/FCJanuary2012Minutes

Valencia College College-Wide Faculty Council Meeting January 19, 2012 East Campus 3-113 Council Members Present: Robert Gessner (presiding), Rob McCaffrey, Jackie Starren, Ilyse Kusnetz, Sean Jennings, Ruby Alvarez,, Olga Vazquez, John McFarland, James May, Claudia Genovese-Martinez, Olga Vazquez, Carl Creasman, Chris Wettstein, Regina Seguin Absent: Mabel Machin, Diane Orsini (on sabbatical leave), Damion Hammock, Patricia Smith, Susan Matthews

Guests: Michael Shugg (Governance Review Committee Co-Chairman) ○

Call to order – the meeting was called to order at 2:30 pm

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Approval of the December Minutes

I. Information Item: Governance Review Committee – Michael Shugg ● ●

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The work of the Governance Review committee was commissioned by the Planning Council.

The inquiry phase of the committee’s work looked at: 1. What areas of collaborative governance are working?

2. What areas of collaborative governance need improvement?

3. What are the benefits of collaborative governance?

4. What should be the expected outcomes of collaborative governance?

The steering committee surveyed the college and there was an overall expression of the lack of understanding regarding collaborative governance.

The committee has generated a set of recommendations that was completed at the end of fall 2011 term.

They came up with a set of design principles for effective collaborative governance at Valencia College. Feedback from the faculty is welcome.

The desired outcomes of collaborative governance should be better decisions and greater trust. These dual interrelated outcomes are best realized through various habits of collaboration: ○ Decisions benefit from the expertise of those closest to the work being considered. ○ Decisions are made after the process for engagement is communicated to stakeholders. ○ Decisions are made in a timely manner with collaboration appropriate for the issue being considered. ○ Decisions are made with the expectation that there is mutual responsibility for engagement. ○ Decisions are clearly articulated and broadly communicated.

The steering committee agreed that there needs to be better communication and continuity by having dedicated staff support for collaborative governance.

There needs to be an orientation process developed for new members of the various councils.

A plan needs to be developed with Faculty Council to address the continuity of its work. Because the leader of the Faculty Council changes each year, the length of service is not conducive to accomplishing its goals.

Question: Was there a discussion on how collaborative governance will fit into the new campus president organization model? ○ The roles of the college-wide councils will need to evolve in their relationship with the campus presidents’ responsibilities.

Comment: There is no system in place for training to understand the various duties of each council/committee.

II. Discussion Item: Instructional Materials Selection Policy and Procedure – Bob Gessner ●

The Council reviewed the policy, which was previously approved at the December council meeting, to make some edits (in italics).

Instructional materials are selected at the discipline level with the participation of faculty members who teach particular courses; academic deans or their designees are informed of these decisions. The instructional materials that are adopted may be from a variety of resources. Faculty may choose not to use the adopted resources, with the approval of the academic dean or their designee. Instructional materials should be evaluated critically, in accordance with curriculum and cost, before adoption. Instructional material adoptions may be changed during the yearly cycle of adoption only if sufficient evidence is presented to the academic dean or their designee.

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The Council reviewed and edited the procedures.

A. Instructional materials selection needs to be aligned with the Bookstore ordering term deadlines.

B. Campuses may adopt different sets of instructional materials for the same course.

1. Evaluation Criteria for instructional material selection should include all or some of the following: A. Readability B. Accuracy C. Current in the field D. Diversity E. Affordability within context C. Two sets of instructional materials may be adopted per course for each mode of instructional delivery (face-to-face, hybrid and online) for each campus.

D. The intent to use all instructional materials required, particularly each individual item sold as part of a bundled package, is confirmed by the course instructor or the academic department offering the course before the adoption is finalized.

E. Part time faculty may use only instructional materials as approved by the academic dean or their designee.

F. Exceptions to the use of adopted instructional materials need to be approved by the academic dean or their designee.

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The Council president will send a draft of these edits to the faculty council members for review.

Once the council members have reviewed the policy and procedures to make sure they have all the agreed upon the edits, the adopted draft will be presented to the campus presidents and college legal counsel for further discussion and review.

III. Discussion Item: Faculty Engagement Hours/College Service Hours Taskforce: Assignment of Classroom and Laboratory Professors Procedures draft – Bob Gessner ●

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The taskforce was made of 5 deans and 5 faculty council members, who looked at the current procedures (last reviewed in 1992) to update them. ○ The major update that triggered the review concerned “virtual” office hours, which were not mentioned in the 1992 procedures.

Each faculty campus/association was previously asked to review the procedures draft for their input.

The Council began a review of the updated draft procedures.

Due to time limitations, the council will continue this work at the next meeting.

A taskforce was approved to look at problems associated with the electronic workload form. Bob Gessner, Rob McCaffrey, and Jackie Starren volunteered to serve on the taskforce with representatives from the campus presidents, Human Services, OIT and Legal Counsel.

IV. Discussion Item: Constitutional Amendments - Bob Gessner ●

Council discussed whether there is a need for new amendments concerning: ○ Substitutes for absent members. ○ It was agreed that interested faculty could draft possible amendments to present at a later meeting for discussion.

V. Committee/Taskforce Appointments ● ●

Web/Portal Advisory Group had no faculty volunteers.

Bob Gessner will represent the faculty until someone is appointed.

VI. Presidents Report- Bob Gessner ●

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The Faculty Council is now seeking a new Faculty Association President/President-elect. Candidates can be any faculty member from the current Faculty Council or any faculty member who has served on the Faculty Council during the previous two calendar years. Letters to potential candidates will go out next week advising them of the timeline to be considered as a nominee for the position.

The Atlas Email button is in operation.

“Serve and Celebrate” Learning Day will be on February 10, 2012; any interested faculty members can still sign up for work locations.

There is a concern that TLA tenure-track candidates will not have enough student feedback when using the electronic student evaluation of instruction forms. Options are being discussed to enable tenure-track faculty to have meaningful numbers of these evaluations.

The enrollment numbers, which had been down -6% during the holiday break, have been revised since students continued to enroll at the beginning of the spring semester. The new numbers show a -1% decline in student enrollment at the beginning of the spring semester.

VII. Academic Affairs- Karen Borglum ● ● ●

The search committee for the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Planning will begin meeting shortly.

Hired new Assistant VP of Resource Development - Kristeen Christian.

We’re looking to hire Assistant VP for Workforce and Career Education.

VIII. Campus Reports ●

Winter Park campus: ○ None

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East Campus: ○ Activity Hour- Olga Vazquez met with the East Campus deans and relayed a message that the faculty valued the time set aside for activity hour and a desire that deans and faculty work together to protect that time. ○ Induction ceremony - East Campus held a formal ceremony inducting new senators. This is part of an effort to communicate the importance of collaborative governance and to improve the experience of incoming senators. ○ On January 26th, the recruitment committee for the selection of the new campus president for East/WP will meet with Dr. Shugart to go over guidelines for the selection.

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West – ○ Faculty members are concerned about recent communications regarding overloads and scheduling Friday classes. Faculty would like to have a clear statement on what the overload policy is going to be. The Faculty Council president will communicate these faculty concerns to obtain a clear statement from the college presidents. ○ A couple of faculty members stated they were against the proposal to create grade distribution reports. A request was made to explain the purpose and use of these reports when the grade distribution prototype is presented for review by the faculty council. ○ There was a concern about the “Honors Professor” designation for faculty having a professional development component. The concern has gone to Valerie Burkes and the conversation is ongoing.

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Osceola – ○ Dr. Shugart asked every campus president for a campus plan; faculty members are working with the campus president to develop the plan for Osceola. The current draft is being shared with all faculty members on campus. ○ Members of the Osceola faculty voiced concerns about the strength of their representation on the Faculty Council now that Lake Nona campus will be getting 2 council representatives with only 5 full time faculty members, in the fall. It was agreed that discussion would continue at subsequent council meetings and that interested faculty could draft possible amendments to present at a later meeting for discussion.

IX. Council Reports: ● ● ●

College Planning Council: None College Learning Council: None College Operations Council: Discussed in the president’s report.

X. Committee/Taskforce Reports: ● ● ●

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Learning Resources Taskforce: None Post Tenure Review Taskforce: ○ No changes to report. The committee will meet again on January 27th.

QEP Development Leadership Team ○ Four faculty members have been selected and will proceed with their work.

The four faculty chosen as the QEP Development Team are Ed Holmes (East), Kitty Harkleroad (West), Christina Hardin (Osceola), and John Niss (Winter Park).

Evident Based Practice Taskforce ○ Bill White has promised a prototype for reporting grade distributions at the next meeting.

Adjournment – the meeting was adjourned at approximately 5:00 pm.