Minutes of the Faculty Council MEETING
Date: 4/05/2013
/Time: 1:30 pm
/Location: Cooper Campus, AT219
Present: Laura Williams, Kausha Miller, Becky McCane, Vicki Partin, Robert Hinkle, Kathy Swango, Terry Buckner, Kevin Dunn, Maureen Cropper, Richard King, Robin Davis, James Kolasa, Melanie Williamson, Marcia Freyman, Janella Spencer, Maria Rutherford, Cindy Tucker, Joshua Hoekstra, Danny Mayer, Mike Binzer, Kaye Black, Norm Strobel, Susan Hayes, Greg Rickert, Robert Chirwa, Rick SmootEx-Officio: Augusta Julian, Bruce Manley
Guests: Sandy Carey, Greg Feeney
Submitted by: Becky McCane, Secretary of the Faculty
Agenda/Issues
/ Discussion / ActionAdditions to the Agenda
/ Motion to add a Resolution on Outsourcing from the CHLSS Division to the Agenda – Hoekstra; secondMotion approved unanimously
Approval of Agenda
/ Motion to approve the agenda, with one addition – Strobel; secondMotion approved unanimously / The Agenda was approved, as amended. The Secretary of the Faculty will post the approved agenda on the Faculty Council webpage.
Approval of 3-01-13 Faculty Council Meeting Minutes
/ Motion to approve the minutes from the 3/01/2013 Faculty Council meeting – Binzer; secondMotion approved unanimously / The Secretary of the Faculty will post the approved minutes on the Faculty Council webpage.
CEO/CAO Report / Dr. Julian gave a budget update. She reported that at this time we are down $1.4M. Some of that revenue will be made up during the summer, but we will still be struggling to balance the budget at the end of this year. Nonrecurring money that has been replenished in past years will not be replenished this year since we are under revenue projections due to decreased enrollments. The VPs have been asked to review expenditures this year and for next year’s budget they have been asked to make cuts and set priorities. Any money not already allocated will go against the deficit. There was a discussion on various aspects of the budget, including looking at program reviews, potential revenue streams with new programs, and filling open positions.
Dr. Julian encouraged everyone to view the videos that Mary Forbes has created on action step revisions and strategic planning.
Dr. Julian reported that the Newtown schedule will continue as previously reported. She passed along a BCTC promotional information item that will be going out to students as screen clings that will go on the backs of their cell phones.
Dr. Julian asked for feedback on the recent lockdown drills to see what may need to be looked into for the future. A few issues were discussed. Dr. Julian told everyone to send Todd Gray any questions or comments about the lockdown drill.
Dr. Julian announced that Dr. McCall will be at BCTC on Monday. There will be an open forum at 11am on the Leestown campus in the boardroom and at 1:45pm on the Cooper campus in the AT lobby. Laura asked division reps to send an email to their respective divisions announcing the forums.
Dr. Julian announced there is a link on ITES under “Administration” for faculty to volunteer for committees and teams that does not get managed within the divisions.
Dr. Julian recognized the New Century Scholar from Phi Theta Kappa and told everyone to stayed tuned to hear her incredible story. She commended Cindy Tucker, Cindy Baker and Tom Rogers for their good work with the organization. She announced that they won a number of recognitions and awards at the regional conference and student Mark Simonds will be going to the International Conference as a Distinguished Chapter Member.
There was a discussion on the exception required from the System for two 6-week summer sessions. Laura announced that the Rules committee was working on this, but has received very little feedback from the divisions. Kausha reported that 6 other colleges in the System require an exception for an early summer start date, but it is unclear whether these other colleges are required to request an exception after our request. Two other colleges run two 5-week summer sessions and we are easily granted ten weeks for summer classes as an alternative. Kausha encouraged everyone to discuss summer session needs with their divisions to see which programs will be affected by not having a 12-week summer session and send Val that information as soon as possible. Richard King reported that the Rules committee had previously calculated that in a normal 6-week summer session classes run at 250% the normal speed and a 6-hour load would be equivalent to 15 hours during a Fall or Spring semester. They also calculated that a 5-week summer session would run at 300% the normal speed and be equivalent to an 18-hour load in a Fall or Spring semester.
Sandy Carey reported on a discussion in the ALT meeting this week on the online graduation application. It was pointed out that a student can apply for graduation without input from an advisor to verify the student has completed all requirements. ALT wanted a button added to the online application for the advisor to “sign off” on the student. The Registrar’s Office will do the official graduation audit, but the advisor will also report that the student has completed the requirements. Laura reported that per Ryan Kendrick’s email on the new graduation procedure, it is now the advisor’s responsibility to keep all AA/AS graduation audits from his/her advisees.
Academic Standards & Admissions Committee Report [Robert Chirwa] / Robert reported that ASA will be meeting on April 12, but there are no new developments and no items up for a vote.
Curriculum Review Committee Report [Rick Smoot & KathySwango] / Rick thanked Robin Davis for her work on updating the CRC website. He asked everyone to send him any additional suggestions for the website. He reported that the next CRC meeting will be on April 12.
Kathy announced that the System CRC has already met for the final time this year. She announced that the Senate Council will meet on April 19. She asked if anyone is working on curricula for next year to please get it through the first cycle in the Fall.
KCTCS Cycle C
Rules Committee Report [Val Zeps & Robert Hinkle] / Val was not present. No report.
Robert reported that the KCTCS Rules committee voted against the En/Fn proposal.
KCTCS Senate Council Report [Angie Davis] / Angie was not present, but Laura read her report. Her report is as follows:
R2T4 - The NO SHOW process is not new, but it was highlighted this year due to the large amount of lost revenue; colleges were paying back millions of dollars to financial aid. Technology Solutions at the system’s office is working to ensure that the reporting process in PeopleSoft (PS) is more flawless and fluid.
Dr. Box stated that we need two things: one, we need more training in PS, and two, we need more date commonality between colleges (example: the same semester start and ending dates).
Dr. Box forwarded to me the email that was sent on January 29, 2013 from the system financial aid contact to staff within KCTCS and then to the appropriate staff at the colleges.
Blackboard (BB) - Some of the issues at the beginning of spring 2013 have been with BB, the equipment, and with the company that hosts the equipment.
Problems occurred this semester after the colleges/system upgraded to 9.1--service pack 10. We upgrade during breaks to allow for testing. The problem is that we don’t have a clear picture due to the significantly reduced number of “hits” – people using BB – during breaks.
So, the problems included:
1. The My Grade building block failed. Because this was a BB software issue, the system told BB that they must fix these problems, and to that end, some of BB’s engineers from India and Sweden were in KY to help resolve the issue. This lasted four days.
2. A session duplication script occurred; this is something that happens with equipment when faculty who use BB try to copy old courses into new courses. The equipment was showing that we had double or triple the amount of sessions. This lasted five days.
3. The company that hosts the equipment, the Center for Rural Development (CRD), experienced a problem with APT server for JAVA high CPU. Dr. Box stated the company updated their equipment and problems occurred. So, the system suggested that a fall-over test bank of servers might be used to carry the load if the main ones failed.
Dr. Box indicated that “significant pressure” has been applied to ensure improvements.
FC Subcommittee on Faculty Governance Update / No report.
Approval of May Graduate List / Motion to approve the May Graduate List – Binzer; second
Motion approved unanimously / The Secretary of the Faculty will distribute the decision to faculty, subject to the ten day objection period.
Additions / Josh Hoekstra presented a resolution from the CHLSS division on outsourcing dining services and gave some background.
Motion to approve the resolution on behalf of Faculty Council only – Hoekstra; second
There was discussion on the wording of resolution. It was decided to revise the wording to put the document into a “resolution format”.
Motion to make an amendment to revise the wording of the resolution – Binzer; second
Motion approved unanimously
Original motion to approve (as amended) carried unanimously
General Issues / Laura reported that Kelli Reno thanks everyone who was involved in the Spring Break Community Involvement fundraiser at West 6th Brewery. BCTC raised $168 at the event.
Laura also gave a huge thank-you to Robin Davis for her work in revising the Faculty Council website!
Announcements / Items posted for objection following the March 1, 2013 meeting passed without objection.
Next meeting will be Friday, May 3 at 1:30pm on the Cooper campus in AT 219. / Meeting adjourned at 2:43pm