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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Faculty Senate Minutes


MONROE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
FACULTY SENATE

October 17, 2002

PRESENT: G.Anderson, J.Avery, L.Bartholome, P.Bates, I.Benz, M.Bower, W.Brewer, S.Cable, L.Chrzan-Williams, T.Cuby, J.Downer, K.Farrell, K.Fox, E.Grissing, M.Harris, K.Humphrey, J.Kaufman, T.Keys, R.Kuempel, C.Marhatta, J.McCauley, A.McIntyre, M.McKinzie, E.Mellas, D.Mohr, B.Robinson, S.Ruckert, L.Sanger, C.Sardone, J.Snyder, R.Shea, L.Silvers, H.Wheeler STUDENT REPRESENATIVE: D.O'Hanlon ABSENT: D.Brown, T.DiGiacomo, E.Laidlaw, E.Lewis, P.Peterson, B.Smith, J.Smith, G.Toth GUESTS: V.Avalone, E.Baker, D.Beech, C.Belle-Isle, S.Blacklaw, K.Canfield, D.Cecero, B.Connolly, H.Murphy, B.Novak, W.Willard

Meeting called to order 03:35

1. ANNOUNCEMENTS
a. Shea welcomed new senator, Chris Sardone, who is taking over for Linda Gulbransen. Thank you to Linda for her efforts on the Senate. Chris will be serving on the Curriculum Committee. At the September meeting, the Faculty Senate welcomed five new Senators but did not give them their Faculty Senate mugs and pens. Thank you to all new Senators.

b. Shea announced that there is still a need for volunteers to serve on the Academic Grievance Hearing Committee, especially from DCC, Human Services and PSTF.

c. Shea introduced Valerie Avalone who will speak about the SUNY Chancellor's Awards.
Avalone announced that today is the official kick-off for the SUNY Chancellor's Awards. This is an opportunity for everyone to acknowledge and honor their colleagues. These awards are considered the top rung of award ladder because they have a wider scope than many of the other awards. Nominees are judged by a committee at the College, which makes its recommendations to the College President and then the recommendations are sent to SUNY. There are four categories: Excellence in Teaching, Excellence in Professional Service, Excellence in Librarianship, and Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. The deadline for nominations is December 13. The nomination package does not have to be large; basically five pages are forwarded to SUNY. While more than five pages is expected for the College committee to review, the recommendations are based more on the quality of the nomination. MCC has not met the quota on any of these awards in the past few years.

d. Open hearing for the Proposed Change of Program Grade Inclusion/Exclusion Policy:
The Faculty Senate Executive Committee asked for further clarification of a memo received from Vice Presidents Glocker and Salvador. The response was received and reviewed by the Executive Committee. The clarification received was not what was needed. The Faculty Senate does not vote to recommend practices, only policies. One of the Executive Committee's questions related to whether this was considered a practice or a policy. The Executive Committee wanted to know if this proposal was going to be a uniformly applied practice or a publishable policy. The response stated it was not a published policy but a practice. This leaves the Senate in a strange place since it doesn't vote to recommend practices. This removes the issue from the Senate purview. The Executive Committee will proceed with the open hearing in November. The output of the open hearing will be information alone that will be forwarded to Vice Presidents Glocker and Salvador.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM SEPTEMBER SENATE MEETING Approved as written

3. ACTION ITEMS
a. PR17 Construction Technology AAS Degree - This revision has been approved by an outside advisory committee and the Council on Construction Technology.
Questions/Comments:
Will students be certified after HED-120? Yes
Vote: Approved unanimously

b. NP2 Liberal Arts and Sciences: Education Early Childhood AA Degree - Twelve 2+2 schools participate in this program.
Questions/Comments:
Is the natural science elective a lab science? Yes
There were several changes made to all three of these programs during the posting period.
Vote: Approved unanimously

c. NP3 Liberal Arts and Sciences: Education Childhood AA degree
Vote: Approved unanimously

d. NP4 Liberal Arts and Sciences: Education Adolescent AA degree -
Questions/Comments:
- The Mathematics Department does not feel MTH-150 is appropriate for this degree. The asterisk was added to the MTH-150 or higher requirement. However, the Mathematics Department still feels that most students might take MTH-150. The discussion in the Mathematics Department focused on a concern that MTH-150 is useless for teachers at this level. MTH-151 or MTH-160 is much better regardless of whether the student intends to be a high school mathematics teacher. Adding the "MTH-150 or higher" has improved the proposal however, the Mathematics Department still does not support this proposal.
- The degree requirements were built on past 2+2 agreements, which have traditionally included MTH-150. Making any substantial change in baseline courses for 2+2 might be very difficult. MCC hopes to advise students and steer them towards courses higher than MTH-150. Depending on the transfer school involved in the 2+2 program, they accept various mathematics classes but the majority of the partnership schools accept MTH-150. Students going into this degree might be teaching subjects other than math. If a student were going to be strictly a mathematics teacher, they would have to take more advance courses than MTH-150 at their 2+2 institution.
- The Mathematics Department recommends MTH-151 rather than MTH-150.
- Partnership schools and MCC are continually updating these programs as needed. Partnership schools feel MTH-150 is adequate. A Senator asked if changing the mathematics requirement would negatively affect the program with partnership schools. This is an unknown; it might be difficult, since MCC has already negotiated this course. MTH-151 is about two years old and MTH-150 has been around longer therefore is more widely accepted. Educating our partnership schools is very valuable especially as it relates to this program. MTH-150 might be a waste of student time especially since most will probably be beyond the MTH-150 course.
- If the Senate doesn't approve this proposal, students will probably come in as LA04 and will probably have a lot more work when they transfer. 500-600 students have already expressed interest in these Education programs. By December, there will be statewide templates for teacher education. These proposals are based on these templates and SUNY will not approve any programs unless they comply with these templates. By next fall, MCC will be able to assist students with advising from the start of their program. The Teacher Education Advisory council has been active at MCC for over a year. Most of these students have already determined which program into which they will transfer.
- History classes are required in NP2 and NP3 but not required by NP4. However, there is a SUNY general education requirement for History.
- There will be a mandatory new advisory course for advisors of this program.
- A Senator asked if the program could be approved with an amendment. That would definitely affect/hold up the process. It was pointed out that this proposal is not a done deal; MCC will continually work with our partnership schools to make changes as necessary.
Vote: In favor - 25, against - 6. Approved

4. STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
Academic Policies (K. Marhatta)
- Shea gave a preamble to the Academic Policies Committee report. Shea explained that the Senate originally thought there would be a vote on the proposed Foreign Language Competency policy. In the past, the Faculty Senate has received several proposals on items that are already in place at the college. Not all proposals reviewed by the Academic Policies committee require a Faculty Senate vote. There just needs to be a clarification on such practices that are already in place. The Academic Policies committee has put out a Statement of Clarification on this matter therefore; there will not be a Faculty Senate vote.
- Marhatta distributed the Statement of Clarification for the Foreign Language Competency Policy, which outlines the policy and how it is carried out.
Questions/Comments - The policy should say fluency, not native fluency.
- Marhatta reported that the Ad Hoc Committee on Student Opinion of Course and Faculty distributed a survey to each department. The committee has requested one response from each department by November 1.
- Marhatta reported that the committee is working on a revision to the Faculty Senate Resolution 1.5, which addressed the Academic Calendar. An announcement will be forthcoming.

Curriculum (E. Mellas)
- Mellas reported that new senator, Chris Sardone, would be serving on the Curriculum Committee.
- Mellas reported that all curriculum postings are advertised in the MCC Daily Tribune. The proposals continue to appear under "Recent News" until the posting period is complete. A link to the database has been added to the announcements.
- Mellas reported that last Spring, in conjunction with the Computing Department and the Curriculum Office, a presentation proposal was sent to the League of Innovation CIT conference. Presentation proposal was accepted, and Christine Accorso, Charlotte Downing, and Mellas will present at the November conference in California. It has been a collaborative effort between computing, curriculum office and senate curriculum committee to get the database up and running and the curriculum approval process into a totally electronic form.

NEG (S. Cable)
- Cable reported that NEG is working on updating the Senator List and Voting Faculty List.
- Cable thanked Chris Sardone for taking over for Linda Gulbransen.

Planning (L. Chrzan-Williams)
- Chrzan-Williams reported that the committee would be meeting tomorrow for the first time this semester. The committee will be finalizing reports from last year's strategic planning grant recipients.
- The Planning Committee has been involved in the new Master Plan and classroom space issues. Any concerns regarding classrooms please contact L.Chrzan-Williams or Ed Martin, chair of the Classroom Space committee.
- Chrzan-Williams reported that the Strategic Planning Grant proposal announcement is forthcoming. Last year the deadline for proposal submission was extended past the final grades week but there were still very few proposals. The Planning Committee encourages submission of proposals. There is $100,000 available for grants and last year some funds went unspent. If anyone would like a copy of past successful grant proposals, please contact L.Chrzan-Williams.

Professional Development (W. Brewer)
- Brewer encourages nominations for Chancellors Awards (although these awards are not administered by the Professional Development Committee).
- Brewer reported that the NISOD Award would be announced next week. Submissions are due by December 5.

SCAA (M. Harris)
- Harris reported that the committee met with Vice President Grzelak concerning a title change from Budget Manager to Assistant Vice President of Administrative Services. SCAA agreed to the change. SCAA will have two representatives on the College search committee for this position.
- Harris reported that SCAA would meet next week with President Flynn regarding the Executive Dean of DCC position. SCAA will conduct a separate search.

5. Old Business
There was no old business.

6.New Business
There was no new business.

Meeting adjourned 4:50 pm.


Respectfully submitted,

Raymond Shea, President
Barbara Robinson, Secretary

Minutes approved at the November 14, 2002 Faculty Senate meeting.



Faculty Senate
Faculty Senate Office
11/21/2002