mickelson said that having faculty submit best practices to Dr. Dunnington
gives the program a specific outcome.
As far as adjuncts go, Gavin said that Dr. Dunnington asked him what she could offer to adjuncts
to increase engagement. Gavin indicated that Dr. Dunnington and he agreed that more money
could make a difference. Dunnington expressed that she could offer one ECH extra for adjunct
engagement, such as attendance at faculty meetings. Antezana said that she would share with
Gavin and Mickelson recommendations from the AAUP about what an institution should provide
for its contingent faculty.
As far as the emeritus proposal is concerned, Gavin noted that it would be presented to the Board
of Trustees for approval at their next meeting. In case the forms are not ready for the proposal to
be implemented before commencement this May (2011), Mickelson noted that the president can
take advantage of forgoing the use of a form this one year.
Regarding the lateness of spring break this year, Laura Ellsworth noted that there is an
impression that the Faculty Senate made the decision to run parallel to the Prince George’s
public schools. Baldwin replied that this decision was made while he was faculty senate
president. Gavin replied that he would make more inquiries about spring break dates.
B. College-wide Forum
In terms of the natatorium fee proposal, Ellsworth noted that the CWF voted on unanimously in
favor of the new fees and sent the proposal to the president. The fees include one in the amount
of $30.00 per semester for credit students, faculty, staff, and retirees; $50.00 for non-credit
students, and a higher fee for the community at large. Also, a fee of $2.00 per visit was
approved for those opting not to join on a semester basis. Sanders noted that when free use of
the pool first started out a few years ago, the idea was to offer a benefit to employees. Ellsworth
replied that the president did not consider the system of charging students to use the natatorium
while allowing faculty and staff to use the same facilities for free to be an equitable one. Jean
McEvoy asked where the money from the fees would go, and the reply was that the money raised
from the fees would go into the College’s general fund.
Dr. Jackie Brown, bills before the MD General Assembly. The Web site to mils.state.md.us is
the Web site to check. Jones mentioned that it is hard to find a specific bill.
C. Chairs’ Council
Ellsworth indicated that the Chairs’ Council met on 3/28. Ellsworth pointed out that Vera
Bagley and Sharon Hassan spoke about the financial aid issue and that Diana Wilkins addressed
the matter of life experience and credit by portfolio. Ellsworth also commented that Melinda
Frederick spoke on procedures for evaluating honors faculty and that Verna Teasdale is in
process of revising forms to add an approval line for chairs to the incomplete grade forms.
Antezana noted that the problem arose from chairs being left out of the loop related to
incomplete grades that were being issued. Baldwin suggested taking the deans off of the form.
D. Adjunct Faculty
Gavin asked Nicole Ives and Mickelson about adjunct matters. Mickelson indicated that the
work shop dinner went very well and that Janet Carlson did a wonderful job of preparing the
menu and identifying those to attend. The system of going through the chairs worked well.
There was only one person who was supposed to attend who did not. There were about 30 in
attendance.

Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings
Sanders asked whether we discussed the student refund policy. Ellsworth replied that the Chairs’
Council discussed this matter. Antezana noted that the Board of Trustees also expressed
confusion over the policy as well, though they did approve it. Brenda Teal commented that the
notion of the refund policy is to try to get students to do things earlier. Antezana pointed out that
there is an administrative fee of 25% once classes have begun. Several faculty members
expressed concerns about this.

Adjournment was at 4:54 pm.