Faculty Senate

West Virginia Northern Community College

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Minutes: 24 September 1999

Present: S. Beck, R. Berry, P. Canary, T. Craig, C. Dale, T. Danford, W. Deibert, E. Gast, M. Goldstein, D. Gonot, K. Hart, S. Hooff, L. Ingram, R. Jennette, J. Keyser, N. Krupinski, A. Kuca, V. Larson, R. Lucki, S. Mankowski-Myers, G. Pickett, D. Poffenberger, S. Purpura, R. Pusz, S. Rychlicki, P. Sharma, H. Starr, K. Swisher, C. Teaff, J. Van Fossan, A. Vavra, M. Watson, G. Winland, and R. Yeager.

Excused: E. Rogers, A. Secreto, L. Shelek, D. Smittle, and C. Stokes

Absent: F. Binkley, T. Boyers, J. Cisney, M. Davis, M. Grubor, D. Hans, K. Herrington, R. Honeman, B. Hudak, C. Huston, D. Jones, R. Malek, K. Morelli, G. Norton, M. Riley, C. Rogerson, D. Roth, R. Sambuco, M. Sidon, V. Slider, E.Snow, and R. Vance

The meeting was called to order at 2:05 p.m. with M. Goldstein presiding.

1. Minutes - The minutes of the August 1999 meeting of the Faculty Senate were approved on a motion by N. Krupinski and a second by K. Hart. They are located on the Senate webpage at http://www.northern.wvnet.edu/~tdanford/senate.

2. ACF report - D. Poffenberger reported on the current discussion topics for the ACF. These include: PB 36 revisions, question of tenure for community college professors, and consultants on the status and functioning of community colleges in West Virginia report and recommendations. The ACF is examining four areas for presentation to the Board of Directors in January: governance, salaries, tenure, and operational procedures. Poffenberger indicated that there would be a survey distributed to all full time faculty; he requested that we fill it out and return it to him.

3. Academic Administration Task Force report - T. Danford reported on the work to date. A draft recommendation is underway, but not complete. The current draft includes keeping the current divisions, increasing the Associate Dean's position to being completely academic administration (it is currently on 0.5 FTE in academic administration), and a new FTE position. Position descriptions for faculty, program directors, program coordinators, division chairs, and the administrative positions are under revision. Faculty are being asked for input, particularly statements of what they actually do. Please send any suggestions to your division chair or to a committee member in the next few days.

4. Perpetual Calendar - T. Vavra distributed a perpetual calendar proposal. It stipulates that for fall semesters, faculty return the Monday before the third Thursday and for spring semesters, faculty return the Monday before the second Thursday. A motion to approve was made by T. Danford with a second by P. Canary. An friendly amendment by R. Pusz with a second by P. Canary was made. This amendment, that the last responsibility of faculty should be turning in grades at the end of the semester, was approved unanimously and then the motion was approved unanimously.

5. Strategic Plan/Governance Council report - M. Goldstein reported on the strategic plan update and the most recent Governance Council meeting. The strategic plan update is due in Charleston on 1 November and drafts are available in the LRCs on all campuses. Goldstein indicated that we have reached our faculty salary goal, in fact we have exceeded it. So there is a question of raises for faculty next year. There was discussion which led to a general consensus that a cost of living raise was needed as a minimum.

6. Committee Reports

Committee	Report
Academic Affairs	met; routine business; nothing controversial
Student Life	didn't meet
Technologies	met; some new funds from student fees; new codex for the Telecom system, soon to be three way; wiring new Weirton building underway
Professional Development	met; Michele Wetherald is now chair; on going discussions
Finance and Facilities	met; getting organized; new state cars but can't be driven because of insurance/state red tape

7. Other Business

a. B. Gast brought a situation to the Senate's attention: security in the on the Wheeling Regional campus in the evenings. The following motion was made by W. Deibert with a second by M. Watson. It was unanimously approved.

	The Faculty Senate expresses grave concern over the following situation on the Wheeling Regional Campus:
		- that there is no administrator or evening coordinator available in the evenings,
		- that faculty cannot find information nor help during the evening hours,
		- that lights are turned off while buildings are still open, creating dark corridors and rooms,
		- that there is no security officer at the Hazel Atlas building in the evenings any more,
		- that there is an unsafe situation for both faculty and students leaving Northern in a intolerable situation should an emergency arise. (This could drive students away!)
	The Faculty Senate recommends that this situation be remedied immediately.

b. The question of long term temporary faculty was raised. Since these faculty cannot be promoted nor tenured, there is no advancement. There seemed to be consensus that Northern should investigate the promotion of non-tenure track, temporary faculty. This was approved on a motion by W. Deibert and a second by M. Watson.