Minutes

Faculty Council Meeting

March 17    2:30 – 5:00 p.m.

West 6-202

 

Present:  Deidre Holmes DuBois, Sue Matthews, Chris Borglum, Amy Bosley, Rose Watson, Kathleen Perri, Debbie Garrison, George Dow, Tim Williams, Suzette Dohany, Louise Pitts

 

Action Items

 

Approval of February Minutes

                        Minutes approved.

 

            Endowed Chairs Selection Committee

                        The Council placed Rachel Waite, Bonnie Oliver, Amy Bosley, Bill                                    Snider, Terri Johnsen, Shari Koopman, and Ilyse Kusnetz.

 

            Endowed Chairs Review Task Force

                        The Council placed Maryke Lee, Diane Brown, James Leonard, James

                        May, Chris Borglum, and Debbie Garrison.

.

Discussion Items

 

            Results of Professional Development/Institutional Effectiveness Vote

                        The vote broke down thusly for PD: WPC 10 for/0 against; East 91 for/

                        5 against; West 73 for/2 abstentions; Osceola 25 for/3 against.

 

                        For IE the vote was WPC 10 for/0 against; East 91 for/5 against; West 73

                        For/2 abstentions; Osceola 26 for/2 against.

 

                        That totals to 199 for the PD plan, with 8 against and two abstentions; for

                        IE it was 200 for the plan, with 7 against and two abstentions.

 

                        Chris said that he would bring the results to Dr. Shugart and work with

                        him to present the plans to the Board of Trustees.  The Council                                            recommended that Amy Bosley and George Dow, as the team leaders,

                        attend the BOT meeting in April to answer questions and/or present

                        the plans. 

 

            Nominations for CWFA VP/President-Elect

                        Options for conducting the vote were discussed: e-mail vote to CWFA                               president; flashlight survey; regular ballot process we’ve used; Atlas                                   voting (Amy Bosley will contact Sonya Joseph for information on this).                              Chris will create a document with options for voting process with pros and                         cons for FC review. When we have a document, it will be shared with the                         campus presidents for use at the campus senate meetings.

 

            Draft Expectations of Faculty Representatives

                        The draft had been updated by Chris from the last meeting, incorporating

                        Council suggestions.  Some reservations were expressed that some

                        faculty might still find the document demeaning.  Others suggested

                        that we still have problems with people not showing up to meetings

                        or consulting with constituents.  A motion was made to adopt the

                        document immediately, and that motion passed 8-1, so the document

                        will be used for the first time with the volunteers for the Endowed

                        Chairs Review Task Force.

 

            Time Blocks for 2005-06

                        Faculty at West and East had strong opposition to having no exam week.                          An informal poll of Council members found 10 supporting the extra                                    minute per class meeting and four supporting the 30-minute assignment.                             Faculty don’t want final exam week to be regular class meetings b/c of                               difficulty to students in having multiple exams scheduled.  There is no                                reasonable way to ensure that some students would not be so affected.  If                         all of our plans are somewhat contrived, adding one minute is the least                               contrived and the least likely to cause some sort of accounting/compliance             problem for the college in the unlikely event that the state would check.                             There seems to be least resistance among faculty to adding a minute.                                   Chris will report these discussions to Joyce Romano and the Calendar                                 Committee.

 

            Calendars for 2006-2010

                        Concerns were raised about “calendar creep,” with fall terms starting                                  closer to September.  It was pointed out that the 2006-2008 start dates                               move backward from August 29 to 25 before jumping back to August 31.                                      Some members recommended at least that spring break correspond with                             that of OCPS if possible.  Try to avoid missing too many of any specific                                    weekday; if one is being missed often, consider moving College Night to                                 create balance.  Like that fall and spring finals start on a Monday—would                                     like to keep that.  Some faculty feel that spring is starting too late—too                                    many business days before classes begin.

 

            Intellectual Property

                        The IP policy borrowed from Broward CC might only be a preamble to a                           full policy for Valencia.  Chris offered that Dr. Shugart has said that he                              wants a broad policy giving faculty ownership of the intellectual property.                          Numerous examples were put forward showing the difficulties inherent in                         this area.  Bill Mullowney will be invited to a future meeting to discuss the                         issue.

 

 

Information Items

            GPA Calculation

                        The Learning Council will consider eliminating preparatory courses from                            the calculation of cumulative g.p.a. at its next meeting, per the                                             recommendation of Faculty Council.

 

            College Prep Courses Definition of an Attempt

                        The college has been defining an “attempt” in college prep. as enrollment                            beyond the withdrawal deadline instead of enrollment past the drop-add                            deadline.  The college will now adhere to the deadline of drop-add for                               purposes of definition of an attempt.  Faculty in prep classes will likely

                        be asked to help make students aware of this.

 

            Valencia ID Policy

                        Concerns were raised about students having access to personal                                            information for faculty, staff and other students through Banner. Though

                        students are trained, faculty want greater safeguards against student abuse

                        of Banner access.

 

Reports

            Winter Park:  Nothing to report.

 

            Osceola:  The senate discussed the raising of class enrollment caps in social                                        sciences to 35 students to be in line with the other campi.  The

                            senate found that online social science classes on other campi

                            are capped at 22, whereas this is not the case at Osceola.

 

            West:   There was discussion of Florida House Bill 0837 regarding academic

                        freedom. There were also concerns raised about how advising is

                        handling transient students this summer; these transient students don’t

                        have to meet the same prerequisite standards in some cases as our own

                        students do.

 

            East:    Ruth Prather attended a recent transition meeting to continue readying

                        East Campus for her move there.  More discussion on ID policy was

                        held, mostly focusing on work-study students’ access to Banner.  They

                        also wanted to ensure that there are more available times during which

                        students can get Valencia IDs.

 

            Adjunct Professional Development Committee:  Debbie Garrison shared the

            group’s plan and will circulate an update when it’s completed.

 

            Other Reports: Louise Pitts reported that only a small number of faculty showed             up to any of the budget workshops hosted on the four campi.  There was good             general turnout at WPC, though.

 

            George Dow reported that the Food Service Committee is no longer college-wide.

            Instead, each campus will have its own committee.  West has hired a consultant

            to review food services at that campus.  Faculty were reminded to check to see

            that their campus Food Service group was up and running.

 

Adjournment

            Meeting adjourned at 5:07 p.m.

 

Next Meeting:  April 21 at Winter Park Campus in Room 221