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 27^th and another in New Bedford on November 19^th.

·         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 31^st.

·         Ron Weisberger invited Senators to attend a free conference hosted by the Holocaust Center and Luso Centro on October 31^st.

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.

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.

Minutes of October 6, 2014

Bristol Community College

Faculty & Professional Staff Senate Meeting

Minutes of Monday October 6, 2014

B101 3:15 p.m.

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

Excused Absences: H. Tinberg, S. Gabb, C. Leonard, M. Williams, K. Hiller

Absences:  R. Santos, D. Warr

Four guests attended this meeting.

Special Guests: TASC Director Ron Weisberger and Writing Center Director Genie Giaimo

Meeting called to order 3:18 pm.

Minutes: Minutes from September 14, 2014 were reviewed and passed with amendments for small editing items and the addition of Senators R. Worthington and T. Grady to the “attending” roster.

Writing Center & TASC:

§  Ron Weisberger provided an overview of the formation of the Learning Commons, where TASC and the Writing Center share a physical space. He also highlighted how these areas are also sharing the TutorTrac data management system despite maintaining separate identities.

§  Genie Giaimo fielded questions and provided clarifications regarding changes to the Writing Center.

o   She indicated that drop-in students will not be turned away, but they will only be served if accommodations are available at the time. The Center is shifting toward scheduling appointments to increase usage rates for budgetary reasons, but may create a waiting list for cancellations.

o   She also indicated that there were no plans to phase out faculty tutors despite adding peer tutors; she is also exploring adding tutor bios to the website. Her hope is to expand services in the area of faculty research.

o   Her goal is to work collaboratively to meet needs of faculty from different disciplines and to better integrate Writing Center services in assignments. This may include workshops on writing in disciplines and coordination with library as a team for citations and research, argumentation and development.

§  A discussion followed about the potential of implementing a joint document for assignments using the Writing Center; this could include a brief student post-survey regarding goals and outcomes, thereby allowing the student to internalize why he/she is using the Center. She underscored the importance of using the Writing Center in a manner that is meaningful for students. Director Giaimo offered to meet with the Senate at a future date.

Division Updates:

·       Division 1: Two Senators from Division 1 and one from Division 4 attended the first PLA meeting; now one coordinator will assess student portfolios, although there will be options for individual departments; instructional student portfolio workshops will be offered. Additionally, English portfolio assessments will incorporate MapWorks for students who failed portfolio assessment; faculty are encouraged to contact Dana Behuniak for training in MapWorks.

·       Division 2: Search committee for new dean is meeting next week to begin the new interviews.

·       Division 3: No updates.

·       Division 4: No updates.

·       Division 5: New Associate Dean of STEM Meghan Abella-Bowen met with Division 5 faculty regarding the new TAACCCT 4 grant.

·       Division 6: No updates.

·       Division 7:

o   Office of Disability Services: Each building will have demonstrations of the evacuation chairs and ODS received approval for a full-time deaf/hard of hearing coordinator.

o   Lash Division: The college was awarded a Department of Labor TAACCCT 4 grant for STEM GPS in General Studies in the amount of $525,000 over 4 years and Lash CTL is piloting a year-long hybrid Adjunct Certificate Program.

o   Enrollment & Student Services: Enrollment is down 1.6% but student retention and graduation rates increased; the call center made 6,000 phone calls to students and applicants; Marianne LeGuyader is the new Assistant Director of Student Life; Vice President Leeman and Athletic Director Derek Viveiros worked on a new CSS course for student athletes.

Division/Area Grant Wish List

President McCourt proposed a new grant wish list form that any group on campus may initiate. The proposed form would include name of the contact person and acknowledgement that he/she is willing to participate in writing and/or assessment of the grant. President McCourt will provide a draft to Senators for next meeting.

Bylaws and Reorganization:

Due to the reorganization of divisions 6 and 7, Senate bylaws will need to be revised; President McCourt will meet with Senators Leeman, Boulay and Worthington to explore.

                                                                                               

Annual Goals and Calendar:

President McCourt distributed tentative topics and goals for the current academic year; further discussion regarding additions/revisions is scheduled for later meeting. Subsequent meetings will incorporate updates on:

1.     Shared governance

2.     Communication and representation

3.     Excellence, equity and inclusion

The green schedule will also be revisited and may be added to the annual goals.

Joint Senate/Administration Closed-Loop Governance Initiative:

President McCourt received notification from AVP of Academic Affairs Ucci that President Sbrega signed the joint initiative; however, upon comparison with the latest iteration sent in the spring, it was determined that there were significant differences from said document. While the Senate would receive notification of new initiatives, concerns were raised regarding the feedback and evaluation process for pilot initiatives. The Senate unanimously agreed to have a full discussion before providing official comment.

Meeting adjourned 4:16 p.m.

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