Faculty Senate Minutes
Thursday, November 20, 2008
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), Darlene Antezana (Liberal Arts), Laura Ellsworth (Public Safety and Law),
Charles Thomas (Computer and Engineering Technology), Barbara Sanders (Student Development
Services), Daniel Jones (at large), Kathi Linville (Nursing), Alan Mickelson (Learning Resources), Maxine
Robinson (Student Development Services), Scott Huxel (STEM), Michelle Klein (Sciences and
Engineering). Others in attendance—Ray Harris, Maya Maroto.
2. Review the Agenda for the 11/20/08 meeting.
Laura Ellsworth said that someone asked her why all attachments are not always included with minutes
posted online. Mark Hubley replied that sometimes he does not have the documents in an electronic
format. Also, he remarked that many documents presented to the Senate are works in progress that are
not ready to be posted online. Ellsworth said that anyone wanting the complete picture is free to attend
Senate meetings! A discussion of general education outcomes was added as old business, and the
agenda passed.
3. Review the Minutes of the 11/6/08 meeting.
The minutes passed as written.
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
November/December important dates
E. Senate meetings
i) Thu. 11/6, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
ii) Thu. 11/20, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
iii) Thu. 12/4, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105
F. Board of Trustees meetings
i) Tue. 11/13, 7:00 PM, Kent 262
ii) Thu. 12/11, 7:00 PM, Kent 262
G. College-wide Forum
i) Tue. 11/4, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
ii) Tue. 11/18, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
iii) Tue. 12/2, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
1
H. Academic Council
i) Thu. 11/13, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 133
ii) Thu. 12/11, 3:00—5:00 PM, HTC 133
5. Attachments
A. Minutes from the 11/6 meeting
6. Reports
A. Senate President
Hubley met with Lark Dobson. They discussed the possibility of offering short-term disability benefits to
employees, with the idea that the employee would bear the costs. This had been discussed before, and
Dobson said she had run the idea by others in HR and it was generally well received. Any proposal
would have to be clear about potential impacts on other benefits/policies. Dobson suggested getting a
proposal to hear as early as possible in the spring semester.
Dobson also mentioned that Hendricks & Associates had met with the senior team, and they are in the
final stages of the compensation study. When finished, they will make a presentation of findings to the
Board of Trustees and the Senior Team. Information will then be made available to the college
community. Nicholas Plants asked about the impact this will have given the current economic climate.
Hubley said it will benefit the college to have all leverage possible when asking for money from the
county, and the study can only help. Also, the college already has money ($700,000?) in the current
budget to put toward recommendations from Hendricks. Hubley said that Tom Knapp reported to the
Board of Trustees
B. Senate Vice President
Swazette Young informed the Senate that the Salary & Benefits Committee will soon be making some
recommendations related to full-time and adjunct faculty salaries.
C. Academic Council
Barbara Sanders reported that under the current academic standards policy, students with up to 20
credits are considered in good standing with a GPA of 1.0 or above. This differs from standards used for
maintaining financial aid, which require a minimum 1.5 GPA. The Council has recommended making
changes to the academic standards to bring them in line with the standards used for financial aid. There
was also a discussion in the Council about how to count developmental education courses in determining
academic standing. Financial aid accounts for this by requiring a minimum pass rate. Some on the
Council suggested that developmental courses be factored into calculations of an average that could be
used for academic standing. This was based on concerns that a beginning student could be doing very
poorly in developmental classes, but still be in good academic standing. Of course, the developmental
courses cannot count for credit, and cannot be factored into a true GPA. Others on the Council
suggested it would cause confusion to have a true GPA and also some other average calculated for
academic standing. The Council did not make any recommendations on the issue of how developmental
courses would factor into academic standing.
The Senate agreed with the recommendation to raise the academic standards to match those used for
financial aid. Various members of the Senate felt that students taking developmental courses must be
kept aware of their progress/academic standing. However, the Senate did not offer any new solution for
how to count developmental courses toward academic standing.
D. Representative from President’s Leadership Team
E. College-wide Forum
i) Representative from Faculty Organization
ii) Human Resources Committee
2
iii) Budget Advisory Committee
iv) Campus Culture Committee
v) Learning Committee
vi) Technology Steering Committee
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
B. Comments on General education guidelines
Various issues regarding general education had been discussed by the Academic Council and merited
discussion in the Senate. VP Dunnington recently became aware of a set of state requirements for gen
ed courses that we need to use in approving our gen ed courses. These requirements were set in place
as a condition for transferability. Nicholas Plants said that we need to develop a philosophy of education
for academic affairs. This will establish a foundation for much of what we do with gen ed and beyond.
Alan Mickelson asked how the state requirements were developed. Sanders said they were developed
by faculty members. At least we now have clear guidelines for establishing what makes a gen ed course.
Plants suggested that divisions will have to start looking at their gen ed courses and seeing how they
compare with the state requirements. Plants reiterated that we need to get moving on a philosophy of
education.
8. New Business
A. Textbook costs
Hubley announced that a bill had been circulating through the state legislature that will legislate various
aspects of textbook selection. For example, faculty would be required to allow students to use old
versions of a book if the newest version has less than X% of new material. The college is forming a
committee to consider the matter. Plants mentioned that some publishers will now tailor textbooks to the
college, getting the price down in the process. There are various things we can do to make textbooks
cheaper. Hubley noted that with color pictures, web sites, CD-ROM’s, etc. today’s textbooks offer much
more than the textbooks we used.
B. Other new business?
9. Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings
A. Core Learning Outcomes
B. Student evaluations
Consider having Barbara Gage present an update of how the MAPP test is being used with our students.
10. Adjournment
3