Minutes of Monday, April 20, 2017

Bristol Community College

Faculty & Professional Staff Senate Meeting

Minutes of Monday, April 20, 2017

Room H 209 3:15 pm

Senators in attendance: C. Almeida,  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, R. Rebelo, L. Neubert, K. Hiller, J. Constantine, K. Woldegiorgis

Absences: A. Marden, S. Ferreira, M. K. Roberts, D. Avedikian

Excused Absences: R. Worthington

Ten guests attended this meeting.

Meeting called to order:  3:15 pm

Minutes:  Minutes from March 6, 2017 were reviewed and approved with 3 abstentions due to absences.

Division Reports

●      1: LusoCentro is hosting its annual Portuguese Language Day on May 4th from 9am-noon.

●      Advising: There are 2 new full-time positions within Advising--one is at the Attleboro Campus and the other is in New Bedford.

●      5: Bob Rak delivered this year’s Grandchamp Lecture, which was recorded and will appear on the Senate blog .

●      Lash: Secretary Boulay served on a Recognition Task Force and announced that beginning this year, all full- and part-time employees will be recognized for their years of service at the annual recognition breakfast in May.

2017 Jeanne Grandchamp Speaker

●      President Tinberg thanked this year’s lecturer, Bob Rak, and members of the Grandchamp Committee--Vice President St. George (chair), Senator Corven, and Ron Weisberger for their service.

●      President Tinberg requested contributions from Senators to cover the cost of refreshments for this event.

Update on Strategic Goals

A.         Governance:

a.         Preemptive Cancellation of Courses

●      A discussion regarding preemptive cancellations of Fall 2017 courses continued from the earlier professional staff meeting.

●      Issues of transparency and shared governance were raised--namely, who is part of the decision-making process, what process is employed, and what is the rationale used when selecting one course to cancel over another.

●      Suggestions were made that an official written policy, which included the decision making process and considerations taken, be requested from the administration regarding this topic.

●      Adjunct faculty and program chair perspectives were shared by constituents.

●      A suggestion was made to establish a Labor Management Committee to look at questions regarding declining enrollment and the impact on budgets, including course assignments; however, this falls outside of the scope of the Senate’s mission.

●      Questions were raised regarding the College’s rationale for expanding to other campuses and adding new programs if we were aware that enrollment would eventually go down, given the reduction in high school enrollment and impact on peer institutions. How can we engage in a dialogue that simultaneously focuses on panic and growth?

●      A discussion followed regarding focusing energy on finding strategies for retaining our existing students.

b.         Call for Changes to By-Laws: Appointing a Small Task Force

●      President Tinberg suggested that a small informal committee assist the incoming officers with proposing changes to By-Laws so they may be voted upon in the fall. Interested Senators are encouraged to contact the President Tinberg, Vice President St. George, or Secretary Boulay.

B.         Sustainability

a.         Senate Election Results and Thanks to Nominations Committee

●      President Tinberg congratulated all newly elected Senators (listed below).

Terms Ending in 2019	Terms Ending in 2018
Livia Neubert, Division 1	Carlos Almeida, Division 1 Jacci Barry, Division 1 Ricardo Rebello, Division 1
Ron Weisberger, Division 2	Lisa Delano-Botelho, Division 2 Mary Hyde, Division 2 Marie Roberts, Division 2
Paul Robillard, Division 3	Jennifer Dekkers, Division 3 Jon Bjornson, Division 3
Debra Quenga, Division 4 Stephen Alves, Division 4	Geraldine Hamel, Division 4 Kathleen Plante, Division 4
Bob Rak, Division 5 Mike Sipala, Division 5	Dan Avedikian, Division 5 Jim Corven, Division 5 Kelemu Woldegiorgis, Division 5
	Carolyn Kenney, Division 6
Jenn Boulay, Lash Division	Jim Emond, Lash Division
Julie Jodoin-Krauzyk, Student Services
	Dana Behuniak, Advising
	Amy Marden, Enrollment

b.         Call for Nominations for Senate Executive Council

●      President Tinberg announced that nominations for members of the Senate Executive Council--for the roles of president, vice president, and secretary-- are now open and will close on April 27th.

●      The election for the Executive Committee is projected to run from April 28th to May 4th and results will be announced at the final Senate meeting for the year on May 8th.

C.         Curriculum and Alignment

a.         Update on Joint Task Force for Curriculum Policy Development

●      Co-chair Shelly Murphy provided the following update:

○      For new academic programs, they are working on creating a process that is more parallel with the Board of Higher Education (BHE) and a letter of intent would be distributed campus-wide in the development stages to promote cross pollination between programs.

○      A fast-track policy is being created to avoid bogging down the CWCC with minor changes (e.g., title change). This would go to the division curriculum committee and would be approved at the division level. The CWCC would be notified if additional changes are needed.

○      A large parking lot consists of items the group would like to look at (e.g., courses changing from campus to campus and by modality).

○      The group’s meeting minutes are of public record and includes a draft of the fast track proposal.

●      Also reported: There is an incongruence between program needs and faculty interest regarding offering courses online. Some programs do not feel specific courses should be offered in this modality despite faculty interest; whereas other programs are requiring faculty to teach online regardless of faculty preference. President will solicit feedback regarding this topic from constituents and will forward to Shelly. A recommendation was made that the AI process and form be used to communicate with stakeholders.

D.         Academic Support and Retention and Whole Student Initiative

a.         Update on Retention Summit and Follow Through

●      Senators were provided with a datasheet that was used for the Meeting Basic Needs session at the Retention Summit. This included data from the IR Hunger/Homeless Eradication Applied Research Tools (HEART) survey. Senators were encouraged to think about what faculty can do to help students experiencing these problems.

●      The Retention Summit planning group will be meeting to discuss next steps in the coming weeks.

E.         Collaboration

a.         Vice President’s Council Representative: Update on Process of Selection

●      The interview process for the Senate representative to the Vice President’s Council is under way and at least one Senator is serving on the committee. A couple of Senators have been interviewed for this position.

●      Questions were raised as to whether this individual will serve as an ex officio to the Senate or whether he or she will have voting rights.

b.         Representation on Board of Trustees: Middlesex Model

●      Senators were reminded that one of the recommendations in the Senate white paper in 2010 included adding a faculty/staff member to the Board of Trustees.

●      President Tinberg was informed that Massachusetts General Laws dictate the composition of the Board. However, Middlesex Community College has a faculty representative on the board as part of their Faculty and Staff Assembly within their committee system. A section of their By Laws were sent to President Tinberg via email.

●      President Tinberg is on the agenda for the BOT’s May meeting and will use his allocated time to inform trustees of the Senate initiatives from the past year.

Other

Meeting Adjourned:  4:13 pm

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