Faculty Senate Minutes
January 16, 2003
Present: Gene Adams, Tom Byrnes (presiding), George Dow, Fran Frierson, Noelle Geiger, Nasser Hedayat, Gloria Hines, Jim Johnson, Daniel J. Kimble, Graeme Lindbeck, Stan Melnick, Diane Orsini, Louise Pitts, Marilyn Santos, Bill Snider, Susan Stone, Mary Sugeir, Russell Takashima
Guests: Judith Clark, Mayra Holzer, Todd Hunt, Gustavo Morales, Virginia Miller (recording)
Call to Order
President Tom Byrnes called the meeting to order at 1:15 p.m.
Approval of Minutes
The following grammatical corrections were made to the minutes: Under Smart Classrooms, second sentence, remove the "a" before revisited; in the third sentence, add a "d" to encourage. The minutes were approved as corrected.
Book Buy-Back Policy
Todd Hunt, Bookstore Manager, gave a detailed explanation of the changes in the book buy-back policy. He explained the main purpose of the change is to provide enough used textbooks to meet the student demand. He explained that he did not anticipate any backlash from publishers involving the availability of desk copies, but if a problem arose, he would do everything in his power to solve it.
LifeMap Developments
Gloria Hines outlined the changes to be made in the LifeMap promotional campaign, based on feedback on how the campaign was initially conducted. The faculty members will be able to select the slogan associated with their photo, and the slogans used on the banners will be learning centered. The banners will also focus on campus-based programs. It is anticipated that the new campaign will begin in March.
Faculty Compensation Taskforce
Maryke Lee was unable to attend the meeting. Tom Byrnes, a member of the task force, reported that a consultant will be hired to study other community college’s and institution’s compensation plans. The consultants will be asked to develop a new compensation plan for Valencia faculty, with lots of faculty input by the end of August, 2003. The task force will review the report, share it with faculty for feedback, and submit it to the President. He will deliver the report to the Board of Trustees in December, 2003.
Provost Selection Process
Bill Snider reported that the selection committee had narrowed the search to 11 finalists, who participated in telephone interviews. The committee will now determine which candidates to submit for on-campus interviews in early February.
W’s for Students Missing First Week of Classes
Tom Byrnes shared emails from Joyce Romano and Tracy Edwards regarding the withdrawal of students who do not attend the first week of classes. This was an issue that was brought up by Nasser Hedayat and Graeme Lindbeck. After much discussion, the Senate recommended that the deadline for W’s to be assigned for "no shows" should be set as the end of the first week or after the second class meeting. Tom indicated he would forward the recommendation to Joyce Romano.
President’s Report
Nomination to Faculty Compensation Task Force – Tom announced that Diane Orsini will be nominated to become a member of the task force. Anyone else who might be interested in serving on the task force should contact Tom.
Online Class Rolls in Excel – Tom indicated that he had worked with OIT, and now Excel will print the class rolls to match our old grade book format.
Faculty Senate Web Page – Tom announced that the West Campus Faculty Senate Web Page will be updated and will include minutes of meetings and other pertinent information for faculty.
Faculty Release Policy – Tom reported that he has been placed on a committee to work with Tracy Edwards on changes related to the release time policy. He asked for concerns and/or suggestions via email.
GroupWise Calendar Posting of Senate Meetings – Tom plans to post the meeting dates on each Senator’s GroupWise calendar. The meetings will be held the second Thursday of each month.
Old Business
Interview Questions for Provost Candidates – Tom stressed the need to develop questions/scenarios for the Faculty Senate meeting with finalists for the Provost position. Time is of the essence because the interviews are expected to begin in early February. A handout on proposed scenarios was distributed. Please forward your questions/scenarios to Tom as soon as possible.
Status Report on Boris – The immigrations problems Boris Nguyen has been experiencing have been resolved with a 30-day extension, and he was scheduled to return to work January 16.
New Business
At-Large Senators to Serve on Collegewide Faculty Association Board - Tom explained that West campus needs to elect two representatives to serve on the FAB. Noelle Geiger and Louise Pitts were elected to represent West Campus in addition to the Tom Byrnes and Maryke Lee.
Department Reports
Fran Frierson discussed the Science Departments concerns related to college wide selection committees being used for open positions. She felt that individual campus preferences could be ignored. Tom Byrnes indicated he will e-mail Tracy Edwards and Stan Stone regarding this procedure. Bill Snider will present the issue for discussion at the next West Campus Council meeting.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:52 p.m.