Faculty Senate Minutes
Thursday, September 18, 2008
3:15 PM to 5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
1. Attendance: Please check-in on the attendance roster.
2. Review the Agenda for the 9/18/08 meeting.
The agenda was approved as written.
3. Review the Minutes of the 9/4/08 meeting.
Mark Hubley said he had not completed a draft of the minutes. He would send a draft to members of the
Senate electronically when complete.
4. Calendar
Fall 2008 important dates
A. College closed or no classes
i) College Enrichment Day, no classes, Tue. 10/28
ii) Thanksgiving Holiday, no classes, Wed. 11/26
iii) Thanksgiving Holiday, college closed, Thu. 11/27—Sun. 11/30
B. Other important dates
i) Last day to withdraw from 15-week classes, Fri. 11/21
ii) Final exam week, Tue. 12/9—Mon. 12/15
iii) Grades due, Wed. 12/17 at 4:00 PM
September/October important dates
C. Senate meetings
i) Thu. 9/4, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
ii) Thu. 9/18, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
iii) Thu. 10/2, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
iv) Thu. 10/16, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
D. Board of Trustees meetings
i) Thu. 9/11, 7:00 PM, Kent 262
ii) Thu. 10/9, 7:00 PM, Kent 262
E. College-wide Forum
i) Tue. 9/16, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
ii) Tue. 10/7, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
iii) Tue. 10/21, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
F. Academic Council
i) Thu. 9/11, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 205
ii) Thu. 9/25, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 133
iii) Thu. 10/9, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 133
iv) Thu. 10/23, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 133
5. Attachments
A. Minutes from the 9/4 meeting
B. Sabbatical proposal
C. Draft student evaluation form
6. Reports
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A.
Senate President, including report from Academic Council
Hubley reported that in May the Academic Council voted to adopt a procedure for using Quality Matters to
assess online courses. According to the procedure, if a class offered by an online instructor fails to meet
the QM standard, the instructor will be notified and offered assistance to make revisions and meet the
standard. After a certain time, if the course still does not meet the QM standards, then the ILS will be
notified. Last spring the Senate had voted against adopting this procedure, based on the opinion that QM
does not assess what we are told it assesses. Eldon Baldwin said that we still need to have a discussion
about how to assess content of online courses. He added that we should get moving on this, rather than
waiting for something to be imposed upon us. Nicholas Plants, who is a member of the Academic
Council, said that the vote in the Council went the way it did largely because Sandy Dunnington (Chair of
the Council) said we could not vote on whether or not we will use QM—that is a given. Rather, we could
only vote on adopting the specific procedures for using QM. Hubley said there was to be a meeting of
online instructors, at which QM and other matters would be discussed. He asked if this meeting had
occurred. Laura Ellsworth reported that the meeting had occurred, and there was discussion about the
need to assess content. Hubley expressed concerns about having separate systems for assessing
courses. He said that in his opinion all courses should be assessed for quality of delivery and content.
B.
Senate Vice President
Swazette Young reported that despite the current financial difficulties at the county and state levels, the
committee remains optimistic and will develop proposals aimed at raising salaries, making PGCC
attractive to new colleagues, and encouraging full-time faculty to teach in the summer. Charlie Thomas
asked if he had heard correctly that the county is planning furloughs for 6,000 employees. Yes. Ellsworth
said that the college may be asked to return some money to the county, but the college is hoping there
will be no furloughs for college employees. Hubley said he reported to the Board of Trustees the loss of
two employees who left PGCC for Montgomery College and large increases in pay. Members of the
Board expressed that they were very concerned.
C. Nominating Committee
D. Representative from President’s Leadership Team
Baldwin mentioned enrollments, which at the time were approximately flat. Charlene Dukes said that
other counties were up as much as 15%, and although part of our problem may be conversion to the new
Colleague system, she is still concerned. With regards to Colleague, Baldwin said that faculty need as
much access to student information as possible. This should make it easier for us to advise and retain
our students. The administration may have some concerns about a few past instances where faculty
abused their access to student information. However, we can’t let a few bad instances keep faculty from
having information they need to be most effective. Hubley mentioned seeing data that show significant
increases in the number of new students, but declines in retention. We’re getting new students, but we’re
not keeping them.
E. Enrollment Management Team
F. College-wide Forum
Ellsworth described an article in a local paper about high school success stories. Not one of the students
mentioned interest in attending PGCC. Hubley referred to a science fair prize given to a high school
student who will attend PGCC, and he said it was hard to find students with very positive attitudes toward
PGCC. Various members of the Senate expressed concerns about what our marketing department is
doing. We often hear them praised, but we do not see results. Rarely do we see mention of PGCC as
we travel through the county, and high school students seem to know little about us. Ellsworth will again
serve as co-chair of the CWF with Tom Knapp. Ellsworth reported that Dukes talked to the CWF about
coming up with ideas for alternate work schedules (this is more relevant to staff than faculty).
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i) Representative from Faculty Organization
ii) Human Resources Committee
iii) Budget Advisory Committee
Alan Mickelson said he is not optimistic about the current budget situation, and he suspects we will need
to look at making cuts. Furloughs may be on the table at some point. Hubley expressed the opinion that
if faculty are required to take furloughs, then it should be done in a way that there are consequences. In
other words, don’t just take the time off during a break, when nobody will notice that we are not here.
Mickelson said that in the past, furloughs were generally done during breaks to minimize the impact on
the college. If furloughs become necessary, they should be done early in the fiscal year so that the
financial impact can be spread across many pay periods. Plants suggested cutting travel budgets. Since
we have not had much money for travel recently, a cut here will not be missed.
iv) Campus Culture Committee
v) Learning Committee
vi) Technology Steering Committee
Baldwin said the committee is meeting on Sept 30th; student e-mail will be one topic of discussion.
vii) Strategic Planning Committee
viii) Assessment Committee
ix) Facilities Committee
Rosanne Benn said that topics of discussion include increasing the number of bicycle racks on campus,
vehicular safety, and the creation of a cell phone lot. Hubley noted that if the college needs money we
should be more active in ticketing people who park illegally.
G.
Chairs’ Council
Young reported that next Monday the chairs would be discussing proposed revisions of the faculty
evaluation process.
H.
Adjunct Faculty
Mickelson reported that Janet Carlson had a family emergency. A group of adjunct faculty will be
attending a conference on September 27 at Catonsville Community College.
I. Representative from the Student Governance Board
7. Old Business
A. Sabbatical proposal
Hubley said that he had met with John Rosicky and Dukes earlier in the week to discuss a proposal for
faculty and administration sabbaticals. Dukes was hoping to move the proposal forward, but she
suggested some important changes: (1) Replace the separate faculty and administration review
committees with a single committee to review all sabbatical proposals. (2) Clarify accountability. Hubley
said that he, Dukes, and Rosicky hoped the Senate would agree that a committee consisting, perhaps, of
four faculty, two academic deans, and another administrator could effectively review proposals. Plants
said he would need to see something in writing before voting. Hubley said he just wanted a sense at this
time. The Senate would not be asked to vote until a revised draft was available. Mickelson wondered
how a single committee would improve things, and favored keeping them separate. Hubley said the
program would be reviewed a year or two in, and he thought it was worth trying the single committee
idea. With regards to the second issue, Hubley said it is important that there be accountability. If
someone is granted a sabbatical, the college expects an honest effort to accomplish the proposed work.
What happens if the person gets nothing done? The Senate recommended periodic (perhaps monthly)
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reviews during the sabbatical by the ILS or a designated “monitor.” Also, the sabbatical should be a
formal part of the person’s next performance review.
Plants raised a concern with the criteria by which proposals would be judged. He recommended
eliminating the fourth criterion, which is “evidence of past exceptional service to the college.” Plants
observed that the first three criteria are all focused on the merits of the proposal, and the fourth does not
fit. Kathi Linville suggested the requirement for evidence of past service would encourage submission of
a portfolio. Hubley said he thought it was reasonable, if not desirable, to award a sabbatical to someone
who has a record of accomplishment. Baldwin suggested combining the fourth criterion with the second
(that the sabbatical will benefit the college), as expected benefits to the college can be linked to past
service. The Senate also recommended that the review committee recommend those proposals to be
awarded sabbaticals, rather than recommending a pool from which the president may choose. In matters
such as tenure and promotion, the various committees give up or down recommendations that can be
accepted or rejected by the president, the president is not given a choice of who to choose from.
B. Faculty membership in CWF
Mickelson pointed out that there is no requirement for faculty representatives on the CWF or its
committees to be members of the Senate. Having such a requirement would ensure clear communication
between the CWF and the Senate. Hubley said he could not see requiring the CWF and each committee
to have a member of the Senate, as currently there is a small body of faculty who serve on the Senate
and do much of the other committee work of the college. Hubley suggested that if there is a committee
without a member of the Senate, another member of the faculty on that committee could make a periodic
report to the Senate. Mickelson offered the following motion:
During elections of faculty representatives to the CWF, at least one rep must be a member of the
Senate.
The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
C. Faculty evaluation process revisions
D. Other old business
_________________________________________
8. New Business
A. Guidelines for returning messages
Hubley said that the Academic Council was given a request by the Chairs’ Council to consider guidelines
for how long it should take members of the faculty to respond to e-mails and phone calls. Plants said he
learned that this was driven by one incident where an online instructor was on vacation, a student wasn’t
getting responses to e-mail, and the student raised a fuss. The Senate should not be creating policies
based on anecdotes. Someone suggested that perhaps this is an issue for distance learning to consider.
B. Other new business?
9. Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings
A. Program Mentoring?
B. Other items?
10. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 PM.
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