Monday, April 24, 2017

Minutes of Monday, March 6, 2017


Bristol Community College
Faculty & Professional Staff Senate Meeting
Minutes of Monday, March 6, 2017
Room H 209 3:00 pm

Senators in attendance: C. Almeida, D. Avedikian, J. Barry, D. Behuniak, J. Bjornson, J. Boulay, J. Corven, J. Dekkers, L. Delano-Botelho, J. Emond, M. Geary, G. Hamel, M. Hyde, J. Jodoin-Krauzyk, C. Kenney, J. Pelletier, K. Plante, D. Quenga, D. St. George, H. Tinberg
Absences: A. Marden, R. Rebelo, L. Neubert, K. Hiller, S. Ferreira, M. K. Roberts, J. Constantine, K. Woldegiorgis
Excused Absences: R. Worthington
Five guests attended this meeting.
Meeting called to order:  3:14 pm
Minutes:  Minutes from February 13, 2017 were reviewed and approved with one amendment to correct the number of hours for the Writing Center Director position.
Division Reports
·       4: Questions were raised over the number of Senate seats available within the division.
·       5: With classrooms moving from the E building to J, questions were raised over the other purposes for the vacated rooms in E building.
·       Lash: the Writing Center has been redesigned and will offer refresher writing workshops in the summer; co-curricular workshops have been added for an annotated bibliography assignment; embedded tutors in online courses are being explored; the Writing Center Director position will soon be posted.

2017 Jeanne Grandchamp Speaker
·       Vice President St. George provided an update on the 2017 Grandchamp Lecture Speaker.
·       An at-large call for nominations went out to the college on 2/8 with a 3/1 deadline; nominators are encouraged to send suggestions to the Grandchamp Committee or Executive Committee.
·       Speakers are encouraged to present on their scholarship, special projects or civic engagement.
·       The Granchamp Committee met on 3/1 to review nominations and recommended to the Senate that Bob Rak speak; the Senate unanimously voted to approve the Grandchamp Committee’s recommendation.
·       This year’s Grandchamp Lecture will be held on 4/19 at 3pm in H209.
Update on Strategic Goals
A. Sustainability: Nominations & Term Limits
·       The general Senate election is scheduled to be held in April, per the By Laws. The deadline for nominations was 3/1.
·       At present, all members of the Executive Committee are term-limited.
·       Lash Division is the only division with a vacant seat at this time.
·       Senators Neubert, Quenga, and Jodoin-Krauzyk will seek another term.
·       The following constituents expressed interest in running for a seat representing their respective divisions:
o   Ron Weisberger, Division II
o   Paul Robillard, Division III
o   Stephen Alves, Division IV
o   Ely Dorsey and Nikolas Mavridikis, Division V
·       Senator Worthington updated the Executive Committee prior to the meeting and indicated that other constituents have also been nominated; she is awaiting confirmation from these individuals.
B. Academic Support and Retention
·       Secretary Boulay provided an update on the Retention Summit:
o   The summit is scheduled for March 22, 2017.
o   Invitations have been sent campus-wide and details about the event are available on the Lash CTL blog.
o   The Buzz will spotlight the Retention Summit this week.
o   Senators are encouraged to register for the event.
C. Collaboration
·       Ad Hoc Joint Senate Task Force on Textbooks:
o   At the February Senate meeting, President Tinberg issued a call for Senators to serve on a joint task force with the Student Senate; Margaret Cox and Senators Hyde and Emond expressed interest in serving.
o   A charge and timeline will still need to be determined; however, it may include options available at the bookstore and items for consideration for contract negotiation.
D. Governance
·       Ongoing Academic Initiatives (AI): Title III, Gen Ed
o   Title III: In January, the Design Team met to discuss possible programming; a Writing Team is now working on language for the grant submission.
o   An AI was previously submitted and there is a protocol to monitor initiatives after the initial signing.

·       The W: Is There a Senate Role?
o   A campus-wide special meeting was held to discuss the instructor generated withdrawal policy
o   A number of questions were raised:
§  How to resolve whether existing policy should remain or new one?
§  Should Senate have voting role to present to administration?
§  Will it be left to Academic Standards to decide the outcome?
§  Why is there resistance to giving up W? Proper grade for student in some cases, but not reporting in a timely fashion will impact receiving financial aid for the school.
§  Encroachment on faculty authority; slippery slope?
o   A number of points were noted:
§  Withdrawals are an academic status not a grade.
§  Other schools don’t allow faculty to issue W.
§  There has been resistance on Academic Standards, but might be coming to vote.
§  Some faculty withdraw students who do not consistently show up rather than failing that student and negatively impacting classmates with disruption.
§  Shifting from W to F could have an impact on academic standing, more F, lower GPA, more students dismissed; may increase workload for Connections Center staffing (currently only part-time staff).

·       Response to Request for Ex-Officio Representative to Board of Trustees
o   President Tinberg emailed BOT Chairman Marshall to request an ex officio faculty/staff position. At present, the BOT relies on a single source for information about the College.
o   At the special BOT meeting to select the next president, the possibility of an ex officio member was mentioned in passing.
o   President Tinberg’s request was forwarded to the College’s General Counsel; the response indicated all trustees are appointed by the governor (except for the student trustee, he/she is elected by the student body), as dictated by Massachusetts General Laws.
o   BrCCC President McCourt was consulted to see if the union’s lawyer might interpret the law differently.
o   While there appears to be no precedent for this at Massachusetts community colleges, this may be practiced by some state universities.
o   Questions were raised as to whether the Senate should begin lobbying for changing the law.

Meeting Adjourned:  3:57 pm
Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Boulay, BCC Faculty & Professional Staff Secretary 

No comments:

Post a Comment