Faculty Council Minutes

April 20, 2006

West Campus

 

Attending:  Linda Anthon, Joan Alexander, Joel Berman, Tom Byrnes, Debbie Garrison, Deidre Holmes Dubois, Gloria Hines, James Leonard, Graeme Lindbeck, Brian Macon, Kathleen Perri, Lana Powell, David Rogers (ex-officio), Marlene Temes (for Jackie DiMartino), and Rose Watson

 

Minutes:

 

The March minutes were approved as read with the correction of the May meeting rescheduled for Osceola Campus and the June meeting rescheduled for Winter Park Campus, as well as a grammatical correction.

 

Appointments:

 

James Leonard was elected as Senate Secretary.

 

Assessment Planning Retreat

 

The following 10 faculty were appointed, with the exception of Helen Clarke, who was replaced by Joel Berman:

 

George Rausch, Architecture/Engineering, West

Dorothy Dixon, Math, East

Helen Clarke, Communications, East & Director of TLA  (Joel Berman is replacing Helen Clarke.)

Carl Creasman, History, East

Allison Sloan, Math, West

Joe Bivins, Science, East

Tom Byrnes, Political Science, West

Kurt Ewen, Philosophy/Humanities, West

Philip Bishop, Humanities, East

Linda Anthon, Communications, East

 

Alternative Contracts Work Team

 

Four to six faculty were requested for the team, and the following faculty were approved, including Lana Powell, who requested to be added to the team:

 

Gloria Hines, Counselor, West

Renee Jardon, Communications, East

Joan Alexander, Computer Programming, West

Jane Wiese, Accounting, East

Wendy Schwam, Humanities, East

Mary Beck, Science, West

Lana Powell, Accounting, West

 

Sabbatical Selection Committee

 

Four faculty were requested, and it was decided to send forward to the President the names of the following 4 faculty for approval:

 

Karen Styles, Humanities, East

Terry Long, Computer Programming, West

Kris Dougherty, Science, Osceola

Randy Grosch, Social Sciences, West

 

Student Activity Budget Committee

 

Ron Colburn was added to the committee to represent the Osceola Campus.

 

Alternative Delivery Standards Plan

 

This was passed unanimously after some discussion. Questions arose as to where this document was going after the Council had voted on it and if it would be put into Valencia’s official procedures.

 

2006 Faculty Council Meeting Schedule

 

Meeting schedule was approved.  Tom Byrnes will arrange for a video conference for May 18 for those unable to attend the Faculty Council meeting at Osceola.

 

Discussion Items:

 

Student Assessment of Instruction Update

 

There was much discussion on this item.  First, there was concern about the faculty member carrying the envelope with the evaluations to the place where they are scanned, and some students were concerned that the faculty members would be reading the evaluations before the end of the term.  In addition, there were similar concerns regarding the online version.  In particular, this version was set up so that the instructor and the dean would receive the evaluation immediately after its being submitted, creating concern about faculty receiving the evaluation before the final grades were submitted.  Another concern was that the URL that students were given for the online evaluation had a drop-down menu that allowed the students to evaluate any instructor, not only their own.  Yet another concern was the unlimited number of evaluations that a student could submit.  It was decided to include the topic of student assessment of instruction on the agenda for the next meeting, and it was also suggested to invite Angelique Smith to the next meeting to discuss some of these issues.

 

 

 

 

Policy Review Plans

 

There are 6 clusters of policies to review.  The council decided to review one cluster per month, beginning in September.  The plan is to send out a cluster at least three weeks prior to a Senate meeting.  The faculty will be asked to give feedback to their Senators, and, then, Senates on each campus will discuss the cluster and bring their comments and questions to the full Council meeting.

 

Federal Financial Aid and Courses Toward Degree

 

It was agreed that the faculty should be advised of this matter via email.

 

Faculty Stipends and Release Time

 

When asked to consider for what purposes and functions should reassign time be given, the Council agreed that the recommendations that were developed in the past should be followed.

 

Achieve the Dream (AtD) Work

 

The Council would like to see some concrete suggestions on what to do to increase the retention rate of at-risk students and to help at-risk students overall.  This could be a topic for Learning Day.  Tom Byrnes will follow up with the Atd team and the Learning Evidence team.

 

Inviting Deans to Faculty Council Meetings

 

The Council agreed that they did not want to invite deans to the meetings.

 

Information Items

 

Tom Byrnes shared that the case of Tim Williams will be placed before the Board next month.  The West Campus faculty want to be advised as to the time and date of that meeting.

 

Reports:

 

Campus Reports

 

West - None

Winter Park – Concern was expressed over caps being raised on Honors classes without faculty input.

Osceola – Faculty lists in Groupwise need to be updated.  A motion was made to have OIT keep the mass email lists updated and current.

East – None

 

Other Reports

 

College-wide - Concern was expressed over low numbers for summer registration.

 

Adjournment:

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

 

 

The next Faculty Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 18, 2006, at Osceola, room 2-101, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.