PVCC FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
Disclaimer

Members Present:   Tom Butler, Muriel Coil, Marilyn Cristiano, Mitzi Ferrell, Jeanne Franco, Abby Hemingway, Carmen Marquez, Steve Platte, Sally Rings, Lois Roma-Deeley.

Guests: Ron Brooker, Renee Cornell

Members Absent: Lynn Lalko, Sherry Loch, Gary Quick, Fred Wieck.

1.   Call To Order/Approval of Agenda
  The Senate meeting was called to order at 3:02pm
  Agenda approved as written.

2. Approval of Minutes 2/5/98
 
    The 2/5/98 minutes were approved as submitted.
 
3. Campus Reports

3.1.  Enrollment Management/Committee Redesign- Bob Bendotti
        No Report
 
3.2.  Curriculum - Marilyn Cristiano
        Marilyn reported that the implementation date for the new degrees is Spring 1999.
 
 3.3.  Faculty Development - Marilyn Cristiano
         Marilyn presented the Collegial Support Partnership Program for Adjunct Faculty to the Faculty Development Committee and will be meeting with Dr. Cardenas for his approval next week.
        In the fall, the faculty will have 10 days of accountability for start up instead of the usual 5 days because classes will be delayed one week due to construction.  This is the perfect time to create some 2 to 3 hour presentations/activities of interest to faculty (summer travel showcases;  sharing of conference topics/materials; technology workshops) to be disbursed throughout the first 5 days. If you have an idea for an activity or can identify something you would like to see presented, please contact Ned Miner.
         The Faculty Development Committee will have a $10,000 budget for next year.  Marilyn asked that if any faculty member has an idea for a faculty development activity (lecture series, etc.)  he or she should contact Ned Miner.
 

4.1.  Treasurer/Membership - Mitzi Ferrell
         Mitzi reported that the combined balance in the Association checking and saving accounts is $6,268.44.  This
 represents an addition of $13.37 from interest.  Of the total dollars in the account, $2,255.50 is in the Faculty Association Scholarship Fund and $4,012.94 is in the Association General Fund.  The Treasurer's Report was approved as written.
 
 
 4.2.  Secretary - Jeanne Franco
         No report.
 

4.3.  President-Elect - Steve Platte
        Legislature - Steve thanked those who wrote letters in favor of the Faculty Governance Bill for Community Colleges.  Unfortunately, the bill died in committee with a vote of 5-5-1.
        The Whistleblower Bill passed committee and went to the floor of the legislature.  An amendment to exclude community colleges from the bill was also introduced.  Steve asked that we again send letters in favor of  the Whistleblower Bill as it was passed in committee (omitting the amendment).  Steve reminded us that our emails, letters and calls do make a difference.
 
 
4.4.  President - Sally Rings

From President's Cabinet:
        1.  Scott Meek presented a revised plan for handling emergencies on campus.
        2.  Rick Sheets and Patti Marsh presented a proposal re:  lab fees for the new combined lab.  Their primary criterion in determining lab fees was equity for students.  The consensus response was to assess a $10 fee for using the open lab and to re-evaluate fees for courses that use the lab.  Dr. Cardenas' concern is creating an added financial burden to students.
        3.  Dr. Kranitz reported that the construction of M Building is in a critical phase since most of February was lost because of rain and delays in the delivery of steel.  The priority in completing M Building will be classrooms; offices will be de-emphasized.  The black box theater will not be ready for fall start-up.  Classes will begin one week late--Saturday, August 29.  Gina  met yesterday with the contractors and architects:  Classrooms in M will be completed by July 31, and the entire building will be complete by mid-August.  It will cost the campus some money to meet these dates.  During final exam week and the week after, furniture and supplies from H and B Buildings, etc. will be packed, moved and stored (by professional movers).  H Building will be completed on schedule.
        4.  A new phone system will be installed district-wide.  All PVCC phone numbers will change.  A timeframe for this change was not specified.
        5.  Senators have been invited to the first annual President's Retreat on March 27.  A reading list will be distributed by Monday, March 9.  The format will be Open Space Technology, which both allows for a great deal of flexibility and encourages the generation of action items so that the ideas don't "die" at the end of the retreat.  Paul Dale was asked to identify two students to participate in the retreat.
        6.  A proposal to re-design our class schedules was discussed.
        7.  There is a possibility of a new international transfer degree program in which students will begin at PVCC and finish a three-year Bachelor's degree from the University of Roehampton, London.
        8.  Nancy Stein was invited to the 3/5 President's Cabinet meeting to discuss the PVCC budget and possibilities for additional funding from the District.  Last year, Nancy was instrumental in helping PVCC to acquire $200,000.  After Nancy left, Dr. Cardenas announced that, based on the CEC meeting yesterday, it is unlikely that the District would have extra dollars this year to assist the new, developing campuses.
        9.  Shelle Witten and Dixie Klatt, part-time archivist at PVCC, explained the contents of our archives and how they have been used by students, faculty, an staff.  They demonstrated how to access the archives on the Web.

From Faculty Executive Council:
        1.  Meet and Confer:  An update came to all faculty last week from Jim Daugherty, chair of the faculty meet-and-confer team.
        2.  EBAC  (Employee Benefits Advisory Council):  FEC is still refining the language to assure that the RFP is not compromised in the leave of absence proposal for all employee groups.
        3.  Access to Attorney:  A subcommittee of FEC members was formed to formulate a definition of this term and bring it to FEC.
        4.  Occupational Coordinators Subcommittee:  This subcommittee has been formed to research the definition of this position on all campuses as well as to determine how they are compensated.  After one meeting, it has been determined that there is no consistency re:  this role across campuses.  This subcommittee is charged with coming up with language by the beginning of summer to refer to Meet and Confer for next year.  There is a concern that not all campuses have a representative to this subcommittee.  (PVCC does not.)  Larry Williams from SCC, the chair of this subcommittee, has requested that each campus submit names of both occupational and academic program coordinators.
        5.  Faculty Role in Curriculum Decisions:  A subcommittee was formed to look at strategies for dealing with the issues, such as the block transfer programs and universities reclassifying MCCCD courses as upper division.

5.1.  Professional Growth - John Nelson
        No report.
 
 

6.1.  Book Loan Fund - Fred Wieck
        No report.
 
6.2   Faculty Hiring Procedures - Sally Rings
        The next step on this issue -- Sally will draft our negotiated understanding with Dr. Cardenas of the faculty hiring procedures and she will send a copy via A-1 to all senators for editing.  Once edited, Sally will call for a vote of the Senate via A-1.
 
6.3   Amending Constitution - Sally Rings
        At the last senate meeting it was decided to call for an amendment to the PVCC Senate Constitution to remove the wording which states "There will be no standing committees of the Faculty Senate."  It was decided that the vote for this constitutional change will be called for by Steve at the August All-Faculty General Meeting.
 

6.4.  Elections - Muriel Coil/ Steve Platte
        Division Chair Election - Muriel presented the timeline developed for the division chair election.  The timeline has been sent to all members of the Human Development and Science/Math Divisions as well as the Election Committee Members.  The process will be completed by Wednesday, March 25.
        Senator/President-Elect Elections - Steve and the Election Committee will create the timeline for these elections and present it to the senate at the next senate meeting.  The elections will take place in April.

6.5.  Student Withdrawal Policy - Jeanne Franco
        After some discussion, Marilyn Cristiano moved to have Sally send a message to Shirley Green asking her to encourage her staff to help promote student success and maximize retention by encouraging withdrawing students to see their instructors and obtain their signature at the beginning of the withdrawal process.
The motion passed with a 6-1-2 vote.  Opposed were Jeanne Franco and abstaining were Steve Platte and Mitzi Ferrell.

6.6  Faculty Scholarship - Sally Rings
        The senate voted to make no changes to the criteria established last year for the Faculty Association Scholarship.  The criteria as written will be given to financial aid and one $500 scholarship will be offered for the fall semester of 1998.
 

        7.2.  Graduation - Sally Rings
                 A recommendation from the Graduation Committee was presented to the Senate to establish a marching order for faculty in the graduation procession.  Jeanne Franco moved to reject the recommendation for a designated marching order.  The motion carried with one vote against by Tom Butler.
                Sally noted that Ned Miner will select an additional marshal to assist him in directing line-up and seating of the graduates at this year's graduation.

8.  Information

        8.1.  Faculty Staffing Advisory Committee - Sally Rings
                The Faculty Staffing Advisory Committee has proposed a revised schedule which will align the staffing process with the timeline for Strategic Planning.  The Senate noted that some of the documents pertaining to Staffing should be coordinated into one complete package.  Sally will coordinate the documentation and present it to the Senate at the next meeting

9.  Adjournment
The Faculty Senate meeting was adjourned at 5:07pm

Respectfully Submitted by
  Jeanne Franco
  Senate Secretary