Faculty Senate Minutes February 3, 2005

SENATORS: Rich Cowden, Phil Kavanagh, Tim Hatten, Gayla Jo Slauson, Tony Schountz, Larry Madsen, Barbara Borst, Ellie Baldwin, Jill Cordova, Bill McCracken, Cindy Thomas, Tom Acker, Tim Casey

MINUTES SECRETARY: Jessica Cowden

GUESTS: Carol Futhey, Duane Hrncir, John Sluder

I. ANNOUNCEMENTS

There will be a presentation concerning the Western Slope Community College at the next Senate meeting.

Phil Kavanagh was asked by a faculty member if Department Heads are considered faculty or administrators and can they be considered for Distinguished Faculty awards? It was determined that they are faculty and therefore eligible.

There is some concern amongst the faculty about how a per-credit tuition schedule would affect special courses like Independent Study.

II. MEETING MINUTES

There were no minutes to receive or approve.

III. HANDBOOK REVISION

Tim Casey reported on the recent Handbook meeting. The issues discussed included recruitment and retention of faculty, faculty rank at time of appointment, and minimum teaching credentials. The electronic mail and RIF policies as well as methods of communicating with the Board of Trustees were also brought up as issues needing clarification. The Board has charged the faculty and administration with developing a process by which they can review the Handbook once a year, perhaps by establishing a standing committee to review the faculty's concerns and then reporting back to them. Casey asked President Foster if the amendment process could be added to the Handbook, to which he seemed amenable. Once the amendment process is established, the aforementioned issues may be presented to the Board as an agenda item later this spring.

IV. SENATE BUDGET PROPOSAL

The Faculty Senate budget proposal, which must be submitted by February 7th, was discussed.

V. RESTRICTIONS ON TIME SLOTS FOR SCHEDULING CLASSES

Tim Casey brought up the issue of moving time slots for a large number of classes this semester. He was informed that there had been some mistakes made in scheduling those classes previously that had to be rectified. He questioned the process by which those decisions are made and whether or not they can be more flexible based on special needs, conflicting time blocks, etc. There has also been some discussion of purchasing scheduling software and what criteria that software would use to determine classroom assignments (ie) based on ftes, smart room capabilities, etc. He suggested that the Senate solicit information and opinions from their departments.

Vice President Futhey also questioned whether or not, to alleviate some scheduling issues with Mesa at Night, the night classes could start earlier at 4:00 pm instead of 5:00 pm.

VI. TRUSTEE ELECTIONS
Elections should be held by the end of March in order for the new representative to attend the last Board meeting of the year with Gayla Jo Slauson before taking over the position. Nominations will be submitted to Phil Kavanagh by Spring Break. Any tenured faculty member can run. Unless there is a clear majority of the votes going to one candidate, there will be a run-off between the top two.

VII. SOAR

Cindy Thomas solicited the Faculty Senate's opinions concerning the new SOAR policy that every tenure/tenure track faculty member has to teach a session of SOAR without pay.

Tim Casey's department questioned the legality of asking people to work outside of the time for which they are contracted and they were also concerned with how it would affect the SOAR students if the instructors advising them were resentful of having to be there.

Phil Kavanagh expressed concern over the growing trend toward asking the faculty to work outside of their contract.

Vice President Futhey explained that the SOAR sessions will not be mandatory for each and every faculty member. They will be available as an opportunity to earn more points toward the advising section of the faculty evaluations. The weighting of which will be determined by each department individually. The main concern is how to best accommodate increasingly larger numbers of incoming students effectively. Discontinuing financial compensation was a budgetary decision, which may be addressed next year when the college will decide whether or not to start charging the students.

There will be more discussion about SOAR at the next meeting.

Moved to adjourn the meeting (Slauson/ Baldwin)

Respectfully submitted,

Jessica Cowden
Minutes Secretary