Faculty and Professional Staff Senate Strategic Goals AY 2018-19

SENATE STRATEGIC GOALS (AY 2018-19)

Mission: The name of the organization is the Bristol Community College Faculty and Professional Staff Senate.  Its purpose will be to provide a deliberative body designed to promote shared governance, transparency, collegiality, and mutual trust among faculty and staff and administration.  Further, the Faculty and Professional Staff Senate will provide a forum to enhance academic values and opportunities.

Vision: The Senate will be committed to academic improvement, sustainability, and collaboration. Its work will be connected to the college’s mission and this entity will be fully integrated in academic decision-making and shared governance.

1.     Student Retention and Success

a. Work with Retention Steering Committee and subcommittees to monitor implementation, timeline and goals, and assess retention sustainability measures.

b. Work with the academic Vice Presidents Council (VPC), Student Services and Enrollment Management Vice Presidents Council and VPC representative to provide input in the course cancellation policy and financial purge.

c. Follow up on college’s assessment planning with the Outcomes Assessment Fellow and monitor the institutional assessment plan of student learning outcomes

Responsibility: President and Vice President                       Report: Monthly

2.   Professional Development and Recognition of Employees

a.       Continue monitoring progress on recognition and leadership development of employees

ü  List leadership programs the college participates in on the website along with criteria, application process, and awardees.

ü  Publish names of employee award recipients and reason they received award.

                                                

b.   Work with LASH and Administration to plan professional development and trainings for the academic year including the following recommendations:

     

ü  Closing the loop on initiatives

ü  Just-in time training/professional development

ü  Topic-based approach to address the major initiative of the year

ü  Include opportunities to reflect on what worked or didn’t work in prior semesters

ü  Consider round table discussions of best practices

ü  Call for proposals based on themes/tracks

ü  Un-conference sessions

ü  External presenter/keynote tied to themes

ü  Create space for sharing scholarly work or conference presentations

c.       Propose the Senate’s input on classroom-based strategies for All Academic meetings

Responsibility: President and Vice President               Report: November, February, May

3.   Senate Sustainability

a. Continue working on a strong marketing plan for the Senate to increase awareness. 

b. Establish a clear procedure for Senate Operations and Communication.

ü  This will include addressing the reporting responsibilities of each senator within their respective divisions and senate meetings, concern or suggestion reporting process, and meeting process.

ü  The senate will also work with administration to establish what falls under the senate purview and how to connect and communicate effectively with administration.

c. Monitor the need for a formal census ad-hoc committee

d. Continue to explore technology for meetings to better include other campuses

e. Continue to foster a culture of mutual respect, civility, and trust in the Senate and in the interactions with other entities in the institution.

Responsibility: President and Vice President                       Report: Monthly

4.   Governance

a. Continue to monitor the academic initiatives using the Senate Protocol for Responding to Academic Initiatives.

b. Work with administration to develop a college wide initiative process using Academic Initiative guidelines.

c. Continue to foster a culture of mutual respect, civility, and trust within the institution.

d. In collaboration with administration, establish shared governance guidelines including but not limited to;

ü  A working definition of shared governance

ü  Create an aligned set of sustainable outcomes and priorities

ü  Identify stakeholders regarding issues of institutional direction

ü  Create a system for decisions regarding operational issues including academic programs, budgeting, and student life.

Responsibility: President and Vice President                       Report: Monthly

Considering a Shift of Advisement to Academic Affairs

Shifting Reporting Lines for the Dean of Advisement

A proposal has been made to have the Dean of Advisement report to the Office of Academic Affairs, rather than to the Office of Enrollment Services, as is currently the case.  Please feel free to offer your commentary on this matter.

Your Input is Welcome: New Joint Senate/Administration Initiatives

The Faculty and Professional Staff Senate welcomes your input as to future initiatives in collaboration with the administration.  Please feel free to  offer your suggestions.

Draft Proposal for Review and Comment

Draft Proposal:  Designating Modality and Format of Courses

 As the offerings of a department are the responsibility of the faculty in the department, the Senate proposes that all course offerings begin to include the modality and format of the course as offered by the department, and include but not be limited to: modality (classroom, laboratory, computer lab, online, or hybrid) and number of weeks and number of course meetings per week. This will insure the content and instructional experts of the discipline offer all courses with academic integrity.

Update 3-28-12

Hello Senate Constituents, and BCC Academic Community,

I am sending this update to a larger audience than usual, because it references a topic with implications for the entire academic community. 

Joint Advisement Project

For a little over a year, the Joint Senate/Administration Task Force on Advisement has been studying ways to improve BCC’s advisement system.  The charge and process statement is attached.  Step #5 in the “Process” section states, “Prior to finalizing its report, the committee will report out to the college community, giving the opportunity for feedback and revision prior to implementation.”

Task Force co-chairs Deb Lawton and Dave Feeney will be attending the Senate meeting on Monday, April 2, 3:15pm to have this report-out and offer the opportunity for feedback.  The first 10 minutes or so of the meeting will include some brief Senate business, but the remainder of the meeting will be devoted to the advisement project.  All community members are invited to attend and participate.  I hope to see you there!

Monday, April 2, 3:15pm; H-210

Greg

Greg Sethares

President, Faculty and Professional Staff Senate

http://www.senatebcc.blogspot.com/

Update 2-28-12

I am sending this Senate update to a slightly larger audience than usual, because it references a topic with implications for the entire academic community.  Below is an update and some basic information that will hopefully help us start to understand some of the issues, terminology, and how the topic will impact the college and our students.    

The Common Core State Standards are new academic standards for P-12 English Language Arts and Mathematics, adopted in 48 states, including Massachusetts.  The Common Core includes both curricular and instructional standards intended to improve P-12 education nationwide.  Information can be found at www.corestandards.org

PARCC, The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, is one of two national assessment consortia which are developing assessments to assess the Common Core.  Massachusetts has signed on to use the PARCC assessment starting in 2014-15.  Information can be found at www.parcconline.org

College Readiness:  In addition to PARCC assessing the Common Core, the plan is also to have the end of year 11^th grade assessment be used to determine if a high school student is “College Ready” in English and Mathematics, and not in need of developmental coursework in those areas.   

Senate Discussion:  At the January 23 Senate meeting, the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC assessment were discussed. 

·        Defining what it means to be “college ready” is a faculty concern.  Faculty need to be involved, and therefore it is an appropriate academic issue for the Senate to consider. 

·        Currently, MCAS and Accuplacer results show very little correlation.  Writing solid curriculum is important, but what about instructional pedagogy will change to assure positive change?

·        If the 11^th grade PARCC assessment will be used to determine if a student needs developmental coursework, then college faculty must be involved in determining how it is used.

·        It has been shown that students who need developmental coursework are less likely to complete a college degree than those who do not.  The question was raised whether there may be an unstated desire is to ultimately remove developmental education from higher education.

·        There was discussion of a Department of Higher Education plan to determine a Massachusetts definition of college readiness.

·        The topic of developmental reading instruction and how it relates to college readiness was also discussed.

Since that meeting,

• BCC has been awarded a $7500 grant to fund regional conversations among BCC, NB and FR P-12 educators about issues related to college readiness.  BCC’s English and Math Chairs are coordinating this and related efforts.
• In addition to the Senate discussion, the topic of what it means to be college ready in English and Math is being brought to those departments.  Later in the semester, the plan is to have a campus wide meeting (likely one of the scheduled all-academic area, all college, or professional staff meetings).
• The plan is for all of these related efforts to lead to the development of a BCC regional definition of college readiness before the end of May.  The Department of Higher Education has requested such a definition from each public higher education institution by June 1.  The plan is then to use these regional definitions to create a Massachusetts definition which will help the state determine appropriate use of the PARCC assessment as a tool for determining college readiness.

Senate Update 2-21-12

Academic Decision-Making: 

In 2011, the Senate and College Administration co-sponsored and co-facilitated two structured activities/meetings on the topic of academic decision-making.  On May 11, 43 members of the faculty, professional staff, and administration participated, and on November 30, there were 59 participants.  The structured activity consisted of quiet reading, thinking, and writing time, as well as time for each participant to share their thoughts with others sitting at their table. 

Topics included:

·         Exploring the essential roles of faculty, professional staff, and administration in academic decision-making.

·         Exploring challenges to shared governance, and balancing participation with accountability.

·         Exploring hypothetical scenarios to help discover a variety of issues involved in such decisions.

Results:

Through activities at each of the two events, participants ultimately defined a basis of commonly held characteristics that exemplify good academic decision-making, and made many concrete suggestions for how we could make improvements at BCC. 

Spring 2012 Senate Focus:

From the data collected at these two meetings, we hope to generate a list of jointly agreed to “Best Practices” in Academic Decision-Making.  This list, and the data collected at the meetings will help inform Senate efforts throughout the semester.  Our immediate goal this Spring is to use the data collected in 2011 to have a positive and real impact on shared governance at the college.

Senate Meetings:

• Reminder:  All constituents are invited to attend all Senate meetings.
• Next Senate meeting:  Monday, February 27^th, 3:15pm; H-129

      Agenda items (tentative): 

·         Best Practices in Governance draft

·         Governance: Discussion of results from November 30 and May 11 Joint Senate/Administration sponsored events, and Next Steps

·         Joint Senate/Administration Advising Group – update

·         Committee reports

Senate Update 12-05-11

An update of recent Senate Efforts:

JOINT GOVERNANCE EVENT

• On Wednesday, Nov 30, 2011, the BCC Faculty and Professional Staff Senate and College Administration co-sponsored and co-facilitated a structured activity/meeting on the topic of governance and academic decision-making.  This event was a follow-up to a similar activity that was held on May 11, 2011. 
• 59 people participated in the event, 34 members of college administration and 25 Senate Constituents.     
• Results of both the November 30 and May 11 sessions will inform Senate efforts on the topic of college governance and academic decision-making.  You will hear more in future updates.

SENATE MEETINGS:

• Reminder:  All constituents (this means you!) are invited to attend all Senate meetings.
• Next Senate meeting:  Today, Monday, December 5^th, 3:15pm; H-129

      Agenda items: 

·        Hiring Protocols/Search Committee Task Force

·        Joint Senate/Administration Advising Group

·        Governance: Discussion of results from November 30 and May 11 Joint Senate/Administration sponsored events, and Next Steps

Greg

Greg Sethares

President, Faculty and Professional Staff Senate

http://www.senatebcc.blogspot.com/