Members Present: Maria Barillas, Ron Brooker, Tom Butler, Muriel Coil, Renee Cornell, Marilyn Cristiano, Janet Downey, Kurt Hill, Hank Mancini, Jane Marks, Scott Massey, Donna Mosher, John Nelson, Nino Pascolati, Roberto Ribas.

Members Absent: none.

Guests Present: Joyce Janiga, Fred Wieck

The minutes of September 7, 2000 were unanimously approved with one minor change of wording.

As of September 30, 2000 the balance in the PVCC Faculty Association checking account is $301.70 and the savings account balance is $9,151.98, with a combined balance of $9,453.68. Of the combined balance, the Scholarship Fund balance is $3,859.18.

To date, of the 76 PVCC faculty eligible to join the Faculty Association, 64 (84.2%) have joined.

Various Senators volunteered to personally contact specific faculty to invite them to join the Faculty Association.

Tom Butler requested that Senate reports be e-mailed to him, either with the report as the text of the e-mail, or with the report as an attachment, in Microsoft Word, which can be easily converted to HTML format.

At the Sept. 12 meeting, Rosemary Kesler, President of the Faculty Executive Council, reported that EBAC, Employee Benefits Advisory Committee, has been informed by BC/BS of AZ that prescription drug costs will increase 19% next year. If all employee benefits continue to rise, the District will see an increase in costs for benefits at 1.3 million dollars each year. Also, at this same meeting, Jack Lunsford of the Office for External Affairs presented information related to Proposition 301, a proposal to generate revenue for public education. According to his informational report, $11.2 million dollars would be directed toward state community college districts (or 3% of the projected revenue). Although Mr. Lunsford made clear that we are not to promote contributions to or support of a campaign for Proposition 301 using district facilities, copy machines, etc., if it is requested, we can distribute information, talk to our neighbors, etc. about the proposition. Jane has a brochure available detailing what is and is not a permissible activity for employees interested in this legislation.

At the Sept. 26 meeting, it was announced that Rod Brooker offered to act as Treasurer for the state AAUP organization. Rosemary Kesler pointed out that the majority of funding of the state organization is thanks to MCCCD’s financial contributions, even though we do not have any representatives actively taking part in their meetings (with the exception of herself and Rod). She encouraged anyone who is interested in taking an active part in the organization to become a representative.

John reported that District Faculty Executive Council President Rosemary Kesler was invited to address the Senate but was unable to attend this month. A visit will be rescheduled.

President’s Cabinet Meeting–September 28, 2000.

The main focus of this meeting was to share updating reports. Some of the items shared are listed as follows:

--Paul presented a recommendation from a SAASS subcommittee, which proposed a new set of base operating hours for B Building. Cabinet members discussed this proposal and asked Paul to take back a counter proposal. This counter proposal asked the subcommittee to consider the following hours: Monday through Thursday–8:00 a.m. — 7:00 p.m.; Friday–8:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m. Saturday hours are to be determined

--Cathy Hart noted that a pilot project of wireless computers for the classrooms has been completed.

--Shirley reported that the Alternate Scheduling Committee has met; they are in the process of considering different options for class scheduling which will meet the needs as identified by students. A presentation of these options will be developed and presented in the near future.

--Shirley also reported that the General Staffing Committee has met and will meet again on Monday, October 2^nd to develop priorities. These priorities will then be submitted to Gina by Friday, October 6^th.

--Gina discussed the President’s Retreat with the Chancellor. Issues that were discussed at this retreat were the future bond initiative slated for 2004; the Governor’s Task Force on Education which includes the possible change of FTSE from 15 hours to 12 hours, E- learning, and teacher training–K-12 and Maricopa’s "Grow Your Own" initiative.

--John updated the Cabinet on the three different search committees which are in progress–the President’s Search Committee, the Dean of Instruction’s Search Committee, and the Director of Marketing and Public Relations. Also, John noted that the Senate will begin working on this year’s Senate goals at our next meeting on Thursday, October 5^th.

 

Strategic Planning

The Strategic Planning Committee accepted the Senate’s proposal to add the PVCC Faculty Senate President-Elect to be added as one of the Advisory Members of the Budget Review Committee. This is a non-voting membership.

Other Items that were discussed and approved:

--The "Planning and Budgeting Assumptions" document was approved

--The "Flow of Budget Proposals Chart" was accepted.

--The "Restructuring of PVCC Strategic Planning Council" document was accepted. The Council has now added five project teams. Each member of the SPC is expected to serve on at least one project team.

Legislative Update

John provided a handout, entitled "Election and Proposition Update," which was part of the last Governing Board’s agenda. This to keep Senators updated on significant legislative issues.

John reported that Jane Marks has been working hard to represent us well as President-Elect at District meetings. She and John have been involved in several working meetings with Chancellor Gaskin, including one on faculty recruitment.

Information Items

See Agenda item 7.

Faculty Development–no report.

Professional Growth–Tom Butler

The FPG subcommittee for projects is discussing whether to increase the maximum amount allowable for conference fees. Presently, the limit is $1,000.00 per RFP faculty until the funds are expended for the year. An ad-hoc committee of Meet and Confer continues to investigate ways to improve and streamline the processes of applying for Profession Growth and travel and reimbursement. Several members of the Faculty Professional Growth Committee have volunteered to work with that ad-hoc committee.

Travel Committee–no report

It was also unanimously approved that if two or more applications are of equal merit, preference will be given to the applicant who demonstrates the greatest financial need. The application form for the scholarship presented by John Nelson was unanimously approved with one minor wording change.

Fred reported that the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey revealed that students highly valued being informed early in the semester of their performance in a course. Fred presented the Faculty Early Alert Report form and asked for feedback from faculty on how to make it a more useful process, since only about four instructors have used it for about 16 students. It was agreed that attaching the form to second or third week rosters would be more useful than attaching it to the first week class rosters. Fred assured us that no student would be contacted based on the Faculty Early Alert Report without the counselor first calling the referring faculty.

After some discussion, it was generally agreed, with no formal motion, that the Faculty Senate should restrict itself to sending flowers or other tokens of consolation/appreciation to employees, but not in acknowledgement of family members of employees. It was also agreed that individuals could always choose to donate to a specific occasion on their own, and that individual cases that arise could be handled by the Senate on a case-by-case basis.

Ron reported his concern that professors are being asked to submit final grades for concurrently enrolled high school seniors before the final exams are scheduled, and that, in some cases the faculty member is not even aware of the presence of high school seniors in the class. John Nelson reported that there have been problems in identifying those students. The Senate identified two issues that need further study: the academic integrity of providing early exams and grades to high school seniors who need the grades reported to the high school sooner than the college, and the problems of early identification of those students on beginning of semester rosters. John will talk with Bob Bendotti and Mary Lou Mosley regarding these two issues.

Jane Marks, as President-elect, will now serve on that committee as a non-voting member.

The Senate’s recommendations were accepted by the ad hoc Search Committee, with the exception that the search committee wanted to retain two community members on the committee. Final recommendations by the ad hoc Presidential Search Committee were forwarded to the Chancellor's office. Dr. Gaskin reviewed and accepted the ad hoc committee's recommendations added Governing Board member Gene Eastin as a member of the Presidential Search Committee. Arnette Ward, President of CGCC, has accepted the offer to serve as the CEC member on the committee.

All Division chairs will serve, with Mitzi Fulwood substituting for Math, and two "at-large" faculty positions are in the process of being selected.

Hedy Fossenkemper and Lisa Miller are representing faculty on this committee.

Contributions have been made to the fiscal office and the amount contributed will determine the specific gift. A plaque will be presented to Fred by Tom Butler expressing the appreciation of the faculty and employees of the college for his years of service.

The Human Development Division is concerned about the growth of its division and the college and will be proposing a change in its division structure in December.

--Subcommittees’ Reports on Senate goals

--Report on early identification and academic integrity re early grades for high school seniors (John Nelson)

--Report on policies and practices regarding refunds to students dissatisfied with courses (Jane Marks)

The meeting was adjourned at 4:42 P.M.