PVCC FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
Disclaimer

Guests: Bob Bendotti,  Scott Massey, Chuck Gordon

Members Absent:  Hank Mancini

The Senate meeting was called to order at 3:02pm by Steve Platte with the Official Science/Math Gavel used to keep Senators in line and on time.

Agenda approved as written.
 

Changes to the 11/5/98 minutes are as follows:
Staffing Report - Faculty hiring priorities should reflect that Library and Counseling tied for 5th place in the rankings.
The 11/5/98 minutes were approved as revised.

Recruitment Coordinating Team - Fred Wieck
Fred reported that the Recruitment Coordinating Team has added a few activities to the "Recruiting Operational Plan" for 1998-99.
Fred handed out "Highlights of PVCC Service Area and Enrollment Data" and said that this analysis would be given to the Enrollment Management Team so the larger group could decide what to do with the data.
Fred asked for faculty input/ideas/advantages/disadvantages regarding reinstating the waiting list in the registration process.   If you have any feedback, please contact Fred Wieck.
 

Enrollment Management - Bob Bendotti
Bob requested that faculty begin to think about the role of faculty relative to student retention on our campus.  The next step of the Enrollment Management Plan is the development of a student retention plan which will need significant faculty involvement.  Bob said that a process will be created to get faculty input and begin substantive conversations on this topic.  Fred Wieck will give a retention presentation at the next Senate meeting.
 

Staffing Committee - Hank Mancini
No Report
 

Employee Development - Bob Bendotti
An All-Employee Meeting has been scheduled for Monday, January 11, 1999, at 8am..  Employee Development activities and presentations will be offered on Monday afternoon, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.  A schedule of these activities will be going out to faculty next week.

Professional Growth - John Nelson
No Report
 

Legislative Report - Steve Platte
On November 3 Ruth Flower from the national AAUP office conducted a workshop for about 10 faculty on establishing a legislative program for working with both the legislature and the governing board. I am implementing one recommendation which is to include a legislative report as a standing campus report on each faculty senate agenda.  Right now I am serving as the PV representative on the legislative committee, but other interested faculty are encouraged to participate as well. Legislative issues that were identified included state funding, 4-year degrees, state certification of faculty, tenure, whistle-blower protection, and faculty governance.  Governing board issues included the erosion of the RFP, full-time/part-time faculty ratio, administrator/faculty ratio, and the selection of the new chancellor.  Other topics in the workshop included developing a compelling message, analyzing the “targets,” analyzing our assets, developing specific strategies, and finally evaluating the outcomes.  A key point was to develop a communication system with contact people on each campus and using an outside e-mail system such as Hotmail.
 
 

Treasurer's Report - Larry Burgess
Larry reported that the combined balance in the Association checking and savings accounts is $6,973.22.  This represents an addition of $1,475.00 Dues Rebate from the District Faculty Association, $14.12 interest earned, and a subtraction of $32.70 for congratulatory flowers for Nancy Stein.  Of the total dollars in the account, $2,115.50 is in the Faculty Association Scholarship Fund (reflecting an addition of $25.00 by donation), and $4,857.72 left in unencumbered Association General Funds.  The Treasurer's Report was approved as written.

Secretary's Report - Jeanne Franco
Jeanne reported that she and Marilyn Cristiano attended the November Governing Board meeting.  At that meeting Nancy Stein thanked several persons and colleges for their support in her reelection campaign and she thanked PVCC Faculty for the congratulatory flowers she had received and was wearing.

President-Elect's Report- Tom Butler
Tom reported that the certification for community college teachers issue is currently on hold at the district level.
Tom also reported that the District Association Subcommittee on OYO will recommend to the FEC that we offer membership to OYO Faculty at a reduced rate.

President's Report - Steve Platte
Meet and Confer proposals will be finalized the Faculty Executive Council (FEC) next week.  If anyone wants to examine the faculty proposals in detail, I can e-mail the proposals or faculty can contact me to review a printout.  One note about the salary schedule.  A twelfth step has been proposed starting at MA+48.  I will report back to faculty concerning the progress of the Meet & Confer negotiations.

Campus Budget: The PVCC Budget Development Review Committee has submitted three ranked supplemental budget packages totaling over $742,000 to President Cardenas for his approval.  Hopefully at least priority 1 request would be included in the final budget.
Priority 1:  $245,000
1. 3 faculty in staffing committee priority (CIS, English, Psychology)
2. 1 staff in recruitment/orientation/advisement
3. 1 computer tech (Grade 7) to support M Bldg Powerbook project
Priority 2:  $247,000
1. Student/Administrative services evening secretary
2. H/R salary to extend contracts to 12 months
3. Library support staff
4. Help desk staff
5. Adjunct faculty
6. IPC tech
7. Temporary/student wages – campus-wide
Priority 3: $250,000
1. Infrastructure – software, supplies, utilities, phone, etc
2. Advertising
3. Adjunct faculty – summer school

Faculty Association Membership: Membership district-wide increased by 30 (4%) from 735.5 in 97-98 to 765.5 in 98-99.  PVCC membership increase by 10 (20%) from 49 to 59 which represents 7.7% of the total district membership.

Benefits & Retirement: IRS guidelines apparently state that an employee must be retired for 21-60 days before he/she can enter a discussion and contract negotiations for the early retirement program or part-time work.  Enforcement of this provision would have a severe impact on faculty approaching retirement.  Also benefit premiums may have to increase some to accommodate increased benefit costs, especially after the current three million dollar surplus for benefits is exhausted. Also a health benefits survey has been distributed to all faculty and should be returned to the Benefits Department by 12/11/98 .

AAUP:  The national AAUP has been very active in the district in this fall.  On October 23 and 24 Committee V on community colleges met in Tempe at the district office.  The national president, Jim Richardson, addressed the assembled faculty from Arizona and all over the nation.  Richardson is a strong supporter of community colleges and pledged to include community college representatives throughout the AAUP.  Furthermore the values of AAUP, such as academic freedom and faculty governance, should be integrated into community colleges. He also discussed how the AAUP in his state of Nevada successfully combined university and community college faculty into a powerful and respected lobbying force for higher education.

Committee V members are a diverse group from Arizona, Nevada, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Maryland.  By comparison Maricopa faculty seem to be well organized internally but are weak in dealing with external forces such as legislatures and even other college districts.  Faculty from other community colleges in Arizona discussed various problems dealing with academic and personal rights.
 

Faculty Evaluation Plan: While the FEP apparently being implemented smoothly at PVCC, there is still uncertainty on how the FEP is being implemented on the various campuses.  The funding source (district or campus) for reassigned time for the FEP facilitator is an issue.

State Certification of Instructors: This issue is still out there. The state community college board is pursuing legislation to remove them from the responsibility of certifying instructors. The District Faculty Association needs to determine the faculty position about this.

FA dues/refunds: A question has arisen over a policy for refunding dues for faculty who want to quit the Faculty Association. The question is whether any part of the dues is refundable.  Also there is a potential disparity between those who pay by payroll deduction and those who pay by check.

Dual/Concurrent Enrollment: The district has a taskforce developing policy on dual enrollment where high school students are enrolled in college courses at the high school.  This taskforce had no faculty representation until Bob Galloway found out about it and joined the group. Through Learning Connections, Bob Bendotti is seeking data from The PV school district about the extent of dual/concurrent enrollment in our area.  More details forthcoming when they become available.

Course Number Inflation:  There is continuing concern about ASU changing course numbers from the 200 to the 300 level.  If this affects your discipline and if you have documentation for specific courses, please see me.

Chancellor search:  About 25 applicants have been received and interviews will start in January.

PVCC President's Cabinet:
Emerging Leaders Program: This program for PVCC students focuses on developing leadership through developing values has been very successful in its first year.  I think this program has a very positive impact on our students.

Concurrent enrollment: The issue is being raised with the Learning Connections executive committee to gather data on the extent of concurrent enrollment in the PV school district.  After that data is obtained the issue will be re-evaluated.

Buildings: E Bldg is scheduled to be complete by the end of December and will hopefully be set up for the beginning of classes in January. B Bldg is also scheduled to be completed by the end of December.  M Bldg should be completed by the new contractor by the beginning of classes.  In K Bldg the outside classrooms would be available after the temporary functions have been moved out but the interior classrooms and labs need to be painted, recarpeted, and rewired.  K Bldg is not being scheduled for classes for spring 99.

Department name changes: The LAC has asked that its name be changed to Learning Support Center and Admissions and Records has asked to change its name to Admissions, Registration and Records. Discussion focused on the rationale for any department name change and a procedure for doing so.  The general procedure appears to be for a rationale to be submitted to the appropriate dean with the President’s Cabinet granting the final approval.  The issue of renaming buildings may have to be confronted at some point in the future.

Community Town Hall: President Cardenas hosted this community event in the Studio Theatre on Saturday, November 14.

Campus fleet vehicles: The state is requiring that all new school fleet vehicles must use alternative fuels and that existing vehicles be converted if feasible.  The district has been out of compliance for a year and must come up with a plan by the end of this month.
 
Dean of Instruction:  Fred Stahl returned from his leave on absence on December 1.

Athletics: The district has approved soccer as an intercollegiate sport at PVCC.  The men’s team will start in Fall 1999 and the women’s team in Fall 2000.

Senate Goals - Steve Platte
The following Faculty Senate Goals for 1998/1999 were approved by a unanimous vote of the PVCC Faculty Senate:

FACULTY RELATIONSHIPS
 
1.  To increase among faculty a climate of collegiality and mutual support.
2.  To increase the level of PVCC faculty membership and involvement in the PVCC Faculty Association and the MCCCD Faculty Association.
3.  Maintain the Web page for the PVCC Faculty Association where information can be easily accessed.

TEACHING FOR LEARNING
4.  To continue to advocate that teaching for learning be the central focus within MCCCD and PVCC.
5.  To continue to promote faculty participation in decision regarding the effective use of technology at PVCC.
6.  To advocate for increased opportunities for adjunct faculty (in such areas as communication, training, and work space).
 
COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS
7.  To strengthen the faculty role as partners both in creating the vision for the expanded campus and in campus governance.
8.  To continue to sponsor the PVCC Faculty Association Scholarship Program.
9.  To strengthen the relationships between PVCC’s Faculty Senate and the PVCC administration, the District administration, and the Governing Board.
10.  To monitor faculty hiring procedures at PVCC and make recommendations for revising the process to the administration.
11.  To increase interaction among all employees as we build a stronger campus community.

Boiler Plate Curricula - Hank Mancini
This issue was tabled until the next meeting.

4-day Schedule Model - Lois Roma-Deeley
Lois was asked by members of her division to bring up the 4-day class schedule model again for discussion in the Senate.  It was pointed out that the problem area in the 4-day model is in the sciences where labs are involved and with 4 or 5 credit classes in math and languages where classes meet 4 or 5 times a week.  Logistically it would be impossible to arrange for the necessary blocks of time for these classes given our size and limited lab space.  Tom Butler passed out samples from Chandler-Gilbert's schedule that showed how they handled the 4-day class schedule in classes with labs.  Senators who were interested in continuing to brainstorm possible compromises that would allow some classes to go to two seventy-five minute sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays were encouraged to met with Tom and Lois to research the possibilities.

Staffing Committee procedures - Hank Mancini
It was moved and seconded that the following question be added to the Staffing Committee "Faculty Request Form:"

To what institutions/programs have your students been applying and to which have they been accepted?

The motion was passed unanimously and will appear on the "Faculty Request Form" as question "N."

The Staffing Committee's procedure clarification that states:
    "Only the chair or chair designee from each division will present to the FSAC and answer questions"
was presented for discussion.  Steve suggested that the word "department" after division be included in the clarification statement.  Jeanne presented her division's suggestion that a time limit be set for each division's presentation instead of only allowing the chair or designee to present.  Most divisions have multiple disciplines and oftentimes individuals within a particular discipline can better speak to their specific discipline needs.  Rather than requiring the Division Chair to speak to all disciplines, it seems that limiting the division/department presentation time rather than the number of faculty who can present to the Staffing Committee would better serve each discipline.
It was moved and seconded to send this issue back to the Staffing Committee to reconsider the clarification language.  The motion passed unanimously.

Fall 99 calendar - Steve Platte
After discussion it was moved and seconded that the Fall 1999 calendar include two weeks of faculty accountability at the beginning of the semester to allow for faculty development days, postponing the beginning of the regular class schedule by one week (this still allows for a 16-week semester).  The motion passed with 7 in favor and 2 opposed; Larry Burgess and Marilyn Cristiano.
 

Meet & Confer - Steve Platte
Meet & Confer information was included in the President's Report.

Governing Board Agenda  - Steve Platte
A copy of the items that will be addressed at the December Governing Board Meeting will arrive tomorrow.  Please see Steve if you would like to review it before the Governing Board Meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:21pm

Respectfully Submitted by
  Jeanne Franco
  Senate Secretary