Monday, September 5, 2016

Faculty Senate Minutes (8/25/16)


Faculty Senate Minutes  

Thursday, August 25, 2016

CD 142  

4:00PM




In attendance: Meg Allan,  Ann Barnes, Gregg Corley, Penny Edwards, Tonia Faulling, Stacey Frank, Tom Hiebel, Justin Herndon, Laura McClain,  Mary Orem, Matthew Simon, Debbie Vance

Not in attendance: Timeko McFadden, Aristide Sechandice

 Faculty Guests:  Andrea Barnett, Donna Palmer

Guests:  Galen Dehay, Senior Vice President; Cara Hamilton, Vice President

 

Stacey Frank called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm.  She introduced the meeting agenda and the guests.

Minutes of June 30, 2016

Minutes from the prior meeting were distributed and approved via electronic vote prior to this meeting and have been posted to eTC.

Old Business

 

Faculty/Staff Parking.  Cara Hamilton discussed the current parking situation and listened to concerns raised by faculty.  She provided preliminary numbers related to campus parking spaces following the closure of parking by Wilson and in the student center construction area. Cara explained that the new numbers reflect an 11% reduction in spaces to both the Faculty/Staff and Student parking areas. 

  •    273 Faculty/ Staff  (Down from 308)
  • 1,171 Student
  •      33 Handicap
  •      20 Visitors
     

Cara stated that she understands the need for accuracy in the information that was provided to her and has agreed to validate the aforementioned numbers the results of which she will report back to the senate as soon as practical.  She also reported that the Mechanic Street parking lot is being widely used and the shuttle service has been running fairly smoothly.

 

Cara expressed that she understands the concerns raised by faculty and that there is a lot of passion associated with the parking situation.  She will continue to listen to suggestions and investigate methods to alleviate where possible; however, there are legitimate limitations. 

 

The priorities for Campus Safety personnel are (1) Safety, (2) Visibility, and (3) Enforcement.  Officers have been ticketing violators to the extent possible however parking throughout the day is a fluid situation.  Cara encouraged faculty who have traditional schedules to park at Mechanic Street as much as possible so there are spaces available for faculty who travel between campuses or need to leave campus and return for student related activities such as health education clinical activities.

Galen raised a concern that some are directing their frustration at Campus Safety personnel in manners that are not very professional.  He wanted to reiterate that Campus Safety is not responsible for the parking situation and that they are working very hard on the priorities stated previously.  Senators expressed concern and committed to talking with others about the need to be civil and maintain professionalism.  

 

After further discussion the following agreements were reached:

  • The parking charter committee formerly led by Jonathan Finch will have new leadership soon.
  • The current parking space numbers provided will be validated and updated.
  • There will be an effort to better quantify the parking space need for faculty and staff including adjunct faculty. 
  • There will be a determination of the number of faculty/staff permits issued, including those to work study students, and if warranted, new tags may be issued to current faculty and staff.
  • Cara will review the listing of parking ideas that Stacey Frank accumulated from faculty.

 

Stacey thanked Cara for her time and willingness to work with faculty senate.  All agreed that we could do a better job of communicating to all about the parking situation and its many associated challenges. Cara will return to the committee when she has more information.

 

Accuplacer. Andrea Barnett distributed copies of the, “Placement Chart Levels for Advisors/Coaches.” The test has been active since August 24th and degree works will reflect the new scores. She is scheduling meetings with all departments/ divisions in order to ensure everyone gets the new information and how to use it.

 

Adjunct and Lecturer nominations and elections.   Stacey Frank will distribute a request for nominations to all academic deans.  In accordance with faculty senate bylaws, the election shall take place no later than September 10.

 

New Business

 

Approval of Changes to Bylaws.  After review of the proposed changes to the “Constitution and Bylaws of the Faculty Senate,” related to at-large representation, Tom Hiebel made a motion to accept the changes as written which was seconded by Matt Simon.  The vote to approve was unanimous. 

 

Representation of Faculty Senate at Faculty Staff Meetings.  Stacey Frank reported that she had received positive feedback about her August communication to all faculty.  She has been working on increasing communication of senate activities directly to faculty.  Senators recommended that Stacey contact the appropriate parties about the possibility of adding the presidents of both faculty senate and the staff advisory board to the agenda at Faculty Staff Meetings.

 

Aristide Sechandice has asked to be on the Agenda at the next meeting to discuss Clemson’s alternative evaluations process.

 

Stacey Frank reported that Croslena Johnson will be disseminating “Save the Date” cards for students at the Get Connected events for an Interactive Health Fair. The event will be held on October 5th from 9-1 at PC, 9-11 at AC, and 11-1 at EC.  She would like faculty to encourage students to attend the event. There are flyers available if anyone would like one. 

 

Committee Reports

 

Meg Allan reported that the spring 2017 Academic Calendar has been posted and that the next meeting of the Calendar Committee will be Monday, August 29, 2016. 

 

Meeting Schedule

 

Based on schedules the best times for faculty senate meetings this semester are on Friday’s at 1:00pm.  Meg will send an invitation to the next meeting which will be held on Friday, September 30, 2016.

 

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:33 pm.

Recorded by:  Meg Allan, August 25, 2016.