Faculty Senate Minutes

Thursday, May 7, 2009

3:15 PM to 5:00 PM, Chesapeake 115

1. Attendance: Please check-in on the attendance roster.

In attendance, Senate officers and delegates—Mark Hubley (FO President), Swazette Young (FO Vice President), Len Sekelick (Liberal Arts), Vince Cipriani (WDCE), Kathi Linville (Nursing), Nicholas Plants (at large), Barbara Sanders (Student Development Services), Alan Mickelson (Learning Resources), Eldon Baldwin (at large), Rosanne Benn (Educational Development), Darlene Antezana (Liberal Arts), Christy Wright (Learning Resources), Daniel Jones (at large), Leslie Wojciechowicz (Mathematics), Scott Huxel (STEM), Janet Carlson (Educational Development), Leon Weaver (Student Development Services), and Charles Thomas (Computer and Engineering Technology). Others in attendance—Jeanette Gerrity-Gomez.

2. Review the Agenda for the 5/7/09 meeting.

The agenda was approved as written.

3. Review the Minutes of the 4/2/09 and 4/16/09 meetings.

The minutes of the 4/2 meeting were approved as written. The minutes of the 4/16 meeting were not available.

4. Calendar

Spring 2009 important dates

A. College closed or no classes

i) Presidents’ Day, college closed, Mon. 2/16

ii) Spring Break, college closed, Mon. 4/6—Sun. 4/12

B. Other important dates

i) Last day to withdraw from 15-week classes, Fri. 4/17

ii) Final exam week, Thu. 5/7—Wed. 5/13

iii) Grades due, Fri. 5/15

iv) Commencement, Thu. 5/21

April/May important dates

E. Senate meetings

i) Thu. 4/2, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105

ii) Thu. 4/16, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 105

iii) Thu. 5/7, 3:15—5:00 PM, Chesapeake 115

F. Board of Trustees meetings

i) Thu. 4/2, 7:00 PM, Kent 262

ii) Thu. 5/14, 7:00 PM, Kent 262

G. College-wide Forum

i) Tue. 4/21, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B

ii) Tue 5/5, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B

iii) Tue 5/19, 2:00—3:30 PM, LSC B

H. Academic Council

i) Thu. 4/23, 3:00—5:00 PM, CAT 133

ii) Thu. 5/14, 3:00—5:00 PM, CAT 133

5. Attachments

A.  Minutes from the 4/2 meeting

B.  Domestic partner benefit proposal

C.  Budget Advisory Committee recommendations

D.  Proposed retirement changes

6. Reports

A. Senate President

Mark Hubley reported that the spring election was complete, and results were being tallied. There are various vacancies remaining, and reorganization may change some of the delegate positions. There may be a need for a special election in the fall.

B. Senate Vice President

Swazette Young reported that the College-wide Promotion & Tenure Committees had been meeting, and they were nearing the conclusion of the process. The committee that had been reviewing the Faculty Evaluation Plan was preparing necessary changes to the College Code, and these would be submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval over the summer. Also, the committee that reviewed the Faculty Evaluation Plan would begin reviewing the promotion and tenure procedures, with hopes of presenting proposed changes to the Senate in the fall.

C. Academic Council

D. Representative from President’s Leadership Team

E. College-wide Forum

i) Representative from Faculty Organization

ii) Human Resources Committee

iii) Budget Advisory Committee

Alan Mickelson reported that the committee was reviewing proposed changes to the budget that include changes to life insurance and retiree health insurance plans. Relevant documents were available. The college is looking for cuts in the budget to save approximately 3 to 4 million dollars. Various members of the Senate expressed concern about changing benefits for retirees and people near retirement. Hubley asked how much could be saved with changes to life insurance, and wondered how many people depend on the policies from the college as opposed to having their own policies. Someone suggested that total elimination of life insurance benefits would save about ½ a million dollars. Janet Carlson noted that saving relatively small amounts will eventually add up. Hubley said he heard a suggestion to eliminate professional development funds from the budget in order to protect retirement benefits. Mickelson expressed concern that if the professional development budget is cut so drastically, then it will be very difficult to get that money back.

Mickelson said that the county is asking for an exemption from the state law that requires maintenance of public education funding. If the county is not granted an exemption by the state, then the county may come looking to cut more money from our budget. Another thing that hits our budget this year is GASBY, which requires us to start funding future retirement benefits. Eldon Baldwin said that the college has known about GASBY for a number of years, and despite the fairly large increases in our budget over recent years, we have not done anything about it. We can’t just keep doling out pay raises when times are good, then crashing when times are bad. We need to be smarter about budgeting for the long term.

iv) Campus Culture Committee

v) Learning Committee

vi) Technology Steering Committee

vii) Strategic Planning Committee

viii) Assessment Committee

ix) Facilities Committee

F. Chairs’ Council

G. Adjunct Faculty

H. Representative from the Student Governance Board

7. Old Business

A. Salary & Benefits proposal

B. Elections

C. Domestic partner benefit proposal

The Senate commended Jeanette Gerrity-Gomez for the work she had done on this proposal (and the short-term benefit proposal). The Senate voted unanimously to forward the proposal to the CWF Executive Council. Baldwin noted that a similar proposal was brought to the Senate approximately ten years ago, and the discussion was contentious. The proposal passed by just one vote. Baldwin said it was nice to see how far things had come (at least in the Senate) over those ten years.

8. New Business

A. Presentation of new web portal (Heidi Elam and Oliver Hansen)

Heidi Elam and Oliver Hansen have been making presentations about the new web portal system to various groups on campus. Entering the portal requires a login, and the portal is customized to some degree to the user. For example, students see information relevant to students; faculty will have access to items most important to them. The expected timeline included student access by fall, with access to all employees within a year. They showed the Senate a test version of the portal. The portal system will be easier to manage than the external web site, and it will replace the current document management system. Training in how to use the portal will be provided as the system comes online.

9. Agenda Items for Upcoming Meetings

A. Discussion of tenure and promotion processes

10. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 5:15 PM.

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