Faculty Senate Minutes
April 15, 2009-3:30 PM,
I. Call to Order
Meeting was called to order by Tom Gaddis. Senators in attendance: Wanda Scarbro (President), Mark Fuentes (President Elect), Tom Gaddis (Business Officer & Division St.), Nina McPherson (Secretary & Library Services), Charles Miller (Parliamentarian & Liberal Arts), Dave Vinson (TBR Representative), Martha Merrill (BCT), Mae Jean King (BCT), Sami Ghezawi (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), Caroline Best (TS), Ashley Boone (Blount County), Jane Stribling (Magnolia). Guests: Mary Monroe-Ellis. 2009-2010 Senators in attendance: Sydney Gingrow (English), Trent Eades (English), Anne Preston (Math), Trish Roller (who will be representing TS).
II. Approval
of Minutes – Tom Gaddis
Minutes were approved as written with no changes.
IIII. Officer Reports
Secretary: Nina McPherson – no report
Communications: Ken Swayne – no report
TBR Representative: Dave Vinson
Sub-council will be meet April 16 and 17.
President: Wanda Scarbro
At the Learning Council meeting on
April 14, Dr. Wise discussed faculty load hours for the web classes. TBR has a couple of committees that are
researching faculty work load issues, and the load for web courses is one of
them. Nothing has been proposed yet, but
the whole issue of faculty work load is being investigated. (See attachments 1
– Web Load Hours Sept. 2003 and 1a – Course Term Report WEB Enrollment)
President Scarbro has received an inquiry about the process used for selecting the Outstanding Full-Time and Outstanding Adjunct Faculty awards. The nomination paperwork was changed a couple of years ago because people felt that it was difficult to answer all of the questions on the form. The simplified form makes it easier to nominate people, but the faculty who vote on these awards do not see the nomination paperwork. Instead, nominees are asked to respond to one question, and the response to that question is what is shown on the ballot, not the original nomination information. This topic will be addressed again in July after additional information from Ann Satkowiak is received.
Issues of quality control for web classes and dual enrollment classes were discussed at the Learning Council meeting on April 14. Some type of certification might be initiated for any instructor teaching a web section on D2L. It was not clear whether this idea came from an internal group or from TBR. A motion concerning this issue is included in Section VII New Business.
Changing the name of the college apparently will happen; a date for the change is not known. The word “Technical” will be removed from the current name.
Linda Randolph is retiring. She has been primarily responsible for the content of inservice. While a total redesign of in-service will not be approved, any in-service program ideas should be submitted to Wanda Scarbro between now and June 30 and after that date to Mark Fuentes.
IV. Committee Reports
Adjunct Faculty: Jonathan Morrell – No report.
Student Scholarships: Trish Roller
Trish reported that the annual book sale
was a success and that $6,000 was raised for scholarships. She expressed appreciation for all of the
help the committee received. The Liberal
Arts Department will be responsible for the 2010 sale. She suggested that we
re-establish the tradition of having a previous year book sale committee member
assist with the sale for the following year.
Rules: Charles Miller – no report
Nominating Committee: Nina McPherson – No report
Promotion/Tenure: Mae Jean King
The process for the peer review meetings seemed to go well for everyone. Mae Jean is rotating off of Faculty Senate next year, but she has volunteered to serve as co-chair of the Promotion/Tenure Committee to help them with the process.
Faculty Emeritus: Mark Fuentes – No report
Faculty Bill of Rights Ad Hoc: Anita Maddox – no report
Budget Ad Hoc Committee: President Scarbro
Committee members are Wanda
Scarbro, Michael Lusk, Toni McDaniel, Bob Stern, Marilyn Harper, and Anne
Swartzlander. President Scarbro met with
Ron Kesterson on two occasions and wrote a summary of those meetings. (See attachment 2 –
President Scarbro’s Budget Notes.) The
committee met two times as a group and then conferred with Ron Kesterson. He answered
a series of questions written by the committee. (See attachment 3 – Faculty Senate Budget Ad
Hoc Committee Questions and Answers) The stimulus money will help
with the budget for the next two years, but by the third year of 2012, the
college must make permanent cuts of $4.2 million. By rule, the stimulus money
cannot be used for recurring expenses, such as salaries or utilities. Instead,
it must be utilized for non-recurring items, and it must be spent by Sept.
2011. (See
attachment 4 – THEC American Recovery and Reimbursement Act, State Fiscal
Stabilization Funds, General Guidelines for 2008-09 & 2009-10) Other documents received from Ron Kesterson
concerning budget information are Attachment 5 – Higher Education Budget Briefing and Attachment 6 –
Pellissippi State Technical Community College State Appropriations. Unknown
factors that will impact the future are state elections and what, if any,
reorganization of the state’s higher education system will occur. Also, any
increase in enrollment and tuition will alter the budget outlook. Several
possibilities exist as to the impact for faculty. It seems possible that an
increase in class size for some courses might be necessitated. It is likely
that no new tenure track faculty positions will be created. An overall plan for
how PSTCC will handle this budget reduction by 2012 has not been finalized at
the present time. The college is hoping that additional enrollment, tuition
increases, and the shifting of funds will help get the college through the next
two years. The Senate discussed the idea whether the college was top heavy with
administration. Although the number of
vice presidents might be lower than other TBR colleges, the number of
administrators at the next level might be higher. (For all budget information, see attachments
numbered 2-6.)
V. Discussion
Moderation of Faculty-Staff listserv
The faculty-staff listserv is the
only moderated college listserv. Others
such as the Fulltime listserv or Faculty listserv are not moderated. President
Scarbro authored a document detailing what she learned from a meeting with
Jerry Bryan. He stated that no list of distinct criteria for the moderation
exists, but the overall intent is to allow information to reach the appropriate
people only. He expressed concern that
the college needs to ensure that emails do not create a hostile work
environment and explained that the college is legally responsible for anything
disseminated through a college listserv. Some faculty have
sent emails to the fac_staff listserv that were not published, but they did not
receive any explanation as to why the email was disallowed. Hopefully, some type
of notification system can be initiated in the future. Several senators
expressed grave concern over this moderation and felt that it was essentially
censorship. One individual felt that a follow-up with the ACLU might be in
order. A resolution concerning this matter is included in Section VII New
Business. (See attachment 7 - Moderated Listserv.)
Hiring and tenure process for
Transitional Studies Faculty
Tenure is awarded within an
academic discipline, not within a department.
Faculty teaching in a discipline such as math or English in Transitional
Studies will receive tenure within the math or English department. This arrangement requires that the hiring
process be a shared process between the Transitional Studies and the
appropriate academic department. Faculty
who are hired to teach Transitional Studies courses will also be expected to
teach college level courses for their academic discipline. Faculty in these departments who might not
know a Transitional Studies faculty member well should thoughtfully and
carefully review all faculty promotion packets before tenure and/or promotion
peer meetings. It was pointed out that
although faculty are required to attend peer review meetings where promotion
and/or tenure are voted on, faculty are not required to vote on every person up
for review. Based on this information,
President Scarbro does not see the need to revise any of the college policy or
procedures concerning faculty promotion and tenure. (See attachment 8 - Tenure)
DSP courses
President Scarbro met with Dr. Wise
and Mary Monroe-Ellis as a follow-up to the last Faculty Senate meeting in
March to obtain additional information on DSP courses. Dean Monroe-Ellis has respectfully requested
more time to do assessments of the newly re-designed programs. She feels that the new programs are so
radically different from the old programs, assessment
has been difficult (i.e., comparing apples and oranges.) Faculty members in the
Transitional Studies Department have been working hard to make this redesign a
successful program. It appears that TBR
will not mandate one program for all colleges in the system but will monitor
college success rates for these programs. (See attachment 9 - DSP Information.)
VI. Unfinished Business
Introduction of new senators
A roster of Senators for 2009-2010 was distributed.
Professional standards document
Even though the professional standards policy would not apply to faculty, faculty were concerned about its impact on staff positions. The president’s intent for this document was that the college would provide a professional appearance and attitude. While the first version of the document was quite stringent, the second one was much more innocuous. Apparently, administrators are interpreting the document for their staff members on an individual basis. Until further action is requested by staff, the resolution presented at the March meeting of Faculty Senate has been withdrawn.
VII. New Business
Proposal of new officers
Mark Fuentes presented his slate of
Faculty Senate officers. Mark does not
have a candidate yet for the Parliamentarian position. Although Mae Jean King will co-chair the
Promotion/Tenure Committee, a Senator still needs to be identified to be the
other co-chair of the committee. Mark made a motion that the slate of
officers be voted on at the July meeting.
(See attachment
10 – 2009-2010 Faculty Senate)
Mark Fuentes presented the calendar
of meeting dates for 2009-2010. (See attachment 11 –
Faculty Senate Meeting Dates and Locations Academic Year 2009-2010)
List-serv moderation
Sydney Gingrow and Trent Eades presented a resolution requesting that the college cease moderation of the Fac_Staff mailing list. A motion was made and seconded to accept the resolution, and the Senate voted unanimously for its approval. The resolution will be delivered to President Edwards and the three listserv moderators, Dr. Wise, Peggy Wilson, and Jerry Bryan. The resolution reads as below:
Faculty Senate of
Resolution
Whereas,
The Faculty Senate of Pellissippi State Technical Community College notes that
the Fac_Staff mailing list has been traditionally used for open discussion
among college employees; and
Whereas,
Open discussion among employees is appropriate and essential in any
institution, particularly one in academia; and
Whereas,
The moderation of the Fac_Staff mailing list prevents open discussion of issues
important to college employees and thus amounts to censorship; and
Whereas,
The PSTCC administration has not made available an uncensored forum of
equivalent reach and utility; therefore be it
Resolved,
That the Faculty Senate urges the administration to
cease moderation of the Fac_Staff mailing list.
Web Teaching Certification and Dual
Enrollment Classes
Additional information is needed for this topic. Some of the concerns voiced included the idea of what body would do any certification and what it would entail. Concern was expressed that if this idea is a TBR initiative, it might lead to future intrusion into academic decisions that should be decided by each college. Also, what impact would any certification have on dual enrollment courses? The following motion was made by Nina McPherson, seconded by Anne Pressley: Faculty Senate strongly opposes any and all attempts by TBR to require standardization of web courses and also the requirement of faculty certification to teach web and dual enrollment courses. Requesting additional information before voting on this idea, the motion was tabled until the next Faculty Senate meeting in July.
VIII. Announcements-Next meeting-Wednesday, July 15, 2009, at 3:30 PM at Hardin Valley Campus
Appreciation to Wanda Scarbro was unanimously expressed by all Senators for the outstanding job she did as President of the Faculty Senate last year and this year.
IX. Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 5:55 PM
Attachments:
1. Faculty Web Load
1a. Course Term Report WEB Enrollment
2. President Scarbro’s Budget Notes
3. Faculty Senate Budget Ad Hoc Committee Questions and Answers
4. THEC American Recovery and Reimbursement Act, State Fiscal Stabilization Funds, General Guidelines for 2008-09 & 2009-10
5. Higher Education Budget Briefing
6.
7. President Scarbro’s Moderated Listserv Notes
8. Tenure in the Transitional Studies Department
9. DSP Information
10. 2009-2010 Roster of Faculty Senators and Officers
11. Faculty Senate Calendar for 2009-2010