Minutes of Thursday, August 31, 2017

Bristol Community College
Faculty & Professional Staff Senate Meeting
Minutes of Thursday, August 31, 2017
Room H 129  3:30 pm

Senators in attendance:   C. Almeida, M. Geary,  R. Rebelo, L. Delano-Botelho, R.  Weisberger, J. Bjornson, P. Robillard, G. Hamel, K. Hiller,  K. Plante,  S. Alves, D. Avedikian, R. Rak, K. Fassbender, D. Behuniak,  J. Boulay, J. Emond, J. Barry, J. Corven

Absences: M. Roberts, J. Dekkers-Mitchell, J. Corven, M. Sipala, K. Woldegiorgis, A. Marden, D. Quenga

Excused Absences: M. Hyde, J. Jodoin, L. Neubert

Guests: 11 guests attended this meeting. 

Meeting called to order:  3:40 pm   ****Note:  The meeting started tardily as many Department Meetings ran late

Minutes:  Minutes from May, 2017 were reviewed and approved unanimously.

Welcome:
President Boulay welcomed the new and returning Senators.  Introduced the new Executive Board.

Update on Strategic Goals:
Discussed the outcome of the Senate Retreat.  Draft of the strategic goals identified at the retreat are available online for Senators to review.  Asked that Senate members review and vote on the goals at the next Senate meeting that is scheduled for 9/18.
Discussed the importance of working toward closing the loop and need to define shared governance in the Senate.

New Senator Orientation:
President Boulay will reach out to the new Senators regarding a “New Senator Orientation”. 

·         Help newly elected Senators to become familiar with the Senate Process.

By Law Revisions: 
Several by-law amendments are being considered:

·         Sustainability of the Senate and grooming future leaders of the Senate;

·         Committees will need to be created in order to best address changes;

·         Changing any language that appears unclear. 

·         Senators were asked to review by-laws. 

·         Send ideas for potential changes/amendments to Senate Secretary, Lisa Delano-Botelho.             

·         Vote on changes to occur on 10/23/2017.

Vice President’s Council: 
Vice President Hiller is new Faculty representative to the academic VPC and has begun attending meetings.  She has invited the Senators to Microsoft Team in order to share information from those meetings.  In addition, Kelli will continue to provide updates at regularly scheduled Senate meetings. Discussed progress of VPC retreat:

·         Topics included class cancellation criteria,

·         Spring 2018 schedule

·         Criteria for pro-rated classes to run.   

 
College Website:
BCC currently in process of developing a more student/user friendly website.  Several Senators attended an informational meeting over the summer.  Shared following info from that meeting:        

·         Goal is to have the website running by the end of the 2017 calendar year;

·         BCC  to consider audience and use the website as a marketing tool;

·         Internal audience will be directed to intranet.

·         Senate would like to schedule a time for group to attend Senate meeting and share progress on the project.

Transition Team to the new President:
Discussed the progress that has occurred over the summer (meetings held on 6/28, 7/19, 8/1, and 8/15) with the transition team to the new College President.  Items that have developed from these meetings include: 

·         BCC CONNECT tour;

·         Key goals and objectives;

·         Spirit Day;

·         Welcome Week;

·         College Climate Survey

·         Need for more professional development at both opening day and adjunct faculty day. 

Jenn Boulay met with President Douglas separately over summer months representing the Senate.  Reports that she informed President Douglas of the results from Senate retreat, discussed campus culture, lack of policies, and expressed concern over the lack of Senate representation on the Transition team.


Retention Summit:
The group met and has created an action plan.  This was shared with group, the academic VPC and President Douglas.   

Identified 9 focus areas for the college: 

·         Academic advising;

·         Access to student services;

·         Communication strategies;

·         Cost of attendance;

·         Course scheduling;

·         Curriculum and pedagogy;

·         Enrollment and registration processes;

·         First Year Experiences;

·         Meeting basic needs of our students.

The recommendations made are as follows:

·         Identify structure for oversight, implementation and assessment

·         Ensure key stakeholders are involved

·         Prioritize plan based on college goals

·         Identify key goals, outcomes, party responsibility and timeline for implementation

·         Regularly communicate with college community

  

Meeting Adjourned:  4:00 pm  (Followed by a wine and cheese social)
Respectfully submitted, Lisa Delano-Botelho, BCC Faculty & Professional Staff Secretary