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Cabrini College Faculty Senate
Meeting Minutes – August 31, 2006
In attendance: K. Acker, K. Arp, M. Bare, A. Bethany, N. Bolufer-Laurentie, K. Boyd, J. Brown, B. Bryde, A. Coleman, J. DeFranco-Tommarello, D. Dunbar, D. Francis, S. Frechie, S. Fuller-Espie, J. Gingerich, L. Groves, M. Hallion, C. Halpern, C. Kessler, J. Komp, C. Kule, C. Lelli, K. McKinley, P. Matilsky, R. Paolucci, R. Remley, R. Robb, S. Schwarze, C. Serotta, J. Smith, T. Stretton, M. Terlecki, A. Tomasco, N. Uliano, M. Waring-Chaffe, N. Watterson, P. Wright, C. Yungmann, J. Zurek.
The meeting was convened at 3:20 by the Chair, Dr. Fuller-Espie. The minutes of the April 6, 2006 meeting were approved.
I. Faculty Treasury Report
The former treasurer, Nick Uliano, reported that last year approximately 2/3 of faculty paid their faculty dues. This years faculty dues are $30. To pay dues, write checks to Faculty Senate and place checks in Carol Kessler’s faculty mailbox. Carol Kessler is the current treasurer of faculty senate. The current treasury balance is $1,781.83 with an outstanding bill of approximately $50.00 for an Edie Dixon flower arrangement.
II. Committee Reports
A. Adjunct Faculty Committee – David Dunbar, a member, described the work of the Adjunct Faculty Committee chaired by Harvey Lape. The committee is charged with evaluating adjunct faculty salaries, office space on campus and votes every spring for the Adjunct Faculty of the Year Award.
B. Faculty Evaluation – Work of this committee was described by the Pro-tem Chair, John Brown. The committee submits SIR reports, online evaluations Department Chair performances and works on best practices for faculty evaluations.
C. Faculty Grant – The Chair Nick Uliano, indicated that last year that grant priority was given to faculty involving undergraduates in their research projects and to faculty who have not applied for grants recently or who are working on a new research project.
D. PTC – The pro-tem chair, Kim Boyd, explained that Jonnie Guerra asked her to submit random student letters for tenure portfolios. Kim also indicated that we need new members for PTC, particularly more senior faculty.
E. Salary & Benefits – Carol Serrotta described the work of this committee. This committee is continuing to look at salary comparisons with comparable schools as Cabrini College. Sherry Fuller-Espie indicated that Chad May, Director of Institutional Research, sent a report on May 12, 2006 (Faculty Salary Comparison Report, 2005-2006) comparing Cabrini College faculty salary to faculty at other schools. It was recommended that the Salary and Benefits committee look at Chad’s report and come up with a faculty salary proposal for the faculty senate.
F. Mentoring – Adeline Bethany indicated that this committee seeks faculty to mentor first year faculty. The faculty secretary gives out a new booklet put together by the Mentoring Committee. It was noted that this booklet would be useful for all faculty. Katie Acker agreed to put the new booklet online at the faculty senate website. The website is www.cabrini.edu/facultysenate.
G. Student Grievance – The Chair, John Brown, indicated that this committee did not meet last year because there were no student grievances.
H. Technology – Katie Acker indicated that the committee gets together with either Jonnie Guerra or John McIntyre if there are any faculty grievances related to classroom technology issues.
I. Social – The Pro-tem Chair Ruby Remley asked faculty to fill out a questionnaire to plan faculty social events. Ruby suggested that we have some sort of social gathering sometime in October. Should we have Happy Hours on Fridays?
Faculty desiring to serve on any of the Committees described above should contact the respective Committee Chairperson.
III. Faculty Handbook
Kimberly Boyd gave faculty an update on the faculty handbook steering committee following the May 2006 faculty forum. She indicated that revised drafts of Chapters 1 (Governance and Administration) and 4 (Faculty Personnel Policies) have been submitted and are under review. At this time no dates have been established for meetings of the steering committee, but the next meeting is expected soon. It was brought up that Faculty Senate does not have primacy over the faculty handbook being adopted by the handbook steering committee. Sherry Fuller-Espie suggested that this could be interpreted that Faculty Senate will not play an official role in faculty handbook revisions. Sherry Fuller-Espie indicated that Dr. Guerra, the VPAA, communicated to her that based on the charge of the President and the Board of Trustees, it is Dr. Guerra’s and Dr. Girard’s responsibility, together with the steering committee, to formally see the handbook through the draft and approval process, and that the Board removed responsibility for the handbook from the Faculty Senate. The final form of the revised handbook will be presented to the faculty at large for discussion and approval before going to the Board of Trustees for final approval.
Questions were raised asking whether the Faculty Senate Handbook Committee can be abolished without the endorsement of Faculty Senate, and should faculty abide by the December 2004 faculty handbook version? Sherry Fuller-Espie pointed out that this version did not get approval from the Board of Trustees, however, the 1999 chapter on governance did receive formal approval by the Board. The other remaining chapters in the Faculty Handbook that were approved by the Board of Trustees are from the 1993 version which is noted on our teaching contracts.
A discussion then followed where faculty voiced concern that there would not be sufficient input from faculty on the direction of the new faculty handbook. Some faculty would like to have an alternative venue to share their concerns and suggestions other than in the formal focus groups held by the steering committee chairs, such as the forum that was held in May.
Kathy McKinley made a motion to reinstate the Handbook Review Committee in order to facilitate additional discussion of the new handbook and to provide an avenue where faculty can share their concerns without intimidation. The motion was seconded by Carol Serrotta and approved by a show of hands in favor by a majority, near-unanimous, of the Faculty Senate. This committee will follow closely revisions of the faculty handbook made by the faculty handbook steering committee chairs and report back to the Faculty Senate. Sharon Schwarze agreed to serve as Pro-tem Chair of this Committee. Others agreeing to serve on the Committee are Tony Tomasco, Margo Bare, Ruby Remley, Kathy McKinley and Ray Robb. It was pointed out that a representative of the AAUP well-versed in shared governance and due process would be willing to review the revised Faculty Handbook for a small donation to the Academic Freedom Fund. A show of hands in favor by majority, near-unanimous, of the Faculty Senate endorsed support for AAUP review of Chapters 1 and 4. The Handboook Review Committee will meet in the upcoming weeks to review concerns raised by faculty regarding these two chapters and to investigate further how to obtain AAUP consultation. Faculty were asked to forward any concerns or suggestions about these two chapters to Sharon Schwarze as soon as possible so that the Handbook Review Committee can include their comments in their discussions.
IV. Promotion and Tenure Elections
Ballots were distributed to fill three tenure faculty and one non-tenure faculty member to serve on PTC. There were 41 faculty in attendance for this item providing the necessary quorum for votes. Sharon Schwarze and Tony Tomasco received the highest number of votes for tenured PTC positions and will serve on PTC. There was a tie for the third tenured PTC position between Kathy McKinley and Ann Servey. Because the Faculty Senate did not have a quorum after the first round of voting, the tie will be decided by a mail ballot. Nick Uliano received the most votes for the non-tenured position and will serve in such capacity.
V. Working Conditions
Several faculty reported to Dr. Fuller-Espie that the conditions in some classrooms and faculty offices needed attention. Faculty Senate identified three areas that need immediate attention. They include:
1. New and existing technology needs to be tested in all classrooms by ITR prior to classes resuming in August and again in January. Faculty noted that in many cases there were problems with the technology resulting in the loss of class time.
2. Faculty would like to see better coordination of housekeeping, physical plant and ITR and suggested that Academic Affairs could be the first point of contact when problems arise in the classrooms. In addition, faculty should have a contact number after 4:30 p.m. in the event of problems arising in the classroom that interfere with instruction.
3. Where needed classroom furniture needs to be repaired.
As per the responsibilities noted in the 1999 Faculty Handbook, the Faculty Senate Salary, Benefits and Working Conditions Committee, chaired by Phil Matilsky, will meet to discuss these issues and notify the administration of our needs.
VI. Announcements
A. Mary Harris described the Cabrini Day morning activities and that there will be nine sponsored booths manned by faculty in different departments. Mary also announced that this year there will be no sign-in attendance sheets for students attending Cabrini Day. Students will receive an Ecological Footprint card. Students can show faculty their Footprint card to verify that they attended Cabrini Day activities.
B. Anne Coleman announced that to kick off this year’s focus on the Environment that Dr. Gaye Burpee will be giving an open forum on Thursday September the 7th from 4:45-5:45 in the Grace Hall Board Room. Dr. Burpee has a Ph.D. in Environmental Issues and was invited by Dr. Coleman through the efforts of the Wolfington Center. Dr. Burpee would discuss awareness of global water issues. The forum is open to all students.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:31.
Respectfully submitted,
David Dunbar
Secretary, Faculty Senate