Minutes August 30, 2012

Bristol Community College

Faculty & Professional Staff Senate Meeting

Minutes of Thursday August 30, 2012

H129 3:15 p.m.

Senators in attendance:, Jeanne Grandchamp, James Pelletier, Susan McCourt, Ron Weisberger, Howard Tinberg, Sharon Pero, Jim Constantine, Cecil Leonard, Sally Gabb, Gabriela  Adler, Nan Loggains, Sandra Lygren, Betsy Kemper-French, J.P. Nadeau, Alan Rolfe, Jim Corven, Kelemu Woldegiorgis, Jean Myles

Excused Absences:  M. Williams, M. Pollock, D. Warr

Absences:  T. McGarty, S. Adams, J. Rose, T. Grady, D. St. George, S. Ferreira, P. Robillard

Guests: Holly Pappas

The meeting was called to order by President McCourt at 3:20 p.m.

MINUTES: Minutes from April 30, 2012 were reviewed and approved with three abstentions, Senators who were not present 4/30/12.

Opening Remarks:  President Susan McCourt welcomed Senators for 2012-2013 and offered a brief history of the BCC Faculty and Professional Staff Senate. She also briefly discussed the changes over summer 2012, indicating that Kelemu Woldegiorgis has been asked to step in as representative for Division V in place of Anthony Ucci, who has moved into an Acting Associate Academic Vice President position.

Business from July 2012 Senate Retreat: President McCourt summarized a suggestion made by Senate summer retreat attendees that the Senate consider a recommendation involving catalog course descriptions: might the course descriptions published in the college catalog include both the time-frames and the modalities in which each course can be offered, decided by the appropriate departments? President McCourt indicated that she would phrase this proposal for Senators to share with Divisions so that constituent feedback might inform Senate discussion of this suggestion later in the semester.

Academic Policy Committee (APC): Current APC chair Ron Weisberger put out a call for committee members. The Senate is looking for Senators willing to help examine the current By-Laws’ description of the committee and begin rethinking the use of the APC. Might the Senate best use the committee as an investigative arm? A research arm? Those willing would initially help APC reconstitute itself and might also remain, if they so choose, on the committee after it is reconstituted with a new charge. Senators expressed the belief that APC should become proactive rather than reactive. Senator Jim Pelletier volunteered; a call will go out via President McCourt for senators to consider membership.

Nominations, Elections and By-Laws Committee: 1) Susan McCourt is now Senate President and has stepped down from NEB-L; Sharon Pero has agreed to stay on NEB-L. 2) NEB-L will look again at Division IV’s census to devise a way to accurately count division members for future Senate elections. (Due to teaching methods employed in the division, it is currently difficult to determine how many senators are required to represent the division.)  3) Once the difficulty with determining number of senators for Div. IV is resolved, NEB-L will be able to see whether or not a write-in candidate from the Spring 2012 election can be seated. 4) The by-laws are slated to be examined for revision this year. Members are also needed for Nominations, Elections and By-Laws.

Business for the Upcoming Academic Year: Pres. McCourt devised a chart assigning topics that the Senate has before it for consideration this academic year to each of the slated times/dates for meetings. She requested a discussion of potential changes to the topics chart. One Senator suggested that the discussion of developmental education be moved to earlier in the year; it will be moved to the November 2012 Senate meeting.

Governance, Academic Decision-Making & Transparency: Senator Sharon Pero, A. Ucci and D. St. George are the Senate team for this joint committee, with administration’s team being comprised of David Feeney, Sarah Garrett and Steve Ozug. Senator Pero gave a brief history of the committee’s history and charge, which was to insure academic decision become more faculty- and professional staff-inclusive. Specifically, the Senate and the college president charged the committee with developing a closed-loop academic decision-making process. Their recommendations were to be ready by the end of the Spring 2012 semester. As A. Ucci has become Acting Associate Academic VP, a new Senate team member is needed if the initiative is to continue.

Extensive discussion ensued—of the committee’s charge and of the fact that the committee had not completed its mission in the timeframe originally set. The Senate debated recommendations to make to the college President and his team for this joint initiative, and it was decided that, both for the benefit of new Senate members and to insure a thoughtful recommendation, the “Consensus Best Practices in Academic Decision-Making” list garnered from the May 11, 2011 and November 30, 2011 roundtable discussions of college-wide governance be re-distributed via Senate Secretary Jeanne Grandchamp to senators prior to the next meeting on September 10. Governance & Transparency committee member Sharon Pero will also send out the joint committee’s original charge prior to the next Senate meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:17 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, J. Grandchamp, Secretary, Faculty & Professional Staff Senate