Faculty Senate Minutes
Thursday, September 3, 2009
3:15 PM to 5:00 PM, Accokeek 221
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), Kathi Linville (Nursing), Michelle Klein
(Science and Engineering), Barbara Sanders (Student Development Services), Eldon Baldwin (at large),
John Bartles (at large), Rosanne Benn (Educational Development), Darlene Antezana (Liberal Arts),
Laura Ellsworth (Public Safety & Law), Daniel Jones (at large), Janet Carlson (Educational Development),
Nicole Ives (BSBS), Crystal Smith (BSBS), Ray Vavrek (Computer and Engineering Technology), and
Charles Thomas (Computer and Engineering Technology). Others in attendance—Sandy Dunnington,
Alan Mickelson, Scott Huxel. Jean McEvoy
2. Review the Agenda for the 9/3/09 meeting.
The agenda was approved as written.
Sandy Dunnington, VP of Academic Affairs, attended and discussed the following matters:
 Enrollment numbers:
o Highest enrollment in 5 years.
o Added 25-29 classes during the past week.
o Increased capacity in other classes – equivalent to 10 more sections.
o Authorized adjunct overloads as a 1-time emergency action.
o Looking at needs for spring 2010.
 Faculty Handbook:
o Rough draft has gone to Carolyn Hoffman for a 1st edit.
o Proposed to be an electronic document.
 Promotion and Tenure:
o Mark Hubley, Swazette Young, Melinda Kramer, Cheryl Dover, and Mara Doss started
work on revisions this summer.
o This group will bring draft updates to the Senate as work progresses.
o Goal is to present revisions to BOT for approval in the spring.
o Considering an electronic portfolio that can be reviewed remotely.
o President wants to present faculty for promotion and tenure to the BOT in May and to
include a celebration with the official action.
o May goal requires an earlier time line - perhaps evaluation must be completed during the
previous year?
o Need to clarify what is meant by “significant” contributions and relationship between
contributions and paid release time projects.
 Owl Mail:
o Refer issues to VP for Technology and the Technology Steering Committee.
o It’s OK to send grades to Owl Mail addresses.
3. Review the Minutes of the 4/16/09 and 5/7/09 meetings.
The minutes were approved as written.
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4. Calendar
Fall 2009 important dates
A. College closed or no classes
i) Labor Day, college closed, Sat. 9/5—Mon. 9/7
ii) College Enrichment Day, no classes, Tue. 10/27
iii) Thanksgiving, no classes, Wed. 11/25; college closed, Thu. 11/26—Sun. 11/29
B. Other important dates
i) Last day to withdraw from 15-week classes, Fri. 11/20
ii) Final exam week, Fri. 12/11—Thu. 12/17
iii) Grades due, 4:00 PM Fri. 12/18
September/October important dates
C. Senate meetings
i) Thu. 9/3, 3:15—5:00 PM, Accokeek 221
ii) Thu. 9/17, 3:15—5:00 PM, Accokeek 221
iii) Thu. 10/1, 3:15—5:00 PM, Accokeek 221
iv) Thu. 10/15, 3:15—5:00 PM, Accokeek 221
D. Board of Trustees meetings
i) Thu. 9/3, 7:00 PM, Kent 262
ii) Thu. 10/8, 7:00 PM, Kent 262
E. College-wide Forum
i) Tue. 9/15, 2:00—3:30 PM, Kent 262
ii) Tue. 10/6, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
iii) Tue. 10/20, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B
F. Academic Council
i) Thu. 9/10, 3:00—5:00 PM, CAT 133
ii) Thu. 9/24, 3:00—5:00 PM, CAT 133
iii) Thu. 10/8, 3:00—5:00 PM, CAT 133
iv) Thu. 10/22, 3:00—5:00 PM, CAT 133
5. Attachments


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Minutes from the 4/16 meeting
Minutes from the 5/7 meeting
Draft Bylaws for Faculty Grievance Committee
Nominating Committee membership
6. Reports
A. Senate President

Hubley met earlier in the week with President Charlene Dukes, VP for Administration
Tom Knapp, and the President of CSO Ethel Shepherd-Powell:
o PGCC employees can retire with current retirement package if eligible to retire by
State of Maryland standards by 6/30/2011.
 Senior Team is concerned about potential of 150 retirees (perhaps 60
faculty) within two years due to pending change in retirement benefits.
 HR will contact and notify those who are eligible.
 At present there is no requirement for new retirees to give the college
advance notice of their decision to retire.
 HR plans to request new retirees to give a 2-3 month notice of their
intentions, and is considering some sort of “bonus” for providing sufficient
advance notice.
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o
SGB has proposed dress code for students, and there was discussion of a dress
code for employees.
B. Senate Vice President

Salary and Benefits will meet soon.
C. Academic Council


Discussed textbook issues
Possibility of a web-based reporting system?
D. Representative from President’s Leadership Team
E. College-wide Forum
i) Representative from Faculty Organization



1st meeting will be 9/15.
President will present charges to CWF this fall (10/6?)
Students have proposed PGCC be a non-smoking campus. CWF will
establish an ad-hoc committee to study the proposal. John Rosicky and
a student will co-chair the committee.
ii) Human Resources Committee
iii) Budget Advisory Committee



Additional State budget cuts are anticipated
Enrollment increases may cover these anticipated cuts (but nobody knows
for sure.)
Hubley requested that Knapp or Dukes send a message to the college
community providing updated information regarding budget status.
iv) Campus Culture Committee
v) Learning Committee
vi) Technology Steering Committee
vii) Strategic Planning Committee
viii) Assessment Committee
ix) Facilities Committee


New sidewalk at CAT was completed this summer.
Campus signage project is supposed to be ready to go.
F. Chairs’ Council



Discussed textbook issues.
Working on revision of duties for all “coordinators” within different departments.
Rejected proposal for redistribution of departmental release time hours.
G. Adjunct Faculty



Maryland Consortium for Adjunct Faculty Development (MCAPD) conference will be
on 10/3 on the Catonsville campus: 2009 Annual Adjunct Faculty Development
Conference
Web site: http://ola.aacc.edu/mcapd/default.html
Janet Carlson will continue to chair the adjunct committee for PGCC, and will notify
adjuncts of the conference. The college is providing some funding for adjunct
participation.
H. Representative from the Student Governance Board
7. Old Business
A. Spring ’09 Election

Nominating Committee needs to quickly set up a special fall election to fill lots of
vacancies left from spring election:
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o
o
CWF – 6 slots – willing to serve:
 Barry Bugg
 Barbara Sanders
Hubley said he would send the Nominating Committee a complete list of
vacancies.
8. New Business
A. Appointments of new members of the Nominating Committee

Senate need to replace/re-appoint members of the Nominating Committee who were last
appointed in Fall 2007 (odd year).
Nominating Committee
Adjunct Faculty
even
Mary Nesbitt
Health Sciences
even
Denise Colton
Educational Development
even
Tiffany Padgett
Liberal Arts
even
Darlene Antezana
Learning Resources
odd
STEM
odd
Glen Gebler
BSBS
odd
Rik Carlson
Student Development Services
odd


Senate elected STEM and BSBS members.
Learning Resources and Student Development Services – still vacant
Darlene Antezana offered to serve as chair of the committee.

B. Update of Faculty Grievance Committee Bylaws



Hubley and Danny Jones reviewed the history leading up the preparation of bylaws.
Draft bylaws prepared by committee (attached).
Send comments to Nadene Houser-Archield
o Still need to clarify appropriate channels for grievances to follow.
o Eldon Baldwin said there is a need to clarify relationship between faculty
grievance process and HR processes for all employees.
o Alan Mickelson said there is a need to clarify reporting to the BOT. Frequency?
At least annually?
o Len Sekelik shared a variety of issues raised by Clyde Ebenreck, including issue
of Academic Freedom
9. Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings
A. Discussion of tenure and promotion processes
10. Adjournment
The Senate adjourned at 5:11 PM.
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