Minutes of Monday, November 21, 2016

Bristol Community College

Faculty & Professional Staff Senate Meeting

Minutes of Monday, November 21, 2016

Room H209 3:15pm

Senators in attendance: Worthington, C. Almeida, J. Corven, D. Behuniak, R. Rebelo, H. Tinberg, J. Boulay, D. Avedikian, R D. Quenga, J. Jodoin, K. Fassbender, K. Plante, D. St. George, M. Hyde, L. Neubert, M. Geary, J. Pelletier, K. Hiller, J. Jodoin-Krauzyk, S. Ferreira, J. Emond, L. Delano-Botelho, G. Hamel, M. K. Roberts, D. Avedikian, J. Constantine, J. J. Bjornson

Absences: J. Dekkers-Mitchell, A. Marden, K. Woldegiorgis

Excused Absences: J. Barry,

Five guests attended this meeting.

Special guests included Dean Suzanne Buglione and Vice President Kathy Torpey-Garganta.

Meeting called to order:  3:17 pm

Minutes:  Minutes from October 24 were reviewed and approved with no abstentions.

Division Reports

·         Division 4: Health information management and psychology courses worked on a collaborative Service-Learning project and will host a holiday wellness fair and bone marrow drive on December 5^th

·         Division 5: Should the classroom moves and new space fall under the AI process?

·         Lash: Dr. Sacco Onebook presentation was well attended and was streamed on Facebook Live; the Multistate Collaborative artifact collection begins soon; the Writing Center delivered 48 classroom presentations, reaching 700+ students

Update on Strategic Goals

A. Academic Support and Retention

·         VP Kathy Garganta on the Enrollment and Retention Council:

o    Audit findings on withdrawals, enrollment verifications:

§  The college received findings from auditors when the last date of attendance is not accurate; the college has 60 days to submit to the national clearinghouse in order to be compliant—this translates to 21-30 days internally. A lack of compliance can lead to monetary implications for the college. The college has had 4-5 years of findings.

§  Enrollment is requesting a change to the withdrawal policy where after 10^th week, faculty cannot withdraw (mimicking the student policy).

§  Questions were raised on how to reach adjunct faculty. The following considerations were offered:

·         Could this use the AI form and receive support from MACER and the Senate?

·         If the date entered exceeds the number of day window, could an error message pop up?

·         Could there be reminders on campus monitors?

·         Senators were asked to send questions or comments to Vice President Garganta.

o    Enrollment Retention Council

§  Co-chaired by 3 vice presidents (Kathy Torpey-Garganta, Steve Ozug, and Greg Sethares) and started with 4 subcommittees:

1.    Academic strategies

2.    Expand outreach to at risk-students

3.    Building a culture of data

4.    Expanding student engagement

5.    Hunger team was later added to the ER Council

§  The Council meets monthly and is open to everyone.

§  Next meeting: December 1 in J111

·         Dean Suzanne Buglione on Joint Task Force on Academic Support and Retention and the Spring Summit on Support and Retention:

o    Retention Summit (from Senate Task Force on Academic Support and Retention recommendations) will be the theme for the March Professional Day.

o    It will serve as an opportunity to bring all members of college community to focus on retention; not everyone can attend the Enrollment/Retention Council meetings.

o    The Lash Division had a preliminary conversation about a possible structure for the Summit.

o    The Senate offered the following suggestions:

§  look at programs, majors, departments that are successful with retention

§  explore when retention is not best option for student

§  how to promote creativity and innovation in the classroom

§  identify pitfalls of intrusive advising (long-term expectations)

§  un-conference models: lecture, poster board, voting, planning

§  culmination of day should be an action plan

§  consider incorporation of adjunct faculty (adjunct faculty needs); could Adjunct PD Day replicate Retention Summit

§  explore campus equity

§  explore student self-efficacy and motivation

§  explore systemic problem of too few full-time faculty

B. Curricular Alignment and Integration

·         An additional volunteer for joint task force is needed, and across campuses. Senators should consider joining this committee to advocate for FT and PT faculty.

·         Some faculty feel there is pressure to create online courses without faculty consultation; there is pressure to design online courses within general education without faculty approval or discussion. This allows students from all campuses to access courses and programs online, but some courses may not have faculty input which becomes an academic freedom issue. Some students may benefit more from face-to-face courses.

C. Whole Student Initiative

·         The goal is to form a joint task force—perhaps this could be a subgroup in Enrollment Retention Council. The goals include:

o    Work to acquire, and aggregate current, data on the economic challenges facing our students that affect academic performance.

·         The charge will include the following:

o    design and distribute a survey of students on their economic needs as those needs affect academic work

o    conduct focus groups on students’ economic well-being

o    consolidate current data on student needs

o    distribute data acquired to ALL instructional staff, full and part-time

o    offer data-driven recommendations that will enhance students’ opportunity to succeed academically

·         Senators are encouraged to contact Jenn to join.

Other Campus Business

A.    Interviews of Presidential Finalists:

·         While the Senate’s role may not be clear, Senators were encouraged to participate in the meetings with the finalists.

·         Senators were asked to share potential questions with Howard or Jenn to create a repository of questions that could be used.

B.    Susan Ledoux v. Bristol

·         The Senate’s role in this matter was discussed. While the results of this court case impacts the culture conditions on campus and integrity of the academic mission of the college, the union will play the lead role on this matter. The Senate yields to the union on matters of working conditions and a line between the union and Senate concerns are clearly delineated. However, there are concerns over whether there will be an appeal made by the college, where the $2.45 million dollars will come from, how this will impact college in terms of services offered.

Meeting Adjourned:  4:22 pm

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