Faculty Senate

 

West Virginia Northern Community College

 

Minutes: 26 September 2003

 

 

Present:  S. Beck, T. Boyers, C. Cornforth, C. Dale, T. Danford, M. Davis, D. Folger, K. Freeman, B. Gast, D. Goeddel, M. Goldstein, M. Grubor, D. Hans, S. Hooff, L. Ingram, J. Keyser, N. Krupinski (presiding), A. Kuca, R. Lucki, R. Malek,  R. Pusz, J. Remias, S. Rychlicki, P. Sharma, C. Stokes, T. Vavra, M. Watson, G. Winland

 

Excused:  K. Herrington, G. Norton, T. Ramsey, Cris Riter, C. Rogerson, Linda Shelek, Jeanne Ann VanFossen

 

Absent: K. Atkins, R. Berry, F. Binkley, C. Blatt, T. Craig, M. Hummell, D. Jones, C. Kefauver, M. Lewis, M. O’Brian, H. Papeika, D. Poffenberger, M. Riley, D. Roth, V. Slider, C. Teaff,

 

 

Guest: Dr. John Hunter, President, John Daley, Dean of  Instruction

 

N. Krupinski called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. in the TELECOM Rooms on all three campuses.

 

$                    Minutes: The minutes from the April 2003 meeting are on the Senate webpage, http://www.northern.wvnet.edu/~tdanford/senate.  

 

President Hunter announced the launching of the College Square Concept. The following points were emphasized.

#                    We must show that the college community is committed to the project in order to gain community support.

#                    The Friends of the College, as well as the College Foundation have already committed to the project, now we must have the direct support of the Faculty Senate, Classified Staff Council, and student body.

#                    Faculty need to begin thinking of program needs for labs, classroom space, etc. for incorporation into the new building.

#                    The steering committee currently exists of the following:  Dr. J. Hunter, L. Bandi, B. DeFrancis, M. Koon, R. Yeager.

#                    Anyone willing to speak on behalf of the college at local organizations or community groups is encouraged submit their name to the committee.

#                    We also need to gather success stories of students, especially those who had a “life changing” experience due to their WVNCC education.

#                    We need to gain the support of our local legislators—“we are entitled to the same finished, complete campus that other colleges in the state have.  We must grasp this opportunity, it will benefit the entire Northern Panhandle.”

#                    The project will likely span 4-5 years, by the end of this year the plan is to acquire the Warehouse building and establish planning and fundraising efforts.  Total project cost estimates $8-9 million.

$                    Old Business: There was no old business.

 

$                    New Business:

 

§         Professor of the Year Nominations

 

N. Krupinski announced that a nomination was due.  Last year’s nominee, C. Stokes, was not submitted to state due to a missed deadline. 

The Faculty Senate nominates C. Stokes.  (Winland/ Lucki)

§         WV Community College Association Nominee

The Faculty Senate nominates C. Stokes.  (Goeddel/Boyers)

§         Midterm Grades

N. Krupinski reminded the faculty that midterm grades according to the new policy are due by October 14th.

C. Stokes raised the question of short-term course midterm grades. 

N. Krupinski stated that midterm grades for these courses are to be given directly to the student and not submitted through the registrar’s office.

§         Travel Policy

N. Krupinski announced that the updated version of the travel policy will be posted on the web.

S. Rychlicki questioned if changes had occurred in intercampus travel.

J. Daley responded that there were currently no changes in this type of travel, but reminded those on the Wheeling campus that there are state cars available.  Rental cars are a possibility for out of area travel.

 

$                    Committee Reports

 

 

Committee

 

Report

 

ACF

 

M. Davis reported that ACF had a hard time influencing policy, they are now educating the legislators on policies affecting faculty, students, and programs.

ACF is seeking incremental pay raises for faculty, as well as seeking clarification on faculty status as state employees.

Seeking the adjustment of TIAA contributions from 6% to 9.7%.

Seeking a change in the fact that Classified Staff Councils are recognized by the state, however Faculty Senates are not.

Seeking a reinstatement of the mandatory 10% promotion pay raise, as well as looking at adjunct faculty pay scales to assure quality instruction.

The state sought to mandate a 15 credit hour minimum faculty load without input from faculty.

Lastly, the ACF will explore reversing the 20% tenured faculty maximum in the community college system.

BOG

T. Danford announced that the BOG was in favor of moving forward with the College Square project.  The Board also attended to some routine policy matters.

 

General Education

 

N. Krupinski announced that G. Norton is seeking three additional committee members from the following disciplines:  Business, non-health, consumer program.  Please let N. Krupinski or L. Ingram know if you are interested.

 

 

Professional Development

 

The committee has not met.

 

LRC

 

M. Davis reported that they were looking at library priorities, currently $46,000 for magazines.  Also, need to look at database needs.  Let Pat Stroud know if there are any subscriptions that you no longer need. 

The committee is also exploring the possibility of conducting placement testing for computer literacy, in order to assure students have the skills necessary for using the library.

There is concern that the library director has limited faculty contact, and they questioned the need for attendance at faculty meetings.

 

Institutional Technologies

 

No report.  N. Krupinski asked for a volunteer to sit on this committee. 

 

Budget Committee

 

No meeting.

 

Curriculum Committee

 

 R. Malek reported that Surgical Technology had a first reading.  There is a concern raise by Sharon Campbell that the Human Relations course name does not fit the topics covered.  Business and Psych faculty were surveyed about the course and there will be follow-up discussion at the next meeting.

 

CLTA (College Leadership Team for Assessment)

 

The committee has not met.

 

PACE

 

There was discussion of the college square concept.  Plans for the next meeting are a tour of the warehouse building.  All are invited to attend.

Wait List Task Force

C. Dale reports that the policy is two phases (administrative—before faculty return and faculty (after return).  1.  The committee developed the “BIC policy”  this calls for the wait listed students to attend the first class meeting and mandates all students’ attendance on the first class meeting.  Any student not attending will have their class seat awarded to a wait listed student in attendance.  2.  Faculty are responsible for adding once class begins.  3.  Faculty will collect their own add slips and send them to student services.

M. Davis questioned what if the students have multiple adds?  C. Dale replied that we should do a separate add slip for each.

P. Sharma questioned the policy for internet/telecom courses.  C. Dale stated that she will return to the committee with the question.  Suggestions by faculty were as follows:  T. Danford feels these must still come to the faculty for their decision on the add.

R. Pusz suggested a “distance ed slip.”

S.  Rychlicki questioned what if the student knows prior to the first meeting that they will not be in class?  C. Dale replied that it will be the student’s responsibility to contact the faculty before the class, if an adjunct faculty, they will notify the faculty secretary.  It is then up to the faculty member to excuse the absence.

J. Daley announced that the spring schedule will contain an announcement that the wait list policy has changed and there will be flyers posted advising the students of the change.

 

J. Daley addressed the senate on several issues.

§         Congratulations to C. Stokes, she will be awarded a $500 mini-grant from the Professional Development fund.

§         Thank you to the faculty for getting the semester off to a great start.  Our goal of 1610 FTE has been surpassed, we are currently at 1750 FTE’s. 

§         At the state level, the budget is in trouble—we are lobbying the legislators in hopes of avoiding a reduction, but have already developed an operating budget at 10% less in order to be ready if a reduction is mandated. 

§         May use some of the Perkins Funds to help the LRC with their needs.  Be sure to check if our current subscriptions are necessary.

§         We received the largest amount of Perkins Funds in the state.

§         The faculty use of NOW is increasing.  Remember, there will be no paper class lists next semester.  Training sessions for Banner basics will be held in the upcoming months.  Please assist and encourage part-time/adjunct faculty in the use of Banner.

§         There have been two candidates for the Dean of Institutional Effectiveness, Dr. Winnie Black of Delta College in Michigan has been offered the position.  We are waiting for a response.

§         Academic Departments:  The Chair will have the responsibilities of a Senior Professor.  For example, keeping in touch with the field of study, coordination between the Dean and faculty, suggest adjunct faculty.  This will be a rotating one year appointment, with no meeting responsibilities and only one monthly report.

§         Program Directors will have clearly delineated responsibilities.  This is to be sure the position is even across the board.

D. Goeddel question if the chair position can be refused.  J. Daley responded that yes it can be refused as it is an uncompensated position and that there would be no repercussions for a refusal.

§         Personnel needs:  A Nursing faculty in NM and Weirton, as well as the Director of Academic Support Services.  All searches “will be done by the book.”

§         Initiatives:  Adjunct faculty now have WVNCC e-mail addresses and voice mail.  By January, we hope to have e-mail addresses established for all students.  Students will have open labs for access.  M. Grubor questioned whether faculty will be able to access their WVNCC accounts on the web.  J. Daley felt it was likely with the implementation of Knowledge Dispatch.

§         Auto Dialer:  we are looking to purchase one for each campus, in order to assist with phoning wait list students and for class cancellations.

§         Technology Fair:  This will be held on October 31st from 10am-2pm.  It is aimed at showing faculty what technology is available and to assess what is needed in our classrooms.

§         Academic Initiatives:  Faculty were encouraged to make mandatory class attendance a class policy in order to fight attrition rates.  Midterm grades have been implemented in order to combat attrition rates, as this was a peak time of losing students.

§         Critical Thinking:  The workshop was held and faculty are encouraged to continue implementing critical thinking in the classroom.

§         The deadline for changes in the college catalog is the December Curriculum meeting.  If changes are not completed by December then they will be held until the following year.  Faculty are encouraged to complete changes by the November Curriculum meeting.

§         M. Davis questioned if there will be a note with the midterm grades encouraging faculty advising.  J. Daley responded that he will work with J. Fike in order to make this happen, but it may not be implemented until next semester.

 

$                    Adjournment: With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m. (Watson/Ingram).  The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Faculty Senate will be Friday 24 October 2003 in the TELECOM rooms on all three campuses. 

 

$                    Respectfully submitted,

 

Lisa A. Ingram, secretary