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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Faculty Senate September Minutes


September 21, 2006                                                                                                                                                        

PRESENT: S. Batistta-Provost, E. Baxter, I. Benz, P. Bishop, C. Boettrich, S. Cable (Vice-President), B. Connell, R. DeFelice, B. Dery, K. Eirich, S. ElRayess, M. Ewanechko, S. Fess, S. Forsyth, M. Fugate, E. Grissing, R. Hamell, K. Huggins, A. John, N. Karolinski, R. Kennedy, P. Keyes, D. Leach, A. Leopard, D. McConkey, J. McKenna, D. Mueller, S. Murphy, J. Nelson, S. Olaode, P. Peterson, M. Rizzo, D. Shaw, D. Smith, B. SmithgallA. Striegel, J. Thompson, M. Timmons, T. Tugel (President), P. Wakem, S. Weider,  C. Wendtland,  S. Wexler, H. Wheeler (Secretary), W. Willard, H. Wynn-Preische, W. Yanklowski

ABSENT: V. Toth

GUESTS: V. Avalone, E. Basnayake,  C. Cooper, R. Degus, M. Fine,  T. Keys, B. Martineau, S. Tshibangu

STUDENTS: D. Elliot, K. Madden, B. Pruden

I.             Meeting called to order:  3:37 p.m.

               

II.            Announcements: T. Tugel

                A.            T. Tugel introduced and welcomed the new Senators

                B.            Senators were reminded of the duties of their position

                C.            Student government representatives introduced themselves and were welcomed

                D.            Standing committee chairs were introduced and confirmed by the Senate

                E.            Senators were reminded of T. Tugel’s informational letter sent via the Tribune

F.             Questions were raised by the administration late last spring regarding the new academic standings for probation and suspension approved by the Senate regarding student athletes, the NCJAA requirements, and the MCC policy.  The Executive Committee and Administration agreed to a temporary resolution which is not printed in the current catalog:  “A student is placed on Academic Probation for a period of one semester.  If probation is based upon the student’s first-term of matriculation at MCC, the student must seek academic advisement.  If probation occurs after a student has been matriculated for two or more semesters at MCC, the student must seek academic advisement and may not hold a class or student office, participate in intercollegiate functions or be a public representative of the College during the probation term.  If such student fails to raise his/her cumulative GPA to “Satisfactory Progress” after the probationary period, he/she may be suspended.” The APC committee will continue to work on this issue this year.

G.            The EC spent considerable time looking at the recommendations from standing committees. Editorial changes were approved in accordance with the by laws. The Senate will be voting on several substantive changes this year--some of which will be presented at open hearings prior to the Senate vote. Hearings will be announced in the Tribune.

H.            The questions raised at the June All-College Faculty meeting were sent to the appropriate administrators. The questions and answers will be published in the Sept. 22 Tribune.

I.             The EC continues to follow up with last year’s ad hoc committees. The bookstore ad hoc committee helped the EC and Institutional Research develop a text book survey; Senators were asked to remind their teaching faculty constituents to complete the survey.  As a follow up to the work of the ad hoc committee who looked at the timing of faculty searches for new positions Human Resources held a feedback session to discuss recent hiring and search processes. The EC will be selecting members to represent the Senate on an ad hoc HR committee to help improve that process.

III.          Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the June 8, 2006 meeting were approved as amended. A clarification was made regarding the reference in the minutes to the College not having a GED program as the College does have such a program.

IV.          Standing Committee Reports

                Academic Policies Committee -- E.Grissing

This year APC will be working on changes recommended during the review of the resolutions. Two topics that will be discussed at upcoming open hearings deal with repeating lower level courses after a higher level course is taken and student withdrawals. Currently, the resolutions indicate that the first level of a course may not be repeated after a higher course has been taken. APC’s recommendation is to change that to allow students to repeat a lower level course to improve the grade. Secondly, The Banner self-serve system seemed to allow students to withdraw without a faculty signature. A questionnaire sent to chairs indicated that this was acceptable, so the committee will be following up on that at an open hearing to generate more input. The committee will also be looking at recommendations from the Placement and Testing Committee regarding who must take placement tests and the Academic Standing compromise; both may be presented at open hearings later in the school year.

Curriculum – A. Leopard

A. Leopard outlined the process of the Curriculum Committee and indicated that the meeting dates and a timeline for getting proposals through the process are available on the Curriculum website.

The Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee met for the first time this semester on Thursday September 7. New committee members were oriented to the committee with instruction on using the curriculum database and a discussion of things to consider when reviewing each section of a proposal.

The Curriculum Committee posted the following 9/7/2006 – 9/20/2006:

One Course Revision:

CR1F  CSC 101 Introduction to Computer Science

The committee will vote for final approval of this course revision at its meeting on September 28.

One New Program:

NP1F  D.A.R.T. (Dental Assisting Rapid Track), Certificate

               

This new certificate program replaces the Achievement Award of the same name which was approved last spring. This proposal gained final approval of the committee by electronic vote on September 21. It will be an action item for Senate approval today. 

The Curriculum Committee will be presenting recommendations for the res re ind studies

NEG - S. Murphy

This year, NEG will be running three elections: Faculty Senate officers, fifteen senator elections, and the FCCC representative. The June minutes indicated that three Senate seats were open; Steve Weider volunteered to serve for the ETS area, but the seats in VaPA and Note Two Adminstrative Area are still vacant.

               

                SCAA - S. Forsyth

SCAA will be working on a search for the Dean of Liberal Arts position this year. Additionally, they will continue to work on issues relating to the Assistant Director of Human Resources position. T. Tugel met with Pres. Flynn and S. Forsyth with R. Degus regarding this issue.

Planning – B. Connell

The Planning Committee will hold their first meeting today. The Strategic Planning Committee meets regularly and will be making their recommendations at the next Senate meeting and shortly thereafter to the President and the Board of Trustees.

Professional Development – J. Thompson

The committee plans to work on awards, resolutions, and planning workshops. J. Thompson indicated that some ideas have already been presented to the committee, and the committee welcomes any additional ideas.  

V.            Curriculum Action Items:

NP1F  D.A.R.T. (Dental Assisting Rapid Track), Certificate, unanimously approved

VI.          Old Business

               

                None

VII.         New Business

                None

Meeting adjourned at 4:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Terri Tugel                             Holly Wheeler 

President                                Secretary

Minutes approved at the October 19, 2006 Faculty Senate meeting.

Sandy Wynne
Faculty Senate
10/24/2006