Minutes

Faculty Council Meeting

October 20, 2005   2:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Osceola Campus   3-300

 

Attendance: Deidre Holmes DuBois, Joan Alexander, Lana Powell, Sue Matthews, Bill Snider, George Dow, Jane Wiese, Geoffrey Fortunato, Tom Byrnes, Amy Bosley, Mark Bollenback (for Dan Gutierrez), Debbie Garrison, Kathleen Perri, Chris Borglum, Ray Enger, Suzette Dohany, Rose Watson

 

I.                   Action Items

a.      Approval of September Minutes

 

Minutes approved with correction.

 

b.      Budget and Financial Advisory Group (2 faculty requested – statements attached)

                                                  i.      Graeme Lindbeck (Biology, West)

                                                ii.      Linda Neal (English, East)

                                              iii.      Cecil Battiste (Business, East)

                                              iv.      Lana Powell (Business, West)

 

Cecil and Lana were appointed to the group.

 

c.       Strategic Budget Initiative Review Team (4 faculty requested – statements attached)

                                                  i.      Linda Anthon (English/Speech, East)

                                                ii.      Tami Rogers (Nursing, West)

                                              iii.      Linda Villar (Counseling, Winter Park)

                                              iv.      Patrick Murphy (Math, East)

 

All four were appointed to the team.

 

d.      NISOD Awards Selection Committee

 

Erin O’Brien, Sue Matthews, Rose Watson, and Deidre Holmes DuBois were appointed to the committee.

 

II.                Discussion Items

a.      Intellectual Property Rights Policy (Final draft attached)

 

Share with everyone. We will leave this with the Learning Council now.

 

b.      Compensation Forums (FAQ attached)

 

The forums were held on the West, East, and Osceola. Two things came out of the forums. The first is an “all asked” questions page, and the second is the FAQ page. These are still being edited and will be posted on the web for all faculty members to have access to them.

 

New letters will be sent out to faculty before the end of the semester. The new letters will be very detailed.

 

The website with salary info, compensation plan, ways to look at salary data, FAQ, etc. is still being developed and will be shared once completed.

 

Stan Stone has asked that we copy him when we make requests for information instead of going to Joe Livingston directly. He wants to try to coordinate requests to make process easier.

 

c.       Sexual Harassment policy and procedure review

 

The administration was very welcoming to working with us on reviewing this cluster. Official policy review would need to include all employee groups. Spring is the target date for work to start.

 

We can start our research now though. West faculty senate passed a motion and is going to start researching and gathering info now; anyone interested is welcome to join in.

 

d.      Academic Policy Cluster Review (proposed timeline and cluster review attached)

 

We have okay to proceed. Teams will look at the cluster and decide what parts need to be updated. Process will begin with small work teams and then will go to all faculty members for input. The Faculty Council needs to have say in priority of reviews.

 

e.       Parking fines (revised proposed policy attached)

 

We had discussed earlier to raise fine to $25. According to the revised proposed policy, the fine has been raised to $10.

 

We would like to know reason why it was raised only to $10 in the proposed policy.

 

It was noted that the amount we requested would be a better deterrent for parking violations. Also, we need collection effort to be enforced.

 

Has the staff councils addressed this issue as well? Could parking be increased? Perhaps outsource garages? What about designated spaces for dual enrollment professors?

 

Several council members brought up that the revised policy is not acceptable as is.

 

If raising fine to $25 is not possible, what alternative methods of deterrent can be used?

 

f.       Communication with faculty

 

How do we get the word out?

 

Several members said that they would like to see the minutes emailed out again. Also suggested was notes or letter to faculty members from the council that is basically an executive summary of the most important issues; this could be sent out once or twice a semester.

 

It was also suggested that reminders could be sent out that the website has been updated. We should be mindful of sending out too much information; we don’t want the information to be ignored.

 

We want to make sure faculty know who they can go to when things go wrong; so improving the council’s credibility is key.

 

Could also keep faculty informed on the number of faculty now engaged on college wide committees.

 

g.      Student Code of Classroom Conduct violation procedures (Tom Byrnes)

 

We appear to need a procedure that faculty can follow throughout the college.

 

The idea is to clarify the procedures for faculty especially younger professors who may not know about them.

 

It was suggested that perhaps training on how to handle these situations is needed rather than make procedures for everyone.

 

Tom will investigate how this is done at other schools and then return with more research.

 

h.      Student harassment of faculty procedure (Tom Byrnes)

 

We appear to need a procedure on how to handle harassment incidents. Two years ago there was supposed to be such a procedure, but no one can seem to find it today.

 

Is there anything in student code of conduct? Or is there a need for it?

 

Can also be faculty on faculty, staff members, etc. Who do you go to when it happens? What is inappropriate behavior? What is the law?

 

We were promised guidance in written form that has not come about yet. Amy will look into this and get back to us.

 

III.             Information Items

a.      Budget workshops

                                                  i.      East – November 7, 9:00  room 3-113

                                                ii.      West – November 7, 2:00 room 6-202

                                              iii.      Winter Park – November 9, 3:00  room 225-226

                                              iv.      Osceola – November 15, 1:30 room 1-230

 

All are encouraged to attend.

 

b.      Senior teaching fellows

 

Amy working on this with Ann Puyana.

 

c.       Faculty representation on Foundation Board of Directors

 

We will get a person. Amy will make a call when it is time.

 

d.      Engagement hours/Service to institution hours

 

A few faculty members are not correctly dealing with these hours. There have been reports of problems due to misinterpretation of these hours by these faculty members. Chris will clarify the hours again for faculty via email.

 

The problem is not a global one, but rather a very small one. It was suggested that Deans could handle this easily.

 

IV.             Reports

a.      Campus Reports

                                                  i.      Osceola

 

Found out that Faculty to Faculty does count for adjunct development. Policy can be found online. Ray will forward email he received about it to the council.

 

                                                ii.      East

 

99% of issues were local; there are no global issues at this time.

 

                                              iii.      West

 

The senate had a long meeting. They had made a request of Bill Mullowney, and were waiting on reply. They will be researching into how faculty members can protect themselves.

 

                                              iv.      Winter Park

 

Suzette distributed information about the Disciplinary Coordinators.

 

b.      Other Reports

 

none

 

V.                Adjournment

 

Meeting adjourned

 

Next Meeting:  November 17, East 5-112