Faculty Council Minutes

July 20, 2006

East Campus

 

Attendees:  Linda Anthon, Joel Berman, Amy Bosley, Tom Byrnes, Jackie DiMartino, Deidre Holmes-DuBois, Jean Marie Furman, Debbie Garrison, Gloria Hines, Brian Macon, Lana Powell, and Bill Snider

 

Guests:  Helen Clarke, Julie Phelps, David Renteria, and Dr. Sandy Shugart

 

Action Items

 

The June minutes were approved as written.

 

David Renteria presented a version of the online Student Assessment of Instruction Form, which will be piloted this summer term with students who are currently taking an online class.  Reference was made to the creation of a program enabling a professor to add any question that he or she wishes and to the lack of a problem associated with such questions.  In addition, a decision was made that the new form, although not yet finished, is ready for immediate use, and an announcement was made that both faculty and students will submit feedback on this form.   

 

The Faculty Council gave Tom Byrnes permission to create a new committee to review the Student Assessment of Instruction form, recommending that present members of this committee be sent an email offering them the option of remaining on the committee.

 

Discussion Items

 

Julie Phelps presented an update on Achieve the Dream.

 

Helen Clarke reported the following:  the successful completion of the tenure process by all members of the 2006 class, the offering of a series of refresher training sessions that will highlight the change of organization and feature action research projects, the near completion of an action research project builder, and the implementation of a consistent College-wide procedure for faculty involved in the tenure process to include strong mentoring, more classroom visitations, and timely feedback on classroom visitations, student evaluations, and ILP reviews.

 

Dr. Shugart responded to the following points raised by members of the Faculty Council:

 

  • Finding out if an option can be offered enabling one to keep life insurance through Blue Cross and Blue Shield but not medical insurance
  • Investigating the increase in class size of honors classes and the decrease in funding for these classes
  • Speaking with Bill White about connectivity between campuses for meetings
  • Re-examining 6-6-0-0 contracts and policy and sharing the findings of this re-examination with the Faculty Council

 

Dr. Shugart discussed the following issues:

 

  • Matters related to the creation of a Southeast campus
  • Continued movement with UCF to offer classes leading to four-year degrees on Valencia campuses
  • Interest expressed by UCF in partnering with Valencia in education courses
  • Creation of Valencia’s Educational Preparation Institute (EPI), which will provide individuals who have college degrees with the necessary courses to obtain a Florida teacher’s license
  • Reconstruction or re-creation of programs in the engineering and accounting fields
  • Interest in offering home-schooled, private, and Christian school students the opportunity to attend the school of their choice via Valencia Community College

 

Tom Byrnes informed the Faculty Council that the Office of Teaching and Learning Support is working on a document that will provide further explanation and documentation supporting the four strategies identified by Valencia faculty as being effective in dealing with at-risk students, adding that the document will be shared with faculty upon its completion.  Following was a discussion regarding the next course of action related to the strategies, Tom Byrnes stating that he would bring some options to the next Faculty Council meeting.

 

Information Items

 

Tom Byrnes stated that he would send two possible amendments to the Faculty Association Constitution to the presidents of the campus senates, so that they could send them out to their faculty for discussion and feedback.  The suggested wording of the amendments is:

 

  • No fewer than seven calendar days before the March meeting of the Faculty Council, members of the Faculty Association must nominate a Faculty Association member to the current President of the Faculty Association for the position of President of the Association.
  • No fewer than seven calendar days before the March meeting of the Faculty Council, members of the Faculty Association must nominate a current or past Faculty Council member to the current President of the Faculty Association for the position of President of the Association.

 

The current wording in the Constitution appears:

 

  • No more than seven days before the March meeting of the Council, members of the Council must communicate the name of any Council member they wish to nominate for president to the current president.

Reports

 

West:  None

 

East:  East requested more information on linked classes.

 

Osceola:  Osceola stated that the faculty there did not wish to have a sexual harassment workshop on their campus and that they expressed concern for faculty members who would teach only two courses for the long summer term when given a 6-6-0-0 contract.

 

Winter Park:  None

 

Adjournment

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 P.M.

 

The next Faculty Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 21, 2006, at West Campus, in 6-202.