FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
Friday, September 30, 2016 - CD 142 - 1:00PM
In attendance:
Meg Allan, Ann Barnes, Gregg Corley, Penny Edwards, Ed Eudy, Stacey Frank,
Tonia Faulling, Justin Herndon, Bill Leverette. Laura McClain, Timeko McFadden,
Mourning Pace, Matthew Simon, Renee Turner, Debbie Vance, Jonathan Warnock,
Paula Scales Whitmire.
Not in attendance. Tom Hiebel, Mary Orem, Richard Reeves, Aristide
Sechandice
Guests: Ashlan Ferguson,
Welcome and Agenda
Stacey Frank welcomed the new adjunct/lecturer senators,
asked attendees to introduce themselves, and presented the agenda for the meeting.
Minutes of August 25, 2016
Minutes were distributed and approved via electronic vote
prior to this meeting.
Old Business
Overload contracts. Stacey reported that a number of
faculty expressed concerns about calculations of overload contract
compensation. Stacey looked into the
matter and as a result, the following changes were implemented:
- Two (2) hours were added for the exam period for those who are giving exams.
- If after the two (2) hour adjustment an instructor’s contract amount is less than in previous terms, the higher amount would be applied, which is the practice currently in place for adjunct instructors.
Copies of Sharon Colcolough’s September 21st
e-mail, Adjunct Compensation and Overload
were distributed. In this communication,
Sharon reported the above-referenced changes, and clarified the process for
calculating contacts.
Stacey indicated that she was pleased that
administration had responded quickly to issues raised and asked senators if
there were any outstanding items related to this matter There were two points raised: 1) faculty
expressed disappointment that administration had to be contacted after the fact
to remedy the contract calculations, and 2) a question remained regarding why
the minimum instructional minutes in accordance with SACSCOC guidelines of 750 minutes per credit
hour were selected as opposed to the 770 minutes which would be the minimum for
teaching a MWF class.
Stacey indicated she would follow up on this question
and report back.
New Business
- Faculty titles. A question was raised regarding the use of “non-official” titles on e- mail correspondence. After full discussion, the majority of the senators conveyed that they did not see a need to establish a policy or guidelines related to the matter.
- Attendance memorandum dated 8/16/2016 and new LDA requirements. A preliminary calculation estimated that at a minimum this new procedure would require faculty to input 13,000 LDA’s at the end of the term. Faculty senate would like to get a better understanding of why this is required. The matter was added to the Agenda for the next Academic Leadership Team (ALT) meeting in order to obtain clarification of the potential impact. Stacey will report back the results.
- Clemson student learning evaluation process. Stacey brought this matter forward on behalf of Aristide Sechandice and distributed an outline of the process which was designed by a Clemson professor. The methodology includes a pre-course knowledge essay and a post course knowledge essay which is written by the student as a method to evaluate learning. After some discussion, it was recommended that faculty wanting more information reach out to Aristide and if there is enough interest, ask the Clemson professor to conduct an information session for faculty here on campus.
Committee Reports
- Parking. Stacey distributed a copy of an update provided by Cara Hamilton. The update included; 1) Shuttle service to Mechanic Street parking lot now has its last run at 5:45 PM, 2) twenty (20) additional spaces behind Fulp Hall will be designated for faculty/staff, 3) parking permits will no longer be issued to work study students, and 4) when the current permits expire (Fall 2017) they will be replaced by permit stickers.
- Calendar. Meg reported that due to many considerations related to creating the calendar for each term that the following were either approved or recommended by the committee members:
- Approved. The Memorial Day holiday during summer 2017 term will be designated as a work day in exchange for a Monday, July 3rd holiday to precede Tuesday’s July 4th, to allow for a long weekend.
- Recommended. Scheduling professional development day during fall 2017 term. A number of alternatives were explored and the final recommendation was to schedule on Tuesday, October 17, 2017 which had originally been designated as day two (2) of fall break. This appeared to be the best way to ensure that the college could be closed the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The plan is for “A” term to end Monday December 4, 2017 followed by 5 days for exams, and grades due on Wednesday December 16, 2017. Post grade processing takes three business days after grades are submitted.
Senators
asked if we needed to have a professional day during fall 2017 term, and if so,
suggested that we recommend that professional development day be held on the
day of fall convocation. This would take
some pressure off calendar restrictions allowing for a two (2) day fall break, or
end the term a day earlier. Stacey
agreed to follow up with ALT and Meg agreed to present the idea to the calendar
committee
- Academic Leadership Team. Stacey reported that faculty have been assigned to the 5 key strategic initiative project teams.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be
held on Friday, October 28, 2016 at 1:00 PM.
Meg will attempt to find a larger room for the next meeting and will
notify senators.
With no further business
the meeting was adjourned at 2:43 PM.
Recorded by: Meg Allan, 9/30/2016.
