Minutes of September 15, 2014

Bristol Community College

Faculty & Professional Staff Senate Meeting

Minutes of Monday September15, 2014

H210 3:15 p.m.

Senators in attendance: E. French, R. Worthington, G. Heaney, C. Leonard, S. Pero, D. St. George, J. Duponte, J. Constantine, J. Corven, S. McCourt, J. Pelletier, J. Boulay, G. Leeman, R. Soderbom, L. Delano-Botelho, R. Amarasingham, J. Mbugua, K. Hiller, M. Williams, S. Ferreira, J. Jodoin Krauzyk (for C. Poore-Pariseau), M. Geary, T. Grady

Excused Absences: H. Tinberg, S. Gabb

Absences: R. Santos, D. Warr

Eight guests attended this meeting.

Meeting called to order 3:16 pm.

Minutes: Minutes from May 5, 2014 voted on and accepted.

Division Updates:

·       Division 1: Concerns were raised regarding policy changes at the Writing Center, the absence of faculty engagement in these changes and the impact these changes would have on student success. Dean Preston is working with the Office of Disability Services and Human Relations regarding accessibility for a new faculty member who is deaf.

·       Division 2: The search for a division dean has been extended; the search will include the same committee members from the summer.

·       Division 3: The division is offering a third annual “boot camp” (accelerated college success strategy in one day).

·       Division 4: A new associate dean had been hired and is primarily stationed in New Bedford. A new full-time fieldwork coordinator in the occupational therapy assistant program and a new full-time faculty member in healthcare information were also hired. Programs are up for re-accreditation.

·       Division 5: Seeds of Sustainability is urging the college to explore fossil fuel divestment.  

·       Division 6: No update.

·       Division 7: The Senate Bylaws will need to be changed to reflect the new Lash Division organization. First-year advising has reached 60-70% and the college is in the process of hiring a new advisor. The Office of Disability Services accessibility task force is exploring website captioning; they intend to collaborate with the Learning Resources Center.

Writing Center & TASC:

President McCourt spoke individually with the directors of the Writing Center and TASC; both could not attend the Senate meeting due to a scheduling conflict, but they agreed to attend the October meeting. A discussion followed regarding concerns over online and face-to-face hours and the implication of shared governance in the policy changes at the Writing Center.

Joint Senate/Administration Closed-Loop Governance Initiative:

President McCourt spoke with Vice Presidents Sethares and Ucci regarding the shared governance initiative; she will follow-up with them within a week for a status update.

Vice Presidents Council Meetings:

The Senate has been invited to attend the “deans only” VPC meetings, as opposed to the full meetings, which occur Tuesday afternoons. President McCourt will provide the schedule to Senators.

Annual Goals and Calendar:

A tentative calendar was discussed, as follows:

·       October: Writing Center, Academic Support, Service-Learning and Vision Project, communication with other campuses & center (invite chairs of Central Committee)

·       November: Writing Center, NEASC Report; revise bylaws in light of divisional changes and omit Senate interest groups

·       December: shared governance in grants at the college, strategic planning involving stakeholders (wish list by divisions) to extend involvement; advisement update with Dean Steven Viveiros

·       January: transition, Quest, Vision, PARCC

Other Items/Reminders:

·       Search committees: Concerns were raised for the search committee task force regarding Division 1 searches (e.g., candidates alerted late, committee size, use of resources, reconstituted searches). An audit was recommended to explore the timeline for when the position posted, committee convenes, candidates have second interview and candidates are notified of their status.

·       Scheduling: Senate inquired about an update on the scheduling student survey.

·       Website: Senators expressed interest in how to report feedback on new website and inquired about the methods for continuous improvement.

·       PLA Task Force: Senators Amarasingham and Geary have joined the Prior Learning Assessment task force; the group will meet in December.

·       Blackboard LMS: Senators expressed interest in inviting Dean Bellafiore for an update on the Blackboard Learning Management System.

·       Campus Representation: Senate will explore how to improve representation from other campuses, including how the Senate can be used as an academic tool to support academic work there.

·       Diversity: The Senate will explore a common definition for diversity at BCC. The Office of Disability Services suggested incorporating Universal Design for Learning strategies in classroom to retain students, as well as for leveraging support for support services through grants.

Meeting adjourned 4:13 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Boulay, BCC Faculty & Professional Staff Secretary