Faculty Senate Minutes

January 28, 2009-3:30 PM, Magnolia Avenue Campus

I. Call to Order

Meeting was called to order by Tom Gaddis. Senators in attendance: Wanda Scarbro (President), Martha Merrill (BCT), Denise Reed (BCT), Mae Jean King (BCT), Ken Swayne (EMT), David Gilbert (EMT), Lawana Day (English), Trish Roller (English), Sharon Reedy (English), David Key (LA), Anita Maddox (LA), Meg Moss (Math), Linda Streebeck (Math), Daryl Thomas (Math), Brad Rose (NBS), Yolanda Kirkpatrick (NBS), Nina McPherson (Library Services), Caroline Best (Transitional Studies), Tom Gaddis (Business Officer), Jane Stribling (Magnolia Avenue), Mark Fuentes (BCT, President Elect), David Vinson (Math, TBR Rep). Guests: Dr. Wise, Marilyn Harper

II. Suspension of Rules

Tom Gaddis recognized President Wanda Scarbro, who made a motion to suspend the rules so that Dr. Anthony Wise, Vice President of Learning, could discuss various issues with faculty senators; motion was unanimously passed.

The college financial situation has not changed in the last 6 or 8 weeks and Pellissippi has not received any new directives from TBR. Dr. Wise thinks that Pellissippi State is better off than some other TBR colleges. The revenue from increased enrollment numbers has helped. The Student Affairs Subcouncil has requested that TBR approve requested tuition increases sooner rather than in May or June to help with colleges’ budgeting plans for 2009-2010. He is aware that going forward is going to be difficult with budget decreases. The college will be serving more students with the same number of faculty and staff. An increased interest in more dual enrollment courses and the nursing programs at the new Blount County and at the Magnolia Avenue Campuses will lead to enrollment increases. Money from the state is decreasing, and the students may have to pick up a larger percentage of the colleges’ budgets. Money from the federal economic stimulus will help, but we don’t know how much, if any, of that money the college will receive. The faculty promotion process will continue on schedule though. The college will have to identify core needs of the college based on the mission of the college. Dr. Wise was asked if the TNCIS is necessary and what the program costs. He did not remember the exact costs but thought it was somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000 for community colleges and approximately $6,000 for four year colleges.

Dr. Wise was asked about the progress of the Blount County campus. He estimated that grading should start on February 9 or the following week.

Dr. Wise thanked faculty for a smooth registration process.

III Approval of Minutes – Tom Gaddis

Minutes were approved as written with no changes. President Scarbro did note, however, that the CAPP program or degree audit in Banner has not been finalized as to its effective date.

IV. Officer Reports

Secretary: Nina McPherson – no report

Communications: Ken Swayne – no report

TBR Representative: Dave Vinson

The faculty sub-council gathered comments regarding furloughs before their meeting. A representative from AAUP, Tennessee Citizens for Fair Taxation, and the TBR Faculty Regent met with the sub-council. They realized that going into their meeting that some form of furlough policy was likely to be passed. At the sub-council meeting, Chancellor Manning did meet with them for a short while but didn’t really provide answers to their questions/concerns. The sub-council wanted two topics added to the proposed policy. They wanted a clause noting that this furlough policy would contain a sunset clause. It would only be applicable for this current financial problem and would not be included in the TBR policies forever. They also wanted a clause added to the proposed policy that a president asking to use this policy for furloughs or reduction-in-force would include a letter with the request noting whether the college’s faculty senate was or was not in agreement with the request. However, the Chancellor did not include the sunset clause in the proposed policy he presented to the Board because that had never been done before with any TBR policy. He and the Presidents’ Council changed the wording in the letter to be submitted by the president to “the president must consult with college communities.” Although the Faculty Regent said he would support the sub-council request for the limitations noted above, he did not voice any concerns about the proposed policy at the Board meeting although the student regent did. The proposed policy was adopted unanimously. Dave explained that because all Faculty Sub-Council proposals would seemingly have to be approved by the Presidents Council to be presented to the Board, another form of a sub-council should have direct meetings with at least some of the Board members to discuss faculty concerns.

President: Wanda Scarbro

Issues discussed at the Learning Council meeting included encouragement to use the Behavioral Intervention Team to help faculty with student problems. If a student is added late to a class, faculty should go back in to do attendance reporting for that student to be sure that the attendance report was completed. The search for a new TBR chancellor will start in February with advertising, interviews will be conducted in mid-March, and an offer will be made by the end of March. The online perception process for faculty is still being investigated for all classes but for now it is only used for web classes.

V. Committee Reports

Adjunct Faculty: Jonathan Morrell – No report. President Scarbro again asked for suggestions for names of adjunct faculty who would be willing to be an Adjunct Faculty representative.

Student Scholarships: Trish Roller

Ads for the book sale will go out soon. More books are needed. Book Warehouse is to donate books for the sale. The college’s Foundation has paperwork that will have to be submitted by Book Warehouse; Mark Fuentes will work with the committee on the paperwork.

Rules: Charles Miller – no report

Nominating Committee: Nina McPherson – No report

Promotion/Tenure: Mae Jean King

Departmental meetings have been scheduled. The notebooks will be available on a timely basis.

Faculty Bill of Rights Ad Hoc: Anita Maddox –

A committee meeting will be held in the future where assignments will be made.

VI. Discussion

Budget issues (furlough, closing of college over holidays and staff implications, etc.)

The furlough issue was not discussed after Dr. Wise’s presentation. Some senators worried that staff may have been too intimidated to ask to be able to work during the holidays, but for those staff members who did request to work, no requests were denied. No figures for financial savings due to the closing have been made available.

Secretarial staffing at site campuses

Some faculty at the site campuses feel that they need additional secretarial support; they feel that the secretaries are used for administrative support only. However, due to budget problems, additional secretarial support is not realistically expected.

EDC nominations

The EDC committee is still requesting nominations. Senators are encouraged to make nominations for the awards. The nomination forms are online. The award ceremony is scheduled for April 23.

Election of new senators in March

Many senators will rotate off this year. Senators whose terms expire this year are:

Business and Computer Technologies                     Denise Reed                          Mae Jean King                   

Engineering and Media Technologies                      Sami Ghezawi                        David Gilbert                           

English                                                                       Trish Roller                           Sharon Reedy

Liberal Arts                                                                 Charles Miller                       Anita Maddox

Math ematics                                                                Linda Streebeck                    Daryl Thomas

Natural & Behaviorial Sciences                                  Cathy Clay                            Yolanda Kirkpatrick                     

Library Services                                                            Nina McPherson

Division Street                                                              Tom Gaddis (serving last year of Don Thomas’ term)

Blount County                                                              Ashley Boone (serving last year of Kathy Byrd’s term)      

Magnolia Avenue                                                          Jane Stribling

The departmental senator left conducts the election. Senators were reminded that 2 of the 3 departmental senators must be tenured. The process for elections are contained in the Faculty Senate Constitution, Article IV – Membership, Section 3 and 4 (copied below)

Section 3: Elections and Academic Obligations

A. Elections: Elections for departmental Senators are held in March of each year. Departmental elections are conducted by the current departmental Senate representatives in a manner agreed upon by the department. Voting may be by e-mail, voice vote, or show of hands unless the majority of those present desire a secret ballot or a roll call. A candidate duly nominated according to the by-laws of the Faculty Senate and accepting of the nomination and facing no opposition is declared elected without opposition. All full-time faculty members may vote for departmental Senate representatives. Elected Senators meet with the outgoing Senate at the April meeting to prepare for the following academic year.

B. Academic Obligations. The department head or Vice President of Academic Affairs ensures its departmental nominee(s) of reasonable scheduling to enable representatives or officers to attend Senate meetings. 

Section 4: Site Campus Representatives:

A. Representation. Blount County, Division Street, and Magnolia Campuses are each entitled to elect one Senate representative at-large.

B. Elections: Site campus Senate elections are held in March. Elections are conducted in a manner agreed upon by full-time faculty housed on the site campus. Voting may be by e-mail, voice vote, or show or hands unless the majority of those present desire a secret ballot or roll call. A candidate duly nominated according to the by-laws of the Faculty Senate and accepting of the nomination and facing no opposition is declared elected without opposition.

VII. Unfinished Business

Faculty Emeritus policy – President Scarbro

President Edwards would like to see more specificity in the criteria for faculty emeritus status so that it is not an automatic approval. Some faculty still want to be involved in grant activities after they retire; and the title of Faculty Emeritus is a benefit when the vita of faculty is reviewed by the grant committees. Anita Maddox made a motion to refer the policy back to the committee. The motion was approved unanimously.

Calendar issues (summer, every day be the day it is, exam week) – President Scarbro

No alternative calendars were submitted to Learning Council. Calendars for Spring 2010 and Summer 2010 were approved by Learning Council on Jan. 27, 2009. Summers will have a two day break between first and second four-week sessions. Every day will be the day it is during other semesters with no day switching in the future. The 4-day exam week will continue.

Professional standards (dress code)

The committee working on this issue has decided to use the state’s employee handbook for guidelines. A majority of the committee approved that decision, but there was considerable disagreement amongst committee members. Senators had concern that the state’s employee handbook uses “customer” wording in many of its guidelines while faculty prefer more of a “client” philosophy. Discussion of this topic was tabled until the next Faculty Senate meeting. Anita Maddox will bring a proposed motion of concern about this issue.

VIII. New Business

Budget Committee

Ron Kesterson is willing to meet with faculty to discuss budget development. President Scarbro will appoint an ad hoc committee to meet with him.

IX. Announcements-Next meeting-Wednesday, February 18, 2009, at 3:30 PM at the Pellissippi Campus

X. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM