Thursday, February 19, 2015

Minutes of October 20, 2014



Bristol Community College
Faculty & Professional Staff Senate Meeting
Minutes of Monday October 20, 2014
B101 3:15 p.m.
Senators in attendance: S. Gabb, R. Benya-Soderbom, J. Pelletier S. Ferreira, M. Geary, J. Corven, C. Leonard, J. Mbugua, S. McCourt, J. Boulay, J. Constantine, T. Grady, E. Kemper-French, S. Pero, D. St. George, K. Hiller, R. Amarasingham, L Delano-Botelho, J. Duponte
Excused Absences: H. Tinberg, G. Heaney, G. Leeman, R. Worthington, M. Williams
Absences:  R. Santos, D. Warr, C. Poore-Pariseau
Six guests attended this meeting.
Special Guests: Don Kilguss, Rodney Clark, Wes Lundberg, Gloria Saddler, Jo-Ann Pelletier, Greg Sethares

Meeting called to order 3:17 pm.

Minutes: Minutes from October 6, 2014 were reviewed and passed with one abstention due to an absence.

Division Updates:
·         Division 1: No updates.
·         Division 2: No updates.
·         Division 3: Senator Heaney is developing course on basic personal finance, driven by student limited understanding and high student debt.
·         Division 4: Senator Hiller announced two bone marrow drives—one in Attleboro on October 27th and another in New Bedford on November 19th.
·         Division 5: No updates.
·         Division 6: Senator Gabb explained Division 6 is designing a new Quest grant due in spring; Division 6 is now the Division of Transition & Access.
·         Division 7: No updates.

Division/Area Grant Wish List:
The division/area grant wish list was voted on and approved with no abstentions.

Annual Goals and Calendar:
The annual goals and calendar were voted on and approved without abstention.

Bylaws and Reorganization:
An ad hoc committee was formed to investigate the composition of unit members outside of Divisions 1-5 at the college (including adjuncts and staff from other locations). The committee will create a proposal for how to better organize Senate constituencies and they will provide recommendations for revisions to the bylaws. Senators Boulay, Leeman and Worthington agreed to serve on this committee.
                                                                                               
Community Service-Learning and the Vision Project:
Don Kilguss represented Mary Zahm of Civic Engagement, who could not attend; he discussed the Board of Higher Education’s policy on civic learning. He discussed this initiative at the September History Department meeting and he met with the Registrar, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, Lash Center for Teaching and Learning, Financial Aid, and Civic Engagement over the summer regarding a $220,000 state-wide grant for civic learning. He explained how BCC programs requiring general education competencies are aligned with civic learning competencies.
·         Intended goal: To increase the number of courses addressing knowledge and applied competencies related to civic learning.
·         Timeline for project:
o    Establish Civic Learning general education competency by Fall 2015.
o    Create 4 sections infused with Service-Learning requirement for a Spring 2015 pilot (3 infused sections of HIST 113; 1 of GVT 111); 2 in Fall River, 1 in Attleboro, 1 in New Bedford.
o    Provide faculty support including Service-Learning Faculty Fellows seminars (Fall 2014); reflective practice groups (Spring 2015); faculty stipends (ongoing, with the use of Noble Hour data management software).
o    Establish Service-Learning graduation requirement by Fall 2016.
o    Replace existing general education competency (e.g., social phenomenon or ethical values) with civic learning.
o    Offer course replacements for programs that do not meet knowledge requirement through history.
o    Assess using American Association of Colleges and University’s Civic Engagement Value LEAP Rubric and Board of Higher Education Study Group’s rubric to evaluate Service-Learning reflection portfolios
·         Senators were encouraged to send questions directly to President McCourt.

Communication with Campuses and Centers:
With a goal of increasing representation from all campuses, the Senate invited Vice Presidents of Technology and Academic Affairs and campus deans to share ideas.
·         Vice President of Institutional Technology, Jo-Ann Pelletier, offered the following updates and suggestions regarding technology:
o    Bandwidth has been expanded at all locations except Taunton.
o    The College has purchased new licensing for programs such as Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Link.
o    The newest version of SharePoint could be used for asynchronous communication, including tracking revisions to documents and using discussion boards.
o    The Senate should also consider accessibility issues including the transcription of audio.
·         Dean of Attleboro, Rodney Clark, indicated there are technology limitations in Attleboro and that the simulcasting of Fall River lectures has been erratic. Furthering the problem, he indicated that most Attleboro faculty and staff are part-time, making commuting to Fall River difficult. He supported the idea of exploring a remote connection with the Senate for Attleboro faculty and staff.
·         Vice President of Academic Affairs, Greg Sethares, reinforced that communication concerns between campuses will become more pressing over time, in light of the dramatic growth in New Bedford, Taunton, and Attleboro.
·         Senator Kemper-French offered suggestions including forming committees that are centric to location (e.g., auxiliary services, traffic and safety); rotating committee meetings at alternating campuses, modeling the presidential video chat, and proving funding for a captionist.
·         President McCourt will have a follow-up conversations with Vice President Pelletier.

Joint Senate/Administration Closed-Loop Governance Initiative:
After reviewing Senate approved document from the May 5, 2014 meeting and the updated version sent from Associate Vice President Ucci on September 25, 2014, the Senate voted unanimously to send approval to the Administration to move forward with the most recent document.

Other Items and Reminders:
·         Senators McCourt and Boulay discussed the importance of participating in the Employee Giving Campaign for securing outside funding. Senators were encouraged to participate by October 31st.
·         Ron Weisberger invited Senators to attend a free conference hosted by the Holocaust Center and Luso Centro on October 31st.

Meeting adjourned 4:34 p.m.

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





Bristol Community College
Faculty and Professional Staff Senate

Division/Area Grant Wish List

Objective: The Senate and the Administration are working together on a process to include stakeholders in Academic Decision Making. One avenue we are exploring is considering constituent priorities in grants.

The Senate asks all constituents to discuss grant and project ideas with others in their area (department/division/program/committee/etc.) and inform the Senate of these ideas so that the Senate President and others can be aware of them when opportunities become available that may support their goals.

We ask that one or more constituents agree to be the contact person in case there are questions.

The Senate recommends that these ideas be discussed with all stakeholders in an area before submission including all staff and faculty members, department chairs, program directors and deans.

Please email the completed form to the Senate President.

Please note that further participation will be required for the idea/project to happen, which may include (but not be limited to) collaborating on grant submission and reporting on project outcomes.


Project Title:

Area:

Contact:


Stakeholders involved in discussion:





Please briefly describe the project idea:







Approved by the Senate October 20, 2014.
Senate 2014-2015 Meeting Schedule
Date
Topics
September


Division Reports
Strategic Planning and Calendar

October 6
D108
Division Reports
Area Grant Wish Lists
Writing Center/Academic Support
Strategic Goals and Calendar (Vote)
Senate Goal: Shared Governance

October 20
D108
Division Reports
Follow up: Area Grant Wish Lists
Community Service-Learning and the Vision Project
Communication with other Campuses and Centers
Senate Goal: Shared Governance

November 17
H210
Division Reports
Advisement Project Update
NEASC Report
Senate Goal: Shared Governance
Senate Goal: Excellence, Equity and Inclusion

January 20
(Professional Planning)
TBA
Division Reports
Transition: QUEST Grant, Vision Project and PARCC
Senate Goal: Communication and Representation
Senate Goal: Shared Governance

February 2
H210
Division Reports
Follow up: Area Grant Wish Lists
Senate Goal: Excellence, Equity and Inclusion
Senate Goal: Shared Governance

February 23
D108
Division Reports
Senate Goal: Communication and Representation
Senate Goal: Shared Governance

March 9
D108
Division Reports
Senate Goal: Excellence, Equity and Inclusion
Senate Goal: Shared Governance

April 13
D108
Division Reports
Follow up: Area Grant Wish Lists
Senate Goal: Communication and Representation
Senate Goal: Shared Governance


Approved by the Senate October 20, 2014.





No comments:

Post a Comment